What is the life expectancy of a Samsung FP-T6374?

Question

I've got a Samsung FP-T6374 Plasma TV that I got back in July and I've noticed burning every once and a while but it goes away with time. That's normal, right?

Anyway...

Will any bulbs ever go out on my TV? I've heard a few things here and there...but what is the life expectancy of a TV like this?

Answer 1

Plasma TVs do not use bulbs. Each pixel is a glass bubble filled with an inert gas like xenon or halogen. Two electrodes embedded in the plasma cell allow the application of an electrical charge to this gas. The gas, in turn, releases ultraviolet or infrared photons (which we can not see) that are used to excite phosphor that is painted on the back of the plasma cell. It is this phosphor that generates the light from a plasma screen. Plasma cells seldom if ever fail with use (unlike an LCD TV). They either work right off the manufacturing line or they do not. Plasma screens with dead pixels usually do not make it into a new TV (again, unlike an LCD TV). Plasma cells do NOT use up this gas nor do they leak gas. You can expect 60,000 hours of use with a modern plasma TV (25-27 years of typical use).

Image retention can occur when you have a static image on your plasma screen & should wash out if you do not leave these static images for very long periods of time. A couple of precautions will help to insure that a retained image does not become a permanent burn-in.

1) When watching 4:3 content, change the screen format to use the gray side pillars.

2) Try to use the whole screen (zoom, H-fill, etc).

3) Vary what is on the screen. Do not let static images remain for long periods of time (over 2 hours).

Wall mounts are available for the larger, heavier plasma TVs. Just make sure that it is installed into your wall's studs for proper support.