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Phosphor trails on Panasonic plasmas - is there any hope? (1 Viewer)

Gary Seven

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Hello,
About a month ago, I purchased a Panasonic VT50 65 inch and it truly gives a nice picture but I have noticed some strange artifacting that apparently only I can see. My wife cannot. It has been bugging me awhile and after much googling, I came across a site that matches what I am seeing...
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/plasma-phosphor-trail-2007040133.htm
Apparently, my screen has phosphur trails. It is bugging me to the point of returning this set and going with LED. I have not seen this mentioned ever in this forum and was wondering if anyone else here has been a victim. I am hoping Gregg will read and comment on this as well. Is this something that will improve with age? Will ISF calibration remedy the problem? I watch a lot of black and white but it also affects color images with white in them. One glaring example is at the beginning of Liongate production movies when the gears (part of the logo) are in motion I can see a lot of trails. I thought at first I was having flashbacks. It is really disconcerting and am hopeful there is a solution. Anyone? I really don't want to return this but may not have a choice. Thanks in advance for your help.
 

schan1269

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Chalk that up to being the 1%... Just like those who "see the rainbow" in DLP or get headaches watching 3D. I sometimes notice it in mine, I take is as an evil inherent with the better picture. How many hours are on it so far? (just a guess) It is possible that once 200 hours is met the phosphors will relax and won't be as noticeable.
 

Gary Seven

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By now I have well over 200 hours as I did go through an extensive break in. On certain black and white presentations, the effect can be rather overwhelming.
 

schan1269

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By the way, I just posted a pic for a guy wanting advice upgrading his 46" and thought plasma wasn't going to work... I show the start menu for Samaritan Girl. If close you can see phosphor trail. This is a 4yo Hitachi. From the "sweet spot", I never notice anything in it. Sometimes if riding the exercise bike(about 5 feet away) while watching Samsara/Barake/Chronos I'll see "weird stuff" from time to time.
 

schan1269

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I'll watch Au Hasard Balthazar again to see what happens on mine. I have Panny (4 of them) and Hitachi(2) to choose from...so I'll see if I can find something to make phosphor trail obnoxious.
 

Gary Seven

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If you have to work hard to see it, then I envy you. It takes no effort from me. At this point, I will have to lower the contrast I guess. I have to call Best Buy and see about possibly exhanging for LED but exchanging would be the last resort. I am hoping Michael or Gregg can chime as they must have heard of this little known problem and may know of a way to at least lessen it.
 

schan1269

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I was ISF certified. I let it lapse(3 years ago). Reducing the contrast and brightness(most "out of the box" settings are twice what you need) will mitigate the issue. On AVForum(the UK site) there have been people that said "the trail" didn't go completely away till 3000 hours. Most people who "considered it a problem" still said it went away by 1000-1500. Even Kuro had the problem their first 500 hours. So you have a choice... Exchange the set. Or calibrate it and hope it goes away(enough for you) by 1500 hours.
 

Gary Seven

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Thanks for your replies. I will give it more time. I would like to know though if calibration would be helpfull in this regard and/or if other people had the same problem and what did they do to resolve it.
 

Gregg Loewen

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Gary, what mode are you viewing in? Try it in THX Mode with the Contrast set around 65-70.
 

Gregg Loewen

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i wouldnt go lower than 65 on the Contrast. Keep the Brightness control at the default setting. If you are bothered by plasma trails....just try a LCD and look for lag! (a far worse offender).
 

schan1269

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Gregg Loewen said:
i wouldnt go lower than 65 on the Contrast. Keep the Brightness control at the default setting. If you are bothered by plasma trails....just try a LCD and look for lag! (a far worse offender).
Like I even said. I noticed it more when the Hitachi P50X901 was new. I have no clue how many hours are on it now and even the rare time it does it...I don't care for the exact reason it, at its worst, is still far more controlled than a LCD. No matter what "miracle of smoothing" is turned on.
 

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Luckily Ive never seen this on my Panasonic TH-58PZ800U, its always in the THX preset. Couple thousand hours on it...
 

Gary Seven

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I'm in Lake Worth actually, not as exciting. Gregg has been there once when he did mine and Aaron's TV.
You know the bummer is I did alot of research and googling before pulling the trigger. Not once did I find anything regarding this. Now that I have found one site, there is a thread in AVS forum about this as well. If I had known of the possibility, I would have taken a copy of Sin City with me to the store.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/603995/its-official-i-see-a-rainbow-like-effect-on-every-plasma
So a warning to those who are considering plasma, take a copy of Sin City with you to audition.
The picture itself is stellar though.
 

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