Imagine how you'd feel when one day you came home from work and saw the image on the left in your precious Panasonic plasma TV you had purchased with lots of cash two weeks ago... right... I think you agree with me it's not something pleasant.
I instantly put my eyes on the kids, of course. My little Lara said she didn't do it, and Mike wasn't to find anywhere (they were both guilty, I found out later). Since the matter is as it is, I immediately took the TV to the service, where they told me they wouldn't offer any guarantee and the repair costed around $300 (I paid some $650 on the brand new TV).
I'm not an engineer, but I have some skills at repairing stuff around the house and even did some electronic DIY projects on my own in my youth, so I started thinking for a better way. I researched for a solution on the Internet and all I got were outdated schematics of older Panasonics, but none for my Viera TC-P42S2. It needed a new screen, which was not a big deal. I was lucky to find the screen on e-bay for $50, replaced it, but the TV still didn't come alive.
Then I found out a guide telling me the real issues that can occur when the display breaks, since they may not be the only components to break, but also some power transistors and/or capacitors, and that got me puzzled.
Fortunately, I discovered another guide (this one costed 47 bucks, but I afterwards realized it was worth the investment fully) and from there I started learning how to approach different defects of an LCD or Plasma TV set, step-by-step, with pictures and all.
I spent another $20 for the rest of burnt parts and by the end of Thursday I had my TV working like new! Hooray! My kids and their mom (my beloved wife) made me a big apple pie and we all celebrated my watching Avatar (good movie, you should watch it if you didn't).
Back to the point: if it wasn't for the book I had found on http://www.LCD-Television-Repair.com, today I wouldn't be doing professional LCD TV repairs and wouldn't have my own repair shop (which I started a month after that).
I recommend it warmly, it's written by a Japanese professional. You'll see, his English is crappy, but the guide that Kent Liew wrote is updated with all sorts of cutting-edge LCD TV models from brands like Acer, HP, Gateway, Dell, Haier, Samsung, NEC, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Iiyama, Sharp, Sony, LG, Westinghouse, etc.
If your broken TV that you want to repair is of an exotic type, just contact him and he'll tell you if you'll find the info you want in his book.
You can save hundreds of dollars by buying Liew's book, like I did. I made this page to specially recommend him. If you'll recommend his book to others, you may even get a bonus afterwards. Here's the link: http://www.LCD-Television-Repair.com
Good luck with repairing your dear TV!
Mike Nolan
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