Care and repair and maintenance of our extinct plasma TV’s, just to keep them going a little longer. (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, I have some news on my plasma repair. The new power supply board arrived and the tech came over to install it today. Upon installing it, we got power to the TV. Progress. However there is a flashing red LED now. The tech determined that’s an issue with the scan board and the buffer boards that control the image on the screen.

He took the scan and buffer boards as he wasn’t able to diagnose it exactly, the tests were not showing an obvious issue. So he took them to test in his own Panasonic plasma. He has the same set. Once he knows which board, then we can order a new board. This is getting a little expensive, but if the scan board and buffer board replacement doesn’t work, and I say stop, then I won’t be charged for the parts, just the labor. So that’s fair. I’m thinking this is it, if this next step won’t fix the set, then I’m stopping. Which would be a shame. I know some will find this too much money spent on fixing an old TV. But given how good the image is on this set, I still want to try to save it.

Hopefully in a week or two, I’ll be back with news, good or bad.

On a side note. The tech said that the most common issue he’s seen on OLED TV sets are the screen itself going out. That is game over. Those can’t be replaced. So it’s new TV time.

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, if anyone cares, a short update.

Today the TV repair tech came over with a new power supply board that powers the scan buffer board. Previously, he thought the scan buffer boards might be the problem, but felt the power supply board that powers the scan board was suspect. He checked the scan boards on his bench and they were not showing an obvious problem. So he ordered a power supply board for the scan boards in case.

Turns out the power supply was ok for the Scan board. There was one connection he left off the main power supply board from the last time. It looked like an honest mistake as the guy was really particular and methodical, good he caught it. There were still 8 flashes from the LED which still means the problem is still the scan boards and the two smaller boards that attach to the edge of the plasma that powers the images. Since he said the main board and power supplies are all good now, that leaves the boards on the scan boards. So he’s sending those back to Panasonic to diagnose them. In this case, he can’t repair them himself and Panasonic has a facility that will refurbish the parts if they are faulty. Hope that in a week or two, he gets them back and we can try those. Hope this fixes the problem. ( Sounds like a fault in the AE-35 unit. )

So far I’m only out for the $125 original visit to diagnose the TV. I know this probably sounds like a big hassle after three visits, there is still no solution. And it has been a hassle as I haven’t been able to watch any blu rays. So my pile of movies is getting larger. But I think this guy really knows what he is doing. He can only do so much as the parts are what is holding us up and determining what is bad.

In the mean time, I’ve been researching the new upcoming Sony OLED and LG OLED’s too.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've been reading your journey with great interest, and I admire your loyalty to your plasma. I have to say it doesn't sound optimistic, but I'll continue to cross my fingers for you.

BTW, I went from a plasma to an OLED and found the experience very pleasurable.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Matt, thanks for the kind words!

What keeps me going is this plasma is only 7 years old. Its just not right for such a pricey TV to die so soon. I can understand your feeling that the chances are low that the TV will be repaired. I appreciate your crossed fingers! I hope to report back good news!

 

[questrider]

Guys, if anyone cares, a short update.

Nelson, it's good to hear that your service technician is still on the case!

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for caring too Brian!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hey Matt, thanks for the kind words!

What keeps me going is this plasma is only 7 years old. Its just not right for such a pricey TV to die so soon. I can understand your feeling that the chances are low that the TV will be repaired. I appreciate your crossed fingers! I hope to report back good news!

At least you got 7 - I only got 6! Doh!

Sending my best wishes to you and the plasma

 

[Osato]

Thanks for the update Nelson!

My Panasonic plasma is from 2009. So far it is running fine.

However those 007 UHd films are coming in February 2020, so... I’ll eventually want to go to UHd Oled too.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Josh, Osato!

I hope you get your plasma fixed Josh! And Osato, I hope your Panasonic keeps going!

I’ve been watching the tech and getting to know the internals of my TV now. It’s been open so much.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well, I lost two of my beloved Pioneers plasmas in a matter of a few days.

We moved our 43-incher and the old 780p 50-incher (I mentioned in Post #2) to Corpus Christi from our house in Houston a month ago. All our stuff was moved in a U-Haul moving truck, but our two Pioneer plasmas were transported in our minivan.

We just moved from our little apartment here in Corpus to a 1930s-vintage rent house last week. When I put the 43” on our master bedroom dresser and plugged it in, there the usual internal “click,” but it wouldn’t turn on. Certainly not happy about that, but it’s not a big loss since there’s still the other 50-incher from our apartment.

A few days later I put the 50-incher from the apartment up on the dresser and plugged it into the same outlet, and – nothing. It won’t turn on either! Not even the internal “click.” Now I’m really not believing this! We’d been using that TV in our apartment for the past year, and a few years before that back in Houston with no problems. Did it really die on the half-mile trip from the apartment to the rent house??

I checked the outlet with a VOM meter and found nothing out of the ordinary, except that there is no functioning ground (it’s an old house). On a hunch I checked to make sure was no “rogue” voltage present on the ground connection, but the meter registered none. Do these TVs live or die based on a grounded outlet? The old 720p 50-incher is working fine in the living room on an ungrounded plug.

I guess our dilemma now is what to do. I’m not averse to buying used – in fact I got all three of them used. But these TVs are getting hard to find. So I guess I’m willing to spend as much for the repair as it would cost to replace it with another used one, which is probably $3-500. (I paid $1100 for the 50” back in 2012).

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Nelson Au]

Wayne, sorry to hear about the troubles with two of your plasmas. I hope that you can resolve the problems. Could there be an issue with a fuse inside the Pioneers? It does seem odd that two go out. Maybe it’s something really simple.

I’m still waiting on my Panasonic to be repaired. The latest news is the tech said that the boards he took out of my set, the scan boards, were checked out at the Panasonic repair center and found to be fine. So the technician is at a loss. He said the trouble is pointing to the scan boards. Hopefully next week he gets the boards back from Panasonic and reinstalls them to see if he can get the set going.

It’s now about two months since my plasma died and I’m really missing the ability to watch a movie on my Home Theater set-up. I have another plasma in the kitchen/family room, but no surround sound and no proper seating. But it’s making do, but I’m saving the new titles for when the system is repaired. Maybe in a week I’ll have some good news.

 

[williammoore]

Wayne, sorry to hear about the troubles with two of your plasmas. I hope that you can resolve the problems. Could there be an issue with a fuse inside the Pioneers? It does seem odd that two go out. Maybe it’s something really simple.

I’m still waiting on my Panasonic to be repaired. The latest news is the tech said that the boards he took out of my set, the scan boards, were checked out at the Panasonic repair center and found to be fine. So the technician is at a loss. He said the trouble is pointing to the scan boards. Hopefully next week he gets the boards back from Panasonic and reinstalls them to see if he can get the set going.

It’s now about two months since my plasma died and I’m really missing the ability to watch a movie on my Home Theater set-up. I have another plasma in the kitchen/family room, but no surround sound and no proper seating. But it’s making do, but I’m saving the new titles for when the system is repaired. Maybe in a week I’ll have some good news.

Hey guys, I just discovered this thread, so thought I would tell you that my Plasma is a Pioneer KRP 600M sixty inch monitor, which I purchased new in August 2009 and she's still going strong with no problems so far. I've had it calibrated twice by an ISF tech and the pic still looks great. There is no local servicer anymore where I live (Wichita, Ks) so not sure what I could do, if anything, when something goes wrong. In no hurry to replace it with something else, though. It has served me well over the years. 1080p still looks good to me!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey William, that’s great news your plasma is still going! It sounds like the older Pioneer plasma’s were really built well. Mine is still going well. As I said above, luckily I was able to replace the media box and get HDMI functionality back. But the glass has been a solid performer so far.

I think once it’s dead, and if the Panasonic is not long for this world, i’m Ok to let them go and go with new technology. Even though it sounds like these new TV’s will never have the long life the older plasma can enjoy. It sounds like not only the quality is not what it used to be for a long service life, but technology is changing so fast, the TV become obsolete sooner then before. I feel lucky my 2006 Pioneer was able to make the transition from analog to digital TV. It will be a real shame when that day arrives.

Wayne, I hope you’re two sets have been revived.

 

[William Moore]

Hey William, that’s great news your plasma is still going! It sounds like the older Pioneer plasma’s were really built well. Mine is still going well. As I said above, luckily I was able to replace the media box and get HDMI functionality back. But the glass has been a solid performer so far.

I think once it’s dead, and if the Panasonic is not long for this world, i’m Ok to let them go and go with new technology. Even though it sounds like these new TV’s will never have the long life the older plasma can enjoy. It sounds like not only the quality is not what it used to be for a long service life, but technology is changing so fast, the TV become obsolete sooner then before. I feel lucky my 2006 Pioneer was able to make the transition from analog to digital TV. It will be a real shame when that day arrives.

Wayne, I hope you’re two sets have been revived.

From some of the reviews I've been reading, one has to be an "electronics guru" just to operate these displays. Some of them look very complicated to me in setting an and making adjustments.

 

[Nelson Au]

I have fantastic news to report. My Panasonic VT-30 65” is working again!

Initially after the power supply board was replaced, there was an 8 flashing LED code indicating the scan board had a defect. After sending all three of the scan boards back to Panasonic for repair, they came back with no issues that Panasonic could find. But the technician still had doubts the scan (P) board was good because the 8 flashing LEDs still indicated a fault. So he also ordered one off eBay as a back-up measure. The eBay board turned out to be bad. So he tried the original again and to his surprised and my relief, the TV is working perfectly again. It was a D’oh moment as he was stumped as to why it didn’t work earlier.

Total cost for parts and labor was $560.00 rounded off. The power supply board was the only part replaced and was $220.00. This took a long time but it was worth it for me to save the set. I suppose we all have our tolerance level as to what we feel is a worth while cost to replace vs replace. But now I can watch movies again!

 

[Nelson Au]

I forgot to add, I asked the TV repair tech if he does calibrations. His answer surprised me and I’m sure it would be considered controversial amongst certain groups.

He said calibration is a waste of money. He said Panasonic was very careful to calibrate the picture and using the factory Custom setting, it’s good to go out of the box. He felt this applies to all TV’s. Of course Vivid mode and the other Panasonic settings are bad. So from what he’s telling me, each manufacturer should have settings that are just fine right out of the box.

I thought the calibrator used software to check the setting and adjust the set and he said that’s true. But in the end, it’s really his opinion and his eyes that did the calibration.

I’m still amazed the TV is working now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m glad to hear it Nelson!

I have less good news to report on my end. It was not possible to remove the main board from the TV (which I think but am not 100% positive was the cause of the problem). It’s lodged in there very tight, and the connections from the board to the set aren’t coming undone. I don’t see how it’s possible for me to remove this part without breaking it - frankly, I think I did crack it a little just for trying.

I think I’m ready to give up. This is the main living room TV, but it hasn’t been used for “reference” viewing since I got the projector four years ago. It’s not used for movies or doing official reviews. It’s used for watching the occasional bit of news, sports every once in a blue moon, and sitcoms.

I’ve been making due with the 40” LCD from the bedroom for the past few months and it hasn’t been great. But I think that’s more of a reflection on that specific TV, because I’ve had other LCDs in the past that didn’t bother me like this one does.

I’m thinking that rather than spending $600 for a professional repair that comes with only a 30 or 90 day warranty that I’d be better served putting that $600 into a higher end LED LCD from Vizio or TCL and just calling it a day. I’ve just run out of patience on this and am not willing to spend what it would cost for a repair at this point. It’s a bummer, but I’m out of “good” options.

 

[questrider]

I have fantastic news to report. My Panasonic VT-30 65” is working again!

Initially after the power supply board was replaced, there was an 8 flashing LED code indicating the scan board had a defect. After sending all three of the scan boards back to Panasonic for repair, they came back with no issues that Panasonic could find. But the technician still had doubts the scan (P) board was good because the 8 flashing LEDs still indicated a fault. So he also ordered one off eBay as a back-up measure. The eBay board turned out to be bad. So he tried the original again and to his surprised and my relief, the TV is working perfectly again. It was a D’oh moment as he was stumped as to why it didn’t work earlier.

Total cost for parts and labor was $560.00 rounded off. The power supply board was the only part replaced and was $220.00. This took a long time but it was worth it for me to save the set. I suppose we all have our tolerance level as to what we feel is a worth while cost to replace vs replace. But now I can watch movies again!

Every time I see this thread is updated and you are the last person to respond I cross my fingers and hope as I click the link! So glad to hear that in the end it is repaired and you have your beloved plasma working again. The fact that you were able to send boards to Panasonic for testing and ultimately got it working again gives all of us with aging plasmas hope that if need be they can be repaired eventually.

That said, I'm still crossing my fingers and knocking on wood every time I turn mine on or off!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just did a thorough dusting on my 55" Panasonic Plasma a couple nights ago. I am forever amazed at how much dust, dander and dog hair are drawn to that set.

I was thinking of this thread as I working the vacuum and cleaning cloths on the set.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks guys! It’s great to have the TV back! And to have my furniture and speakers put back in place too as I had the cabinet the set is on pulled from the wall for access to the rear. And I can listen to music again. I’ve had the set on for about an hour and a half this evening and it’s been just like it was before. Saw a little TV and I tried out a random blu ray from the cabinet and it looked great.

Sorry to hear about your Samsung Josh. I understand your thinking as to how to use the money, either fix or replace. I was looking at some Sony LED sets a few weeks ago and they looked great! But I think I’m just too used to plasmas as the LED LCD TV’s just don’t look film like and more like hyper video. . But not to take away from the Sony’s as they did look really good! There was a nice set on sale at Best Buy at the time.

Brian, I feel lucky there is an experienced technician with Panasonic experience and whose shop is near by and he prefers to make house calls. I hope you never have to deal with fixing your set.

Hey Mike, I don’t have any pets in my house so when the rear panel came off my set, I was surprised at the lack of dust. There was dust for sure on the outside on the rear panel that I cleaned off before the tech came over. The most dust was inside on the fan blades. I vacuumed that off before he took off the rear. I hope you have a good long life for your Panasonic too!