Plasma TV's: Image Burn Issues???

[SmokinLoon]

Thanks to my bro-in-law, I've pulled the plug temporarily on buying a very well priced 52in plasma TV (Toshiba, 1080p, etc, etc).  He swears up and down that plasma tv's will burn images in to them after just a few years contrary to multiple salesmen telling me that the new model plasma tv's will not do so.  My online research has been found nothing concrete regarding the new plasma tv's continuing to have such problems, or rather have those problems to begin with.

FWIW: the TV in my house is on for less than 4 hours a day on average.  The weekends it may see 6-8 hours of on time, but that is max.  We just dont watch a lot of tv and we certainly do not have it set on 1 channel for too long either.  I use it mostly for movies.

Advice?  Thoughts?

[flight17]

whether or not they still do or dont, i will always try to stay away from plasma...

[gyrene81]

image burn generally occurs when you leave a single image on the screen for a period of time, such as pausing a video game or movie for more than a few minutes. the newest plasmas don't have the issue nearly as bad as earlier models, but that doesn't mean it can't happen, especially if there are static images on the screen for periods of time. i've heard, most of the last generation of plasma tv's had a burn in repair mode or disc that comes with them.

you know toshiba isn't making plasma tvs anymore right? i think you would be better off with a samsung or panasonic, but that's just me.

[SmokinLoon]

I was not aware that Toshiba does not make plasma TV's anymore. 

Other than price, do plasma tv's offer any advantage over LCD/LED?  Color?  Clarity?  I know that plasma's are a bit hotter and pull more juice, but I'm not too concerned with that really, I have the tv/entertainment center of my basement living room on its own circuit. 

[kotrenin]

I've had my 42" Panasonic plasma for over 5 years, and there has been no problem with screen burn.  Screen burn was an issue with first and second generation plasma TV's, we are on fourth and fifth generation plasmas now.  They addressed the issue early and included a variety of fixes over the years. I believe my tv uses image shift, where the image is shifted left, right, up, or down an imperceptible amount.  At this point screen burn is nearly an old wives tale.  The 1 way to make sure you avoid it is to make sure you have your picture set to full screen, if you always watch in 4/3 with the black bars on the sides you can get ghost images of the black bars. But you would have to leave your tv on 24/7/365 to achieve this. The other old concern was the network logos in the corners, but the networks move these around some and change them on occasion, you would have to watch the same channel 24/7/365, and image shift should also prevent this.


As far as brands to research I would highly recommend Panasonic. And when I say highly I mean HIGHLY recommend. Like i said, I have had mine for over 5 years and love it. I also have 2 friends that own the same model year, 1 has the 37" and the other has the 52".  Mine is the TH-42PX60U http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/support/Televisions/VIERA-Plasma-HDTVs/model.TH-42PX60U 
The biggest con I would say is the power consumption, if you watch a lot of TV it will get you in electricity.  You also get glare if there is a window or light source in front of the screen.  But if you are in a dark room watching a movie, nothing beats the depth of the blacks. New LCD thinks it has deep black but it doesn't. On a plasma tv black is black.  Although new LCD's are better than old the blacks are still a little gray, I always thought of it watching my TV from behind a window screen. 

[Shuffler]

I do not care for plasma. I have read that the new ones do not have as much of a problem with burn in. On any TV I would not leave a single image on for long periods of time. Just to be safe.

[SuperDud]

I have a plasma and love! I've accidentally left image stand for about 2 hours when i dosed off once and did notice the burn effect. However it disappeared within ten mins of resuming play. So I'd say its no longer an issue.

I think the arguments like the ford vs chevy. Both in the end are trucks. If I could pick up either type of tv at a good price I wouldn't hesitate.

[Skuzzy]

Plasmas are going away.  The major issue, which no one has figured out how to fix, is the power consumption.  LCD panels have gotten better and continue to do so.  The best LCD sets today are equivalent to the best plasma set.  LCD sets tend to have slightly sharper images than plasma, which is good and bad, depending on the content you are viewing.

[gyrene81]

I was not aware that Toshiba does not make plasma TV's anymore. 

Other than price, do plasma tv's offer any advantage over LCD/LED?  Color?  Clarity?  I know that plasma's are a bit hotter and pull more juice, but I'm not too concerned with that really, I have the tv/entertainment center of my basement living room on its own circuit. 

just from personal experience over the years, plasma in a room without light glare has a much smoother picture and brighter colors than standard lcd. it's more noticeable watching standard definition than when watching blu-ray. the new led lcd televisions are almost as good but still not quite.

can't argue with what kotrenin said. i've seen the panasonic and samsung plasmas next to other brands and top line lcd's...very little tweaking needed out of the box and they can give you a sense of being just on the other side of a perfectly polished window watching the action.

[Dichotomy]

yes my plasmas have suffered from slight burn in but that was my fault for leaving them on when not in use.  If you can pony up for the LCD I'd go that route and will in the future. Not to say I'm disappointed with my plasmas.  I'm very happy with both of them.

[Elfie]

We have a pair of Samsung LED TVs, one 40 inch and one 55 inch. We are very satisfied with both of them. DVDs and Blueray movies both look awesome. Of course some of the tv channels that aren't in high definition kinda suck but I think you will get that with any HD tv.

[Soulyss]

Can burn in still occur?  yes it is possible, although highly unlikely under normal conditions.  I will always buy plasma over any other TV technology currently available, it flat out looks better and costs less. 

Most plasma TV's these days have anti-burn in features, often it's a pixel shift which just moves the pixels on screen very subtlety (ie you don't notice it's happening) or if you detect that an image may be starting to burn you can activate a white screen mode which evens everything out again. 

The only time I've had any sort of issue was when I watched one of the presidential debates during the last campaign in 2008.  That was 3-4 hours of CNN with all the graphics and logos and no commercial breaks, a couple minutes in white screen mode and all was well again.


Burn-in isn't new, the old CRT's that we grew up with could burn in as well.

[Mano]

I recently purchased a Panasonic plasma.........it is not their very top of the line, but their intermediate model.
The picture quality is brighter and sharper than our other LCD/LED tv's in the house.
I don't allow my kids to pause it or hook up an X-Box.  It does have a utility you can use in the event someone did pause it for a length of time,
plus it comes with an automatic screen saver if the television is paused for more than a few minutes.

The Blacks and dark scenes do show up better. Another good point is you don't see any blurring that is inherent with LCD screens during fast motion.
The Plasmas may go the way of the Do Do's in the near future, but for now they offer a cost savings over a similar sized LCD/LED television.

 
Mano

[Shuffler]

I recently purchased a Panasonic plasma.........it is not their very top of the line, but their intermediate model.
The picture quality is brighter and sharper than our other LCD/LED tv's in the house.
I don't allow my kids to pause it or hook up an X-Box.  It does have a utility you can use in the event someone did pause it for a length of time,
plus it comes with an automatic screen saver if the television is paused for more than a few minutes.

The Blacks and dark scenes do show up better. Another good point is you don't see any blurring that is inherent with LCD screens during fast motion.
The Plasmas may go the way of the Do Do's in the near future, but for now they offer a cost savings over a similar sized LCD/LED television.

 
Mano

Yes your cost are not fully incurred yet. You'll pay in operational expense. My LED is DLP. DLP for home use seems to be out now. It is still the IN thing at theaters though.

[Soulyss]

The difference in operational cost between a plasma and a LED TV for most homes is a couple of bucks a year.