Plasma TV

Plasma Tv Characteristics:
Highly susceptible to screen burn in. Want to play your favorite video game on your new Plasma TV? Not the best idea. Accidentally left that freeze frame from a movie you're watching on the Plasma TV for too long? You'll end up looking at it's ghostly image for as long as you own it.

Leave a static image on this unit's display screen for too long (like the vitals of your character on a video game or the freeze framed image from a DVD movie), and it will be burned into the screen forever. They are even more susceptible to image burn than regular tube Televisions (LCD or DLP Front Projection technology is the only safe zone there).

If a pixel matrix burns out, it will be burnt out for good, no fixing it. The individual pixels created by the plasma filled chambers will eventually give out, everything wears out over time.

Granted, this will be only one, tiny pixel dot in a grid of over a million and may not really be noticeable. But that depends on which color of the three in the pixel matrix gives out. If all three give out, it will be a black dot. If the red and blue give out, it'll be a green dot. If the green and red give out, it'll be a blue dot. Get the idea?

No matter what any Salesperson tells you, these cannot be re-charged" or "re-filled". Once the pixel burns out, it burns out. Warranty will cover it? The warranty coverage is a little grey right now. The unofficial guideline most mfg's are using is if four or more pixels are burnt out, they will replace the screen. ($2,000-$5,000) Less than that, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with it. A few manufacturers say it has to be 20 pixels before the set is replaced.

Plasma TVs are affected by altitude. Most manufacturers say that 6500 feet above sea level is the maximum operating altitude limit for a Plasma TV. A few others say 5500 feet.

The added pressure at higher altitudes cause the unit to work harder and, therefore, get hotter to display the picture. Most units have cooling fans (convection style or otherwise) but they, too, will be working harder to keep up with the additional strain and will, thusly, become louder. And because it is working harder, the life expectancy of the unit is greatly reduced.

No one really knows for certain as to the life expectancy of a Plasma TV. The only real standard that seems to be used to judge this is based on the units some manufacturers have operating in major airports. Some have screen failure at one year, (constant use). Most have done well for 22,000 hours of constant use. Take this figure and divide by the average amount a person watches TV per day. Example: 4 hours, you get 5500 days of viewing or 15 years of life. 22 hours of use per day and you get 1000 days of use or 3 years.

But the phosphors that make the color dissipate over time and that dissipation begins the moment you turn the set on. After 1000 hours, it is reported the picture brightness is reduced to 94%, which, really, is barely noticeable. Over time, though, this increases. At about 15,000 hours you get a picture quality brightness of about 65%.