Panasonic Confesses To Increasing Black Levels In Its Plasma TVs

The last few months have seen to many complaints (specifically at AVSForum) over Panasonic plasma TVs, and their loss in black level performance after viewing sets over time.  Finally eliciting a response from the consumer electronics company today, CNet has received a statement claiming the below."Various elements and material characteristics of all electronic displays change with use over time. In order to achieve the optimal picture performance throughout the life of the set, Panasonic Viera plasma HDTVs incorporate an automatic control which adjusts an internal driving voltage at predetermined intervals of operational hours."

Many consumers made their television purchases specifically for those deep black level performances, so you can see why Panasonic's plasmas going kaput with their black levels would cause something of an annoyance.  CNet's David Katzmeier gave Panasonic plasmas some of the highest marks for overall performance (before this problem occurred), but he states that "it's going to be hard for me to recommend the company's TVs without a degree of uncertainty." if Panasonic fails to do something about this.