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that's not it

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Joe Murphy Jr

In Reply to: RE: Brightness fluctuation. posted by sbrians on August 06, 2011 at 22:44:26

I believe what he's talking about is a built-in design (flaw) that Panasonic has been including with their plasmas. Over time, there are intervals that the display is commanded to raise the light output of the actual phosphors.

For example, let's say that you calibrate the set for Brightness. After about 2000 hours of use, you notice that the display -- in a dark or low lit room -- doesn't get as black as it previously did. You bring out the calibration disc and recalibrate, but still notice that, with an all black screen, the display seems to "glow" more than when it was new. Well, it's not your imagination as the display has been programmed at the factory to do this. And no, you can't change the programming. But brace yourself, because in another 2000 - 3000 hours the "glow" is going to get a bit brighter again. Panasonic confirmed that this is indeed what should be happening, by design. This started a few years ago, but in 2010 they made a change to the design to increase the amount of time before an increase took place and slightly decreased that amount of increase. Supposedly, this has been eliminated or diminished even more with the 2011 models.

It is a flaw in design. To design such a non-defeatable change in the display is not beneficial to their brand.

Panasonic has two (kind of) independent divisions for their plasma manufacturing -- Business and Consumer. I have not been able to confirm if this takes place in their Business line of plasmas. Someone I get info from says they have been instructed to "zip it" when asked about this "feature" in the Business line. However, I have not seen any complaints on any of the video forums about a Business model owner bringing this "feature" up. Since the Business models cost more, I'm sure if this "feature" happened to them as well, there'd be a lot of pissed off owners complaining. So far, not a peep. Perhaps mo' money buys you that "feature" being omitted.

Here's some info to
read. (Open in New Window)

Follow Ups:

RE: that's not it - mcdmgb 07:22:27 08/07/11 (2)
Joe,

Thanks for the information on the panel conditioning and the website. The website is interesting although most of what I have read blows past me.

As I read the reports, the brightness fluculation issue seems to involve the current offerngs from Panasonic and is usually noted shortly after the unit is set up. What you have discussed with regard to a brightness fluculation seems to be an issue on older models with some hours on them. The out of the box brightness issue is what I was referring to in my original post.

Mike
- there are two problems - mbnx01 10:26:09 08/07/11 (1)
  There is the 'black level loss' problem.
  
  There is the 'fluctuating brightness' problem.
  
  I find it insane that it's 2011 and people cannot build a decent flat-screen tv without huge flaws.
  
  I consider LCD's to be unwatchable so plasma is the only game in town now that LCD projectors have been discontinued.
  
  "Lock up when you're done and don't touch the piano."
  -Greg House
  - actually there are three "fluctuators" - Joe Murphy Jr 11:06:29 08/07/11 (0)
    The two you mentioned and the one that sbrians mentioned ( "I expect that is the thing that adjusts brightnees based on its room light sensor. My lighting is well controlled so I just turned that off." ), a version of C.A.T.S. (Contrast Automatic Tracking System): from Panasonic -- using a light sensor, it "automatically senses the ambient light conditions and adjusts brightness and gradation, ensuring the best possible image contrast while reducing power consumption and minimizing phosphor aging." .
    
    Panasonic is overthinking in their design process. In the end, they are trying to make up for the fact that the average consumer has no idea how to set up a display and does little to control their lighting conditions. For those of us who have a bit more knowledge in the area of video, simply allow these "features" to be turned OFF. They could even put access to them in the Service Menu, as opposed to the User Menu -- problem solved.

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