I\’m thinking about buying a plasma TV, but I keep hearing about short screen life. How long do they last?
By Eve | November 5, 2008
Marty asked:
I’ve heard that plasma TV screens begin to fade after as little as 5,000 hours of viewing (seems like a lot, but that is less than 3 years at 5 hours/day), but some claim to last up to 60,000 hours. I also hear about “burn-in”, heat production when the TV is on, and high power consumption. What’s the truth?
I’ve heard that plasma TV screens begin to fade after as little as 5,000 hours of viewing (seems like a lot, but that is less than 3 years at 5 hours/day), but some claim to last up to 60,000 hours. I also hear about “burn-in”, heat production when the TV is on, and high power consumption. What’s the truth?
Topics: TVs | 6 Comments »
6 Responses to “I\’m thinking about buying a plasma TV, but I keep hearing about short screen life. How long do they last?”
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plasma screens have definately gotten better but will still suffer some of those issues. in terms of screen life, they should last you at least 5-10 years with normal use. in terms of burn-in, if you’re not watching one station 4 hours a day, you should be fine. yes, plasmas run hot, and yes plasmas suck up power. so do most tv’s. not a big deal.
Burn in is the most common occurence of depleted viewing with a plasma TV – my recommendation is to buy a rear projection Television – they do NOT have picture fade or burn in – and the size and picture quality is nearly the same. (More for your money by a long shot)
LCD manufacturers claim that their displays last, on average, 50,000 to 65,000 hours. In fact, an LCD TV will last as long as its backlight does – and those bulbs can sometimes be replaced! Since this is nothing more than light passing through a prismatic substrate, there is essentially nothing to wear out in an LCD monitor. However, one nasty little known fact about LCD technology is that as the backlight ages it can change colors slightly (think of florescent office lighting). When this occurs the white balance of the entire LCD will be thrown for a loop and the user will need to re-calibrate, or worse, try to replace the backlighting or ditch the unit altogether. Some of the early purchasers of larger LCD screens will be learning this tidbit in a couple of years. One thing that I’ve found in this industry, it is not easy to find out whether the backlighting on LCDs can be replaced. Manufacturers are either hesitant to discuss the topic, or they just don’t know.
Plasma, on the other hand, utilizes slight electric currents to excite a combination of noble gases (i.e., argon, neon, xenon), which glow red, blue, and/or green. This is an essentially active phenomenon, so the phosphoric elements in plasma displays fade over time. Many manufacturers state a new half life of 60,000 hours. While I am skeptical of this spec, I do believe strides have been made to nearly even the playing field with LCD. At half life, the phosphors in a plasma screen will glow half as brightly as they did when the set was new. There is no way to replace these gases; the display simply continues to grow dimmer with use.
While the answers posted before mine are accurate, (I take exception to the gentleman who claims rear-projection sets do not “burn-in” in fact, they do)
The two factors which will effect your television life span regardless of the technology are:
1) How you plan on using the set, including frequency of use.
2) How brightly you desire the picture settings to be.
If you plan on using the set to play video games, for example, you run higher risk for burning the screen due to the prevalance of static images in video games (life gauges, score, etc.).
Setting your brightness and contrast levels too high will also decrease your set’s life span.
Think of any television as a light bulb. If you choose to turn it on and off repeatedly for 24 hours a day, the light bulb will encounter problems a lot sooner than if you use the light for a few hours a time every few days.
Plasma sets are great because they produce the most accurate black levels however they are the most expensive, have the shortest relative lifespan, and aren’t repairable (as far as replacing the gas)
DLP and LCD are great choices however- most sets do not have scalable resolution, in other words, cannot adjust the screen to display 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. They offer wide viewing angles, but do not reproduce blacks as well as plasma. They are easier to repair than plasma and they are less expensive, and NOT susceptible to burn in. However, a common complaint is the “screen door effect” which makes the image appear to have a screen door placed on top of it when seen at close viewing distances.
Rear Projection CRT is the best bet as far as overall picture quality, but they are bulkier and heavier, and also highly susceptible to burn in. They also aren’t “flat”
I liked the picture of plasma direct display so much more than LCD, CRT, DLP, and rear projection that I waited about 6 years until the technical issues were ironed out before finally purchasing a Panasonic a year ago. I’m quite happy with the purchase decision.
Here are the things to consider.
The CRTs direct view TVs and the CRT rear projection TVs that we have been used to for years and years have also suffered from phosphor fade and burn-in and few people have really seemed to care that much. And, yes, all phosphor based displays including CRTs and Plasmas and OLED displays in cameras and cell phones begin to fade imperceptibly after you start using them.
60,000 hour-life is supposedly comparable to a direct view CRT TV. (I’ve gotta believe that this is way longer than a rear-projection CRT TV because they really have to crank up the brightness on the rear-projection tubes to get a reasonable picture on the TV screen).
I ran some numbers based on 5 hours a day of usage and a 60,000 hour half-life on the plasma phosphors. Half-life means the phophors will luminesce half as brightly as the initially did with the same power input after 60,000 hours of operation.
After N years of of operation at 5-hours a day, the phophor display intensity will be:
1yrs 97%
2yrs 94%
3yrs 91%
4yrs 89%
5yrs 86%
10yrs 74%
15yrs 63%
20yrs 54%
23yrs 50%
What we’ve all done for years with CRTs is that we periodically increase the brightness and contrast settings, when we think the picture is not bright enough and then we go along our merry way. I’ve found this is best done with a calibration DVD such as Digital Video Essentials (DVE).
One thing to extend the life of the TV display is to calibrate it and avoid watching shows in the “Vivid” settings which usually have the brightness, contrast, and saturation turned up unnaturally high. About the only time I ever use Vivid mode is on a very sunny afternoon when the picture looks a little washed out due to all the ambient light.
Burn-in is a possibility with rear-projection CRT, CRT, and plasma but many manufacturers such as Panasonic have reformulated their phosphors to be more burn-in resistent. Panasonic claims that blue was most susceptible and about a year/year and a half ago, they came out with sets that had new blues.
Some burn-in / memory is temporary and will disappear.
To avoid this, simply turn off the TV when not watching it. Don’t leave it paused on a video game, cable DVR menu, or TiVo menu for half-an hour at a time.
Power consumption and heat generation are way down on plasmas compared to early generations. There’s no noticible difference in my family room with or without the plasma turned on. The TV is warm but not hot to the touch.
Frankly, I notice the heat from the recessed lighting in my house more than I notice the heat from the plasma.
Plasma power consumption is about 300-400W per hour. That’s equivalent to 5-7 60W bulbs of recessed lighting. Or about the power consumption of a high-end PC with fast CPU and high-end graphics card.
At the end of the day, figure out how many years you plan on keeping the set and how many hours a day you watch TV. My previous CRT TV I had for 14 years. It was only in the last year or two that I felt I had to increase the brightness much.
Also, pick the TV that you like the picture of the most that fits your budget.
I found the following sites very informative and useful in my purchase decision to get a plasma TV.
Plasma panels (and CRTs) start to age from day 1. It’s hardly noticeable any more these days. Plasma (and CRTs) can get a burned-in image if a static (i.e. not moving) image is displayed for an extended amount of time. Keeping the contrast and brightness down will extend the life of plasma. Also, many models have a ciruit called an orbiter. This makes the picture move very slightly, so as to minimize the burn-in facctor. LCD products can burn also, but not from a static image. They will burn from the heat of the lamp, what actually happens is the color filters in the optical engine will start to become discolored, usually starting at the edges.