I've had the Panasonic TH-50PX75U plasma for only a few weeks, but due to a death in the family I haven't really watched much on it yet.

I'm noticing some minor image retention (DVD player startup logo, TIVO menu), though it does seem to go away. Will this issue ever fully disappear as hours increase on the set? I'm currently running a gradient color burn-in disc for what I've seen recommended for 100 hours, but I'm only at about 50 or 60 or so right now.

i have the same TV. It should fully dissapear after watching something else for a couple of mins.

Will it (image retention in general) eventually disappear altogether as hours on the set increase?

Probably not, but you can do many things to minimize it. Even on my almost 3 year old Plasma, I still try and turn it to Discovery HD or another HD channel for about 10 mins before turning it off.

I experience NO consistent image retention on my Panny plasma.

When I first bought it, I paused a Tivo show, forgot about it, and went to bed. The image stayed on screen for a few hours and disappeared.

I did the 100 hour burn in prevention when I bought it though.

I have never experienced any image retention whatsoever on my Panny plasma after that though.

I also have the same TV. I still get Image retention, but NEVER had any Burn-In and believe me I've put it through the ringer. Image retention disappears completely after a minute or two so who cares? I firmly believe that it is basically impossible to burn-in an image on this TV. If it was possible, mine would have done it. I've left it in 4:3 mode, on an unused input (bright gray bars on the sides, all black middle) for hours after turning off the PS2 and not the TV accidentily. Horrible (scary bright) image retention. Was gone within 2 minutes of switching to an HD channel and then back to the black screen to check. They've come a long way.

Bah, forget about the "burn in" period. If it was all that important, Panasonic would've performed the burn-in for you. Image retention is not that big a deal - it disappears as soon as you watch something that uses that area. Burn in (permanent image retention) would be a much bigger deal, but as of yet, I have not heard a single story of burn in on any of the AV forums I browse. Not even on the older plasmas which have are supposed to be a lot more susceptible to it. Just make sure your settings are appropriate and you aren't using Vivid on the factory settings.

I have one too. Awesome set. And such a great bargain I feel like I stole it.

Edit: These are my settings based on AVIA's calibration disk. Your ideal settings may vary, but this would at least give you a starting point (if you haven't calibrated already). Actually, Warm color temp gives more accurate colors on calibration, but Norm looks better to me, so that's what I use. Trust your own eyes.

Picture Mode: Cinema
Picture: +18
Brightness: +7
Color: -3
Tint: -1
Sharpness: -30
Color Temp: Normal
Black level: Light

BTW, in case you didn't know already, while the Vivid, Standard, and Cinema settings have only one setting across all source (changing the settings for one will change it for all sources), Custom can be individually set for each source. Also, you might've noticed that even with the same settings, the different picture modes look different. It was noted by someone in another forum that Cinema mode has the best black levels and that's why you should ideally use that mode to adjust settings.

Just curious why the Sharpness would be set to a negative number?
What exactly is the function of Sharpness? I would think setting it to a higher number would increase edge detail, etc, but I guess I'm wrong.

And I appreciate the settings - it gives something to work from

Same here. I did run it through the burn-in period for about 100 hours and have my settings set to some recommended values I found referenced on the AVS forum I think. The image retention is somewhat annoying when its there but it does go away.
I think I was recently watching a rented dvd of Vacancy and it was extremely noticeable as a well lit face would move across a dark screen I could see these motion lines until that portion of the dark screen changed to a lighter scene. It looked something like this:
( ( ( ( O


Now if I could just get that TV to allow me to disable the TV input since I only use cable, dvd and game on other inputs...

As I understand it, sharpness is like edge enhancement- possibly necessary for fuzzy SD, but it shouldn't be used on HDTVs.

Similar to my settings except I have

Picture +19
Brightness +9
Color -4
Tint -1
Sharpness -30
Color Temp Normal
Black Level Light

I have the PX77U 42" model and its great. I have experienced IR but after a few minutes of HD or any full screen material it is washed away.

That's pretty much exactly what sharpness does. But I'd have to disagree with your implication that increased edge detail is ok. It sucks! Good DVD and HD sources are plenty sharp, no need to play with nature.

As mentioned above by a couple of people, Sharpness at -30 (lowest setting) just means there's no edge enhancement. You usually want it off for HD material because it's not necessary at all and can introduce artifacts. Negative sharpness doesn't soften the picture so don't worry about that.