"Samsung PN63B550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV", 2010-06-10
There were a lot of issues taken into consideration before finally deciding on this plasma TV. Extensive research through colleagues and Google was done before the purchase of this set. We bought this unit from EastCoastTV's. At the time they had the best price offered for a brand spanking new set, plus you don't have to pay till the product is delivered and powered up. A nice option for shopping securely. Now the TV:
First time we receive this behemoth, we were blown away by its picture size. Coming from a 32" Sony tube set, the picture on this is gigantic. Nowadays, guess we adjusted to its size and don't think its that big anymore, long as we don't watch any tv that's smaller..lol.
Initial set up and picture right out of the box was awesome. May be too bright for some, so tweaking to ones preference is a must. Some suggest using a video calibration brings out the total picture clarity but one can be expensive. I feel that at my previous settings, this is not needed. I set the viewing in standard mode and tried to keep the brightness, contrast, and sharpness approximately between 50-60%. Cell light I kept between 3-4. Read somewhere that this is important during the break in period (approx. 200 hrs. total watch time)of any plasma set. Trust me, with these settings, the tv is still bright. Also tweaked the dynamic settings and occasionally use it for blu-ray. This set is is in conjunction via HDMI with a Philipps upscaling DVD player, Optimum Cable HD box, and a 250G PS3 Slim. All audio are connected through my aging 5.1 Dolby Digital, Bose Lifestyle 12 system which served us for years and still kicking major @r$e.
Watched a few blu-ray on this set and its beyond ones viewing experience. Iron Man, Dark Knight, Kingdom of Heaven, and Pirates of Caribbean Box set showed spectacular clarity. Avatar so far is the best with its vibrant colors and amazing sound. I set my PS3 to play Blu-ray discs at 60 fps. I just prefer it this way because of its true HD presentation. In my eyes, full 1080p running at 60fps attains the best picture on this set. no lag whatsoever. This tv can handle it! You can also set to watch at 24 fps to give it more of that movie theater feel. But again to each his own.
PS3 games-so far I played, Red Dead Redemption, Asassin's Creed 2, Super Street Fighter 4 and yes my sons Sonic collection. The video game experience is like no other. Gaming is brought to another level when played on a big screen such as this. And did I mention 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound-Yeah baby!
As mentioned earlier, concerns to consider are as most of you already read;
Buzzing: this is not such an issue on my set (keeping fingers crossed). If I keep the volume on the tv above 6, its barely noticeable. When the surround sound is on, this is non-existent. Again this is only an issue when watching at extremely low volume levels.
Burn-in: So far so good-no issues here(again keeping fingers crossed..lol). Seriously, I hope with today's technology such as pixel shift available on most Samsung Plasmas, this will not be an problem. Again, use common sense! Avoid non-static images and pausing a scene for long periods of time. Try to use full screen as much as possible.
Heat build-up: An educated acquaintance told me of this trick. Use a fan and point the flow at the side of the set to keep the unit cool. Initially, there was heat build up that dissipated from the screen but pointing the fan helped it to be on the cool side. Now think for a moment. Heat build up and screen burn in goes hand in hand together. It's only logical to think that heat build on the screen is the culprit for a lot of burn in issues on most plasma screens. Nowadays, though the set doesn't heat up as much, I still turn the fan on in low setting for peace of mind.
Kids: Lol! I came home one evening and my poor lil then 1 1/2 was in time out crying. Turns out as per mommy, he took an ice cream scoop and was about to whack the screen, good thing she blocked it on time. Whew! If you have kids who are future baseball or football players, then I suggest you invest on a screen protector. Had mines custom made out of polycarbonate material, the kind is used on police riots. Did research on that as well and it turns out, the material is so tough that even when fired with a shotgun, it didn't break. Check out the videos on Youtube for polycarbonate vs. acrylic. Screen protector is well worth the investment.
If you can follow these precautions and want a big beautiful screen set with amazing picture clarity that is sure to wow you and your friends for a lot less than you would pay for an led tv, then definitely go with this plasma. You will not be disappointed.
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Update: I added pics of this TV along my home theater. Check out added customer pics.
"Great TV at a Great P{rice", 2010-05-09
The TV arrived as expected and was caried upstairs to the room I wanted it. The box was opened and taken away after making sure it worked properly. I was also looking at the Pano 65" tv but the value of this was significantly less for only 2" smaller. Picture looks great and was easy to mount on the wall. I would purchase again without any hesitation.
"Great TV", 2010-04-24
Bought this TV after about two weeks of research and couldn't be happier.
To test the image, I used the following:
Avatar on Blu-ray
PS3 (Blu-ray player)
Wow, is it amazing. The image is clear and detailed. I could see the pores of the characters' skin clearly. Colors are PERFECT (I cannot say this enough). Blacks are blacks, yellows are yellows, and whites are whites. Images move smoothy. One of the two scenes in Avatar which I feared the TV would have trouble with is the destruction of Hometree and Jake and Neytiri flying their Irkans, but to my surprise, it performed very well - not on the theater image quality well, but TV:size very well. Audio is good, however, I can't really comment as it's not something I use often. It is not something you would prefer over your own home theater system.
My only complaint with the TV is the buzzing. It was fine for a three weeks, but now the buzzing has become very irritating. I had my home theater system (cheap $500 dollar set) on max volume and I could still hear it during quiet scenes in Avatar. I plan on calling Samsung to get it fixed.
All in all, great TV.
"It's movie night every night!", 2010-04-06
I bought this set from the Amazon Warehouse over two weeks ago for about half of the list price. CEVA delivery service was very professional. They called about 15 minutes before arrival to let me know they were on their way. Two guys brought this heavy bad-boy into my house, and we did the customary testing to confirm that it works. It comes packaged already on its stand, and while it is quite attractive I think it is quite wobbly. We wall mounted it above our fireplace. Thankfully, my husband works in construction and was able to bring up a lift that uses an air compressor. We still had to ask a male neighbor to come give us a hand to raise the TV from the floor onto the lift(I am a weakling, and was of little assistance). We got an articulating wall mount and the part that attaches to the TV weighs about 30lbs. There is no way that we could have lifted this TV with mounting attachment (about 145lbs.) above our shoulders to connect to the wall plate. If you plan to do the wall mounting yourself, rent one of these lifts.
When the TV was on the floor, it did buzz for a brief minute. When I heard it I grasped the top of the bezel so I could turn the set around to hear where the sound was coming from. Then the buzzing stopped. I let go and it buzzed again. So I touched it in the same place, and the buzzing stopped. It has never happened again.
We are totally sold on Samsung TVs, and have purchased several (7 or 8) LCDs in the past couple of years for ourselves and family members. This plasma set replaces an LN52A550 that we really enjoyed, but I always wanted a ginormous set. We have a well-lit living room, but the TV doesn't directly face any windows. Although there is some reflection on the screen it is not enough to detract from the picture. We have not calibrated the set, but the picture is quite nice as it is. There are some minor changes that we will make later on. I know that LCDs and plasmas are different, but I do think that the plasma presents a richer looking picture. My husband says it looks the same to him. I hear there is a way to load the cinema plus feature found on the B590, and will try it out, but I don't think it that it's worth the extra few hundred dollars over the B550. If it works fine, if not, that's okay, because my TV rocks.
Our TV is connected to a 7.1 surround sound, so I cannot comment too much on the set's speakers. We don't have cable, and the picture quality of the local OTA channels is fantastic. The NCAA basketball games were fabulous to watch. with this size set, you can really appreciate how tall those kids are. We stream a lot of content through our HTPC that's connect to the TV, and games on [...] or shows on Hulu are quite nice, too.
But the best viewing experience is watching blu-rays. It rained like cats and dogs this past Sunday; which made it a perfect movie day. We re-watched Baraka and then watched the two version of Red Cliff. AWESOME!!! It will be a real long time before I step into a movie theater again.
There are other merchants who are selling this set with wall mount for under two grand. That's less than what we paid for the two items. I highly recommend that you take the opportunity to get this set,
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