Needhelp: Plasma buzzing (Panasonic ST50) - When is it not acceptabel? - Page 6

this is the first real tv i have gotten and i havent gotten into it this much till last yehis ar i went over to a friends house and he had a blu ray on his st30 it looked really good so i did research and drove all over and looked at tvs and really liked plasmas over led . i bought a dynex lcd in 08 lmao junk and a lg pt350 2 years ago its funny how much better the vt50 is over both.

yes, its kind of like a fast moving scene is almost in slow motion. I get that when i use motion smoothing, but if you turn it off, it goes away.
that is normal.

well i hope they can fix it if i have to send it back it will suck but it will be fixed im going to get the 65' zt60 but not till next feb though im calling pannys sales dept later to see about vt60 and zt series pricing

did you try shutting off the motion option?

yes i turn it off or weak its not noticable

I think its normal, isnt that the soap opera effect?
I would just leave it off or weak.

Guys - none of this stuff has anything to do with buzzing

I've shared my experiences in the GT50 thread, but I'll do it here, too and hope I don't get called out as a troller.

I purchased my 55gt50 on Sunday and fortunately was able to drive it home. Unfortunately, I drive an a4 wagon so could only sit it flat, still in the box, with my seats down in the trunk. However, I did bring it in the house and waited several hours before even attempting to set it up on the stand.

Did not experience the stand issues many have. I waited until the next day to actually plug in and fire it up and at first did not experience buzzing playing regular BD content (Inception) at viewing distances with no sound (muted). Note, I am running everything in Standard Mode and the only setting I changed was turning motion smoother off.

Today I decided I wanted to inspect for dead pixels (I am cautious and want to help lower my likelihood of having to use warranty...). IN order to do this I used D-Nice's prep slides since it gives me edge to edge solid color to see any issues. I didnt have any thought, on the 2 whitest slides, I did notice buzzing, at 2-4 feet, with silence (no ambient noise besides my refrigerator). This has me worried that I may have a buzzer, but I obviously can't tell if mine is within normal tolerances of buzzing without going around to everyones house and A/B-ing what I have...

Define "normal buzzing" when they aren't supposed to give off an audible buzz at all? I finally caved with my 60ST50 and called amazon.com for a return. I have a few weeks left to make a decision, but there's no way I'm doing the exchange juggling act. Now my only worry lies in whether their technicians determine the buzz loud enough to be defective to avoid me eating the bill for return shipping costs. I hope this doesn't have to get ugly over the phone disputing such a subjective topic.

The next time I think it's a good idea to make a big ticket purchase that has a high risk of being defective through an online retailer, someone, anyone, just slap me across the head. It seems like these days it's only safe to purchase devices with screens at a brick and mortar store to be able to exchange / return easily. The cold hard truth being that Best Buy is the only decent outlet in my (most) town(s) with a wide selection of new models flat out sucks because there's little competition. The one popular family owned electronics shop in my town seems to only carry year old crud at discount prices, they didn't even have a single 2012 Panasonic plasma on display last year!

My only worry as a consumer should be where can I get the best deal possible--whether online or locally. Instead it seems the convenience / piece of mind from purchasing locally tends to outweigh that couple hundred dollars saved with big box online retailers like amazon.

So yea, my recommendation for the future is to preferably shop local first and if you can support small / family owned shops (if they're worthy of business)--perhaps even if you have to bite the bullet and pay a slightly higher price tag than the rock bottom online prices.

I feel with a full white 100% window with no sound, to hear it at 4 feet is acceptable. In my 2000 hours of usage of my GT50 I have noticed some variation (I have checked this every now and then). At times, I have only heard any buzzing when I am within 6" of the screen and at times some 8 feet away. Perhaps it is a function of hours being on for the "session" and also ambient temperature. And even using a Radio Shack Spl meter or an iphone app I do not trust them at low SPLs. If you cannot hear your 55" at say 8' I would not sweat it.

I don't think anyone would say that's the case.

Even Panasonic customer service reps have posted on their site that plasma buzzing is normal but that it shouldn't be distracting while watching things with the audio on. I don't think anyone would reasonably suggest that you shouldn't at the least hear some buzzing at a close distance with a full white screen displayed. The point is that if that's the only time you hear it, who cares as it will never bother you while watching things.

If you hear it while watching things, then the buzz is excessive and up to the individual on whether they can tolerate it or not. I think at the least one should schedule a service visit and see if it can be fixed. I can live with my buzz, but definitely having them check it out to make sure it's not something wrong that can be fixed or needs replaced before it gets worse etc.

this is why i went to BB..they pm the best online price which was paulstv, at the time. i still paid tax, but 100 or so dollars is for convenience and a sales persons throat to choke

i am going to mount on the wall, its finasl location this weekend and will run tests on the buzz and our tolerance. i do admit that when regular content (non animated) is on the only audible buzz is when i put my ear 2" away from the back of the set. but when menu screens are noticeable several feet away - this is what has me worried. im sure bright white isnt the best test. my test content will be cartoons like pixar movies

I agree with dmaul, where have you heard this?

Any reason you didn't place a service request and have a tech come to your place first? Other than the possibility your issue actually gets fixed, you don't have to eat shipping costs if you still end up doing the return after the tech couldn't fix it. I couldn't be happier witih my online purchase. Even with a pickup truck, I'm glad I didn't have to be responsible for transport. And if I had/have to do a return, they come pick it up and I don't have to mess with that either.

You would never even have noticed this had you not put the slides on. Quit running "tests" and looking for issues. Just sit back and enjoy your new TV. From what you've said thus far, your TV seems better than many others. I think you're asking for trouble (either worse buzzing or other issues) if you start exchanging stuff.

Buzzing is fixed on my 65VT50. Technician came and replaced the board screws with updated screws and lock washers. One screw was loose that was creating this "buzzing" sound. If you find a loose screw, you'll see the burn marks from it rattling and arching on the board.

Glad to hear you have a resolution for your buzzer.

However, the loose screws are only one of multiple sources of buzzing on the 2012 Pannys. The more concerning source, which is what I have, is the four coils on the circuit boards. I've had a tech replace one of the boards which was, according to Panasonic, supposed to "cure" the coil buzzing, but it actually made it worse. This is likely due to the use of cheap electronic components that have a large variation in operational characteristics. Some coils buzz loudly, some don't, some start buzzing 6 months into use. As far as the coil buzz, it is indeed panel lottery as to what type of buzzing your display will produce.

I appreciate the candidness, but I look at my television as a $1250 investment in which I hope will last many more years than the folks here who replace every so often. My saving grace is I opted for the bb warranty which should fend off long running issues. Again, I agree that I am scrutinizing the smallest detail, but I'm doing this to ensure that if I do exchange I know what to tolerate.

I'm all about that for stuff like cracks and even dead pixels. But your TV buzzing is the epitome of typical. The people with actual buzzing problems can hear it from 10 feet away with the sound on. I don't think I've heard of anyone with distinctively less buzzing than you're reporting. Obviously, that's all based on trying to interpret what people type to actuality, but you get what I'm saying. In any case, if you enjoy what you're doing, by all means carry on. I'm just saying from an outside observers standpoint, I think you're making yourself needlessly stressed. Sit back, enjoy the TV, and if you notice a problem in that environment - by all means, do something about it. But watching slides with no sound, sitting two feet away, etc is probably going to cause more problems (mental) than it solves (actual). Again, I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, there are just a lot of people that would be ecstatic to have a TV that buzzes as little as yours.

Why? Amazon return/exchange is about as easy and fast as it can get...

I totally agree; Amazon has been my crutch throughout this buzzing ordeal. I've talked to someone at their large items department several times, and each time they were extremely understanding and accommodating. I will not hesitate to purchase another TV from Amazon in the future, considering the outstanding service they have provided.

That being said, I will be exchanging my 55" GT50 for the second time and again crossing my fingers that the Panasonic panel lottery turns out in my favor and I receive a quieter, less invasive display. This will be my last attempt. If this third unit also exhibits the same buzz, then I will be returning it for a full refund. Amazon was even gracious enough to offer a credit towards another TV purchase should I need to get a refund.

My GT50 history:
First unit: excessive buzzing, exchanged through Amazon

Second unit: same excessive buzzing, Panasonic dispatched a service tech who tightened the screws and replaced a circuit board, but with no success, exchanged through Amazon

Third unit: ?????

Finally got the appointment set up for the buzzing on my 55" UT50--had to call them as I hadn't got the call back from the schedulers. Tech will check it out next Wednesday morning.

Well the tech came and swapped out the screws on my loudly buzzing 55UT50. Didn't help much. A tad quieter but can still hear it over dialogue in bright quieter scenes.

Amazon has none in stock, and I'm not willing to play the panel lottery anyway as I think I'm just especially sensitive to buzzing as I often hear appliances buzzing that others don't. And I've started to worry a bit after getting some IR here and there after starting to use the TV normally after the 100 hours of slides. So I just decided to go with LED. Arranged to exchange it for the Panasonic VIERA TC-L55ET5.

It's $959.99 on Amazon, where I paid $849.99 for the 55UT50. So it costs a tad more (turns out the $100 credit listed on the page wasn't applicable to this model), but I can get $38 or so back by returning the 3D glasses I bought for the plasma.

I hope I like it. I definitely prefer the PQ on plasmas. But the buzzing drives me nuts, and it will be nicer having no worries about IR from leaving ESPN on for hours or playing games for several hours. I'm used to an old Sony LCD RPTV before this one and was never bothered by blacks, motion blur etc. on it so I imagine I'll like the picture fine. And as crazy as buzzing makes me, I'll take a little lesser PQ to not be constantly sucked out of shows/movies by being annoyed by the buzz.
Edited by dmaul1114 - 1/23/13 at 8:59am

Sorry to hear you're having to return it. Did the tech have any opinion or input on your buzzing? Did he look at anything else or strictly just swap the screws and call it good?

He said he couldn't hear it from the couch, and up close it didn't sound louder than normal. He was an older guy though, so maybe his hearing wasn't great. On a white slide I can hear it even standing 15 or so feet away back into the hallway. But again, I'm just very sensitive to/annoyed by buzzing.

In any case, I was leaning more toward LED when I started TV shopping and just jumped on the UT50 since the decent 3D LED TVs were $1100 and up a couple weeks ago. If the one I linked above was $960 back then I would have went with it from the get go.

With as much ESPN watching and game playing I do, plasmas probably aren't the best option for me anyway. And while I can control light in the room, it will be nice to not have to shut the blinds when watching in the day as I'm on the 21st floor and have an awesome view and seldom shut the blinds before getting the plasma.

Ehh, sensitive or not, I agree with you that it's a legit problem. But yeah, it does sound like it will be easier going for you with the LED. If you get a chance, swing back by after having your new LED for a while and let us know what you think of the difference.

Will do.

I'm hoping it will get delivered on Monday, as that was the estimated date. With the scheduled delivery option Wednesday was the soonest I could do. So hopefully they'll can and arrange it for Monday per the estimate. Will be nice to just be able to start using it with out worrying about aging the panel, IR etc. this time.

Really? My 60ST50 was completely silent outside of full screen white/light grey backgrounds even then it was coming from the back - nothing a couple sound absorption panels wouldnt take care of. Normal viewing conditions produced zero buzz.

The Samsung E6500 i exchanged it for?? Constant buzz on ANY content that comes from the screen itself and audible from 9ft with volume set at a decent level.

I think IR i can live with more than the buzz. Another exchange might be in order

There just seems to be a great deal of variation in how much these sets buzz as people have posted about exchanging a time or two and getting one that's a lot quieter. Plus some people are just more sensitive to hearing/being annoyed buzzing than others.

I should have just been patient and waited for a deal on an LED in the first place. I tried a Vizio plasma several years back and also returned it due to buzzing and IR--though both were worse on that one for sure than on the UT50. But it seems plasma just doesn't work for me. I'm not much of a videophile so the better PQ isn't worth the buzzing I seem especially sensitive to, and having to worry with IR if I leave it on ESPN for hours or game for several hours--things I do often.

All they said was that they heard the difference and was unlucky to get such a buzzer the first time.

For those of you who have solved the buzzing problem by screwing the circuit boards with the updated screws with the washers, how did you open the back? I'm afraid to open the back and breaking some plastic.
I have the Panasonic November 2012 model with the (-2) sign. I'm guessing its a model returned by somebody and they just updated the screws.

I have similar buzzing like this video here. with the same model as me the p55st50 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7VnZkm96PI if not exactly the same way.

these are other buzzing panel videos that are similar as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8eIjli_9lo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp4ccBdHWdE
- So are the guys who are saying buzzing is normal... is this normal???

but not as much as this buzz from an older model the st30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD74ImgT5aw

Anyone with a 2012 st50 model report success by tightening screws?

I do not want to open the behemoth of a back cover and sorting all the screws and risk cutting my hand to tighten the screws to find it not work.

Seriously? I have a 65 inch ST30, and the only time I can ever hear any kind of buzzing at all, is if the room is completely silent, and a solid black screen is displayed. It's not very loud either and not even obviously coming from the TV itself. I've never once heard it while watching anything. It was months before I actually noticed this thing buzzed in any situation at all.