Well, I've had this TV going on 4 years now. About 1 month ago, I turned it on to watch a DVD, and everything was going great for about the first 5 minutes, then all of a sudden, the image froze! I knew the DVD was still spinning and such, because the audio (going through the receiver) was still running fine.
I tried to change the video feed on the TV, but the image didn't change - so the menu never visually came up. I did change inputs though (I know my set-up and got to antenna, which has sound from the TV's speakers.) So now I had sound from my TV, but still a frozen image of the DVD picture
At this point I powered down the unit and unplugged it for a good half hr.
I plugged it back in, and everything started up fine again, image was moving, then it froze up again. for about 30 seconds, then lurched ahead then got stuck. It stayed stuck.
I unplugged it again, and then let it sit overnight. The next time I plugged it in, I would get no video at all, in fact all that I got was a pattern of small rectangular bars, each about 3/16" high by about 3/4" long, and running in a pattern of grays, light to dark to light to dark, etc.The pattern itself was static, it never moved or changed. I let the TV sit like this for a while, pondering my options, and then video kicked on like nothing ever happened! It froze up again soon after.
Now, whenever I turn on the TV i only get the gray pattern. Occasionally, it will flip over to the video source (whatever it is, i've tried them all), but after a few seconds to a few moments, the image will freeze and will generally stay that way until I turn it off. More often than not, I'll only get the gray screen of death.
Obviously the color wheel is not a problem, nor is the light (otherwise I would have no image at all). My best guess is the digital board, but I am still mulling through my service manual.
