Panasonic VT30 green blob fault

[Oldboy]

Oldboy.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread I'm in the market for a TV at the moment and the Panasonics were one of the sets I have been looking at.

I'm also afraid that I am slowly being put off them by Panasonics silence on this issue.

Just wish they would come out with an honest answer about it, and if the answer is "the set is within spec" I shall know to look elsewhere.

I can't say i blame you laserman16 for being put off as this sort of issue would have made me think twice had i known about it before i bought my GT30 and i'm sure you aren't alone in your thinking which is clearly bad news for Panasonic.

It could just be a bad run in production or an unforseen production issue that's easy to resolve but the silence from Panasonic is still deafening and if i was in your situation i would definately be waiting to see what the response to the issue is before deciding to purchase or not.

You are absolutely correct that if they do say the issue "is within spec" then you are better looking elsewhere but that's a shame as the GT30 i have is nothing short of excellent for the money and i couldn't be happier with it, if you can get a good example i would say don't hesitate.

Hopefully some answers will be forthcoming from Panasonic soon.

 

[Oldboy]

I'm picking up my replacement 50"vt30 tomorrow with serial number 16. I will post my findings.

Look forward to your post...fingers crossed jimmya200 that this one is free from the green tinge fault and that it's third time lucky ray:

 

[laserman16]

Oldboy.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread I'm in the market for a TV at the moment and the Panasonics were one of the sets I have been looking at.

I'm also afraid that I am slowly being put off them by Panasonics silence on this issue.

Just wish they would come out with an honest answer about it, and if the answer is "the set is within spec" I shall know to look elsewhere.

I can't say i blame you laserman16 for being put off as this sort of issue would have made me think twice had i known about it before i bought my GT30 and i'm sure you aren't alone in your thinking which is clearly bad news for Panasonic.

It could just be a bad run in production or an unforseen production issue that's easy to resolve but the silence from Panasonic is still deafening and if i was in your situation i would definately be waiting to see what the response to the issue is before deciding to purchase or not.

You are absolutely correct that if they do say the issue "is within spec" then you are better looking elsewhere but that's a shame as the GT30 i have is nothing short of excellent for the money and i couldn't be happier with it, if you can get a good example i would say don't hesitate.

Hopefully some answers will be forthcoming from Panasonic soon.

Oldboy.

There's no doubt that these TVs are fine sets given the review that What HiFi have give them, plus quite a few other very good reviews if people take the trouble to look, in fact no bad ones at all.

But................

 

[Anonymous]

My replacement with serial number 16 which I picked up today has green patches! On a slightly darker grey but still there.

 

[laserman16]

My replacement with serial number 16 which I picked up today has green patches! On a slightly darker grey but still there.

OMG. I feel so sorry for you.

Where do you go from here?

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure. Gonna decide over the next couple of days. May end up getting a refund and wait till next year. Gutted if that's the case, as I was looking forward to watching some quality films over Xmas.

 

[laserman16]

Not sure. Gonna decide over the next couple of days. May end up getting a refund and wait till next year. Gutted if that's the case, as I was looking forward to watching some quality films over Xmas.

Well you've got a lot more patience than I have.

They would have had one chance to get it right for me and that would have it then, especially as it is supposed to be a "high end model".

Must be heartbreaking for you.

 

[Anonymous]

It's only a tv!

 

[Oldboy]

Not sure. Gonna decide over the next couple of days. May end up getting a refund and wait till next year. Gutted if that's the case, as I was looking forward to watching some quality films over Xmas.

Not good news...had my fingers crossed that you would get a good tv. Would it not be worth running it in for a little while to see if it improves and starts to subside?? It could be the case that it just needs to go through the run in period...i'm only speculating though, but worth considering.

Although when you spend that ammount of money on a tv you should expect an image free from this type of fault, if it was me i would give it maximum of a week and if i still wasn't happy then it would be refund time. As you say, it's only a tv but annoying all the same...does it impact into everyday viewing and clearly visible across all sources??

I fear Panasonic have a real issue here with this fault and yet still the silence is deafening, care to comment Panasonic???

 

[Anonymous]

If a specialist from Panasonic could guarantee me that it would disappear after X amount of hours then I would be happy. But don't want to wait so long that I loose my right to refund. And I just want to enjoy my tv. It's not visible all the time just on certain screens. I had a cooking programme on yesterday and the picture was lovely until the woman opened her fridge, it was a grey fridge but it looked green!

 

[Oldboy]

I doubt anyone at Panasonic could guarantee that it would disappear after a certain ammount of time tbh and as it would effect your right to refund then you have only one course of action left open to you...time to get that refund i think and cut your losses whilst you still can because it's simply not right is it.

It's such a shame though as the VT30 is a lovely tv, still no comment from Panasonic so i guess they either don't want to admit that there is an inherent fault or are still formulating a response but either way it's not looking good for them but silence is definately not the way to handle it.

 

[Anonymous]

Gonna get a refund tomorrow. Not sure what my next move will be yet.

 

[Oldboy]

It's all you can do really...such a shame though, perhaps it's time to look at an alternative? The latest Samsung LED tvs have had favourable reviews (D8000 and 7000) but beware of backlight bleed, i looked at both tvs before i got the GT30 and noticed some bad bleed in the corners of the screen that was visible during normal viewing and horrendous when the screen went dark.

Again it's a case of being able to get a good example but might be worth a look, apart from that there is the LG passive 3D tv which i forget the model number of but i'm sure it's in the tv review section on this site.

 

[Anonymous]

I've put up with my Sony LCD back light clouding for long enough so didn't really want another tv like that. The vt30's blacks are fantastic. It's the greys that they have the problem with

 

[Anonymous]

Just to add to this, I purchased a 50GT30 2 weeks ago and finally got round to setting it up last week. When I initially powered it on it was fine with a good clean picture. Only on Sunday did I notice a green tinge when watching frozen planet bluray. The snow actually had a green tint in the centre upper half! After messing with the controls for a while I then googled the issue and found various threads on the issue and got in touch with Panasonic.

I got a call from them this morning and had a long chat and as has been said, the issue is power restrictions. Due to the power useage it is something they can do nothing about. One poor guy has the job of calling everyone up who logs the fault with the bad news! He gave me the comparison to a BMW that is limited to 155mph due to government restrictions but when I pointed out that BMW tell you the car is limited to 155mph before selling it to you unlike Panasonic who wont mention the screen cant display white properly until after, he had no full answer. He did say that they have had Japanese specialists in investigating the issue and can find no solution. The rep. also told me it has just started to be noticed in Spain but the UK have known about this issue longer. He mentioned that Spain are doing there own investigation into the issue and it may be they find a solution with a firmware update, in which case they will apply the update as well but at the moment, there specialists have confirmed that as white takes most power and there is regulations on the amount of power now that can be used, there is unfortunately nothing they can do about it.

Apparently the screens need more power to produce the brightest whites which they cannot get. I find it odd however that if that was the case, it surely should get noticeably better when running THX mode when the screens power useage jumps which it didn't. Apparently they are getting quite a few of these issues. While I praise them in calling me back and updating, I find it abysmal that one of there best screens has a fault that means the screen is not fit for purpose. How can the screen have a THX certification if it cant display white properly? Surely that means any UK unit is not THX as stated? A large part of the certification is that the TV can really closely reproduce the colour as filmmakers intended, and I guess the BBC didnt intend for Frozen Planet to have a large green tinge in the snow!

Now I dont know what to do. I have had Panasonic screens previously and have a 65", the 50GT and 2 x 42"s and only the GT has any sort of fault. I have always been pleased with the image produced but find this answer from Panasonic pretty poor. Some people say it gets better after use but for safety I am going to speak with the supplier (sevenoaks) later today or tomorrow to see what they say. I am still happy to see if 200-300 hours would help but then would be outside the initial return warranty so best check with the retailer first.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats what they told me too. It's an absolute joke. If

If Thats the case the tv is not fit for purpose, as you say it shouldn't be aloud to have THX certification! Also if that is the case then all

Screens should have the fault and as you haven't noticed it on your other TV's then I find it hard to believe.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I've just read all your comments on the problems you are encountering with your GT & VT Panasonic TVs. I can't believe that a company as big as they are would put their reputation at such risk. But this seems to becoming a regular thing with high end TVs. Every manufacturer seems to have trouble to some degree or another and then decides to do an Ostrich impression. All current display methods seem to be flawed when pushed to the level that high end users expect. The only method I can see that shows scope for development with present day tech is full backlit arrays. This tech is expensive at present because of the small numbers produced and are not as popular because of the drive for thinner TVs. But with the manufacturers support and development, costs would come down. When it comes to high end TVs performance is king and looks second. Manufacturers should stop trying to win the war of the mass market showroom with high end gear and instead give users what we've have paid for!

 

[Oldboy]

I'm still not buying this sorry excuse for the green tinge no matter what Panasonics customer service bods want to tell you, however, it does make some sort of sense as to why the 42" models don't seem to be effected like the larger screen sizes...i would think that the smaller screen size doesn't need as much power to drive the tv to produce those bright whites?

The effect has been largely reported in screen sizes of 46" and over in both VT and GT models but it's very hard to find 42" tvs with the issue so perhaps in some way the issue is related to the size of the screen even if it's not a power issue.

I just find it hard to beleive that this sort of issue would not have been picked up by Panasonic before production when you consider that they are a company with a large tv business in the UK and have been selling tvs here for a long time yet none before now have had this issue, it's not as if they are new to the UK tv business and so they have no excuses in this case.

Still the prolonged silence on the issue from Panasonic persists...not good atall imo and it's quickly tarnishing their reputation with the 2011 range of plasmas, it needs addressing quickly before more buyers feel cheated.

As i have stated previously if this is Panasonics stance on the issue then the tvs are not fit for purpose and should not be on sale in the UK today.

 

[Anonymous]

Just to add to this, I purchased a 50GT30 2 weeks ago and finally got round to setting it up last week. When I initially powered it on it was fine with a good clean picture. Only on Sunday did I notice a green tinge when watching frozen planet bluray. The snow actually had a green tint in the centre upper half! After messing with the controls for a while I then googled the issue and found various threads on the issue and got in touch with Panasonic.

I got a call from them this morning and had a long chat and as has been said, the issue is power restrictions. Due to the power useage it is something they can do nothing about. One poor guy has the job of calling everyone up who logs the fault with the bad news! He gave me the comparison to a BMW that is limited to 155mph due to government restrictions but when I pointed out that BMW tell you the car is limited to 155mph before selling it to you unlike Panasonic who wont mention the screen cant display white properly until after, he had no full answer. He did say that they have had Japanese specialists in investigating the issue and can find no solution. The rep. also told me it has just started to be noticed in Spain but the UK have known about this issue longer. He mentioned that Spain are doing there own investigation into the issue and it may be they find a solution with a firmware update, in which case they will apply the update as well but at the moment, there specialists have confirmed that as white takes most power and there is regulations on the amount of power now that can be used, there is unfortunately nothing they can do about it.

Apparently the screens need more power to produce the brightest whites which they cannot get. I find it odd however that if that was the case, it surely should get noticeably better when running THX mode when the screens power useage jumps which it didn't. Apparently they are getting quite a few of these issues. While I praise them in calling me back and updating, I find it abysmal that one of there best screens has a fault that means the screen is not fit for purpose. How can the screen have a THX certification if it cant display white properly? Surely that means any UK unit is not THX as stated? A large part of the certification is that the TV can really closely reproduce the colour as filmmakers intended, and I guess the BBC didnt intend for Frozen Planet to have a large green tinge in the snow!

Now I dont know what to do. I have had Panasonic screens previously and have a 65", the 50GT and 2 x 42"s and only the GT has any sort of fault. I have always been pleased with the image produced but find this answer from Panasonic pretty poor. Some people say it gets better after use but for safety I am going to speak with the supplier (sevenoaks) later today or tomorrow to see what they say. I am still happy to see if 200-300 hours would help but then would be outside the initial return warranty so best check with the retailer first.

Just wondered how you were getting on with your GT30? Still green?

 

[Anonymous]

I have been speaking with my supplier and Panasonic and have agreed to keep the screen until January to see if it improves. I am hoping as has been mentioned on here and some other forums that some users have noticed improvements after using the screen for a while. I am going to calibrate the screen hopefully next week or so and will also updating Panasonic as to how the situation develops as the screen is used.

If it improves, I will happily keep the screen, if not then obviously it goes back but the problem is what to replace it with. In haste I got rid of one of my 42"s once this powered up and displayed an image (lesson learned in the future!). I looked at a few other screens last week and wasnt massively impressed by them. The Panasonic screen can display a stunning image, ruined by the green mark. I watched a bluray yesterday and didn't notice it once due to the film not having many oppertunity to display it and was really happy with it. Then I powered up the xbox and noticed it straight away annoyingly.

If the mark goes, I will be more than happy with the screen, If not, it will go back.I will update after putting some hours on the screen.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with everything you say.

 

[Anonymous]

For the attention of Panasonic. Here is a post form someone in the US with the same fault. So not due to European power restrictions!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/1498447-panasonic-green-patches-problem-2.html

 

[Oldboy]

For the attention of Panasonic. Here is a post form someone in the US with the same fault. So not due to European power restrictions!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/1498447-panasonic-green-patches-problem-2.html

Good spot!

There is the answer then...not a UK power issue as Panasonic have been claiming, the response from them would be interesting but i doubt they will reply. The only problem is that this is one persons experience in the US and not indicitive of a widespread issue BUT in my opinion it does rule out the UK power claim from Panasonic.

This must suggest that the green tinge is a problem caused elsewhere in manufacture, no??

 

[Anonymous]

It does to me and I'm sure it does to you. But like you say getting Panasonic to admit it will be difficult. There was also a guy from Japan with the fault.

 

[laserman16]

It really is a shame that Panasonic are staying silent on this one.

I'm afraid its putting me off them somewhat.