Plasma TV maintenance Guide
March 7, 2006
Looking after Your Plasma TV
While latest developments in digital TVs have resulted in lower prices, Plasma TVs have remained to be generally pricier than other TV sets. But the price is definitely worth your money because given its longwearing and low-maintenance quality, Plasma TVs might just turn out to be the sturdiest piece of electronic equipment you have right in your living room. In fact, the latest species of plasma displays are estimated to have an actual display life of 60,000 hours, which is equivalent to 65 years viewing at 2 and half hours per day. Older models had to contend with is susceptibility to burn-in, or damage to the display wherein an image or text is lightly but permanently etched into the display panel, as a result of the long display of a static image.
Taking care of your Plasma TV does not take much of your time, effort, and money. But such small amount of care or maintenance is enough to give you a good number of years to high quality viewing pleasure. Here are some tips on how to maintain your Plasma TV for optimum performance.
Preventing Burn-in
While the latest generation of TV Plasmas are said to have eliminated burn-in problems, a buyer would have no way of knowing unless the problem occurs. So the best way to protect your investment is to prevent the problem at the earliest opportunity. Burn-in or shadowing occurs when phosphors in the pixels age prematurely and glow caused by static images.
To avoid burn-in, the basic rule is not to leave any stagnant images such as websites, video games, station logos, program menus or computer graphics on the plasma screen for more than a few minutes. Some would say that 20 minutes of static image is long enough, but it would be better to be on the safe side and avoid keeping an unmoving image for more than a few minutes. If you need to view a static image, switch from that to a moving image. This should be observed especially during your first few hours of using the Plasma TV when it is highly vulnerable to burn-in.
Calibrating Brightness and Contrast
Another cause for a shorter life span of Plasma TVs is the increased ageing rate of phosphors due to high brightness and contrast features. To prevent this, calibrate the contrast and brightness, turn it down enough to complement with the lighting ambiance of the room where the Plasma TV is placed. Read the manuals and look for preset features that allow you to choose varying levels of brightness and contrast for both daytime and nighttime screening.
Using the Aspect Ratio
To prevent sidebar image retention, make sure to use the Aspect button on the remote control if you want to switch from wide screen 16:9 to 4:3 screen size. Avoid showing gray or black bars to do this. Or you can use your Plasma TVs image stretching or pan-and-scan elements if such is supported.
Cleaning The Plasma Screen
Simply use a clean, damp cloth in wiping the Plasma display. Do not use any other hard materials such as paper, or solvents such as alcohol as this may damage the anti glare coating on the screen. Lastly, your TV must not come in contact with rubber or vinyl surfaces for a long time, otherwise it may cause damage to the coating.
