Samsung PN42A450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV
Take your home entertainment experience to the next level with the Samsung PN42A450 plasma HDTV. The Samsung PN42A450 42" Widescreen Plasma HDTV with 720p resolution is big enough to transform any space into the ultimate home theater. Advanced features like a FilterBright to protect against glare and 100,000:1 dynamic-contrast ratio will simply amaze you and your guests. 1365 horizontal x 768 vertical pixel resolution presents video and text with outstanding clarity and resolution. Select Game mode with the touch of a button for advanced video-game action. The ACE silhouette editor eliminates visual noise from the deepest dark tones. SRS TruSurround XT offers natural, lifelike HD sound. TruSurround delivers a compelling, virtual surround sound experience through the two speaker internal playback system. Samsung Digital Natural Image engine dramatically improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, and white balance. Entertainment Mode allows customized picture settings, optimized for different content. Universal Anynet Plus HDMI-CEC allows peripheral devices such as a DVD player to be controlled by TV remote control. Side A/V ports provide easy connections so you can connect a camcorder, digital camera, or any other digital device with no hassles. V-Chip system allows blocking of rated TV and movie programs determined by the parent to contain objectionable content. 13650 x 7680 pixel resolution 175-degrees viewing angle Natural True Color with 18 bit color processing NTSC/ATSC tuners with Clear QAM Sports/Game/Movie modes via hot key 10-watt per channel built-in audio amplifier Direct down-firing speaker system Auto pixel shift (user programmable) Signal pattern processing function Ports - 3 HDMI High Definition Multimedia Interface (2 rear/1 side), 1 Side S-Video, 1 Side Headphone, 2 Rear component video inputs, Side and rear A/V inputs, and 1 Rear PC input (D-sub) Dimensions - Widt
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Samsung PN42A450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Reviews
The best configuration was setting it to just plain "720P" output and setting the Samsung TV to "Just Scan" (as opposed to "16:9") - sounds goofy, yes, but this makes the whole screen show up correctly, whereas with "16:9" - the edges get clipped. Highly recommended. Using this method my PC (using an nVidia 7900 GS card) allowed me to output plain 720P output to the TV, that the video drivers allow output to be manipulated many ways. However, If your video card has a DVI output you can buy a DVI-to-HDMI adapter (as cheap as $6 some places), and connect that to the TV using a plain HDMI cable. I thought this was a bit of an oversight by Samsung since it is a 720P widescreen, so a native resolution of 1280x720 would make more sense. For those that, like me, want to hook up a PC to this TV, note that while it has a DB15 input, you can only use that for 1024x768 output - which is a 5:4 screen ratio, so on the widescreen, everything gets flattened a little bit, and while the TV allows you some options for zooming in on, say, component input-video sources, it doesn't allow this for the DB15 input. Using that setting, you can output anything you want from the PC to the TV - games (Halo, for instance, ran great), DVDs from the PC, or even HDTV from the PC (using the PC as a "DVR").
We have a Comcast HD box and there seems to be no problems whatsoever in the signal; the HD channels look fantastic. We're awaiting an upconverting DVD player and HDMI cables to complete the purchase. For our apartment, the 42" is almost too big- it's certainly far more tv than we are accustomed to and for those jumping from CRT's to this, there will certainly be a "Wow." moment. Set up was very easy.
I believe the contrast ratio is better than the similarly outfitted Panasonic model. The picture is just great, though we are leaving the settings on low brightness/contrast for the first 100 hours as several sites recommend (though the risk of imagine burn-in seems to be quite low for these newer models). Update: After the first 100 hours, we turned up the brightness and contrast (leaving the mode as "movie", which seems to be the best unless there is a glare), and the picture is great. Of course they won't compare to surround sound theatre systems- what would. A great HDTV at a tremendous price.
But I can't imagine expending that kind of money in this economy and I can't imagine that the marginal improvement is at all worth the cost. We did buy it from Circuit City so that it could be picked up the next day and take advantage of no interest/no payments specials. While I will leave the technical talk to those best suited for such commentary, I can say that we are extraordinarily pleased. We just purchased this Samsung 42" 720p HDTV today; it is our first HDTV.
Some have complained about the sound- I find the speakers more than adequate and the sound fills the room. But at $750, there is no buyer's remorse here. It was also very difficult to put this into our little Infiniti G20; we actually had to take it out of the shipping box and transport it with just the styrofoam (risky, but we were only driving a few miles).
Some people just like to whine about these supposed shortcomings. I do recommend having this shipped to you "white glove" service as the tv is 67 lbs and somewhat unwielding. After waiting a couple years to buy an HDTV, following various models and prices, we finally pounced on this product when the price dipped down to $750. I have heard worries about Samsung's longevity- but don't know that anyone has anything more than anecodatal evidence of that (knock on wood).
. I am sure there are finer points to the $2-3k hdtv's and for some bigger is always better.
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. 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.
I couldn't be happier. I would recommend shopping in the stores to see the picture first then when you have made your decision compare the stores and on line. I am not a real technical person so the reviews with all the details helped. I purchased the Samsung PN42A450 42in Plasma a couple of months ago. Has an excellent picture, easy to adjust and makes watching HD a completely new experience. Went with the 720p vs the 1080 and can't tell the difference. Did a lot of reseach and looked at the reviews on Amazon.
The picture is great and the TV is so good that it even almost completely unscrambles the channels on my cable that I would otherwise have to pay for. I hooked it up to my surround sound and other than the sometimes annoying backwards feel of the remote nothing has been less than excellent. '08). This TV has been very good so far. All in all, great TV for the price at the time that I bought it (sept.
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