Have your say & ask the experts

 ive been following a story on other forums , and review sites , regarding claims of panny plasmas losing their deep blacks , as mentioned in another recent thread on here , well , up until today , most posters that had been involved in the initial thread , highlighting the problem , felt that panasonic were readying a firmware fix for any tvs that started losing their deep black levels ...

but , panasonic have emailed a certain u.s. website , declaring that it is NORMAL for a panny plasmas black level to lighten over time , and that its necessary to keep the tv working normally over its lifespan , etc etc....

basically , if YOUR plasma suddenly has black levels like a poor lcd , panasonic will not see it as a problem , they say thats normal .... but some people reporting the fall in black levels (the most important aspect of a plasma) , say the deep blacks , turned to lcd like greys , after only 300-400 hrs of use ???? does that sound normal to you ??? would you be happy buying a panny plasma , for its deep blacks , er , for a month or so , ???

maxflinn:

the pictures are an example , posted by a person who felt his tv was affected

In which case the pictures are gone, for copyright reasons.

Post 1 - yes thats my advice

Post 2- I'm not giving advice.

So no grey areas then.

Oooooooh MF- you little tinker- you edited out the first 4 words of your first post .

Edit- good on yer for posting the change.

Maxxflinn - I have the same G10 as you. Having seen those pictures you posted EDITED BY MODS - please do not discuss moderation

, are you saying that the original poster took a photograph of his new screen, anticipating this problem, so he could take a second photograph some 3-400 hours later to show the difference and prove a point? If he really believed that the black levels were going to go, why on earth did he buy the screen in the first place?

On the other hand, it'd be easy for me to take 2 similar photographs right now, with a minor adjustmnent inbetween the two, just to support an argument. If that poster does have a problem with his particular screen, what suggests that to be a common fault affecting all Panasonic plasmas rather than just his?

Sorry. I really do think this is nonsense.

he , like harmunt , the op of the other similar thread on here , only found out about the potential problems after he had just received his tv , so he took photos , just in case , at least thats what he said , does that not sound plausible ??

why doesnt anyone reading this thread , google , panasonic black level , ???? and read what ive read , then post their opinions , interpretation here .....

maxflinn:

why doesnt anyone reading this thread , google , panasonic black level , ???? and read what ive read , then post their opinions , interpretation here .....

wireman:

maxflinn:

why doesnt anyone reading this thread , google , panasonic black level , ???? and read what ive read , then post their opinions , interpretation here .....

Okay, doing that now. In the interim, I'd just like to say that my G10 already has about 1000 hours on it, and I genuinely can't see any problem, so it can't be affecting ALL Panasonic plasmas, can it? Is your G10 showing signs of black level problems?

if it stays that way then thats fine , its panasonics statement i dont like , it looks to me like they are trying to brush this under the carpet , have a butchers .....

Sorry, but I really don't see what you're trying to achieve here. You have a set that's fine, and you're banging on about a problem someone has reported for whatever reason, without any first-hand knowledge of the problem yourself.

And as you say, the problem is being experienced in the States, affects models sold there and not here and the response is from Panasonic USA.

Even the reviewer who contacted Panasonic for a statement says he has no first-hand knowlege of the effect, so he is also jumping on a forum bandwaggon. It's widely known that plasma screens lose brightness/contrast over time - that's why companies quote a screen life, which describes the time the screen takes to fade to half of its original brightness, but in the case of modern plasma that's many, many tens of thousands of hours.

EDIT: I locked this thread for a while to review the online discussions elsewhere. Having done so, I stand by my comments above, but hey, if you want to carry on discussing the subject, why not do it where the discussion pertains, and not here at third hand?

Having too been away to look at other forums to read what it is that’s being said and by whom, and having read Panasonic US's actual statement in response, had this thread not been locked I would've come back with similar conclusions (albeit I wouldn't have been able to voice them quite as eloquently as our guv AE has). IMHO, the criticism is wholly unsubstantiated.

well , the tvs that were reported to have suffered from rising black levels , done so after a few hundred hours in some cases , we are talking g10s and v10s here , not even a year old , that shouldnt be happening , and panas response to the said reviewer , served only to cover their butts , have we not seen all that before (clouding)......

but hey , lets see what happens , hopefully this is a non story , i have a panny , and am hoping to get another one in the future , the thread is open again , so if there are any developements , we can discuss them .....

i have a panasonic plasma.it is a different model to yours but its coming upto 2 years old soon and is on most of the day .

as far as i can tell it still looks pretty good.i have been really pleased with this set and my next tv will probably be another panasonic