Best Plasma TV

You are paying all those bucks on this new cool plasma TV and I bet you are wondering how much it will last you. Well, I have good news: you will most probably replace it with a new TV because you want something better not because it got old and died.

How is plasma TV life measured?

The industry standard for measuring a flat-screen TVs lifespan (plasma or LCD) is the time it takes untill the brightness and contrast become half as they ware initially. That means the plasma TV lifespan is not the time it takes untill it breaks up. Now, don’t think plasma TVs are bad because they loose brightness in time. The thing is all TVs do that (even those old CTR TVs) but you don’t notice it because it happens gradually over a very long period of time.

What exactly is the lifespan of a plasma TV?

Plasma TVs curretly on the market have a lifespan of roughly 60.000 hours. That means if you keep it turned on for 6 hours each day it will last about 27 years. If you are one of those people that watch a lot of TV or movies and you keep it turned on for let’s say 18 hours each day, that means it will still take 9 years untill it will become half as bright as it was the very first day it delighted your eyes.

If that isn’t good news for you, guess what?! I have some even better ones. The plasma TV technology is improved continuosly so we can expect the lifespan of plasma TVs to get longer and longer as time passes by. As a fact, Panasonic has announced not long time ago that their new generation of plasma TVs will have a lifespan of 100.000 hours. How cool is that?!

Can we enhance the lifespan and have the vivid colors and the brightness for longer?

Yes we can! It’s all about the aging process - just as with us. If you somke 2 packs a day, drink a lot and sleep on the streets you will get sicker and look older than if you live a healthy life. So you have to make sure your plasma TV has a healthy life. And maybe I should quit smoking or my plasma TV will outlive me…

Tips to enhance your plasma TV life:

Note: The break-in period refers to the first 100-200 hours of operation of the plasma TV. During this time you must take a few preautions not to abuse the plasma TV.

Another note: Though the new plasma TV models don’t suffer from permanent burn-in as their older brothers did, it is still a good idea to do your best to prevent it.

1. do after you turn it on for the first time is to reduce the contrast and brightness to 50%. Most of the plasma TVs are set to maximum contrast and brightness ("torch mode") by default. You don’t really need that for a good picture quality. In fact if you watch in complete darkness it will probably look better if you reduce the contrast and brightness. Keeping these settings under 100% for the whole time you will be using your plasma TV will slow the aging rate of the panel. If you don’t like to always leave those settings down at least do so during the break-in period. This is probably the most important thing to do in order to increase your plasma TV life and it also helps to reduce the chances of image retention or burn in.
2. During the break-in period watch only fullscreen content. By doing so you will wear up the panel uniformly and also you significantly reduce the chance of burn-in and image retention datorated to non-fullscreen content.
3. Do not leave the same TV channel on for more than 1 hour during the break-in period. This way you reduce chances of image retention or burn-in caused by the channel logo or news ticker. So do switch the channels from time to time.
4. Make sure your plasma TV is installed properly. I am thinking especially at cooling here. When you install it make sure that you leave enough space around it to allow airflow to properly cool it down.
5. Don’t clean it with the same thing you use to clean the windows or the dishes. You think this is a dumb suggestion and nobody would do that? Guess again! The proper way to clean it is to use a dry microfiber cloth to remove the dust and soft dirt. Use chemical solutions only if the manufacturer recommends it in the manual. Also do your best not to leave dirt on it (e.g. fingerprints). If you have a small child that likes to smear chocolate and food on everything in the house keep your eyes on him (this one is dedicated to my uncle and his son ).

With these tips I don’t intend to just teach you how to extend your plasma TV life - it has plenty anyway - but also to help you experience that beautiful picture quality for a longer time.