Almost two weeks with first Plasma

[boomerang]

I'm not griping. I did my homework. But I am surprised how much the electric bill went up - nearly 30% compared to the same billing period last year.

For the first 100 hours, I had it on 24/7 doing a break in. Over at AVS, I found a link to some .jpg's to put on an SD card. link When the TV was not being watched, I had that looping.

Normally, TV watching is done in the evening. Maybe 4 to 6 hours at night. Most nights but not every night obviously. I was in the habit of leaving it on while moving around the house doing things, or worse, being on the laptop in front of the TV. Meaning, not really paying attention to the TV at all. Now, I'm going to be sure to have it off if it isn't being watched.

How much of that electric bill can be attributed to the Plasma, is tough to determine. The A/C, working in the garage, etc. obviously factor in too.

I'll be anxious to see what next months bill is under normal usage.

My 50" Plasma is rated at 690W, a comparable LCD is 240W. Something to think about for those contemplating a new purchase.

I'd be curious to hear others thoughts.

Edit: Link added

 

[erwos]

Have you considered turning down the brightness a bit?

But, yes, plasma sucks down power like nuts. Don't leave it on 24/7.

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: erwos
Have you considered turning down the brightness a bit?

Well, during the break-in I had it set at +50, Picture at 0. I've had it 9 days and 4 and 1/2 of those days were break-in.
Brightness is at +50 right now, picture at +70 on Cinema. I'm running settings from TweakTV. I haven't tried other settings at all this point. I should get out the Kill A Watt and do some experimenting.

I get your point. I should probably throttle down for anything other than true HD, or HD movie, etc.

I just messed around a little bit with the settings and saw a peak of 350W. It does vary considerably depending on what is on. I fooled with the Picture setting and saw about a 50W difference between +70 and +35. I'll have fun with this next week.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Yeah I'm right there with ya. I moved in with my gf a few months back, and I have a 50 inch plasma. Shes left the tv on twice when she went to work/school and it's been on a lot too. We just got our bill today, and its 2x what it normally is (yeah we had air on and stuff too so that is also a factor). Time to drop brightness down and also see about any other power saving features lol. Oh and tell the gf to make sure to turn it off (which I did already, but a little reinforcement might be a good idea ).

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus
Yeah I'm right there with ya. I moved in with my gf a few months back, and I have a 50 inch plasma. Shes left the tv on twice when she went to work/school and it's been on a lot too. We just got our bill today, and its 2x what it normally is (yeah we had air on and stuff too so that is also a factor). Time to drop brightness down and also see about any other power saving features lol. Oh and tell the gf to make sure to turn it off (which I did already, but a little reinforcement might be a good idea ).

Mine has got settings in the menu to turn it off automatically with no remote input after x hours. You might want to check that out.

I got this through an EPP. They had the best price I could find. I think I have a very liberal return policy. I plan on looking into that. They're going to be raising our electricity rates here in Michigan. Evidently households have been subsidizing commercial rates and they're going to 'correct' that situation. The pisser being that you know businesses won't be passing the savings on to consumers. We'll just have higher electric rates. Article here for those interested.

I may return it and get an LCD.

I won't be making any rash decisions though.

On a side note, I noticed the TV has an Energy Star logo on it. I should research that. Its got to be some kind of bad joke.

 

[Tiamat]

yeah, I was surprised when my 37" LCD was pulling more than 80 Watts on minimum settings (250 Watts on max brightness). Computers left on 24/7 generally pull 120 Watts unless you have a very low power system. Refrigerators constantly pull at least 100 Watts. The only other thing I owned that pulled quite a bit of power was my window AC unit. Leaving either my TV, Computer, or AC unit on 24/7 (with managed use of the other two) lead to a 66% increase in my electric bill! ($35 -> ~$58)

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: boomerang
I'm not griping. I did my homework. But I am surprised how much the electric bill went up - nearly 30% compared to the same billing period last year.

For the first 100 hours, I had it on 24/7 doing a break in. Over at AVS, I found a link to some .jpg's to put on an SD card. link When the TV was not being watched, I had that looping.

Normally, TV watching is done in the evening. Maybe 4 to 6 hours at night. Most nights but not every night obviously. I was in the habit of leaving it on while moving around the house doing things, or worse, being on the laptop in front of the TV. Meaning, not really paying attention to the TV at all. Now, I'm going to be sure to have it off if it isn't being watched.

How much of that electric bill can be attributed to the Plasma, is tough to determine. The A/C, working in the garage, etc. obviously factor in too.

I'll be anxious to see what next months bill is under normal usage.

My 50" Plasma is rated at 690W, a comparable LCD is 240W. Something to think about for those contemplating a new purchase.

I'd be curious to hear others thoughts.

Edit: Link added

Wow, what model plasma did you get? The one I'm looking to get is a 60" and its max power consumption is rated at 481 Watts (0.3 W Standby).

 

[boomerang]

Panasonic TH50-PZ80U.

That's the figure in their literature. A few posts up I mentioned that I was pulling 350W. That figure seems to vary considerably.

I think they're saying that's the max it could consume.

FWIW, this is a 1080p model. I'm pretty certain a 720p model would potentially consume much less. But, I'm not well versed in this stuff.

 

[sivart]

the wattage in the specs is with a solid white screen (which will happen almost none of the time -- that's why I immediately change channels during the stupid Mac commericals ). You must be somewhere further north as my plasma might add $2-$5 a month to my bill but in the Texas summer, my AC (set at 82) adds about $100 a month to my bill. I don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: sivart
the wattage in the specs is with a solid white screen (which will happen almost none of the time -- that's why I immediately change channels during the stupid Mac commericals ). You must be somewhere further north as my plasma might add $2-$5 a month to my bill but in the Texas summer, my AC (set at 82) adds about $100 a month to my bill. I don't sweat the small stuff.

82? Man, that's definitely not comfortable to me. I'm in Texas too, and I keep my thermostat at 71 during the summer.

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: sivart
the wattage in the specs is with a solid white screen (which will happen almost none of the time -- that's why I immediately change channels during the stupid Mac commericals ). You must be somewhere further north as my plasma might add $2-$5 a month to my bill but in the Texas summer, my AC (set at 82) adds about $100 a month to my bill. I don't sweat the small stuff.

Hmmm, that could help explain the sharp increase in my bill. The break-in procedure I followed put a series of colors on the the screen. The whole screen would go through different shades of blue, red and green, with some gray thrown in aaaand white. As I said, I ran it 24/7 to hasten the break-in process.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: boomerang

Originally posted by: sivart
the wattage in the specs is with a solid white screen (which will happen almost none of the time -- that's why I immediately change channels during the stupid Mac commericals ). You must be somewhere further north as my plasma might add $2-$5 a month to my bill but in the Texas summer, my AC (set at 82) adds about $100 a month to my bill. I don't sweat the small stuff.

Hmmm, that could help explain the sharp increase in my bill. The break-in procedure I followed put a series of colors on the the screen. The whole screen would go through different shades of blue, red and green, with some gray thrown in aaaand white. As I said, I ran it 24/7 to hasten the break-in process.

Yeah I would wait to see the bill for a second month depending on the return policy.

 

[tealk]

LCD is the way to go. Agreed plasma = sucky power eater

 

[Rio Rebel]

Does anyone know how much MORE energy a plasma uses over a similar sized LCD? I was under the impression there is a difference, but not that dramatic.

"sucky power eaters" is a pretty juvenile way to describe plasma technology. This isn't OT.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Link

A rough comparison, since the TV settings (and pre/post calibaration) can really affect the power usage as well.

 

[sivart]

Interesting...I have the 42" Vizio plasma (188W power on) and the 42" Vizio LCD is 202W power on.

Opposite of what I thought.

 

[Dman877]

Any idea what the dif in power use would be between a 27 inch crt and a 42 inch lcd?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: tealk
LCD is the way to go. Agreed plasma = sucky power eater

But plasma=better PQ, so do you want to save $20/month (assuming it's not on 24/7 and you goto work and sleep for 16 hours a day) or have a better PQ?

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
Does anyone know how much MORE energy a plasma uses over a similar sized LCD? I was under the impression there is a difference, but not that dramatic.

"sucky power eaters" is a pretty juvenile way to describe plasma technology. This isn't OT.

GarfieldtheCat's link gives a general idea. CNET lists power consumption on their reviews, and are fairly reliable.

Originally posted by: Dman877
Any idea what the dif in power use would be between a 27 inch crt and a 42 inch lcd?

My complete wild ass guess (with no proof or evidence one way or another), but the plasma will be a little more. I don't think it would really be a big difference though because IIRC CRT's are worse than plasma on power consumption, but the size difference offsets it. I might be wrong, and that's just a complete guess.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus

Originally posted by: tealk
LCD is the way to go. Agreed plasma = sucky power eater

But plasma=better PQ, so do you want to save $20/month (assuming it's not on 24/7 and you goto work and sleep for 16 hours a day) or have a better PQ?

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
Does anyone know how much MORE energy a plasma uses over a similar sized LCD? I was under the impression there is a difference, but not that dramatic.

"sucky power eaters" is a pretty juvenile way to describe plasma technology. This isn't OT.

GarfieldtheCat's link gives a general idea. CNET lists power consumption on their reviews, and are fairly reliable.

Originally posted by: Dman877
Any idea what the dif in power use would be between a 27 inch crt and a 42 inch lcd?

My complete wild ass guess (with no proof or evidence one way or another), but the plasma will be a little more. I don't think it would really be a big difference though because IIRC CRT's are worse than plasma on power consumption, but the size difference offsets it. I might be wrong, and that's just a complete guess.

CRT is actually not all that power hungry, problem is they were not able to make it bigger due to the size/weight limit. 32" crt were in the 90watt territory.

I was eagerly awaiting SED but those fucking patent trolls killed it. Good job, now your patent is useless.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Some example power usages:


Pioneer plasma review

Default [Standard] preset 393 watts
Calibrated [Movie] preset 272 watts

50pz800u plasma

Default power: 191.44W
Calibrated: 286.25W

LN52A650 LCD

Default power: 219.9
Calibrated: 140.8W

So the difference is ~140W roughly

 

[theAnimal]

Originally posted by: sdifox
I was eagerly awaiting SED but those fucking patent trolls killed it. Good job, now your patent is useless.

Apparently not.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: theAnimal

Originally posted by: sdifox
I was eagerly awaiting SED but those fucking patent trolls killed it. Good job, now your patent is useless.

Apparently not.

Dead in terms of timing. Even if Canon ships tomorrow, they have already missed the boat. I don't understand why the patent troll had to sue before they ship. Let them ship, establish marketshare, then you come and ask for money, wouldn't that be a safer bet to get money?

 

[Tlan]

You guys should look into a DLP HDTV or a SONY KDS55A3000 comes in 60" or 50" as well
it also pays to have your tv professionally calibrated as they will bring down the power consumption and get your set out of tourture mode. My tv was pulling 240 watts and since calibrated my picture is better and iam only using 120 w
i have a Sony KDS55A3000 and its the best tv ive ever owned

 

[kalrith]

OP, try to find out what settings other people are using for your TV. CNET and other reviewers often list their settings in reviews, and you can most likely find a thread on avsforum dedicated to your TV with some other people's settings. You could also buy one of the calibration DVDs or go to this thread to download one for free.

BTW, I have my Pioneer 50" plasma (5080) along with my DirecTV HD DVR (HR21) plugged into a 450W/700VA UPS, and it stays at a load of 3 or 4 out of 5. I hooked the plasma up to my Kill-A-Watt when I first got it, and I think it used 360W with the break-in settings and 240W with the "calibrated" settings.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: boomerang


My 50" Plasma is rated at 690W, a comparable LCD is 240W. Something to think about for those contemplating a new purchase.

690W? Wow! My 50" Plasma is rated at around 450W. :Q I noticed my electric bill go up, but not too much.