Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

[Plasmafan92]

Hey guys, I've done some digging around and it seems that the ZT60 panasonic plasma panel drive has been tweaked when compared to the VT60.

ZT60/ZT65 holds the upper hand in anti-reflection screen coating and general “cleanliness” of the image – it's as if the ZT's native [IFC] level is set somewhere between “Off” and “Min“, resulting in a squeaky clean output with marginally less dynamic false contouring (DFC).
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/zt-201403233655.htm

Video mentioning the panel drive tweaking

With my VT60 setting motion smoothing from off to min results in a jump of motion resolution equal or greater than 1200 lines vs 1080 lines or slightly lower on off. I would love for the panel to natively support a higher especially when using game mode.

I would really appreciate if you experts could guide me in the right direction as to what part or board i would need to change from my 65VT60 to get this improved panel drive performance. The ZT60 and VT60 are basically the same besides the anti glare filter and that panel drive tweak so i know it would work if i exchanged the correct parts if I'm able to find it. Here is the 65ZT60 and the 65VT60 layout side by side:

[Moreno83]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

The ZT has a "Studio Master Panel" and the VT has a "Infinite black panel".

I don't think its just software.

[tom66]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

It probably is just software. Swapping the A board would probably do it.

The panel is the same on ST50 and GT50 for instance.

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Thanks for the help guys. Yeah i was hoping for it to be anything other than the A board as that is somewhat expensive. It's not even a money issue, the board is extremely hard to find since it's for the 65ZT60 variation, and it has to be the board for the 65 inch tv because of the three fans. Anyways in the near future when i decide to do this i will bump the thread and share my results, the difference should be immediately noticeable with a test pattern. Thanks again guys.

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Ok so i managed to get the A board for the 65ZT60 panel and when i opened my 65VT60 i noticed it only had 2 fans, i thought it was supposed to have 3 since it is a bigger size. Anyways i connect everything and the board works, upon powering up i am greeted with the studio master panel logo. There's one major problem though, the boards fan connector is wider than the fan cable on my tv. I can connect it but there's like 2 pins on the connector that are open. Every 10 seconds i am getting this message:

And then the tv shuts off automatically after a couple of minutes. This is the connector:

Can anyone help me? I assume this happens because this A board has a wider connector to accomodate 3 fans instead of 2 that i have.

[jetadm123]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

With the fan connector plugged into the new A board, do both of your fans spin up? On the new A board, I count 9 solder pads coming out of the back of the black connector. Correct? If yes, that's probably power, ground and sense (output pulse sent to cpu to tell it fan is running) pins for each fan. You can trace the wiring from each fan and/or use a meter to determine which pin is which. Due to the different connectors on the A boards, I'm thinking that maybe one (or both) of the sense outputs on one (or both) of the fans is not properly connected.

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

That's correct, the new board has 9 solder pads but that white fan cable has 6 connectors only, that's why the tv keeps shutting down and showing the message. When i try to connect it both fans never spin. I need to find that white connector with 9 pins but i don't even know what part it is.

[Moreno83]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Why not jump the cables? I think a small wire from 1 of the fans to the sense pad on the mainboard will do the trick. You need to fool the tv...

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Why not jump the cables? I think a small wire from 1 of the fans to the sense pad on the mainboard will do the trick. You need to fool the tv...

I might try to split the cables as a last resort, i would have to remove the fan cables from that 6 pin white connector and then how would i even keep them inside if it works. The best solution would be to find someone selling all 3 65ZT60 fans along with the cables that has the 9 pins in the end. I haven't seen that sold anywhere.

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Update: I managed to find an 60ZT60 A board online and ordered it, i'm not parting with the 65ZT60 board just yet until i know for sure the 60 board works, it should work since it has the 6 pin connector because the 60 inch only has 2 fans just like my 65VT60.

[tom66]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

You shouldn't put a 60" board in 65", as the panel drive is different. It can cause maldischarge and SC/SS failure as the ER waveforms are misaligned with the panel capacitance. The smaller panel has lower capacitance, so the resonance circuit is tuned differently and the timings are subtly different; this will cause extra power dissipation in the ER/SUS IGBTs and may cause a pink or cyan tint on the brightest parts of the image.

For the fan issue, it looks like there are three groups of three pins, for each fan: 12V, GND, Sense, 12V, GND, Sense, 12V, GND, Sense. It would be reasonably trivial to solder a wire between the two sense lines of one fan, so the TV sees two fans spinning at the same rate, and rig this up to the two fan configuration you have. On the other hand, you may also be able to get a fan assembly for the three fan version of your set, so have a look for that as well.

I believe Panasonic revised the fans on these units due to complaints of a "fridge-like sound" from the TV. So you might have a later model with only two fans.

[Plasmafan92]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Tom you are right, I didn't take into account the differences since the boards look more or less the same. I don't want to take a chance breaking my tv since it was a pain to even find it in the first place. I think I'm going to take the safe way out and wait for someone to sell the three fans along with the 9 pin cable. It should be easier than finding the A board. I'll bump the thread when everything is completed, at least I know the board works and the panel has all the benefits of the ZT besides the filter.

[Moreno83]

Re: Panasonic VT60 Plasma Panel drive modification?

Why wait out , just solder a wire to the sense pad.