The TV got extended use during xmas and xmas eve from friends and relatives who paid us a visit. Outside of the occasional stuck pixel, there have been absolutely no issues at all with PQ, response rate and IR.
Over 30 hours of use logged and did not go through any break-in slides or anything of the sort.
Default modes are Standard for cable and Movie mode for HDMI. Sports and Game modes have not yet been used. Manufacture date is July 2013 with firmware version 1024.1.
Needless to say, I have been very happy with this purchase.