Samsung PN50A450 Great TV

I have been saving and doing research for the last year for a flat panel TV and I could not be happier. I have read all about 1080p vs 720p and plama vs LCD and I am completly satisfied with this TV. You can not beat the price and the picture looks great. From the naked eye I could tell no difference between this TV and the 1080p version. I have had no issues and I do not think you need to spend $500 or more for a differnt TV. If you are looking for 50" or glorious TV, you have found it.

Samsung PN50A450 Bang For My Buck WOW

WOW For the money this TV has the best picture. No flaws and AMAZON go it to me super fast.

Samsung PN50A450 VERY impressed..

Well, I had my reservations. Was 720p 'good' enough? Was the 'burn-in' going to be an issue if I played Halo or other video games?

After spending time with this TV I've learned that 720p looks INCREDIBLE from 7' away in my living room, the color & definition are fantastic even at cool color temp. and low brightness / contrast, and there's no burn in at all after playing hours of Halo (it was justified, I had to celebrate my new TV a little bit).

All my doubts were erased as soon as I got to know this TV. It's got a breathtaking picture and looks sleek, too.

NOTE: I got this at Circuit City, not Amazon. As of Sep. 23, 2008, CC has this for $999, $100 cheaper than Amazon's price. Just something to note when you're shopping around.

Samsung PN50A450 You get what you pay for" does not apply here!

See settings at the end of the review.

I spent weeks looking at 52" LCDs, 50" plasmas and even some Samsung DLP TVs. I was prepared to fork over close to two thousand dollars for a TV until I got the chance to view this set at a local store with a Blu-ray player hooked up. I was instantly sold and felt a bit stupid for having put so much effort into the higher end TVs. Sure they are 1080p with better processing and darker black levels, but was it worth the price difference? No way. For the money saved over, say, a 650 series or 800u Panasonic, I am now able to afford some much-needed furniture and window curtains for my whole house.

The accurate colors in this set really give you a great cinematic experience. The black levels could be better, but they're about the same as you'd see in the theater. With the correct settings, the shadow detail is great and far better than the LCDs I've seen, which seem to lack in this area. I also LOVE the natural sharp image from plasmas in general (720p OR 1080p). LCDs and DLPs always seem to have a smeared/unnatural kind of look to me and always seem to either be soft looking or over-sharpened no matter how much I play with the settings. The lack of motion blur really shows in gaming and movies alike. Again, a very theater-like experience. Plasma is THE way to go, and this TV is the best way to get into it without breaking the bank.

I play Xbox360 with this and the picture is sweet. The racing games have a cool arcade-like feel with no motion blur! That alone makes it seem sharper.

As far as burn-in goes, just keep the settings reasonable (see below) and you don't have to worry about burn-in. For good measure, I run the scrolling burn-in protection occasionally just to even things out. I went through the break-in with a break-in DVD I got from the AVS forums, do a search. Thus far, I have NO problems with any sort of burn in or even temporary image retention (IR) and I don't bother to stretch letterbox movies to take up the whole screen.

For watching standard-def DVDs, I have a Phillips 5990 upconverting DVD player hooked up via $1.80 HDMI cable (all purchased on Amazon). This will squeeze out every last drop of quality from the DVDs. I was amazed at how good the DVDs look with this combination. Still nothing close Bluray, but you will appreciate your DVDs all over again.

Then of course, HD content will blow your mind for the price. For Bluray, I'm using a PC. For TV, I'm pulling OTA HD digital channels from a super cheap RadioShack UHF antenna. I find myself turning the TV on and watching the news or Nightrider just for TV eye candy. My fiancé was making fun of me for watching Private Practice with her the other day.

Pros:
CHEAP!!!
Incredibly sharp picture
Perfect colors when calibrated
Built in burn-in protection, but not really needed
It's a plasma! (A very pleasant and naturally sharp looking picture over LCD)

Cons:
Black levels could be better

Here are my settings, as taken and slightly modified from a calibrator in the AVS forums. Those not mentioned are default. Please note, that if you are used to defualt "Dynamic" or "Standard" settings, the following settings will initially appear very dull and not as bright. I promise, give it a few days, watch a few movies to get used to it and you will appreciate it. Go back to the way you were watching it and you'll see how garish and overblown the default settings really are

Settings were changed on 1/27/09 to match a new, more accurate calibration from the AVS forums. Stunning picture quality. It makes LCDs look terrible.

(Viewing distance is 10')

Mode: Movie
Color Temp: Warm2
Cell: 10
Contrast: 77
Brightness: 46
Sharpness: 15
Color: 47
Tint: G48/R52

Detailed:
Black Adjust: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Gamma: +1 (actual calibration calls for zero, but I like +1)

Color Space: Custom
Red: R50 G0 B5
Green: R0 G44 B6
Blue: R0 G0 B50
Yellow: R47 G48 B7
Cyan: R0 G54 B50
Magenta: R63 G0 B50

White Balance:
R-Offset: 21
G-Offset: 25
B-Offset: 20
R-Gain: 30
G-Gain: 25
B-Gain: 46

Samsung PN50A450 Can never watch sports in SD again!

Only had the TV for a week, and I use the settings that CNET recommends for a dark room, and all I can say is WOW! I wasn't planning on purchasing an HDTV until next year, but with the baseball playoffs and total price of this set ($999); I just couldn't wait any longer. I spent hours in stores looking at TVs and reading online sites (consumer reports) and this was by far the best TV for the money. I cannot tell the dif between 720 and 1080, though it doesnt matter anyway because I do not have an HD DVD. I have had no issues with burn-in or reflections, even when all of the lights on or sun shining into my living room. My old CRT TV had more reflection issues than this TV does. This TV is just amazing, and I now find it impossible to watch sports in anything, but HD!

Samsung PN50A450 Great

It's simply a great TV, I compared it to my friends 52 1080 LCD Touch Of Red Samsung, and not even for a moment did I regret this purchase.
Phenomenal value/price ratio!

Just be aware of burn in limitations of Plasma TV (zoom in picture when watching 4:3) and have your brightness/contrast settings on 50% or less, an you will be very happy! I had it for over 3 months now and no problems at all.

Samsung PN50A450 Great Plasma TV!

I did a lot of research before buying this product, including reviews on CNET and pricing trends. I also researched how much difference there would be between the 720p and the 1080p. Since programs are not shown in 1080p and won't be for a couple of years, that was not an issue. If you are not a blu-ray disc dvd owner, it also is not an issue. For me, having this as my first upgrade to a regular TV, I was blown away. The TV arrived in 4 days even though Amazon stated approx. 10 days. The TV was packaged well. As this 50" was going in my bedroom that has an ajacent wall that is entirely window (approx 10 ft X 8 ft) I was greatly concerned about the glare since I have no curtains of any type. Well the anti glare coating is perfect and I can watch TV any time of day with no problems. The colors are great and there are a lot of adjustments that can be made. Best Buy offers to go out and calibrate the TV for approx. $350. Save your money and do it yourself. You can spend as much time needed to tweak it as you spend more time in deciding what looks best for your taste. Definately need to have the cable box for Hi-Def or you are wasting your money on the TV. The Hi-Def colors and clarity are incredible. So I couldn't be any happier with my choice of TV and when I am ready for another 50" for the living room, I will buy the same TV or the 1080p if the price comes down more at year end. I highly recommend this TV

Samsung PN50A450 Very pleased

Just purchased after looking at a lot of plasmas and lcds. The picture was sharpest of any, including many expensive 1080p sets. As virtually nothing outside of blu-ray is 1080p and virtually all channels are 720p, there seemed no compelling reason to pay twice as much for 1080p. And I'm very glad I didn't as this set looks great using Dish Network and broadcast HD using an antenna.

Also, using a PS3 for blu-ray playback, the picture is tremendous (and the games look great in HD as well). Upconverted DVDs through the PS3 are also very good looking. No problems at all with the sound, sync or otherwise. All in all, I'm very pleased with the purchase.

Samsung PN50A450 Beautiful TV to create your own Home Theater with!

We purchased this TV and received it last week on 6/11/2008. After calibrating it and getting all my systems hooked up to it, it is just beautiful and flawless. It looks amazing too! I use it for my PS3 (Blu-ray too!), Xbox, Wii, N64, and Dreamcast. It does an amazing job making everything look great. I had two struggles getting this TV:

1. Burn in fear - But after much research I have found there isnt much to be afraid of with this TV. It comes with anti burn in technology and from everything I have read this is a non issue with the newer TV's and can be totally avoided with care (in other words just dont have 20 hour marathons of Metal Gear).

2. 1080p vs. 720p - I really struggled with this debate. I did a lot of reading, talking with friends, and checking with experts. Long story short...it really doesnt make much of a difference. It makes a tiny difference but that is only on a few medias and even once it is on all media's it really wont make that much of a difference. It is only one aspect to look at. Others include black levels, contrast, ect. The PN50A450 handles all of these wonderfully.

Bottomline...if you are having to watch your budget and you are sitting 7 - 12 feet away from your TV...then THIS is the TV to get. Shipping on the product was great. We received this from CEVA shipping and they were great. They called ahead of time and were very prompt, courteous, and they even took the TV out and hooked it up for us.

EDIT: One more thing to add...I have now had this TV for 2 months and still LOVE it. I downloaded and burnt a break in DVD to minimize image retention. It is important if you buy this TV to break it in before you allow static images for longer than a couple of hours on the screen. After you break it in though you should be fine. I plan on running the break in DVD for a total of 100 hours and will still do things in between running it. You can get the break in files to burn your own DVD here: avsforums.com

Edit #2: If you want another good forum to glean information off from go here: http://boards.ign.com/dvd_home_theater_board/b5043/p1
The guys at that board (most of them) are pretty savvy. Also I broke the TV in and I can see a DISTINCT decrease in image retention. Thanks Superman and Terrorbeast for directing me to do that!

Samsung PN50A450 I should never have bought it.....

because now, I'm going to be spending WAY too much time watching television. I bought this set sight-unseen. The price was the biggest factor coupled with some favorable reviews on CNET for other Samsung plasmas. I am no "videophile" so I can live with 720p resolution. Compared to my 10 year old, 27" Toshiba it's like seeing a TV for the first time. I have Verizon FiOS digital cable, which has quite a few high definition channels, so I flipped over to their high-def demo channel and I watched programs for hours that "BS" (Before Samsung) would probably have bored me to tears. I have a 480p DVD player that I can now watch in 480p, instead of 480i. I dropped in the movie "300" and it looked just as good as it did on the IMAX screen (IMO). I bought a component video cable for my Wii (don't forget to change the video setting to 480p) and was simply amazed at the clarity. It's not the most expensive, and some "experts" will not consider it to be the best plasma out there but I'm giving myself a big pat on the back. The piano black finish is like icing on the cake. I would, and will, recommend this TV to anyone.