Question Panasonic TH 42PE30 help please

Phil Russell

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The culprit is a Panasonic TH 42PE30 television that has suddenly developed a picture / sound problem just on BBC 1. Signal quality as given by the tuning menu is good (9) for BBC1 and no other stations seem affected, although we did find the same issue with the BBC News programme (130).
The programme appears fine then suddenly there is a 'pop' sound and the picture disappears into horizontal / diagonal lines with poor distorted sound. It reminded me of the horizontal hold issues with good old 405 line valve sets, but that is a side issue. Picture is not pixilated into squares as can happen with poor signal. After maybe10 - 15 seconds it pops again and picture reverts to normal for another couple of minutes. I have tried an auto retune and also setting to shipping condition to no avail. Another TV running off the same aerial (but via a freeview box) is not affected. A TV on a different (dedicated) aerial is not affected.
Does anyone have any suggestions? This is puzzling me as I cannot convince myself that it is a signal quality issue. All help would be appreciated, Thank you. Phil
 
Sorry about that ... I am not the best navigator of this forum. As put on the other forum, it started yesterday afternoon and there is no HDMI equipt connected.

I am now busy checking all signal connections with new cables etc but somehow cannot convince myself it is an aerial issue ....yet.
Cheers, Phil
 
Checks done ... connected to a known good aerial, auto set up gives top quality signal on all stations, including the affected ones ... yes it happened on BBC2 as well. But issue not solved.
Am I right in thinking this is now 'engineer time'? If it is a multiplex issue, is it an 'at home' fix by simple change of a plub in component? Any idea of costs?
Cheers, Phil
 
Have you tried a different flylead (Coax lead between aerial socket on wall and Tv)?
 
Tried new lead? Yes ... two new leads made up and tried. Problem remained with both. Signal quality was highest rating on all channels but intermittent problem remained. Sorry about that. I am virtually convinced it is not an aerial signal issue.
Cheers, Phil
 
If it's not an aerial/signal issue that only leaves the TV tuner itself as being suspect.
This will be part of the main circuit board. It's either call in an engineer or try and source a replacement board yourself if you're comfortable taking the set apart.
 
Thanks JayCee... I was beginning to think that would be the case.
Seems like it's engineer time or maybe just bite the bullet and get a more modern set.
Thank you for your time in trying to solve the case ...
Cheers, Phil
 
Hah, I'd just come here to post about my old 2004 TH37PE30B that's started doing exactly the same in the last few days! It only happens on BBC channels (most used). A YouView box and a Freeview box are fine on the same aerial feed. The signal strength is fine (Oxford). I took the back off, and got the Freeview tuner board out fairly easily for a look. Nothing visibly wrong with it, but it seems the most likely culprit, so will start looking at finding another. The build quality is amazing.

The picture is still generally superb for SD, and I can kludge it using the two boxes for now, but it would be nice to get a year or two more out of it.

Bruce
 
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Not sure if I am pleased to find someone with a similar fault or not ....
As another twist, twice now we have switched on early evening, direct to BBC1 and all has been fine for a couple of hours when just for devilment I have gone to BBC2 ... problem started within a minute and remained when I returned to BBC1. Strange.
Also, working through the DVD tuner, DVD connected via scart, there is no problem.
I am in touch with a repair company as I am told it could be a main board or a tuner fault.
Good luck ....Phil
 
I watch BBC channels more than anything else, so maybe somehow that blows part of the tuner. No idea how these things work. Anyway, just ordered a used tuner board from eBay for £15. Worth a shot, even though that will probably fail too depending on usage. It could be a fault elsewhere though.

There's another used Freeview tuner board for yours for £6.99 delivered if you fancy a bit of DIY. It's fairly easy to get at, just a lot of screws to get the back off. I doubt a repairer will be able to get new boards, so he'd probably do the same, but of course he would test which bit has failed first. I was tempted by this one, as I suspect it's the same across the screen sizes, but decided to play safe (and twice the price!)

FREEVIEW TUNER BOARD FOR PANASONIC TH-42PE30 PLASMA TV TNP8EXV03 9 XV TXNXV1UHSB | eBay

Good luck,
Bruce
 
-- As an eBay Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases --
Update on my problem. Sod's Law, after I ordered the tuner board, the BBC Mux has been fine, so I assume it was a transmitter problem. The tuner board arrived today, and I tried it out of interest, but it only tuned very weakly, and sometime not at all on the ITV Mux (I'm near Oxford). My tuner board gets 9/10 signal strength on BBC and ITV Muxes, so I'll stick with that, and hope the problem doesn't return. At least I can return the eBay one as faulty. That's probably why the TV was stripped for spares.

Bruce
 

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