I had been having 'sparkles' appearing in some of the darker scenes of my Samsung FPT-5084. The set was approaching 2 years old, so I thought I'd call Samsung to have some techs come out and see if they could fix it.

The techs showed up yesterday and diagnosed it as a 'voltage' problem. They made some adjustments to the voltage, put the TV back together and switched it on. Sure enough - all of the 'sparkles' were gone. Everything looked as good as it did the day I purchased it.

The techs left -mission accomplished. Then about 10 minutes later, I started seeing red lines tracing across the screen. I immediately called the techs back, and they came back in about 45 minutes. By the time they arrived, the red lines were becoming more and more abundant. They took it apart again, ran some more tests, 'tweaked' the voltage again, put it back together and powered it back up.

Eeeegads - the screen was totally toast....I can't even begin to tell you how bad it was. It was like back in the 1960's watching a color TV that had rabbit ears during a thunderstorm. Techs called up Samsung, and after talking to them for 15 minutes hung up and told me the panel was fried. Samsung said the voltage adjustment had toasted the display, and they'd need to order a new panel and logic boards. As the techs told me...I was essentially getting a brand new TV...only the 'chassis' would remain.

So....I'm glad the TV had a 2 year warranty, and that I'm getting a new TV. But they said it'd be about 1-2 weeks before the parts arrived.

Anybody else had this happen ?

I had been having 'sparkles' appearing in some of the darker scenes of my Samsung FPT-5084. The set was approaching 2 years old, so I thought I'd call Samsung to have some techs come out and see if they could fix it.

The techs showed up yesterday and diagnosed it as a 'voltage' problem. They made some adjustments to the voltage, put the TV back together and switched it on. Sure enough - all of the 'sparkles' were gone. Everything looked as good as it did the day I purchased it.

The techs left -mission accomplished. Then about 10 minutes later, I started seeing red lines tracing across the screen. I immediately called the techs back, and they came back in about 45 minutes. By the time they arrived, the red lines were becoming more and more abundant. They took it apart again, ran some more tests, 'tweaked' the voltage again, put it back together and powered it back up.

Eeeegads - the screen was totally toast....I can't even begin to tell you how bad it was. It was like back in the 1960's watching a color TV that had rabbit ears during a thunderstorm. Techs called up Samsung, and after talking to them for 15 minutes hung up and told me the panel was fried. Samsung said the voltage adjustment had toasted the display, and they'd need to order a new panel and logic boards. As the techs told me...I was essentially getting a brand new TV...only the 'chassis' would remain.

So....I'm glad the TV had a 2 year warranty, and that I'm getting a new TV. But they said it'd be about 1-2 weeks before the parts arrived.

Anybody else had this happen ?

Maybe now might be the time to see if they will offer a new TV as replacement and you can upgrade. A new panel, logic board and labor is likely to cost more than a new TV that is better.

Maybe now might be the time to see if they will offer a new TV as replacement and you can upgrade. A new panel, logic board and labor is likely to cost more than a new TV that is better.

I've already begun that process. I'm supposed to hear back from Samsung in the next 48 hours.

Question is, if they do offer me a replacement, would it be for a specific TV, or would they allot me a dollar amount which I could use to shop for a TV ?

I've already begun that process. I'm supposed to hear back from Samsung in the next 48 hours.

Question is, if they do offer me a replacement, would it be for a specific TV, or would they allot me a dollar amount which I could use to shop for a TV ?

More than likely they would offer a comparable model that's available today. You can also ask for an upgrade and pay the difference and see if they go for that. If so, could be a good time to up the size and/or to a better model. Either way if they offer a replacement you'll come out ahead even though you might be out of a TV for a short time. Good luck and let us know how it ends up.

Well- they are offering to replace my TV with a brand new PN50B860. I'm going to go out to Best Buy to check it out, but I don't see how I could turn it down.

Well- they are offering to replace my TV with a brand new PN50B860. I'm going to go out to Best Buy to check it out, but I don't see how I could turn it down.

That's a nice upgrade! The 860 is Samsung's top-of-the-line pdp! :D

Well- they are offering to replace my TV with a brand new PN50B860. I'm going to go out to Best Buy to check it out, but I don't see how I could turn it down.

Excellent. I have seen them do give top notch replacements before.
Your 5084 was top of the line a few years ago so I suppose it's not unreasonable to get the top notch 860.
Damn you made out :D

Just an update - my PN50B860 arrived yesterday, and working perfectly. No buzzing.

Samsung gave me an additional 90 day warranty on it, as the original warranty on the FPT-5084 was going to expire on Nov. 30th.

I'm now in the process of getting a 3 year extended warranty on the B860 thru Mack Warranties - looks like about $160.