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137 of 140 people found the following review helpful.
Lots of screen for the price
By R. Merz
Samsung PN50C450I picked up my PN50C450 on Friday March 19th from BestBuy after months of research. In general I don't make purchases from BestBuy. I did the "purchase online / pick up in store" option and was very satisfied (I avoid sales people whenever possible :>). Sorry for the long review but it took me 4-5 months of research to pull the trigger on this TV. Here are my impressions.Setup Instructions on the box for removing the TV were clear. After a quick look at the assembly instructions (and sending my kids upstairs to play for 20 minutes) I screwed on the mounting bracket to the base. Just as I read on other reviews these screws did NOT go in easy. Samsung needs to address this as it doesn't instill confidence in the product when the first step in assembly has a minor glitch. Had a bit of a time getting the TV to lineup with the bracket (my issue not the TV). Put in the last 4 screws in the back and those went in much easier. Took a step back and looked at it, "dude that thing is huge" (large smile on my face)Power OnNow the moment of truth......IS IT GOING TO BUZZ? I powered it on and........not a sound to be heard... totally silent! For a second I thought maybe I didn't power it on but the little "musical tone" went off indicating that it was on. This was my #1 concern with all the things I read about buzzing. Maybe I got lucky, maybe I just can't hear a buzz or maybe it's not as much as an issue as everyone keeps saying? Sure, I stuck my head behind the TV over the next few days and really tried to listen for a buzzing sound. I found if I got on a stool and put my ear really close to the top of the TV (careful it gets hot) I could hear the sound of "electricity" same as my old CRT TV. IN SHORT NO BUZZING.Connecting StuffHDMI: After some research about the whole HDMI controversy (Monster vs cheap cable) Cnet put everything in perspective for me, "it's digital, just get the cheapest cable you can find". Believe it or not BigLots had a gold plated 6' HDMI cable for $12.00 (BestBuy's least expensive was $29.99). So I picked up one HDMI cable, 4 cans of diced tomatoes, yellow mustard and a 6 pack of root beer (God Bless America).I connected the HDMI to my U-verse box and immediately went to the first HD channel I could find. I then switch to the corresponding SD channel and flipped back and forth several times. It's a big difference between SD and HD (although my kids and my wife didn't seem to care, but they have not yet given into HD madness).I then connected my Wii with the standard cables it came with. The picture was obviously not HD but that was to be expected with the Wii. PQ was fine for gaming. The new Super Mario Brothers is way more fun (4 player mode) when you have so much digital real-estate to play on. I'm going to pick up a set of component cables just as a few people at AVS forum recommended . Overall the PQ was fine for gaming.I don't have a Blu-Ray player yet so I did a test with my DVD player. Movies looked good after fussing with the screen size settings. I know Blu-ray DVD up scaling will be a significant improvement.I also need to pick up an antenna so I can get OTA HD channels. From what I've read the OTA signal is not compressed (like my U-verse signal) so I'm excited to see what kind of results I can get.TV Viewing and SettingsRight out of the box in "Standard Mode" the picture looked kind of dark and the colors were kind of flat. I then scrolled through to "Movie" mode. That was much better but still the colors were not super impressive. Then I switch to "Dynamic".....who the heck came up with this setting? Very bright and colors looked like a carnival. Unfortunately "dynamic" is the mode for choice for my kids when they play the Wii. I guess that would be the only time you would need this setting?In order to get the best picture I took the advice of many of you and tweaked the movie mode settings. Thank you [...] users for posting the custom settings. They worked great!! I think I still need to bump down the skin tone setting one more notch but I'm very happy with the way it looks.There is a lot of talk about Black Lines, Screen Doors, Dither etc..... I don't seem to have any of these issues (maybe ignorance is bliss?). I do get a little pixilation on HD channels sometimes but I think that has more to do with my HD signal being compressed (thanks AT&T).Glare: I have the TV in a corner of our room that has a window flanking the left of the TV and a sliding glass door facing from the other room. Sure you get some glare in the middle of the day but if you just draw the curtains (and I'm not talking about black-out shades, just normal curtains) its fine. At certain angles at night I can see a lamp or kitchen light reflecting on the screen. I've found that most lights have these things called switches which allow you to turn them on/off. That seems to solve the problem :>)Image Burn/retention: This was another major concern I had prior to purchasing plasma in general. I've come to the conclusion that as long as you don't spend 5 hours straight playing COD4 with the brightness up to 100, image burn is not an issue. I'd say our family is average when it comes to TV use. We've played the Wii and watched movies/TV and over the last week I have never seen any indication of image burn (and trust me I've been looking for it). And NO I didn't run any break in DVD's either.Sound: With the way people complain about the sound I thought it was going to be like listening to the TV via a tin can and string. Do the speakers compare to a separate surround sound system running from a receiver....NO. Are you going to hear chest thumping bass when you watch a movie...NO. Relax people, the sound on the TV is just fine. All of my u-verse TV viewing is done exclusively via the TV speakers right now. I watched a concert the other night and I thought it sounded great. The Wii and DVD are currently running through my receiver and 5 speakers and yes it sounds better through that. But that is to be expected.General PQ: The real test was last Sunday night when Discovery showed their LIFE series. The whole family sat down to watch our new Plasma. It was ideal viewing with a pitch black room (it felt just like a movie theater) I actually heard one of my kids gasp because it looked so real. My youngest wasn't too happy with all the HD close ups of bugs and kept his hands over his eyes because it looked too real. I personally couldn't believe how clear the picture was. I'm finding out that not all HD channels are the same. Some have great HD and some are so/so. That's more of the fault of u-verse and the compression they use on their HD channels. But after watching that I was sold!!!! I know that Blu-ray is going to be even better than this experience. 720P: When I was in BestBuy this TV was right next to a 1080P TV and you could see a little bit more details when you were 2-3' away. But at 8-9' (my TV viewing) I couldn't see the difference. NON ISSUE FOR ME. But how are the Blacks you ask?: wouldn't you know that the blacks look......well.....black (not grey). Very happy.Gripes: I use my u-verse remote to watch TV. I only use the Samsung remote to switch inputs or change the screen setting. The Samsung remote is about as responsive as molasses in January. I'm not sure where they put the stupid sensor for the TV but it must be under the base. Switching from SD to HD shows and visa/versa and dealing with the different screen formats is a pain. HD looks great in 16:9 but then the SD shows are not full screen so you have to flip "fit to screen" to fix that. All of this screen gymnastics is getting old. I wish there was a setting to say, "hello TV...just fill the screen for me to give me the best possible picture". Swivel would be nice as it takes 2 people to "swivel" the TV manually. Since I don't have the component cables for my Wii I have to swap the DVD and Wii between the 1 in-put that supports them. I wish it had 1 more set of composite connections on the side. For now that's about it.Conclusion: So far I love this TV. The only issue now is competing for screen time between the Kids/wife. I'm glad I got the 50" as I know I would not have been happy with the 42". For the price I don't think you can go wrong with this TV.Update 6/10/10: I've had the TV for almost 3 months now and I am still enjoying it very much. For the most part I think it's "broken in" now. I did have to tweak some of my initial setting from when I got it. I did purchase a component cable for my Wii and it looks much better with the new cable. I really didn't have any issues with IR. Once in a while when my kids would go on a Wii binge you could see some IR but running the scrolling feature for a few min took care of that quick. I don't have a blu-ray player yet but the HD quality for AT&T U-verse is pretty good. Still no buzzing (never had an issue with mine). I did hook up a usb flash drive to it to view some pictures I put on it. Wow! it does a great job displaying pictures.I'll report back when I get a Blu-ray player (maybe fathers day???).
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
great tv for the money
By Jason K
I got this tv on sale the day after it arrived in stores for only $720 and I could not be happier with it. The picture is fantastic right out of the box. As with all plasmas, make sure you take the break in period seriously by turning down the contrast and brightness a bit for the first 100-200 hours. I've also been running the anti-burn in scrolling feature for about an hour a night when I go to bed and have yet to notice any sort of image retention although I haven't played any video games on it yet.There's a lot of chatter about these Samsung plasmas having an annoying buzzing sound coming from them but I have yet to notice it. Maybe I just got lucky with mine but it runs very quietly.
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful.
Great Budget HDTV - very pleased
By D. Bryant
I purchased this set at Best Buy for $719 + tax about 1 week ago and have been very happy with it thus far. I'm not gonna lie, I was hesitant to go the 720p route; I don't want to be the one paying to be at the front of the tech curve, but I also don't want to be the one purchasing something that is soon to be obsolete. Luckily, our Best Buy had this 50' set at $719, the Samsung 50' 1080 plasma step up at $1300, and a 46' 8000? series edge-lit LED LCD Samsung at $2100 all side by side for easy comparison. The comparison ended up making my decision easier.Picture - all in store picture settings so probably not apples to apples, but I noticed considerably more sharpness in the LCD than either of the two plasmas. However, colors looked deeper and "popped" more on both of the plasmas vs the LCD. The 1080p plasma unit was a tad sharper than the c450, particularly noticeable when viewing up-close and when it showed black lettering on a white background. You could see a smoother edge on the lettering in the 1080p set at close distances. In my home, broadcast HDTV (I use an antenna for locals, I do not have cable/dish) looks fantastic on the c450. Analog signals even look passable, and better than my 32 in Vizio LCD. I do not yet have a Blu-ray player; a PS3 is in my near future, but I do hook up a PC to the TV occasionally (Hulu,etc is my cheap cable). How the PC and blu-ray would look were my main 720p vs 1080p concerns. The PC looks great; I expect no problems with blu-ray. Regular DVD looks fine. I relied on multiple professional and private reviews noting that the difference between 720 and 1080p is minimal at a 50' size, unless you are close (less than 8 feet)to the set. If you are sitting beyond 8 to 10 feet the extra lines of resolution are virtually imperceptible to the naked eye. You will have some techies swear to the grave that this is not the case, but use your eyes, not the specs to decide. Bottom line: some 1080p sets look great; some 720p sets look great. The bigger in size you go, the more 1080p will distance itself from 720p, all other things being equal. Somewhere between 42 to 50 in, the 1080 difference begins to become noticeable. For me, the extra $600 for a comparable 1080p at this size was not worth it. For some, it is. I'd give the picture a 4/5. I was perfectly happy with the picture on my 32 in Vizio LCD; now it looks below avg to poor in comparison.Glass - one of the biggest negatives of the c450 is the highly reflective screen; probably a driver of the lower price point and the fact that its plasma. Its glass is highly reflective; more so than the 1080p plasma was in-store and like a mirror compared to the LCD. Turn off the sets when you compare and you'll see the stark difference. Think about where your putting your TV. My den gets below average sunlight. The outside light source comes from behind the TV, but it still casts some reflection on the screen in the day time. I have a lamp across from it and it just should never be turned on while you are watching TV; causes way too much reflection. If you have a lot of windows in your room, you may want to look at another TV option rather than the C450. My sister has an older 50' HP plasma with a wall of windows opposite of it and its almost unwatchable during the day. In a dark room, it is not a concern and the glass gives a crispness to the picture that the LCD matte finishes don't, IMO. Overall, glass is a 3/5 but don't push it in a room with a lot of light.Styling - I put this TV on a side wall in my den and the side of the TV is seen when you walk in, so styling was a factor for me. I wanted as thin as possible within my budget. The C450 is a 2.7 in deep 50 in HDTV; one of the thinner standard width sets you will find (3.5-4' more common) Between the three sets I directly compared, the 8000 series won this category again with 1.2' thickness, and a sharp looking glass edge trimming the monitor. However, the c450 and the 1080p plasma both have a nice looking, relatively thin, profile as well. I do wish that the c450 was trimmed in a matte, rather than a glossy finish. The glossy finish is reflective. Overall, i'd give styling a 4/5. 5/5 at this price point.Inputs - The C450 has 3 HDMI's, 2 component, pc input, USB port for media viewing. See the Amazon specs for the complete input listing. It does not have an S-video input, but one of the component inputs doubles as an RCA jack, so if you have multiple older components to hook up, you could use an RCA splitter. IMO, if you're in the market for an HDTV and still have alot of older non HDTV components, save some money, go less expensive on the HDTV and buy some new components. The picture upgrade you'll get from new components is far more beneficial than what you'll get from a higher end HDTV. Enough inputs for me and it gets a bonus for multiple component inputs. Most just have 1.Value - Price was a big and probably the primary consideration for me; winner hands down; el cheapo C450. Ultimately, you give up some features, but I did not see enough picture quality and feature differences to justify the jump to the 1080p plasma at $600 more. Good value, good picture for your buck. Definitely a 5/5 regarding overall value.Other items-No internet apps. Was a consideration for me, but underwhelming reviews ultimately made it a non factor.Remote - the c450 remote is average at best. Its infared, and not super responsive. Keys are not backlit.Menus - orderly menu system, decent channel guide, relatively robust picture quality controls, including white balance, and multiple auto and sensor driven brightness options. Buzzing problem - my c450 does not buzz...there is what I would call some very high frequency electronic noise, maybe this is what people have complained about. I have a relatively small room, listen at low volume levels, and it has not been a factor for me.TV Stand - screws did not want to go in straight no matter what I did; after 30 minutes messing around with a screwdriver, I used my drill and hoped for the best; they worked their way through the hitch in the threads and fastened. Stand does not swivel like some, and TV does not seem overly sturdy. Comes with a cord to fasten to the TV and screw in the wall to help keep it from tipping.EDIT #1: I am noticing significant picture judder, in certain situations. Several specific commercials during the NCAA tournament, as well as live action. At first I thought it was my signal as I am using an antenna, but it happened consistently at the same time during the same commercials each time they aired as I was watching bball. I have experienced this on both NBC and CBS; both broadcast in 1080i. I have not experienced this on Fox or ABC who broadcast in 720p. I'm guessing it is a scaling/upconverting issue. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Samsung customer service was no help. Best Buy wasn't either, other than they said I could return it. I'm contemplating that option, but I really like the TV otherwise. I'm hesitant to purchase another C450. I'm not sure if it is a defective processor, or just a side effect of a processor that isn't always up to the scaling task.EDIT #2: Due to the aforementioned judder issues on 1080i signals, I took the C450 back to Best Buy yesterday. I ordered another and will post an update once it gets here later this week. The picture quality for the buck was second to none. It even dropped to $699 and I got $20 back with the order. Hopefully, the judder issues will be gone, and I do not get a "buzzer". My first one did not have a buzzing issue. Samsung has not completely remedied the buzzing problem on their plasmas per several other reviews I have read. It appears to be a hit or miss problem.EDIT #3: After nearly a month on my second model, the judder issues are still present on CBS which is broadcasting in a 1080i signal. It seems to get worse if I have "Film" mode on, as well as darker and/or fast moving scenes. However, it seems to be primarily limited to that one channel, so I'm once again wondering if its a channel signal issue. I'm perplexed to say the least. But, I've decided to keep the television, as the picture quality for the price is unmatched in my opinion.
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Great PQ, but HORRIBLE (delayed) brightness fluctuations
