This is a widespread issue. The "Z-sustain" boards in the Zenith Z50P2xd 50" Plasma TV is defective. It will fail within 24-25 months (of normal household use) with a loud POP, much like a firecracker going off.
Keyword search the internet with 'Zenith Z50 POP' and you will learn the extent of this defect.
I paid $2999.00 for the set, and declined the store's extended warranty program... I figured the mfg would stand behind thier product, and generally store warranties are not a good ROI.
At 25 months, 'the pop' happened. I called Zenith, and was referred to LG. LG immediately refused action stating the warranty is 24months. After some research, I found that the same exact set is also sold with an LG brand, and that it is warrantied for 36 months. After pointing this out, they authorized a repair at a factory authorized service center.
10 months after getting my set back, 'the pop' happened again. This time LG adamantly refuses to take action, stating that the previous extension of the warranty was a 'courtesy' and a one time only agreement.
I have validated that the z board is the point of failure, which clearly shows the repair was performed with the same defective parts that failed in the first place.
LG will not consider that the repair was inadequate... Although the initial issue was serious enough to consider warranty repair, the shoddy repair is not considered an issue. LG clearly stated that any further repair will be at my own expense.
So I have a dead plasma tv which cost me $1000 per year of ownership and had to be repaired once already.
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