[Matt Amato]

So for the last 4 years and 8 months I've been the proud owner of a Panasonic PT47WX42F RP HDTV. Unfortunately, last night, I think the digital convergence chips went bad. I had the TV on and everything was fine, went into the other room, and when came back in the red was completely out of whack. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but it's like the red portion was severely disfigured as well as ghosted to the point where it was completely unwatchable. The image was also very jittery. I brought up the basic convergence menu and instead of there being 1 red cross, there were like 3 and not where it was supposed to be. As a test, I went into the service menu and shut off the digital convergence, this of course caused the image to get completely screwed up, but the interesting thing is that the red stopped ghosting and the jittery-ness went away. Of course the picture was completely un-converged and squished, but that was expected due to shutting of digital convergence.

So, do you guys this my diagnosis is correct? Is there another problem that presents these symptoms? I'm not sure if I should try and get it fixed or just get a new set. What do you guys think?

[Gregg Loewen]

correct diagnosis!!

[Matt Amato]

Gregg, your reply made me laugh. Simply because I'm excited to have correctly diagnosed the problem but at the same time still annoyed that the problem exists at all.

So in your opinion, is this a problem worth fixing? I have no idea what the cost would be, but as this seems to be a common problem, maybe someone here could ballpark a number for me. I would have to hire a local repair shop to do it and I wasn't sure if the age of the TV along with the cost of the repair parts and labor would make it worth it or not.

[Gregg Loewen]

about $250-275 for in home repair.

[Matt Amato]

I called a local shop (World Wide Stereo in Ardmore, PA) and they directed me to Village Electronics, where they get their repairs done. Though I was happy to hear your estimate, I just got off the Phone with them and they quoted me between $400-500. I may still call a couple other places, but if I don't find a cheaper price, it may not be worth it to me to fix it. In either case, thanks for the help.

[Man-Fai Wong]

Call somewhere else. When I got mine fixed under Best Buy's EW a couple years ago, the tech only billed BB ~$230 or so for ~1 hour of work replacing all 3 convergence chips -- and I can't imagine too many other places in the country costing substantially more than my neck of the woods in the NYC area. All other reports I've seen suggest the $250-275 figure quoted by Gregg to be reasonable (and shouldn't be much more than that, if at all).

_Man_

[Gregg Loewen]

i have had MANY clients quoted repair cost at $225 - 275, about 1 hour and in their own home. (read this as 30-50 clients). I have never hear a figure above $325.

[Matt Amato]

Well, I went to Panasonic's website to find a list of repair centers in my area and I plan on calling a few in the morning. Hopefully one of them can hit the price I'm hearing from you guys. Anything 300 or under is a definite go in my book as I wasn't budgeting for a new tv until I buy my house next year. Though as an aside, I already started scoping out new sets and part of me is a little heartbroken that I won't have to buy a new one Of course if the smart choice is to just fix this one.

[Matt Amato]

Just a quick update, I found a shop today that does in home service in my area and got a estimate of between $250-300. They're coming on the 7th to do the repairs. Thanks again for all your help.