Plasma TV question

[davidmash]

I was looking at Plasmas today. I was under the impression that their strong suite was their ability to display darker colors moe accurately due to the lack of a back light. I saw a Samsung, and LG and a Panasonic.

One thing I noticed on all of them was a green hue on the screen. The tint was even there when the TV was powered off. When it was on, the blacks and all the colors had a bit of green hue to them. The LCD right beside the Samsung had a better picture. All the Plasmas had the green issue with the Samsung being the worst. We played with the color controls but could not over ride the green. The black part of the picture never came across as black but greenish.

Anyone know what I am looking at or what the problem.

[pawoSD]

Why would you buy a Plasma TV in the age of LED and advanced CCFL LCD's? Plasmas have a shorter life and use a TON more electricity. There are essentially no advantages to them. When I bought my Samsung LCD a month ago I did not even see any plasmas in the store....it is a nearly dead technology.

[davidmash]

Everything I have read says otherwise. Bulb life is about 70k hrs. Power consumption is negligible. Two separate reviews said that a 50" LCD at 8hrs a day at $0.11 Kwh would coat about $30 a year to run and the plasma about $60 so not a big deal. Why pay $1k more for a rue LED to do what a Plasma already does?

Most of the reviews I read indicate that LED's are catching up to Plasmas but color presentation is still better in a Plasma.

[Ara T.]

TVs at stores are rarely calibrated correctly. They jack up the brightness and contrast so people marvel at how bright and "vibrant" the images are. Unfortunately it tends to wash out colors. There is quite a difference between a properly calibrated TV and an improperly calibrated TV. Pawo, they still make plasmas, and while they tend to (not always) consume more power, their image quality is still superior. You might not ev en notice the difference if the TV is too small or you sit too far away though.

[MTI]

I agree, LED comes close, but plasma is a direct light source medium, not reflected, and it gives the best "through the looking glass" effect. The horror stories of "burn in" and panel life have been vastly overstated by LED and projection fans. I've owned a Pioneer 50" panel for over ten years and it's still amazing and will likely do so for many more years since Pioneer covered a power supply replacement last year.

[TheDon]

LED's cannot display a true white since there is no such thing as a true white LED. LED tv's have a blue hue to them even under the fluorescent lights in the big box stores

[davidmash]

I understand the calibration issue (sales guy even said that) but in this case(s) the green hue was still on the plasmas after the TV's were turned off.

[Ara T.]

Well that's strange. I dont think its a burn-in issue.. that usually deosn't happen uniformly across the screen. Was it patches of green?

[davidmash]

Nope. Solid green hue. No burn in images. The other two plasmas had the same issue but not as bad. Do plasmas have to be broken in when they are new? Only a few hours a day when they are new till 100 hrs or so or anything like that? I imagine that at a store they are on 10-15 hrs a day every day from day one.

[raymr]

The other issue with Plasma screens is that the front glass is highly reflective. If you have lots of windows or lights it has too much glare. Maybe they fixed that recently.

[powerpig]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Nope. Solid green hue. No burn in images. The other two plasmas had the same issue but not as bad. Do plasmas have to be broken in when they are new? Only a few hours a day when they are new till 100 hrs or so or anything like that? I imagine that at a store they are on 10-15 hrs a day every day from day one.

All electronics need a "burn in" period. Basically, you bring them up to operating temp for several hours or overnight. This will insure that the solders and connections are working well. As for the green you're seeing, sounds like they have been close to a magnetic field such as unshielded speakers and need to be degaussed.

[powerpig]

Originally Posted by TheDon

LED's cannot display a true white since there is no such thing as a true white LED. LED tv's have a blue hue to them even under the fluorescent lights in the big box stores

That is wrong. Most of the major manufactuers use true white LED'S in their TV's. Samsung is one.

[davidmash]

Originally Posted by powerpig

All electronics need a "burn in" period. Basically, you bring them up to operating temp for several hours or overnight. This will insure that the solders and connections are working well. As for the green you're seeing, sounds like they have been close to a magnetic field such as unshielded speakers and need to be degaussed.

Not sure about the magnetic field. IIRC the TV's are just by them selves among other TV's. My big concern is if I get a plasma like I had intended, I do not want mine to end up like theirs so I would like to know what caused it to turn green.

Do you know if the lack of burn in could have caused the green tint to appear? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the green takes the longest to appear and the longest to disappear out of the colors in a plasma.

[powerpig]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Not sure about the magnetic field. IIRC the TV's are just by them selves among other TV's. My big concern is if I get a plasma like I had intended, I do not want mine to end up like theirs so I would like to know what caused it to turn green.

Do you know if the lack of burn in could have caused the green tint to appear? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the green takes the longest to appear and the longest to disappear out of the colors in a plasma.

The green wouldn't be due to lack of burn in. As I said, they either got to close to a magnetic field or as someone mentioned earlier, they aren't adjusted correctly. I have two Plasma's, a LCD and two LED's and none of them have a green tint.

I have a 50" LG plasma, I like it in a fairly dark room. I never noticed a tint. I would use a LCD in a bright area.