LG 50PK550R Owner's Discussion Thread

[jsanand]

Hi all, with no attempt to hijack the exclusive pk550r owners thread - I just wanted to check with the owners (who have been initially reporting presence of green dancing pixels on the screen for dark images) if they have seen any presence of 'Dancing Red Pixels' on the screen.

I had purchased a LG 42PQ60 last year and have enjoyed it without any complaints for last one year (warranty just expired few days back!:sad and have started noticing presence of a bunch of red dancing pixels near bottom left corner on the screen and in small concentrated groups towards left of the screen (mid-height - which is prominently visible once I switch on the Q. Menu).

While watching HD content it is now visible almost all the while when some lighter shades are being displayed. It is also evident if the TV has no input source and 'No Signal' sign floats over the mentioned region. It is however not evident on whitewash (so dont think its dead pixels at play) or color wash.

Last night I had tried a color wash for around 15 mins and the effect seemed to have reduced. But today morning it was back to its original intensity (appears like a red flame of around 1 and half inch in height from a region bottom left corner of the screen)

Please let me know friends if you have faced this on your plasmas (or any earlier version you have owned)

 

[heynownow]

Took delivery of the 50PK550 on Wednesday. Have got it stand mounted for now. Thinking of getting it wall mounted. How difficult is it to access the ports on the rear of the TV once it is wall mounted?
.

It will be a pain trust me. I want to move one of my HDMI cables to the rear (currently on the side) and I just cant. I will need an able bodied fellow to help me lift the TV off the mounting hooks, then I can plug the wire into HDMI 2 and then neatly tie the dangling cables (2 HDMI's, PC Vga+audio, Sound Out RCAs) But I'm too damn scared to ask one of my friends to help me out, lest they drop the 30 kilo panel. So if you're gonna get it wall mounted, make sure all your connections are in the final destined place; present and future

 

[shredder]

Will some obliging PK550 owner please post some images of the TV displaying a completely black image in a dark room? Thinking of going in for a 42" plasma. Considering the X20D but also thinking of PJ560, so just want to get an idea of the TV's performance wrt black levels.

 

[dotMac]

Will some obliging PK550 owner please post some images of the TV displaying a completely black image in a dark room? Thinking of going in for a 42" plasma. Considering the X20D but also thinking of PJ560, so just want to get an idea of the TV's performance wrt black levels.

I had initially posted the Black Knight image here in this thread.
IMHO, do not decide based on the pics the User's post. Some might look great when in real it is not and some worst when the real would be better. So if possible get a home demo. Even the showroom demo does not do the justice when it comes to Plasmas. You might be aware of these but thought of mentioning.

Edit:
Here is the link : dark_knight on PK550
and the Original image

Though not perfectly black, hope this helps.

 

[shredder]

OK I can see see some greenish hue on the edges of the batman image and also on the edges of the menu bar. Is that the infamous green dancing pixel discussed so often? If yes, then have you got rid of it?

 

[dotMac]

OK I can see see some greenish hue on the edges of the batman image and also on the edges of the menu bar. Is that the infamous green dancing pixel discussed so often? If yes, then have you got rid of it?

No thats not the Green pixel issue.
If I had bumped the contrast in that scene, the dark background in the picture would start turning gray. At this stage(in between transition from dark black and dark gray), if you view from close(within ~2ft), you would view green pixel like grains. Its "dancing" for the reason that green pixels will blink. This phenomenon is visible for other sub pixels but intensity of green is bit more and hence prominent.
Guess Shaiju has posted its pic/movie in this thread.

The hue you are seeing, is the way camera has captured the bleeding.

 

[jsanand]

Hi all, with no attempt to hijack the exclusive pk550r owners thread - I just wanted to check with the owners (who have been initially reporting presence of green dancing pixels on the screen for dark images) if they have seen any presence of 'Dancing Red Pixels' on the screen.

I had purchased a LG 42PQ60 last year and have enjoyed it without any complaints for last one year (warranty just expired few days back!:sad and have started noticing presence of a bunch of red dancing pixels near bottom left corner on the screen and in small concentrated groups towards left of the screen (mid-height - which is prominently visible once I switch on the Q. Menu).

While watching HD content it is now visible almost all the while when some lighter shades are being displayed. It is also evident if the TV has no input source and 'No Signal' sign floats over the mentioned region. It is however not evident on whitewash (so dont think its dead pixels at play) or color wash.

Last night I had tried a color wash for around 15 mins and the effect seemed to have reduced. But today morning it was back to its original intensity (appears like a red flame of around 1 and half inch in height from a region bottom left corner of the screen)

Please let me know friends if you have faced this on your plasmas (or any earlier version you have owned)

Anyone with a similar issue on any of LG Plasmas?

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Anyone with a similar issue on any of LG Plasmas?

Do you have picture to post?

Don't hit the panic button yet but I think it must be much more of an issue if they have started appearing in bunches suddenly. Launch a complaint online and see what LG has to say.

 

[nishant80]

Here is the link : dark_knight on PK550
and the Original image

Though not perfectly black, hope this helps.

@dotMac: The original image is just 1024X768 in res. Have you tried a 1920X1080 image? I am sure it will look lot better than the smaller one.

some HD images are here:
http://gainsaid.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/batbadge.jpg
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9943/1920x108071xm3.jpg

 

[dotMac]

@dotMac: The original image is just 1024X768 in res. Have you tried a 1920X1080 image? I am sure it will look lot better than the smaller one.

some HD images are here:
http://gainsaid.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/batbadge.jpg
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9943/1920x108071xm3.jpg

Thanks for the HD images.
However, I was using the 1024X768 for the purpose of checking the black level of my TV.
The image as it is small will not fill the entire screen. So the TV will turn off the pixels that are not part of the image. That section represents the deepest black.
If you now calibrate the settings such that the black inside the image matches with that of the turned OFF pixels, you get the deepest black for the picture.
For this particular picture, you will not be able to see the image border at all.

When I was experimenting this sort of stuff I had taken those snaps as I felt the black level was awesome

PS: The above thing that I describe is purely my experimentation. I thus do not declare that this IS THE method to calibrate black level. The method may be flawed and may not give best pic settings.

 

[nishant80]

There is an annoyance with this TV that I want to share with fellow PK550 users. Consider this scenario:
1. I am watching TV and it is interrupted by power cut.
2. I forget to switch off from power outlet and leave for the rest of day.
3. Power comes back when I'm gone.
3. I come back after 7-8 hours and find the TV running uselessly.

The fact that this TV does not go to standby after power comes back is a big nuisance in my opinion. Aren't such devices supposed to go to standby when they are powered on? Any ideas to overcome it?

 

[nishant80]

Thanks for the HD images.
However, I was using the 1024X768 for the purpose of checking the black level of my TV.
The image as it is small will not fill the entire screen. So the TV will turn off the pixels that are not part of the image. That section represents the deepest black.
.

Ahhh ... I thought you took the snap after filling entire screen with that image. All ok now

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

There is an annoyance with this TV that I want to share with fellow PK550 users. Consider this scenario:
1. I am watching TV and it is interrupted by power cut.
2. I forget to switch off from power outlet and leave for the rest of day.
3. Power comes back when I'm gone.
3. I come back after 7-8 hours and find the TV running uselessly.

The fact that this TV does not go to standby after power comes back is a big nuisance in my opinion. Aren't such devices supposed to go to standby when they are powered on? Any ideas to overcome it?

No, the display devices I had from CRT to Samsung LCD all came back to life when power returned. In fact my DVD does so as well. I think it is quite a good feature (?) since the power outage could be short and I would be too lazy to reach for the remote

 

[nishant80]

No, the display devices I had from CRT to Samsung LCD all came back to life when power returned. In fact my DVD does so as well.

Hmmm..guess, I've to live with it then.
My DVD player and PS3 go to standby when power returns and I had gotten used to 'not switching off' from the power outlet.

 

[heynownow]

However, if your TV is in standy mode to start with, when the power is yanked off, it'll go back to standby when the power comes back on

 

[nishant80]

However, if your TV is in standy mode to start with, when the power is yanked off, it'll go back to standby when the power comes back on

I'm aware of that. So, I guess everyone here uses the switch (to power off) when power goes while viewing TV.

 

[TNAWAYAJ]

Hey JSANAND,

I came across this on AVS and thought you should know - the red dots are apparently due to voltage issues. Have you tried using a voltage stabliser with your PQ60?

Here is the link

Hope it solves your problem!

Hi all, with no attempt to hijack the exclusive pk550r owners thread - I just wanted to check with the owners (who have been initially reporting presence of green dancing pixels on the screen for dark images) if they have seen any presence of 'Dancing Red Pixels' on the screen.

 

[TNAWAYAJ]

I'll be booking my PK550 this weekend! Please wish me luck, guys! :lol:
Special thanks to dotmac for his advice and guidance, and shaiju as well!

I was wondering what happens to all the units that were returned by customers - what is LGs policy for those units? Are they sent back to the factory and then refurbished and sold as new? Or are they refurbished locally (i.e. in the city where the unit was sold) and then sold as new? Or are they not sold at atll? Does anyone have any gyaan on this??

And just another point - a lot of my movies are SD Divx rips, stuff that I've collected painstakingly over many years. Please can someone tell me what to expect when I play those movies via USB on the PK550? Will the TV upsample them and make them look awesome, or will it be just tolerable?

Thanks for this fantastic thread, people!

 

[krinamob]

I was wondering what happens to all the units that were returned by customers - what is LGs policy for those units? Are they sent back to the factory and then refurbished and sold as new? Or are they refurbished locally (i.e. in the city where the unit was sold) and then sold as new? Or are they not sold at atll? Does anyone have any gyaan on this??

The defective sets are sold as bulk to some contractors.
The bulk will consist of TV sets ranging from dead pixels issues to broken panel.
Heard this info from an insider..

 

[dotMac]

I'll be booking my PK550 this weekend! Please wish me luck, guys! :lol:
Special thanks to dotmac for his advice and guidance, and shaiju as well!

I was wondering what happens to all the units that were returned by customers - what is LGs policy for those units? Are they sent back to the factory and then refurbished and sold as new? Or are they refurbished locally (i.e. in the city where the unit was sold) and then sold as new? Or are they not sold at atll? Does anyone have any gyaan on this??

And just another point - a lot of my movies are SD Divx rips, stuff that I've collected painstakingly over many years. Please can someone tell me what to expect when I play those movies via USB on the PK550? Will the TV upsample them and make them look awesome, or will it be just tolerable?

Thanks for this fantastic thread, people!

All the best.

Do ensure that you get a fresh unit and do take the precaution during installation.
Also take necessary care for the initial few days of usage.
All of these are details in this huge thread.

OMG, it has crossed 100 pages. Anyone looking for this TV has a humongous task ahead of him