how to test plasma tvs in shops

neubee

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guys , i am seeing a lot of people finding problems in their new sets . even after paying such high prices , its sad that they are facing things like dse , banding etc .

such problems are always there in the tv or it comes after some use ?

and is there a way to detect these problems in the shop only ?
once the delivery is taken , dealer may be reluctant to take it back .

if there are any slides etc , that can detect dse , and dead pixels and other problems , in say 10 - 15 minutes , that may help buyers in future .
 
guys , i am seeing a lot of people finding problems in their new sets . even after paying such high prices , its sad that they are facing things like dse , banding etc .

such problems are always there in the tv or it comes after some use ?

and is there a way to detect these problems in the shop only ?
once the delivery is taken , dealer may be reluctant to take it back .

if there are any slides etc , that can detect dse , and dead pixels and other problems , in say 10 - 15 minutes , that may help buyers in future .

A very difficult question to answer, but let me put my thoughts and I am sure others will pitch in to help you further. I also request others as well to correct/modify if some of my points are not correct.

I guess the problems that you are referring are Vertical Banding(VB) and Dirty screen effect(DSE). There are enough details avaible in the Internet to know what they are. I hope you are aware of those details before reading this post.

Most of the 2011/2012 Panasnic Plasma models are said to have these problems. Are there other models which experience the same ? Some say they were able to see the same in non-panasonic models as well. Any way, let us not speculate on that. Now the question is - how far is it serious or will it affect PQ ? The answer is - some systems do exhibit very miniscule vertical bands and they are not seen on regular image contents. Other systems do exhibit even while watching regular contents. The latter systems are not worth having it and they need to be replaced. Systems which show very light vertical bands and that are not seen while watching regular stuff are sort of okay (that's what few users have said and they have retained the set). The problem is - these systems provide the best PQ, but also have these issues as well. So we can safely say that most of the Panasonic Plasmas do have this issue, but what we need look at is how worse they are. THere are few users who never saw the issue while watching the regular images and they kept those system with them, but those who saw it even while watching regular programs have to return it.
To summarize, there are systems where the problem is worse and there are systems where the problem is very minor. Some times the issue also gets over-blown.

Having said that, if you want to buy Plasma, then I would have these verification test done when the TV is installed by the company engineer.
I am not sure if you can get your TV verified at the Shop itself, but at least you can do that verification in front of the installation engineer at your home. You need to tell the dealer that you may return the set if you are not convinced with the verification test. Here are some steps:

1. Download these slide images and uzip it to your USB.
http://www.eaprogramming.com/downloads/files/BreakIn_Images.zip

2. Once the TV is installed by the engineer, switch off all the lights so that your room is dark enough to see if there are any vertical bands.

3. The engineer will do some changes to the setting (for example - reducing the contrast/brightnes. etc). Once he is done with his settings, proceed to next step.

4. Insert the USB stick to your TV and switch over to USB input on the TV remote. Select the "Photos" as displayed on the screen and you need to start the slide show. You can set (in the slide show settings) that each slide is displayed for 30 secs.

5. Wait for the dark grey slides to display. Once the darkest grey slide (there are a couple of grey slides) is displayed, patiently inspect at the screen (may be from 5 to 6 feet away). See if you can notice any vertical band which is slightly bright. If you can notice anything slightly brighter, then you need to worry. It also indicates that it may affect your normal viewing as well whenever darker scenes are displayed. If you don't see anything, then it is first test (say test-1) your TV has passed and proceed to the next test. Again, some TVs might exhibit very very very miniscule bands and it might be still okay for some users as long as it doesn't affect the normal viewing.

6. Wait for the green slide to come. Watch carefully if there are vertical bands. If you don't see, then you have got the PERFECT set. If you see the vertical bands, see how bright they are. If they are not brighter enough or if you see the bands very lightly , then you have almost passed the 2nd test (test2) as well and proceed to the nex test. The difference between the band and other sceen parts should be minimal.

7. From your USB stick, start watching a movie with mostly dark screens. See if you can still see the Vertical band. If you have passed test-1 and test2, then most likely you may not notice it here as well. Also, move from darker scenes to slightly brighter scenes and see if you can see that.

8. Make a point that you do this in a darker room so that you can easily identify the bands. If the bands are very miniscule and see only when watching slides (mainly green), then the issue will mostly not hinder your viewing experience.

Caveat: The above steps can only be a guide line and there is no perfect test to verify this. Only your "eyes" are the best judges. If your "eyes" are not convinced, then never have that set. If they are convinced, then noting to worry and you will be absolutely thrilled with the beauty of the PQ these plasmas offer. Others are welcome to modify/change/optimize if you see anything not correct with the points described.
 
I would like to add another point. Few users who saw very miniscule vertical bands on their new sets have also commented that those vertical bands have disappeared after running their 200 hours panel preparatory procedure (as suggested by D Nice and others).
Basically, D Nice himself has said that the purpose of those preparatory procedure is ONLY for making all pixels to evenly age.
------------------quote ------
*****Note: This procedure is designed to prepare your display for the reference settings listed for each 2012 North American Panasonic model below by aging all pixels equally with the same content. This procedure is NOT designed nor recommended to be used as Break-in, Image Retention and/or Burn-in prevention.*****
------------- unquote------------------

When some users said that their vertical bands have disapperaed after running the slides (for aging all the pixels equally), that does not mean other sets also will have the VB disapperaing. Perhaps it may reduce the VB further.
 
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