Howdy! With the snake problems with the PH9s, would I be better off trying to source a s/h PH8 Panel? What advantages does the PH9 have over the 8 series? Thanks. J
There are now no purple snake problems on the PH9. But this may depend where you buy it from. Av-sales have had their stock updated with the fix. I had mine updated at home and now the minor problem I had is totally gone. The benefit of the PH9 over the PHD8 to me was no more fluctuating black level which I had on my PHD8 and an overall deeper black level on the PH9. These problems (purple snake on PH9 and fluctuating black level in PHD8) only happened on the 42" versions, not the 50". Hope this is of some help to you.
Whilst the now infamous green snake test revealed some purple fringing on my 42" PH9 it never seemed to affect broadcast TV. Mine is an unmodified PH9 bought last October from AV Sales. Buy with confidence!
Ah the old purple snake legend that has been blown way way out of proportion by some. Yes there was a fault on a limited no of 42" but all has been resolved. The simple fact is this can be induced by many many factors nothing to do with the plasma and If I recall was even induced on a 58 series(shock horror) The same goes for the green flashes on ALL Panasonics thread, leaving all prospective owners scurrying for test disks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway sorry for rant, yes as Ray P says, great panel, poss deeper blacks, the black level fluctuation never bothered me as it can be resolved in the service menu and by ISF calibration. The 9 series at around £900.00 all in is IMHO an absolute steal. Good luck.