Group of Red Spots randomly appear on screen LG 42PQ60

[avidyarthy]

Yes, it goes without saying that LG listens ... it is about the very best in after sales service that I have come across ANY company in India. Am even trying to replicate their efficiency in the company where I work.

BUT, still it does not absolve LG from getting away from giving sleepless nights to buyers of their fault prone plasmas ....

 

[jsanand]

Yes, it goes without saying that LG listens ... it is about the very best in after sales service that I have come across ANY company in India. Am even trying to replicate their efficiency in the company where I work.

BUT, still it does not absolve LG from getting away from giving sleepless nights to buyers of their fault prone plasmas ....

Fully agree with you. If only the team managing service starts handling manufacturing, may be things will turn around for LG and even they can even cut costs on current support infrastructure.

 

[jsanand]

Another update - In response to the mail I had sent, LG sent a senior technical expert.

He was accompanied by the earlier service engineer who had visited for adjusting the Va and Vs values.

They spent close to 2 hours working to resolve the dancing red pixel issue and were able to make them disappear by adjusting some voltage params for Va, Vs and I believe to of other variant transformers.

In the end, the dots were gone and image appeared even better than before. I thanked them and my Gods for having picked up an LG was forthcoming in offering this kind of support.

However the bigger shock was yet to come. Since today evening, the screen started showing yellow and purple line edges all over the screen. If a face was being displayed on the screen, the gradient of shades on the face had purple rings separating the shades visible on the face and again images with high contrast showed presence of scattered yellow all over the screen. To summarize, the PQ has deteriorated much further than the initial issue of some red pixels dancing on the screen to a spread of purple and yellow color curves (more like an oil spill on water surface) all over the screen. :sad::sad:

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Ask the LG guys to fix it for once and not do experiments.

 

[jsanand]

Ask the LG guys to fix it for once and not do experiments.

Shaiju,

I have been travelling and not able to call the LG folks, my last 2 emails were not responded to till date (these had the photographs of the issue).

Seems LG took Listen Good thing as some thing that needs to be work upon. Will mail them again today and update the forum.

Meanwhile the Picture Quality has further deteriorated and gone from bad to worse in comparison to what the original issue was.

 

[jsanand]

Another update. The engineers visited my place and tweaked the set a bit more - now the oil spill effect of multiple colors has reportedly disappeared.

Have asked my family to keep on checking for any more display issues. Any found now, will have to be fixed only with a full panel change.

Not sure how a television coming from a branded manufacturer not last even 12+ months of usage (yes, its misbehaviors were noted after warranty), when the reason behind the current issue is a clear manufacturing and quality control problems at the manufacturer's end.

 

[jsanand]

Well, back and saw the TV with the issue cropping up again...

...looks like the LG Plasma Panel did fail to perform in just 12+ months and I will have to get it changed. The core issue someone at the assembly line did not set the Y-Sus board's voltages correctly and this has caused the wave erase pattern to go haywire leaving the pixels with some colors (delayed erasing) causing patterns to appear in red spots.

Later with more voltage tweaking by the engineers, the red spots are gone but purple and yellow waves became prominent. Asked about the replacement for Y-SUS board - well LG does not has the spares so looks like it is the panel that needs to be changed.

The red spots were still livable with as they were more focussed in a corner, with the current patterns all over the screen, the pq is irritant to the eyes.

I have searched all over but unable to find the same issue with any other line of Plasmas in recent years.

 

[jsanand]

Ask the LG guys to fix it for once and not do experiments.

Seems experiments is the only way... the fix as per the rule book is straight forward any pixel issue (whether dead or not), resolution - panel change.

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

LG's 2009 BR players also had quality issues.

 

[jsanand]

LG's 2009 BR players also had quality issues.

Shaiju, not sure about the horrible disclaimer on your signature, but just wondering if it is fair to pass on low quality products (they dare not do it in countries with stringent consumer protection laws) and then provide tweaks during warranty (not to me but I have noticed others being offered tweaks to pass on the warranty period by various companies) till the customer is ripe for high costing replacements in the non-warranty phase.

The problem is with a circuit board - the company does not manufactures it any more - so you keep the plastic frame and change the entire panel at more than 60 percent cost of initial purchase. Feels scary. If my set goes down the drain, I am seriously sticking to my old 21 inch Sony WEGA CRT till the time the flat panel technology stabilizes or is at a price point similar to Singapore (a 40 inch plasma there sells for less than 24K!) - something I may not feel that bad being duped of every 2-3 years.

I was one of the major promoters of this set on the forum last year for the decent PQ and great VFM (39K per year is no VFM - now I do realize that) and had even convinced couple of friends to pick up pk550 given the kind of service I experienced from LG. But can a company rely on good service network alone - and not being backed with the core offering - the product being of top quality.

 

[viper08]

@jsanand

As I asked you earlier, better ask for the 29 inch CRT replacement. You will have no issues for next couple of years. This is is the only technology which is proven and you will get best out of your pockets.

I can bet that your 21 inch Sony WEGA CRT will last longer than your flat panel

 

[marsilians]

Seems experiments is the only way... the fix as per the rule book is straight forward any pixel issue (whether dead or not), resolution - panel change.

HI

Just catching up with the thread only now. Based on some issues with other plasma and my own Samsung about a year ago, I think your TV is failing. Its usually in the video board but the engineers will not look into that right away. They start with the tweaks that you have seen so far and then look to panel replacements and then finally the video board.

Mine was under warranty after 2 yrs in and it was fixed without any cost. Basically I have a new TV now with just the casing from the old one as my panel and boards have been replaced. No issues so far.

I suggest you push to have the TV replaced. While LG cust service is fine I think they are doing a lot of R&D as they do not seem familiar with the root cause. Even if they fixed the dots for now its just a question of time before you will see some other deficiency in the video.

My suggestion get them to replace it.

BTW form the prices you have quoted (an entirely new panel, video card comes only to 26K so you are paying a lot for sales and marketing to the company). Also remember how much the parts really costs at that price.

Finally if you have used Visa to pay for your tV then there is an unadvertised rule that you will be covered for an additional year warranty on top of the manufacturers. Call up the CC company before LG if that is the case

 

[jsanand]

Thanks for the excellent post.

Well the engineer had indicated Panel to be the root cause (as per them the video cards are not shipped seperately!) right at the beginning. Just because the set had gone out of warranty (the complaint was lodged on 9th nov where as purchase was 16th oct the year before that), he tried other solutions to fix the issue. I am aware that these voltage adjustments will eventually come back.

The set payment was made in cash, so no additional warranty clause applies here!

The tweaks has not helped so looks like the panel replacement is the only way out.

 

[jsanand]

hyeah:I was out of the city again for few days and after coming back switched on the TV. The last settings performed seem to have resolved the issue (there are some very minor traces of colors - can live with it for the moment). The PQ is OK (seems to have degraded a bit in sharpness and refresh rate - not sure if it is just a perception) but no dancing pixels or color patterns all over the screen.

Will be getting my HTiB soon so time for some Hi Def A.V. Action :yahoo:

Thanks friends for the support (espescially the pimple removing cream idea did help :lol

 

[anandtheleo]

Well I have the same problem, I too had bought it last October on Diwali.

The dots are appearing in the lower left corner, now progressing towards the center. Seeing your experience with LG CC I think I will just live with it, till it is completely unwatchable and I write it off as fate.

Now I realise that Panasonic 3 year warranty would have been better than in the long run even though it was costlier (cheaper if we were to include LG's extended warranty) and had poorer features last year.

LG charges 4500 as extended warranty for 1 year for 42 inch plasma, now we know why.

 

[jsanand]

The dots are appearing in the lower left corner, now progressing towards the center. Seeing your experience with LG CC I think I will just live with it, till it is completely unwatchable and I write it off as fate.

Well Anand-The-LEO, please read through the entire post - LG CC has been way better than other Customer Support experiences (there is an ongoing thread on Samsung, and I would not want to write about my experiences with SONY)

So DO GET in touch with LG Customer Care, if it does not help, you can also mail their region heads for sales as well as customer support, citing your problem. We can be the torch bearers of working this country towards a better customer support system - first step - Put in your complaint and follow it up. Please do not give up! Act as a LEO!

As per my last status - the dots come and go - but the issue is largely resolved. It may be possible that a minor tweak may set things right for you as well. PM me if you need my contact details to speak to the LG technician, if his upfront comment is Panel going bad and replacement being the only solution.

I was advised by few to sell the set off - but some how I do not feel like passing a faulty set to anyone else.

Now I realise that Panasonic 3 year warranty would have been better than in the long run even though it was costlier (cheaper if we were to include LG's extended warranty) and had poorer features last year.

LG charges 4500 as extended warranty for 1 year for 42 inch plasma, now we know why.

4500 per year is not bad - Search consumercomplaints.in for other brands complaints, you will also find our friends in this forum who have had not so great experience with Panasonic as well even with in warranty phase. Panasonic is a great TV and I also could not buy (read afford) owing to pricing prevailing at Diwali time last year and not sure why you would call Pana as one with poorer features.

Wishing you a SPEEDY RECOVERY FOR YOUR BIG PLASMA!

 

[MaheshN]

jsanand and others who are having problem with flat panel tv sets you guys should get ready to fight.
Read my
post and visit my blog to know more about how i fought it through and got the full refund for the faulty Samsung plasma. It is unfathomable that the customer is paying for the R&D. If anything these companies need to give us enthusiasts these T.V sets for free to gather feedback to build this technology. Some would even argue that these companies should pay us to endure their experiments. Imagine a car sold by a company that stops functioning suddenly or starts to burns if driven over 100kmph. So it's OK if it is a T.V because it is not important and only fat cats of this country have money to indulge in something fancy like owning a plasma t.v. Oh so it's Ok to fcuk the fat cat, is it?

So what if you went a little over the warranty? Didn't they advertise 60,000 hrs? How long it took for yours to run out, 600hrs. No freakin good man! Remember no court will ever entertain the "warranty expired" argument made by them. Get ready to fight! STICK IT TO THE MAN!

 

[owen420]

I have the same issue with my 42PQ12...

argh... tv is almost two years old... but it has been occurring since the day I got it and just getting worse and worse....

I have another year left of in store warrenty, I will give them a call... but in my case I do believe it is the panel

im starting to have my doubts about LG and there ability to make tv's

 

[jsanand]

I have the same issue with my 42PQ12...

argh... tv is almost two years old... but it has been occurring since the day I got it and just getting worse and worse....

I have another year left of in store warrenty, I will give them a call... but in my case I do believe it is the panel

Owen if it is the dancing red pixels which appear in one corner or area of the screen, they are repairable, without a panel replacement - my TV is a proof of pudding for that. If you do have a store warranty, do not think twice and get the panel replace free of cost.

As for ability of LG making TV, honestly there is no lack of viewing experience, except for the glitch I faced.

 

[jsanand]

Well guys an year has passed, and while last December I had given it to the fate, assuming the TV will die on me in few months and I need to roll up my sleeves with a battle for fixing a manufacturing defect with LG, nothing of that sort has happened :clapping:.

Time to change my signature from tendering a slowly dying television to enjoying viewing pleasure with LG 42 incher and HD content on WDTV Live, Tata Sky+ HD.

All in all, I would like to use this forum to thank LG customer care for being patient in listening to the exact issue and actually addressing to my satisfaction. Kudos to their customer care :clapping:, although their manufacturing and quality control does need to catch up big time!