EEVblog #52 - Panasonic Plasma TV's Suck (and a Teardown)

Dave cuts loose on his Panasonic Plasma TV set that failed, yet still manages to give it the thumbs up after the teardown.

[tobiaspahlsson]

Plasma in the last years before the end of production have been allot better then LCD. I'm going to miss plasma. 

[hangug_gamja]

bought my Panasonic Plasma in 2010. Working nicely till today. Using it with my PC. Still better as the most LCDs, LED. Better colors, contrast and black.

[WreckDiver]

Interesting, I have a 50" Panasonic top of the line Plasma...that is now 8 years old (bought in January, 2007 as an open box item).  It gets well over 1000 hours of use per year.  Still going strong.  I've gamed on it for well over 1000 hours with a PS3, played Blu-Ray's, DVD's, VHS Tapes, etc.  This thing has out lived it's life expectancy by at least 3 years from what I've been told. Maybe you weren't using it enough...

[fuzzface]

I've actually seen someone 'fix' this problem on a plasma with 'percussive maintenance' - ie - a couple of 'spirited blows' to the affected area with a baseball bat! Maybe worth a try if you've got nothing to lose!

[dvamateur]

The insides of the Panasonic gear is top notch. There's no con from the company. Unless something has changed over the recent year. I know that Panasonic had their own plasma steppers (you know, the machines to manufacture the plasma screens), most other manufacturers probably use Samsung screens, including Sony. I mean, there's whole philosophy clash between Tokyo based Sony and Osaka based Matsushita Electric, Sony being into business and big numbers, Matsushita being into quality. Where did it all go? I guess Samsung and GoldStar (today Lucky GoldStar or LG) eventually came on top, starting from cheapest possible junk back in the '80s, selling those below cost of production just to capture the market share, now, bingo! Samsung and LG are top brannds in TV's. What did the world came to... Foxconn TV?

[ubuntututorials]

The sustain boards (left and right) use around 200V; the address drivers (which failed) use around 60V.

[Membrane]

I do see two big design flaws in that TV.
There is nothing protecting the column driver cable from rubbing on the metal chassis and no strain relief on the driver chip carrier on the connector end to kept the cable from bending too sharply which it appears to have done.

[DIYApprentice]

Flat TV failure rates appear to be astronomically higher than old CRTs; I have my 2003 Sanyo 20" CRT turned on as I type that I've been meaning to replace with a flat TV :-). I've repaired dozens of flat TVs, and I've seen less Panasonic failures than most other brands; it could be just be an indication of the ratio of Panasonic sales to other brands (never researched sales figures). I've run into lots of failed Samsungs and LG-based TVs.

[SilverSpoon_]

well I hope my 50" Panasonic plasma won't die, because I still haven't found yet an HD replacement with such a contrast ratio.

[nebojsanestorovic]

Have a Panasonic 42 Plasma model PX600 since June 2006, despite all rumors prior to purchase it is still going strong nine and a half years later, despite being used on average six hours per day. The picture is as good as day one and if fed good source material, never fails to provoke positive comments from people viewing it. When it dies I will get OLED.

[RandyLott]

@EEVblog I agree. A girl once asked me to fix her laptop because it wouldn't turn on. NO, I can't fix your laptop that you probably spilled beer on!

[fluxoff]

Dave - did you try to "fix" it per video 0ykPsV2voYU ? I think this "fixed" a solder joint failure!
I've seen chip-on-flex fail elsewhere. I was able to repair by reflowing the solder with an SMT rework air gun. The goop around the row-driver chips is indeed for both dust and high voltage, as a dust particle bridging the ultra-fine-pitch HV drive IC pins would be a definitive Bad Thing.

[neutron]

I think those white ICs are the ones which detect your warranty has expired and break the TV for you. (licensed from sony, or is that apple?)

[EEVblog]

@Ibringthetruth1 Where would I get the bare die chip from? Where would I get the ribbon from that looks like it's permanently attached to the panel?

[EEVblog]

@Zantor135 Size adjustments are too limited to do that well unfortunately.

[mushroomsamba]

Just goes to show you when it comes to TVs, you're better off buying a wun hung lo that spending 2-3x the amount on a top brand. The way prices on these things plummet after a couple of years, it makes more sense to just get a new and better TV  than bothering with repairs on your old one.

[christophercoe]

Love the black tape fix! Brilliant!
I wonder who manufactured the screen? Bet it was not Panasonic. 100% build quality and design, woops, we ran out of money. Lets put a cheap ass screen on it! ;-)

[EEVblog]

@Lavinco Heat gun doesn't work. The elevated voice is called a High Rising Terminal, it's natural.

[johnkinsfather]

our 42” Panasonic TV top of the line is 11 yrs old going great, perfect.

[whcernan]

I've had mine since 2011, probably 4000 hours on it with the family. It had a daughterboard go bad 3 months in (under warranty), causing a bizarre wandering red horizontal line, but fixed for free. Since then it's been awesome. No complaints.