Panasonic GT50 buzzing poll - Page 2

I would add in to your testing matrix, "variability in quality of hearing". A lot of people here think that they hear well, and I'm quite sure they don't.

Agreed. Ideally everyone would have sound meter measurements for comparison, but that isn't going to happen for so many reasons.

Also, another item we can add to this list is user settings. Someone running on vivid mode, with 100% brightness, is much more likely to hear buzzing than someone who has turned their brightness way down.

My friend who's 60" ST30 had to be repaired sits on a wood credenza in a big living room with bare hardwood floors, no carpets, and wooden shutters on all the windows, and hard plaster walls. When i first set up his TV for him it was virtually silent until the board failure caused a loud buzzing, then after it was repaired it was again silent as it was before. Me and his family have specifically listened for buzzing and we all agree that it can't be heard beyond a foot or so from the screen. I've set up over a dozen Plasmas for people and none of them buzzed excessively (some at 1 foot, some at 4ft, etc) and of all my other friends who have Plasmas only one had one (not a Panasonic) that i could hear slightly from her couch but she couldn't quite hear it unless she sat dead center in front of her screen (maybe 8 feet away). I just don't accept the notion that it's normal to be able to hear a Plasma buzz from anything close to a normal viewing position, because that has not been my experience over the past 12 years of scrutinizing these things.


Here's something i posted in the ST50 thread the other night before dinner:

"Right now i'm displaying the "whitest" slide show image on my 50GT50 in a silent room and i cannot hear any buzzing with my face a foot from the screen, but i can hear the fan on my Tivo below it and also the fan on my PC that's 15 feet away from the TV, and i can hear the fridge humming in the kitchen well beyond that. But i cannot hear any buzzing with my nose almost against the screen. When i put my head behind the TV then i can hear a little mosquito buzz from inside, but nothing from in front. This is what i consider to be normal operation, albeit on the better side of the range."


And a few hours ago we got woke up about 4am (friggin loud racoon vs cat fight right outside our bedroom window) and after i broke that up i was now wide awake so i took the opportunity to repeat the above test but this time in total 4:30am silence. My PC was off and i turned my AVR off then i brought up my brightest break-in images and brightest HD wallpaper images and put the TV into VIVID mode at 100% Contrast and when i hook my ear over the top rear of the cabinet i can hear the low level buzzing from inside. As soon as i move my ear to the front the buzzing greatly diminishes and by the time i'm a foot away from the screen i hear nothing. Zero. I sat there in silence and strain to hear the buzz but it's completely silent. All the while i am able to hear the quiet whirr of the fans on my Tivo and TWC DVR in the credenza below the TV, but nothing from the TV. When i repeat this test in Custom mode at 85% Contrast and Panel Brightness set to Mid the TV is actually a little quieter.

Maybe my GT50 is abnormally quiet, but it's a teensy bit quieter than my G10 in a bedroom which i can't hear beyond a few feet. My old 2005 42PX50U in the den has been getting louder over the years and we can hear it buzz from about 5 feet away on very bright scenes but not at all at our 10 foot viewing distance. This is by far the loudest of my four Plasmas, yet cannot be heard from the couch.

My 26" HP LCD TV also buzzes from one foot away FWIW.

Distance is really all that matters here - I've owned quite a few Plasmas and they all have slight buzzing to some extent (Samsung/Panasonic).

However, I could never hear the buzz unless I put my ear above or behind the TV and had the volume on mute. I normally sit at least 7-10 ft away from my television so I never hear it.

I'm on board for the GT50 and it will arrive tomorrow so I'll update as soon as I can.

I won't vote since I haven't had a GT50, but I'm 34 and have heard buzzing over audio in quieter scenes in every plasma I've been around. Most recently at 55" UT50 I sent back. Could hear it constantly in bright quiet (i.e. dialogue only or very quiet music) scenes from my couch 8 feet away. With a white slide up and no sound I could hear it from pretty much anywhere in the condo (15 feet or so into the hall is the furthest I can stand away and still hear it with the TV in sight--but could hear it in other room too).

Had them send a tech. He said he couldn't hear it (older guy so maybe the age thing does matter, or maybe he was just BSing. Most likely the latter as my girlfriend commented on how loud white slides where, though she couldn't hear it over dialogue in bright scenes like I could). He just replaced the screws with new ones with lock washers, but it didn't help at all. Wasn't receptive to replacing any boards since he didn't hear anything and said that buzzing is normal and that "you're going to hear something."

Had a similar experience with a Vizio plasma several years back--though they replaced the power board that time to no avail. I've also heard it on every plasma I've been around in friend's houses (probably 5 or so over the years--most have LCDS/LEDs). No idea if I (and my friends) just have bad luck with getting bad units, or if I'm just extra sensitive to hearing buzzing noises. I do tend to notice things like the fridge buzzing, the DVR whirring that my girlfriend doesn't hear when I mention it. In any case, I just swore off plasma and went with an LED this time (and an LCD RPTV years back after the Vizio).

I like plasma picture quality and the lower prices, but I can't live with buzzing that I seem to hear on all of them I've been around (all lower end models, maybe the mid and top tier models are better made and have less proclivity to buzz?).and I also got annoyed with IR both times I bought one as I do a lot of gaming and watch a ton of ESPN. Add in having a brighter room now and plasma just isn't an ideal fit for me unfortunately. Hopefully OLED or some other tech comes along that matches or exceeds plasma PQ without the proclivity for buzzing, IR and washing out in brighter rooms (and requiring pricier models with filters to be useful in bright rooms).
Edited by dmaul1114 - 1/30/13 at 6:09am

Is there a direct phone number to get to scheduling a Panasonic tech to come out? Or do you have to go through the regular customer service line?

Following up on my original post - I received my 60" GT50 yesterday and WOW this thing is incredible in terms of PQ!

As for a buzz... I have to say this is the quietest plasma I've ever owned - no question. I could barely hear anything with my ear right up to the TV on a white screen, while muted.

So far everything is checking out to live up to or exceed my expectations - now onto the custom calibration.

good to hear. there really is hope.

I am mostly ignoring it as well - except certain commercials with little speech, or no music - dunkin donuts, fiat, ABC, towards the end all have bright white and its clearly audible. The real measure of tolerance is to actually watch a bright white movie (ice age) to see if its bothersome.