The
good: Highly accurate primary colors and color
temperature; above-average video processing with
effective noise reduction; oodles of picture controls
and settings; friendly, intuitive menu design;
handsome look.
The
bad: Subpar antireflective screen; black levels
not quite as deep as those of the best plasmas;
confusing picture mode arrangement.
The bottom
line: Accurate color helps set apart the excellent
picture quality of the Samsung PN50A550 50-inch plasma
TV.
Plasma HDTVs seem almost passe these days, but in our
experience they still produce generally better images than
LCDs. The mid-price 50-inch Samsung PN50A550 reviewed here
provides a typical example of what plasma can do right. Its
color accuracy is superb, it produces a very clean image,
and like all plasmas, its picture is much more uniform than
that of any LCD. Home theater sticklers seeking the darkest
black levels available will probably want to look at
another plasma model, but for those whose hearts aren't set
on LCD, the Samsung PN50A550 will definitely satisfy.
Design
The classically attractive PN50A550 looks almost exactly
like last year's
FP-T5084, although it's a tiny bit taller and narrower
overall due to the sliverlike hidden speakers mounted along
the bottom of the panel as opposed to the sides. The frame
is entirely gloss-black, about average thickness for a
plasma (heavier plasmas can't achieve the thin bezels found
on lighter LCDs), and there's a defeatable blue accent
light below the Samsung logo. The pedestal stand allows a
modest swivel range.
Including the stand, the Samsung PN50A550 measures 48.5
inches wide by 32.7 inches tall by 12.6 inches deep and
weighs 91.3 pounds, while when divested of stand it comes
in at 48.5 by 30.3 by 3.8 inches and 82.5 pounds. It's
compatible with the company's motorized, articulated
wall-mount, model PN50A550S1F ($1,999 list), as well as
third-party mounts.
Samsung redesigned its remotes for 2008, and for the
most part we like the new clicker better. The buttons are
larger and every one is backlit, and we like the dedicated
Tools menu that offers quick access to picture and sound
modes, the sleep timer, and the picture-in-picture
controls. We're not so fond of the glossy black finish,
however, which became a grimy fingerprint magnet after a
few minutes in our (admittedly grimy) hands.
The redesign extended to the menu system, which is
sleeker than before and blessed with big, highly legible
text set against transparent backgrounds that occupy almost
the whole screen. Getting around is easy, there's helpful
explanatory text along the bottom, and we dug the
context-sensitive menu that would pop up occasionally to
provide more options. Overall, it's one of the
best-designed and most-attractive menu systems we've seen
on any HDTV, and it really makes setup a breeze--except the
confusing picture mode arrangement