Ah, the suffix chart. You may or may not know about this but the way in which Panasonic distinguishes one variation of their Main Board that works in a 42 inch TV from another, say a 55 inch TV, is through one very specific IC chip (and sometimes, a series of IC Chips) placed on a suffix chart that's typically located nearby the part number that's stamped on the board. Well, what is the suffix chart, you might ask? As the name implies, it's quite literally a chart or a series of columns where there are IC chips placed on it and often times in a cryptic fashion, might we add. In older models of Panasonic TV's (circa 2004 and older, be they of the Plasma variety or LCD variety, the charts were fairly straightforward. If the board had a suffix (usually a two-letter suffix), it would have an IC chip placed directly next to it. So imagine two columns in your head right now and imagine that there are seven boxes per column. On the left column, there is a list of two-letter suffixes placed in each box from top to bottom. They are: AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, and AH. On the right column, there may or may not be an IC Chip placed on one of the boxes.

Now, let's just say that there is an IC chip on the sixth box on the right column. In this example, the two letter suffix would be "AG". And let's just say that the part number that's stamped on the board was a "TNPH0721". Put together then, the complete part number would be "TNPH0721AG" for that board. If you click on that link, you may notice that the second picture has a typical two column, seven boxes per column suffix chart. And if you pay closer attention on the right column, there is a small IC chip placed on the sixth box. Do you see it? It's a very small, rectangular-shaped chip. This is only one example of what chart could look like. They can get increasingly complex like this part TNPH0786AC. Notice how this one has five columns with twenty boxes in each column? Notice now that there are yellow dots in each box each corresponding to a two-letter suffix sequence just off the right of the chart. Notice again that some rows have two dots that corresponds to a two letter suffix while others have three or more, depending on the row that you look at, and they all correspond to other two letter suffixes as you go down the rows. While at first blush, it may appear as though there's no particular pattern but we assure that there is. If you go back to the top of that chart, you may have noticed that dark green area (relative to the board's lighter green color) where there is a row of IC chip placeholders wherein an IC chip may be placed on top that look similar to the first example except in this case, the IC's are lined up horizontally rather than vertically. Notice now that there is one IC chip placed on fourth column. The way in which you read this is by going down that column where that IC chip is placed and finding that one row where is a single yellow dot in that row--by itself--without any other yellow dots on the other columns. You might want to use a ruler or a piece of paper to cover up each row as you go down each row to find that single yellow dot all by itself. Once you find it, the two letter suffix that you'll find just off to the right of that row would be the suffix for that board. In this case, it would be the "AC". 

Remember when we said that it can get increasingly complex? It doesn't stop here. That's the second variation. Here's another one that's even more complex: TNPH1001UA. Like the previous one with the yellow dots, you just have to find the pattern. Like the second example, do you see the dark green area where there are four boxes with nine silver dots per box? That's where the IC chips are placed. In this case, the IC chips can be placed either vertically or horizontally in each box. Can you see how they can be placed? If not, just imagine a horizontal IC chip placed between two silver dots. Have you noticed that if you do that, you can potentially put three IC chips from top to bottom in one column of the box? Those three "potential" IC chip locations corresponds to a single letter just immediately above it (or off to the side, depending on which box you're looking at). Notice again that you can also place a vertical IC chip between two silver dots. Have you noticed that if you do that, you can only place two IC chips at the most in one column? Those two IC chip locations also correspond to a single letter just immediately above it (or off to the side, depending on which box you're looking at). Now, in this specific example, there is a vertical IC chip on the second box in the first column. We highlighted the IC chip bright green to make it a bit easier to see. Now, if you look immediately above it, you may have noticed that there are five rows of single letter suffixes in each row. The very top row only has two letters. (Surprise surprise). The second row has three letters. The third row, again, has two letters. And then the fourth row has two letters, but it can potentially have three letters, if you use your imagination for a moment. It just happens to be the case that it doesn't have three letters in the fourth row. 

Remember when we said that if you place an IC chip horizontally, you can potentially place three IC chips in one column? Those three chips corresponds to a single letter in that chart. You just have to count it one row at a time until you find that row that corresponds to that horizontal IC chip. The same would be true for the vertical IC chips. So in this case, there's one vertical IC chip on the second box and you can only place two IC chips in a single column, right? Notice now that you can potentially place three vertical IC chips from left to right. Those three potential IC chip locations corresponds to a single letter in that chart as well. Instead of counting the rows, like the horizontal IC chip, you would count the columns from left to right until you find that one letter that corresponds to the vertical IC chip in that column. For this example, the letter is "U".  

Now, look immediately below that second box. There's no IC chips at all in that box, right? But to the left of that box, there is another box with a horizontal IC chip on the first row of that box. Do you see it? Now, like the previous paragraph where we explained the vertical IC chip that corresponds to a single letter suffix, you would do the same thing with the horizontal chip in this case as well. You just have to figure out the pattern. In this case, it just happens to be the letter "A". So the two letter suffix sequence for this example would be "UA" and this would attached to the part number that is stamped on the board "TNPH1001". Put together, it would be "TNPH1001UA".

Here is yet another example "TNPH1006UK" that is a slight variation of the "TNPH1001UA". Do you think you can figure out the pattern? Give it a try. Just imagine a vertical or horizontal IC chip placed in the box. How many can you fit per column? How many can you fit per row? Count the rows. Count the columns. Figure out which letter the IC chip would correspond to. It takes practice and nobody says it's easy. And if at anytime you were counting the rows or the columns where the vertical or horizontal IC chips are supposed to line up with that single letter suffix and things don't seem to make sense, you probably did it wrong. Go back and try again until you figure it out. Each horizontal IC chip or vertical IC chip should correspond to a letter in that chart. There's really only one way to read the charts and again, it's just a matter of figuring out that pattern. And Panasonic will only make these suffix charts increasingly complex as newer LED TV's are churned out so we don't expect it getting easier any time soon. Nevertheless, we assure you that there's a pattern and it just takes some practice to figure it out.

Lastly, we want to say that to the best of our knowledge, the only boards that have suffixes are the Main Boards ( aka the "A" Board), the Digital Board (aka the "DG" Board), or the Digital Tuner Board (aka the "DT" Board). Occasionally, but not too often, when the Main Board is broken up into the two pieces, the second "A/V Board" will also have a two-letter suffix so that's something to bear in mind. Did you find this article useful? Please share it on Facebook or Twitter!