Need help with what appears to be "burn in" with TW40X81/RP91 (1 Viewer)

[Matt Kasprzak]

Hello all,

I have what appears to be burn in on my TW40X81, however I'm not totally convinced of it. Here's my situation - I would appreciate any input that anyone may have:

- There are three areas, roughly 4-6 inches square, that appear at the very top of the screen.

- The first is about one-third of the way from the left edge, another is about in the middle, and yet another to the right of that.

- These areas show up as brighter and washed out on very dark scenes. (like in Crouching Tiger, Cast Away, others)

- These areas are only visible through the progressive inputs of the TV (either #1 or #2) using my Panasonic RP91.

- These areas are NOT visible through the S-video input of the TV with the RP91.

- I've not been able to detect these brighter areas in the "black bars", rather only the film material (but I need to double-check).

- These brighter areas show up in the 1-2 second delay time prior to the DVD player powering off.

I'm using 3 or 4 meter Acoustic Research Progressive video cables to connect the DVD player to the TV. I'm calibrated with Avia, so no high contrast, brightness issue.

My questions are:

1. It can't be burn in, can it?

2. Has anyone experienced this with either the TV or DVD player mentioned above?

3. Could it be the progressive inputs on the TV?

4. Could it be the progressive output on the DVD?

5. Could it be the cables I'm using?

I need to do some testing with different cables, maybe take my player to a friend's house and try it through their TV's progressive inputs, and try to eliminate one or more of the above. But I'm curious what some of you folks might think just be reading the above, either based on experience or gut feelings.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Steve Schaffer]

If you only see it on component dvd, and on no other source, it absolutely can not be burn-in. Burn in is permanent dimming of the crt surface phosphors and will show up regardless of picture source. Burnt-in areas will show up as darker areas on white or very light solid backgrounds.
Do these rectangles only appear for a couple of seconds when powering off the dvd player or are they noticeable during normal play? If they only occur for a couple of seconds during shutdown, I wouldn't worry about it. Likewise, if it happens only at shutdown, it can't be the cables.
Your idea of trying the player on another set is a good one.

 

[Matt Kasprzak]

Thanks Steve,

I actually didn't realize that burn-in would be dark areas against light backgrounds, I was thinking the opposite, which is what I am seeing. I first noticed the problem while viewing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, because there are many night scenes.

The rectangles are always there, but can only be seen when there are stretches of black backgrounds. They appear as lighter areas of the screen, but very faintly so. As a matter of fact, they're hard to detect by looking straight at them, but rather are picked up by peripheral vision. But once seen, they are always there, and extremely distracting for darker material.

It should be easy to rule out cables, but I was wondering where the likely source of the problem is - either the TV's inputs, or the DVD's outputs. I see the problem on both sets of HD inputs on the TV, so I'm leaning towards a DVD problem.

I was also thinking of loading the RP91's newest firmware, but I'm not sure how this could be related - any ideas? I was one of the very first to buy this model, only a few days after they first appeared.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Matt Kasprzak]

Here's an update to my problem that I thought I'd post, just in case it may help someone else out there...

I was at the local Tweeter this weekend and mentioned my problem to one of sales guys. He said "hmm, sounds just like something related to 3:2 pulldown". Well, that piqued my interest, and I immediately thought that maybe the DVD firmware was the culprit. I purchased the player within days after it becoming available, and I believe the firmware version was in the 210-219 range. I've had the 236 version on my computer for several weeks, but hadn't gotten around to loading it.

Well, I burned the image onto a CDR using Nero, popped it into the player, and let it rip. After it completed, I put Cast Away in the player and, sure enough, those lighter areas at the top of the screen are completely gone - kaput. Likewise, those lighter areas are no longer present in during power down. How sweet it is.

Chalk up another reason to update your firmware on the RP91.

 

[Chris PC]

Have you tested it thoroughly? Are you sure its fixed now?
If so, then Sweet
Thats what I like to hear. Someone notices a problem and something simple fixes it. Yay for you. Others with RP-91's should take note.

 

[Matt Kasprzak]

Well, I have noticed a few differences with the DVD player since updating the firmware, but I haven't recalibrated yet, so I can't say for sure that everything is okay.

But, this problem was an obvious one to my eye, and it has most definitely disappeared.