55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

I'm not terribly good at negotiations -- I had mentioned to them that this was the 7-blinking-lights problem but they insisted that because it was out of warranty, they couldn't do much: "Aahhh... that's unfortunate, yeah... etc". Should I be saying something else?

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

That site mentioned telling them about the SC board problem. Say you've done your research (which you have) and that you always have had confidence in Panasonic products but this has made you reconsider (which is probably correct.) How much did the TV cost -- $xxx is now down the drain, etc.etc.

Basically, perseverance. Keep trying and you will succeed . Ideally, you should ask for an exchange (pick up old TV and give you store credit for a new one.)

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

I've give it a shot. Thanks so much for all your help -- I'll reply back here later with updates.

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Called back

Apparently I have to get the repairguy they referred to me last time to come out and do a cost evaluation of the labor/parts/etc. They then gave me an email to send proof of purchase, cost evaluation, and case number to -- then they'd assess compensation/accommodation.

At this point I'm really not sure. It's still going to cost a lot just to get the guy to come out here (and this assumes compensation out of warranty).

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Did you mention it's a known fault? It might be worth the call out charge though if you can get the TV fixed/replaced (and you should be able to claim it back...)

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Did you mention it's a known fault? It might be worth the call out charge though if you can get the TV fixed/replaced (and you should be able to claim it back...)

I did. Mentioned it was an extremely common issue, what typically causes this problem, when I bought it, how much it cost, how long Panasonic advertises its TVs should last vs. how long mine lasted, etc.

[retiredcaps]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

I bought this TV in mid-July 2011 (the set itself seems to have been made in June 2011 according to the back-sticker). Warranty has been expired for about 5 months.

I can't add any value to the troubleshooting process and tom66 is the plasma expert here, but if you do buy a new TV, see

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...2&postcount=11

or use a credit card that extends the warranty up to 2 years.

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

retiredcaps: What do you think about newegg vs. costco?

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Myself; Costco 100% of the way. They have good service (in the UK but I'd expect elsewhere too) and great prices.

If you do get a new TV, avoid the 120Hz/240Hz LCD/LEDs, or turn off the feature. I fixed a nice 40" Samsung 1080p LCD (LE40A656, one of eight others I've fixed.) I kept it, but I turned off the 100Hz feature immediately. It makes everything look unnatural and fake. I'm used to 25fps, not 100fps .

Toshiba and Sharp make excellent TVs >46", but avoid their offerings below that (mostly re-badged junk from China.) I personally don't recommend Samsung due to their poor capacitor choices. LG's LCDs seem to be somewhat OK. Panasonic makes good LCDs too, but there's nothing special about them. I also don't recommend Vizio to American buyers, because they have far too many main board problems... which is a shame, because otherwise the build quality seems to be pretty good...

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

I too am not a fan of the unnatural look (on my TV this was called the Motion Smoother or something like that -- I think it interpolates frames to give that "fluid" look but it's really more of a "uneven-rate fluidity" if that makes sense. Things move and flow in ways that they shouldn't, IMO). Is this the same thing you're talking about?

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Yes, though it's a different technology for a plasma display. The plasma driver sacrifices colour depth and some time resolution to make motion a little more fluid. But the blurring, colour distortion and lagging removes almost all of the benefits of a plasma display; it's a sales feature, not one you should really use...

Some of the newer plasma displays use "1200Hz" or even "1800Hz" technology. This is essentially 120Hz/180Hz (like most LCDs nowadays...), but multiplies that by the sub frames (10) that every plasma display since the dawn of time has used to create greyscale images. Also, the penalty for using much shorter subframes is either decreased brightness or increased black levels. Manufacturers usually go for increasing the black level as you don't notice that in the store. So generally avoid the 1200/1800Hz plasma displays...

(Essentially each pixel in a plasma display is on or off. The display doesn't have a true greyscale capability. In order to give it depth, pixels are turned on in individual sub frames at about 600 times a second. This works really well because you eyes "interpolate" the levels together to give greyscale levels. The dithering is used to add even more grey levels to the display. Panasonic boasts 6144 levels, which is about 12.5 bits of colour resolution. Most LCDs are only 8 or 10 bit. Also, this modulation scheme improves energy efficiency (and longevity) for some reason.)

[retiredcaps]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

retiredcaps: What do you think about newegg vs. costco?

I'm a Costco member and have excellent service from them. Their return policies are generous and prices are competitive.

I got an item from Costco and it broke after 10 months of use (1 year warranty) and I returned it back to Costco and they gave me 100% credit/money back without any questions.

I bought a piece of furniture from Costco online. We didn't like it and they came and picked it up for free and we got 100% of our money back. No questions asked.

Like I said, I normally don't buy extended warranties, but for $100, you get 5 years or $20/annually. I think it is worth it if you watch a lot of TV.

I don't have any dealings with newegg so I can't comment.

Again, check the terms and conditions with Costco USA as they may be different from Canada.

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

It might be hard to get my girlfriend to agree to another plasma-screen, haha -- but I'd like to not let this one setback paint all plasmas as unworthy or anything. I'll definitely check Costco out.

If I were to get another plasma, are there any brands/specific models you might recommend? And if I absolutely had to settle for an LED, are there any you like or do you think those TVs are inherently inferior to plasmas?

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

TBH, I'd recommend another Panasonic especially if they repair it or refund you, but NOT a Viera X50 series, as this is Panasonic's "crap" series...

If not Panasonic, then an LG (plasma, or LED-LCD) wouldn't be too bad, but definitely avoid Samsung's plasma and LED-LCD offerings.

[retiredcaps]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

It might be hard to get my girlfriend to agree to another plasma-screen, haha -- but I'd like to not let this one setback paint all plasmas as unworthy or anything.

Did you buy your TV using a credit card? If yes, see if your credit card has warranty extension?

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Did you buy your TV using a credit card? If yes, see if your credit card has warranty extension?

We bought it through Amazon using the Amazon Store Card (so we basically paid off the full thing over a few months at no interest)

TBH, I'd recommend another Panasonic especially if they repair it or refund you, but NOT a Viera X50 series, as this is Panasonic's "crap" series...

If not Panasonic, then an LG (plasma, or LED-LCD) wouldn't be too bad, but definitely avoid Samsung's plasma and LED-LCD offerings.

Will keep this in mind... again might be hard for the gf (her entire family buys nothing but Samsung LED's)

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Just bolted everything back up -- gf and I are likely going to just buy another TV from Costco.

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

OK, but please do not dump your old TV. Please sell it on Craigslist as faulty. Someone who has the skills to debug it will buy it. You should get at least $80 for it.

[KongRubix]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Hey it's me again -- we finally got around to heading to Costco. Took some pics of some of the 55-60 inch models that looked interesting and wanted to get your guys' opinions.

I don't know specifically what I would need, but I'd like the ability to connect a laptop/PC/etc to the TV and broadcast its screen/sound if need be (for when I want to play my SNES emulator mainly). We've got a cable box, PS3, and Wii. I think this means we need Component-in (or Composite, whichever one is better for Wii, cannot recall atm) and a few HDMI's and a PC-in, correct?

The PS3 is what we use currently to run Netflix, BluRay, etc.

Vizio 60" Edge-Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/rEzsNLW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2Ca3pvW.jpg

Vizio 55" Edge Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/cGWB9pk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fqjWPUf.jpg

LG 60" Plasma
http://i.imgur.com/Zg2qeF0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DZ13sxM.jpg

LG 55" Edge Lit LED
http://i.imgur.com/V9bv8Ih.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/suCTECA.jpg

Sharp 60" Edge Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/Ln7sm7m.jpg

Samsung 55" Rear-Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/B6CTTQT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nOMpeor.jpg

Sorry for the blur on some of these -- very hard for me to keep my hands still


EDIT: Added one more,

In terms of price, we are fine with all these -- overall, wouldn't want to go much more than a grand pretax, at max. If you know of any better recs that might fit the profile, all ears.

[tom66]

Re: 55 inch Plasma Viera (VIERA TC-P55GT30) not turning on. 7 blinking red lights.

Vizio 60" Edge-Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/rEzsNLW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2Ca3pvW.jpg

Avoid. Clue is in the brand. Seen a LOT of Vizios dying.

Vizio 55" Edge Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/cGWB9pk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fqjWPUf.jpg

As above.

LG 60" Plasma
http://i.imgur.com/Zg2qeF0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DZ13sxM.jpg

It's a good TV. I would go for this one. It will beat an LED TV hands down, and it's cheaper. No brainer.

LG 55" Edge Lit LED
http://i.imgur.com/V9bv8Ih.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/suCTECA.jpg

Not as good as the 60" LG plasma but an "OK" TV. I wouldn't think $700 of TV though.

Sharp 60" Edge Lit LCD/LED
http://i.imgur.com/Ln7sm7m.jpg

One of the better LED backlit TVs. Probably going to be a good TV.

Serious question though: Do you REALLY need a 55~60" TV?