Panasonic pt50lc13

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I have a 5 month old Panasonic pt50lc13 that was just picked up by a repair
shop. It always took 5 - 10 seconds to come on, but lately that it has been
taking 5 - 10 minutes. When I turn it on, the power light flashes green for
a few minutes and then flashes red for a few more minutes, and the lamp
light sometimes starts flashing as well. Usually if I power it off and back
on once or twice it will eventually come on, then no problems until I turn
it back off. I'm curious as to how many others have had similar problems
with this TV.
I'm also interested in opinions on extended warranties. I didn't bye the
extended warranty from Circuit City when I bought the TV, but now I'm
thinking about going back and getting it. Are there good third party
extended warranties available for electronics that are cheaper than buying
through retailers? Any advice/opinions are appreciated.

Mark

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In article <DmGGc.2129$O14.1757@lakeread03>, MarknRonni@cox.net says...
> I have a 5 month old Panasonic pt50lc13 that was just picked up by a repair
> shop. It always took 5 - 10 seconds to come on, but lately that it has been
> taking 5 - 10 minutes. When I turn it on, the power light flashes green for
> a few minutes and then flashes red for a few more minutes, and the lamp
> light sometimes starts flashing as well. Usually if I power it off and back
> on once or twice it will eventually come on, then no problems until I turn
> it back off. I'm curious as to how many others have had similar problems
> with this TV.
> I'm also interested in opinions on extended warranties. I didn't bye the
> extended warranty from Circuit City when I bought the TV, but now I'm
> thinking about going back and getting it. Are there good third party
> extended warranties available for electronics that are cheaper than buying
> through retailers? Any advice/opinions are appreciated.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
Mark,

I have this same set. A month ago, the same problem happened for me. It
is the ballast, which rather than being the sort of ballast one would
see on a flourescent light, its a circuit board. It seems Panasonic sold
a bunch of these models with a defective ballast. Mine was still under
the Panasonic warranty, but their warranty service is terrible - it took
two weeks to get a new ballast - it could have been done in 2 days, but
they insist only thieir licensed shops can do warranty service, so you
wait in that queue to have the problem verified, then you wait for the
part to come in - no one is in a hurry. It will be my last Panasonic.

On extended warranties, yes on this TV its a good idea. In my case, I
got it at CompUSA and the extended warranty is only good after the MFG
warranty expires.

Also, some extended warranties are "one use" warranties. For example, if
CompUSA decides to replace my TV on day 1 of the extended warranty, the
warranty is considered "used up" and automatically expires.

The repair guy told me that right now Samsung is a good bet for high end
TVs since Samsung insists that warranty service on high-end TVs have no
more than a 48 hour wait.

Don

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In article <tiXHc.4042$li.638@lakeread06>, no@no.com says...
>
> "Don" <don@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1b55f0261bf643db98968b@news-west.newscene.com...
> > In article <DmGGc.2129$O14.1757@lakeread03>, MarknRonni@cox.net says...
> > > I have a 5 month old Panasonic pt50lc13 that was just picked up by a
> repair
> > > shop. It always took 5 - 10 seconds to come on, but lately that it has
> been
> > > taking 5 - 10 minutes. When I turn it on, the power light flashes green
> for
> > > a few minutes and then flashes red for a few more minutes, and the lamp
> > > light sometimes starts flashing as well. Usually if I power it off and
> back
> > > on once or twice it will eventually come on, then no problems until I
> turn
> > > it back off. I'm curious as to how many others have had similar
> problems
> > > with this TV.
> > > I'm also interested in opinions on extended warranties. I didn't bye
> the
> > > extended warranty from Circuit City when I bought the TV, but now I'm
> > > thinking about going back and getting it. Are there good third party
> > > extended warranties available for electronics that are cheaper than
> buying
> > > through retailers? Any advice/opinions are appreciated.
> > >
> > > Mark
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > Mark,
> >
> > I have this same set. A month ago, the same problem happened for me. It
> > is the ballast, which rather than being the sort of ballast one would
> > see on a flourescent light, its a circuit board. It seems Panasonic sold
> > a bunch of these models with a defective ballast. Mine was still under
> > the Panasonic warranty, but their warranty service is terrible - it took
> > two weeks to get a new ballast - it could have been done in 2 days, but
> > they insist only thieir licensed shops can do warranty service, so you
> > wait in that queue to have the problem verified, then you wait for the
> > part to come in - no one is in a hurry. It will be my last Panasonic.
> >
> > On extended warranties, yes on this TV its a good idea. In my case, I
> > got it at CompUSA and the extended warranty is only good after the MFG
> > warranty expires.
> >
> > Also, some extended warranties are "one use" warranties. For example, if
> > CompUSA decides to replace my TV on day 1 of the extended warranty, the
> > warranty is considered "used up" and automatically expires.
> >
> > The repair guy told me that right now Samsung is a good bet for high end
> > TVs since Samsung insists that warranty service on high-end TVs have no
> > more than a 48 hour wait.
> >
> > Don
>
> A few comments. I have no love for Panasonic, but I happen to be an ASC for
> them so I am familiar with the products and their service. Because
> Panasonic has many very good distributors, I can usually get parts the next
> day. The only time a Samsung will be faster to service is when it is under
> warranty and they ship overnight.
> First, they have not had any more ballast problems than anyone else as far
> as I can tell. Ballast issues are not uncommon on any set that uses a high
> intensity lamp. You will simply have some fail.
>
> Second, the time that it takes to service any product is dependent on both
> the servicer and the manufacturer. Choosing the right service center makes
> a big difference. The way Samsung gets servicers to respond in two days is
> to ship parts "kits" that include all the likely boards and perhaps all of
> the replacement boards. Don't expect this kind of service to be cost
> effective on non-warranty repairs. There is a trend among some servicers to
> focus only on warranty repairs and price OOW repairs sky high because of
> high cost of board level replacement. Samsung's insistence, BTW, is only as
> effective as the servicer that you are dealing with.
>
> Third, all extended warranties are for the period after the mftr warranty is
> up and you should read the fine print very carefully. The better warranties
> will have a "lemon" clause where after x-number of attempts to fix a problem
> they will replace it. One-use warranties are rare and are a foolish
> investment. Always find out who will be servicing any warranty that you
> consider buying.
>
> Finally, from my experience and what I hear from other techs regarding
> Samsung, I expect there will be lots of very unhappy customers when repairs
> start being required out of warranty. Nothing about the product seems very
> impressive, and there seem to have been random failures in a number of areas
> of their sets that concern me. OTOH, the Sony, Hitachi and Panasonic
> products may have had some lamp and ballast failures similar to other
> brands, but otherwise they seem quite reliable, according to the techs that
> I communicate with that service lots of the newer technology sets. Samsung
> has attempted to buy a large chunk of the RPTV market with low DLP prices
> and aggressive warranty service, but I suspect that their long-term value
> will prove to be lower than many people realize.
>
> Leonard
>
Leonard,

Thanks for your comments. I have to judge Panasonic by my interaction
with them and their product. In my case I paid a lot of money for a
high-end product. It failed after just 7 months of normal use. Their
warranty service was difficult to deal with - long wait times, very few
authorized service centers to deal with, very slow response from the
authorized service centers, very slow ship time on replacement parts.
Samsung may or may not have a better product, but they seem more
prepared to support new, prone to failure products, than Panasonic, thus
based on my experience, my existing Panasonic will be my last Panasonic.

Don