Burn in is 100% real with current plasmas... in the first 100 hours of use. The word "Menu" from the OSD is burned into the top left corner of my ST30.
I have an ST30 so it's not like I'm partial to the new ST50's, but the ST50's are brighter than the ST30's, have deeper black levels, and have a newer anti-reflective filter; hardly indistinguishable.
Having a similar problem. The magician software is waking my computer up after I put it to sleep, after about 30 seconds of sleep, every time. Scheduling is off.
C0 stepping E8400, Asus P5QL-Pro, and 2 x 2gb Patriot DDR2 800mhz. Asking $125 shipped. Heatware under j3ff86.
(replaced original n/b heatsink w/ a xigmatech and lost the original)
Didn't think so either and wouldn't have recommended it, but amazon has a bunch right now:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_76_0?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afunc+1030%2Cp_76%3A1-&keywords=func+1030&ie=UTF8&qid=1327479908
Digitalversus says it's on par with the 2ms 120hz TN's:
http://www.digitalversus.com/lcd-monitor/ghosting-time-test-tv-monitor-laptop-tablet-38-mobile-reviews-a1104.html
You need to change the windows registry to enable ahci support:
http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/
Reformat is not necessary.