Plasma TV image burn, warranty/refund issue?

[rich85uk]

Afternoon all

got my Panasonic GT50B from John Lewis in June, perfect for me with my blu ray collection but there is one issue that has been bugging me and its the image burn it suffers. i must admit i treated it like a normal tv as my research told my this was an issue on older cheaper plasma's but mine has suffered quite badly from it

the main image that stays is the bbc news one which i stopped watching as its bright red but it seems any image or logo thats there for more than an hour or so will burn in. now John Lewis offer the 5 year warranty and its under a year old but am i doing something wrong to suffer such bad burn? its not smack you in the face obvious but once you know its there it will bug you

this sound like genuine reason for a replacement? or should i be running the scrolling bar more often?

many thanks

[megaphone]

Is the image actually 'burnt in' or does it go after a while? Check the settings as there should be a pixel shift option.

[rich85uk]

im afraid the bbc image is well an truly burnt in its been there about 2 months now and in that time i have run hours of the scrolling bar which is meant to get rid of it and have not put the bbc news or bbc breakfast show on since, i think the f1 logo has gone but i only watch it on the bbc and am running the scrolling bar option as he speak and looks like it has been replaced by other images that i cant quite make out

that setting you recommended is on auto and wont let me change it for some reason

[megaphone]

That's very strange on a modern screen. I've fixed it before by going to an untuned analogue TV channel and run the 'snow' for a while, maybe try that.

If that does not work then I would get it changed, speak to JL. Although they may try and wriggle out as image retention is not a 'fault'

[rich85uk]

thanks for the untuned channel option, will give it a few runs and report back

[myvision]

I've a 50'' Samsung plasma I burnt the map (bottom left corner) from assassins creed into it after eight hours of solid playing it stayed there for a month then gradually disappeared.
I would send yours back.

[probedb]

Didn't even get image burn on my last plasma and that would now be over 6 years old.

I've got a 42GT50 and the only thing close to image burn I've got is two lines where he edge of 4:3 content sits due to the fact I watch a lot of it from DVD etc. My TV gets a lot of use.

I'd leave it set to static for 24 hours if you can, I found the scrolling bar didn't do much except make the set very hot as it was running a lot of the screen at full brightness all the time.

JL are generally good with their warranties so you can always see what they say.

[rich85uk]

Thanks for the input everybody

im guessing the reason the BBC logo is still there is the fact its such a deep,bright red (even more so in HD) with white text

is this too much for plasma? or should it cope with logos even as bright as this

[Dazed & Confused]

It will probably go. I thought I'd burnt in the V+ Virgin media logo (also red on black) on a G20 (I think - about 3 years old).

I ran static for 24 hours, and it was already quite a bit better. I then changed the aspect ratio of the Virgin box's menu, so the logo did not appear in the same place when paused (which is what did it in the first place).

It's gone now. I can't tell you how long it took exactly. I just one day noticed that I was no longer noticing it!

If it's still in warranty though, you could try JL. Mine is still in warranty, but I couldn't be bothered with the hassle if I could sort it myself. Which luckily I could.

[MissChief]

Unless you left the screen set to the shop display 'nuclear blast' contrast and brightness levels then I wouldn't expect any burn but some retention can sometimes happen but should dissipate over time as long as you don't repeat it constantly. My 42PZ80B is probably 4 years old by now and hasn't suffered any despite waiting some channels with DOGs for hours at a time.

[rich85uk]

When you guys say run static is that an untuned analogue channel with the snow effect as someone called it? My tv is set to thx cinema mode, reviews suggested this was very good for an out the box setting

[Dazed & Confused]

rich85uk said:

When you guys say run static is that an untuned analogue channel with the snow effect as someone called it? My tv is set to thx cinema mode, reviews suggested this was very good for an out the box setting

Yes - just white noise from an out of tune analogue channel. There's normally a blue screen hiding this as default, but it can be disabled in the settings. Remember also to switch off any power saving, or the whole TV will just dim, then switch off as soon as you go to bed, which sort of defeats the whole purpose!

[TEKNOPUG]

I get image retention on my Panny if I use it as a PC monitor for any length of time but it soon clears. I believe that the "Game" setting is the one to have it on for this though.

No evidence of screen burn though fortunately.