Samsung PN42A450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

5 comments

1. 

   James Mooney on September 27, 2009 at 6:19 am

   I orded a Samsung PN42A450.It has been sitting in Orlando for five days because Amaxon does update they’re files.I had complete shipping information on the order including phone number but the shipping company has a two year out dated number. Could have purchased at cc for the same price and had less hassle and …tax

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2. 

   Stoy G. Bailey on September 27, 2009 at 8:12 am

   I have attached an HD amplified antenna, but cannot receive good HD broadcasts. I am told it might be the broadcaster’s problem, but I am concerned that the problem may be in the TV itself, and I don’t want to wait too long before getting it fixed. What should I do?
   
   The set was delivered all right, but the driver was in a big hurry to leave and did not help set the set up.
   
   I appreciate the offer to let me pay over time without interest charges.

3. 

   Great Movie Addict on September 27, 2009 at 8:40 am

   When you see a digital tv in a typical showroom, you’re watching a set configured for juiced-up color, pushed reds, artificial edge enhancement, and the kind of comic book/screensaver imaging preferred by today’s consumers with an uneducated eye for accuracy. But Samsung advertises the benefits of over 20 picture and color controls that allow you to customize and calibrate this set to NTSC color specs (NOTE: “ATSC” is a transmission spec that has nothing to do with image color. All SD and HDTV images are still broadcast and manufactured by NTSC and D65 color specs. The NTSC spec for SD color is Rec.601, for HD and BluRay it’s Rec.709. This set’s RGB offset and gain supposedly support both standards). But once this set was shipped and set up, it was immediately apparent that factory settings would put green streaks in Marilyn Monroe’s platinum blonde hair, and dark actors like Morgan Freeman had cheery-red skin that looked as if Morgan hadn’t washed off all the green and blue war paint he wore in a previous movie somewhere. Shadows were purple, green, or red, never black or gray. I used a pro-grade colorimeter and calibration software to tweak this set’s picture controls (the user-provided RGB setups are the same as those in the set’s Service Menu). Test patches revealed severe color errors in the PN42A450’s decoder and some really screwy manipulations by the Chroma processor, especially at low IRE’s. These appear to be the same decoder and chroma chip Samsung has used for years, and they have the same color problems I used to see on older Samsung CRT’s. I paid $$$ to a certifed ISF tech to look over this unit; his conclusion was that none of the A450 plasma or LCD tv’s could be calibrated to D65 spec at any point, due to encoder and chroma chip problems (he was honest enough not to charge the fee for a full calibration). The settings he came up with, we both agreed, were no better than those I could have achieved on my own. It’s now too late to return this product. On top of that I noted the display taking on pink streaks and smudges that won’t go away; they are especially annoying in b&w movies like “Dr. Strangelove”. The streaks and smudges actually come from Samsung’s menu screens. The obvious and inconvenient cure: never use the onscreen menus in this tv. You can even see the smudges in color broadcasts. I suppose that people who’ve been watching cheap uncalibrated GoldStar CRT’s for the last 25 years would consider this kind of color performance to be “great”. Gosh, they say, you can count the pores and warts on faces and see the hairs in their noses. If watching pores, warts, and nose hair is your idea of home entertainment, you’re welcome to it. The tv does have a very sharp image, even with SD material. But the color is ludicrous and the menu burn-in problem has largely been eliminated in competing products of this type. If you want inaccurate, exaggerrated, comic-book color and weird shadow color casts (which seem to be very popular with gamers and PC freaks), this is the product for you. But if you’re used to enjoying accurate color and image depth, and don’t like low-gamma clay-face effects or crimson blotches on women’s chests, I suggest that you should avoid this product. I’ve seen cheap Walmart CRT’s that don’t have color problems as severe as these. Almost every digital display made today has similar problems. As for the absurd 10,000:1 contrast ratios tv makers like to advertise: the actual contrast ratio here is somewhere around 450:1, which is typical for HDTV’s. For those of us who spent years enjoying the accurate images on well-made, well-calibrated CRT’s, it’s a sad day.

4. 

   Raymond on September 27, 2009 at 8:43 am

   I have a PS3 and i thought i would not be able to display 1080p. but i was curious so i set my PS3 to 1080p in the display options menu thinking the screen would just go black or blank or would say “mode not supported” but the screen when to black for a second and then came back at 1920×1080 i pressed the info button on the remote and it said 1920×1080 @60Hrts, BUT when i set my PS3 to 720p the info says 1280×720p @60Hrts, or when i set my PS3 to 1080i it says 1920×1080i @60Hert the difference the “p” or the “i” when PS3 is set to 1080p it does not say 1920×1080″p” but at 720p it does. so make of that what you will, at 1080p it looks amazingly better then 720p, plus with a 20,000:1 on screen contrast ratio and a 3D sync out this is one hell of amazing display for the money.

5. 

   Joseph J. Checola on September 27, 2009 at 11:31 am

   Price for this unit was great, however you get what you pay for. The quality is not as good as an LCD. I have a 32″ Samsung and it is great. If I could return my Plasma I would. I would purchase an LCD.