seeking technical diagnosis on Panny TC-P55GT30

[jaymzbo]

First and foremost, my apologies if there is another thread on this. My search failed to find any matching results.

A few days ago, I noticed some image retention (not sure if that is right term) when viewing with my xbox360. i.e. the netflix logo, the name of the movie, etc., as well as some flashing, fluttering at the tope of the screen. All disappeared within a minute or so of viewing and this did not happen when viewing on my oppo BD player.

This morning when I powered everything on, the xbox dashboard appeared briefly with the above described IR and then went black with the LED power indicator blinking 3 times. (some type of self diagnostic for the Panny techs);

I powered down, plugged the tv into another socket (albeit into a cheap surge protector as the cord is not long enough and I would otherwise have to remove tv from wall mount, a temporary hardship due to shoulder injury); LED power indicator blinks x5

Decided to take the xbox out of the equation and removed its HDMI; LED blinks x7

Called Panasonic who advised me to repeat unplugging power cord of tv and trying other socket. LED blinks x7 which is what it does now seemingly regardless of power source. Panasonic advised me to call any of 3 (assumingly Panasonic authorized dealers) the closest of which is about 80 miles away from me.

Here's where I need help. There were no techs at dealership at the time of my call so the person who answered was not able to give a detailed explanation which may or may not be possible without opening it up. She did say it is a 50$ flat fee for them to look at it and then I could decide whether or not I spend more to have it fixed. She thought if it was only a problem of one of the main boards (sorry, I'm not a technical person at all) it MIGHT run $350 to $500. But if it is something else...then it might be more and I have to wonder if a new TV is a better choice, and maybe not a plasma as I am apparently not good with them.

I am hoping there might be someone here that might know what may have happened and help me decide on which path to take...repair or buy another?

In what is sure to be blasphemy, you should know I never did an initial burn-in period, never got the tv calibrated, I'd say I game more than I watch movies and tv if that is an issue; a few days before I noticed all of this I left everything powered on (a movie on netflix paused) and left the house for a few hours. I had thought IR issues on PDPs were a thing of the past but do understand I may have grossly abused this. Could not possible feel worse about it.

Thank you for any help you can give. And I will not be offended by answers given in layman terms as I am definitely that!

James