HELP! I've got a demo piece with IR and am not sure what do now!

[vramak]

Long story short: Got Samsung 42B450 plasma. (Insisted the dealer that I want a fresh piece and not a demo piece.) The TV showed faint IR of Sony Max logo and scorecard right out of the box, when displaying a black screen in perfect dark conditions. The IR isn't noticeable in daylight conditions even when the brightness/ contrast are turned up/down. TV though is cosmetically perfect although the plastic wrap around the bezel shows some wrinkling. No cracking-sound/buzzing noticed. Checked with dealer and he confirms that he personally ensured that I got fresh piece. TV shows about 256 hours of usage. Should I press the dealer and ask for replacement or should I keep the TV ?

Here's the long story anyways,

I booked my Samsung 42B450 day before yesterday and I got it delivered yesterday. At the time of booking I insisted that I want a fresh piece and not a demo piece. The dealer promised me that he'll give me a fresh piece and that I can trust him.

When the piece was delivered yesterday, I noticed that the plastic wrap surrounding the bezel was a little crumpled, like it was removed and then re-attached. I checked the TV and I didn't find any other signs of usage - it was dust free and the mounting screw holes looked fresh. I couldn't see any signs of IR either. That was in the afternoon at around 4. The shock came when I checked the TV at night.

At night, I swtiched off the lights, made the room dark and I displayed a black screen on TV. I was shocked to find that the TV had ghost images of Set Max Live logo on the top-right corner and scorecard on the bottom left corner! Also, the ghost images of the black bars was very evident. It was obvious that the TV was used already to watch IPL matches. I went mad after seeing this and got prepared to blast away at the dealer the following morning.

Today morning I checked the TV again but I could not find the ghost images. Apparently, the retained images are only visible when the room is dark and a black screen is displayed. I confirmed this by checking the TV in the evening and I was able to see the IR when lights were off and a black screen was displayed. I ran a couple of fullscreen movies and also the scrolling screensaver for an hour, but still the IR remains to be seen in dark conditions.

I called the dealer and asked about it but he confirmed that he had sent me a fresh piece and he personally made sure I got a fresh piece. But he said he'll send a guy from Samsung tomorrow to inspect the TV. One more thing I noticed was that the TV showed 256 hours of usage, after I used the TV for a couple of hours.

Now I don't know what to do! Should I press the dealer asking for a replacement or is the TV normal and I am being nitpicky ?

 

[NetFreak]

I faced the same problem with B450.

Ultimately I returned the piece for full refund.

I got 50inch B450 last month and it turned out to be used piece. Logged a complaint with Samsung for replacement. But they did not have any fresh piece to replace that. On top of that, TV stopped working in a week.

 

[theironhorse]

ne idea how to chk the usage on lg lcds... LG jazz theatre (LH 60)

 

[vramak]

I faced the same problem with B450.

Ultimately I returned the piece for full refund.

I got 50inch B450 last month and it turned out to be used piece. Logged a complaint with Samsung for replacement. But they did not have any fresh piece to replace that. On top of that, TV stopped working in a week.

That's sad to hear, man. But glad that you got a full refund.

It scares me to hear that your TV stopped working after a week!

Could you please tell me how you filed a complaint with Samsung for this problem?

 

[BLASTO]

Everyone should get a lesson or two learnt from samsung as to how to spoil a good product!

I got a TV with ~250 hours usage but no IR.. My TV ran in low contrast mode for about a month and no IR what so ever after that..

What is your current brightness/contrast setting? Are you keep then ~50 till run in? Is there a possibility that the IR appeared when YOU were watching the match in dynamic mode??

If not, the shop keeper is bluffing and the TV is used for watching IPL matches in DYNAMIC mode from day one. This could cause irreversible damage to the panel.. Blast him and ask for replacement.

 

[vramak]

Everyone should get a lesson or two learnt from samsung as to how to spoil a good product!

I got a TV with ~250 hours usage but no IR.. My TV ran in low contrast mode for about a month and no IR what so ever after that..

What is your current brightness/contrast setting? Are you keep then ~50 till run in? Is there a possibility that the IR appeared when YOU were watching the match in dynamic mode??

If not, the shop keeper is bluffing and the TV is used for watching IPL matches in DYNAMIC mode from day one. This could cause irreversible damage to the panel.. Blast him and ask for replacement.

As I said, I noticed the IPL match IR on the TV right out of the box. This TV is strictly for movies and games only and I in fact don't have a cable running to it. This is one of the main reasons I chose plasma over LCD.

Out-of-the-box, the TV was in dynamic mode. I checked run-in settings on the net and changed the mode to movie mode and brought down the contrast and brightness to 50, 50, cell light to 5 and gamma to +1. I ran a couple of movies in full screen mode and I also ran the scrolling screensaver for 2 hours AFTER calibrating the TV to generally recommended run-in settings. But the IR of IPL match shows no sign of going away.

 

[vramak]

Here's a pic of the TV showing IR. I clicked this after running two fullscreen movies and 2 hours of scrolling screensaver in run-in settings. I believe the piece has already been damaged irreversibly.

Note that I clicked this image with 4 second exposure time just to illustrate the IR. This IR is visible to the naked eye at perfect dark condition but it's not noticeable in daylight.

 

[NetFreak]

That's sad to hear, man. But glad that you got a full refund.

It scares me to hear that your TV stopped working after a week!

Could you please tell me how you filed a complaint with Samsung for this problem?

TV stopped working because power supply board went Kaput. And Samsung could not replace it in 3 weeks

Call their Hotline at : 1800 11 00 11 and raise a complaint for used TV + IR on brand new TV.

Here's a pic of the TV showing IR. I clicked this after running two fullscreen movies and 2 hours of scrolling screensaver in run-in settings. I believe the piece has already been damaged irreversibly.

Damage is indeed irreversible. You have already run screen wash, temporary IR would have been taken care of by color/grayscale wash.

 

[theironhorse]

hey guys ne idea to chk usage on lg tv

 

[NetFreak]

Hold down the menu button on the remote and simultaneously hold down the menu button on the set itself. After a few seconds the service menu appears in the upper left hand corner. The swap button on the remote allows you to change the pages.

 

[buswal]

Indeed it is sad. Pl. rake up the issue immediately or send a legal notice and go to consumer court without loss of time. write to samsung. Pl. let us know the dealer who sold the used set to you so that other forums may avoid him.

samsung - even my fridge and washing machine just completed one year giving some problem. compressor noise in fridge, water leak from the o-ring in washing machine (samsung). The sales man was pushing samsung products. Now back to the main topic, I was contemplating to go for a samsung 50 or 42 inch TV. Now I have to think twice.

 

[santhosh]

Threaten that you will go to media and that your relative is in a high post in a leading newspaper. When my plasma was found to be a used one I did the same, I got the next higher model for the same cost.

Act fast, you can prove tv is used since you got the tv just 2 days ago, there is no way a new tv can clock 250 hours.

 

[spirovious]

Sad to here-

You shld contact Samsung India & complain them abt dealer saying probably he cheated you.You can even state that if they dont do any favour,you will approach consumer forum.

 

[dali]

Sad to hear the problem guys, Def sue the dealer. BTW what does IR means???

 

[psychotropic]

this sounds like burn-in and not just TIR, so please return it and get your full money back, or sue the pants off the dealer.

 

[adder]

well 256hrs sound about right for a new tv well atleast lcd are tested to around that range of close to 300hrs.

its clear that the tv has been used before so get hold of the dealer and contact samsung.

its mostly burn IN although sometimes TIR can last even for a couple of days.

but u said u bought this tv mainly for gaming and HD movies.but if some one wants to game i suggest a lcd rather then a plasma,TIR can be PIA at times and if u are a marathon gamer then plasma is really a bad choice especialy a samsung or a LG plasma,panasonic plasma are bit more resistant to TIR and burn IN.
they also don't look as sharp as a lcd,due to dithering .

my suggestion get a full money refund.

 

[akasmarty2003]

People need to be more informed/aware when they r buying expensive gadgets. the plasma model you have bought was launched 3 to 4 years back in global market and Im sure that Samsung have stopped its production long time back so this TV was not lying in the godown of manufacturer or dealer to eat dust of-course it was used for demo to get rid of it ASAP. Im pretty sure that if you return it back itll be sold to someone else. This is the common practice they follow. so be careful next time. Well here is the link for you to register your complain online and you can also discus you problem with Samsung India CC (live chat). SAMSUNG Live Chat

 

[vramak]

Thanks for your kind words and ideas everyone.

Sad to hear the problem guys, Def sue the dealer. BTW what does IR means???

IR - Image retention. Check the image I've posted in the first page. You'll see the Sony Max Live logo and scorecard appear on screen even though I am displaying only a plain black screen on TV. This is called image retention. Image retention is temporary and should disappear within 30 mins or so. When the retained image simply refuses to disappear even after a long time, the problem is called burn-in. Burn-in is permanent and cannot be fixed, nor is it covered under warranty. These problems arise only in plasma TVs.

but u said u bought this tv mainly for gaming and HD movies.but if some one wants to game i suggest a lcd rather then a plasma,TIR can be PIA at times and if u are a marathon gamer then plasma is really a bad choice especialy a samsung or a LG plasma,panasonic plasma are bit more resistant to TIR and burn IN.
they also don't look as sharp as a lcd,due to dithering .

my suggestion get a full money refund.

I beg to differ. The PS3 games I own (Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 etc. ) have absolutely no static images or HUD or maps on screen. Also, the games occupy the whole screen and leave no black bars around. I was actually planning to break-in my TV by playing Uncharted-2 on hard mode.

Watching TV channels I think has a bigger chance of leaving TIR/burn-in with those logos and black bars.

Higher end LCDs, I think, certainly have an edge over plasma when it comes to gaming. In my budget of <60K for a 42" TV, I had a look at Samsung and Sony 40" LCDs. These were certainly not as good as the Samsung plasma in terms of picture quality.

Other than this problem, I absolutely love this TV. Games, especially look mindblowing - they look sharper and better than blu ray movies! DVDs look great and surprisingly, they look much better than in my CRT. (Probably an effect of the neat upscaler in PS3? )

And finally here's an update on the situation -

I took the picture of the TV with IR to the dealer and showed it to him. He apologized and told me that he will replace the TV on Tuesday when the new lot comes to his warehouse. He was courteous but he said he personally ensured that I was sent a new piece and probably the delivery boy must've delivered the wrong piece to me and the new piece to someone else. (Which makes me question his ethics. He was willing to pass off a used piece to some unsuspecting customer! ) I have told the dealer that I want a refund in case the new piece doesn't reach me by Tuesday. I thought I'd give the dealer one more chance before taking the pain of blasting him for a refund and also going on a hunt to find another dealer who has stock of the same TV for a good price.

BTW, The dealer is Shah's, Anna Nagar, Chennai. The person who interacts with me on the deal is Mr.Senthil. Please exercise caution when buying anything from this dealer or avoid him if you want peace of mind.

 

[vramak]

People need to be more informed/aware when they r buying expensive gadgets. the plasma model you have bought was launched 3 to 4 years back in global market and Im sure that Samsung have stopped its production long time back so this TV was not lying in the godown of manufacturer or dealer to eat dust of-course it was used for demo to get rid of it ASAP. Im pretty sure that if you return it back itll be sold to someone else. This is the common practice they follow. so be careful next time. Well here is the link for you to register your complain online and you can also discus you problem with Samsung India CC (live chat). SAMSUNG Live Chat

Thanks for the link bro!

I believe the Indian TV market itself is well behind the global TV market. Our TVs are manufactured here in India but sold to us at 30-50% more price than in the US. BTW, the piece I've got shows a manufacturing date of Feb, 2010. Samsung B450 is in fact the latest and arguably the best 720p plasma available now in India. Samsung C450, the newer version has not been launched yet.

Buying any expensive LCD/plasma in India is a gamble. In consumercourt.in you'll see so many complaints about high end LCDs going kaput after just a year of usage. This, despite the well known reliability of LCDs. LCD/Plasma technology itself has not matured to the level of bullet-proof reliability. If bullet-proof reliability is required, CRT is the only way to go.

For now, I guess all we can do is take the risk and hope for the best and enjoy the pleasures while our expensive equipment last. Plus we can enjoy the thrills of living in constant fear that our expensive equipment might stop working anytime.

 

[NetFreak]

well 256hrs sound about right for a new tv well atleast lcd are tested to around that range of close to 300hrs.

That is not the case with plasma.

Model that I got was used for 270 hours. 42 inch piece in showroom was used for ~80 hours.

After getting full refund from Samsung, I bought LG plasma and it was unused.