I have a Panasonic SMART TV that’s 2+ years old and one of the built-in apps is a Netflix viewer. (I smiled when I noticed a little GNU/Linux license enclosure when I’d been unpacking the unit sometime ago).  Being the holidays and all, decided to give it a go but noticed that the Netflix app would error-out during initialization, with an error complaining of inability to connect. Did the usual troubleshooting (latest firmware: check, Netflix player update: check, DHCP: check, other apps work: check, google DNS: 8.8.8.8: check). After a few seconds of  searching noticed oodles of blog posts on how to deal the Netflix log-on problems with allegedly buggy Panasonic firmware and proxy servers.   Of course, none of the combination sequences of up/up, down/down, left/right, left/right, up/up/up/up resolved the issue for me.

I called Panasonic tech support and, after asking me 10 questions about who I am, where I reside, what my email address is and the model of my TV,  they told me that my TV is beyond the 12-month FREE technical support time frame and that for a one-time nominal fee they would help me. Really?!  I was amazed at how my request for assistance with a factory reset was challenged by a company with such a solid product line as they would expect me to participate in the modern exercise of one-way monetization: “customer’s device is at fault, let’s make them pay”.  So with that option at hand, I opted to spend a few more minutes googling – and naturally, came across this goldmine, which helped resolve my issue! The solution is to opt for a factory reset (no big deal) – as follows:

1. Power “ON” the TV while holding down the volume down (-) button on the TV and the menu button on the remote.
2. Look for the self-check message on the screen, once it appears, release the buttons.
3. Power “OFF” the TV and then power it back “ON”.
4. Proceed to reprogram the TV to your liking

Kudos to mjm215 of askmefast.com and their mobile-friendly interface, I was able to do all this on an iPhone…