# Not Plasma tech savvy at all



## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

I have a Samsung PN50C490 mfg. in 2010 and lately have been noticing what appears to be screen burn. When the screen is black there appears to be the color red bleeding through the black. Sorry i don't have a pic but an example would be a picture with a red background with black painted over it. If you were to wash some of the black off, the red would show through.

It looks as if it has started in the center of the screen and is not noticeable except during total black background especially just after power on but never completely goes away and does seem to get better at times. It also doesn't actually look like an image that has burnt in because it has no definitive shape to it.

Any ideas other than screen burn?


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## davejacobson (Mar 14, 2005)

Would you call it red speckles? If so that is a sign of and aging panel or the waveform driving the panel not in speck anymore because of aging components. How old is the set and has it got a lot of hours on it?


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## John Williams (Oct 5, 2011)

Have you noticed if it does it when you first turn the TV on. Or only after it's been on for a little while. Do you notice any funny smells coming from the top of the TV.
I have seen a few Samsungs do this:
One looked fine when first turned on but after awhile, it started doing what you described. The TV was getting extremely hot, something inside the TV was defective and over heating the whole unit. The customer put a fan blowing on the back of the TV and it cleared up after it cooled it down. He watched TV with this fan blowing on the back for about a month, before he decided to replace the TV.
The other one did it all the time. Customer replaced that TV as well, instead of bothering with fixing. Don't know if overheating was involved on that one or not.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Might messing around with the color balance, saturation, etc. be a wise thing? I truly don't know, but that's what I'd try.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

davejacobson said:


> Would you call it red speckles? If so that is a sign of and aging panel or the waveform driving the panel not in speck anymore because of aging components. How old is the set and has it got a lot of hours on it?


Not speckles.......just appears to be red bleeding through the black.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

John, is looks it's worst immediately after set is turned on but never completely goes away. No funny smells or extreme heat. The issue is only affecting the center of the screen from top to botton but worse in the center. I don't notice it left to right. If a static image were to display in the center, then it would stand out more here than any other place on the screen. There doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere else on the screen with image retention. My settings are also well below what some call "torch mode" but i do have the cell light set at 12 (max 20) constrast 92 (max 100) brightness 55 (max 100).

I'm almost convinced it's permanent burn-in and with the warranty getting ready to run out, i'm fishing for other explanations.

An example again..........Paint a picture with red and then paint a thin layer of black over the center of the picture and a heavier coat on the outer portion of the picture. The red will show through the thinner layer of black but not through the thicker layer on each side.



John Williams said:


> Have you noticed if it does it when you first turn the TV on. Or only after it's been on for a little while. Do you notice any funny smells coming from the top of the TV.
> I have seen a few Samsungs do this:
> One looked fine when first turned on but after awhile, it started doing what you described. The TV was getting extremely hot, something inside the TV was defective and over heating the whole unit. The customer put a fan blowing on the back of the TV and it cleared up after it cooled it down. He watched TV with this fan blowing on the back for about a month, before he decided to replace the TV.
> The other one did it all the time. Customer replaced that TV as well, instead of bothering with fixing. Don't know if overheating was involved on that one or not.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

Doesn't seem to have much effect with this.



Laxguy said:


> Might messing around with the color balance, saturation, etc. be a wise thing? I truly don't know, but that's what I'd try.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

GO into the menu and see if they have an advanced picture setting that has to do with image retention...my Panny's have a pixel orbitor, and a scrolling white bar that you can run, see if your Sammy has something similar...


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

*Scrolling Feature*............it's there and have used it a number of times. Does seem to make a bit of difference for awhile but never gets rid of it.



CCarncross said:


> GO into the menu and see if they have an advanced picture setting that has to do with image retention...my Panny's have a pixel orbitor, and a scrolling white bar that you can run, see if your Sammy has something similar...


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Do you have settings for Screen Burn Protection? My PN58B650 has that, where you can set pixel shift parameters, in addition to the scrolling thing- which I am not sure what it does practically.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

I play video games on my upstairs plasma for hours at a time, I do notice when I first turn it on or off I occasionally get the image retention from the game I may have played for hours earlier that day or the day before...at least in my case its not burn in...but i do run the scrolling white bar about once a month to make sure....


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## John Williams (Oct 5, 2011)

If you could take a pic of the problem and post it (or link to it), it would help to narrow down what might be happening.
Have you tried hooking up a different connection to the TV and see if it still does it (i.e. instead of HDMI use component, etc...)

INFO: When talking about screen burn in, image retention, etc... on a plasma; it is uneven wear of the phosphorus in the panel. Where the phosphorus is lit up bright for long periods of time (logo on screen, etc...) the phosphorus wears faster and causes it to be dimmer than the surrounding phosphorus. The usual characteristic of this issue is a shadow of the image on the panel, no matter what is being displayed.
From what the original poster is describing (if I'm reading it correctly) is NOT burn in. Main giveaway: the artifacts are in color (red).


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

I have bought plasmas since they came out and have had all of the above issues excluding the OP's trouble.
It sounds like a pretty dire situation. But before I gave up I would want to check all my inputs, HDMI, component and VGA, to be sure they all have the same results. Just to be real sure it is the display and not the source.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

John Williams said:


> Have you tried hooking up a different connection to the TV and see if it still does it (i.e. instead of HDMI use component, etc...)
> 
> From what the original poster is describing (if I'm reading it correctly) is NOT burn in. Main giveaway: the artifacts are in color (red).


Using Component produces the same issue.

John, you read it correctly. The artifacts in the color (red) is correct and only noticeable on black backgrounds. Very seldom have i seen any red bleeding through any other colors, *not even white.*

I have owned the set since October of 2010 and have never noticed this problem up until a month or so ago.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

armophob said:


> I have bought plasmas since they came out and have had all of the above issues excluding the OP's trouble.
> It sounds like a pretty dire situation. But before I gave up I would want to check all my inputs, HDMI, component and VGA, to be sure they all have the same results. Just to be real sure it is the display and not the source.


All inputs produce the same results. The sources (2 HR24's) one connected to HDMI and one to Component. OTA also produce same results.

Oddly enough it doesn't seem to be affecting picture quality too much (not yet anyway) If so, i can't see it often.

One might say if it isn't affecting quality too much then why worry with it. That's simple..................the warranty is getting ready to run out :lol:


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

Laxguy said:


> Do you have settings for Screen Burn Protection? My PN58B650 has that, where you can set pixel shift parameters, in addition to the scrolling thing- which I am not sure what it does practically.


Pixel Shift set at 4 Horiz. 4 Vert. at 2 min.


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## satcrazy (Mar 16, 2011)

If you can't make it go away, why not call Samsung?

Have you checked the AVS forums? Plenty there on sammy's.

cheers


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

satcrazy said:


> If you can't make it go away, why not call Samsung?
> 
> Have you checked the AVS forums? Plenty there on sammy's.
> 
> cheers


I thought i might actually get around to doing that.  Hoping for suggestions that would help prior to doing so.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

Donnie Byrd said:


> I thought i might actually get around to doint that.  Hoping for suggestions that would help prior to doing so.


Well giddy up, I am looking at the 64" Samsung right now and I need to know if they are infected with poltergeists.


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## satcrazy (Mar 16, 2011)

armophob said:


> Well giddy up, I am looking at the 64" Samsung right now and I need to know if they are infected with poltergeists.


LOL!
You might want to check the AVS forums as well. I saw a few Samsungs I thought had decent PQ, [ believe it or not, these were 2010 models] but some have real issues that steared me away.

cheers


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

armophob said:


> Well giddy up, I am looking at the 64" Samsung right now and I need to know if they are infected with poltergeists.


:lol:


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