Panasonic plasma TV wont turn on (house, to buy, movies)

[nitynity]

My 7 year old very minimal used plasma TV started having issues lately. Won't turn on, no power light either. Found some online articles suggesting to press and hold power button for a minute and that fixed the issue temporarily. But screen went black again after 20 seconds. Manufacturer suggests taking it to service tech. Does it worth the time and hassle carrying it to the repair shop? It's 6O inch TV. I know plasma is out dated. And I don't use this TV on a daily basis either. Only occasionally like 2-3 times a month. But this is our media room TV and now I don't have one in case I needed.


Really wondering if I should go get the latest Samsung 75 inch for the black Friday deal? Or drive down 25 miles to repair shop and pay $25 for diagnosis? Who knows how long it lasts even if repaired. Probably at least $300 for the fix.

[Katana49]

Go get a new tv.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Katana49

Go get a new tv.

Agreed - I'd trash it.

[RJ312]

I am surprised that a 7 year old TV set only used 2-3 times per month is having issues. At the current rate of usage, you should be able to get 10 more years out of that set.

I would lean towards getting it repaired if you think you can get 10 years out of it. I think we tend to trash too many things in this culture.

I just don't see the point in getting a new state of the art TV based upon the minimal use. OP would have time to explore a repair with how infrequently used it is.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by RJ312

I just don't see the point in getting a new state of the art TV based upon the minimal use. OP would have time to explore a repair with how infrequently used it is.

The point is that a new state of the art TV of equal size can be purchased for the same cost or even cheaper as repairing the old set.


There's an LG 60" 4k TV for $550 right now at Best Buy. Considering the time and money spent on repairing an older obsolete tv, it makes absolutely no sense to keep the older set.

[Rakin]

Did you check the power cord in the back to make it's plugged in the set correctly. Or check the outlet and make sure the outlet is not dead.

It may not be the TV.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by Katana49

The point is that a new state of the art TV of equal size can be purchased for the same cost or even cheaper as repairing the old set.

There's an LG 60" 4k TV for $550 right now at Best Buy. Considering the time and money spent on repairing an older obsolete tv, it makes absolutely no sense to keep the older set.

I get the logic. I try not to buy new things unless I absolutely have to do it. I'm aware that plasma is no longer made. If this were a primary TV set that had been frequently used over the 7 years, I would be more inclined to say replace it.

There is the time and aggravation factor in dealing with the problem.

Originally Posted by Rakin

Did you check the power cord in the back to make it's plugged in the set correctly. Or check the outlet and make sure the outlet is not dead.

It may not be the TV.

I strongly suspect that this could be the case. A 7 year old TV set with such infrequent use shouldn't be having issues.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Did you check the power cord in the back to make it's plugged in the set correctly. Or check the outlet and make sure the outlet is not dead.

It may not be the TV.

Sure sounds like it’s the TV. Per the OP’s description above the unit is getting power.

[EDS_]

Issues of the kind are like real life logic tests.

I'd try these things and see if any help (1 chance in 50 but the time investment is low).

Flowchart:
1. Unplug TV from the wall and the back of the TV.
2. Plug in say a small fan or light or better yet plug in on of those $2.99 power polarity and hookup provers from HD or Lowes and verify consistent power from the outlet. If not investigate and fix.
2.1. If the the TV is downstream from a GFCI outlet or on a GFCI breaker or an Arc-Fault breaker make sure these features are working properly. GFCIs in particular are prone to unwarranted/out of spec. tripping as they age. Also if you have an identical power cord in terms of connection types try that 1 chance in 500 it's your power cord.
3. A work around for 2 and 2.1 would be to power the TV from another part of the house via a long extension cord.
4. Tests.
A. Take the batteries out of your remote and find the power button on the TV - 99% chance there is one.
B. With the TV UNPLUGGED hold the power button to 15-20 second, apparently on a few plasma TVs this can reset faults and fault codes.
C. If that does nothing plug the TV in and then hold the power button down for 15-20 seconds.


Best guess is the power supply and related electronics in your plasma is dead/dying. Fixing that would be akin to installing a new motor and transmission in $500 Honda. When done you'd have spent $8/10K and your car would be worth $1/1.2K, I'm exaggerating a little but if resets and global resets don't work...........I wouldn't spend $20 bucks to fix an old plasma.

[nitynity]

Thanks for all the response guys. I would have just replaced it with a new unit if it was our main TV but that's not the case.
As I stated it's a very minimal use TV, there were times when it wasn't even turned on for over 6 months. So in the past 7 years, I would say it was put to work maybe less than 2-3 years daily usage.



It's not the power supply. I found online articles mentioning this problem and others had luck when they did a power reset by press 'n hold down power button for 60 seconds. Mine worked couple times with this trick but not anymore. Yesterday, the monitor turned on for 20 seconds after power reset and went black again. Could be a faulty board inside.


I would definitely get a new one for under 1k than the repair hassle, but my eyes are on a Sony 75 inch LED - priced $2800 right now. Tough choice for a secondary use TV with my usage history. I use it exclusively for Netflix movies, no gaming, no sports. How would I justify the price?