Samsung 50C550 initial impressions.

Imrahn

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Disclaimer:I have always been a fan of Samsung LCD panels contrast-wise, and hence,plz take the main post with a grain of salt.But rest assured that i have tried my best to keep fanboyism to a minimum and is open to any sort of requests regarding feature testing the set for any fellow members looking to purchase the same set.Hope this post will come handy for someone.

So,some of u might remember that i had ordered a Samsung 50 inch Plasma 50C550 some 10 days back.I got the set around a week ago and these are the very first impressions on the set since it has had less than 60 hours of power on it so far.The impressions may vary with time and will update the thread accordingly.

A little background:First things first, this is my first ever Plasma purchase.It was a fear that kept me from checking out this technology and am sure its one that most of us share: Image Burn-In/TIR issues.Pricing was also a major factor especially of Full HD plasmas.Why i wanted FullHD is simple: I do lots of 1080p movie rip watching,bluray playback as well as console gaming.All these are best served when in "FHD" and i had no doubts that my mind would settle for ANYTHING lesser in the resolution department.

As i already owned a 46" LCD,wanted my next purchase to be bigger and within my budget.This part was taken care of by 2 'budget' models that cropped up this year, thanx to Samsung and LG.This made sense to me since i could get some good 'Full HD real-estate' without too much of a hit to my bank balance as compared to previous years' models.So, i tried some professional forums that endorsed plasmas and after some brief interactions with established professionals and reviewers, came to a happy finding - Burn-In is a non-issue these days and unless you are really striving for it, u will get none.So,having got my phobia of plasmas remedied, it was time to decide on which of the 2 to get:LG 50PK550 or Samsung 50C550.

Like I have mentioned in the disclaimer, I have always been a fan of Samsung display panels but almost a 7k difference between the 2 models made me seriously consider LG to the point of *almost* ordering one.The online reviews for the Pk550 were raving ones and it seemed they had a winner - until later revealed otherwise by fellow members here that LG had introduced a stripped down version of the PK550 here in India and the black filters and similar that helped it achieve some real good blacks and made it a 'toss up' between itself and Samsung were no more there.With this sour taste in mouth, i decided to do a one-on-one comparison between the 2 models which unfortunately didn't happen.I only managed to get a 30 minute glimpse of the LG 50PK550 which helped me understand the dreaded 'green dancing pixels' problem.It was very 'irritating' in black backgrounds somewhat reducing the deepness of the blacks and making it 'above average'.TIR was also very prominent with channel logos being embossed in color(!!!) in a black background where i was was expecting it to be a mere shadow of the logo or similar.The catch here was that the TV was running in some bright mode-so making an assessment here on the matter is not right me thinks. The reflective screen of the TV was pretty much 'mirror-like' but it was not a deal-breaker for me, coz if i had bought the plasma, i would easily have spent a bit more and see to it that the viewing room would be darkened up.Personally, I felt the mirror like finish did add a bit pop to the image,especially color and depth wise to the Dark Knight and X Men origins blurays that they played and motion was handled pretty nicely though i didn't go critical here.A few minute judders here and there,but nothing worth mentioning specifically.

So,on seeing the green pixels in action up close and personal,I had only one choice- going for the C550 without an audition as no one was stocking it.Called up a few dealers and didn't think twice when one of them offered it for 69k with free DVD player and another Onam offer to boot as well .He quoted a 3 day delivery period and I made my unopened,fresh piece and no-acceptance-if-opened policies very clear to them.So,they called me couple days after informing of the arrival and I went 2 days afterwards to collect the set.Was a fresh,fresh piece and after peeling off the screen guard, connected a cable connection,saw an AD and turned off,carried it home after making payment.

Glare:This TV won't bother much in this department unless u have a fluorescent lamp right opposite to the panel or a huge window with light flooding in.Much much less reflective than PK550 and i would say around 50% or more reduction in reflection was felt comparatively.

Buzzing: One of the highest concerns with getting Samsung plasma was admittedly reports of the horrible buzzing they seemed to make.Fortunately, this is non-existent in my case,atleast this far.When ear pressed to the screen,I can hear a very low buzz but that has to be the power supply and it ain't audible 2 -3 inches from the screen.

PQ:Turned ON the TV at home and the first thing I saw black background? Some TIR of the last ad we saw at the shop :) I was like "So much for lesser TIR than LG!!!" The TIR was very much there at 1 feet distance,with each channel casting a lighter shadow of its logo in a blank background.The logos were not colored as in LG i had seen but mere 'shadows' and I was trying out the 'Normal' and 'Movie' modes ,completely avoiding the 'Dynamic' mode.I switched the "Scrolling" option under the "Screen Burn protection" tab and a continuing whitewash was performed which removed ANY TIR in less than 20 seconds and the background was blank again even with nose to the screen inspection.So, finally, i was getting hold of the plasma tech and its usage policy.

I have 3 cable connections at home of which tried connecting Asianet Digital cable settop box and Reliance BigTV SD connection to the set.Simple roundup - "nothing spectacular."As expected, all the dirt and grain in the picture was enhanced and put out by the TV,the Asianet connection being ultra poor and Reliance being 'nice' to 'bad' depending on the channel.These were the initial minutes of the plasma's operation and as such, i was not much let down by this,especially since some channels in Reliance BigTV were very nice.So, i plugged in my USB drive containing some break-in slides, set it at Movie mode with everything @ around 25(out of 100) and left it.
Over the next couple days of break-in slides totaling to around some 20 hours, there was a definite and visual improvement in the picture quality.As it was still the early hours, i took contrast and brightness only to 50/40 range,but the SD picture quality was vastly improved with pixellations reduced to a a minimum now.Even the crappiest channels were now very much 'enjoyable'. PQ improvement here is something i would rate in the 50-70% upwards from what i saw in the first screening but i would attribute some of it to my eyes getting used to the TV.I would say that the panel does a great job of handling the poorest of poor signals(local cable) but can be quite revealing as well.News tickers were handled nicely without blur when tested though i have now removed them by zooming till break-in session ends.

After the 5th day, i decided to give some HD workout to the TV, copied the Shutter Island,A Christmas Carol(animation),Identity and Sin City bluray rips(all 1080p with DTS audio) and plugged in the USB drive to the side of the TV not expecting much in terms of compatibility with audio.Though I won't be using this USB feature for any movie watching, I am more than happy and a bit surprised to announce that TV was handling all 4 movies flawlessly with no stutter/audiolag issues.I tried seeking forward and backward and the audio was very much in sync with the video at all times.Sometimes, the video scrambled a bit just towards the end of a seek to go perfect the next scene onwards but i suppose it was the lowly USB drive playing up due to he high bitrate(10-15mbps).Now, i will try some rips with DTS HDMA audio and will report later.

Color:Yep, the colors were a bit too bumped up and 'hot'the first time TV played but seems it has come down a notch after these days of breaking-in.Earlier, I had to notch it down all the way from 50 to 25 but now, 30-35 seems good and more natural as compared to the first time.Although I am no expert, but still felt the color reproduction was a bit unbalanced with respect to both HD and SD signals, with a slight lean towards red or blue.But i think this can be somewhat remedied via the White Balance controls which i haven't yet tried since the TV is in the break-in period and even if not, its a very minor annoyance considering the amount paid for a set of this size.

I did try pushing the contrast all the way to 100 with HD for a few minutes and it was trademark Samsung quality-Simply outstanding.Brightness was left at 40 and Color at 50.Results were very genuine with contrast not pushing the white/black details but showing why Plasma is superior to LCD(read both as "budget" as i am not going into high end) in terms of black level and naturality.The Sin City rip was popping out with the special colorscale used in the movie(u know what i mean!) and shadow details in Identity were outstanding and skin tones were excellent and natural with Flesh Tone setting reduced to -5.There were some good dark scenes with lightning flashes int he movie and boy oh boy, wasn't it just gorgeous how the display handled the contrast in the picture.It really made me wish i had got a plasma earlier.'A Christmas Carol' starting credits were a fast moving camera across building tops and no jerkiness was detected,will try a few more famous panning scenes and will decide on it later.Shutter Island too was excellent but there a slight greenish tint on a pillar in the scene where Caprio was interrogating the asylum staff and seemed a bit off especially with someone reporting green posterization.Will try the rip again in the LCD and report whether it lies in the plasma or the rip.

Also, there are instances of pixel movement if viewed from less than 1 feet into the screen with dark shades but it blends very closely to a perfect image if moved back to 2+ feet.I suppose this is how plasma works(?) as this seems some sort of color reproduction technique.Not sure on this but this is in no way similar to LG's green dancing pixels.

Overall, the SD picture quality was "good" with improvement possible hopefully as i believe the set is still breaking in and HD quality was nothing short of amazing for the money i paid.Unfortunately,I couldn't get V20 to demo anywhere but with the deep black levels this set is providing, there is absolutely nothing i can complain.Even if i had the money to spare, I would keep the 40 grands as i think it can't get much better than this.and the fact that no plasma is trouble free.

SQ: Now,having owned a Samsung LCD with similar downfiring speakers,i knew what to expect from these.They are not crappy by any means and works pretty decently.In the "Standard" preset, there is a 5 or 6(?) band equalizer that does its job neatly.Bumping up the low freqs a bit and keeping the higher ones at center provided a good balance of bass and treble.It was in no way tinny and easily made voice delivery at all corners of the medium hall.All the Presets were delivering on their names(for eg:Clear Voice preset provided uhm.....Clear Voice :) and so on....).Afterall, the main requirement,atleast for me, in a TV is visual quality and Sound output is required only until i can get another AVR.but even if u are looking to run the TV speakers for normal TV viewing, have to say these puny ones deliver if u are not expecting some thundering bass and excellent tonality. :) These won't come near some LG model that i saw while checking out PK550, but won't make u so disappointed as to run for external speakers right away either.Very good and underrated speakers i would say.

Firmware:Checked online site and there was an update available.Though my set was August make, tried the July upgrade in the site.Copied to USB,plugged it in, TV reported valid upgrade and it was done in seconds upon confirmation.Earlier firmware was 1007 and the new one was 1010. Settings were all saved(I expected a reset of settings) and images appeared a bit more brighter and pinkish hue was reduced,not sure how different it will perform in HD after a bit of calibration,will have to wait and see after break-in completes.

Plz understand that these are just the initial impressions on the set as conceived by me and as such, subject to change at any time for the better or worse, hopefully for the former.
 
thnks kittu im going to buy this tv during diwali because of all the discounts at that time btw when is diwali this year??
 
Very detailed review.Do you mean that this had less TIR compared to LG?
"So much for lesser TIR than LG!!!" "for" in this statement creates confusion.I also had to order without demo because no dealer is interested in selling these "inferior,old technology":rolleyes:

Why buy plasma go for lcd/led it is so much better they will say, not just dealers but even samsung people)

In my experience too there is marked improvement in PQ as the set breaks in

I also see the dotcrawl/dithering at close distances especially at dark areas

Movie mode with default color temp of warm2 was too yellowish for me so i use either normal or cool. and while viewing dth (big tv) i use standard mode with cell light bumped up, the default value of celllight is too low

Did you try the service menu mod to get cinemasmooth,i did that but couldnt see much difference and changed it back but didnt do any critical viewing
I think it takes some special movie scene to notice the difference clearly
 
@Kittu: Thanx mate, yes i got it for 68.5k with Samsung DVD player C-370 and 1000 bucks cash back via Onam offer.

Very detailed review.Do you mean that this had less TIR compared to LG?
"So much for lesser TIR than LG!!!" "fo"r" in this statement creates confusion.

I was actually referring to my frustration in seeing a good amount of TIR with the set where i was expecting a near TIR free display(i know,noobish!! :) ) from various user comments hailing Samsung for much much lesser TIR relative to LG.

"So much "hype" for the lesser TIR than LG!!!" and that was a sarcasm.

But there it was, the very first run at home and I was seeing "Surya TV" logo's shadows and some other unindentified shadows as well form the last test we did at showroom.

Was it less than in LG? Yes, both intensity-wise as well as quantity wise.The PK550 i saw was a demo piece with some good run-in time and it was still exhibiting loads of TIR but have to factor in that they were running sources notched up contrast and brightness.The Samsung on the other hand showed a sharp decrease in the TIR property right from the first few hours of break-in but still, i was very much disappointed with the TIR on first run.Will have to give Samsung and Panasonic higher points for handling TIR better but its very much there and clearly perceivable,and thats a fact.I just take it as a minor annoyance of the plasma technology,that's all.

I also had to order without demo because no dealer is interested in selling these "inferior,old technology":rolleyes:


Why buy plasma go for lcd/led it is so much better they will say, not just dealers but even samsung people)

Very much the same experiences here mate....Bought a 46" LCD 6 months back and the tech who came to install it was like "You should have totally gone for LED man, it just rocks!!!LCD is dead tech now"

"Then gimme the frigging extra 70k, u moron!!" was the first reaction that came to my mind,but was really happy with my purchase that didn't want someone to spoil it for me.

This time,the dealer was doing a LG only exclusive demo at an auditorium and so, he was a bit more into promoting plasma as LG were pushing Plasma much better than Samsung or Panasonic(Kudos to them!!)I asked about Samsung plasma after demoing PK550 and he immediately called up someone and later called me back and gave 69k quote.I was impressed as others were quoting in the range of 73 to 75k and were not at all keen on updating me.

But the samsung techie who came last time came along with another senior guy and this time, it was his turn.

"Sir,did u check the Samsung 3D LEDs?"

"Yep,re...was good"

"Then why would u go for this is beyond me"

Good thing i didn't have the TV remote with me then,else would have smacked his head right into the display with it and yelled "This is WHY!!!"

Last year, samsung was pushing LED like no tomorrow and LCD suffered,had to run around in circles looking for a Series 6 LCD and had to settle with Series 5 LCD.
This year,they are pushing 3D LED and all other techs-LCD,LED and Plasma suffered.

In my experience too there is marked improvement in PQ as the set breaks in

I also see the dotcrawl/dithering at close distances especially at dark areas

Ditto here mate.... :)

Movie mode with default color temp of warm2 was too yellowish for me so i use either normal or cool. and while viewing dth (big tv) i use standard mode with cell light bumped up, the default value of celllight is too low

Just using Standard mode here so far with everything bumped down and occasional Dynamic mode break-in.Tried Avatar 1080p in standard mode full glory(Contrast 100-Brightness 45-Gamma -1,Black level-Darker,Color-55,Cell light-17etc) and it was mind blowing to say the least but was expecting it :) and that's why didn't test the movie first time and went for other movies.


Did you try the service menu mod to get cinemasmooth,i did that but couldnt see much difference and changed it back but didnt do any critical viewing
I think it takes some special movie scene to notice the difference clearly

Didn't try yet,but will do for sure....what source did u try with ? I won't be doing any Bluray playback,just bluray rips from PC- have asked a few experts if the CS smooth options is available with normal movie rips like mkv encoded with 24-30fps or whether it needs a Bluray feed to get it enabled. It would be awesome if u could test the same and report.
 
I thought you were being sarcastic just wanted to be sure.
I am away from home for the last 20 days so couldnt do any further experiments, i will try the cs with different sources but i am not sure when i get back to india

in my experience moviemode gives u best blacks ,almost bezel black but my folks always want me to change to dynamic with full glory and eye popping colors so i dont bother calibrating this for now, i will let their excitement cool down

Yes there is tir but it will defenitely get better as the set breaks in , i guess you know that already. i havenot seen TIR in color sofar even when my sister's occasional movies in dynamic mode.(this is after 150-200 hrs )

I am not sure the dotcrawl in dark areas and on people faces is inherent with plasma tech(you can see this mainly when you see compressed rips and ofcourse in sd you will see all sorts of issues upclose ).I compared the playback thru usb and thru hdmi from pc with my hd5850 graphic card doing the processing.
With PC the downloaded 720p rips(4-6gb files) look as good as blurays. no dotcrawl even at one feet. and the details are much better

So from this i am convinced that usb playback is not such a good idea(you have already said that in your review), i see people going for a particular tv just because it plays more formats thru usb. i would say they are better off with a mediaplayer with hdmi
 
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@Imrahn & @borg
Could you both please comment on the posterisation/color banding problem referred to here --> *WARNING* I am facing major color banding issues with the Samsung PS50C550.

I do want to mention that I seem to have started noticing the problems only after I had accessed the 'service menu'. I fear that I may have inadvertantly changed some settings in the 'service menu'. The reason for this is that I had played around with the settings without realizing that instead of there being a special/seperate button or procedure to save changes, all changes are saved automatically upon exiting the service menu. I may have turned off the TV without reversing changes I made. I suppose the only way to confirm this would be to match the settings of the service menu with someone else who has the same TV.


PS: Procedure to access the 'service menu'

1. With the TV in standby, press 'INFO -> MENU -> MUTE -> POWER' buttons on the remote.
2. The TV will turn On with the Service Menu displayed.
3. Press the 'POWER' button to exit the Service Menu. <-- DO REMEMBER THAT ALL CHANGES ARE SAVED AUTOMATICALLY
 
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Hi Sanjay,

Do u have any pic of the above mentioned problem? Even a mobile shot would do.I haven't tried entering the Service Menu yet, and yea, it does Save and Quit once u hit the Power Button.
 
Plushly had this problem and he had posted some pics here
http://www.hifivision.com/television/11338-pk550-vs-c550.html
He said he got his set replaced and now everything is fine

@sanjay
I had only changed model number to c590 to get cinemasmooth, didnt touch the other settings,i have read somewhere you need to reset while exiting or brightness settings will be off, i did that

I will go into the menu and take some screenshot of values once i getback home, but when i dontknow:sad:

If we can get our hands on the service manual:licklips:, it will have all the values and info we need
 
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imran can this tv play HD movies directly from a harddisk and are mkv files supported for this telly do reply.
 
^^I didnt try from an HDD but it played flawlessly from a USB and i have clearly mentioned it in the first post itself bro.

Quoting it for ur convenience.

After the 5th day, i decided to give some HD workout to the TV, copied the Shutter Island,A Christmas Carol(animation),Identity and Sin City bluray rips(all 1080p with DTS audio) and plugged in the USB drive to the side of the TV not expecting much in terms of compatibility with audio.Though I won't be using this USB feature for any movie watching, I am more than happy and a bit surprised to announce that TV was handling all 4 movies flawlessly with no stutter/audiolag issues.I tried seeking forward and backward and the audio was very much in sync with the video at all times.Sometimes, the video scrambled a bit just towards the end of a seek to go perfect the next scene onwards but i suppose it was the lowly USB drive playing up due to he high bitrate(10-15mbps).Now, i will try some rips with DTS HDMA audio and will report later.
 
yes it plays from hdd too, iirc one of the usb port is marked hdd, didnt play m2ts files, but looks like there is a workaround, i havenot tried though
 
Yesterday me and my friend went to demo various TV's at a TV showroom and actually liked the Plasma more than anything else. It was 42C450. The salesman actually told us that people buy LCD's in India because of Bhed Chaal. People all over the world prefer plasmas. BTW, in case of the 720p avatar sample file I took along, the Plasma actually looked much better The skin looked so animated and artificial in LCD.

The only downside I saw, plasmas couldn't display the sunny scenes too well. It was like watching the sunny scenes with dark glasses on. Does that happen with all the plasmas?
 
Yesterday me and my friend went to demo various TV's at a TV showroom and actually liked the Plasma more than anything else. It was 42C450. The salesman actually told us that people buy LCD's in India because of Bhed Chaal. People all over the world prefer plasmas. BTW, in case of the 720p avatar sample file I took along, the Plasma actually looked much better The skin looked so animated and artificial in LCD.

The only downside I saw, plasmas couldn't display the sunny scenes too well. It was like watching the sunny scenes with dark glasses on. Does that happen with all the plasmas?

strange....something to do with calibration ?
 
^^ Seems so.....since most shops keep plasmas at low intensity levels to prevent burn-in.
@BACCILUS: Did u get a chance to edit display settings ? I can vouch that plasmas can display as bright as an LCD display, but usually not needed in home conditions.Shop conditions are entirely different case though.
 
^^ Seems so.....since most shops keep plasmas at low intensity levels to prevent burn-in.
@BACCILUS: Did u get a chance to edit display settings ? I can vouch that plasmas can display as bright as an LCD display, but usually not needed in home conditions.Shop conditions are entirely different case though.

Yes, he gave the remote to me. The showroom was actually very bright. I took the brightness to 75 and sharpness to 50. The only thing looking better on LCD were the sunny scenes and animation movies. I had taken the big bunny movie with me. And I remembered it was the 50" plasma I was comparing against 42C530.
 
^^well,in a side-by-side comparison with an LCD/LED, that can occur as LCDs provide a bit more 'pop' and thats what i meant by shop conditions being different to home conditions.Once in home under controlled lighting,plasmas will show their real color(pun intended :) ) Its all about the 'natural' feel of the plasma vs the extra 'pop' of the LCDs.In normal viewing conditions in our home, i would keep the LCD backlight at 4-5 unless i am showing off to others and want eye searing output when i set the backlight to 10.What i am implying is that,if possible, ask the shop guys to turn off lights at the demo side and then u can make a better assessment IMHO.
 
Yes, that 'natural' color of plasma is what really took our breath away. Everything looked beautiful, no pixellation or anything. Even the 700MB Prince of Persia Rip looked stunning.
 
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hey - are you taking about home conditions during night hours? How is the performance during day hours with decent light - maybe thin curtains drawn.


^^well,in a side-by-side comparison with an LCD/LED, that can occur as LCDs provide a bit more 'pop' and thats what i meant by shop conditions being different to home conditions.Once in home under controlled lighting,plasmas will show their real color(pun intended :) ) Its all about the 'natural' feel of the plasma vs the extra 'pop' of the LCDs.In normal viewing conditions in our home, i would keep the LCD backlight at 4-5 unless i am showing off to others and want eye searing output when i set the backlight to 10.What i am implying is that,if possible, ask the shop guys to turn off lights at the demo side and then u can make a better assessment IMHO.
 
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