I bought my PT50LC13 on 9/10/2003 and the first lamp shattered on 9/4/2006 (36 months) so I was sure there was no warranty from Panasonic. I read the forums on TY-LA1000 issues and that I was in the minority for good lamp life. I shopped around for a replacement and ordered one. I continued to read the forums and the discussions about class action suit and balast issues so I decided to call Panasonic 800-211-7262 to ask about any upgrades that may have been designed to resolve the short lamp life problem (TY-LA1000). To my complete surprise after explaining that the lamp had shattered and asking about "upgrade" I was told that Panasonic would send a replacement lamp for FREE. They needed the model & serial number and date of purchase for the TV, the serial number from the lamp, and I must fax in the invoice for the TV. This was a total shock (a wonderful surprise). I had read that Panasonic had extended the warranty for a replacement lamp to 18 months, but not that they were supplying free replacements. Thank you to all the folks that applied pressure to Panasonic to do the right thing about the lamp problem. Looks like it all worked. I also cleaned out the fan and cooling ductwork before installing the new lamp. I have the TV on a UPS so that power failures do not do a instant shutdown and the fan has time to cool down the lamp. That may account for the 36 months life for the first lamp. We also leave the TV on for most of the weekends and it stays on all night for many week nights. Still trying to get the lamp hours data. Does anyone know the key sequence to read out the lamp hour meter for the PT50LC13? Thank you Panasonic, I will continue to buy your products, the PT52LCX66 at $1,619 looks amazing.
I bought my PT50LC13 on October 2003. The first TY-LA1000 RPTV has shuttered 3 month ago and I purchased another one from LaptopForLess for $290. I have changed 3 lamps for last 3 month! Now LaptopForLess ships a next one to me...I don't know what should I do?
I read in the various forums that frequent lamp failure can be caused by a defective ballast. I have not seen the schematices for the TV but typically a ballast controls current flow in a lamp. If I understand your post correctly it sounds like you have had a lamp failure per month for three months. I would recommend that you contact Panasonic 800-211-7262 and see what they propose. I think there is a design flaw with this model and they may be taking care of the problem. I would expect that a repair to the ballast would be a shop repair. Please post what response you get from Panasonic.
Thank you all of you for your time and information! I purchased the PT50LC14 in April of 2006. It has worked great for 5mo. Last night I turned my set on and got a blinking green light and than a red light, no picture no sound! After reading posts on the bulb issue and came across the class action suit aganist Pana, I got enough info and called Panasonic and they were evey nice, gave me a case # and a repair shop to call. It is under manufactures warranty and I will be covered for the repair! I was also given the site for the class action suit and the phone #.
Hey guys I just purchased a 40 inch Panasonic Lcd model PT40LC12 and the bulb went out on it 2 months from when I purchased it. I called the person I bought it for and they told me they had a similar problem. I'm now pissed that I didn't do my research before buying. My question is if I can get panasonic to do anything about this. The Tv was originally purchased in 2003, I spent 800 bucks on this thing and from what it looks like now another $300 and so on.. Any recomendations? Also how do I know if it has a bad Ballast.. whatever that is?
Hi! I have a PT-43lc14 Panasonic which i replace a bulb last august and now its dead again but the lamp looks like just dirty in the middle and not shuttered like the first one. how will i know if my ballast or lamp is the defective one? before i buy another lamp.