Prevent Image Retention and Burn-in

Yes, its true, Contrast setting of 50 or higher will easily lead to IR even after the initial 200 hrs of usage. I switched back to 40 and now there is no issue with IR

Actually I see IR even with a contrast setting of 30 with barely a minute of static image (channel logo). It goes away fairly soon but the point is that at least the GT50 is susceptible to IR fairly easily. My set has just done about a 100 hours.

I thing beyond 250 hours it should be OK to not obsess over getting IR unless you have a static image for an hour or so - but will know for sure when I reach there.
 
Actually I see IR even with a contrast setting of 30 with barely a minute of static image (channel logo). It goes away fairly soon but the point is that at least the GT50 is susceptible to IR fairly easily. My set has just done about a 100 hours.

I thing beyond 250 hours it should be OK to not obsess over getting IR unless you have a static image for an hour or so - but will know for sure when I reach there.
What you see is image persistence. That is slightly different from image retention. Image retention, even though temporary, is evident for a longer period of time.

I also get image persistence especially at start up. When I start up, the "Smart Viera" logo is displayed very brightly. In a near dark room, with no DTH/source signal, the TV displays a blank black screen (in near perfect dark, we can see the panel being lit faintly). At this time, I can see the "Smart Viera" logo etched for some time. After a minute or two, it fades away.

Problem would be if the image was displayed for a long time.

Similarly, I am watching some channel and with the room dark, I turn off the STB, I can see the previous channel image including logos persist for some time before fading away. If I restart the STB (TS defaults to Channel 100) and then quickly turn off, then I can see that remains of the previous screen/logos are washed off and the new channel 100 image persists for some time (a minute or so).

But there has been no long image retention after 800+ hours/4 months of use.
 
In my plasma, I able to see Colors channel logo when I run color slide. It is visible only when background slide is black or dark grey. In normal case, it is not visible. I had taken all precaution, running slides also go on changing channels on regular interval. I don't know what to do next
 
From my experience, the precautions won't help you prevent IR... but are mainly for uniform aging of the plasma pixels for the first 200 hours, which helps in preventing any immediate IR or burn-in on your new set.

After doing all those precautions, IR will always be there and to avoid it, you will need to take precautions by switching channels or displaying full screen content. Channel logos are the biggest culprits.
 
In my plasma, I able to see Colors channel logo when I run color slide. It is visible only when background slide is black or dark grey. In normal case, it is not visible. I had taken all precaution, running slides also go on changing channels on regular interval. I don't know what to do next

You should run the white scroll bar for a lengthy period of time for a fee days. Best to run it during night. Try overnight running for first couple of nights. Report progress or lack thereof.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2
 
Does LCD and LED TV's also suffer from IR and burn in during the first 100-200 hrs ?

LED TV has an LCD panel. LCD panels suffer from something known as image sticking. This doesn't happen during first 200 hours or something. It can happen over extended period of time. But it is much much less. Google about it.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2
 
How about this new age technology plasma's as the manufacturers says they have built in tech like 'Pixel Orbiting' , I have heard it from Samsung sales guy. Does this really helps the tv from IR and Burn in ? is it reliable ?

By turning it on can we eliminate the IR and Burn in Plasma's TV ?
 
How about this new age technology plasma's as the manufacturers says they have built in tech like 'Pixel Orbiting' , I have heard it from Samsung sales guy. Does this really helps the tv from IR and Burn in ? is it reliable ?

By turning it on can we eliminate the IR and Burn in Plasma's TV ?
Pixel shifting/pixel orbiting moves the entire video frame by a few pixels very subtly so as the user does not notice it. This way it helps in moving static content such as logos to move from one constant position. This helps to a certain extent. But the movement is not by large amount. So if you keep watching the same channel over and over again for hours together, you may not get a distinct/sharp IR but you will definitely get a blurred image.

So do turn it ON but don't depend upon it. Keep surfing channels from time to time.
 
Does this cause problem in long run? I means in near future does it will be visible while watching normal channel? Currently it is visible only when background is dark, I go near to screen and concentrate on particular corner. From a distance it is not visible.
 
Does this cause problem in long run? I means in near future does it will be visible while watching normal channel? Currently it is visible only when background is dark, I go near to screen and concentrate on particular corner. From a distance it is not visible.
As I said before, run white scrolling bar for one full night. You will see that IR will have considerably reduced just after one full-night run. You should ensure that IR is controlled.

At the moment, it is light and you are able to see it on dark slides with low brightness/contrast. If not checked and treated, it will grow and then it will be more difficult to get rid off.

So. :D Do not ask questions. Shoot first. Ask later. :D
 
pixel orbiter displaces the whole screen by only few pixels and it is barely noticeable.

since logos contain same color several pixels wide, the central part of the logo will continue to cause IR issues.

latest plasma tech ensures only mild IR happens in newer sets. for many people, even this IR cannot be noticed. Only if you look closely in a dark room while switching the set off, it is faintly seen.

what i do is if I notice anything while switching off, i turn the TV back on, switch over to TV mode (black/white/grey blinking dots), run that blinking screen for about half a minute and the IR'd logos disappear. If you can take this simple precaution once a week (maybe more often depending on how long you watch stuff with a single logo), I think you should be fine.
 
The main cause of IR is the DTH logo that is constantly appears in every channel... This is a major concern. I have also noticed Airtel DTH logo very faint in dark room on my E490. Else NO IR.
 
The main cause of IR is the DTH logo that is constantly appears in every channel... This is a major concern. I have also noticed Airtel DTH logo very faint in dark room on my E490. Else NO IR.

I agree, I had even written to airtel CC complaining about their bright logo on many channels. One person from their technical department called me after the mail. I explained him the problem in detail. He accepted that something needed to be done. However, he told me that logo contrast is not technical team's decision. It's their marketting/sales team who takes decision on that. He promised me that he would forward my complaint to them and try to rectify it as soon as possible.

It's been over a month and nothing happened. Looks like I need to send them a reminder mail. I don't think, they will take one off mail very seriously. However, if many of us send mails about the same problem, I'm sure, they'll have to act on it. So friends, start sending mails to your dth providers and channel companies as well.
 
Why not TRAI?

Why not TRAI? May sound funny but we have customer rights as well apart from technical reasons. They are the one who would decide.

DTH would never change logo unless they received 1000X complaints. Write on FB Pages of DTH provider and you may get better attention.
 
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Re: Why not TRAI?

Why not TRAI? May sound funny but we have customer rights as well apart from technical reasons. They are the one who would decide.

DTH would never change logo unless they received 1000X complaints. Write on FB Pages of DTH provider and you may get better attention.

That's a good suggestion. However, I'm not sure if they will act on it (being a govt. organization). Still it's worth the effort if we mark CC to them for the mails we are sending to DTH providers and channel companies. The DTH providers may take our mails more seriously. Got this mail id from TRAI's site: [email protected]
 
Prevent Image Retention and Burn-in​

Note: This article is a summary of many articles and posts. Since everyone talks about the topic and questions more information, I thought that I should summarize in a single thread. Thanks and cheers.

However loudly the manufacturers' may claim, (temporary) image retention and (permanent) burn-in are a fact of life on any HDTV. Plasmas are much more susceptible to it of course, but it can occur on LCDs, though it takes much more abuse for it to happen. It depends on the quality of the display and the frequency, duration and brightness with which static or repetitive content is shown. Users of plasma TV should be very careful. There is an initial period during which we need to be vigilant.

Break-In Period
This period is also called sometimes as the run-in period. Break-in is a term used to describe a process which involves ageing the phosphors on a plasma TV safely during the initial 100-200 hours in which they are most susceptible to being damaged. This is because when phosphors are new they will burn the brightest, increasing the risk of burn-in. This somewhat-dated Panasonic FAQ recommends a break-in period of 100 hours, while the Samsung FAQ recommends up to 250 hours. Professional ISF calibrators will recommend anywhere up to 500 hours of phosphor ageing before an instrumented calibration is to be performed, to let the phosphors settle and achieve uniform brightness. There doesn't appear to be any precise figure, but the common denominator in all of this is that it makes sense to play it safe for the first 100 hours at the very least. During this period try to avoid displaying any static content, don't display any black bars, and don't use an extremely high Contrast setting, nor picture presets which have a high brightness level, such as Dynamic mode.

To summarize:
  • There is no hard or fast rule as to how many hours this "extended period" can be - it can be as little as a few hours, or as long as several days or weeks, and varies depending on your settings and the quality of the display.
  • On a plasma, conduct a "Break-in" period during at least the first 100-200 or so hours when the phosphors are new and burn more brightly, and thus more susceptible to burn-in.
  • On an LCD, turn off the power for 8 hours after every 24 hours or so of cumulative viewing usage to prevent retained charge in the crystals. For example, turn the TV power off overnight after every week or two of normal viewing. Also power off the TV if it's to be left unused for long periods.
  • On an LCD, avoid high ambient temperatures, as this accelerates the degradation of the liquid crystals in the display. The higher the temperature, the greater the risk of image retention and image sticking. Provide greater ventilation and cooling around the TV.
To reduce temporary image retention, and prevent burn-in or image sticking on both plasmas and LCDs, you should take the following steps:
  • Cut down on contrast and brighness:
    Contrast setting controls the white levels while brightness controls the black levels. During the break-in period or run-in period, cut down contrast to 35% or below. Brightness reduction is not strictly necessary but because we have cut down on contrast (white levels), it will be good to reduce brightness (black levels) to adjust the picture so that picture quality is uniformly adjusted.
    Golden Rule: Do not use Dynamic or Vivid picture setting during this period.
    .
  • Reduce or eliminate display of static content:
    TV channels and DTH have logos in the corners. Video games have scoreboards, controls and other stationary content. This is typical form of static content. As far as possible reduce or even eliminate such static content display by:
    • using the zoom mode so that channel and other logos are pushed out of the frame
    • switching channels often and not watching the same channel for hours together
    • turning on Pixel Shifting or Pixel Orbiting or the equivalent function on the TV's picture advanced settings, if available
    • avoid display of wallpapers, photos, etc. for a long time
    • avoid news channels' viewing for a long time because of the tickers
    Golden Rule: Vary the type of content you view such that no portion of the screen displays the same image for any extended period of time.
    .
  • Avoid letterbox (2.35:1) mode or pillar box (4:3) mode for long duration
    Letterbox mode is when video is displayed in long rectangular window with black bars on top and bottom. Pillar box mode is opposite wherein the image is diaplayed in tradition 4:3 aspect ratio with black bars on each side. Viewing in these formats causes the "black" areas not to age evenly with the "exposed" area. Some SD channels show movies in letterbox mode in 4:3 format, i.e., black bars will be seen even on traditional 4:3 CRT screens. When such a channel is seen on 16:9 HDTV, the letterbox is further elongated and black bars cover nearly 50% of the screen area.

    With overuse, this will be visible on screen with different colour shades in the aged and non-aged areas. Modern TVs are more robust but during the run-in time, avoid such display for more than 2 hours or a movie a day. Some TVs also have capability to display white/gray bars instead of black in the pillar box mode. But this option is not available for the letterbox mode. Alternatively, use the zoom mode with proper aspect ratio so black bars are not seen at all.
    .
  • Use break-in slides:
    Break-in slides are excellent way of aging the panel evenly. Evangelo's Slides serve the purpose very well. To run these slides, do the following:
    • Download the slides
    • Transfer them to a USB drive. It is best if the USB drive does not contain any other media content.
    • Connect the USB to your TV
    • Power on the TV and then go to the media player
    • The slides will be displayed. Run all of them as a slideshow.
    • Run the slideshow for a couple of hour or so everyday, gradually reducing the time each week.
    Alternatively, you can also use the Break-in DVD. You can accelerate the process and also make it even safer by using this Break-in DVD. Routinely run the DVD overnight for example, and combined with regular viewing, after a couple of weeks you'll easily reach over 200 hours of break-in.
    .
  • Enable any Screen Saver functionality on your TV, DVD or Blu-ray player so that it kicks in when the display or player is idle for a period of time. This prevents burn-in if you fall asleep in front of your TV for example. Refer to the relevant user manuals for details.
The general rule is that the brighter the static portions of an image, and the longer they are continuously displayed without any break, the greater the chance for long-term image retention or permanent pixel damage. Protect your investment by playing it safe, but don't go overboard either. Viewing a movie with black bars for a few hours for example is perfectly fine on any display and is precisely what they are designed to do; constantly viewing a TV station with a bright fixed logo and with a high Contrast setting on the other hand is a recipe for potential disaster.

There are a few ways you can get through the break-in period with a minimum of fuss. The simplest is to just watch a variety of regular content in a conservative picture mode, such as Cinema, Movie or THX mode, at the default settings, or close to them. If viewing a movie or TV show with black bars, or fixed station logos or tickers, use the Aspect Ratio function on the TV or player to zoom in to the point where the bars, logos or tickers are no longer visible. Do this for several hours a day over a month and you're in the clear.

Although what you've read so far may alarm you, modern plasmas and LCDs are actually very resistant to being permanently damaged by burn-in or image sticking as long as they're not abused. Break-in is simply a sensible precaution, not an absolute necessity.

A note of caution though: although plasmas are ideal for gaming because of minimal input lag, especially in Game mode (See the Motion Handling section for more details), anecdotal evidence suggests that long-term image retention is still a problem when gaming on a plasma. It's easy to lose track of time while gaming and as a result you may play continuously for several hours at a time. The typically very bright static portions of a game image, such as the Heads Up Display (HUD) elements (Score, Health Bar, Crosshair etc.) may leave stubborn image residue or in some cases become burnt-in to the display. As such, gaming during the initial break-in period is not wise, and subsequently, you should either reduce the opacity of any static elements like the HUD, or remove them altogether where the option is available, and also break up your gaming session by frequently switching to regular content for a few minutes or running the scrolling bars every hour for example. Once again, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Fixing Severe Image Retention
If you already have some form of image retention or image sticking on your HDTV, try the following:
  • For mild image retention, display a full screen of regular moving content. This should eventually wash away any signs of the retained image within a few minutes to a few hours. For example, run a movie with no black bars or static logos for a couple of hours and see if this removes or reduces the retained image. If you see an improvement, repeat as necessary.
  • For more stubborn image retention, if you have a Scrolling Bar or similar function on your TV to wash away image retention, run it for 5-10 minutes to see if it reduces the problem. Repeat as necessary and combine with the first method above to remove the image retention.
  • For serious image retention, run full-screen regular content with no black bars or static logos for an extended period, such as 24-48 hours continuously, to reduce or remove the image retention.
  • On an LCD, aside from running a full screen of regular moving content for an extended period, at some point turn off the TV, unplug it from the power, and leave it off for 24 hours to see if this helps resolve the issue.

Image retention, burn-in and image sticking are explicitly not covered under the manufacturer's warranty as these issues are risks inherent to the technology.

Sources:
- TweakGuides.com - A Guide to HDTVs
- A great many articles on this forum
- other internet sites

@just4kix I have following doubts,

1. You have mentioned that during the run-in time, avoid static image display for more than 2 hours or a movie a day, but after the run-in period for how long continously can we watch tv with static image displayed.

2.In order to avoid letterbox mode, suppose we put zoom function along with suitable aspect ratio even after shutdown of tv and again restarting tv, do we have the same zoom setting and aspect ratio.(I want to know whether this feature is available in 42ut50 and 42xt50)
 
@just4kix I have following doubts,

1. You have mentioned that during the run-in time, avoid static image display for more than 2 hours or a movie a day, but after the run-in period for how long continously can we watch tv with static image displayed.

2.In order to avoid letterbox mode, suppose we put zoom function along with suitable aspect ratio even after shutdown of tv and again restarting tv, do we have the same zoom setting and aspect ratio.(I want to know whether this feature is available in 42ut50 and 42xt50)

1. Avoid same channel for more than one hour during break-in period. This is easy to do. You can change channel during ad-breaks. But if you are watching HD channels, the ad-break is very small (< 1 min in most cases) and in this scenario, you may not change channels. HD channels have more intense channel logo, current program name title and the DTH logo is also strong. Hence be careful here.

2. Last picture setting, be it contrast, colour, brightness, sharpness, aspect ratio, etc. is retained even if TV is switched off (complete switch off from mains). So no worry there. At least ST50 retains the settings and I have no reason to doubt that other models don't.
 
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