Th42px600a Owners! Anyone Passed The "purple Snake" Test?

[Black Dawg Down]

Just so happens I have fired off an email to Panasonic Australia, but strangely enough, no reply has been forthcoming yet.

I suppose they'll want to get their story straight first - oh, cynical me!

I am interested in the reply, as I love my Pana Plasma, even with the snakes.

Good luck. It took them one week just to reply to my email regarding my replacement unit (not due to the purple snake).

3 weeks now and I still haven't received the set. It was finally approved last night but they're still outsourcing it so who knows how much longer. And that was after numerous calls I made every second day.

You'll get a faster response by calling. They will then tell you to contact the nearest service agent for them to have a look at your set.

[Raja sydney]

Good luck. It took them one week just to reply to my email regarding my replacement unit (not due to the purple snake).

3 weeks now and I still haven't received the set. It was finally approved last night but they're still outsourcing it so who knows how much longer. And that was after numerous calls I made every second day.

You'll get a faster response by calling. They will then tell you to contact the nearest service agent for them to have a look at your set.

Hi tehre!

SO whats wrong with your unit? Anything faulty? Did they agree to give you brand new same unit or different?Is that bad for panasonic service, gee if i had known this, i would't have bought panasonic . Hope my unit will work without any problem, its been working fine for the past 4months.

Thanks.

[Black Dawg Down]

SO whats wrong with your unit? Anything faulty? Did they agree to give you brand new same unit or different?Is that bad for panasonic service, gee if i had known this, i would't have bought panasonic . Hope my unit will work without any problem, its been working fine for the past 4months.

The panel was damaged so the whole unit has to be replaced. They said it will be replaced with a brand new unit.

I just learned last night that they will be outsourcing the replacement from Japan or China . They seem to have a programmed response every time I ask the question 'How long?'. To which they would then say "I can't tell you."

This means a couple of months by container as far as I know, because they have to go through customs, quarantine etc. etc. I then asked why can't they just get a unit from Harvey Norman where I bought the set. They said they can't, because they would have to pay HN back the wholesale price, not the actual 'Panasonic' price. Incredible. I still can't believe I heard that. I paid $3,150 for the set 7 months ago. Even if they get one from HN, the current retail price is only around $2,200. I guess the wholesale price would be around $1,500.

So on from Monday I will keep harassing them. I'll demand a loaner set or if they said no, then a refund. So this is what it's like dealing with Panasonic. I have now verified what a few members in this forum experienced. I'd rather eat **** rather than buying another Panasonic product.

[Raja sydney]

The panel was damaged so the whole unit has to be replaced. They said it will be replaced with a brand new unit.

I just learned last night that they will be outsourcing the replacement from Japan or China . They seem to have a programmed response every time I ask the question 'How long?'. To which they would then say "I can't tell you."

This means a couple of months by container as far as I know, because they have to go through customs, quarantine etc. etc. I then asked why can't they just get a unit from Harvey Norman where I bought the set. They said they can't, because they would have to pay HN back the wholesale price, not the actual 'Panasonic' price. Incredible. I still can't believe I heard that. I paid $3,150 for the set 7 months ago. Even if they get one from HN, the current retail price is only around $2,200. I guess the wholesale price would be around $1,500.

So on from Monday I will keep harassing them. I'll demand a loaner set or if they said no, then a refund. So this is what it's like dealing with Panasonic. I have now verified what a few members in this forum experienced. I'd rather eat **** rather than buying another Panasonic product.

Hi!

I don't believe what they saying is true. For my knowledge the PV60A is discountinued and they should replace with new model. SImple story, i dont know why they are dealing the same thing. THis is strange. I will tell you a strange story happened to me with my Gateway pc back in 2002 early.

My pc hard drive was crashed (I bought the PC for 3000 in 1999 n came with 3yr warranty), it has still 6months left for warranty. In 2002 early gateway left Australia but they still have service to custmers. The original hard drive came with the pc was 8gig. I range gateway and they said they can replace a hard drive and said will take 1week.

One week nothing happen and i rang again to the same person, he said it will take sometimes as the 8gig hard drive(mind you that time in 2002, the minimum hard drive size was 20gig on market)and has to get from Malaysia.. He said that may take 1month too.

The next couple of days later i rang in the evening to lodge a complain, luckily that time another nice bloke took the phone. I explained the situation, he read the case in his screen and said with laugh.."these people have no idea what they doing. He said even in M'sia they won't get 8gig hard drive, unless refurbished. He said he will arranged me to deliver 20gig hard drive. I said ok. A week later didnt get anything. I rang him again and he apologize and said 20gig out of stock and arranged me 40gig hard drive. The 3rd day later i got a 40gig brand new hard drive from them.

What i am saying is, you may get a better luck with talking to someone. Most customer service staff there seems dumb and folow the rules and dialogue in the list and they don't realise in reality. Say for example if your model is 4yrs old, they will try to replace with that excately 4yrs old model, instead of the current one.

Good luck with it and let me know how you go with that process,

[Black Dawg Down]

I don't believe what they saying is true. For my knowledge the PV60A is discountinued and they should replace with new model. SImple story, i dont know why they are dealing the same thing. THis is strange.

AFAIK PV60A are still around, but in limited supply. In any case, even if Panasonic has a brain seizure and decided to give me the newer model PX600A, they still will outsource it from Japan/China. They just will not get one from HN as they have to pay HN the wholesale/retail price and therefore 'lose' money.

These people are such tight arses they would rather let the customers wait for months. I know one member here who waited 15 weeks for his PJ replacement, because the his model was discontinued and they will not give him the current model.

By now I have probably made 20 calls to their customer care line and every single time they just said "I can't tell you how long." The technical liaison officer in charge of my case is never there. She promised to call me but she never did. Every time I ask to speak to her she's either away from her desk, on meeting all day, or on another call. I work for a bank and the public criticized us at every opportunities, but they should deal with Panasonic to see what 'real' customer service is all about. At least I don't run away or hide when a customer complaints. I'd get shot by my boss if I do that. The forum member I referred to previously even went to the National Manager who completely ignored him.

Anyhow, I am not asking for the PX600A and all I want is the PV60A without waiting for months for the replacement. This is not too much to ask for IMO.

Sorry for going off topic here, but to the people who are experiencing the purple snake problem, all I can say is save your breath and just don't buy Panasonic next time.

[SenojNW]

Well - saw some snakes last night. I was watching the Bourne Supremacy on Nine HD free to air... The interesting thing is that I instantly switched over to Harry Potter GOF on the portkey scene and had no problems whatsoever...

The snakes were in their usual spot in the background on a slightly green shaded wall and just looked like pixelated purple contours around a change in shading.

The fact that this showed up on a digital broadcast and not on the DVD through component makes me think this could be a signal quality/strength thing...

Either way - I'm not losing sleep over it - the PQ is great on this set. Might try Bourne Supremacy on DVD.

[ghostmo]

Heard back from Panasonic last Friday. Here's an excert from the email they sent :-

" Thank you for taking the time to contact Panasonic with your enquiry.

This is something that Panasonic Australia is currently investigating. If you are having this problem I urge you to call into our customer service department on 132600 so that we can take all of your details and pass this onto our customer care manager who will be in contact with you and discuss a resolution. As this is something that is currently being investigated I do not have details as to what is going to be done when televisions display this symptom. "

So I spose we wait and see what they have to say on the matter.

[betty boop]

interesting read and looking at the pics here guys. I might actually give it a shot on my hitachi 8800 to see what I get. I also have the hd-dvd of gOF so will be interesting if present there.

to be honest lookign at the pics in the thread this looks like a solarisation related issue. Will be interestign how perceptible my panel is to this..

[wheelo]

Heard back from Panasonic last Friday. Here's an excert from the email they sent :-

" Thank you for taking the time to contact Panasonic with your enquiry.

This is something that Panasonic Australia is currently investigating. If you are having this problem I urge you to call into our customer service department on 132600 so that we can take all of your details and pass this onto our customer care manager who will be in contact with you and discuss a resolution. As this is something that is currently being investigated I do not have details as to what is going to be done when televisions display this symptom. "

So I spose we wait and see what they have to say on the matter.

Looks like Panasonic Australia have just admitted that they do not talk to their counterparts in the UK, US, Germany or Japan. All of whom know what the problem is and how to fix it (replace the d-board)

[Raja sydney]

Looks like Panasonic Australia have just admitted that they do not talk to their counterparts in the UK, US, Germany or Japan. All of whom know what the problem is and how to fix it (replace the d-board)

HI guys!

I just want to confirm a thing about purple snake. YOu know sometimes the Digital broadcase signal is low the picture breaks down(especially in Ch9 and Ch10) and it comes like shady with mix colors. Mine comes with purple, green and grey like that when picture break up gaps. Is that also call purple snake? When i run the DVD with the test clip for purple snake, i didnt see any purple ring in that

I really like the pq of my PV60A and worrying after heard about panasonic service here.

Thanks.

[achjimmy]

HI guys!

I just want to confirm a thing about purple snake. YOu know sometimes the Digital broadcase signal is low the picture breaks down(especially in Ch9 and Ch10) and it comes like shady with mix colors. Mine comes with purple, green and grey like that when picture break up gaps. Is that also call purple snake? When i run the DVD with the test clip for purple snake, i didnt see any purple ring in that

I really like the pq of my PV60A and worrying after heard about panasonic service here.

Thanks.

Are you describing pixelation when the signal is weak?

[Raja sydney]

Are you describing pixelation when the signal is weak?

Yes, pixalation when picture break. does it normal with comes with colors.

THanks.

[achjimmy]

Yes, pixalation when picture break. does it normal with comes with colors.

THanks.

Dont think that is the sanke Raja.

[Raja sydney]

Dont think that is the sanke Raja.

Hi!

Thanks, thats normal rite with mix of purple, green and grey in plxalation of breaking picture?

I never noticed purple snake(may be i didnt observed it)and didn't see purple dots in the sample snake test as well.

My settings are still in 48, i have been using this panel for the past 4 1/2 months...

THanks

[Eth Nick]

Here's my email to panasonic...

Hi, Hoping to find out whether a couple of problems i'm having with my Plasma are normal... First problem is to do with a "purplish wavy line" effect I see in certain shots. It can appear at any time, on any background, but i've mainly noticed it on white backgrounds. Second problem is that shadows sometimes appear distorted - instead of being a smooth dark area, they appear as pixelated grey/green "ripples". This mainly occurs during dimly lit scenes - i've noticed it a few times on my Lord Of The Rings extended edition DVDs, which made me think it was the screen as the DVDs are of high quality. This grey/green shadow effect mainly occurs whilst watching DVDs while the purple line is mainly seen during free-to-air broadcasts. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

& here's their reponse...

This is not normal for it to occur on any television. Some customers have reported the same problem and it is currently being investigated by Panasonic. I ask that you call through to our customer care centre so that one of the representatives may take your details and refer your case to the relevant person who Is looking into this matter.

So, next move is to give them a call.

Hi!

Thanks, thats normal rite with mix of purple, green and grey in plxalation of breaking picture?

I never noticed purple snake(may be i didnt observed it)and didn't see purple dots in the sample snake test as well.

My settings are still in 48, i have been using this panel for the past 4 1/2 months...

THanks

As you can see above, I get the grey/green pixelation on my LOTR DVDs which means it can't be loss of signal. I'll post again with the pics so you can see if we're talking about the same thing.

[SenojNW]

Well - I sent Panasonic and email noting that I had seen the purple snake as previously described in this post and that I am not overly concerned unless it gets worse, but just wanted to record its occurrance...

Just had a call from Panasonic and "they have not heard of this problem on any sets in Australia" and that "you cannot compare this set with ones in the UK and US as they are different models with different design etc." and that "you shouldn't rely on 90% of what you read on the UK and US forums" and that "the problem I saw was most likely an error in the HDTV broadcast because it is not present all the time"...

Not heard of this problem? - I would have thought some sort of database would be kept of this sort of thing (faults)... and people on this forum have reported it.

Can't compare with ones in the UK and US? - They come out of the same factories and have exactly the same specs...

Either way - I'm happy with my set providing it doesn't get worse...

[bac]

Was watching an episode of Star Trek Voyager on DVD last night and noticed a distinct purple ring on the surface of a smoothly shaded green object in the background of one scene.

I have just run through both versions of the purple snake test DVD files and unfortunately my 42PV60A does show the purple rings quite distinctly. On the V2 test, one of the outer rings is very purple tinged and has large numbers of fizzing purple/green pixels at its outer edge.

My set is made in China, manufactured June 2006.

In a week's worth of viewing I've only noticed it once (and I've been looking out for it), so I'm not overly concerned. Still, I'd like to get the fix done once Panasonic Australia sort themselves out, just in case it's the beginning of worse symptoms to come when the set may be out of warranty.

Cheers,

BAC

[panavision]

G`day guys, about 2 years ago I bought an LG 76cm wide screen tv, as soon as I turned it on there was a big line down the middle. I rang store from where I bought and they sent around a guy who said tube was gone. It was replaced with a brand new tv, after 2 weeks I turned it off by mistake and turned it straight back on, would not show a picture and had a burning smell coming from the back, took back to store who replaced with another brand new tv, after one week same thing happened. I rang LG and told them I didn`t want another LG tv so they gave me store credit to the value of origional tv. I payed a bit extra and bought a Panasonic 76cm wide sceen quintrix sr. Fantastic picture! Now to the point, I want to upgrade to a bigger screen and have my heart set on the 50 inch with built tuner Panasonic. But now I read about purple snakes, should I be worried or are most people who have bought this model happy with what they have got?

[bac]

I want to upgrade to a bigger screen and have my heart set on the 50 inch with built tuner Panasonic. But now I read about purple snakes, should I be worried or are most people who have bought this model happy with what they have got?

Purple snakes only seem to affect the 42" HD models, not the 50". Even so, most of us with the purple snake issue are still very happy with our Vieras.

Get the TV, you won't be disappointed!

Cheers,

BAC

[Raja sydney]

Purple snakes only seem to affect the 42" HD models, not the 50". Even so, most of us with the purple snake issue are still very happy with our Vieras.

Get the TV, you won't be disappointed!

Cheers,

BAC

Hi Guys!

YOu guys rekon the purple snake in PV60A going to get worst if continue using the panel? What i am thinking is if the purple snake doesn't get worst(somethng like the whole screen is purple), i will keep the panel happy without sending it for repair. Do you guys think the technician replace the part is same as the freshly assemble part from factory? THis is only my openion. I won't send it for repair unless the issue is critical(something like not working or something like works sometimes or not, as this may worst the problem).

Thanks.

[ghostmo]

I agree. I love my 42PV60A, and could probably live with the minimal snake activity at present, but what happens if it gets worse.

BUT then, if we get the "fix" that is happening in the States and UK, are we gambling in losing the great picture we have now for the sake of losing a purple tinge on a few shows. Although, it looks as though the UK fixes ( ie. replacing the d-board, or possibly even upgrading the firmware) seems to be positive.

Either way, I'm still waiting for the phonecall from Panasonic they promised me when I registered my problem.

[Eth Nick]

Just an update...

Decided to call Panasonic last Friday after not hearing from them for a week or so.

They said they'd call me back today, (which they did), with a their next plan of attack.

They explained that the "purple snake" effect is repairable via a software upgrade.

So now they're arranging for parts to come down from Sydney so that their techs (a couple of suburbs away from me) can come around &, most likely, update the software on site. I was told that the chances of them needing to take the Plasma away were very minimal.

I don't know why they need "parts" sent down if it's a software problem. Maybe it's just a disc with a program needed to upgrade the plasma.

Anyway, I should hear from them in a week.

[andym]

Just an update...

Decided to call Panasonic last Friday after not hearing from them for a week or so.

They said they'd call me back today, (which they did), with a their next plan of attack.

They explained that the "purple snake" effect is repairable via a software upgrade.

So now they're arranging for parts to come down from Sydney so that their techs (a couple of suburbs away from me) can come around &, most likely, update the software on site. I was told that the chances of them needing to take the Plasma away were very minimal.

I don't know why they need "parts" sent down if it's a software problem. Maybe it's just a disc with a program needed to upgrade the plasma.

Anyway, I should hear from them in a week.

Very interesting. Keep us posted.

[ghostmo]

Thanks Ralfi

I still haven't heard back from Panasonic either, so I might need to rattle their cage

again.

My problem is that I'm 4 hours from Brisbane, and therefore a dedicated Panasonic service centre, and may have to rely on a "bushie" local repairer, which might be interesting if I need the software upgrade.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

[bac]

They explained that the "purple snake" effect is repairable via a software upgrade.

As you're probably aware, the successful fixes that have been reported on UK and US forums have involved the replacement of the 'D' circuit board inside the plasma as well as applying updated firmware.

If the tech rocks up without a 'D' board, I think you'd be entitled to ask why you're not getting the same fix that Panasonic are using for the rest of the world.

Cheers,

BAC