Have your say & ask the experts

Hello all,

My new tv is due to be delivered later today so just after some clarification on setting it up.

I've read different things about screen burn so wondered if this does indeed happen and if so what's the best way to avoid it?

Any other tips on the set up would be great too.

I'm hooking it up to a denon dvd via a QED HDMI-P lead and also to a virgin box.

Cheers!

Unless you intend to stick BBC News 24 on in your living room for a few months at a time, then I wouldn't worry about screen burn personally - certainly no issues with mine after nearly 3 years.

However, in the interests of fairness, a lot of people recommend running the Panny's in Cinema mode (on the Picture menu) for the first 100-200 hours of use. This seems a sensible compromise to me to some of the other (frankly) silly statements so if you want to be cautious, you could do this.

Personally, I'd just use it as the manufacturer recommends i.e. don't worry about it!

Oh, get it calibrated using a THX optimiser set up as well. Available on many DVDs (see here - click on entire list link). If you're being safe and running in Cinema mode for first few hundred hours to be safe though, wait until this is done before running through the above as it's pointless before then.

Thanks for the advice mate.

Just out of interest....does having it calibrated make much of a difference?

Sorry, I should say, getting it calibrated means watch the THX optimiser and calibrate yourself rather than getting someone in to do it. It can make a massive difference to the picture.

Calibrating your set makes a vast amount of difference - factory settings typically suck! Our guide on How to Boost Your TV's Performance should help - you can read it here

If you look at this site (http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Panasonic-TH42PX80/Settings/) you'll get the easy way to set the px80. I used it then, after a few day,s used a thx optimiser and guess what ? Yeah, it was spot on- no changes required.

The only thing I did to avoid screen burn ( I knew it wouldn't be a prob but .....) was watch any channels with a constant logo on zoom 1 for a while. Since then no probs and its good with all sources.  

Enjoy