TimeandTide

Also bought my first plasma--the 42" Panasonic EDTV. LOVE IT so far. Thanks to all on this forum for the links to the plasma sites as they really helped me configure my settings for better picture and sound. (Still going to drop some $ on the Avia disk though.)

My question: Despite having spent hours on countless forums, I still haven't found any information on how to best break a plasma tv in. Was hoping you guys might have some advice.

Another question: Do the black bars on widescreen films cause burn-in?

Thanks in advance!

renaldow

Just watch the set for about 200 hours. PQ will improve after that point.

Spiky

Watch the set fullscreen at first for breaking it in. At least most of the time for that first 200 hours. 100 hours, at least.

The black bars can cause burn-in, but setting it up with Avia (and not leaving it on pause for hours) should reduce the possibility to almost zero.

Oh, and after the break-in is done, redo your Avia setup as the TV will probably look a bit different. DVE is cheaper than Avia, btw. And about equivalent in capability. In case you care.

JZ1276

I have the same set and never noticed any links on here to configure settings for a better picture and sound.

TimeandTide

Maybe I spotted the link on another site. This review was what I was referring to (not exactly comprehensive, but my picture looks light years better with the minor adjustments): 42" Panasonic Review

And thanks to all for the help!

JZ1276

this was mentioned in the review...

"Users will not be able to connect this plasma TV to computer via DVI or VGA and Panasonic explicitly says not to use the display with computer image sources in their comprehensive and well-designed manual"

I've had this TV hooked up to my PC via S-Video cable and have not had a problem. Does anyone know if I should not continue doing this?

Spiky

How many hours are on it? I'm sure that comment is due to burn-in potential. After it is broken in there is far less chance of burn-in. You are probably fine using a PC occasionally as long as you don't leave it on a static image like the desktop for awhile. Zip into a game or movie with no Taskbar visible and you should be fine, assuming there isn't too much static imagery in the game. Most recent games aren't too bad, but a little caution is still necessary. Many high-end HTs use a CRT projector and an HTPC as the main source, so you can certainly use a PC if you do it intelligently.

LCD is really a better choice if PC is a common source. IMO.