I just wanted to share my experience owning a 2011 Panasonic Plasma TV (TC-P55ST30).
This 55" TV was purchased new from B&H Photo Video (online) for $1,130 on 02/16/2012 and was delivered on 02/22/2012. We also bought the Panasonic Customer Care Plan for $180 to extend the factory 1-year warranty out to 3-years (expiring 02/22/2015). This was the longest extended warranty plan available from Panasonic (as I recall). In hindsight: I should have either purchased a 5-year warranty from a 3rd party warranty company like SquareTrade, or not purchased an extended warranty at all...
Excellent TV with great picture quality! This was the "main" TV in our home. It was used for several hours daily (heavy usage). We never purchased the [expensive] 3D glasses to use the 3D feature of this TV, but we did use some of the "smart" features.
On 08/28/2016 we observed the dreaded 7-blink SOS error. This was the first and only problem with our TV in 4-1/2 years of ownership and heavy usage.
I found some useful troubleshooting information online, including here in the Badcaps Forums. I am not an electronics expert, so I did not want to spend a lot of time troubleshooting the TV in order to isolate the problem. Instead I sent my SU/SD/SS/SC boards to PTS Electronics (formerly Moduslink) for repair as part of their $175 Panel Board Repair (and return) Kit.
I received the repaired boards this week, and I reinstalled the boards this weekend. The paperwork from PTS did not identify which boards/components had failed, but I could see what looked like fresh solder/paste on the SU/SD boards.
It took me nearly all-day to get things back together and operating correctly. It wasn't easy, but the TV works well again! Observations:
(1) Obtain copies of the Panasonic Service Manual and the Technical Guide - both can be found online
(2) Keep track of all the screws! There are dozens of screws, so I recommend bagging & labeling them in groups as you remove them - will make reinstallation much easier
(3) Take photos of each board as you remove them, so you will have a good frame-of-reference during reinstallation
(4) Be very careful when removing the ribbon and power connectors - if you damage any of the ribbon cables that attach to the panel you will be out-of-luck (cannot be repaired; must obtain a new panel)
(5) Firmly tighten all of the screws attaching the boards to the chassis for proper grounding - I did not do this initially and I experienced the 8-blink SOS error on my first few attempts following reinstallation
(6) Take your time reconnecting the ribbon cables to the SU/SD boards - it must have taken me a couple hours to get this right (in order to correct the grainy/horizontal lines that appeared at various positions across the screen)
All complete! Everything works. Glad to have my Panny TV back on the line! I am hoping to get at least another couple years of usage from this set. Good luck all!
This 55" TV was purchased new from B&H Photo Video (online) for $1,130 on 02/16/2012 and was delivered on 02/22/2012. We also bought the Panasonic Customer Care Plan for $180 to extend the factory 1-year warranty out to 3-years (expiring 02/22/2015). This was the longest extended warranty plan available from Panasonic (as I recall). In hindsight: I should have either purchased a 5-year warranty from a 3rd party warranty company like SquareTrade, or not purchased an extended warranty at all...
Excellent TV with great picture quality! This was the "main" TV in our home. It was used for several hours daily (heavy usage). We never purchased the [expensive] 3D glasses to use the 3D feature of this TV, but we did use some of the "smart" features.
On 08/28/2016 we observed the dreaded 7-blink SOS error. This was the first and only problem with our TV in 4-1/2 years of ownership and heavy usage.
I found some useful troubleshooting information online, including here in the Badcaps Forums. I am not an electronics expert, so I did not want to spend a lot of time troubleshooting the TV in order to isolate the problem. Instead I sent my SU/SD/SS/SC boards to PTS Electronics (formerly Moduslink) for repair as part of their $175 Panel Board Repair (and return) Kit.
I received the repaired boards this week, and I reinstalled the boards this weekend. The paperwork from PTS did not identify which boards/components had failed, but I could see what looked like fresh solder/paste on the SU/SD boards.
It took me nearly all-day to get things back together and operating correctly. It wasn't easy, but the TV works well again! Observations:
(1) Obtain copies of the Panasonic Service Manual and the Technical Guide - both can be found online
(2) Keep track of all the screws! There are dozens of screws, so I recommend bagging & labeling them in groups as you remove them - will make reinstallation much easier
(3) Take photos of each board as you remove them, so you will have a good frame-of-reference during reinstallation
(4) Be very careful when removing the ribbon and power connectors - if you damage any of the ribbon cables that attach to the panel you will be out-of-luck (cannot be repaired; must obtain a new panel)
(5) Firmly tighten all of the screws attaching the boards to the chassis for proper grounding - I did not do this initially and I experienced the 8-blink SOS error on my first few attempts following reinstallation
(6) Take your time reconnecting the ribbon cables to the SU/SD boards - it must have taken me a couple hours to get this right (in order to correct the grainy/horizontal lines that appeared at various positions across the screen)
All complete! Everything works. Glad to have my Panny TV back on the line! I am hoping to get at least another couple years of usage from this set. Good luck all!
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