God I am pissed! (Plasma HDTV problem)

[Nesh]

Well first of all I dont know if there is an appropriate thread for this so in case there is it should be moved there.

Here is my story.

I bought an LG 42" Plasma HDTV today. I was happy and eager to try my consoles and PC monitor on it.


So, I buy an HDMI cable for my consoles, plug in my PS3 first and I am asked to change my settings to HDMI for best possible quality.

The normal XMB looked crystal clear, until my "apple" theme appears!

And OH MY GOD!

What I saw was horrendous. Apparently anything that is bright and tends towards white causes the whole screen to flicker, it produces artifacts and it stretches the color of objects. For example if I play Uncharted and get hit, the more the screen turns into black and white, the more blurry, flickery, trembling it gets and the more artifacts infest my screen!

I tried my 360. Same thing. I suspected that it could be my HDMI cables. So I try my PC. No change! Wherever there is white and bright colors there are artifacts and they flash like thunder.

I call the store I bought it from and requested that they send a technician. They told me they send only if there is a technical problem and not a problem with colors. He never heard of anything like it before. So he told me to bring the TV to them to check it out. The TV is heavy and large!! I cant simply put it in my car risking to brake it and take the blame for such an issue!

Is that normal for plasma TV's, is it something I can correct myself, is it broken or is that a sign that the TV is reaching the end of its life span?

 

[epicstruggle]

no idea, but if anyone does go to http://www.avsforum.com for info on your problem.

 

[BRiT]

Are you using Deep Color? Did you try other processing modes the TV offers? Does the TV provide a 'game' mode? Did you try it? Did you try disabling post processing enhancements? Did you try reading the manuals?

 

[kyleb]

If you tried different sources and different cables, the display is obviously defective. I say take it back for replacement, or better yet a refund and get a Panasonic. They make better plasmas at around the same price range as what LG offers.

 

[V3]

Try game/text mode. I observe alot of aliasing/flickering with certain games if I don't have that mode on.

 

[kyleb]

V3, do you get colors stretching across the screen too? That doesn't sound like anything a different picture mode would solve, sounds like overheating, which wouldn't surprise me as LGs plasmas are known for running unusually hot anyway.

Regardless, no display should need game mode or some special text mode to avoid bright images causing the screen to flicker, in games or otherwise. The exact same content could be shown on a television channel or in a movie, and a display should distort the image in such ways regardless of what picture mode you happen to be using. Game mode is simply for bypassing image processing to reduce lag. Granted, I suppose if the image processor is overheating, enabling game mode take enough of a load off to keep the display from artifacting in such ways.

Anyway, sometimes defects or faulty design slips by quality control, no manufacture is perfect. We are all bound to stumble across a bad product from time to time, but that is no reason to stress out when you can just take it back to the store.

 

[V3]

No, I don't get colors stretching. Just flickering, like in PS3 PES, the stadium crowd flickers are very noticeable with game mode off. But with it on, the flickering is mild and frame rate don't hick up as much.

Reading Nesh post again, it does look like a faulty plasma. Is the warranty return to base or something ? If not they should have some technician to take a look at it. As long as you can reproduced the problem everytime. But Nesh is your plasma in well ventilated place at least ? I second with the idea of replacing it with a Panasonic, shouldn't be much more.

 

[Nesh]

I tried component, VGA, HDMI and HDMI->DVI for my 360, PS3 and PC to see if thre is going to be a difference. I played with the settings and modes but didnt help much.

It seems that the bright colors send more current to the TV and cause some kind of malfunctioning. There is a sound coming from my TV like a current, and the flicker seems to appear in the same rate as the sound.

I am now writing from the LG HDTV. Since the beyond forums are white there is some flickering. If I open the TV's menu or another darker window in the middle of this page the flicker will be reduced and the sound of the current will slightly change.

I will send it back to them and get another TV

 

[suryad]

I will send it back to them and get another TV

Pioneer Kuro FTW.

 

[Davros]

I had something slimilar with a crt if i opened a web page that was mostly white i.e: google the screen would flicker resizing the web page by about 10% would stop it

 

[RudeCurve]

Yeah it sounds defective.

 

[Nesh]

I discovered that the bastards actually tried to sell me a used defective TV. That pissed me off a lot. I called them and played my part by pretending I thought it was just a bad product and asked them to change it with any TV I wanted at the same price.

One of their employees that tried to trick me with the LG wasnt very polite when I came to the store to change the TV. I wanted to punch him in the face. I sometimes wish I had the guts to do it. I went with a friend as a witness to increase my negotiating power fortunately. The employee was kind of self caught with some of the questions we made to him about the god damn TV they tried to sell me at the beginning.

I cant believe the bad service and unproductive culture I experience from people in m y place.

 

[kyleb]

That is pretty low. I can't imagine why they would even bother. Surely it couldn't be much hastle for them to just get a replacement or a refund from their supplier.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Do you have trade descriptions regulations over there? If you do you could practically hang the mofos out to dry. You prove that they knowingly with intent to deceive sold you a defective product you're laughing. Where there's a blame there's a claim!!

 

[Nesh]

We have a consumer protection regulatory which isnt fully developed yet. I could have make things complicated if I tried to get the "law" involved, but based on how things were it might have been hard for me to prove what they have tried to do. At least I got it replaced

The bastards didnt even try to check what was wrong with the TV most likely because they knew there was something wrong with it from the beginning.

Just to get an idea:

They wanted an extra payment for the transfer of the TV to my home. I didnt want to pay extra so I aksed them to put it in my car so I can get it myself. I was told later that they unboxed it (in their storage room where I couldnt see) because based on the size of my car they didnt believe it would fit in with the box. The employee comes with a plastic bag with the remote, manual and wire. I told them to try it with the box first and in case it doesnt fit THEN put it without the box.

They brought the half opened box with the TV outside to see if they can put it in. In reality the TV was probably unboxed from the beginning and that was just an excuse.

So they bring it out and decide to put it in the car without the box to fit.

After that I take it home with the plastic bag and start reading the manual. I notice that the manual mentioned a troubleshooting CD (mising) and the remote already had batteries (one battery different from the other). Also the manual explained how to put the stand on the TV which needed some time to put the screws. The TV though was already brought with the stand attached. Why did they put the effort to attach it and when did they find the time?

When I plugged in the TV I noticed the horrendous image.

I was lucky that there was a problem with it because if I claimed that the TV was used based on the missing CD and the batteries, they would have found easy excuses.

The fact that it was defective gave me the chance to find an excuse to change it. And thank God I changed it with a sealed one.

I was pissed at the employee when I brought it for a replacement.

He wasnt polite and he was trying to treat me as if I was someone who doesnt know about TVs and didnt know what I was talking about.

I told him that the LG TV looked bad when I tried my PS3 on it and he tried to excuse it by telling me "but it is not high definition". Whats not high definition? The 1080p Plasma TV they tried to sell me or the PS3 that plays Blu Rays and has 1080p in its settings? What a moron.

Also when we asked him to check the new TV there at the store in case there was a problem with it too he said "you dont have too check this one. It is sealed and completely new". Thats when my friend told him "what? wasnt the other one sealed and new too? Or was it unsealed". The employee suddenly went uneasy.