On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:37:37 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

Update: While on a phone call I noted that the muted TV has no pop,
and the screen never did "blink", so the popping noise must have
another cause.
...Jim Thompson

Welcome to the wonderful world of consumer electronics
troubleshooting. Could you disclose the Philips model number? You'll
get to earn your new 55" flat screen TV by first playing detective.

Find a portable AM radio. Tune it to a blank place on the AM dial so
that you hear only hiss or maybe a really weak station. Put it near
the TV. Do you also hear a popping noise on the AM radio? If so,
it's probably coming from internal arcing somewhere inside the TV. If
not, it's something else.

Duz the popping sound happen on all channels or only one channel?
Is the TV setup for OTA (over the air) TV, or are you using a cable,
satellite, or screaming media box? If you're using a box, turn it off
and see if the popping sounds go away. It might be coming from a
converter, not from the TV. If you're getting your audio from a
converter box, try running the audio output to something else, like a
hi-fi or headphone to determine its origin.

Duz the TV have different input modes, such as composite video, HDMI,
DVI, component video, VGA, or S-video? Try some of these modes and
see the popping sounds are in all the modes or just some of them.

The basic idea is to isolate sections of the TV and attached
components. Then, to replace or bypass sections until the culprit can
be determined.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558