I can't vouch for how "normal" this is, but I also noticed 3 dead pixels on my 42PZ700 the first time I turned it on. I could only see them when displaying a uniform bright/white screen while being very close to the screen.

After 1 week of owning it (25 hours of use or so?), they seem to be gone. My advice would be to give the TV a chance to operate for a bit. Since Costco has a 90-day return policy, you're not really running any risk here at all.

Good to hear! Several posters have commented on dead pixels, but can't recall anyone saying they went away after some period of usage, rather the set was just returned if it was annoying.

I've never seen a stuck/dead pixel come back to normal on an LCD and I've tried many, many times. I'll give this some time and see how it goes. There's definitely a lot to like about this TV too.

Hey, there is a horizontal band that travels up the tv in a reoccurring loop. I'm not sure what I should do, defective set? Picture settings? Problem from source or connection? Everything seems to be secure on the back, and I'm running from a comcast hd cable box, component input. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Have you called Panasonic Concierge yet? They will most likely send a tech out to your house to determine the problem. Although it sounds like you've got some kind of interference problem rather than a defective TV. Unplug everything going into the set and just have the TV powered on. Plug other things in one at a time to see if the band returns. If it's still there, try exchanging the component cable as it might be bad. A power conditioner might also help resolve the problem.

It's the Comcast cable box over component;my brother had the same issue.
He went through replacement boxes without an improvement.
Switching to HDMI fixed it.

sweet, thanks. I was thinking that would be the problem because over component a buzz is being heard over the audio. I think the tv is so sensitive to the signal that i catches anything . Thanks guys, I'll be changing my box to get an hdmi one soon. Thanks supervision2010 for the help.

Anybody know if component input is an issue with DTV HR20 boxes?

I've have no issue with component with an HR20-100 DVR, allthough I prefer to use the HDMI cable that came with the box.

Thanks, I'm planning on using both with the component switched through my AVR and HDMI straight to the TV.

That's what I did initially as well, however, I found the AVR did no better a job of upscaling SD then the Panny. So now I just keep the optical from the STB to the AVR for DD 5.1 audio.

That's not why I'm using the AVR. Just so I the family can switch between inputs when the HT is on. That way we can just watch the TV and not have to turn everything on like in the morning when the kids might watch for just 20 minutes before going to school.

Why run the component to the AVR then if you're not going to use it for video?

I'm using it for video, but scaling is not the reason, switching is.

You can skip the component to the AVR and just run an optical cable and achieve the same result then. I watch regular TV using the TV speakers and switch the AVR on when watching DD 5.1 movies using the optical cable.

You're missing the point but don't worry about it. Back to the topic at hand.

Thanks for all the info dsskid.

After waiting for the prices to come down to realistic levels and owning my Toshiba 32" CRT for the last 16 years it was time to treat myself to a new HD TV.

I ordered my TH42PZ700U and it is expected to be delivered this Wednesday the 9th.I didn't get in on the Costo deal, but did quite well with Fry's/Outpost.

I went back and forth on this decision if I should buy the Panasonic or get either of the two 720P Pioneers (5080HD/PRO1150HD) at their closeout prices.But, at my seating distance (5-7 feet), I can see the SDE effect on the 720P models.It's too bad because they are great sets and I can't afford a 1080P Pioneer.

I report back with info when it arrives.

Randy-
Beautiful pics of your Panasonic and room by the way.

Jeff

Jeff, good luck with your new Panny, you won't be disappointed.

No need to thank me, thank everyone who takes the time to contribute and to answer questions. We all learn from each other.

I'm back with another newb question.

Do all plasmas have "noise" when they try to make certain colors? Some colors are fine and others have problems. It all depends on brightness settings. Lowering brightness for example can fix it for some colors but then it will add the "noise" to other colors.

This really isn't a big issue since if you sit about 3 feet back you can't see these flickering pixels anyways. I'm just curious if all plasmas are like this or not.

BTW - a good way to see this if you don't know what I'm talking about is to just crank up picture on something that has black bars. Once you hit a certain point instead of the bars being uniform black, it will be black with speckles of gray pixels flashing on and off.

Well, today my Wife calls me and says "I thought you said the new TV was coming Wednesday? There's a huge box sitting in our kitchen!"

Sweet...It arrived two days early!!

So my Wife and I move our behemoth 258 pound Toshiba 32" CRT to the corner of the room and place the Panasonic on the factory stand.I gather the Family around the shiny new plama for it's maiden voyager...

I hit the power button and the Panasonic roars to life-
For exactly 3 seconds

The set will not power up and I get 11 blinking light trouble code.If I disconnect power and let it sit of a minute it will come back on-but shut off again after another 3 seconds.

Knowing full well the problems Panasonic has had with it's power supply/blinking light issues I shouldn't be surprise but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disapointed in Panasonic for knowing these issues and not recalling these sets.

I called their Concierge hotline and after some time spoke with an actual human being.I have an appointment set up for this Thursday the 10th.

Hopefully they'll have the parts onhand to fix it that day.

I've seen posts of 7 or 10 blinks but not 11 blinks.Anyone have any idea what this code means?

Jeff

Just found this post....


Got My New Plasma Today!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, after reading through this thread, I decided the 50pz700u was for me. So I ordered it from Newegg last week and received it today. Box was in good condition and so was the TV itself. So I plug it in and 2 seconds later, the TV turns off. I begin to wonder if I did something wrong setting up so I recheck everything, try different plugs, nothing works though. The set would turn off after 2 seconds and the power LED would blink 11 times.

I call the Panasonic Concierge service and they figure it's a power supply issue so they schedule a tech to come over and check it out, but not until next Monday. I was upset that after waiting for 1 week to receive the TV, I'd have to wait almost another week just for someone to take a look at it.

So I did my own research and discovered that 11 blinks means something is wrong with the fans. Sure enough, 1 of the 3 fans was not spinning upon power-on. With the TV unplugged, I noticed that the fan would not spin at all when blowing air on it using an air dusting can while all the other 2 would spin easily. So I used a toothpick to spin it a few times and loosen it a bit and low and behold, the fan came on and the TV works great! I haven't canceled the appointment yet just in case the fan acts up again, but all seems well now. So if anyone's TV shuts off and blinks 11 times, check the fans first

By the way, thanks to everyone that has contributed to this post. It provided a wealth of information for me!

Xavier

Sure enough Xavier is dead-on the money-one of my fans is not spinning.

Jeff

After moving one of the sticking fans with a small eyeglass screwdriver the TV has been fine.It appears it was probably sticking when it left the factory.

My question is this-
The repairman are coming tomorrow to take a look at it...should I cancel the appointment or have them replace the fan that was sticking?

I really hate for them to open up a brand new TV if all is well.

Jeff

I would agree that the fan itself is probably not defective, rather it was just something causing it to stick. Although it's doubtful you will have the problem again, probably wouldn't hurt to have the repairman open the set up and check it out for anything else that could be an issue (like loose speakers which have been known to happen). After all, it's not like it is hermetically sealed.

So ... .what did the repairman say?

The repair went smooth-the repairman replaced the defective cooling fan and was done in about 1/2 hour.
He also did some type of "updating" via the SD card input.

So far so good!

Jeff

My set arrived yesterday afternoon.
I ordered from Newegg.So far so good.I have been
running Windows XP screensaver (Pipes) since 7 pm
last evening.
It was ordered on 4/11 and was flown in from NJ to
Richmond Int Airport,then trucked to my place.I tipped
the driver 20 bucks and he helped me get it into my
living room.
I am going to set up my PS3 tonight.

I am confused about our TH-58PZ700U having an optical out. Why is audio going out from the tv instead of going in?

If you were just running OTA and using the tuner in your TV you could send the optical out to your AVR.

Oh, thanks for explaining that.

I don't know if it's related to all other users but a friend of mine has the same exact set as mine and he had IR problems and I didn't. When I went over to investigate, he had his picture setting maxed out. After adjusting his settings he has no more ir problems.