Panasonic TX-P50GT50 Plasma TV - Vertical Banding

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I've just looked up, and the dreaded yellow marks are back.

Well, this one's definitely going back now,

I've just worked it out, you were right. We have a patio door, which lets a band of light through the side of the curtain, and this manifest itself as yellow marks on the screen. As soon as you block the light, the yellow disaapears, then, let the light through, yellow is back.

 

[strapped for cash]

You'll have the same problem with a replacement, then.

The good news is that this can be fixed. I'll see if I can track down the thread where I read about this and post a link. You should definitely contact Panasonic.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Well, I've managed to block the light source, by taping the curtain to a unused curtain hook on the wall.

Do you think it's still worth contacting Panasonic?

 

[strapped for cash]

This isn't where I first read about the "light through the back of the panel" issue, but if you scroll to the bottom of the page you can read Panasonic's response to emails about the dirty screen effect and the problem you're experiencing.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1417174/panasonic-2012-gray-band-issue-right-side

Seems this can only be rectified by sending the TV to a service centre, though.

 

[strapped for cash]

Well, I've managed to block the light source, by taping the curtain to a unused curtain hook on the wall.

Do you think it's still worth contacting Panasonic?

I guess that depends on how happy you are to leave the curtain taped to a hook. I might accept that as a temporary fix, but I'd find the taped curtain almost as distracting as the yellow blobs. I'm guessing your wife won't approve of that as a long term solution either.

Sorry to hear you're having further headaches. We really shouldn't have to put up with all this after spending a four figure sum on a new television.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

This isn't where I first read about the "light through the back of the panel" issue, but if you scroll to the bottom of the page you can read Panasonic's response to emails about the dirty screen effect and the problem you're experiencing.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1417174/panasonic-2012-gray-band-issue-right-side

Seems this can only be rectified by sending the TV to a service centre, though.

Thanks. I''l check it out later, got to go shopping.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Well, I've managed to block the light source, by taping the curtain to a unused curtain hook on the wall.

Do you think it's still worth contacting Panasonic?

I guess that depends on how happy you are to leave the curtain taped to a hook. I might accept that as a temporary fix, but I'd find the taped curtain almost as distracting as the yellow blobs. I'm guessing your wife won't approve of that as a long term solution either.

Sorry to hear you're having further headaches. We really shouldn't have to put up with all this after spending a four figure sum on a new television.

It's not noticeable, as I have Ikea Lack units either side of the tv unit, with records and my front speakers on, and this blocks the edge of the curtain that is taped. I could also move these Ikea units back a touch, this blocks the light too, but is not so pleasing on the eye.

Shoopin time, maybe RS too.

 

[strapped for cash]

This isn't where I first read about the "light through the back of the panel" issue, but if you scroll to the bottom of the page you can read Panasonic's response to emails about the dirty screen effect and the problem you're experiencing.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1417174/panasonic-2012-gray-band-issue-right-side

Seems this can only be rectified by sending the TV to a service centre, though.

Thanks. I''l check it out later, got to go shopping.

Ignore the "scroll to the bottom of the page" comment. Panasonic's response is actually near the end of the first post. The rest of the thread may be worth a read, but I'm guessing there'll be no surprises in there.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Interesting Strapped. Looks like the vertical line on that guys ST is far worse than my GT, mine is much less noticeable than that.

And judging by Panasonic's response, there's nothing they are willing to do about it. It's nonsense to suggest (like they do) that all Plasmas are made this way, I can say with 100% certainty, my Kuro didn't have this problem.

My mind is almost certainly made up, I'm sticking with this one. Will ring JL tomorrow, and cancel the replacement.

One question, what do they mean by running slides of different white and grey fullscreen images?

Do they mean the scrolling bar?

 

[strapped for cash]

Sounds like the dirty screen effect on your GT50 is toward the more tolerable end of the spectrum. Now you've identified the cause of the yellow blobs and found a workaround, I can understand your decision to stick rather than twist.

By running slides, they're not talking about the scrolling bar, rather a sequence of slides designed to break the panel in evenly. You could reasonably argue that using a new plasma TV responsibly is just as effective. Besides, I'm guessing you're past the "panic" stage, as your set has been in use for a month.

I'm intrigued to know, do you think the dirty screen effect has become less noticeable as your GT50 has bedded in?

I'd say the issue on my GT50 is pretty comparable with the photograph uploaded to that thread.

I'm watching the football and I always see the dirty screen effect with camera pans. There are a couple of lighter lines, roughly an inch thick, about three inches from the right-side bezel. It's frustrating, as I think the picture is fantastic otherwise.

If I thought things would improve, I could live with the problem short-term. I've been watching BBC HD tonight and the picture was fantastic the majority of the time. I was mostly watching documentaries, though, with lots of static shots.

 

[Alantiggger]

Yeesh! Every year it seems there's a new problem with Panasonic's *cough* award-winning TVs: SD motion issues, fading blacks, vertical thin green line in the centre of the screen, etc, and now the fault mentioned in this thread. Impressive :roll:

Indeed, rather strange.... should have bought a Samsung guys...... like mine, Samsung PN51E6500.... tremendous blacks and no weird things happening on the screen.... cheaper too.

Hope everything goes well though with you guys's tv's and all becomes well.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Sounds like the dirty screen effect on your GT50 is toward the more tolerable end of the spectrum. Now you've identified the cause of the yellow blobs and found a workaround, I can understand your decision to stick rather than twist.

By running slides, they're not talking about the scrolling bar, rather a sequence of slides designed to break the panel in evenly. You could reasonably argue that using a new plasma TV responsibly is just as effective. Besides, I'm guessing you're past the "panic" stage, as your set has been in use for a month.

I'm intrigued to know, do you think the dirty screen effect has become less noticeable as your GT50 has bedded in?

I'd say the issue on my GT50 is pretty comparable with the photograph uploaded to that thread.

I'm watching the football and I always see the dirty screen effect with camera pans. There are a couple of lighter lines, roughly an inch thick, about three inches from the right-side bezel. It's frustrating, as I think the picture is fantastic otherwise.

If I thought things would improve, I could live with the problem short-term. I've been watching BBC HD tonight and the picture was fantastic the majority of the time. I was mostly watching documentaries, though, with lots of static shots.

I'm watching football now, the dse is only noticeable during camera pans, and really only noticeable if I look towards the right hand side of the screen. I've never noticed it during any other viewing, only with camera pans during sports with a green solid background.

I don't think the dse has lessened over time, I just try to forget about it, not get drawn to it.

If you can see yours while just normally watching the tv, then I think you should change it again, if it's only when you look to that side of the screen, then stick with it.

Saying that, after being 100% certain last night that I would keep this one, the doubts have again risen in my mind.

What if the next one is perfect?

What if the next one is worse?

It's driving me mad, but I have to make a decision very soon, the replacement is due Tuesday morning.

(Amp is on the backburner until this is sorted.)

 

[Anonymous]

No issues here with the VT50.......

 

[bigboss]

No issues here with the VT50.......

There are a number of threads on other forums, where users have described image retention & screen burn.

Besides, the same problem (DSE) is prevalent in VT50 as well, as it's "within manufacturer's specification". Some people notice it more than others.

Check this thread, for example:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1408338/official-panasonic-vt50-owners-thread/1920

"We'll all have some imperfect uniformity on grey/white slides, but this is due to DSE- not IR. All VT50's have some level of DSE thanks to the "Kuro-like filter""

And user comments here:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs/1292302/panasonic-viera-tx-p50vt50

"I'm now on my second Panasonic VT50 and will have to return this one too. The first one had terrible burn in"

 

[Anonymous]

No issues here with the VT50.......

There are a number of threads on other forums, where users have described image retention & screen burn.

Besides, the same problem (DSE) is prevalent in VT50 as well, as it's "within manufacturer's specification". Some people notice it more than others.

Check this thread, for example:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1408338/official-panasonic-vt50-owners-thread/1920

"We'll all have some imperfect uniformity on grey/white slides, but this is due to DSE- not IR. All VT50's have some level of DSE thanks to the "Kuro-like filter""

And user comments here:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs/1292302/panasonic-viera-tx-p50vt50

"I'm now on my second Panasonic VT50 and will have to return this one too. The first one had terrible burn in"

I can only comment on my own experience. As for burn in and image retention, proper running in on low contrast and brightness settings is essential. It is unfortunately Plasma's achilles heel, and to be fair Pioneer were worse in this respect than the more modern Pannys.

 

[bigboss]

I can only comment on my own experience. As for burn in and image retention, proper running in on low contrast and brightness settings is essential. It is unfortunately Plasma's achilles heel, and to be fair Pioneer were worse in this respect than the more modern Pannys.

That's good that your TV is free from these issues, like a lot of happy GT50 owners as well. I agree regarding the importance of proper running in, although IR / screen burn isn't so much of an issue now. I was, in fact, surprised that a 2012 model exhibited this problem. Maybe it was the Olympics logo.

I can't say for the previous generations, but my 9th generation Pioneer never showed any IR or screen burn despite hours of gaming at a time. At the time (2009), Samsung and LG plasmas were notorious for IR and screen burn and Pioneer & Panasonic were considered to be the best in this regard.

 

[strapped for cash]

After being 100% certain last night that I would keep this one, the doubts have again risen in my mind.

What if the next one is perfect?

What if the next one is worse?

It's driving me mad, but I have to make a decision very soon, the replacement is due Tuesday morning.

(Amp is on the backburner until this is sorted.)

I'm only basing my response on experience of two GT50s, but I'd say any differences between them were very small, if indeed there's any difference at all.

I've read too much about this to believe there's a perfect GT50 out there (or ST or VT). I'm guessing users that report a "perfect" set are less distracted by the issue, or use settings that mask it reasonably well.

I don't notice the bands on the majority of content, but I always see them when watching football (blocks of grey and green show them up most visibly).

If you've any way of displaying a uniform grey screen, setting the contrast to minimum clearly shows which areas of the set are affected. This doesn't reflect normal viewing, but it perhaps explains why those using high contrast settings see the dirty screen effect less, or not at all (the "normal" picture preset has a higher default contrast setting than other picture modes, with the exception of "dynamic," of course).

I'm no less annoyed by this problem than I was on the first day I became a GT50 owner. Assuming I keep the TV, it will be because I find issues with other TVs more objectionable.

You can give a replacement a shot. I'd be interested to hear how you get on, though I don't want to encourage you to do this for the sake of my curiosity. I'm guessing your experience with a replacement would be remarkably similar to mine.

 

[bigboss]

I don't notice the bands on the majority of content, but I always see them when watching football (blocks of grey and green show them up most visibly).

Looks like you should stop watching football, & watch some other sport, like cricket or tennis!

 

[strapped for cash]

I don't notice the bands on the majority of content, but I always see them when watching football (blocks of grey and green show them up most visibly).

Looks like you should stop watching football, & watch some other sport, like cricket or tennis!

I don't really watch football, but cricket and grass court tennis may be no better. What's most distracting is the knowledge that the problem is there and can show up at any time. Nature documentaries, for instance, often display large patches of green, or pastel skies. Hours of viewing can pass without the bands appearing, but each time they do my enjoyment of the TV diminishes.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Sounds like the dirty screen effect on your GT50 is toward the more tolerable end of the spectrum. Now you've identified the cause of the yellow blobs and found a workaround, I can understand your decision to stick rather than twist.

By running slides, they're not talking about the scrolling bar, rather a sequence of slides designed to break the panel in evenly. You could reasonably argue that using a new plasma TV responsibly is just as effective. Besides, I'm guessing you're past the "panic" stage, as your set has been in use for a month.

I'm intrigued to know, do you think the dirty screen effect has become less noticeable as your GT50 has bedded in?

I'd say the issue on my GT50 is pretty comparable with the photograph uploaded to that thread.

I'm watching the football and I always see the dirty screen effect with camera pans. There are a couple of lighter lines, roughly an inch thick, about three inches from the right-side bezel. It's frustrating, as I think the picture is fantastic otherwise.

If I thought things would improve, I could live with the problem short-term. I've been watching BBC HD tonight and the picture was fantastic the majority of the time. I was mostly watching documentaries, though, with lots of static shots.

I'm watching football now, the dse is only noticeable during camera pans, and really only noticeable if I look towards the right hand side of the screen. I've never noticed it during any other viewing, only with camera pans during sports with a green solid background.

I don't think the dse has lessened over time, I just try to forget about it, not get drawn to it.

If you can see yours while just normally watching the tv, then I think you should change it again, if it's only when you look to that side of the screen, then stick with it.

Saying that, after being 100% certain last night that I would keep this one, the doubts have again risen in my mind.

What if the next one is perfect?

What if the next one is worse?

It's driving me mad, but I have to make a decision very soon, the replacement is due Tuesday morning.

(Amp is on the backburner until this is sorted.)

I think I would twist.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Happy to report a very good outcome. My TV has been replaced with a problem free one. Excellent service from my local Panasonic Store near Bristol - Thanks guys for sorting it so quickly and professionally.

LanceyBoy got a problem free one, gel got a problem free one, means there are good ones out there.

Think I'm gonna twist, I hope I don't regret it.

Or will I?

 

[strapped for cash]

I've been exactly where you are now. I sincerely hope all works out favourably. For what it's worth, I think it's highly unlikely that switching will be catastrophic. In my view, different users have different perceptions of what constitutes a "problem free" set. In other words, I'm probably too pedantic for my own good.

Be sure to let us know how you get on...

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I've stuck. I've just rang JL and cancelled the replacement.

I've notched up the contrast a bit, and lowered the brightness a touch, and it seems better.

I was watching football and American football last night, and some cricket and golf this morning, and I can barely see the dse, so I can't believe the replacement will be any better.

I was so worried I'd get a real duffer as a replacement, so unless something goes seriously wrong, this is my tv for the next few years.

I'm relieved, and I can now concentrate on getting a new amp.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I've stuck. I've just rang JL and cancelled the replacement.

I've notched up the contrast a bit, and lowered the brightness a touch, and it seems better.

I was watching football and American football last night, and some cricket and golf this morning, and I can barely see the dse, so I can't believe the replacement will be any better.

I was so worried I'd get a real duffer as a replacement, so unless something goes seriously wrong, this is my tv for the next few years.

I'm relieved, and I can now concentrate on getting a new amp.

Fair play.

On the amp side how about this one, a Yamaha was £1500 now £500 ex demo extremely well looked after, cracking amp and comes with shop warranty here:

http://www.technosound.co.uk/eShop/SpecialOffers.html#Yamaha

Milton Keynes shop

 

[strapped for cash]

I've stuck. I've just rang JL and cancelled the replacement.

I've notched up the contrast a bit, and lowered the brightness a touch, and it seems better.

I was watching football and American football last night, and some cricket and golf this morning, and I can barely see the dse, so I can't believe the replacement will be any better.

I was so worried I'd get a real duffer as a replacement, so unless something goes seriously wrong, this is my tv for the next few years.

I'm relieved, and I can now concentrate on getting a new amp.

That's pretty close to how I feel. I don't think getting another replacement would result in a significant improvement or deterioration; I simply feel it would be more hassle for more of the same.

I also watched the American football last night and hardly noticed the dirty screen effect. That possibly has something to do with the fact that there were fewer fast pans that "actual" football. For the record, the picture is sensational the great majority of the time. Using one of the Professional presets, I now have a picture that looks supremely natural and very punchy.

You could try the following settings. (I know all panels are different, but the THX preset is widely observed to have an excess of green, if very accurate otherwise. The Professional presets replicate colour balance in the THX preset, but allow white and colour balance control.)

General settings

Contrast: 52*

Brightness: 31

Colour: 25

Sharpness: 0

Advanced settings


Gamma: 2.4

White balance: all settings at default, except G-Gain (-7) and G-Cutoff (-9).

I wouldn't suggest for a moment that the picture can't be dialled in more accurately using a colorimeter (I plan to do this in the relatively near future), but images look incredibly natural to me now (and much more so than on any other picture preset).

* The vertical bands are less visible on a uniform grey screen with this contrast setting, which hopefully has a knock-on effect in terms of actual viewing. There's perhaps some minor white clipping using this higher contrast setting.