» Panasonic PT40LC12 40" 16:9 Widescreen Projection LCD Display

Panasonic PT40LC12 40" 16:9 Widescreen Projection LCD Display Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: I love my Panasonic LCD TV- Best deal at time of purchased.
Comment: I've had it for almost 2yrs. now and it still performs like new. I'm guessing that the people who had problems with their lamps didn't pay attention when the TV warn them to clean the air filter. It's very important that the air filter is cleaned very througly. I usually vaccum my filter at least once, before the TV tells me.
I think its like anything else, if you fail to read the manual and don't take care of it then don't expect it to last. Even if you get a brand new Lexus and you fail to change the oil, I'm guessing it won't last long either.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Do NOT purchase Panasonic!
Comment: As with most people on this site I have had a ridiculous time with this Panasonic TV. The lamp burnt out in less than 2 years and I am now having to pay $300 for the lamp. The TV cost $2500, we purchased a $300 extended warranty and still have to pay a ridiculous price. Panasonic knows they have created a faulty lamp and extended the warranty on the lamp to 18 mths (usually 12 mth). Conveniently enough for Panasonic my lamp went out after 20 mths. So, no warranty. And now I have to pay $300 for my $2500 TV, which I'm told (by a Panaosonic rep) I can expect to do every 18 mths for this TV. This is not the first issue we've had with poor Panasonic products. Needless to say we will NEVER purchase Panasonic again and I would not encourage anyone to do so.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Bad bulbs, bad power supplies!
Comment: The TV is cool looking and I've loved it except for the following complaints:
1. No sleep alarm. (A bummer becuase it's in the bedroom.)
2. The bulbs burn out in 2500 hours vs. the 10,000 adverstised.
3. My power supply blew out 3 $300 dollar bulbs in a week. It's now at Panasonic. They have to rebuild it because they are no longer available! (Now that's a real problem!)

Here's hoping BEST BUY stands behind their extended warranty and gets me a replacement TV!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Problems with the 50" Panasonic LCD Projection TV
Comment: I purchased my tv from Circuit City in August of 2003. Less than a year later the lamp went on the tv. Panasonic, after my complaining, sent me another lamp (which costs $300) after a week because they didn't even have them in stock which I am guessing is because they have to send them out as soon as they get them! I hoped it was a defective lamp and that would be the end of it. Not even another year later the lamp just blew on the tv again!! I am going to call Panasonic tomorrow and see what they have to say. I don't think I am the only customer having this issue. They make defective lamps and if I had known that I would have had to replace a lamp so often I would never have purchased this tv. I had my doubts with Panasonic and now they are confirmed. I have had a Toshiba tv for 14 years now and have never had a problem with it. I am also going to contact Circuit City tomorrow to see what they have to say. They must know about this problem with this model of tv since it seems quite a few people have had this problem. The manual states that the lamp should last about 10,000 hours. In that same section of the manual it also states on the bottom of that section that they recommend that you have a back up lamp (like they are cheap) in case it burns out because it seems to be so sensitive they know it is going to go before 10,000 hours. It doesn't even last a year and we have 4 tvs in our house so this particular tv is not used excessively and even if we did use it, it should be made to be watched like any other tv and last, especially after all is said and done you pay over $3,000 for it!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Expensive to maintain, poor technical support
Comment: I purchased the PT-40LC12 in late 2002 since then have had to replace the lamp twice at a cost of $300 each and the lamp ballast at $1,000. Panasonic claims life expectancy of the lamps to be 5,000 hours, but my experience has been about half that.

With the latest problem, Panasonic technical support was not helpful at all -- after a 30 minute wait for a technical representative, I was told to go to an authorized repair center (50 miles away). The tech. at the repair center knew immediately the problem (and also had two other Panasonic LCD sets in for the same type of repair). Subsequent calls to Panasonic technical support resulted in long waits on hold (25, 26 and 47 minutes respectively).

I have no complaints about the quality of the picture, but I am concerned about the lack of tech. support and the fact that Panasonic appears to be ignoring a known problem with reliability.

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