The Plasma Reliability Thread (Poll Included)

[Redflag]

Hey guys,

As most of you might already know, every time there is a discussion about Plasma Tv, various issues of Plasma tv are mentioned almost everytime. Although some of the issues (like IR and Burn-in) have been mostly taken care of by the manufacturers but issues like thermal expansion are downright scary for new buyers(like me) and there is no way to confirm the actual percentage of users that experience such issues.

So, I have created this thread where owners (preferably) can post their negative as well as positive views about their plasma tv, so that people can get to know about the true picture about the reliability. Normally people will only post about the problems that they have had, but i would urge the users that if you have a tv which is working properly, please post so too because only then a fair picture will come out.

Don't forget to vote in the poll

Some Notes :

If you are not an owner of a plasma tv, but know someone who has one, please feel free to post any positive or negative about it.

Also, I would request the people who have never owned/used a Plasma Tv to refrain from posting reviews based on just the information they have read on the internet.

Do not forget to mention the Model number of the plasma and the time of ownership!

Thanks!

 

[Redflag]

Guys, I think it would be better if you post your plasma model number and age along with your vote to provide a more clearer picture!

Thanks

 

[umvarma]

Samsung 51E550. Two months and 300 hours old. No issues so far. We used it predominantly for watching TV with some occasional BD viewing, smart apps and skype usage. The only thing that I am not entirely happy is the 3D. I am not sure if there is some issue with one of the TV/glasses/content (Tron 3D bluray, some mkvs downloaded for testing and the d2h 3d channel) or I am simply expecting it too much (comparing to the awesome 55 inch LG LED passive 3D demo I had few months back). The d2h 3d channel experience is the worst with all the logos on top spoiling the whole experience.

 

[sammydude]

Samsung PS51E8000. Bought in Nov 2012. 250 hours completed. No issues so far. As of now, using it for movies and PS3 gaming only. 3D is excellent! Haven't given d2h connection yet. It's an awesome plasma!!

 

[sammydude]

The only thing that I am not entirely happy is the 3D. I am not sure if there is some issue with one of the TV/glasses/content (Tron 3D bluray, some mkvs downloaded for testing and the d2h 3d channel) or I am simply expecting it too much (comparing to the awesome 55 inch LG LED passive 3D demo I had few months back).

umvarma,

TRON 3D is not a great example of good pop-out 3D. If you are looking for good 3D popout, don't miss 'Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage'. It's the best 3D movie I've seen on TV. You can also try 'IMAX: Under the Sea' 3D.
I did demo PS51E550 last year and the demo clips they showed had amazing pop-out 3D.

 

[Nikhil]

I guess we've been lucky so far but we've not had any problems with our plasmas.
We have 2 Panasonic and one LG 42" screens which are used everyday more or less.

 

[umvarma]

umvarma,

TRON 3D is not a great example of good pop-out 3D. If you are looking for good 3D popout, don't miss 'Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage'. It's the best 3D movie I've seen on TV. You can also try 'IMAX: Under the Sea' 3D.
I did demo PS51E550 last year and the demo clips they showed had amazing pop-out 3D.

Thanks Sammydude. You have a great TV. All the november I was trying to get 51E8000 from different shops in Hyd. After realizing that I was late by a few weeks and won't be getting 51E8000, I settled for 51E550 and purchased in Jan. I will get the bluray disks you recommended to check the 3d experience.

 

[just4kix]

I am owner of Panasonic P50ST50D for over seven months now, and clocked over 1500 hours. I am happy to report that I faced no major problems till now. Apart from the issues mentioned in the poll, a few more issues have been reported such as colour banding, dirty screen effect (DSE), motion judder, etc. There was a one incident on my TV about IR. It happened when I switched off the STB and forgot to switch off the TV. The words "STB" were displayed on the TV for considerable period of time - nearly 2.5 to 3 hours. After I came back, I was dismayed to see the words faintly etched on the screen. I ran the TV vertical anti-IR scroll bars for two nights and whenever possible switched the TV to "TV Input" mode instead of standby. I am happy to report that the traces of IR vanished after the first night itself - I kept the second night for making sure. There are some who fared much worse, did not follow safe-care methods and some were downright unlucky to get bad TVs.

I have only positive things to say about ST50. Actually, I do not say bad things about any TV (FMs, please do correct me if I am wrong). I feel that it is not up to me to be a critic. I can only report what I saw and felt. If there was something bad about my TV (or any other AV equipment), I will say that it is my piece that is behaving like this and that. It is for others to judge whether that is a generic issue, good or bad.

The only negative thing I would say about plasma TVs in general is the amount of heat generated. Now it is not like that the room will feel like you are sitting next to a furnace - but it does become warm. I purchased my TV in July when Summer was over in my city. Summer is now approaching and maybe in May, I will really know about the "thermonuclear" effect.

For a complete review, please read the following posts in the thread ST50 Owners' Thread - First impressions, Reviews, Tweaks, etc.:

[post=389531]50ST50D - First impressions[/post]
[post=391598]Updates after one week[/post]
[post=391772]ST50 Remote[/post]
[post=393809]Streaming HD mkv files to ST50 via DLNA[/post]
[post=394275]ST50 Power Consumption and Heat Issue[/post]
[post=398159]The 2012 Panasonic 3D glasses[/post]
[post=446244]Plasma TV and the high power consumption argument[/post]

 

[just4kix]

It is laughable to see some "esteemed" members vote on this poll having absolutely no first hand experience or knowledge about plasma.

 

[jai1611]

On my second Plasma. The first one was kept for around three years. No real issues. Was given away when the upgrade bug bit. The new owner has been using it since with no issues.

The second one is now 1.5 years old. Absolutely no issues.

Both panels were from Panasonic.

 

[omishra]

Panasonic Plasma TH-P42C, purchased "Oct 2009". Approx 4 hrs/day, might have clocked 5000 hrs in total. Still going strong, no issues.

 

[longshanks]

Been using plasma for many years now and i feel it is the best technology for making televisions until OLED becomes mature,Apart from amazing viewing angles,black depth, real time contract and accurate eye pleasing colors i personally feel my eyes get less irritated while watching plasma compared to an LCD.

I have not seen a television display better HD content than a kuro 600M to date and i say this after having seen a lot of high end televisions and projectors.

I am guessing 2013 will be a plasma year again, either the Samsung F8500 or the Panasonic ZT60 will be named as the reference television.I am specially interested about the F8500 because Samsung has taken a new direction with this plasma from ground up.

About this burn in and retention, there is nothing called as a permanent burn in, there is only image retention, some retention is more stronger so they stay for a longer period of time but eventually all retention will fade away.

All displays on this planet have retention, let it be CRT, Plasma,OLED or LCD. CRT,Plasma and OLED dont have back light so what ever image we see on the television is the light produced by the pixels,this is the reason why retention is more visible in these displays as we are more exposed to the pixels then we do in LCD's. LCD's have a back lighting (CFL or LED) this back lighting illuminates form the edges or sides or even at random parts of the screen, and since the LCD pixels themselves are very weak and handicapped in producing actual light compared to pixels in a plasma these pixels on a LCD are not that prominently visible to a human eye(because they are dull) and are masked by this additional back light so retention on an LCD is very rarely visible.

I have seen retention on my Dell monitor many times, its almost 6 years old now and the back light has become weak and hence the retention more apparent, i never used to see this effect few years ago.

 

[anuragn]

Panasonic PV8, bought in Sep 2008!
No issues till now (..touchwood).
Did not check the usage anytime recently, but it is used daily for atleast 4-5 hours. That is, it has clocked atleast 6000 hours at an avg of 4 hours/day.

 

[jk_chaos]

Own a Panasonic P42U30D, been a year and a half, usage is almost 6 hours plus a day, both SD and HD content, touchwood no issues till date whatsoever..

 

[Redflag]

It is laughable to see some "esteemed" members vote on this poll having absolutely no first hand experience or knowledge about plasma.

What are you talking about sir?

 

[Flash]

Have the Sammy 51d550 since a 1.5 years clocked 850 hours on it.

I have seen temp dim IR several times however this is only after a static screen has been left on for a while.
However after a few minutes of regular programming no traces of IR left.

 

[just4kix]

What are you talking about sir?

Not about you definitely.

But why haven't you voted yourself?

 

[just4kix]

Been using plasma for many years now and i feel it is the best technology for making televisions until OLED becomes mature,Apart from amazing viewing angles,black depth, real time contract and accurate eye pleasing colors i personally feel my eyes get less irritated while watching plasma compared to an LCD.

I have not seen a television display better HD content than a kuro 600M to date and i say this after having seen a lot of high end televisions and projectors.

I am guessing 2013 will be a plasma year again, either the Samsung F8500 or the Panasonic ZT60 will be named as the reference television.I am specially interested about the F8500 because Samsung has taken a new direction with this plasma from ground up.

About this burn in and retention, there is nothing called as a permanent burn in, there is only image retention, some retention is more stronger so they stay for a longer period of time but eventually all retention will fade away.

All displays on this planet have retention, let it be CRT, Plasma,OLED or LCD. CRT,Plasma and OLED dont have back light so what ever image we see on the television is the light produced by the pixels,this is the reason why retention is more visible in these displays as we are more exposed to the pixels then we do in LCD's. LCD's have a back lighting (CFL or LED) this back lighting illuminates form the edges or sides or even at random parts of the screen, and since the LCD pixels themselves are very weak and handicapped in producing actual light compared to pixels in a plasma these pixels on a LCD are not that prominently visible to a human eye(because they are dull) and are masked by this additional back light so retention on an LCD is very rarely visible.

I have seen retention on my Dell monitor many times, its almost 6 years old now and the back light has become weak and hence the retention more apparent, i never used to see this effect few years ago.

Yes. There is no such thing as burn-in. One must really abuse the plasma panel for that. It happens on public display terminals only. Image retention on LCD panels is known as Image Persistence.

As long as plasma exists, it will always be king of PQ. Only the best of the best of the best LED TVs will match plasma quality and at a price that will make persons (who have pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench) squirm.

It appears from various experts that OLED will be just as much prone to IR as plasma.

 

[Redflag]

I know. Was just curious about it.

About OLED, don't forget the degradation of blue LED with time.

 

[shanmune]

My ST50 plasma is only 3 weeks old, I haven't seen any problem as such. There used to be a very mild IR of the smart vierra logo only at the time of switching on the TV, but it disappears in few secs. Any way I am using my plasma only for watching movies (DVD and USB sources) as the ST50 display often makes me enter a state of trance. I continue to watch the Tata sky SD channels on my most loyal Trintron CRT anyway ....