Samsung PN50B650 We bought this TV after 3 months of research and analytics. In the end in our analysis Plasma won over LCD and Samsung won over Panasonic.We were decided on the Panasonic G10 but made a switch at the last minute with this deal to save some extra $$. We may also have a Sammy bias as we have owned 3 Samsung TVs so far and are very happy with their performance and service.
First on Amazing Amazon – This was our first big electronics deal on Amazon. No sales tax + free dly = no brainer ! Amazon gives you the best deal – period. We chose standard delivery and were lucky to get the TV delivered at home in 3 days !! Very professional and courteous folks from CEVA brought the big package one level up the stairs, unpacked and hooked it up for us. Very smooth! This beats site to store/pick up from any big box retailer.
Now on the Amazing Samsung TV – amazing colors and contrast – our other TV is a Sammy LCD hdtv and we feel Plasma picture quality is way superior than LCD. LED LCDs are comparble/better but almost $1k more expensive at same size.
Having watched CRT most of our growing years we are tolerant to a bit of glare and chose not to shell out extra money to avoid it completely. This TV reduces glare to a large extent but you still get some if light source is in direct reflection path. a non issue for us. Also while we worry about the image retention /burn in issue we have not seen any so far even though we watch all the regular news channels and logo channels as before. Again possibly we are not looking for it so do not notice when it does happen for a while and then it gets corrected automatically in a few minutes. We mainly watch Cable TV and on weekends watch a few DVDs. The TV is in its 2nd week now and we are taking precautions like making the picture larger to fit screen or in wide mode. The in built pixel shift process for preventing image retention is also in the ON mode and working I guess. Will update after the break in period is over.
We have no issue with the sound on this TV – we use direct sound from TV as well as have it wired to a 5.1 Sammy Home Theater system which we use only switch to for the movies or special progrmas.
Size was another factor we had trouble deciding. From 46 to 55 inch we finally decided it had to be 50. 46 is aso a decent if you are upgrading from a 32 or 37 and 50/52 is as good as 55 if you want a bigger look. The difference is more noticable in showrooms with TVs side by side – otherwise even after months of looking at TVs we get fooled into thinking a lone 46 on the wall is a 52 or that a 50 is a 54- to us they all look equally big in isolation.
Overall we are very happy with this purchase and recommend it strongly to anyone looking for a good TV with a great picture and at a great price.
Reviewed by : kitkat “kitkat”, Jan 8, 2010
