Panasonic GT50 HTPC IR issue

[Ganeedi]

So i bought the Panny plasma GT50 in January. Hooked it up to my HTPC and have enjoyed an awesome picture. I use the TV for streaming, cable (cable card), and gaming. I followed the basic burn in procedures, by keeping the brightness low in the first month or two. I have 100s of hours of use with the TV at this point 7 months later.

However, watching some Game of thrones the other day, i noticed some image retention of logos in the four corners. It was especially noticeable because of the GOT scenes in the north with tons of white snowy background. I hadnt noticed it before. I'm sure its from gaming, rather than TV logos.

I've run the anti-IR white bars that only last 15 minutes at a clip - i've done this about 10 times over the last 2 days. It may have helped a little, but i can still see some IR. Next step is i'm going to run the looping anti-IR stuff overnight a couple days.

I'm a little pissed about this. At a loss a bit what else to do, as this is now my main TV, HTPC & gaming setup. I've put quite a bit of work into setting up the room. Dont want to not use this for gaming...

Any other advice from people who've had this issue?

 

[cheez]

Ganeedi,

That is perfectly normal. There is not much you can do about the IR. I have a 9 year old Panasonic professional display that had a severe IR in the first hundred hours of use due to some gaming. The anti-IR techniques didn't work. It took me a year or two of use to get rid of it by either not playing video games at all or play them with HUD turned off / disabled. If your video game has the option to disable the HUD setting, do it. If you can't live without that then don't play that video game.. try something else. And watch a lot of movies or something in full screen to burn-in the phosphor of the plasma screen evenly. That'll help get rid of your IR and will disappear after long use. Don't go try forcing it with anti-IR.. you are only abusing the TV.


cheez

 

[cheez]

And depending on how severe your IR is it may go away in a few months to a year.... Don't expect it to go away in a few days. That won't happen. he he he

I am so glad I got the plasma TV. The viewing angle performance is retarded good. Oh that beautiful color!

 

[Ganeedi]

This really blows. I didnt realize image retention was still such an issue with the modern Plasmas. A lot of reviews i read last year downplayed IR as a non-issue anymore (as well as burn-in eventually).

Anyway some things i'm going to try:
1) enable pixel orbiter - this was disabled due to the custom image setup i was using.
2) run HBO or dvd on repeat w/ full screen video overnight a few times and see if there is any improvement.

For those planning an HTPC / Gaming setup - i would advise to stay away from plasma at this point. Hopefully my opinion changes if i can get a handle on this.

 

[PinmasterJay]

I too have a Panasonic plasma that I just noticed has IR issues.

For the first couple hundred hours I had the TV at a lower brightness setting, as I had read this will help prevent issues such as this. Even now I only have brightness at 58.

A few days ago I noticed that I have the ESPN logo permanently in the bottom right of the screen. I haven't watched ESPN on this TV for a while (cancelled cable over a week ago), and don't remember doing so for any period of time more than an hour or two.

So far I have tried playing full screen video for about 60 hours and it has done little to nothing to remove it.

I too was under the impression that IR issues were a problem with older plasmas, but I will also agree that it would be hard for me recommend them in the future if they are still this finicky about IR.

 

[Riotvale]

I'm planning on playing some MMO's on my Panny ST65. I wonder how safe it would be to do so, since especially mmo's have static HUDs that will be up for long periods of time. Also, I'll probably be on for multiple hours at a time.

Is IR avoidable by turning off the panel every couple hours? Or should i just switch the channel every so often, and immediately turn it back to the game? This thread just made me worried about IR.

 

[cheez]

Turning off the TV won't help. The IR will just last longer.
Best way is to watch various types of video source. Movies with full screen (no bars). IR on my TV went away completely in two years. But mine is old tech. The new TV's are a bit less prone to it but the IR's still exist.

Just don't play the same video game for years. The longer you leave that static HUDs on the screen the longer the image burnin will last.


cheez

 

[Ganeedi]

One of the Images i see in the corners is from playing RIFT FTP for the last month. I probably played that for around 20 hours a week. Plus i was away for 1 week for July 4th. So total way less than 100 hours.

Make sure you have pixel orbiter enabled. I can see the IR in the corners when i run the white bars across the screen (anti-IR under Setup).

It has definitely faded a bit since i first started noticing it, hopefully due to some Anti-IR things i've done, but now i am hypersensitive to it.

 

[Ganeedi]

Is IR avoidable by turning off the panel every couple hours? Or should i just switch the channel every so often, and immediately turn it back to the game? This thread just made me worried about IR.

I would suggest moving your HUD around every couple days. Assuming its configurable.