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.

The space of the room is such that a 55-60 inch is appropriate (and it is also in line with the guidelines I've seen posted elsewhere on the net for HDTV's). Any smaller and it gets awkward, IMO (it's for the main living room across from our couch).

PS: Added a Samsung above, btw, although I believe I recall you saying to avoid those.

Thanks for the amazingly fast response!

[tom66]

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

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

If you buy any TV, do not buy this one. I have seen too many Samsung TVs to know they cut costs which ultimately severely shortens the lifespans of their products.

[KongRubix]

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

I find myself arguably torn over the plasma vs. LED rivalry. I like the way LED's look (bright colors, none of the "dithering" with plasmas) but plasmas tend to be cheaper from what I see and I've heard from multiple sources that they are still superior (which is why we bought the Panasonic plasma to begin with). I may just need to go back and see your earlier reply, but what is the primary reason for choosing plasma over LED? Is it simply that the dithering does not bother?

Even from across the room, I can see the dithering (if I am using the correct word -- the way lines aren't crisp but have a sort of pixellated flux of squares that dance around).

I believe it was this response:

Avoid Samsung if you buy an LED TV (sorry... but Samsung make poor quality TVs that look pretty on the outside and have a great picture until they die 2 or 3 years later.) But to be honest, LED isn't all it cracked up to be anyway. The picture quality is only slightly better than a conventional LCD and probably worse than a good plasma; and the reliability is generally worse.

I'd personally recommend a plasma... maybe an LG if you don't want a Panasonic, even though Panasonic do have some of the best build quality, I'm seeing more and more issues with them. Not sure if it's because they're more popular, or just poorer built. They've definitely cut down to make TVs cheaper, but at least they still use good components and the build quality is second to none.

But I still think it's worth repairing.

[tom66]

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

I find myself arguably torn over the plasma vs. LED rivalry. I like the way LED's look (bright colors, none of the "dithering" with plasmas) but plasmas tend to be cheaper from what I see and I've heard from multiple sources that they are still superior (which is why we bought the Panasonic plasma to begin with). I may just need to go back and see your earlier reply, but what is the primary reason for choosing plasma over LED? Is it simply that the dithering does not bother?

Even from across the room, I can see the dithering (if I am using the correct word -- the way lines aren't crisp but have a sort of pixellated flux of squares that dance around).

Plasma vs LED/LCD:

• Longer lifespan (typically) 100,000 hr vs 20,000~40,000 hr for LED and 60,000hr for LCD
  
• Higher contrast ratio (>30,000:1 typical) vs 2000:1 -- this will not necessarily be apparent in a bright showroom
  
• Greater colour depth (12-bit or 14-bit) vs 8-bit/10-bit for LED/LCD
  
• Sub millisecond response time (good for fast action) vs 5~15ms for LED/LCD
  
• Greater "moving picture resolution" of typically full display (1080 lines) vs typical 500~800 for LED/LCD -- basically indicates how good display is at showing moving action.
  
• Lower cost

LED/LCD vs Plasma

• Higher brightness typically
  
• No dithering (but depends on the model of plasma TV)
  
• Lighter, thinner
  
• More energy efficient (about 60% of the energy usage of a typical like-for-like plasma)

Contrast ratio really is the killer. A plasma display is capable of very deep blacks. The thing is, when the showroom is lit up very brightly, it can make the picture on a plasma look much more washed out, so you lose that advantage. At home, with normal lighting, it'll look much better, and in a dark room, it will look even better.

And the source matters too. More than likely, Costco are just feeding all the TVs off a crap composite video source from a DVD player. This'll make for all sorts of picture noise. Sometimes an LCD or LED-LCD can hide this due to the inherent blur in the display panel, but you'll lose detail on true HD sources.

[KongRubix]

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

Will keep that in mind -- thanks again. We'll probably pull the trigger on a purchase soon (odds are another plasma, haha). Trying not to let that Panasonic debacle unfairly bias future purchases.

[retiredcaps]

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

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.

With a price of $799.99, I suggest spending the extra $59.99 to extend the total warranty to 5 years. That is only $20/year after the "standard" 2 year Costco warranty.

[johnboy1313]

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

So to speak to your original problem, I don't know if it's exactly like my Panasonic Viera 42" but try this troubleshooting manual. Specifically, page 4.

Check out this link
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=24894

[enkidu12]

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

Hello!! I too have a TC-P55GT30 with the 7 blinking lights. I've reviewed this entire thread and follow all the steps suggested. Unfortunately, I'm not very skilled with testing specific components so I just decided to replace boards. I started with replacing the SD & SU boards. (Found them pretty cheep on eBay.) I still have the same 7 blinking lights. I saw on a youtube video that when the SC board ribbon is disconnected the 7 flashes goes to 8 flashes and this indicates that the SC board is bad. Does anyone have the same opinion as this? I didn't pay a lot for the SD & SU cards but the SC card is a bit more and I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing first before I make the purchase. Here is a link to the youtube video I watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFke...-a33eg&index=7

[tom66]

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

It should go to 6 flashes if SC is unplugged. That being said, we have found a lot of buffer boards off eBay dead on arrival due to them being removed from cracked screen plasma TVs. (The cracked screen shorts out the board if it is powered up during or after it is cracked.) Post a picture of the board; we should be able to show you how to test.

[enkidu12]

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

Ok. Here is a photo of my recently purchased and installed SD & SU boards and my old SC board. Again, the video that I watched said that if you unplug the ribbon that is found in the top right corner of the picture on the SC board and the tv blinks 8 times the SC board is bad. By what I've read on your posts, Tom, you know what your talking about so I'll take your advice.

Also, I'm not sure how to post a picture so I just added it as an attachment.

[tom66]

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

8 blinks is SS board. While an SC board fault can cause 8 blinks mis-detection, it is much more rare compared to 6 blinks with SC removed. You should always get 6 blinks with SC removed. If the SC is bad, you can get either 6, 7 or rarely 8 blinks.

As for testing the SU and SD, you will need a digital multimeter, do you have one?

[enkidu12]

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

I do. It's saved my in the past from buying a new dryer when a $5 part went bad. Lol.

[tom66]

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

OK, remove the buffers from the set.

Follow my video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51SZsfH60EY

For your GROUND (the probe that does not move) use the screw points which should be marked HV DANGER.

[sordids999]

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


Hey tom can i test this board just like in your video ?
removed from my cracked plasma screen want to test it before i give it to my m8

[tom66]

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

Yes, just ensure it is disconnected from the SC board, large lefthand board.

[sordids999]

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

ok thanks would there be a chance the sc board has shorted due to it being in a cracked screen also ?

[tom66]

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

Usually on these SC survives.

[enkidu12]

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

Ok, Tom. Assuming I did this correctly, neither my old or newly purchased SD / SU boards have continuity. My multi-meter never goes off 1. I checked ever pin where the ribbons attached and got the same result. I've attached a photo to make sure that I've placed the leads in the correct spots.

[tom66]

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

Are you testing all outputs? Each pin on those connectors drives one line on the plasma display panel so you need to test all 1080 lines. Does your meter have a beep functionality? Test it by touching the probes together.

[enkidu12]

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

Yes I placed the leads together to ensure that it was working properly. When I did this the meter went to 0. I also did test all the pin connectors on both set of boards. I'll go back over them again to make sure I didn't miss any.