Waves and Fuzzy on new Panasonic Plasma

I just got a new Panasonic TC-P55ST50 plasma from Best Buy, they matched Amazon’s price, and when I watch anything it has a fuzziness and some waves on the screen. My Xbox and HD from Comcast have the issues. You can see it unless you are less than a foot away. I ordered some new HDMI cables from Amazon since I’m using Monoprice cables right now. I think it might be the quality of the cables?

I also saw something about "burning in" the TV. I thought that was a thing of the past.

It also hums sometimes and is more noticeable with white on the screen. Is this normal?

I’ll post pictures in a bit.

I have a Panasonic G10 and GT30 and I believe I know exactly what you're talking about. Anyway, that's plasma for ya. That is why you don't use them as computer monitors for 1-2ft viewing. There's a lot of subpixel/pixel shifting going on that your eye can't see from >5ft away (my limit). This is done to prevent image burn-in. Up close it looks like image noise. The hum is normal also, although you shouldn't hear it if you're not within less than a foot from the screen. Both of the models I own have a hum to them if you are within a few inches of either the front or back of the screen but it is loudest at the rear.

In any case, Plasma or GTFO.

You're going to need to post a picture because i don't understand what you're trying to describe.

In any case, Panasonic does have a solid 1-year warranty with excellent customer service. Just be sure to review all the repair shops Pana. gives you over the phone, and take pictures of the case / screen before you take it into the shop.

EDIT: Important to make sure it's not set to the 95% screen mode, which it usually is by default. It makes it look a little odd.

EDIT 2: Important to not leave your TV on when your not using it as a monitor. I strongly suggest not leaving icons / Start menu bar on the screen, only way to really do this is to have an extra side monitor attached.

I'll add more info later, im at work right now.

Inu said:

You're going to need to post a picture because i don't understand what you're trying to describe.

In any case, Panasonic does have a solid 1-year warranty with excellent customer service. Just be sure to review all the repair shops Pana. gives you over the phone, and take pictures of the case / screen before you take it into the shop.

Click to expand...

He won't need a repair shop as what the OP is describing is perfectly normal, as tesfaye mentioned in the post above yours. This includes the slight hum, or slightly louder hum on white screens.

Burn in is somewhat a thing of the past. There is still temporary image retention but not so much permanent burn in.

That is even 5 minutes of being on my desktop if I switch to something else I can still see the icons on the screen. But even 5 minutes of watching any kind of video or playing a game and its gone. I have left static images on my plasma for over 12 hours and it always is cleared up within 30 minutes of watching a video or playing a game.

Tests have been done by manufacturers where they leave static images on for 48 hours and they can still be cleared off within 24 hours.

After a long session of internet browsing or whatever I will put the TV in sleep mode for 30 minutes and run its grey scrolling mode to clear the screen.

Image retention is much more sticky within the first 100 hours, still want to be careful.

EDIT: I had a power aura addon (world of warcraft) with 75% transparency image retent in my screen, stayed for 4 months. Guessing it was because i had the oribital pixel shifter thing turned off.

The first picture you can see the dots below the picture in the black bar. In the other pictures you can see more of the graininess that I was talking about. I wasn’t able to get the wavy lines, looks like signal interface to me..(but its digital?), since I was using the camera on my phone. I tried a new 3M cable from Amazon and I still have both issues but since we sit about 6.5 feet back no one can tell. Its good to know that this is normal .

Is the hum because of the processing or because of the power it needs to show white?

Can anyone recommend a cable that might remove the wavy lines?

Did you change the screen size to "Full"? I can't recall right now where that option is. It's not hidden or anything, i think it might be under Screen Size or Aspect Ratio.

Another important thing to keep in mind, a 55" you should be no closer than 7'. That Can be hard to arrange to do especially for PC use. Any closer and you're going to notice picture fuzziness.

As far as i can tell, from the pictures, it looks normal at this point.

I think your camera is exaggerating the effect slightly, but you do see a grainy non-perfect pixel effect with plasmas. It's partly the subfield 600hz effect, part pixel orbiter, and partly the way plasmas at high contrast settings look.

Make sure you're using HDMI with the 1:1 size option so the scaler doesn't kick in. Then use "Custom" for your video settings and label the input "GAME". This should turn off extra image processing not needed. Also set 1080P manually if for some reason the Xbox isn't already. Try lowering your contrast and calibrating your color settings too; contrast and brightness are almost reversed on plasmas.

When you calibrate your screen (I'm not talking ISF pro adjustments, just basic stuff) and sit further than 3-4 feet away you won't notice the effect for most if not all content. I can pick up a little noise at a static desktop if I focus hard enough but I don't use a plasma for that type of viewing, and when I say that I notice the noise it's certainly not anything I would complain about and I'm really finicky. Lawless2142 has some good suggestions as well, when you've done all that you should notice the noise a little less.

You noted in your OP that you had to be close to the set to see it so don't worry about it and just get that color, brightness and contrast dialed in. Even the ST models for 2012 have excellent picture quality. Calibrate and enjoy that set.

That's just dithering, plasmas have to do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o55xrVBQwGI One of the many reasons they are unsuitable as PC monitors. Plasma is nice video technology. However they are awful for desktop work. Plasmas have trouble producing smooth gradients. If you really want to get technical check this out.. http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7522130/description.html

There is also the ABL to consider which limits the displays ability to display white over a large area. Try this on your plasma, take a small white window in windows and expand and contract it, you will see something that almost looks like dynamic contrast except only the white level changes. This is why all contrast measurements on plasmas are done with small white windows.

Is there a good guide on how to calibrate the ST50? I see a few settings on AVS forum but is there a general guide?

I also see that there is a site that has a break in DVD. Do I need to? It seems that I should leave the contrast down for the first 100 hours and the TV should be ok.