Samsung PN50A550
TVs Buying Guide
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August 18, 2008 03:08
Excellent
2.0/5
I own a PN63a650 not a PN50A550 but want buyers to be ware. What I am seeing is the same for any size Samsung Plasma and any of the 450, 550 and 650 series.
My set exhibits a pink background in three areas on the screen. I went to my local Circuit City and Sound Advise and looked at ALL their Samsung Plasmas. All the Samsung plasmas exhibited the same problem though on different areas of the screen. There was one Samsung 50A450 that was perfect or the way plasmas are supposed to be.
At Sound Advise their 58A650 had a pink band from left to right about 4 inches wide about 10" from the top of the screen.
If you ask the salesman to put on the WHITE screen, which can be found under the Screen Burn In Protection menu, it is instantly visible. What you see on this screen is in the background of anything you watch.
White snow looks slightly pink and sky scenes look like sunset scenes.
Now for the good.
Picture is the best of any large plasma I have seen or own. I own 4 other plasmas. This was supposed to replace a 5 year old 50" Pioneer. I also own a 65" & 50" Panasonic and a 42" Hitachi.
I used the calibration that Plasma Buyers Guide posted and the only alteration I made was changing the temperature setting from Warm 2 to normal.
The picture is incredible. Flesh tones are real with all the color popping you would expect from a HD set without exaggeration.
Truth be known, I don't know what else to buy since I've seen what an accurate large screen can do. The Panasonic 65" and 60 Pioneer 6020 dont come close. Yeah blacks are better on the Panasonic and Pioneer but they don't have the movie realism or depth that the Samsung has.
If there was no problem with the "pink cast" I would have rated this set a 10 or higher if possible. I love the set but can't live with the problem.
Minor complaints. No finger or handles to hold while lifting a 140 pounder. No presets for each input nor a way to lock your setting so nobody changes them on you. -
May 15, 2008 03:22
5.0/5
After reserching for several weeks and debating between Panansonic TH50PZ85U, I purchased Samsung PN50A550, 1 wk ago from BB on sale. I am VERY happy with the purchase. There's very minimal diff in picture quality compare 85U but a550's picture/colorlooked more Vivid and clear to me. I like the sleeker frame/design, more controls, base that swivel, etc.. Those little things made the difference for me. Great Buy!
- Be aware of extra warrenty & monster cable sales pitch by the sales person which I declined all. They will really make you feel guilty for not purchasing them.. -
April 25, 2008 07:59
4.0/5
After doing about 3 months of research, I'm extremely happy I purchased this tv. -
August 27, 2008 02:15
/5
The antireflective screen is not a screen at all. what samsung and probably everbody else did is paint the back of the glass with a purple color. imagine using a spray paint can and spraying a purple paint on the back glass,going from left to right and watch it run. do about 4-5 lines like this. that is what they did. at first i thought i was seeing things, but as the days went by i saw the whole picture. i bought mine at CC and called them up the first week. the salesman told me it might be the antireflective stuff but i thought it was supposed to be another screen. so i called samsung. that customer service man laughed at CC's suggestion and never heard of any purple paint. so i took the tv back and got another.I am disabled and this was very hard to do. so, i bought another one. same pn50a550. no sooner had i hooked it up than there was the same material on the back of the screen!! i couldn't see it at CC as you can't stop the picture and look closely at it. now, i'm the one that is the fool. nobody at CC or samsung could tell me with certainty what the discolorration was about. they all should have known in a second. now i have to decide wether to take it back again or live with the problem. as i said, for the most part i can't see it. but it is always there. and it doesn't help with reflections at all! CNET is to be blamed also. they should have seen this and told us. we rely on their expertise more than anbody else's! so, if you can get by with light blue skys, white backgrounds, and light faces that have a touch pink-purple all the way across them then this HDTV will work for you. i have a 60in Mitsubushi HDTV also and the colors are more impressive in the Samsung. there are differences in both of them. i get more of a 3D effect from the mits while the sam brings the picture closer.having only had the sam for three weeks i am sure i will see more differences. there are 720p hdtvs out there that are just as impressive as this 1080p and are cheaper, but i wanted a 1080p and to not spend over $2000 for it. so i guess i will stick with the samsung. otherwise i would have bought the panasonic 800. p.s. i bought mine before nycelectronic wrote his review. his review is right on. mine explains what the pink is. i also played prey on the sam and the colors were dazziling. there is some pixilating on hdtv when watching some sports. but it is hard to tell if it is my tv or the camera shooting the action that is at fault. sound is really good. lots of options and i am impressed. i do have a 7.1 onkyo with polk speakers (4 tower) on the mits. so i know what sounds good. thats all for now. -
September 21, 2008 08:15
4.5/5
This samsung model replaces a Sony LCD HDTV, which has served me well. I chose this Samsung model because first, the overall picture quality was better than the DLP models and LCD's. The picture was brighter and more vibrant with terrific clarity and coloration. I mostly watch sports and also noticed that with the DLP TV's and some LCD's, there was blur during fast motion sequences. I did not see this problem at all with this TV and it has not been a problem at home. I have NFL Sunday Ticket HD and the picture quality is amazing. Non HD channels are not nearly as impressive, but the picture qualty there is solid. CNET dinged this TV over its anti-glare technology. I have a wall to the left of this TV that is nothing but windows and have experienced no glaring issues. Set-up was very easy. The TV comes well packaged and already on its stand. It was easy to lift and connections were a breeze. The remote is easy to use and menu functions are easy to use. The remote lights up which is great when viewing in the dark.
Speaker sound quality is not good, like it is coming through a tunnel. There is an equalizer that helps some, but you're best bet is to use separate speakers and an A/V receiver.
Screen burn-in is a possibility with plasma, but there are features built into this model to help make burn-in unlikely. Use the features and you shouldn't have any problems.
Price played a role in my decision. For the overall picture quality and features, I found it hard to justify paying more for a Panasonic plasma or a Sony LCD model. However your personal taste may say otherwise. i do think this Samsung TV is worth comparing to other models of interest. It may end up being your favorite. -
July 22, 2008 02:52
Good
1.5/5
Worked great for 7 weeks: nice picture with great resolution and color depth. Had minimal glare in a sunlit room. HOWEVER, if it breaks, you're screwed. Samsung refered me to a local repair company who has not been able to fix problem promptly. The TV died in a shower of green pixels on 7/10. A call to Samsung dispatched RTA, Inc. who showed up on 7/14 and took the TV to their shop. I was told on 7/18 that parts had been ordered ("buffers") and that they were still waiting for them to show up. Followed-up again on 7/22 and was told that "three boards were ordered yesterday, we'll call you when they come in". So, a brand new $2,000 TV breaks and I'm stuck chasing a third-party for almost two weeks. Samsung may not be able to prevent every failure, but they can certainly improve the way they address a problem. They should just either ship me a new TV or send me back to the store for an immediate exchange. -
May 4, 2008 08:05
4.5/5
After months of deliberation, I finally decided upon this set because it presented as such a great value. I couldn't justify the Pioneer 5010 for at least 30% more $. There just isn't that much of a difference between the two sets. I stood in a showroom and looked at them side by side on several occasions and liked the black levels of the Kuro, but colors (especially the green) and overall image on the Sami sold me. Purchase without reservation...you won't be disappointed! Looks much better than my 500 series Pani. -
July 3, 2008 05:43
Excellent
2.0/5
I own the UK version of this model and can report that contrary to the review, it suffers from incredibly bad false contouring (aka posterization), and also a serious loss of focus on moving backgrounds which causes a noticable flicker - forget watching sports on this!! It's not my set at fault, as many many people reported the same issue in other AV forums.
It is ridiculous that this review doesn't pick up on these issues, as they are so blatantly obvious and could easily spoil your viewing with this TV. -
October 31, 2008 04:59
5.0/5
A steal. 50 inch plasma that is top rated and has accuracy, high-end processing, plenty of connections and customizable options. Sleek look and thin. -
October 17, 2008 10:24
5.0/5
