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

[Nelson Au]

I’d argue to hold onto it and try selling or giving away after the pandemic is over. Is it too big for your bedroom or kitchen area?

 

[Osato]

A week later, and zero interest in a used plasma. Might be a terrible time to sell a used TV: two weeks before Pandemic Christmas people want new 4KTVs shipped from Amazon, not dealing with buying used in person.

If shipping wasn't so difficult and expensive, I'd consider offering it an HTF'er for cost of shipping. But dealing with freight packaging and shipping -- it feels like a lot of effort.

Probably going into my garage until the next e-cycling event, maybe in the spring. Or I hang onto it and try to sell it again in the Spring.

It may take time. Mine did.

Put it up on eBay and just let it sit as a buy it now, local pick up and offers welcome. Someone will want it for sure.

 

[Osato]

I’d argue to hold onto it and try selling or giving away after the pandemic is over. Is it too big for your bedroom or kitchen area?

My 55” was too big as a second tv. Our kitchen connects to dining and living room.

We don’t have a tv in our bedroom or any other where other than the living room. I have a small lcd that I pull out for the times when we need or have a purpose for a second screen.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Yeah, probably not the best time of year to sell a used TV. I’ve always felt the worst time to sell used stuff is between late October and early February, due to Christmas on the horizon, and paying off Christmas afterwards. IMO the best time to sells starts in early March, about the time people start getting income tax refund checks.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[DaveF]

I’d argue to hold onto it and try selling or giving away after the pandemic is over. Is it too big for your bedroom or kitchen area?

All the rooms that need TVs have TVs. I literally don't have anywhere for a spare TV at this point, especially a 50" plasma.

I'll shove it into a spare bedroom to get it out of the way. And then renew the CL and eBay listings after the holidays if it doesn't sell in the next week.

 

[Nelson Au]

I always laugh at the thought of an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Barney has a huge wall TV in his bedroom. It was depicted off screen with the light glowing on the actors faces.

 

[DaveF]

I sold my Kuro today for $150. Completely happy to have that sold, out of the house, and done

 

[Osato]

I sold my Kuro today for $150. Completely happy to have that sold, out of the house, and done

Great news!!!

 

[Nelson Au]

I hope the new owner enjoys it!

 

[midvalleyguy]

This thread has certainly been a very interesting read.

My Panasonic 50-inch plasma (Viera Model TH-P50U30A) has recently started playing up. It turns on and off without warning and the red and green lights flash while doing so. Not all the time, but enough to be quite annoying. When working, it has a perfect picture.

One of the local TV stores here (JBHiFi) told me that I should consider myself extremely lucky to have had it working perfectly for 10 years. The salesman suggested it’s time for a replacement. Saying that, he led me to a wall full of 4K TV’s, and started a hard sell.

I live in a rural area, and there are no TV repair places in the immediate area that seem legit, and I suspect they will charge an arm and a leg. The TV is too heavy and awkward to cart to a big city for repairs.

Panasonic pulled out of the Australian TV market last year – what a pity. They said after 10 years not worth repairing.

At the moment I’ve been googling a lot and have tried just about everything. Currently I suspect the remote may be the problem, so I’ve removed the remote to another room, and so am not using it. I can’t give the TV away, knowing it has a problem.

If the issue doesn’t resolve itself soon, I plan to buy a 4K for my upcoming birthday. I’ve been comparing reviews of 55 inch TV’s, but it’s disturbing to read that all the major brands seem to have problems, especially with after sales service. It’s amazing that most only seem to have a one year warranty.

I have an old working Samsung in my garden shed, but I can’t face going down to a 40-inch display LOL.

 

[Mike Frezon]

A 40" set seems "just right" for a garden shed, Robert!

Be sure to report back here when you make up your mind what-to-do. I'm keeping my eye on my 2012
55" Panasonic plasma which has started to power down on its own at random times (sometimes as much as twice a night). So far though, it has successfully turned back on right away without fail.

I'm looking at maybe turning to a TCL set when the time comes. I hear the 4k Series 6 sets are quite good and rather affordable.

 

[DaveF]

Something also to consider: a new budget 4K LCD can almost pay for itself over 5 years in electricity cost savings compare’s to a plasma. Depending on your use, utility rates, etc etc.

 

[Greg.K]

My 2009 Samsung B550 58" plasma with 16,684 hours on the panel is still going strong. I think I'm going to be upgrading to an OLED soon, though.

I've always liked the PQ on it, as well as the additional heat it provides to the family room in the winter.

 

[DaveF]

Something also to consider: a new budget 4K LCD can almost pay for itself over 5 years in electricity cost savings compare’s to a plasma. Depending on your use, utility rates, etc etc.

Just checked: I've measured with a Kill-a-Watt my living room system power use for both Pioneer Plasma and Sony LCD. On a 24-7 average, the Plasma used about 50W/hr more. Which works about to about $50/yr savings.

So a $500 LCD would literally pay for itself in ten years.

More realistically, a $1500-ish LCD would get a ~15% discount ($250) over 5 years from reduced power use.

 

[midvalleyguy]

A 40" set seems "just right" for a garden shed, Robert!

Be sure to report back here when you make up your mind what-to-do.

Hi Mike - just an update to my previous post.

I totally reset my Panasonic as per the manual, and the remote is still being kept in a different room. For a week now there has only been ONE problem of the TV randomly turning off and on with flashing lights. Spooky.

I have my TV, Blu Ray player, SACD player, PVR recorder and all speakers including the sub-woofer all fairly close together, with all remotes lurking nearby on a coffee table. I am now thinking some may in fact be interfering with each other, especially the Panasonic.

So, I am about to arrange a totally new setup of all my equipment, and will then see if the problems continue with the Panasonic. If they do, it’s time for a new 4K!

In the meantime I have been checking out all the 55-58 inch 4K TV’s at my local stores – including Sony, LG, Samsung, Hitachi, Hisense, Philips, Teac, Akai and TCL (the TCL 4K Series 6 is not available in Australia). I have read lots of positive/negative reviews for all of them, but have noted the common complaint is always poor after-sales service, so I am leaning towards a TV with a 3 year warranty, even if the TV might not be the very best in my sub-$1000 AUD budget (approx $785 US). I am increasingly interested in a 58 inch Android TV. OLED Android TV's are out of my price range.

The two front runners for me at the moment are the Hitachi 58 inch QLED and the CHiQ (Changhung) 58 inch LED LCD because both have a 3 year warranty. Pictures on both are equally as good as the LG and Sony.

Will update further down the track.

 

[TJPC]

Don’t forget to say very loudly in the same room as the Panasonic, “Well I guess if the Panasonic TV doesn’t stop turning off and on by itself, I will have to junk it and buy a new TV!” I find this often works well for me!

 

[midvalleyguy]

Since my last post, I re-arranged the TV and attached components (Yamaha receiver, PVR, Sony BluRay), as well as vacuuming them all to remove as much dust as possible. Sadly the fault kept occurring. I tried TJPC's idea, but to no avail .

As a last resort, I purchased a new remote (not universal). All seemed to go well without incident for a few nights, but the same fault now re-occurs. I think I have to accept that after 11 years the Panasonic plasma has given me a good run, but it’s time to give it the flick (and put it with the others in the garden shed as a spare).

Although I have been considering a new 4K TV, I’d have to say the experience in the various stores has been rather underwhelming. I’d need to spend at least $2000+ for a mid-priced TV with a new 4K BluRay player, and then some more $$$ for 4K discs (which are not inexpensive here, and the range is limited). All this to view proper 4K! No free-to-air TV stations here transmit 4K, and I’m not into streaming, or Netflix, or Disney+.

I know 3D TV’s have been discontinued since 2017, but I recently watched some 3D BluRays on a mate’s LG 3D 50 inch TV, and well…….WOW!!! Talk about bang for buck! The best immersive movie experience I’ve had for quite a while.

It may be crazy , but at the moment I’m seriously considering buying a used LG 3D TV for a few hundred dollars. The 3D discs are plentiful and there is a wide choice – easily picked up in the local stores for under $10 each. And as a bonus there are also classic 50's 3D movies being released.

 

[DaveF]

Although I have been considering a new 4K TV, I’d have to say the experience in the various stores has been rather underwhelming. I’d need to spend at least $2000+ for a mid-priced TV with a new 4K BluRay player, and then some more $$$ for 4K discs (which are not inexpensive here, and the range is limited). All this to view proper 4K! No free-to-air TV stations here transmit 4K, and I’m not into streaming, or Netflix, or Disney+.

In 2021, $2000 is an expensive TV, not mid-priced. Unless you need a 70" to 85" set.

65" Sony 950H is $1600 at BestBuy, not on sale.
65" LG CX is $2000 at BestBuy, no sale. That's the top-end OLED a person is likely to buy these days.

The high-end of "Mid-priced" is a 65" TCL 6-series for $950, without any sale pricing.

 

[midvalleyguy]

Appreciate your feedback DaveF, but 4K TV prices here in Australia are a totally different kettle of fish to those in the USA. And we don't have BestBuy, or anything like it.

 

[DaveF]

Appreciate your feedback DaveF, but 4K TV prices here in Australia are a totally different kettle of fish to those in the USA. And we don't have BestBuy, or anything like it.

Great point! My error, wasn't paying attention to location.