Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Long Image Retention HP-T5064 (Not Burn In)

Oct 22, 2008 5:56AM PDT

Time Warner Cable -> TiVo HD -> HP-T5064
Avoided black bars, static images, and brightness for the first month as much as possible to try to break it in right.

Thankfully, I do not have anything permanently burnt in. But graphics and logos seem to be sticking for longer and longer. It's been getting worse over the last few months. I've had the TV for about 8 months, so I'm still in warranty.

More detailed description:
The problem occurs when a bright static image is on screen for more than about 10 seconds. Can be the Tivo menus, the TV's own menus, or say I'm watching CNN. The actual CNN logo is in one spot for maybe 10 minutes. When they go to commercial the CNN logo remains. It will easily remain visible until the show comes back. Further, if I change the channel, the logo will remain clearly visible for as much as a half hour depending on what's on the screen to get rid of it. About 20 minutes on average. But that's with a static image having been in place for only 10 minutes. If I watch a football game then I have to keep changing aspect ratio from Just Scan to 16:9 and back to try to avoid the problem. And then will still usually have to put it on another channel or use the Scrolling feature for a long time before I'm comfortable turning the TV off.

Don't know if this is related or not, but just in case, I'm also noticing something else. Anytime there are words on screen I see a light 'shadow' sweeping from the words to both side edges of the TV. Same thing happens when a menu, or even the volume, is brought on. A 'shadow' will extend from it to the edge of the TV. It's very noticeable. The TV also completes broken lines, too. Like, if a guy is standing in front of a window, and the edge of the window goes behind his face, the TV will draw the line of that window frame right through. Not as bright, of course, but just like the other shadowing.

Is this normal or could there be something amiss with the panel? I know that there's always been talk of burn in when it comes to plasma TVs. Overall I've been happy with this TV, but the overall enjoyment is declining as these problems get worse and worse. Is this just how plasmas are? Or might there be an abnormality?

I'm trying to determine if I need to request a technician to come out and take a look. Any help is appreciated greatly.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Some help
Oct 24, 2008 6:52AM PDT

For the first issue, if that's all it was, I might suggest that maybe the brightness and contrast settings are too high, and that lowering those and turning off Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) in the menu would solve that issue.

However, the other symptoms don't add up. The shadowing might be somewhat normal on a standard definition signal, but if it's happening on HD also, then that would indicate a problem. As well, since you noted that some of the other issues are getting worse, I'd definitely recommend a service technician take a look at it.

I wanted to get some feedback before I responded, so I apologize for the delay in answering this.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

--HDTech

- Collapse -
Thanks
Oct 25, 2008 5:33AM PDT

No worries about the delay at all. You guys are really great about giving us good info - I'm happy to wait a little while if need be!

I appreciate the feedback. I'll schedule an appointment.

Cheers

- Collapse -
Good call...
Oct 25, 2008 2:44PM PDT

After reading a little bit today on the issue and discussing it with my contat at service, I would definitely follow through with that service appointment.

The tip-off to me was the menu having shadows. I can see some inputs or picture causing that, but when the internal menu suffers the same fate, it suggests a hardware issue that requires service.

Keep me posted on how it goes, or what it was. Your feedback always allows me to help other people should they report the same issue.

Thanks for your patience, and your support of Samsung products!

--HDTech

- Collapse -
Update
Nov 1, 2008 5:32AM PDT

Had a service tech out to the house about a half hour ago. He looked at the TV for all of two minutes and concluded that there are some parts that need to be replaced. I think he called them power boards but I'm not certain. He wrote down "Y-Main, Y-Buffer, Top and Bottom."

The symptom he observed was the shadowing thing, but he said that this will also fix the propensity for image retention. I sure hope so.

Apparently it will be a week or two before he can get the parts and come back, but when the work is done I will post again with the result.

- Collapse -
Update Part 2
Nov 10, 2008 9:34AM PST

Just had the technician back out again. This time he brought another guy with him. They replaced the three parts (y scan board bn9606519a, y buffer up bn9606520a, and y buffer down bn9606521a) but, unfortunately, did not fix the problems. The shadows are still very much present, and the image retention issue is still just as strong.

The original tech tried to tell me that he could no longer see the lines (shadows) but the other guy saw them fine. The original tech also said that the image retention was normal and that, when I showed the problem was still there, my panel had text burnt into it. The other guy did not agree, especially since after a few minutes the text once again disappeared. I think the original tech gave up on the burnt in stance, but he still seemed to believe that it is normal for a plasma screen to retain text and images after as little as a minute or less of being on screen. I disagree.

Tomorrow I will call their office and hopefully they will have reported what they saw to the boss. And in turn he will have a better idea of what the problem is and will be able to offer me a solution. If not I will have to call Samsung again and request a different service company.

I will post again tomorrow if I get some news. And I'll continue to keep you updated until the problem is resolved.

- Collapse -
Thanks for the update.
Nov 10, 2008 11:57AM PST

I will be watching this thread to see how this works out.

By all means, please let me know.

I'm sorry that those boards didn't fix the issue, but we'll find a solution. I'm trying to imagine an image that stays on the screen after being up there a minute. That's what's happening, correct?

--HDTech

- Collapse -
re:
Nov 10, 2008 5:20PM PST

Pretty much. Not the actual image, of course, but rather a ghost of it. So if it is the CNN logo, for example, I don't literally see the letters in red but rather a clearly defined outline of them on top of whatever is then displayed. If it's the TV menu then I'll see the edges of and within it, as well as the various texts. That sort of thing.

The length of time it will remain visible seems distinctly proportionate to the time that the actual image was really there in the first place. There for a minute, lasts for about a minute, there for half and hour, lasts for at least 20 minutes more. If I watch a football game and don't change the aspect ratio frequently then I'll have to use the scroll feature for 2-3+ hours to get rid of the ESPN logo, etc.

And there's still that shadowing thing too. I figure they've got to be related. Hopefully I'll have some news in the morning. I'll let you know.

And thanks, by the way, for your continued interest.

- Collapse -
Did you follow up with the boss?
Nov 11, 2008 6:02AM PST

No problem. I'm curious on this. I haven't heard anything like it.

The length of time those images stay just doesn't sound right. Images there for a minute shouldn't be there for another minute.

Yes, please keep me posted.

--HDTech

- Collapse -
yep
Nov 16, 2008 12:55PM PST

I got in touch with them again the next morning. They head guy is going to come out to my house once I get back to town. Appointment is for Saturday I believe. I'll let you know what goes down.

- Collapse -
What Happened?
Dec 9, 2008 8:21AM PST

Hey I have been having the same image retention on my LN-T4061. Was the Samsung tech able to fix the problem?

Also I got an extended warranty from the store so I don't know if I should use that or go with Samsung direct as I am still within my firr=st year. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

- Marc

- Collapse -
Personal opinion
Dec 9, 2008 9:10AM PST

I would suggest going through Samsung directly if you are still within the first year. In my experience the customer service is actually quite good.

I just posted another update to this story overall, and I'll be adding on again this week so keep checking if you want to read about how it turns out.

This is my second Samsung plasma. The first one was bought back by Samsung after several attempts to fix its problem. They paid me the full original purchase price, which was great. I decided to get another Samsung mostly because of the service that I had received from them and the feeling that, if something goes wrong they will fix it. That's key with my luck!

I'll also note that I've had mixed results with actual contracted technicians. You're probably not going to get a Samsung engineer out to your house and the local TV repair shop guys sometimes know a lot and sometimes they don't. If the issue isn't resolved to your satisfaction then call Samsung back and ask for another shop if you need to.

Hopefully when they come back to my place tomorrow they will be able to give me some explanation for this problem. If they can't then I'm starting to think that it'll be LCD for me in the future.

Good Luck.

- Collapse -
it continues
Dec 9, 2008 8:42AM PST

So that Saturday visit, from the owner of the local repair shop, has come and gone. There was some back and forth but it turned out that he couldn't quite figure it out and was going to confer with Samsung directly.

It was right before Thanksgiving so he said it may take a while. I called the other day to check the status and the receptionist told me that he had ordered a part and, lo and behold, it had just arrived. The part ordered is a whole new panel and the appointment is tomorrow. Once again, I'll let you know how it turns out.

- Collapse -
OK
Dec 17, 2008 6:23AM PST

The new panel has been installed. And, not sure if this is normal or not, but "new panel" included all of the boards attached to the back, with the exception of the power board and the input panel. So I almost have a new TV.

The shadow issue actually remains but is less noticeable. The image retention problem is now what I'd call normal - anything left over is cleared within a matter of seconds usually.

Overall I feel that, while not perfect, it now lives up to my expectation and its own value for what I paid. Hopefully it'll be good until I grow into something even bigger and better.

As always, I'm very happy with Samsung's service. Not very impressed with the repair shop handling it all but nevertheless they did get the job done.

Mr Samsung - Thanks for keeping up with this. It was nice to see the interest as I hope that, should this problem arise again, this will provide some help.

- Collapse -
Thanks for the follow up!
Dec 17, 2008 6:32AM PST

buckodgr8,

Thanks for providing an update to your experience. The new panel will probably have a bit of a break-in period, so I would definitely use the scrolling bar in the Screen Protection menu for a bit to get those pixels "exercised". Hopefully that issue will resolve as the panel ages a little.

Thanks for reporting the issue here. I'm glad we were able to get it resolved. If I can help further, please let me know.

--HDTech