Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

I have a new Pioneer Elite Kuro Plasma Display Pro-111FD and I avoid any stations with fixed stock tickers etc. The one thing I can't avoid is the icons in the corners of almost all stations currently on my satellite feed. For example NatGeo has an Icon on thier HD channel and so does the Food Channel. Is there a way we can stop this from happening? Is their a protest in progress. All of us who have paid a premium to get the best display jump thru hoops to protect it from burn in, only to fall prey to idiots that are perfectly aware of the technology out there that drives them and profits them.... Please let me know if there is something I should know about so I can contribute to the cause that will stop these icons from appearing. On a side note, why so much information at one time? How about a picture...that is right...just a picture. No text at all. I am so tired of all the extra crap. I just want to watch the desired programming without any added crap. I guess I am a purest.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Absolutely. It has been going on since the late '90's (back in the rear projection CRT days). Has it worked? No. They are only getting worse. Calibrate and don't watch the same station all day, every day.

-Robert

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Or just stop watching those channels, and send them emails/letters telling them why you don't watch them anymore. Enough people do that, they'll take those logos off quicker than you can pick up the phone to complain. But it has to start with you.

I don't have cable anymore because I don't want to pay $50/month for just a couple channels I care about, and all the cable companies have heard why I canceled or choose not to sign up for their service. I told them to call me when they offer a la cart.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

You think you got the best display, But I can leave mine on a static wall paper all day today, tomorrow and for the next 11 years and never have an issue with Burn in..

So did you get the "best" display? I say, NO....

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

We just bought our first plasma display for my Mother. The model
is the Panasonic 46PZ85U.

I did a lot of research on this display before its purchase, mainly
due to the same concerns that Jason expressed in his post.

First of all, welcome to the forum, Jason. Hope you make HTF your
new home.

From everything I have read, burn-in is no longer a major issue
with plasma displays if you are careful about the way you watch
television.

The first thing all plasma owners need to do from day one is to
turn down the brightness and contrast levels. All displays come out
of the box way too "hot" meaning that they overly bright and vivid --
perfect for store displays.

Secondly, there has been a lot of controversy over whether this needs
to be done or not, but I did a "break in" of my plasma for the first 100
hours of use. To do this, you simply turn down your brightness, contrast
and color levels below normal. There are FAQs across the Internet on
recommended settings for particular models. Apparently, it is the first
100 hours that the plasma display is most vulnerable to burn-in.

Now, granted, I have talked to reputable calibrationists who sort of
frown on having to go through a "break in," but when spending so much
money on a display like this, I tend to err on the side of caution.

Now, the final point I wanted to make is that you need to be very
smart about the way you watch programming. You don't want to
keep static images on your display for hours at a time. Nor do you
want to watch hours of letterboxed material without switching to
something else. This is particularly important in the first 100 hours
of use.

As far as stock tickers and station logos? From what I have been
reading most stations are aware of plasma issues. For that reason you
will notice that the logos have become transparent, and/or they tend
to appear and disappear for moments at a time. Of course, there are
stations that still don't understand the potential harm their logos cause
and abuse the use of them.

I don't find stock tickers to be an issue. The channels I see them used
on (CNN, MSNBC, FOX) don't keep them up 24/7. Maybe there are
channels that do. Also, I would hope that the commercial breakaways
give the display enough minutes of rest that so that there are no potential
burn-in issues.

I have read dozens of comments across the Internet from new plasma
owners and I have yet to read a single post that complains of burn-in
issues. Most everyone claims that burn-in is no longer a major issue
with new plasma displays. I think the only individuals who should fear
any sort of burn-in issues are those that abuse their displays. These are
viewers who don't turn their display levels down and aren't smart about
switching around viewing material.

I do believe you still need to "baby" plasma displays more than others,
but then again I feel that plasma delivers the kind of picture quality that
most owners won't mind giving a little extra care for.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Robert, Aaron, Ronald:

Thanks for your responses and the info on break in. I did follow all the rules you mentioned. As you pointed out, plasma owners with large investments into their equipment will not mind going the extra mile for increased security regarding the life and performance of their equipment. Having said that, I am not entirely sure our efforts are warranted...today's high-end plasmas are smart and completely ready for the sources we may feed them. Then again, anyone who is aware of this is still going to err on the safe side, thus resulting in my rant about the icons and how they irritate me. The performance of my display is so perfect that I am paranoid of anything that may threaten it, and yet Pioneer has taken precautions to protect the display from such a threat. This still does not remove the responsibility from the broadcasters and that is what really turns my stomach. As a side note I think I read somewhere that CRT technology also suffered from the same problems. I remember this with the first PC monitors (screen-savers), but disregarded it with TVs. So this problem has been around for awhile. I could be wrong but I think LCD is the only technology free from threat, but that is a completely different monster. Thanks for the warm welcome and response and I look forward to more engaging and informative conversation from this forum.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Thank you...

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Hi Jason, congrats on your great new set! Despite what Brett said you do indeed have the best display. That is the same model I'm looking to get soon. From what I have gathered on AVS it's wise to only view full screen images for the first 150 hrs. That's what I plan to do just to be sure.

Re station logos, I am concerned about it because my wife watches a lot of USA Network, and their logo isn't transparent, it's white! Burn-in aside that's highly annoying. As Ron said I'd expect the commercial breaks to help negate the IR possibility. Should I be concerned? My wife would not like it if I had to tell her no USA for two weeks on the expensive new TV.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Thanks Heinz,

I have taken advantage of all the information available and have set up my set for break-in with all the settings you can imagine to protect the display. I am now pursuing DVD options for calibration and information about this process as well as information regarding the proper time to bring in an ISF professional if necessary. Good luck with your new display...you won't be disappointed.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

Heinz,


"Best" is a perception and perception is only your reality. There truly is no "Best" display for all. I would never consider a Plasma, I won't even give them a Nod as I've spent lots of time with them in the work environment and even at home (not my home) and they just do not fit my needs.

Any set that has to be handled with kid gloves would never cut it in my environment. I use my TV as a display for my PC and I would ruin any Plasma within six months. I've gone through tons of Plasmas in our ops center where I work, the technology is no good as a monitor.

Plasma has come a long way with pixel shifting technology so that they are not as prone to burn in on TV as they were say five years ago. And for most consumers that's very good news. But for me? never...

I guess if my needs were to have a display that I could put in the living room and then watch from my second story loft while standing on the spiral stair case then I would go with plasma, but seeing as how I don't have a loft or a spiral stair case, and my living room is laid out perfectly so that I am never too off angle, my projection set was the perfect technology "for me" and no matter what I do, I will never burn my set in, it's not even possible to burn mine in.

I wish all plasma owners the best of luck with the displays they chose. I am sure for TV and Movies they will provide at least a decade of fine viewing.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

DLP is also immune from burn-in issues.

Re: Station Icons ruining plasma displays??????

CRT based rptvs were at least as if not more prone to burn-in than any plasma. I used a '99 model SD Hitachi rptv as a monitor for my webTV for years with no problem, and logged many hours of video games on the same set and never had a trace of burn-in due to running contrast at less than half it's max value.

That set's successor, an 01 model Sony KP57HW40 crt based rptv endured countless hours of viewing 2:35 a/r movies and 4/3 stuff with black bars on the sides with no burn-in over the 5 1/2 years I used it.

In an office environment where a set has to be run at high light output levels on stationary images for hours at a time without break I'm not surprised that burn-in occured on plasmas, but that's just not applicable to any home theater situation.

It should be noted that Panasonic now includes a game mode on many of their plasma sets, so they aren't really afraid of video gaming on a plasma which in the past was considered a real no-no.