PANASONIC TX50GT30 RUN IN PERIOD

[3937edwards]

hi i know this has most proberly been mentioned and i have heard that these next generation plasmas take longer to settle i have had mine now for 7 weeks with aprox 250 hours running and settings on normal contrast brightness and colour all down on 50 % but as soon as i increase these settings even to 55% i start to get image retention my question is after 250 hours is it still in process of settling down :quest:

 

[Anonymous]

nice comment

 

[audiowizard]

I have the exact same tv as you. I have had mines for about 2 months, how do i find out how many hours I have clocked up? I have to say, I havnt really felt the need to adjust any settings, I used to be messing about with settings on past tvs a lot, but this set looks so good out the box in THX and Standard mode. I notice image retention sometimes, but it goes away in a couple of minutes and is nothing to worry about. Im like you, not sure how long these sets take to run in. Run the scrolling bar every so often if it bothers you a lot, and make sure the pixel orbiter is on, you should be ok.

 

[Oldboy]

3937 edwards,

At the 250 hours mark common opinion says that the tv is pretty much run in by now, 200-300 hours is the norm for a run in period although some sources recommend 500 hours. At 250 hrs you are slap bang in the middle of the recommended run in but if you feel as though you want to continue with your run in settings until you reach 500 hrs then do it but i don't think it's of any value tbh.

As for the image retention this will happen from time to time but will ease within the life of the tv, you have to remember that 250 hrs usage is very little when compared with the life of the tv and you should expect the issue to settle further with more use. It's easy to get rid of anyway so i wouldn't worry just yet, i experienced the same as you with my 42GT30 and i was of the opinion that upping the contrast and brightness from the run in settings was to blame.

I calibrated the screen accurately but i still got some image retention, however, this did start to settle down after a week or two and now (after over 1500hrs) i don't get any image retention issues atall so i would say the key to this is just time and do bear in mind the tools at your disposal on the tv, pixel orbiter and scrolling bar. I found them very useful for a few weeks after the run in but i don't need to use them anymore.

Hope that helps.

audiowizard,

You are taking the right precautions with pixel orbiter and scolling bar but i would recommend some calibration of the screen because black, contrast and colour levels do need some tweaking in my experience although THX is the most accurate but even that required some tweaking after my run in period.

To check the hours on your tv you need to turn to google as i can't provide a link here as it's against house rules i'm afraid, just search with the following 'check the hours used on your plasma' and you will find a thread on another forum about it but be careful, the volume buttons can change values whilst in this mode and read the instructions carefully before you start. You should also be aware that by going into this menu the settings can be wiped to the factory default although this didn't happen to me.

Best of luck and hope that helps.

 

[audiowizard]

Thanks Oldboy, just checked my hours and I have only clocked up 110 hours so far. I think I will run it for a while longer without altering any settings. I would like to calibrate it, but wouldnt know where to start. I really want to get the best picture possible, if I could get a better picture than the THX mode without getting it professionaly calibrated that would be great. I have enabled the ISF option and had a look at the available settings, but there are so many there. Is it ok to have CATS turned off while running the tv in, mines has been on mostly, but I watched Avatar in 3D and turned it off, the picture was much brighter, and better looking.

 

[Oldboy]

No worries, in that case give it about another 100 hours and see how you get on.

As for calibration there are several alternatives to a professional engineer solution, the most basic of which is to use a THX certified dvd or one of the few Blurays that carry it (Terminator 2 skynet edition is the only one i know of in the UK). This is a basic tool with easy to understand instructions and is available on many dvds such as Star Wars (the blurays don'y carry it) which will help you calibrate brightness, contrast and colour but to calibrate colour you need a pair of THX blue filter specs which are available from THX.com for less than £10 inc shipping and a full list of dvds that carry the THX calibration tests can also be found there.

All DIY calibration methods require a blue filter or similar to calibrate colour unless the tv has a blue mode built in (2011 Panny plasmas don't have this option) so getting the THX specs is a good idea unless you choose the second option which is a calibration disc such as DVE Essentials or Spears and Munsil, these are bluray discs with a much more exhaustive range of patterns to test and tweak the picture more accurately and provide a voiceover for step by step calibration. You can pick these up quite easily over the net for between £15 and £25 depending on which one you get and from where you get it and they include a range of filters for calibrating the colour.

The final (and free) option which i use is an open source calibration disc which you burn to dvd yourself called AVS HD 709, it's an exhaustive disc with excellent tools for calibrating your tv and a 30 minute programme which introduces all the patterns and tools and how to use them and guides you through the process. It's perhaps not as easy as the previous two examples but it's still easy to get great results without needing to be a tv engineer and if i can use it then i doubt anyone else will have any issues, bear in mind that you will need a pair of THX blue filter specs for this option or one of the filters included in one of the retail discs though. Here's a link to the download and instructions on how to burn to dvd:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

What i would say is that it depends on just how far you want to go with calibration, THX will provide a good basic level of calibration where the other two are a little more in depth, personally i bought the DVE Essentials disc but didn't get good results plus it seemed to take forever. I have heard good things about the Spears and Munsil disc but i haven't used it although i can confirm that AVS HD gave me excellent results after calibration, the choice is yours.

Oh and don't forget to calibrate every picture preset you use.

Hope that helps.

 

[audiowizard]

Thanks for all the useful info. I have Terminator 2 Skynet Edition, so may try that, or some of the other options you mentioned in the post. I will get myself a pair of thx filter glasses too.

 

[audiowizard]

Thanks for all the useful info. I have Terminator 2 Skynet Edition, so may try that, or some of the other options you mentioned in the post. I will get myself a pair of thx filter glasses too.