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So my 3 yr old Panasonic plasma is obselete :/


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Old 13-07-2015, 07:57
retrovertigo
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My Panny GT50 plasma has started making a much louder than normal buzzing sound and the capacitors on the power board are the culprit.

It has a 5 year warranty on it, but it seems that the warranty is worthless as the power boards are no longer listed as an available part by Panasonic.

A friend works at a Panasonic service centre and has been trying to chase one up for me, with no luck.

Not really sure why I'm posting this, other than to vent. And as a head up for any plasma owners. Don't assume you are safe if you have a 5 year warranty.

The obvious worst part of this is that if a replacement is offered, it is going to be LCD. Which I absolutely don't want!
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Old 13-07-2015, 08:55
Nigel Goodwin
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Well you are 'safe' - as they will replace the TV for you.

Obviously, as it's obsolete technology, the replacement will be LCD.

But surely you're well aware, that you're going to have to move to LCD eventually?.
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Old 13-07-2015, 08:58
retrovertigo
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Well yeah you are safe that you'd get an LCD. But to not be able to repair a TV only 3 years old? Crazy.

If anything I'll move to OLED once the price is right. I'll avoid LCD like the plague if I can.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:01
roddydogs
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LCD is obsolete
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:02
Chris Frost
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Whether or not the whole power supply board is available I can't comment. But why replace the entire board when it's just a handful of capacitors that need to be replaced? These aren't difficult to source, and they're not difficult to replace for anyone who knows one end of a soldering iron from the other.

Unless there's some restriction to do with the warranty then replacing a few electrolytics with upgraded parts (105 degree C and a decent make) might cost a little more in labour but that will be more than offset by the vastly cheaper parts price compared to buying a whole power board.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:07
retrovertigo
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Well I guess you could be careful opening the tv to remove the power board. And replacing individual capacitors isn't beyond me, but sourcing "improved ones" that fit on the board, is something I don't think I could do?
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:09
Chris Frost
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Unless this is some vague reference to the future of TV then it isn't a very helpful comment or practical suggestion in the context of this thread.

LCD is very much alive an kicking in the form of LED TVs. All that's changed is the lighting source; Light Emitting Diodes replaced cold cathode mini-fluorescent tubes. The public has been conned in to thinking this is something new and that they're watching a different form of display with LED.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:21
Chris Frost
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Well I guess you could be careful opening the tv to remove the power board. And replacing individual capacitors isn't beyond me, but sourcing "improved ones" that fit on the board, is something I don't think I could do?
The biggest issue is the temperature rating. 85 degree caps are marginally cheaper but less robust. 105 degree caps are better. There's your first upgrade. Next, the voltage rating. You can up this from the current spec printed on the side of the capacitor. Just go to the next higher value, so that's an easy upgrade too. The only value you must not change is the capacity which is usually given in microFarads. Stay with whatever value is printed on the side of the existing caps.

Brand: well there's plenty of threads and posts and even whole web sites dedicated to the subject. As a quick short-list I'd look at Rubycon, Sanyo, Fujitsu or Nippon if I was pushing the boat out. It doesn't take much to do a quick Google search and find this info. It's really not difficult.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:27
Tassium
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Obviously attempting a repair will void the warranty. And no guarantee the TV will work afterwards.

Of course if a person really hates LCD then they might be willing to take the risk.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:30
AlanO
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Well yeah you are safe that you'd get an LCD. But to not be able to repair a TV only 3 years old? Crazy.

If anything I'll move to OLED once the price is right. I'll avoid LCD like the plague if I can.
Same was true though of CRTs not so long ago - when the manufacturers didn't have stock of replacement tubes after 3-5 years because they were no longer in production.

As Nigel has said, you're covered in that you will get a new, replacement set, which functionally will be at least as good as what you have now, if not better.

I understand some had a preference for plasma over LCD, but clearly not enough people - once the decision had been made to discontinue plasma, it was inevitable that the parts retained would be run-down - on the grounds it is more cost efficient to provide a new TV for the few which will fail (given Panasonic have a generally low failure rate) than to retain all the spares to allow repairs after the spares had been exhausted.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:42
Tassium
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Also I would be surprised if failing capacitors would cause a buzzing fault.

Probably other components on the power board.
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Old 13-07-2015, 09:46
Chris Frost
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Also I would be surprised if failing capacitors would cause a buzzing fault.

Probably other components on the power board.
Possibly a broken core in one of the transformers.
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Old 13-07-2015, 11:27
chrisjr
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Also I would be surprised if failing capacitors would cause a buzzing fault.

Probably other components on the power board.
If the capacitors were smoothing the supply rail to the audio amplifiers then they could be letting all sorts of crap onto the supply which could find it's way onto the speakers causing a buzzing noise.

Though as you say it would be unlikely to create a mechanical buzzing noise.
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Old 13-07-2015, 13:25
Nigel Goodwin
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Well yeah you are safe that you'd get an LCD. But to not be able to repair a TV only 3 years old? Crazy.
You only keep so many spares in stock - once they are gone, that's it - particularly as Plasma is obsolete technology now.

This, of course, is one of the major drawbacks of panel replacement servicing, if components were available instead of just a board then there's more chance of spares longevity.

Same applies to LCD sets as well, and Samsung long ago were running out of spares while still under warranty, due to poor reliability caused by fitting sub-standard capacitors.
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Old 13-07-2015, 21:52
Winston_1
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Every plasma replaced by LCD is a good thing. Plasmas create horrendous interference to the RF spectrum.
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Old 13-07-2015, 22:10
grahamlthompson
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Every plasma replaced by LCD is a good thing. Plasmas create horrendous interference to the RF spectrum.
Add Plasma TV's to PLT technology.

You need help
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Old 13-07-2015, 22:13
alan1302
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Add Plasma TV's to PLT technology.

You need help
He does mention it a lot but if your hobby was disrupted by normal, everyday objects like Plasma TV's and PLT's would you not be even slightly annoyed at it?
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Old 13-07-2015, 22:28
retrovertigo
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Also I would be surprised if failing capacitors would cause a buzzing fault.

Probably other components on the power board.
You are right of course. I meant coils not capacitors....oops! Rather oddly, one common cause of the buzzing on the Panasonic plasmas is the screws that hold the power board in place. On some sets they were simply loose, whereas on others, different screws needed to be fitted. This was actually in a service memo sent out to service engineers.

But mine has only started doing it recently so the screws aren't the problem. Plus mine isn't one of those affected models. Though I did whizz the back off and check they were tight - just in case. But no luck....they were ok :/

Now I just need to sit down and relax for a second and count to ten after someone here suggested LCD was superior to Plasma!

edit: I've just seen an interesting DIY fix for an earlier plasma model. Basically the guy tied cables ties around the coils that sit next to each other and it cured the buzzing for him.

I'm convinced part of the problem is the lack of fans in these slimmer models. My older plasma had four fans in it and stayed cooler and never buzzed. This set gets so hot when bright scenes are onscreen for any length of times and sure enough the buzzing kicks in.

I suppose because I'm an older member, and this set cost £1300, that I find it obscene that something can basically be relegated to the tip so easily in the eyes of manufacturers. In an age where everyone bangs on about recycling, it seems absurd.
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Old 13-07-2015, 23:51
meltcity
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You can buy replacement boards for the GT50 on eBay. Obviously you will end up losing money this way as you will be paying for the repair yourself, but it may be worth looking into if you want to keep the TV going for a few more years. There are tutorials on YouTube explaining how to do it. I have a GT50 myself and would be very sorry to see it go, even if it is obsolete!
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Old 13-07-2015, 23:58
WhoAteMeDinner
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The sad thing is that the days of buying a top quality brand television are almost at an end. Philips sold its vision divison a few years back and now Sony have announced that they are selling out their TV business too.

Matsushita (Panasonic), sorry, showing that I am a former employee of one of these electronics giants, is the last high end TV manufacturer left.

Try and get your flat screen TVs repaired if they are from a good brand, because trust me, if a 50" screen only costs £300 from some Korean, Taiwanese or Chinese generic manufacturer, it will smoke and hiss and burn out with two years.
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Old 14-07-2015, 06:26
retrovertigo
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You can buy replacement boards for the GT50 on eBay. Obviously you will end up losing money this way as you will be paying for the repair yourself, but it may be worth looking into if you want to keep the TV going for a few more years. There are tutorials on YouTube explaining how to do it. I have a GT50 myself and would be very sorry to see it go, even if it is obsolete!
Yeah I've had a look at the ones on eBay, but they are used items that have basically been salvaged from broken sets. So there is always the chance you get one with exactly the same problem.
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Old 16-07-2015, 02:03
thms
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panasonic lcd tv's are not normal lcd tvs have you looked at their current range? their black levels are indistinguishable from plasma.
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Old 16-07-2015, 16:20
CappySpectrum
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Every plasma replaced by LCD is a good thing. Plasmas create horrendous interference to the RF spectrum.
Not if you use power line conditioners and the supplied ferrite cores. There is no interference.
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Old 16-07-2015, 19:05
Nigel Goodwin
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Not if you use power line conditioners and the supplied ferrite cores. There is no interference.
Not at all, they radiate from the sets internals more than the mains lead - which is already well filtered inside.

But, just as with HomePlugs, they operate within permitted levels - and are perfectly OK to use.

A bigger problem, is failing switch-mode PSU's - which often generate high levels of RFI before they expire altogether. I was talking to a BT Engineer a few months ago (one of our incoming lines had died), and he was telling me he was one of a small hand full of BT (OpenReach) Engineers involved in tracing such interference, which commonly obliterates ADSL and causes massively slow speeds.
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Old 17-07-2015, 08:16
retrovertigo
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panasonic lcd tv's are not normal lcd tvs have you looked at their current range? their black levels are indistinguishable from plasma.
I have been looking at the reviews of Panasonics LCD sets on AVForums and I haven't found any reviews where they say an LCD is comparable to plasma when it comes to black levels.

Not to mention how badly LCD handles motion compared to plasma. Especially noticeable with gaming in my opinion.

I spoke to John Lewis again about this. And of course a caveat of their 5 year warranty is, that for each year you own the set, they knock 20% off it's value. So they would offer me an LCD set which is nowhere near the quality of my current one. Unless I'm willing to pay extra toward a better set. It's hardly the like for like that they claim.

Pus of course, if I hang on to this set, and see how bad the buzzing gets, it is losing value in their eyes everyday.

I am going to try something as an experiment though. I have bought a USB powered PC fan and am going to temp mount it somehow over the vents where the power board is, and see if the fan keeps it cool and stops the buzzing. It's worth a try for the cost of the fan. If the set was out of warranty, I'd permanently mount several fans on the back.
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