IR, burn-in and plasma settings in Pioneer, NEC and Panasonic

[max cherry]

Hello to everybody!

First of all, pardon my feeble english – I’m from Ukraine. I consider buying 50” plasma and going to choose between these models: NEC XR5, Pioneer 5070, Panasonic 600. From these definitely invaluable forum’ posts I understand that these models practically equal in terms of image quality. But there is an issue of image retention. So, here is my question: which plasma (of those named) is more susceptible to IR? Am I wrong for thinking that NEC is more inclined to IR than Pioneer and Panasonic?

Second moment. Everybody says about 100-200 hours’ break-in with such settings as brightness and contrast turned down to minimize the danger of IR. At the same time users post their picture settings, that are meant to optimize picture quality and to obtain the best plasma performance imagewise. Does these settings also have to be lowered during the first 200 hours of plasma’ usage?

And the last one. I (and not only me, I’m sure of it) would appreciate, if NEC XR5, Pioneer 5070, Panasonic 600’ users named picture settings that they deem optimal for their’ plasmas IQ. It could be quite useful for many and many plasma’ owners.

Thank you very much.

[Vashti]

Hi Max, and welcome to the forums! I'm going to try to answer your questions. Many here are much more knowledgeable than me. Hopefully, they'll add some information.

1) Which plasmas are more susceptible to IR? There are definitely more reports on IR on the NEC. Most owners don't seem bothered by it and say it fades quickly. But it sounds like it's there much more than in the Pioneer or Panasonic.

2) Yes, you do want to turn your picture settings down in the first 100-200 hours. Usually, when people post their optimal settings, those are not break-in settings. One exception is in the Pioneer thread, D-Nice provides good prek-in settings for the 5070.

3.) I think you can easily find users' picture settings on those sets in each of the appropriate threads. Go to the 7th generation pioneer thread, the NEC Users Thread, and the Panasonic thread. You'll get lots of suggested settings.

Good luck with your decision!

Oh, and no apology for your language needed. Your English is much better than my Ukranian.

[max cherry]

Hello, Vashti!

Thanks a bunch for your answer. It will help me not to burn my future plasma (whatever brand it may be).Well, then it’s time for deep and prolonged forum’ diving. Considering length of threads I feel myself some kind of coal miner :)

[Vashti]

I know what you mean. To make your mining a little more efficient:

In the pioneer thread, D-Nice provides some break-in settings. Others discuss how they tweak those slightly. Look for D-Nice's postings.

In the NEC thread, Cpcat and Lisa M. provide settings that many use. Look for them.

I don't remember who does in the Panny threads.

Hope that helps a bit.

[cirob]

Max I have a nec 50xr5 and a pio fhd1, the ir on both is minimal, the nec was a little more susceptible to it in the first 100 hrs, sometime the ticker on espn lasted 2 min, watching full screen bright channels fixed it quickly. I also noticed with the nec the more hours on it the better the overall pq. I had both sets calibrated and now I really don't see any ir at all , I fell asleep watching a movie and the image was static for a few hrs I turn the tv off and went to bad, the day after no ir what so ever. Imo for the price the nec is a great display.
Good luck

[max cherry]

Vashti and Cirob, thank you!

Cirob, i'm not sure i've got this thing "sometime the ticker on espn lasted 2 min". I understand that ESPN is a TV-channell. What do you mean by the "ticker"? My english doesn't help me here.

[WilliamR]

[QUOTE=max cherry]Vashti and Cirob, thank you!

Cirob, i'm not sure i've got this thing "sometime the ticker on espn lasted 2 min". I understand that ESPN is a TV-channell. What do you mean by the "ticker"? My english doesn't help me here.[/QUOTE]

It is a part of the screen (usually the bottom) that has text running across it from the right to the left. It scrolls across the TV and it is always there (i.e on CNN they scroll the latest news highlights on the bottom of the screen). On ESPN the do the sports and scores.