Plasma Storage & Transport - Blu-ray Forum

Trean · 12-16-2009, 07:51 AM

I know there are several threads but I have some fairly specific questions.

The television I ordered could not be picked up before I went back to school for the few weeks between Winter Break and Thanksgiving. My dad and brother picked it up for me. I have no idea how they stored it, all I know is its in my brother's room where my bed is when I go home for brief periods.

So if they laid it on my bed, what sort of defects should I look for when opening the box that should lead to me returning my new television? (As noted in the update, the TV is upright next to bed in box)

If nothing is wrong, I have to figure out how to transport a 54" panasonic plasma 90 miles to school (about 1.5-2 hours travel time). I have read that it should be upright (many times over) but also have read about those that have transported one lying down. My brother has a truck and sister has a minivan. With the truck I am concerned about transporting it outside and in the bed, it would be upright though. I cannot seem to find storage temperature numbers only operating temps and with transportation in mid-winter it gets cold outside. With the minivan I would be more concerned about it actually fitting in it, any suggestion how to get one to fit; I would believe that it should fit between the seats up the middle of the van but getting it to that position might be odd.

I appreciate the help.

Update
Good news, its not laying down at home; its standing upright in box next to my bed.

Thinking my sister's minivan is my best bet for transport if it will fit in the van.

blu_world · 12-16-2009, 08:08 AM

best thing i did was remove the rear seat and drive normal,standing upright as it should,yong most likely heard it might crack the screen if you have it on it's side...or at least run the risk of cracking the screen while on it's facing up or down...

xneox · 12-18-2009, 12:53 AM

What ^he said. Look for a busted panel. You've seen cracked glass..? Yeah, that's it.

That's why you should NEVER transport a plasma panel flat. Anyone who tells you they have without issue is probably not lying, is absolutely lucky, and most certainly won't replace yours if you aren't.

My_Two_Cents · 12-18-2009, 01:22 AM

Can't be said too many times: Don't lay a plasma flat and NEVER transport it laying down. The weight of the glass can and will cause it to crack eventually. Don't worry about transporting it in cold temperatures. It's done all of the time. You'll want to let it warm-up to room temp before you set it up, though. The plasma gas does funny things (so I've read) when it's cold.

Trean · 12-18-2009, 02:54 AM

Update:

Good news, its not laying down at home; its standing upright in box next to my bed.

Thinking my sister's minivan is my best bet for transport if it will fit in the van.

The Big Blue · 12-18-2009, 01:03 PM

Good luck getting it home safely.

Here is my story (sorry for the hijack

). We got our 5020 back in May or so at a BBY about 15 or 20 miles away (it was the nearest one). I didn't want to wait for them to deliver so I decided to take it home in the pickup even though the wind was gusting up to about 25 or 30 mph. Stood it up against the passenger side of the bed and tied it down as best I could.

I got it home safe but that was the most stressful trip I've had since I was 8 yrs old lying on the rear seat floorboard of a 72 VW bug going up ice & snow-packed Wolf Creek Pass in the dead of winter.

Trean · 12-24-2009, 07:31 AM

Took it out of box, everything seems to be fine; no broken glass and the snow that showed up when I powered it on is as clear as snow could possibly be.

Didn't have the space to hook it up to anything, especially since I did not want to attach the stand only to unattach it five to ten minutes later. Its now back in the box awaiting its trip with me back to school.

Going to measure my sister's minivan after Christmas. Based on the eye it should fit with the removal of the back seat and one of the middle row bucket seats.

smith1921 · 12-24-2009, 09:48 AM

worked at cc a while back and it should fit in the minivan if u move the seats around as u say. bigger tvs fit better in minivans than a suv pick ups give the most room but make sure its tied very very well if it tips in trip u will have a busted screen

drvasek · 01-04-2010, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Can't be said too many times: Don't lay a plasma flat and NEVER transport it laying down. The weight of the glass can and will cause it to crack eventually. Don't worry about transporting it in cold temperatures. It's done all of the time. You'll want to let it warm-up to room temp before you set it up, though. The plasma gas does funny things (so I've read) when it's cold.

Where can I find these warnings / instructions? Owner's manual or manufacturer's website? This is the first place I have heard this. Thank you guys for giving me the heads up before I go out and purchase my second Plasma. Luckily I transported the first one correctly.

My_Two_Cents · 01-04-2010, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drvasek

Where can I find these warnings / instructions? Owner's manual or manufacturer's website? This is the first place I have heard this. Thank you guys for giving me the heads up before I go out and purchase my second Plasma. Luckily I transported the first one correctly.

Should be right on the box.

- THIS end UP
- DO NOT lay flat
- Etc.

As for the reasons why, I've been reading about AV stuff for years and have just picked it up along the way.

b00st · 01-04-2010, 05:05 PM

i've had to lay all 3 of my plasma tvs down flat to transport unfortunately.

however...i never had an issue with any of them. don't believe everything you read/hear. lots of times its hearsay passed off as fact.

as far as firing up a plasma...i had mine delivered in the dead of winter...the truck was freezing it for me on the way to the store...i picked it up from said store. so temps aren't really an issue. the only thing you need to do is let the plasma get up to room temp. so i let it sit a day before firing it up.

glass cracking on plasma....the glass was made and designed for it...while there is more weight spread over it flat. it was designed to fit and should not crack unless there was a flaw in it to begin with. as i have mentioned...i've trasported all 3 flat and they had to sit for an extended period of time. all 3 are fine. if you had to trasport them flat....then i would put it glass down though. no reason to tempt fate. i do i believe you should transpot them upright...ABSOLUTELY! if you can then you should. if you can't...its also not the end of the world.

Trean · 01-05-2010, 08:31 AM

Just thought I would give my final update for this thread:

My dad and I transported the TV and the TV Stand (from Target for $179.99 on sale in store) this past weekend. We used my sister's minivan, had to take out half of the back seat (its two pieces) and one of the middle bucket seats. TV fit fine standing up and there was plenty of room for the tv stand and all my other Christmas gifts.

Set up the stand and TV in about 4 hours; took extra care with the stand and had a few mis-communications with my father. Stand looks nice, TV is on highest of the pole mount slots and my CS1 speaker just slides under the TV when sitting on the glass shelf.

Watched Wanted tonight (first full blu on new TV, played Cars with dad for 2 minutes to test after everything was setup), looked wonderful. I wanted to watch Up but cousin chose Wanted and he is the guest for the evening so his choice wins.

Reduced brightness & contrast and other settings to 50 or less and will keep it that way while I do the break-in period. After that I will use some personal calibration disk to set up custom settings by my eye and maybe read through some of the posts on using the service menu to better the picture quality.

My_Two_Cents · 01-05-2010, 01:09 PM

Good to here you took the PROPER advice and transported the set standing up. There is a reason all credible HT and display sites and the manufacturers themselves advise against transporting a plasma other than upright as it is meant to be (and none of it is hearsay

). Regardless of what someone MAY have had success doing, unless that person is willing to financially guarantee your set during transport, you would be wise to follow the overwhelmingly accepted method of plasma transport.

Now, keep your brightness and contrast lowered for the first ~100 hours, or so. To speed-up the break-in, you may want to consider downloading the break-in images and running them as a continuous loop slide show for the first 100 hours. Sure, some may say it's really not necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything to do so and it may give you a better piece of mind. Once your set has a couple hundred hours on it, then you can adjust the settings using a calibration disc, as you mentioned.

Enjoy!

Trean · 01-05-2010, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Good to here you took the PROPER advice and transported the set standing up. There is a reason all credible HT and display sites and the manufacturers themselves advise against transporting a plasma other than upright as it is meant to be (and none of it is hearsay

). Regardless of what someone MAY have had success doing, unless that person is willing to financially guarantee your set during transport, you would be wise to follow the overwhelmingly accepted method of plasma transport.

Now, keep your brightness and contrast lowered for the first ~100 hours, or so. To speed-up the break-in, you may want to consider downloading the break-in images and running them as a continuous loop slide show for the first 100 hours. Sure, some may say it's really not necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything to do so and it may give you a better piece of mind. Once your set has a couple hundred hours on it, then you can adjust the settings using a calibration disc, as you mentioned.

Enjoy!

Alright I slapped the images on my SD card from my blu-ray player and they are rotating once every 10 seconds. So I should loop this for just over 100 hours?

As far as calibration discs, I was just going to use one of the eye calibrators that comes on one or two of my blu-ray discs (thought I saw one on Up, may be wrong). Or is there something more official I should be using?

My_Two_Cents · 01-06-2010, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trean

Alright I slapped the images on my SD card from my blu-ray player and they are rotating once every 10 seconds. So I should loop this for just over 100 hours?

As far as calibration discs, I was just going to use one of the eye calibrators that comes on one or two of my blu-ray discs (thought I saw one on Up, may be wrong). Or is there something more official I should be using?

I ran the looped images on my set for about a week straight when I was not actually watching anything else. I think I gave the set a rest for an hour or two every day.

As long as you know how to use the colors/patterns on various BDs, they should be no different than what is available on DVE, Avia or others. The 'calibration discs' come with color filters (needed to set tint, I think) and step-by-step instructions. They also help you set-up your sound system.

HdGuy · 01-06-2010, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xneox

What ^he said. Look for a busted panel. You've seen cracked glass..? Yeah, that's it.

That's why you should NEVER transport a plasma panel flat. Anyone who tells you they have without issue is probably not lying, is absolutely lucky, and most certainly won't replace yours if you aren't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Can't be said too many times: Don't lay a plasma flat and NEVER transport it laying down. The weight of the glass can and will cause it to crack eventually. Don't worry about transporting it in cold temperatures. It's done all of the time. You'll want to let it warm-up to room temp before you set it up, though. The plasma gas does funny things (so I've read) when it's cold.

We shipped a Gmc Envoy from Detroit MI, to the Middle East with a cargo ship. While we were at it, we threw in the trunk two 50 inch Panasonic plasmas to ship overseas. We laid them flat one on top of the other in there original packages as we bought them. I call Panasonic and they said that the panels will break, but I did it anyway. It took 65 days for it to get there, and the plasmas got there the exact same way we put them. Up until this day its been 4 months since they arrived and they are working perfectly fine.

Trean · 01-06-2010, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HdGuy

We shipped a Gmc Envoy from Detroit MI, to the Middle East with a cargo ship. While we were at it, we threw in the trunk two 50 inch Panasonic plasmas to ship overseas. We laid them flat one on top of the other in there original packages as we bought them. I call Panasonic and they said that the panels will break, but I did it anyway. It took 65 days for it to get there, and the plasmas got there the exact same way we put them. Up until this day its been 4 months since they arrived and they are working perfectly fine.

The fact that they didn't break doesn't mean they won't break. The physics behind the reasoning for the glass breaking is sound. I understand that the probability is not 100% for the glass breaking, several other variables come into play during shipping as well. But like I said, the physics behind the glass having a greater probability of breaking is sound.

My_Two_Cents · 01-06-2010, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trean

The fact that they didn't break doesn't mean they won't break. The physics behind the reasoning for the glass breaking is sound. I understand that the probability is not 100% for the glass breaking, several other variables come into play during shipping as well. But like I said, the physics behind the glass having a greater probability of breaking is sound.

Correct. It's like saying I dropped my loaded handgun and it didn't fire, therefore you should be able to drop yours without a problem. This type of logic really blows my mind at times.

b00st · 01-06-2010, 11:08 PM

i think we all understand that you should transport them upright whenever possible.

its not always possible. and i've never see one crack...i understand the logic of it. and why would anyone want to risk it...like i said. if you can transport upright...do so....no reason to tempt fate.

but i don't believe it to be some big issue as others make it out to be either. perhaps we should all buy HDMI cables from Monster...cuz I heard they the awesomeness and are really expensive and good and stuff..........

i myself have done it....so i have a little room to speak about it...others are really just repeating what others have said or what they read....or what someone else told them. again i don't recommend it...its obvious the tv was meant to be upright...but if you had to....its prolly no the end of the world either.

12-16-2009, 07:51 AM	#1
Trean Special Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:186 Blu-ray collection:690 Blu-ray reviews:3	Plasma Storage & Transport I know there are several threads but I have some fairly specific questions. The television I ordered could not be picked up before I went back to school for the few weeks between Winter Break and Thanksgiving. My dad and brother picked it up for me. I have no idea how they stored it, all I know is its in my brother's room where my bed is when I go home for brief periods. So if they laid it on my bed, what sort of defects should I look for when opening the box that should lead to me returning my new television? (As noted in the update, the TV is upright next to bed in box) If nothing is wrong, I have to figure out how to transport a 54" panasonic plasma 90 miles to school (about 1.5-2 hours travel time). I have read that it should be upright (many times over) but also have read about those that have transported one lying down. My brother has a truck and sister has a minivan. With the truck I am concerned about transporting it outside and in the bed, it would be upright though. I cannot seem to find storage temperature numbers only operating temps and with transportation in mid-winter it gets cold outside. With the minivan I would be more concerned about it actually fitting in it, any suggestion how to get one to fit; I would believe that it should fit between the seats up the middle of the van but getting it to that position might be odd. I appreciate the help. Update Good news, its not laying down at home; its standing upright in box next to my bed. Thinking my sister's minivan is my best bet for transport if it will fit in the van. Last edited by Trean; 12-18-2009 at 02:55 AM. Reason: Added update about the current storage.

12-24-2009, 07:31 AM	#7
Trean Special Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:186 Blu-ray collection:690 Blu-ray reviews:3	Update, ready for transport. Took it out of box, everything seems to be fine; no broken glass and the snow that showed up when I powered it on is as clear as snow could possibly be. Didn't have the space to hook it up to anything, especially since I did not want to attach the stand only to unattach it five to ten minutes later. Its now back in the box awaiting its trip with me back to school. Going to measure my sister's minivan after Christmas. Based on the eye it should fit with the removal of the back seat and one of the middle row bucket seats.

01-05-2010, 08:31 AM	#12
Trean Special Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:186 Blu-ray collection:690 Blu-ray reviews:3	Just thought I would give my final update for this thread: My dad and I transported the TV and the TV Stand (from Target for $179.99 on sale in store) this past weekend. We used my sister's minivan, had to take out half of the back seat (its two pieces) and one of the middle bucket seats. TV fit fine standing up and there was plenty of room for the tv stand and all my other Christmas gifts. Set up the stand and TV in about 4 hours; took extra care with the stand and had a few mis-communications with my father. Stand looks nice, TV is on highest of the pole mount slots and my CS1 speaker just slides under the TV when sitting on the glass shelf. Watched Wanted tonight (first full blu on new TV, played Cars with dad for 2 minutes to test after everything was setup), looked wonderful. I wanted to watch Up but cousin chose Wanted and he is the guest for the evening so his choice wins. Reduced brightness & contrast and other settings to 50 or less and will keep it that way while I do the break-in period. After that I will use some personal calibration disk to set up custom settings by my eye and maybe read through some of the posts on using the service menu to better the picture quality. Last edited by Trean; 01-05-2010 at 08:34 AM.

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12-16-2009, 08:08 AM	#2
blu_world Special Member Member since:Nov 2006 Home Theater Gallery:27 Blu-ray reviews:1	best thing i did was remove the rear seat and drive normal,standing upright as it should,yong most likely heard it might crack the screen if you have it on it's side...or at least run the risk of cracking the screen while on it's facing up or down...

12-18-2009, 12:53 AM	#3
xneox Expert Member Member since:Jan 2009 Location:Hartford, CT	What ^he said. Look for a busted panel. You've seen cracked glass..? Yeah, that's it. That's why you should NEVER transport a plasma panel flat. Anyone who tells you they have without issue is probably not lying, is absolutely lucky, and most certainly won't replace yours if you aren't.

12-18-2009, 01:22 AM	#4
My_Two_Cents Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 Location:Wherever I may roam.... Home Theater Gallery:40 4K collection:35 Blu-ray collection:507 DVD collection:19 Blu-ray reviews: 1 Trading Score:4	Can't be said too many times: Don't lay a plasma flat and NEVER transport it laying down. The weight of the glass can and will cause it to crack eventually. Don't worry about transporting it in cold temperatures. It's done all of the time. You'll want to let it warm-up to room temp before you set it up, though. The plasma gas does funny things (so I've read) when it's cold.

12-18-2009, 02:54 AM	#5
Trean Special Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:186 Blu-ray collection:690 Blu-ray reviews:3	Update: Good news, its not laying down at home; its standing upright in box next to my bed. Thinking my sister's minivan is my best bet for transport if it will fit in the van.

12-18-2009, 01:03 PM	#6
The Big Blue Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:98 Blu-ray reviews:1	Good luck getting it home safely. Here is my story (sorry for the hijack ). We got our 5020 back in May or so at a BBY about 15 or 20 miles away (it was the nearest one). I didn't want to wait for them to deliver so I decided to take it home in the pickup even though the wind was gusting up to about 25 or 30 mph. Stood it up against the passenger side of the bed and tied it down as best I could. I got it home safe but that was the most stressful trip I've had since I was 8 yrs old lying on the rear seat floorboard of a 72 VW bug going up ice & snow-packed Wolf Creek Pass in the dead of winter.

12-24-2009, 09:48 AM	#8
smith1921 Active Member Member since:Feb 2009 Location:madison, wi Blu-ray collection:84 DVD collection:103	worked at cc a while back and it should fit in the minivan if u move the seats around as u say. bigger tvs fit better in minivans than a suv pick ups give the most room but make sure its tied very very well if it tips in trip u will have a busted screen

01-04-2010, 05:05 PM	#11
b00st Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Home Theater Gallery:73 Blu-ray collection:59	i've had to lay all 3 of my plasma tvs down flat to transport unfortunately. however...i never had an issue with any of them. don't believe everything you read/hear. lots of times its hearsay passed off as fact. as far as firing up a plasma...i had mine delivered in the dead of winter...the truck was freezing it for me on the way to the store...i picked it up from said store. so temps aren't really an issue. the only thing you need to do is let the plasma get up to room temp. so i let it sit a day before firing it up. glass cracking on plasma....the glass was made and designed for it...while there is more weight spread over it flat. it was designed to fit and should not crack unless there was a flaw in it to begin with. as i have mentioned...i've trasported all 3 flat and they had to sit for an extended period of time. all 3 are fine. if you had to trasport them flat....then i would put it glass down though. no reason to tempt fate. i do i believe you should transpot them upright...ABSOLUTELY! if you can then you should. if you can't...its also not the end of the world.

01-05-2010, 01:09 PM	#13
My_Two_Cents Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 Location:Wherever I may roam.... Home Theater Gallery:40 4K collection:35 Blu-ray collection:507 DVD collection:19 Blu-ray reviews: 1 Trading Score:4	Good to here you took the PROPER advice and transported the set standing up. There is a reason all credible HT and display sites and the manufacturers themselves advise against transporting a plasma other than upright as it is meant to be (and none of it is hearsay ). Regardless of what someone MAY have had success doing, unless that person is willing to financially guarantee your set during transport, you would be wise to follow the overwhelmingly accepted method of plasma transport. Now, keep your brightness and contrast lowered for the first ~100 hours, or so. To speed-up the break-in, you may want to consider downloading the break-in images and running them as a continuous loop slide show for the first 100 hours. Sure, some may say it's really not necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything to do so and it may give you a better piece of mind. Once your set has a couple hundred hours on it, then you can adjust the settings using a calibration disc, as you mentioned. Enjoy!

01-06-2010, 11:08 PM	#19
b00st Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Home Theater Gallery:73 Blu-ray collection:59	i think we all understand that you should transport them upright whenever possible. its not always possible. and i've never see one crack...i understand the logic of it. and why would anyone want to risk it...like i said. if you can transport upright...do so....no reason to tempt fate. but i don't believe it to be some big issue as others make it out to be either. perhaps we should all buy HDMI cables from Monster...cuz I heard they the awesomeness and are really expensive and good and stuff.......... i myself have done it....so i have a little room to speak about it...others are really just repeating what others have said or what they read....or what someone else told them. again i don't recommend it...its obvious the tv was meant to be upright...but if you had to....its prolly no the end of the world either.

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