Panasonic plasma tv died

[woodchip]

So in the midst of watching Return of the king, tv just died. Click the start button and nothing happens. This is a 8 +/- 50" screen.
So is it repairable or will it cost more to fix than buying a new one? And suspiciously this happened just after Amazon informed me a tv was too old for their Prime services. Thoughts?

[Tunnelcat]

Good luck getting it repaired. It would probably cost you more than it's now worth. They just don't make things repairable now, but you could try getting a quote, IF you could find someone to repair it. Big TV's are now pretty cheap, at least until the Chinese tariffs kick in. I just bought a 49" Sony. It's a nice high res TV, but like most new thin TV's, the built in speakers suck and you have to buy a speaker system or pipe things through your stereo. And you want to buy the same brand speaker bar as the TV. I had to buy the matching Sony speaker bar just so the TV and speaker system's software could talk to one another nicely. Even then, it's still buggy. Remember, all new TV's want to be connected to the net, although I don't use streaming yet. I tried an old Samsung speaker bar my dad didn't want, but it had wildly varying sound levels with commercials blasting on full on a couple of the cable channels. It's apparently a cable system issue too. I gave that bar to my sister since it seems to have no issues on Direct TV and bought the Sony setup. But like many have complained about this particular sound bar, the sound quality in movies leaves a lot to be desired. Voices seem to be the issue, low or tinny sounding, even on every setting the speaker has. DVD's I have to crank up the volume quite a bit. I use the "news" setting for regular TV watching and use "cinema" or "standard" for movies, whichever sounds best. I still have my old Sony 40" HDTV LCD and it has fantastic built in speakers, but it weighs 60 pounds, is 5 inches thick and I wanted to hang it on the wall. I wanted a bigger picture too.

[woodchip]

TC, might want to watch this before you throw old screen out. Krom can set us straight if vid is usefuo:

[Krom]

The video is valid, but all the tips are for LCDs (plasma is different: no backlight). So the flashlight trick won't tell you anything about a plasma and its pointless to look for lights in the back.

It's free to pop one open and see what's behind the cover (note in a lot of displays the boards are under further metal guards that also have to be removed). Always disconnect it from the power source first and do be careful about capacitors. Basically the biggest problem is figuring out the cause, once you know what broke you can probably replace the failed component and it will be fine. But TVs aren't like cars with built in sensors and diagnostics and computers that monitor the health of the whole thing and give you error codes that tell you whats wrong, lots of times a board can fail with no obvious signs on it. The only thing that you are going to catch with a visual inspection is ruptured or swelling capacitors, or perhaps a burn mark after a lighting strike, or a close inspection could spot cracked solder joints.

So yeah, fixing a flat panel display can be really easy because there really is almost nothing to them.

[woodchip]

Thanks Krom. My guess is the power supply board as there is no life at all to the screen
(of coarse I thought it was the ps on my dead comp and turned out it wasn't)

[Tunnelcat]

I had my 6 year old LG fridge to the same thing. I shut the freezer drawer and bam, no lights, no compressor, no nothing. I thought, oh cripes, I'm going to have to pay someone to come out, diagnose the thing and charge me an arm and a leg. But then I thought, I'll search the web first. So I went online to see if these newer LG fridges had some sort of endemic problem. Lo and behold, there was. It turns out that the little control board sitting behind a panel on the back had a tendency to blow a small fuse, for no reason. So I pulled out the fridge and found the board. I looked at the fuse visually, but all looked OK. No melted anything, no short. But when I did a continuity test, nothing. I then theorized that when I shut the freezer, the vibration broke the cheap fuse internally. So I went onto Amazon and searched for the part. Sure enough, a vendor that that particular control board for $144. So I ordered it and got it next day. Once I installed it, things worked like a charm and no ruined food. Still working a year later too. I then went back to Amazon and ordered that little fuse, since no one locally had one with that rating. Once I got that, I removed the old fuse from the old board, soldered in the new one and now I have a spare board.

You may want to do a search on your year and model of Panasonic TV woody. There just might be a simple fix that the world knows about.

[Tunnelcat]

TC, might want to watch this before you throw old screen out. Krom can set us straight if vid is usefuo:

I'm not going to throw the old TV out. It's still works. I just wanted a bigger picture and a TV that didn't weigh a ton and be so thick that it stuck out 8 inches from the wall once hung there. I found what I wanted on sale too at Best Buy locally. I intend to sell the old one since it's a nice 40" TV.

[woodchip]

I found power boards for the tv. Only problem is they are all used (Darfon B159-301). Not sure I want a used replacment

[Tunnelcat]

Only if there's a guaranteed return policy if it doesn't work.

[woodchip]

Well, I'm leaning towards the https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-65 ... Id=6325563 . Only question is how well the curved screen works. Either that or the samsung un65ru7100fxza flat screen. Both have uhd/hdr and are led screens

[Krom]

Curved screens are a stupid idea unless you are the only one sitting in front of the screen at exactly the optimal distance from it (like for a computer monitor).

[woodchip]

flat screen it is.

[Tunnelcat]

Curved screens are a stupid idea unless you are the only one sitting in front of the screen at exactly the optimal distance from it (like for a computer monitor).

I agree. Half the time I'm in my kitchen and I glance at the TV kind of sideways through the pass through. Flat's the only way I could get away with that.

Woody, try out the sound on your new TV. You may just find that you'll want a sound bar system, or to use your stereo. They just can't put good speakers, especially with decent base, on a thin panel. I love having good base.

[woodchip]

Curved screens are a stupid idea unless you are the only one sitting in front of the screen at exactly the optimal distance from it (like for a computer monitor).

I agree. Half the time I'm in my kitchen and I glance at the TV kind of sideways through the pass through. Flat's the only way I could get away with that.

Woody, try out the sound on your new TV. You may just find that you'll want a sound bar system, or to use your stereo. They just can't put good speakers, especially with decent base, on a thin panel. I love having good base.

I wound up getting the Samsung Q70 in 65". You are correct, the internal speakers are not all that good. I have a sound bar with woofer but the problem is the cable from the speaker does not fit into the tv. So hopefully I can find a adapter. Like you I like the bass also. Just out of curiosity, what sound bar did you get/have?
One thing that I dislike is Netflix saying I have to pay a extra 3.00 a month to enable UHD for their programing.

[Krom]

Yeah, speakers are getting to be an afterthought in most TVs, they all sound tinny and crappy. Its a combination of space constraints (good speakers take up lots of space, ultra thin LED backlit TVs don't have it), and probably the industry wanting everyone to buy $300 sound bars that are still pretty ★■◆● and cost almost nothing to make.

Your new TV probably is pushing for bluetooth as its external audio method, but toslink optical cables are standard and will work for pretty much any amplifier or decent soundbar made in the last 20 years. There are inexpensive little adapters that can take the toslink optical and convert it to analog for even older soundbars, just look for toslink to rca on amazon, should be less than $20 and lots of them are usb powered so they can be run straight off one of the USB ports on the back of the TV, you never have to see it again once its set up.

[Tunnelcat]

Curved screens are a stupid idea unless you are the only one sitting in front of the screen at exactly the optimal distance from it (like for a computer monitor).

I agree. Half the time I'm in my kitchen and I glance at the TV kind of sideways through the pass through. Flat's the only way I could get away with that.

Woody, try out the sound on your new TV. You may just find that you'll want a sound bar system, or to use your stereo. They just can't put good speakers, especially with decent base, on a thin panel. I love having good base.

I wound up getting the Samsung Q70 in 65". You are correct, the internal speakers are not all that good. I have a sound bar with woofer but the problem is the cable from the speaker does not fit into the tv. So hopefully I can find a adapter. Like you I like the bass also. Just out of curiosity, what sound bar did you get/have?
One thing that I dislike is Netflix saying I have to pay a extra 3.00 a month to enable UHD for their programing.

Because I bought a Sony TV, I bought their sound bar setup. The software talks just fine with the TV and the TV and it's remote controls all aspects of the sound bar, except for changing the audio settings. Since you bought a Samsung, I'd research their sound bar systems. They'd be compatible with the TV at least. I also hooked mine up via the optical toslink connection and Samsung does use that method. One wire and it works great with no popping or other audio artifacts. I even use that on my computer speaker system. You can get some really nice thin optical cables on Amazon too. I'd also try to find a soundbar setup that uses Bluetooth for communication between the tweeter bar and the base unit itself, not with the TV. One less wire to deal with.

You may want to read this forum post concerning Samsung and Netflix.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/4k- ... /td-p/6796

[woodchip]

Yeah, speakers are getting to be an afterthought in most TVs, they all sound tinny and crappy. Its a combination of space constraints (good speakers take up lots of space, ultra thin LED backlit TVs don't have it), and probably the industry wanting everyone to buy $300 sound bars that are still pretty ★■◆● and cost almost nothing to make.

Your new TV probably is pushing for bluetooth as its external audio method, but toslink optical cables are standard and will work for pretty much any amplifier or decent soundbar made in the last 20 years. There are inexpensive little adapters that can take the toslink optical and convert it to analog for even older soundbars, just look for toslink to rca on amazon, should be less than $20 and lots of them are usb powered so they can be run straight off one of the USB ports on the back of the TV, you never have to see it again once its set up.

Actually I have the correct cable, just wasn't bright enough to realize it. Got speakers to work (good thing I still have the speakers op manual.

[woodchip]

Curved screens are a stupid idea unless you are the only one sitting in front of the screen at exactly the optimal distance from it (like for a computer monitor).

I agree. Half the time I'm in my kitchen and I glance at the TV kind of sideways through the pass through. Flat's the only way I could get away with that.

Woody, try out the sound on your new TV. You may just find that you'll want a sound bar system, or to use your stereo. They just can't put good speakers, especially with decent base, on a thin panel. I love having good base.

I wound up getting the Samsung Q70 in 65". You are correct, the internal speakers are not all that good. I have a sound bar with woofer but the problem is the cable from the speaker does not fit into the tv. So hopefully I can find a adapter. Like you I like the bass also. Just out of curiosity, what sound bar did you get/have?
One thing that I dislike is Netflix saying I have to pay a extra 3.00 a month to enable UHD for their programing.

Because I bought a Sony TV, I bought their sound bar setup. The software talks just fine with the TV and the TV and it's remote controls all aspects of the sound bar, except for changing the audio settings. Since you bought a Samsung, I'd research their sound bar systems. They'd be compatible with the TV at least. I also hooked mine up via the optical toslink connection and Samsung does use that method. One wire and it works great with no popping or other audio artifacts. I even use that on my computer speaker system. You can get some really nice thin optical cables on Amazon too. I'd also try to find a soundbar setup that uses Bluetooth for communication between the tweeter bar and the base unit itself, not with the TV. One less wire to deal with.

You may want to read this forum post concerning Samsung and Netflix.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/4k- ... /td-p/6796

You misconstrue, Net flix works just fine on my tv. Only thing I was complaining about was Netflix wanting to charge another $3.00 a month to utilize the tv's UHD ability.

Also a question to you or Krom, what kind of solder do they use on the tv's circuit board? I tried taking out the fuse on the old
Panasonic and the stuff would not melt.

[Tunnelcat]

Probably silver solder. It requires a higher temp to melt. They've forced it's use in copper plumbing to get rid of the lead in drinking water and now I have to use the hotter burning MAPP gas to solder pipe. They've apparently also required electronics manufacturers to use silver solder as well in the effort to keep lead out of the landfills when their products get tossed out. What did you use to try and melt it? You'd need a higher temp soldering iron for sure and a good solder sucker tool to remove it quickly because it also hardens much faster after removing the heat source.