What could I expect to pay for someone to repair it in general? I'm
going to be calling places shortly, but I wanted to get some kind of
idea of what may be wrong with it and what I could expect to pay for
repair? Would it be worth getting it repaired? I know I'm asking many
general questions, but I would like to get some kind of idea of what
the cost maybe and if it would be worth repairing.


Given current gasoline prices, can you take it into a servicer?
In home service right now is carrying a pretty good premium due to the
high costs of keeping a tech on the road. Add around $40-50 typical to
get the technician to your door.

If you take the set in for repair. Typical estimate charge is ~$30 for
that size, most ordinary repairs will run under $90 total (including
any estimate charge). Some places, to help keep your repair charges
down, will ask for a typical pre-approval that will cover probably 90%
of most normal repairs parts and labor. It simply saves both time and
money by not having to put the tv back together if they do not get a
hold of you right away when they have the detailed diagnosis and it
saves phone time.

Given that it is 9 years old, you will have to decide how much to
invest in the repair. The general rule of thumb is on a decent quality
set like Panasonic, to go up to 1/3rd the cost of replacement if it is
8 years or less. If the picture still looks good, sharp, good and
proper color, I might still consider putting between 1/4 and 1/3
replacement cost into the repair before buying a new one even though it
is 9 years old. Were it 15+ years old, it would be a different story.