Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Plasma TV "break-in" is a myth?

I just came across this post on AVS by Doug Blackburn, who is a very well respected calibrator. I thought some of you with new plasma TV's would benefit from his insight.

"You should run the pattern disc exactly Zero hours. There is NOTHING the disc does that helps anything. "Break-in" is sheer AVS hogwash. Simply use common sense for the first 100 hours or so: minimize programs with black bars (a movie now and then is no problem); avoid long sessions with stationary graphics on the screen (news channels, games, etc.). Use normal settings for the TV -- neither too bright or too dark. Nothing you do will prevent early will prevent burn-in... NOTHING. If you do something bad enough to cause burn-in it doesn't matter if the TV has 5 hours or 5000 hours on it (with anal use of the burn-in disc)... you are still going to have a burned-in TV on your hands. Nothing you do early on will stop image retention either. Your TV will ALWAYS be susceptible to burn-in and image retention. It is a plasma and current plasma technology has not eliminated these undesirable characteristics and no break-in disc will EVER change that in ANY way.

That said, the phosphors in your plasma TV will change somewhat during the first 100-200 hours, but they are going to change exactly the same way no matter what means you use to put 100-200 hours on the panel. You can simply watch TV like a normal person (avoiding over-doing any of the things mentioned above), or you can uselessly rack up 100-200 hours on the TV and DVD player with a break-in disc and end up at EXACTLY the same place either way. "Break-in" discs are AVS paranoia/hysteria run amok."

He is absolutely right about the hype built up about burn in discs; I got sucked in, and was extremely worried, I just wish I got his opinion before wasting at least 100 hours running said disc. Not only because of its limited or zero effect, but also because it racked up my hydro bill an unbelievable amount when I was running my plasma TV for days on end.

I had a noticeable difference in image retention between 5 hours and 100 hours. But that's not the reason I ran the images. It's the second part. To get all the pixels through their most rapid change period at the same time. Yes, all pixels will eventually have 100 hours on the clock. But I was wanting my display to have the most constant picture as soon as possible. Using a burn-in procedure will do that. I'd be afraid to leave my TV on any station for 100 hours, because they all have those bugs in the lower right, I don't need my panel branded with Siffy's logo.

I never did do break in with my TV although as stated above I did use a bit of common sense.

BTW Cam, what has become of your TV problem?

Cam has a V chip?

I have had three plasmas, the first was more than four years ago I bought it. I purchased it the same day the X360 launched and gamed on that thing from hour one, watched it with black bars, all of that, and I never had a single issue. Same with the other two later sets as well. I think it was more of an issue with the first few generations, the only brand I hear still having this issue is LG (mine have been a Toshiba which was a re-badged Panasonic, and two Panasonics).

Rick, my TV ended up going in for repairs (adjusting the V scan) which was a long ordeal. I ended up calling Samsung while it was being repaired, and I was told that I was going to get a refund or replacement. After calling them at least a dozen times to try to get to the bottom of it, they then told me that my set was fixed and ready for delivery. So, they returned my TV even though the service tech didn't come across on the phone like he was 100% sure that the problem was fixed.

When I got the TV back, I checked it out with them here, and told them that it is better but I can still see some snow. He then told me to try it for a while and see what I think, as they had done everything Samsung told them to do. Long story short, I noticed a week or so before the holidays that it was back to where it was when I originally complained, and now it's in the shop as we speak.

Samsung's customer support is absolutely horrendous and the worst I've ever dealt with. Not only that, but they don't know what the heck they're talking about!

Sorry to hear about the on-going problems your having with the TV, Cam. That's terrible customer service on Samsung's behalf.

I see what you did there.

Plasma break-in is not a myth, my eyes can tell the difference, or maybe it is my eyes breaking in.