Continuous Recording

[inazsully]

In order to break in a new plasma TV I want to run a continuous feed from Discovery Channel for 120 straight hours. Will the 722 run that long without automatically shutting itself down?

[coldsteel]

Maybe if you shut off the updates.

[jimborst]

I'm no expert, but would that be a good idea? The channel identifier in the corner could burn in. I think the best would be a variety of channels so no channel bug would be on for a prolonged period of time.

[coldsteel]

I'm no expert, but would that be a good idea? The channel identifier in the corner could burn in. I think the best would be a variety of channels so no channel bug would be on for a prolonged period of time.

The banner for Dish drops off after 4-5 seconds, so, unless the TV itself does that, he'd be good.

[BattleZone]

He wasn't talking about the info banner, but the channel bug. Fortunately, with commercials and such, it won't be a problem.

[Gene Steinberg]

Far be it for me to rain on anyone's parade, but I'm not into these voodoo procedures to break in a TV set. Just watch your favorite shows, and if you're concerned about stationary objects causing burn-in on your new plasma, stay away from CNN and Fox News for a spell. :)

Peace,
Gene

[Stewart Vernon]

You can disable the "inactivity standby" feature... but you can't stop the nightly updates. The only way to prevent those from happening would be to set the update time to a time when you know you will be there in front of the TV, and then click "No" to abort it doing the update.

Of course doing that will mean your EPG info will get horribly out of date.

I 2nd the idea that you really shouldn't need to do such a thing to "break in" a new TV.

120 hours = 5 days of continuous usage... I have to say that IF a TV actually required that to run properly, I wouldn't even buy the thing in the first place. That seems unnecessary to me.

[garys]

What about setting two receivers to the tv and alternate using the two. You can get continuous playing and still getting updates. Or you can show dvd or the vhs tapes if you have either a dvd player or vcr.

[inazsully]

Trust me, with a plasma display you want to break in the set for at least 100 hours. Plasma's use phosphers that are only activated when they are lighted. Every expert I have ever read reviews from recommend 100 hours at full screen, allowing all the phosphers to break in equally. Watching movies at 2:25 ratios allow for black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. These bars mean those phosphers are not being lighted at all. After 100 hours the phosphers are not as sensitive thus being less prone to burn in and image retention. While new plasma's are much less prone to burn in and image retention pretty much all owners manuals recommend some kind of break in. It's a small price to pay for the much superior plasma PQ compared to LCD's.

[Stewart Vernon]

I'm sorry to repeat myself... But I don't care how good a TV might look, if I truly had to break it in with 100+ hours of continual use... I simply would not buy that TV.

IF such "pre-use" is truly required... then that should be done in the factory as part of the manufacturing process before shipment.

I just can't believe this is necessary... but if it is, that says something to me about the technology.

[phrelin]

I always get confused about all this stuff. When I bought my 42" Pany Plasma six years ago I read all kinds of warnings and tips on line that I ignored. It's still gives a great picture, no burn in, no full screen burn in process, and there was no HD TV 16:9 except for DVD's. I thought by now it would be useless. Instead I've gotten six years of use.:)

[Jim5506]

I would think if it needed to be done, a premuim manufacturer would do it before the display left the factory.

[inazsully]

I would think if it needed to be done, a premuim manufacturer would do it before the display left the factory.

I'm afraid that Pioneer found out that the market for premium products does not pay the bills. Why in the world would anybody that considers themselves a half serious videofile feel that a lousy 100 hours out of their life is such a terrible price to pay? The technology surrounding breaking in plasma phosphers is nothing new. It may not be even necessary at all with the newer designs but why tempt fate? You leave the set on while your in bed and 100 hours comes along very fast. Your talking maybe 40 actual hours of viewing out of owning a fine piece of equipment for at least 10 years. Remember when a car engine needed to be broken in for a few hundred miles? Is a little extra care too much to ask in this world if instant gratification? Maybe that's why LCD's are the first choice among the under educated buying public. They are afraid they might actually have to invest something besides money into their new toy.

[djlong]

When I spend that kind of money, I am spending it for *leisure*, not work. The idea of having to spend nearly two weeks of leaving my just-cost-me-several-thousand-dollars on at "full blast" overnight - while being careful that I don't fail to "break in" the letterbox black area when watching Blu-Rays is ridiculous. ...and then tell me to be careful so I don't "burn in" images (even if that has been 'largely' engineered out)? If I were the kind of person to spend fifty grand on a home theater, well, then maybe I would. But given how good the new LCDs are, the incremental improvement of plasma over LCD is just not worth all the hassle and additional expense.

[TBoneit]

Just because 100 hours is reccommended why does it have to be continuous?

Just be carefull to watch 120 hours of full screen video.

If you feel a need to be 120 hours continuous then stick an antenna on it and tune a digital local TV station.

However I have to go along with the others I'll be darned if I'd pay that much to not have the use of it for a week. I'd just watch it normally being careful not to watch letterboxed or pillarboxed content the first month.

Myself I'd rather not use up that much life of the display uselessly.

[inazsully]

You don't want to spend two weeks out of your life doing a break-in for a plasma but you will spend the rest of your life needing to sit practically dead center while watching your LCD so as not to lose contrast. The latest review in Home Theater Magazine for the Samsung UN55B7000 LED Edge it LCD (retail $3800) says : As you move off center, the picture begins to degrade. It's fine for two people on a couch. If you move much more than 25 or 30 degrees off center, the black level begins to rise dramatically, which destroys the contrast ratio and bleaches out the sets gorgeous on-axis color. Off- axis image deterioration is an issue with most LCD's.
Seeing as how the half life of the G series Panasonic Plasma is 30 years, I can live with throwing away two weeks of its life to enjoy better PQ for the rest of mine.

[BillJ]

According to mfg. like Pansonic burn in with plasmas is not a big issue anymore. That's coming from the mfg. who would have to deal with warranty issues and customer complaints, not some salesman only interested in commission. I haven't yet tested these plasma claims out. However, I have owned several direct view and rear projection CRT TVs, which also can have burn in problems. My first step was always to properly adjust the set which meant dialing way down from factory settings designed for garishly lit showrooms. I have never had any burn in issues even though I owned these TVs from 9 to 16 years.

[SayWhat?]

I've never seen anything about such a burn in.

[Stewart Vernon]

Frankly, one could make the argument that if you are a videophile who pays a lot for an expensive TV, that TV should require LESS babying... and should have been better developed/designed so as not to require such a first-time burn-in experience.

I'm honestly not convinced that this is a real requirement anyway, at least not one that the manufacturer says is required.

Meanwhile, back to the original topic... on how to make the Dish receiver work for 100+ hours continuously without going into standby. Did we actually fully answer that? I'm pretty sure I can't think of a way that wouldn't require you to be in front of your set to click "No" when it wants to go update... and that would leave you with out-of-date EPG data.

[inazsully]

Thanks Stewart. I think it can be arranged that the TV will only be unattended for about 8 hours during the night. Also, the 54" G series Panasonic plasma, while providing the best PQ this side of the Pioneer Kuro, can be bought for as little as $1699, and, spending 100 hours to break it in is not really what I call babying, just a little prudent TLC.

[SayWhat?]

I've seen that mentioned several times now. Is that something in the new boxes? My 508 updates the guide silently, behind the scenes. It never interrupts viewing the way some of you have mentioned and I leave it on all the time. The only time I've ever seen it is when I turn the box on after an extended power outage.

I do have the inactivity timer set for about 1AM, but I'm usually awake to override that several nights a week.

[Stewart Vernon]

I've seen that mentioned several times now. Is that something in the new boxes? My 508 updates the guide silently, behind the scenes. It never interrupts viewing the way some of you have mentioned and I leave it on all the time. The only time I've ever seen it is when I turn the box on after an extended power outage.

I do have the inactivity timer set for about 1AM, but I'm usually awake to override that several nights a week.

You probably are just mentally confusing some settings.

The "inactivity timer" is what you set for XX unattended hours before going into standby. You can disable this feature.

The "nightly update" is what you set for a specific time (like 1am) when the receiver will update the EPG data and perform other file-system maintenance or take a firmware update if available.

Some EPG data does update in the background during the day... but the full 9-day EPG only comes in during the nightly update. IF you don't allow the receiver to update for say 3 days, you'll find you no longer have 9 days of EPG anymore... but probably something like 5 days.

I have skipped a nightly update now and then if I was staying up late and watching TV... but have never gone more than 2 days without letting it have an update.


The "interruption" I mentioned... comes when you are watching the receiver when the 1am time comes. At 1am, if you are watching the receiver, it will show a Popup telling you it is about to update and go into standby, and lets you choose to skip the update for now if you want.
If you don't set any timers to record anything and you don't look to see what's coming on a couple of days in the future... then you might not notice EPG problems caused by not letting it update nightly.

[SayWhat?]

That may be on the newer boxes, but I don't have an update timer on the 508 and as of right now, I have 7 days on the guide.

[ZBoomer]

I don't want to debate the pro/cons of doing a break-in on a Plasma; I did it on my Pioneer 60" Kuro, because I figured what the hell, why not? I want this TV to last for years, what's a couple days? I didn't run it continuously, but just overnight when I wasn't watching TV.

I've never seen a hint of burn-in or image retention, but I'm not sure if that's due to the break-in, or just the fact it's an awesome TV. I was paranoid at first, but now I treat it like any TV, it just never retains images; that "con" of Plasma's is way overblown on today's TV's.

Anyway, why bother trying to get a Dish receiver to run continuously? Download the free break-in DVD here, http://www.eaprogramming.com/

It runs for 24 hours straight...

[Stewart Vernon]

That may be on the newer boxes, but I don't have an update timer on the 508 and as of right now, I have 7 days on the guide.

You said you have something set to update at 1am in your earlier post. That would be the nightly update.

Also, FYI, you should have a 9-day EPG... so the fact that you only have 7 right now is indicative of it missing some data from not updating the last couple of days probably.

[PghGuy]

Trust me, with a plasma display you want to break in the set for at least 100 hours. Plasma's use phosphers that are only activated when they are lighted. Every expert I have ever read reviews from recommend 100 hours at full screen, allowing all the phosphers to break in equally. Watching movies at 2:25 ratios allow for black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. These bars mean those phosphers are not being lighted at all. After 100 hours the phosphers are not as sensitive thus being less prone to burn in and image retention. While new plasma's are much less prone to burn in and image retention pretty much all owners manuals recommend some kind of break in. It's a small price to pay for the much superior plasma PQ compared to LCD's.


But do they say it has to be continuous recording? I would be surprised if they did.

Just curious if you ever owned a plasma tv before? I have 3 right now (largest being a 60" Pioneer) and have never done this or had any issues resulting from not breaking them in from continous recording. Maybe this means I am just lucky but I agree with the other poster that this was more of an issue when they first came out and I don't believe you really have to worry about it anymore. I would suggest making sure your new plasma is calibrated properly over worrying about the continous recording (but thats just my opinion).

I don't doubt you are finding "expert reviews" that say you should do this, but here is a simple question...does your manufacturer suggest/require it, are you voiding your warranty by not doing it? I don't ever recall a manufacturer saying it was necessary to have 100hrs of continuous recording but I could be wrong. For me, the manufacturer is the expert I listen to about this sort of thing, after all if I don't trust them then why did I buy their brand in the first place?

Either way you wont do any harm so do what makes you feel better and enjoy your new purchase :)

[inazsully]

Yes, I have owned several plasmas and have installed many more. I always rely on the many experts at avsforum.com. especially from large retailer Cleveland Plasma. At this moment you can go avs and log onto the display section and then Panasonic G series and find literally dozens of comments and suggestions on the best way to break in said screen. Some prefer a break-in disc and some prefer a slide show on a memory stick, and some prefer using a HD channel feed left on zoom. Constant operation is not necessary, just follow the procedure during the first 100 hours of use. I haven't seen the owners manual for the G series but past Panny's have suggested a break-in period. The reason I asked about the 722 is that I install and calibrate dozens of plasma's and LCD's and some folks have this DVR. The Pioneer 6070 plasma is a serious investment (Pioneers have always been exceptionally resistant to burn-in). I'm glad you are not having any burn-in or image retention problems. Most plasma's, including Pioneer have some kind setting or recommendation for removing image retention. They must have had some concerns.

[PghGuy]

Yes, I have owned several plasmas and have installed many more. I always rely on the many experts at avsforum.com. especially from large retailer Cleveland Plasma. At this moment you can go avs and log onto the display section and then Panasonic G series and find literally dozens of comments and suggestions on the best way to break in said screen. Some prefer a break-in disc and some prefer a slide show on a memory stick, and some prefer using a HD channel feed left on zoom. Constant operation is not necessary, just follow the procedure during the first 100 hours of use. I haven't seen the owners manual for the G series but past Panny's have suggested a break-in period. The reason I asked about the 722 is that I install and calibrate dozens of plasma's and LCD's and some folks have this DVR. The Pioneer 6070 plasma is a serious investment (Pioneers have always been exceptionally resistant to burn-in). I'm glad you are not having any burn-in or image retention problems. Most plasma's, including Pioneer have some kind setting or recommendation for removing image retention. They must have had some concerns.


I don't disagree with anything you say, just curious if you agree that constant operation is not necessary, then why are you going through the effort of doing it (not meant as a dig, just curious)? I look at it similar to breaking in a car, do I need to go out and drive all the break-in miles at once or can I do it over time with my normal driving schedule, I don't see any hard benefit from doing it either way over the other, just seems like it is less effort to accomplish the same using your normal driving and/or viewing habbits.

[inazsully]

The only advantage to running the set for 100 straight hours is to get the 100 hours over with as soon as possible. If you run it while you are in bed and while you are at work then the process is over in about 5 days and most of those hours are not taking away from your viewing time. You don't have to run it on any particular channel, just keep it on some kind of full screen mode and the more movement the better. Try and stay away from static images if possible. By the way. Many expert reviewers regard the Pioneer 6070 as the finest PQ they have EVER seen on any kind of display. The G series from Panasonic has incorporated much of this Pioneer technology.

[scoobyxj]

The only way I can think of to get a 722 to not shut down for 100 hours is to hit the record button and choose manually stop from the options list. Even then I couldn't say if it would want to shut down the video output after 4 hours, or not. As for breaking in the TV what about using the composite connection from a DVD player. It should display full screen video without any side bars if you used a 4.3 formatted disk.

[harsh]

If you're looking for some good burn-in material, contemplate tuning to any unused analog TV frequency and setting the display to stretch. Ant races are pretty good for stirring pixels.