Now I've noticed the DSE while watching football, I can see it on more content.
BBB, just to clarify, you have just one darker line toward the right of the screen?
I can see several thin, lighter lines on the right of the screen that only appear with solid blocks of colour. When I can see them they're not glaringly obvious. However, my eyes are often drawn to right of the screen to check if they're there. I've done a lot of reading and quite a few owners report that they have gone through a number of sets, hoping to get a good one, and found that each replacement has noticeable DSE, typically on the right of the screen, though occasionally on the left as well. Some owners report that the problem lessens with time. Others say it stays the same. Others still say it gets worse. Some attribute the vertical lines to the AR filter bonding process. Others to the way the panel is driven. It's a mild problem, but it's there on my set.
Likewise, the buzzing isn't constantly distracting, but it's always audible when the screen is bright and louder than on the two plasma TVs I previously owned. Again, it's a minor problem, but it's there.
Finally, I can't seem to get a picture where the colour balance looks right. On THX Cinema, supposedly the preset closest to D65, most of the colours look great, but skin tones look off. People either have an olive complexion, or look like David Dickinson. The Normal preset has an excess of green and magenta. When I watched the tennis highlights on the Olympics 2012 Blu-ray, images of the normally green centre court were skewed toward purple. On the Cinema preset, the magenta/green tint is even more pronounced. If I had to choose, the THX preset looks most accurate to my eyes, but without white balance or colour management controls, the picture's warm excesses can't be tamed.
I could probably live with one of these issues in isolation (I could get a professional calibration to address issues with colour balance, if not on the THX preset), but several small problems add up to a larger one. That said, I'm scared that the problems described above could be worse on a replacement.
It would be great if we could get our GT50s in the same room and compare aspects of performance. Of course we can't, but I've devised a few tests and questions for other owners in an effort to discern if the problems with my set are typical of performance more generally.
1) the DSE test. Most prominently with solid blocks of green (usually when watching sport) can you constantly see several slightly lighter lines on the right hand side of the display as you face it that become more pronounced with camera pans?
2) The buzzing test. This is an easy one. If you press the Guide button on the remote, does the TV buzz noticeably? The buzz on mine can be heard from 10' away (my normal seating position). It becomes louder after I press OK to pull up the full channel list. The buzz is also very noticeable during commercial breaks on 4HD, when the channel logo appears on a white background between advertisements.
3) The colour test. Does everyone look like they've spent too long on the sun on the THX preset? I've set the colour to four clicks below default (or 25 clicks from zero). Frankly, all colours are oversaturated at the default level.
I'd be very grateful if other owners could report back, as it might help me determine if the issues I've encountered are true of all GT50s (in which case I'm probably too fussy) or, alternatively, if I've got a duffer and it's worth going the replacement route. Endless swapping of televisions would be lot of hassle if every set has the same problems. Apologies for the mini-essay and many thanks.
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