Plasma TVs: Your Questions Answered

In total, you sent us over fifty questions.  Once we eliminated the duplicates, we found that you had some very specific queries—and some tough ones, too.  Panasonic has answered them all with refreshing honesty.

Reader Question: plasma TV manuals no longer recommend being especially cautious with new models, so is this still necessary?  If so, why?

Panasonic Answer: being careful with a new plasma TV is useful, but it's no longer absolutely necessary.  On the earliest plasma displays, screen burn was a real problem.  The problem was caused by the fact that the phosphor inside the cells is very sensitive when it's new.  To reduce, or even eliminate, this problem, owners were recommended to be particularly careful with them for the first 100—200 hours of viewing.  The aim was to ensure that any burning that did take place was even.

These days, the technology has advanced a lot, and so these extra steps are no longer needed, but it can help avoid the few remaining cases of screen burn that specific usage patterns can create.

If you do want to be extra careful, though, there's some simple advice.  Make sure you leave the 'dynamic' mode switched off, watch content full screen and avoid leaving a static image on screen for several hours at once.  Doing that for around a hundred hours should be enough.


Why is plasma unsuitable for small screens?

Plasma technology isn't suitable for small screens because it's hard to reduce the size of the plasma cells.
 

When will we see desktop monitors or laptops with a plasma display?  Is it the size or the energy consumption that are holding you back?

It seems unlikely that we'll see plasma screens in laptop computers or desktop monitors because the technology is limited to displays larger than 37'', for the same physical problems we mentioned above about reducing the size of the cells.

Panasonic's Neo PDP technology means that plasma screens now use 70% less energy than they did just two generations ago.  A 42'' TV from our G20 line, for instance, has an average consumption of 129 W, which isn't much more than the majority of LCDs.


Do I need to be more careful when moving a plasma TV?

Yes, for one simple reason: they're big!  Don't forget that both plasma and LCD TVs include a large pane of glass in front the display which is very sensible to vibrations when laid flat and can easily break.  But the precautions you should take are exactly the same as with an equivalently-sized LCD TV.


How has plasma technology managed to go from costing over £5000 for a HD Ready model to just £1000 for Full HD today in the space of a few years?

The drop in prices is entirely normal and caused by the economies of scale we can make.  In the past, we made very few plasma TVs and so the consumer price was obviously higher.  Now that we make them on an industrial scale, though, a lot of the costs are lower.

How do you see the future of plasma TVs in the next few years?  And how about the 3D technology that's currently available?

For us, plasma is definitely an up-to-date technology and is set to stay that way because of the excellent results it offers in both 3D and 2D.  It's important to remember that before you can make a good 3D TV, you already need a good 2D TV.

Our VT20 and the new GT20 both produce extraordinary performances that has been hailed the world over, both in two and three dimensions, and we're very committed to this technology.


When are you going to add on the fly 2D-to-3D conversion to your plasma TVs?

You can already get 2D-to-3D conversion on a Panasonic plasma: it's available on the new 42GT20 as well as the 42'' and 46'' versions of the VT20.  The reason we've restricted to TVs no bigger than 46'' is because of the amount of detail that's lost during the conversion process.  On a 'smaller' TV, though, the results are still acceptable.

 

Given that phosphor produces its own light, why use backlighting on a plasma TV?  I own a Kuro, and the only problem I have with it is that I can see horizontal bars where the fluorescent tubes are visible behind the screen.  Why not use LED backlighting on a plasma TV to avoid that problem?  Could that be the Holy Grail of image quality?

One of the unique features of plasma technology is that it emits its own light, so there's never any backlighting.  It sounds like you should try to get your Kuro repaired as there's clearly a problem.


Do I need to recharge my plasma TV with gas?

You don't need—and you have never needed—to top up a plasma TV with gas, or anything else for that matter.


Does plasma technology have a future?  Fewer and fewer manufacturers bother with it, but why?  Is it because they struggle with the technology, because LCDs are so good or for another reason?

For Panasonic, plasma technology looks set to have a very promising future and it's absolutely out of the question that we'd abandon it after all our work refining it into our Neo PDP system.  This reduces energy consumption by a very large amount and improves brightness, contrast and colour reproduction.