Panasonic Plasma Time Bombs?

[curious1]

BTW: If these FW updates are ratified by Panasonic Aust, how does one get FW updates copied to an SD card if my computers don't have an SD slot?

Do you know anyone with a USB<->SD card reader? You can get one for a few dollrs if not, may also be able to use a camera by plugging it in as a removable drive.

I'll also be watching this thread periodically as I got a 42" G10 yesterday.

[Tweet]

After reading several posts on this thread i raced down stairs and had a good look at my 14 month old 50PZ800A, black is still as black as it has ever been , grey is grey , white is white.............

no need to panic............ but ill be watching these levels closer now.........thanks for that............

I have the same set and of the same age and as you say " the blacks are still black, the greys are still grey, and the whites are still white". What is more, I have not noticed any colour change whatsoever or any gamma change either.

After the first 100 hours of use the set will need slight brightness adjustment to compensate as the screen 'wears' in, but black levels should not change significantly with this.

I view my TH-50PZ800A in a darkened room with the panel back-light by a lamp so any significant change in black levels is quite obvious to me, and to date no change has been apparent after 15 months.

Taking out an extended warranty may be sound advice with these panels, fortunately I did.... for 4 years, as this might be considered a fault if indeed it does occur.

C.M

Edited January 29, 2010 by Tweet

[50mxe20]

Sounds like a storm in a teacup!

[Harry1503559513]

Interesting No 58V listed. This is a US based site and they list all the U models not A. I would be wary of installing any firmware without advise from Pana Australlia

Yep and don't we have on some models e.g. the P50G10A (which I have) the ability to get SW updates over the air ?

So if one was available then we would get it automatically or on demand depending on what our menu setting is for S/W updates.

i.e. http://panasonic.com.au/products/faqs/deta...mp;lListIDs=741

Edited January 29, 2010 by Harry

[bertzz99]

Yep and don't we have on some models e.g. the P50G10A (which I have) the ability to get SW updates over the air ?

So if one was available then we would get it automatically or on demand depending on what our menu setting is for S/W updates.

i.e. http://panasonic.com.au/products/faqs/deta...mp;lListIDs=741

Do you mean "over the wire" rather than over the air? I dont think the Aussie G10 has Viera Cast like in the US and therefore no way to get these over the air or wire. Who would do the broadcast here in Aus if this was the case? Only option for us is via SD card me thinks. Yanks can get them over the wire if connected to a Cat5 cable connected to internet.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Bertzz

[mcwayne1]

I have the same set and of the same age and as you say " the blacks are still black, the greys are still grey, and the whites are still white". What is more, I have not noticed any colour change whatsoever or any gamma change either.

After the first 100 hours of use the set will need slight brightness adjustment to compensate as the screen 'wears' in, but black levels should not change significantly with this.

I view my TH-50PZ800A in a darkened room with the panel back-light by a lamp so any significant change in black levels is quite obvious to me, and to date no change has been apparent after 15 months.

Taking out an extended warranty may be sound advice with these panels, fortunately I did.... for 4 years, as this might be considered a fault if indeed it does occur.

C.M

Yes, 4 years extended warranty also, i hope we both dont experience any of these problems...........So far the 50PZ800A looks stable..........To me the only grey area is the line between fact and fiction.............

[Turkey Tom]

Yep and don't we have on some models e.g. the P50G10A (which I have) the ability to get SW updates over the air ?

So if one was available then we would get it automatically or on demand depending on what our menu setting is for S/W updates.

According to the my Operating instructions (G10A) there is suppose to be some process to do this. An automatic updating sequence is carried out between 3 and 5am every morning. (Updating the software system - Digital TV mode) - page 46.

You can also do a manual System Update Search - option in Setup/System Menu

But whether it actually works is another thing.

My software version at the moment is 4009-10000 whatever that means.

So I decided to do a manual software search. Kicked it off, said my current software version is 4.009. Had a think for about a minute and came back and said my software is up to date.

[andys]

Do you mean "over the wire" rather than over the air? I dont think the Aussie G10 has Viera Cast like in the US and therefore no way to get these over the air or wire. Who would do the broadcast here in Aus if this was the case? Only option for us is via SD card me thinks. Yanks can get them over the wire if connected to a Cat5 cable connected to internet.

They are over-the-air fw updates & are done via one of the FTA networks, usually channel Ten. Panasonic have done a number of over-the-air updates in the past on their DVD & BD Recorders. It's nothing new. In the menu options you must have it set to allow downloading of fw updates and the tv must be in stand-by mode.

Andys.

[ger]

BTW: If these FW updates are ratified by Panasonic Aust, how does one get FW updates copied to an SD card if my computers don't have an SD slot?

you can do it from the menu

manually or you can have it set to

automatically update any updates

I think it does it automatically if set at about 4-5am

TV must be in standby mode

[CCRider]

Sounds like a storm in a teacup!

Or a plot by Samsung Sony AND LG to discredit Panny

[Eth Nick]

Yeah I just did a firmware check. Came back saying the version 4202 I already had was the latest.

It would've been a wireless search, using the TV antenna, since my TV doesn't have ethernet.

[diesel]

you can do it from the menu

manually or you can have it set to

automatically update any updates

I think it does it automatically if set at about 4-5am

TV must be in standby mode

You're not gonna get OTA FW updates unless Panasonic put them out. Usually, their TV's are updated via SD card, even though they have the OTA updates feature.

[BadBeachBoy]

You're not gonna get OTA FW updates unless Panasonic put them out. Usually, their TV's are updated via SD card, even though they have the OTA updates feature.

Yeah. I asked about OTA updates when enquiring about the static flash fix, and they basically stated that this was a one off SD card update but OTA would be used in the future, but I have strong doubts about this as they seem to reluctant to imply there are any faults.

[firestorm]

Wow i bought my V10 a month ago and i have photos showing the black's get gradually worse. My parents have the 800a and it is horrible to look at now with the blacks being grey.

Do not the brightness and contrast controls over ride this gradual increase in brightness? Does not the factory reset, which resets everything, not take care of the problem?

Do you mean "over the wire" rather than over the air? I dont think the Aussie G10 has Viera Cast like in the US and therefore no way to get these over the air or wire. Who would do the broadcast here in Aus if this was the case? Only option for us is via SD card me thinks. Yanks can get them over the wire if connected to a Cat5 cable connected to internet.

Panasonic Australia has done firmware updates over the air before. Their Bluray DVD recorders were done 26th to 28th September 2009 commencing at 3.00am each night.

http://www.panasonic.com.au/support/notice.cfm?detailsID=22

Edited January 29, 2010 by firestorm

[Tweet]

Just a thought, if you do find the black bars on Blu-ray/HD DVD/ DVD movies are more on the grey side, take a peek at the settings on your player to make sure you haven't inadvertently set brightness/contrast too high.

Ideally these controls should be set as default so as not to influence the video signal when adjusting the panel's settings for that input. Tweaking can happen later when the panel/player combination produces an excellent picture with the panel's controls.

This is all elementary but is easily overlooked.

C.M

[myrantz]

Just a thought, if you do find the black bars on Blu-ray/HD DVD/ DVD movies are more on the grey side, take a peek at the settings on your player to make sure you haven't inadvertently set brightness/contrast too high.

Not all black bars are black though.. e.g. I think KillBill 1/2 isn't black for me, but RedCliff (and most others are)..

Although I set mine to be 0-255, I wonder if that's causing the difference?...

[tonymy01]

If you read that AVS thread, you will see (in post #1 that has been edited to introduce more facts, info) that no amount of "brightness/contrast" control fiddling can remove this issue. And for those thinking it would look worse than a cheap LCD, he also suggests in the AVS thread that it looks similar to a *good* LCD, i.e. it is still good, but not plasma good ;-). Nothing like cruddy cheap bum LCDs that has been thrown about in this thread!

Regards

[BadBeachBoy]

If you read that AVS thread, you will see (in post #1 that has been edited to introduce more facts, info) that no amount of "brightness/contrast" control fiddling can remove this issue. And for those thinking it would look worse than a cheap LCD, he also suggests in the AVS thread that it looks similar to a *good* LCD, i.e. it is still good, but not plasma good ;-). Nothing like cruddy cheap bum LCDs that has been thrown about in this thread!

Regards

We should re-iterate that this IS only after a certain period of use though (approx 1000 hours)

[Owen]

We should re-iterate that this IS only after a certain period of use though (approx 1000 hours)

There will likely be another step up in drive later in the TV's life to compensate for panel ageing. Other Plasma manufacturers don’t bother so one has to wonder why Panasonic does.

[Turkey Tom]

Interesting that it seems that link to the US firmware upgrade isn't working anymore.

http://www.techtraining.panasonic.com/firm...tent/Plasma.ASP

I assume if/when the firmware update is available here it will be found here --> http://www.panasonic.com.au/support/index.cfm

Notice on the US Panasonic site there is a firmware update for TH-42PZ77U, TH-42PZ700U and TH-42PZ700UA TVs. No idea how long it has been there and whether it is to do with this issue. But as it is only for 42's I assume not.

[bigjezza]

831 Hours here, and counting lol...

[snorri]

300-ish hours here 50G10 and 1 month old..almost, seriously i wouldn't have bought the thing if I had known and I cannot fathom anyone buying one with this solid knowledge the web has given, better brands to buy that will outperform this TV in around 3 months time.

It will cost us $733 per month for a tv that we wouldn't freely choose to own at 4 months, now that's an expensive TV! and who would buy it for what it should be worth at 4 months, 6m, 12m (1000h) old now!

Panasonic did us over like a dinner.

[defnk]

1000 hours / 4 hours a day = 250 days :-/

NOT happy, Jan!?!

[xylenefree]

1000 hours / 4 hours a day = 250 days :-/

NOT happy, Jan!?!

They are obviously so serious about 3D that they built some awesome redundancy into 2009 models, so they'd stop performing properly around the time the new sets are out.

It's brilliant

[diesel]

If this really is an issue, then I am sure that if some sort of a class action ( or something) were targetted at Panasonic, they may admit there's an issue (if there is an issue) and those folks that feel they have been rorted may be able to get their money back/store credit/recieve a new model....but it takes some people to actually start doing something about it instead of just talking about it.