+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen revealed no defective pixels. For some reason, the Panasonic had several bright red and blue pixels and its plasma screen "flickered" in brightness when trying to display bright images on dark backgrounds. The Samsung had no such problem. It's worth noting that the first Samsung I tried had a "noisy" plastic bezel surrounding the screen that made crackling noises as the TV warmed up. After some internet research, I found that very few owners have had this problem and it is solved by exchanging the TV for one that does not have the problem bezel. So, I exchanged my first 42B450 for a second unit and the second one makes absolutely no crackling noises whatsoever. Based on my research, I believe that a brief production run of the Samsungs were built in late 2009/early 2010 with some "noisy" plastic bezels. Again, most people do not appear to have this problem.

Overall, the Samsung is a better performer than the Panasonic. I really enjoy the color fidelity, sharpness, and user adjustments available on the Samsung 42B450. It's one of the best values among plasmas.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

why spend the extra $300-$400?

This TV has definitely exceeded my expectations for this price range. There's tons of display options to get the picture "just right" (it actually looks pretty good without messing with any of the settings though!). I play 720p HD movies off of my laptop by hooking up an HDMI cable up to it, and they look AMAZING. I've only had the TV for a couple of weeks, but so far so good!

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

of the same problem in an online forum.

Long story short, it works great. But if you plan on hooking up a PS3, be prepared that you might require a return trip to BB.

Other notes:
Have not found glare to be the problem plasmas are notorious for. My living room is fairly bright and reflections in the bezel are more distracting than the screen. Why not a matte bezel?

I miss the ability to mute/control volume piped out of the TV to external sound system that I had with my ancient RCA. Just a bit of Harmony reprogramming to work around that.

I work in HD TV and one of our emmy-nominated editors applauded my decision to go plasma over LCD. The picture just can be beat, even by LCD sets costing twice as much.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

of the same problem in an online forum.

Long story short, it works great. But if you plan on hooking up a PS3, be prepared that you might require a return trip to BB.

Other notes:
Have not found glare to be the problem plasmas are notorious for. My living room is fairly bright and reflections in the bezel are more distracting than the screen. Why not a matte bezel?

I miss the ability to mute/control volume piped out of the TV to external sound system that I had with my ancient RCA. Just a bit of Harmony reprogramming to work around that.

I work in HD TV and one of our emmy-nominated editors applauded my decision to go plasma over LCD. The picture just can be beat, even by LCD sets costing twice as much.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

of the same problem in an online forum.

Long story short, it works great. But if you plan on hooking up a PS3, be prepared that you might require a return trip to BB.

Other notes:
Have not found glare to be the problem plasmas are notorious for. My living room is fairly bright and reflections in the bezel are more distracting than the screen. Why not a matte bezel?

I miss the ability to mute/control volume piped out of the TV to external sound system that I had with my ancient RCA. Just a bit of Harmony reprogramming to work around that.

I work in HD TV and one of our emmy-nominated editors applauded my decision to go plasma over LCD. The picture just can be beat, even by LCD sets costing twice as much.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

of the same problem in an online forum.

Long story short, it works great. But if you plan on hooking up a PS3, be prepared that you might require a return trip to BB.

Other notes:
Have not found glare to be the problem plasmas are notorious for. My living room is fairly bright and reflections in the bezel are more distracting than the screen. Why not a matte bezel?

I miss the ability to mute/control volume piped out of the TV to external sound system that I had with my ancient RCA. Just a bit of Harmony reprogramming to work around that.

I work in HD TV and one of our emmy-nominated editors applauded my decision to go plasma over LCD. The picture just can be beat, even by LCD sets costing twice as much.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

LCDs definitely have the edge when it comes to "wow" factor with their bright, crisp displays turned up to the max. This is because people equate bright pictures with good pictures. In comparison, the plasmas appear more subdued and are not as "punchy" to get your attention especially when they're side-by-side with the LCDs. But the plasmas develop a deep, rich image that can't be matched by similar-priced LCDs with conventional backlighting. Go take a look at the plasma displays set up in the low-light environment of the Magnolia section of BB and the quality difference of plasma becomes apparent. The beauty of the plasma is that each pixel can be turned "off" and essentially emits no light -this allows for very deep blacks and higher-quality color reproduction. Conventional LCDs have a constant backlight that bleeds through the LCD matrix and this makes it difficult for LCDs to reproduce dark blacks. Plasma is also free of image lag when viewing fast moving scenes such as sports (something that even the best LCD's have a hard time resolving). Essentially, the plasma is the flat panel incarnation of the classic CRT with all of the performance benefits but without the huge size. At the current state-of-the-art, plasma pretty much dominates the home theater world due to its excellent color fidelity, fluid images, and deep black reproduction. If you can control the amount of ambient light in your viewing environment (e.g. no bright windows reflecting off the TV screen or strong overhead lighting) then plasma can't be beat. From what I have researched and personally experienced, a lot of people struggle to find their perfect LCD display. They never find it...until they finally try plasma and realize that's what they've been looking for all along! I narrowed down my research to two, similar, 42-inch plasma models: the Panasonic P42X1 and the Samsung PN42B450. With Panasonic's long-standing reputation for plasma technology, I decided to order the P42X1. This is a well-built unit with a massive stand and solid construction. After viewing some HD feeds (Discovery Channel, etc.) from Dish HD and performing some image adjustments recommended by online forums, I realized that the 42X1's lack of multiple user adjustments is a detriment to what could be excellent picture quality. You get brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness only. After several days of experimentation, I found that the color fidelity wasn't quite as good as that on my previous 32-inch LCD. Fleshtones on the 42X1 were more saturated than real life and color/tint adjustments could not make them perfect. A more disturbing effect was that the 42X1 had trouble displaying very bright images and very dark images on the screen simultaneously. It was a subtle effect but was very obvious when displaying the Dish Network program guide. In the Dish program guide, there's an inset "view" of the tuned-in program superimposed over the dark blue/gray program guide that fills the entire screen. When the images in the inset view would go to high brightness, the dark blue background of the program guide on the rest of the screen would shift or "flicker" in brightness, as well. For some reason, the TV was being fooled by the high-brightness in one small area of the screen and would adjust the brightness in other portions of the image (this used to happen on old CRT TVs). Unfortunately, this phenomenon also existed while watching normal HD programming -if one area of the image became bright then the darker areas would shift in brightness, as well. A very unusual effect but noticeable while viewing different programs. I also ran full-screen "plasma break-in" images of various color gradations and noticed that about a dozen or so red and blue pixels in the lower left area were somewhat brighter than the others. Of course, this could only be seen up close. There were also some small dirt/dust particles in a couple areas behind the outer glass but this didn't affect the quality of the picture when at a normal seating distance. I really wanted to like the 42X1 but had a hard time with several of the shortcomings mentioned above. I don't think my 42X1 was necessarily defective -that is just the way the unit operates and perhaps most folks won't notice these oddities. So, for comparison, I ordered the Samsung PN42B450 plasma (similar in size and price to the Panasonic). I had read very good reviews on the web and noticed that the picture appeared noticeably sharper when comparing the sets at BB. Once I got the unit set up at home, I could clearly see that the Samsung's color accuracy and contrast were significantly better than the 42X1. I set both the 42X1 and 42B450 side-by-side in our living room and did a comparison test, making tweaks to both units, as needed. Both TV's looked good but the clear advantage was with the Samsung in overall color fidelity, contrast, and fine detail. The wealth of picture controls on the Samsung menu makes it very easy to calibrate the black level, gamma, white balance, etc. -adjustments that cannot be made on the Panasonic user menu. It's clear that the Samsung plasma is well-suited to bright environments and it has several dynamic contrast adjustments to improve the "punchiness" of the picture if you so desire. As for the quintessential plasma black levels, I found that the Samsung could be easily adjusted to the same low black level as the 42X1 (to my eyes, anyway). As a matter of fact, after running several calibration test patterns for contrast and brightness, I found that the Samsung "black" was easier to fine tune at very low black levels. In contrast, the Panasonic could not display the dark gray patterns on my test disc no matter how much I adjusted the brightness and contrast adjustments. It's as though the Panasonic achieves its deep blacks by crushing shades of dark gray that are very close to black and simply turns them all to black. The Samsung had no such problem. Overall, I greatly appreciate that Samsung allows the user so many different adjustments to suit individual taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen (pixel-by-pixel) revealed no defective pixels at all (unlike the Panasonic which clearly had a handful of bright red and blue pixels scattered about). The Samsung also had no problem with displaying bright images on dark backgrounds and suffered none of the resultant "flickering" problems that were easily seen on the Panasonic. The only vices on the Samsung so far appears to be its somewhat wobbly stand (a minor drawback since the stand also allows the TV to rotate to suit the viewing position) and the fact that the plastic bezel surrounding the screen makes crackling noises as the TV warms up. OVERALL PERFORMANCE - SAMSUNG VS PANASONIC: PICTURE: Samsung wins this easily by virtue of its excellent color fidelity, contrast, and wealth of user adjustments. SOUND: Both have adequate down-firing speakers that are ok for casual listening. MENU: Samsung's menu system is extensive and easy to navigate. Panasonic's menu is very basic. FRONT CONTROLS: Samsung has expensive-looking, touch-sensitive controls on the front of the bezel where they are easy to see and access. Panasonic's controls are located on the side behind the tv and can be difficult to see. REMOTE CONTROL: Both are adequate but Samsung's is more stylish on the coffee table. INPUTS: Both units have similar quantities of HDMI and Component inputs. Samsung has a VGA connector input for PC; Panasonic has an S-Video input but no PC connection. Panasonic has an SD Card reader for easy photo viewing. The rear of the Samsung includes a built-in cable tie to bundle the wiring. STYLE AND APPEARANCE: The Samsung has a more attractive bezel with dark red accents. Panasonic's bezel is all black with an unfortunate, bright silver strip running along the bottom edge. Overall, the Samsung unit is thinner than the Panasonic. BUILD QUALITY: Both units have good construction and all-metal back panels. The Panasonic's base is remarkably sturdy and feels adequate to prevent the unit from tipping over. The Samsung's base rotates to allow different viewing angles but this results in a more wobbly base. The Samsung's bezel also emits tiny crackling noises as the unit warms up. QUALITY CONTROL: The Panasonic unit I tested had a dozen or more red and blue pixels that were brighter than the rest. This could only be seen up close to the screen. There were also two locations where dirt/dust was trapped behind the front panel glass. On the other hand, the Samsung unit had no pixel defects or trapped dirt/dust. Both TVs are built and assembled in Mexico. Overall, I'm very happy with the performance and features of the Samsung PN42B450. Every HD show looks fantastic and the Winter Olympics have never looked better. I was originally set on the Panasonic P42X1 but quickly found several performance shortcomings (poor color, brightness fluctuations, and pixel defects in my sample) that made me return it and switch to the Samsung. I own several Samsung products and they've consistently delivered high-style, excellent features, and good reliability. As usual, Amazon's price was excellent and their delivery service was prompt --only three days from order to delivery at my house.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

LCDs definitely have the edge when it comes to "wow" factor with their bright, crisp displays turned up to the max. This is because people equate bright pictures with good pictures. In comparison, the plasmas appear more subdued and are not as "punchy" to get your attention especially when they're side-by-side with the LCDs. But the plasmas develop a deep, rich image that can't be matched by similar-priced LCDs with conventional backlighting. Go take a look at the plasma displays set up in the low-light environment of the Magnolia section of BB and the quality difference of plasma becomes apparent. The beauty of the plasma is that each pixel can be turned "off" and essentially emits no light -this allows for very deep blacks and higher-quality color reproduction. Conventional LCDs have a constant backlight that bleeds through the LCD matrix and this makes it difficult for LCDs to reproduce dark blacks. Plasma is also free of image lag when viewing fast moving scenes such as sports (something that even the best LCD's have a hard time resolving). Essentially, the plasma is the flat panel incarnation of the classic CRT with all of the performance benefits but without the huge size. At the current state-of-the-art, plasma pretty much dominates the home theater world due to its excellent color fidelity, fluid images, and deep black reproduction. If you can control the amount of ambient light in your viewing environment (e.g. no bright windows reflecting off the TV screen or strong overhead lighting) then plasma can't be beat. From what I have researched and personally experienced, a lot of people struggle to find their perfect LCD display. They never find it...until they finally try plasma and realize that's what they've been looking for all along! I narrowed down my research to two, similar, 42-inch plasma models: the Panasonic P42X1 and the Samsung PN42B450. With Panasonic's long-standing reputation for plasma technology, I decided to order the P42X1. This is a well-built unit with a massive stand and solid construction. After viewing some HD feeds (Discovery Channel, etc.) from Dish HD and performing some image adjustments recommended by online forums, I realized that the 42X1's lack of multiple user adjustments is a detriment to what could be excellent picture quality. You get brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness only. After several days of experimentation, I found that the color fidelity wasn't quite as good as that on my previous 32-inch LCD. Fleshtones on the 42X1 were more saturated than real life and color/tint adjustments could not make them perfect. A more disturbing effect was that the 42X1 had trouble displaying very bright images and very dark images on the screen simultaneously. It was a subtle effect but was very obvious when displaying the Dish Network program guide. In the Dish program guide, there's an inset "view" of the tuned-in program superimposed over the dark blue/gray program guide that fills the entire screen. When the images in the inset view would go to high brightness, the dark blue background of the program guide on the rest of the screen would shift or "flicker" in brightness, as well. For some reason, the TV was being fooled by the high-brightness in one small area of the screen and would adjust the brightness in other portions of the image (this used to happen on old CRT TVs). Unfortunately, this phenomenon also existed while watching normal HD programming -if one area of the image became bright then the darker areas would shift in brightness, as well. A very unusual effect but noticeable while viewing different programs. I also ran full-screen "plasma break-in" images of various color gradations and noticed that about a dozen or so red and blue pixels in the lower left area were somewhat brighter than the others. Of course, this could only be seen up close. There were also some small dirt/dust particles in a couple areas behind the outer glass but this didn't affect the quality of the picture when at a normal seating distance. I really wanted to like the 42X1 but had a hard time with several of the shortcomings mentioned above. I don't think my 42X1 was necessarily defective -that is just the way the unit operates and perhaps most folks won't notice these oddities. So, for comparison, I ordered the Samsung PN42B450 plasma (similar in size and price to the Panasonic). I had read very good reviews on the web and noticed that the picture appeared noticeably sharper when comparing the sets at BB. Once I got the unit set up at home, I could clearly see that the Samsung's color accuracy and contrast were significantly better than the 42X1. I set both the 42X1 and 42B450 side-by-side in our living room and did a comparison test, making tweaks to both units, as needed. Both TV's looked good but the clear advantage was with the Samsung in overall color fidelity, contrast, and fine detail. The wealth of picture controls on the Samsung menu makes it very easy to calibrate the black level, gamma, white balance, etc. -adjustments that cannot be made on the Panasonic user menu. It's clear that the Samsung plasma is well-suited to bright environments and it has several dynamic contrast adjustments to improve the "punchiness" of the picture if you so desire. As for the quintessential plasma black levels, I found that the Samsung could be easily adjusted to the same low black level as the 42X1 (to my eyes, anyway). As a matter of fact, after running several calibration test patterns for contrast and brightness, I found that the Samsung "black" was easier to fine tune at very low black levels. In contrast, the Panasonic could not display the dark gray patterns on my test disc no matter how much I adjusted the brightness and contrast adjustments. It's as though the Panasonic achieves its deep blacks by crushing shades of dark gray that are very close to black and simply turns them all to black. The Samsung had no such problem. Overall, I greatly appreciate that Samsung allows the user so many different adjustments to suit individual taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen (pixel-by-pixel) revealed no defective pixels at all (unlike the Panasonic which clearly had a handful of bright red and blue pixels scattered about). The Samsung also had no problem with displaying bright images on dark backgrounds and suffered none of the resultant "flickering" problems that were easily seen on the Panasonic. The only vices on the Samsung so far appears to be its somewhat wobbly stand (a minor drawback since the stand also allows the TV to rotate to suit the viewing position) and the fact that the plastic bezel surrounding the screen makes crackling noises as the TV warms up. OVERALL PERFORMANCE - SAMSUNG VS PANASONIC: PICTURE: Samsung wins this easily by virtue of its excellent color fidelity, contrast, and wealth of user adjustments. SOUND: Both have adequate down-firing speakers that are ok for casual listening. MENU: Samsung's menu system is extensive and easy to navigate. Panasonic's menu is very basic. FRONT CONTROLS: Samsung has expensive-looking, touch-sensitive controls on the front of the bezel where they are easy to see and access. Panasonic's controls are located on the side behind the tv and can be difficult to see. REMOTE CONTROL: Both are adequate but Samsung's is more stylish on the coffee table. INPUTS: Both units have similar quantities of HDMI and Component inputs. Samsung has a VGA connector input for PC; Panasonic has an S-Video input but no PC connection. Panasonic has an SD Card reader for easy photo viewing. The rear of the Samsung includes a built-in cable tie to bundle the wiring. STYLE AND APPEARANCE: The Samsung has a more attractive bezel with dark red accents. Panasonic's bezel is all black with an unfortunate, bright silver strip running along the bottom edge. Overall, the Samsung unit is thinner than the Panasonic. BUILD QUALITY: Both units have good construction and all-metal back panels. The Panasonic's base is remarkably sturdy and feels adequate to prevent the unit from tipping over. The Samsung's base rotates to allow different viewing angles but this results in a more wobbly base. The Samsung's bezel also emits tiny crackling noises as the unit warms up. QUALITY CONTROL: The Panasonic unit I tested had a dozen or more red and blue pixels that were brighter than the rest. This could only be seen up close to the screen. There were also two locations where dirt/dust was trapped behind the front panel glass. On the other hand, the Samsung unit had no pixel defects or trapped dirt/dust. Both TVs are built and assembled in Mexico. Overall, I'm very happy with the performance and features of the Samsung PN42B450. Every HD show looks fantastic and the Winter Olympics have never looked better. I was originally set on the Panasonic P42X1 but quickly found several performance shortcomings (poor color, brightness fluctuations, and pixel defects in my sample) that made me return it and switch to the Samsung. I own several Samsung products and they've consistently delivered high-style, excellent features, and good reliability. As usual, Amazon's price was excellent and their delivery service was prompt --only three days from order to delivery at my house.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

LCDs definitely have the edge when it comes to "wow" factor with their bright, crisp displays turned up to the max. This is because people equate bright pictures with good pictures. In comparison, the plasmas appear more subdued and are not as "punchy" to get your attention especially when they're side-by-side with the LCDs. But the plasmas develop a deep, rich image that can't be matched by similar-priced LCDs with conventional backlighting. Go take a look at the plasma displays set up in the low-light environment of the Magnolia section of BB and the quality difference of plasma becomes apparent. The beauty of the plasma is that each pixel can be turned "off" and essentially emits no light -this allows for very deep blacks and higher-quality color reproduction. Conventional LCDs have a constant backlight that bleeds through the LCD matrix and this makes it difficult for LCDs to reproduce dark blacks. Plasma is also free of image lag when viewing fast moving scenes such as sports (something that even the best LCD's have a hard time resolving). Essentially, the plasma is the flat panel incarnation of the classic CRT with all of the performance benefits but without the huge size. At the current state-of-the-art, plasma pretty much dominates the home theater world due to its excellent color fidelity, fluid images, and deep black reproduction. If you can control the amount of ambient light in your viewing environment (e.g. no bright windows reflecting off the TV screen or strong overhead lighting) then plasma can't be beat. From what I have researched and personally experienced, a lot of people struggle to find their perfect LCD display. They never find it...until they finally try plasma and realize that's what they've been looking for all along! I narrowed down my research to two, similar, 42-inch plasma models: the Panasonic P42X1 and the Samsung PN42B450. With Panasonic's long-standing reputation for plasma technology, I decided to order the P42X1. This is a well-built unit with a massive stand and solid construction. After viewing some HD feeds (Discovery Channel, etc.) from Dish HD and performing some image adjustments recommended by online forums, I realized that the 42X1's lack of multiple user adjustments is a detriment to what could be excellent picture quality. You get brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness only. After several days of experimentation, I found that the color fidelity wasn't quite as good as that on my previous 32-inch LCD. Fleshtones on the 42X1 were more saturated than real life and color/tint adjustments could not make them perfect. A more disturbing effect was that the 42X1 had trouble displaying very bright images and very dark images on the screen simultaneously. It was a subtle effect but was very obvious when displaying the Dish Network program guide. In the Dish program guide, there's an inset "view" of the tuned-in program superimposed over the dark blue/gray program guide that fills the entire screen. When the images in the inset view would go to high brightness, the dark blue background of the program guide on the rest of the screen would shift or "flicker" in brightness, as well. For some reason, the TV was being fooled by the high-brightness in one small area of the screen and would adjust the brightness in other portions of the image (this used to happen on old CRT TVs). Unfortunately, this phenomenon also existed while watching normal HD programming -if one area of the image became bright then the darker areas would shift in brightness, as well. A very unusual effect but noticeable while viewing different programs. I also ran full-screen "plasma break-in" images of various color gradations and noticed that about a dozen or so red and blue pixels in the lower left area were somewhat brighter than the others. Of course, this could only be seen up close. There were also some small dirt/dust particles in a couple areas behind the outer glass but this didn't affect the quality of the picture when at a normal seating distance. I really wanted to like the 42X1 but had a hard time with several of the shortcomings mentioned above. I don't think my 42X1 was necessarily defective -that is just the way the unit operates and perhaps most folks won't notice these oddities. So, for comparison, I ordered the Samsung PN42B450 plasma (similar in size and price to the Panasonic). I had read very good reviews on the web and noticed that the picture appeared noticeably sharper when comparing the sets at BB. Once I got the unit set up at home, I could clearly see that the Samsung's color accuracy and contrast were significantly better than the 42X1. I set both the 42X1 and 42B450 side-by-side in our living room and did a comparison test, making tweaks to both units, as needed. Both TV's looked good but the clear advantage was with the Samsung in overall color fidelity, contrast, and fine detail. The wealth of picture controls on the Samsung menu makes it very easy to calibrate the black level, gamma, white balance, etc. -adjustments that cannot be made on the Panasonic user menu. It's clear that the Samsung plasma is well-suited to bright environments and it has several dynamic contrast adjustments to improve the "punchiness" of the picture if you so desire. As for the quintessential plasma black levels, I found that the Samsung could be easily adjusted to the same low black level as the 42X1 (to my eyes, anyway). As a matter of fact, after running several calibration test patterns for contrast and brightness, I found that the Samsung "black" was easier to fine tune at very low black levels. In contrast, the Panasonic could not display the dark gray patterns on my test disc no matter how much I adjusted the brightness and contrast adjustments. It's as though the Panasonic achieves its deep blacks by crushing shades of dark gray that are very close to black and simply turns them all to black. The Samsung had no such problem. Overall, I greatly appreciate that Samsung allows the user so many different adjustments to suit individual taste. In addition, careful inspection of the Samsung's plasma screen (pixel-by-pixel) revealed no defective pixels at all (unlike the Panasonic which clearly had a handful of bright red and blue pixels scattered about). The Samsung also had no problem with displaying bright images on dark backgrounds and suffered none of the resultant "flickering" problems that were easily seen on the Panasonic. The only vices on the Samsung so far appears to be its somewhat wobbly stand (a minor drawback since the stand also allows the TV to rotate to suit the viewing position) and the fact that the plastic bezel surrounding the screen makes crackling noises as the TV warms up. OVERALL PERFORMANCE - SAMSUNG VS PANASONIC: PICTURE: Samsung wins this easily by virtue of its excellent color fidelity, contrast, and wealth of user adjustments. SOUND: Both have adequate down-firing speakers that are ok for casual listening. MENU: Samsung's menu system is extensive and easy to navigate. Panasonic's menu is very basic. FRONT CONTROLS: Samsung has expensive-looking, touch-sensitive controls on the front of the bezel where they are easy to see and access. Panasonic's controls are located on the side behind the tv and can be difficult to see. REMOTE CONTROL: Both are adequate but Samsung's is more stylish on the coffee table. INPUTS: Both units have similar quantities of HDMI and Component inputs. Samsung has a VGA connector input for PC; Panasonic has an S-Video input but no PC connection. Panasonic has an SD Card reader for easy photo viewing. The rear of the Samsung includes a built-in cable tie to bundle the wiring. STYLE AND APPEARANCE: The Samsung has a more attractive bezel with dark red accents. Panasonic's bezel is all black with an unfortunate, bright silver strip running along the bottom edge. Overall, the Samsung unit is thinner than the Panasonic. BUILD QUALITY: Both units have good construction and all-metal back panels. The Panasonic's base is remarkably sturdy and feels adequate to prevent the unit from tipping over. The Samsung's base rotates to allow different viewing angles but this results in a more wobbly base. The Samsung's bezel also emits tiny crackling noises as the unit warms up. QUALITY CONTROL: The Panasonic unit I tested had a dozen or more red and blue pixels that were brighter than the rest. This could only be seen up close to the screen. There were also two locations where dirt/dust was trapped behind the front panel glass. On the other hand, the Samsung unit had no pixel defects or trapped dirt/dust. Both TVs are built and assembled in Mexico. Overall, I'm very happy with the performance and features of the Samsung PN42B450. Every HD show looks fantastic and the Winter Olympics have never looked better. I was originally set on the Panasonic P42X1 but quickly found several performance shortcomings (poor color, brightness fluctuations, and pixel defects in my sample) that made me return it and switch to the Samsung. I own several Samsung products and they've consistently delivered high-style, excellent features, and good reliability. As usual, Amazon's price was excellent and their delivery service was prompt --only three days from order to delivery at my house.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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fact that it doesn't have 1080p. I can tell you from experience that the basement, where this TV now resides, is lit by 5 flourescent tubes, and the picture looks just as bright as the LCD upstairs. As for image burn-in, I use this TV maybe 2 hours a day during the week, and maybe a max of 5 or 6 hours on the weekends. That's an average of 24 hours a week, and since most plasmas are rated above 50,000 hour lifetimes these days, that means I will get around 39 years of life out of this TV. How many TV's in your home are over 39 years old? As long as you turn your TV off when it's not in use, and every waking hour of your day isn't spent using it, you can reasonably expect a long life out of this investment. Good TV for a working bachelor.

As for the fact that it is only 720p? This TV, like many flat-panel displays, will accept and recognize a 1080p signal. It downscales it, yes, but compare this side-by-side with a 1080p picture, and the average consumer won't be able to tell the difference. I read one user's conclusion that 1080p only makes a major impact when you get up into the 50+ inch range, and I am inclined to agree. For a 42 inch TV, 720p is gracious plenty.

As for the sound, it's better than you would expect from a flat panel, but the surround sound enthusiast will not be satisfied. My TV is hooked up to a surround system, so I cannot count that as a slight. I've gotten comments on how the TV itself puts out some good sound from some of my audiences, and this was without the surround. It's not mind-blowing, but it does the trick.

I can't really give a rating on features, as I was just looking for a good TV with a great picture at a great price. This fit the bill.

The only slight that I have against this TV is the buttons on the front. They are highly sensitive, and one can accidentally turn on the TV by bumping into the power switch. This is only a very minor risk based on circumstances.

I could write another whole review on Samsung, I now own two of their TV products, and they have made a return customer out of me. Their TV's are just better: better contrast ratios, better refresh rates, better quality.

In short: great TV made by a great company at a great price.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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fact that it doesn't have 1080p. I can tell you from experience that the basement, where this TV now resides, is lit by 5 flourescent tubes, and the picture looks just as bright as the LCD upstairs. As for image burn-in, I use this TV maybe 2 hours a day during the week, and maybe a max of 5 or 6 hours on the weekends. That's an average of 24 hours a week, and since most plasmas are rated above 50,000 hour lifetimes these days, that means I will get around 39 years of life out of this TV. How many TV's in your home are over 39 years old? As long as you turn your TV off when it's not in use, and every waking hour of your day isn't spent using it, you can reasonably expect a long life out of this investment. Good TV for a working bachelor.

As for the fact that it is only 720p? This TV, like many flat-panel displays, will accept and recognize a 1080p signal. It downscales it, yes, but compare this side-by-side with a 1080p picture, and the average consumer won't be able to tell the difference. I read one user's conclusion that 1080p only makes a major impact when you get up into the 50+ inch range, and I am inclined to agree. For a 42 inch TV, 720p is gracious plenty.

As for the sound, it's better than you would expect from a flat panel, but the surround sound enthusiast will not be satisfied. My TV is hooked up to a surround system, so I cannot count that as a slight. I've gotten comments on how the TV itself puts out some good sound from some of my audiences, and this was without the surround. It's not mind-blowing, but it does the trick.

I can't really give a rating on features, as I was just looking for a good TV with a great picture at a great price. This fit the bill.

The only slight that I have against this TV is the buttons on the front. They are highly sensitive, and one can accidentally turn on the TV by bumping into the power switch. This is only a very minor risk based on circumstances.

I could write another whole review on Samsung, I now own two of their TV products, and they have made a return customer out of me. Their TV's are just better: better contrast ratios, better refresh rates, better quality.

In short: great TV made by a great company at a great price.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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xbox on a few times for a pretty long extended time. The Tv also has a few Anti Burn in features to ease your mind about that. I also noticed there is a port in the back for a 3D component to make your tv 3D ready if you are into that.

The Sound quality is fine. I have a surround sound hooked up to it. You can't expect super theater sound out of 2 10 watt speakers. They have a feature to make the 2 speakers sound like surround sound but the speakers are fine for what they are.

The tv has 2 component, 2 composite, 3 HDMI and 1 coax cable for basic cable as well as the 3D port I was telling you about. I was disappointed to find there was no picture in picture mode but its cool. This tv has met and exceed my expectations and the next HDTV I will be purchasing will be from Samsung.

The associate I spoke to in Best Buy was very informative. He did a great job explaining to my girl what the differences were in the TVs. I would buy from Best Buy again.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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xbox on a few times for a pretty long extended time. The Tv also has a few Anti Burn in features to ease your mind about that. I also noticed there is a port in the back for a 3D component to make your tv 3D ready if you are into that.

The Sound quality is fine. I have a surround sound hooked up to it. You can't expect super theater sound out of 2 10 watt speakers. They have a feature to make the 2 speakers sound like surround sound but the speakers are fine for what they are.

The tv has 2 component, 2 composite, 3 HDMI and 1 coax cable for basic cable as well as the 3D port I was telling you about. I was disappointed to find there was no picture in picture mode but its cool. This tv has met and exceed my expectations and the next HDTV I will be purchasing will be from Samsung.

The associate I spoke to in Best Buy was very informative. He did a great job explaining to my girl what the differences were in the TVs. I would buy from Best Buy again.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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xbox on a few times for a pretty long extended time. The Tv also has a few Anti Burn in features to ease your mind about that. I also noticed there is a port in the back for a 3D component to make your tv 3D ready if you are into that.

The Sound quality is fine. I have a surround sound hooked up to it. You can't expect super theater sound out of 2 10 watt speakers. They have a feature to make the 2 speakers sound like surround sound but the speakers are fine for what they are.

The tv has 2 component, 2 composite, 3 HDMI and 1 coax cable for basic cable as well as the 3D port I was telling you about. I was disappointed to find there was no picture in picture mode but its cool. This tv has met and exceed my expectations and the next HDTV I will be purchasing will be from Samsung.

The associate I spoke to in Best Buy was very informative. He did a great job explaining to my girl what the differences were in the TVs. I would buy from Best Buy again.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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xbox on a few times for a pretty long extended time. The Tv also has a few Anti Burn in features to ease your mind about that. I also noticed there is a port in the back for a 3D component to make your tv 3D ready if you are into that.

The Sound quality is fine. I have a surround sound hooked up to it. You can't expect super theater sound out of 2 10 watt speakers. They have a feature to make the 2 speakers sound like surround sound but the speakers are fine for what they are.

The tv has 2 component, 2 composite, 3 HDMI and 1 coax cable for basic cable as well as the 3D port I was telling you about. I was disappointed to find there was no picture in picture mode but its cool. This tv has met and exceed my expectations and the next HDTV I will be purchasing will be from Samsung.

The associate I spoke to in Best Buy was very informative. He did a great job explaining to my girl what the differences were in the TVs. I would buy from Best Buy again.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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brightness, contrast and standard picture mode (off of dynamic) for the first 120 hrs (break-in period) you should be fine. It is usually the first 120 hrs that you need to be slightly careful. NOTE: I personally have had absolutely zero IR cases thus far. Hands down, this television is a great size, for a wonderful price and I would fully endorse getting it if it is one of your considerations. I originally planned on purchasing a PN50B650, but at this time the cost of the PN42B450 and size were a better fit for me. Cheers!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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brightness, contrast and standard picture mode (off of dynamic) for the first 120 hrs (break-in period) you should be fine. It is usually the first 120 hrs that you need to be slightly careful. NOTE: I personally have had absolutely zero IR cases thus far. Hands down, this television is a great size, for a wonderful price and I would fully endorse getting it if it is one of your considerations. I originally planned on purchasing a PN50B650, but at this time the cost of the PN42B450 and size were a better fit for me. Cheers!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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brightness, contrast and standard picture mode (off of dynamic) for the first 120 hrs (break-in period) you should be fine. It is usually the first 120 hrs that you need to be slightly careful. NOTE: I personally have had absolutely zero IR cases thus far. Hands down, this television is a great size, for a wonderful price and I would fully endorse getting it if it is one of your considerations. I originally planned on purchasing a PN50B650, but at this time the cost of the PN42B450 and size were a better fit for me. Cheers!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tv. If you're still debating the choice between LCD and Plasma - my take on it was - for my eyes LCD gives the impression of being extra crisp in the image it produces, but at some point I usually end up feeling slightly nauseous watching action scenes on them. On Plasma I don't have the nausea problem and watching HD action content is flat out awesome. Add on top of that the cost of a Plasma television in comparison to a similar sized LCD and you'll really feel like you got a bargain. Overall, LCD for me is great as a computer monitor, but not as a large television. One more thing, people mention lighting conditions with Plasma tvs - as long as you're not getting direct sunlight into your room, you'll probably be fine - our setup has a window a few feet to the side and a couple of French doors about 25 feet from the front of the tv and our viewing picture is still pretty bright and awesome. The features on this tv seem pretty standard. Menus are easy to follow, picture adjustment was easy, and the remote seemed pretty standard. Tested the HDMI hookup with a friends upscaling Samsung DVD player (wouldn't recommend this DVD player though, picture was awesome, but it was bit noisy for me) which worked fine for me through their Anynet setup - plus having a single out of the box remote that worked for everything was great. And finally, getting this television through Amazon was a breeze. Delivery was quick and was handled by CEVA. Upon delivery the CEVA guy came in setup the tv, checked all the cables, setup the remote, turned it on, flipped some channels, then I inspected the tv and signed off on it. Some people mentioned tipping the guy, I went ahead and did it, he was nice enough and he mentioned he owned a similar model to which he gave us a few pointers on taking care of it. Buy this tv, you'll love it.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tv. If you're still debating the choice between LCD and Plasma - my take on it was - for my eyes LCD gives the impression of being extra crisp in the image it produces, but at some point I usually end up feeling slightly nauseous watching action scenes on them. On Plasma I don't have the nausea problem and watching HD action content is flat out awesome. Add on top of that the cost of a Plasma television in comparison to a similar sized LCD and you'll really feel like you got a bargain. Overall, LCD for me is great as a computer monitor, but not as a large television. One more thing, people mention lighting conditions with Plasma tvs - as long as you're not getting direct sunlight into your room, you'll probably be fine - our setup has a window a few feet to the side and a couple of French doors about 25 feet from the front of the tv and our viewing picture is still pretty bright and awesome. The features on this tv seem pretty standard. Menus are easy to follow, picture adjustment was easy, and the remote seemed pretty standard. Tested the HDMI hookup with a friends upscaling Samsung DVD player (wouldn't recommend this DVD player though, picture was awesome, but it was bit noisy for me) which worked fine for me through their Anynet setup - plus having a single out of the box remote that worked for everything was great. And finally, getting this television through Amazon was a breeze. Delivery was quick and was handled by CEVA. Upon delivery the CEVA guy came in setup the tv, checked all the cables, setup the remote, turned it on, flipped some channels, then I inspected the tv and signed off on it. Some people mentioned tipping the guy, I went ahead and did it, he was nice enough and he mentioned he owned a similar model to which he gave us a few pointers on taking care of it. Buy this tv, you'll love it.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tv. If you're still debating the choice between LCD and Plasma - my take on it was - for my eyes LCD gives the impression of being extra crisp in the image it produces, but at some point I usually end up feeling slightly nauseous watching action scenes on them. On Plasma I don't have the nausea problem and watching HD action content is flat out awesome. Add on top of that the cost of a Plasma television in comparison to a similar sized LCD and you'll really feel like you got a bargain. Overall, LCD for me is great as a computer monitor, but not as a large television. One more thing, people mention lighting conditions with Plasma tvs - as long as you're not getting direct sunlight into your room, you'll probably be fine - our setup has a window a few feet to the side and a couple of French doors about 25 feet from the front of the tv and our viewing picture is still pretty bright and awesome. The features on this tv seem pretty standard. Menus are easy to follow, picture adjustment was easy, and the remote seemed pretty standard. Tested the HDMI hookup with a friends upscaling Samsung DVD player (wouldn't recommend this DVD player though, picture was awesome, but it was bit noisy for me) which worked fine for me through their Anynet setup - plus having a single out of the box remote that worked for everything was great. And finally, getting this television through Amazon was a breeze. Delivery was quick and was handled by CEVA. Upon delivery the CEVA guy came in setup the tv, checked all the cables, setup the remote, turned it on, flipped some channels, then I inspected the tv and signed off on it. Some people mentioned tipping the guy, I went ahead and did it, he was nice enough and he mentioned he owned a similar model to which he gave us a few pointers on taking care of it. Buy this tv, you'll love it.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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I don't watch a whole lot of movies on it. Overall highly recommended.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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I don't watch a whole lot of movies on it. Overall highly recommended.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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I don't watch a whole lot of movies on it. Overall highly recommended.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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I don't watch a whole lot of movies on it. Overall highly recommended.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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I don't watch a whole lot of movies on it. Overall highly recommended.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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allows for a viewing distance of 10-11ft so I don't plan to hook up surrround sound...and really don't think i need to. I'm satisified with the virtual surround coming out of this set itself (which goes plenty loud too without distorting).

If you're looking for a great plasma at a very reasonable price this is it. Don't believe the 1080p hype...you won't notice the difference unless you view them side by side. And forget LCD unless it's 1080p with 240hz...but that will cost you $100's more.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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allows for a viewing distance of 10-11ft so I don't plan to hook up surrround sound...and really don't think i need to. I'm satisified with the virtual surround coming out of this set itself (which goes plenty loud too without distorting).

If you're looking for a great plasma at a very reasonable price this is it. Don't believe the 1080p hype...you won't notice the difference unless you view them side by side. And forget LCD unless it's 1080p with 240hz...but that will cost you $100's more.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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allows for a viewing distance of 10-11ft so I don't plan to hook up surrround sound...and really don't think i need to. I'm satisified with the virtual surround coming out of this set itself (which goes plenty loud too without distorting).

If you're looking for a great plasma at a very reasonable price this is it. Don't believe the 1080p hype...you won't notice the difference unless you view them side by side. And forget LCD unless it's 1080p with 240hz...but that will cost you $100's more.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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noticed the picture started to degrade on my previous LCD after watching from certain angles.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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noticed the picture started to degrade on my previous LCD after watching from certain angles.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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that! That cinched it for me on my choice. This picture was awesome, and it wasn't just me. My cat agrees! Poor baby! She's fine now though so no worries. My thoughts on the TV are as follows. I researched quite a bit before our purchase and even with my limited knowledge going in regarding the benefits of plasma vs LCD I had no trouble discerning which had the better picture quality when watching all the TVs in front of us at the store even if I did do this rather unconsciously at first. Most all the TVs we looked at seriously were in the 40" to 46" range. I really thought I'd get whatever I bought at Wal-Mart but Sears surprised us with better prices so I did get it local from them in the end. I looked here at Amazon and read many of the reviews but being one that has run into issues having to return big items through the mail I figured with a big purchase around the holidays it would be best to keep it local just in case. Honestly I did not know what I would get going out that day with the wife, LCD or Plasma. Which to go with was a question going back and forth in my head all day long. I wanted a 50 plus inch and figured I'd get LCD if I could talk the wife into a TV that big. The wife insisted no saying it was just too big for our space and limited me to smaller screen sizes so we compromised and I had her convinced for a 46" we both liked. Problem is I kept drifting back to this 42" Samsung in the corner over and over in the store to both our amazement because I wanted the biggest screen I could talk her into. I could not put my finger on why I kept going back to this TV when I had her talked into a bigger one. Dwelling on that I caught myself using it as the standard to compare and judge all the others by, albeit somewhat subconsciously at first. This alerted me to the fact that my eyes knew that this one was the TV to beat in the store. One by one I compared it saying, nope this ones not better, nope this ones not either and so on. Many times that day I found myself looking at other TVs back and forth in two stores thinking it was just my imagination or something when at times I swore I saw some blurred images on LCD screens and some grainy textures on others that were LCD screens. This one didn't have any problems like that though. In time it became obvious to me that this 42" Samsung had better angle viewing by far than the others on display and it just quite simply had better colors and depth, and in the darker scenes it was noticeably better also looking more 'real life' to me. This TV also had a stand that really supported the TV without much wobble compared to the others there beside it and some of the LCD models seemed unstable to me. I could see our big Main Coon Cat knocking one of those over. In the end after a day of shopping and reading I finally had to admit I'm really not technical minded about these things, I'm not into blue ray or all the games. I just want a good big screen for fight night and no one broadcasts in 1080 anyway. Salesmen didn't help much just wanting to sell something by telling you what you want to hear. So, in the end I went with what my eyes told me was best in the store trusting that somewhere inside my brain I do still know what I like. It took me a little time looking but this TV has the best picture for the money even when compared to many TV's I saw at the stores that were many more dollars to get into. Tax and all I paid $678 for this TV. I could have beat that by a bit I'm sure but again, I wanted to stay in my town and not risk a repack and remail of something damaged in the mail this time of year. (Dec 18 09). Our Sony lasted 18 years. I doubt I'll get that kind of longevity out of this TV but if I can come close I'll be happy. One thing is for sure though. Fight night is much better at the Rice's than its ever been!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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that! That cinched it for me on my choice. This picture was awesome, and it wasn't just me. My cat agrees! Poor baby! She's fine now though so no worries. My thoughts on the TV are as follows. I researched quite a bit before our purchase and even with my limited knowledge going in regarding the benefits of plasma vs LCD I had no trouble discerning which had the better picture quality when watching all the TVs in front of us at the store even if I did do this rather unconsciously at first. Most all the TVs we looked at seriously were in the 40" to 46" range. I really thought I'd get whatever I bought at Wal-Mart but Sears surprised us with better prices so I did get it local from them in the end. I looked here at Amazon and read many of the reviews but being one that has run into issues having to return big items through the mail I figured with a big purchase around the holidays it would be best to keep it local just in case. Honestly I did not know what I would get going out that day with the wife, LCD or Plasma. Which to go with was a question going back and forth in my head all day long. I wanted a 50 plus inch and figured I'd get LCD if I could talk the wife into a TV that big. The wife insisted no saying it was just too big for our space and limited me to smaller screen sizes so we compromised and I had her convinced for a 46" we both liked. Problem is I kept drifting back to this 42" Samsung in the corner over and over in the store to both our amazement because I wanted the biggest screen I could talk her into. I could not put my finger on why I kept going back to this TV when I had her talked into a bigger one. Dwelling on that I caught myself using it as the standard to compare and judge all the others by, albeit somewhat subconsciously at first. This alerted me to the fact that my eyes knew that this one was the TV to beat in the store. One by one I compared it saying, nope this ones not better, nope this ones not either and so on. Many times that day I found myself looking at other TVs back and forth in two stores thinking it was just my imagination or something when at times I swore I saw some blurred images on LCD screens and some grainy textures on others that were LCD screens. This one didn't have any problems like that though. In time it became obvious to me that this 42" Samsung had better angle viewing by far than the others on display and it just quite simply had better colors and depth, and in the darker scenes it was noticeably better also looking more 'real life' to me. This TV also had a stand that really supported the TV without much wobble compared to the others there beside it and some of the LCD models seemed unstable to me. I could see our big Main Coon Cat knocking one of those over. In the end after a day of shopping and reading I finally had to admit I'm really not technical minded about these things, I'm not into blue ray or all the games. I just want a good big screen for fight night and no one broadcasts in 1080 anyway. Salesmen didn't help much just wanting to sell something by telling you what you want to hear. So, in the end I went with what my eyes told me was best in the store trusting that somewhere inside my brain I do still know what I like. It took me a little time looking but this TV has the best picture for the money even when compared to many TV's I saw at the stores that were many more dollars to get into. Tax and all I paid $678 for this TV. I could have beat that by a bit I'm sure but again, I wanted to stay in my town and not risk a repack and remail of something damaged in the mail this time of year. (Dec 18 09). Our Sony lasted 18 years. I doubt I'll get that kind of longevity out of this TV but if I can come close I'll be happy. One thing is for sure though. Fight night is much better at the Rice's than its ever been!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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The sound is not bad, just not as full as the other set. The set itself is very attractive, and the swivel base is a huge advantage. Many other sets of this size did not have ths feature. Suddenly all the HD channels we get with FIOS just leap off the screen. No regrets. Great TV, really good price. Already got $55 more off after purchase because Best Buy matches its own price during the retun period. The set went on sale, so we went to the store and got money back. Even without that, the price was less than half of the Sony. Really happy with this purchase. Auxiliary inputs are on the left side, which fit our room set--up. Some sets have them on the right.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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and a converter costs about $50. Contrary to some online reviews and even the online manual, I've discovered "my" 450's audio output works even with the TV speakers set to ON. I can simply lower the volume and audio is always available through the rear RCA L/R output. Since my headphone has its own volume, I have zero issues. Even after I updated the firmware the feature still works. I could not get by without the external audio. So far I only have a few minor issues. The Anynet link between my Samsung Blu-ray player only worked for a few minutes now I have to use both remotes. I haven't figured out what I could have changed to disrupt the operation but even when it worked I was disappointed to find the TV remote doesn't have the "Next Track" function. There aren't a whole lot of things you need to change once your DVD player is setup but you need more than PLAY, STOP, FF, REV buttons. I have a lot of TV show DVDs that I like to skip past the opening and closing titles. Now I'm forced to use FF or grab the other remote. And speaking of remotes, the TV remote is unecessarily HUGE! The Samsung DVD remote is the exact same shape/layout but smaller. Again, it's only missing a couple important buttons to work the entire TV/DVD set but Samsung forces us to keep both remotes handy. There is NO way my wife is going to remember which is which. Add to that our FIOS remote won't operate the Blu-ray player at all, and it only works the TV power, volume and channel buttons. So we're stuck with 3 remotes. All that said, the picture is fantastic. It's "smoother" than the Panasonic with the default settings. You can crank up the detail and colors etc if you want but I actually turned the color down to about 45 and nudged the flesh tones up a little (they seemed a little too yellow to me out of the box). Other than the remote issues, I think this was a very good purchase. The store even threw in a simple wall mount for free which easily offset the tax amount. Do NOT spend a fortune on wall mounts, Amazon has some great low priced mounts. Luckily I didn't need anything special, no swivels and no tilting that a few washers couldn't fix. Just remember to drill pilot holes so you don't crack a stud with the large wood screws.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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and a converter costs about $50. Contrary to some online reviews and even the online manual, I've discovered "my" 450's audio output works even with the TV speakers set to ON. I can simply lower the volume and audio is always available through the rear RCA L/R output. Since my headphone has its own volume, I have zero issues. Even after I updated the firmware the feature still works. I could not get by without the external audio. So far I only have a few minor issues. The Anynet link between my Samsung Blu-ray player only worked for a few minutes now I have to use both remotes. I haven't figured out what I could have changed to disrupt the operation but even when it worked I was disappointed to find the TV remote doesn't have the "Next Track" function. There aren't a whole lot of things you need to change once your DVD player is setup but you need more than PLAY, STOP, FF, REV buttons. I have a lot of TV show DVDs that I like to skip past the opening and closing titles. Now I'm forced to use FF or grab the other remote. And speaking of remotes, the TV remote is unecessarily HUGE! The Samsung DVD remote is the exact same shape/layout but smaller. Again, it's only missing a couple important buttons to work the entire TV/DVD set but Samsung forces us to keep both remotes handy. There is NO way my wife is going to remember which is which. Add to that our FIOS remote won't operate the Blu-ray player at all, and it only works the TV power, volume and channel buttons. So we're stuck with 3 remotes. All that said, the picture is fantastic. It's "smoother" than the Panasonic with the default settings. You can crank up the detail and colors etc if you want but I actually turned the color down to about 45 and nudged the flesh tones up a little (they seemed a little too yellow to me out of the box). Other than the remote issues, I think this was a very good purchase. The store even threw in a simple wall mount for free which easily offset the tax amount. Do NOT spend a fortune on wall mounts, Amazon has some great low priced mounts. Luckily I didn't need anything special, no swivels and no tilting that a few washers couldn't fix. Just remember to drill pilot holes so you don't crack a stud with the large wood screws.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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it is the best I have heard from right out of the box.

Features are amazing, adjust the black levels, power consumption, etc. The LCD TV settings at their highest compare to Plasma settings at low- medium levels. Put on your favorite sports team & Plasma makes you say wow, just like being at the game.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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at this size (if any). I sit about 10 feet away from this TV in a La-z-boy and am in heaven every minute. You just can't go wrong.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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at this size (if any). I sit about 10 feet away from this TV in a La-z-boy and am in heaven every minute. You just can't go wrong.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the 1080p Panasonic. However, where this Samsung really excels is in its more fluid, clean images with more realistic but brilliant colors. NO background noise, NO problem with red & greens, (both of which the Panasonic suffers) a better ability to handle SD broadcast AND a brilliant & accurate HD picture. Also, unlike the Panasonic, this Samsung has a VGA input, analog audio output jacks and a far more intuitive program menu. More importantly the Samsung has a wider range of picture controls including gamma, white level, flesh level, film mode, 3 levels of dark or dynamic contrast and various other settings which cannot be adjusted on the Panasonic. There is much more that goes into a TV than numbers on a paper. Specs often tell very little about picture quality. Just look at the low end brands with their high specs and abysmal picture quality...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out! The panel and picture processing are vital to achieve quality images. All I can say is that with proper set up, this Samsung's picture quality is stunning...and for less than $600 its a steal.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the 1080p Panasonic. However, where this Samsung really excels is in its more fluid, clean images with more realistic but brilliant colors. NO background noise, NO problem with red & greens, (both of which the Panasonic suffers) a better ability to handle SD broadcast AND a brilliant & accurate HD picture. Also, unlike the Panasonic, this Samsung has a VGA input, analog audio output jacks and a far more intuitive program menu. More importantly the Samsung has a wider range of picture controls including gamma, white level, flesh level, film mode, 3 levels of dark or dynamic contrast and various other settings which cannot be adjusted on the Panasonic. There is much more that goes into a TV than numbers on a paper. Specs often tell very little about picture quality. Just look at the low end brands with their high specs and abysmal picture quality...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out! The panel and picture processing are vital to achieve quality images. All I can say is that with proper set up, this Samsung's picture quality is stunning...and for less than $600 its a steal.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the 1080p Panasonic. However, where this Samsung really excels is in its more fluid, clean images with more realistic but brilliant colors. NO background noise, NO problem with red & greens, (both of which the Panasonic suffers) a better ability to handle SD broadcast AND a brilliant & accurate HD picture. Also, unlike the Panasonic, this Samsung has a VGA input, analog audio output jacks and a far more intuitive program menu. More importantly the Samsung has a wider range of picture controls including gamma, white level, flesh level, film mode, 3 levels of dark or dynamic contrast and various other settings which cannot be adjusted on the Panasonic. There is much more that goes into a TV than numbers on a paper. Specs often tell very little about picture quality. Just look at the low end brands with their high specs and abysmal picture quality...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out! The panel and picture processing are vital to achieve quality images. All I can say is that with proper set up, this Samsung's picture quality is stunning...and for less than $600 its a steal.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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so many other TVs to divert your attention. * I think I overpaid for the HDMI cable, so I ordered one for less than $5 from. Let's see if I see any discernable picture quality loss after switching the cable - I'll post a follow-up here!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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so many other TVs to divert your attention. * I think I overpaid for the HDMI cable, so I ordered one for less than $5 from. Let's see if I see any discernable picture quality loss after switching the cable - I'll post a follow-up here!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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so many other TVs to divert your attention. * I think I overpaid for the HDMI cable, so I ordered one for less than $5 from. Let's see if I see any discernable picture quality loss after switching the cable - I'll post a follow-up here!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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on the remote. Thus the sound on the headphones, which is VERY, VERY LOW, can't be turned up or down. In response, I bought $22 external computer speakers to try to boost the volume. Unfortunately, that didn't work. Then I called Samsung, and they said there was no hope of boosting the volume. I was scared I just wasted $680 on a TV that I can't truly enjoy most of the time. I assumed listening to a TV with headphones would be a very basic component on a TV set, like it is for possibly every other device. I had all but given up hope and was going to return the TV, when I discovered the Boostaroo headphone amplifier on Amazkon, which costs about $22. So I bought it, and it actually works great. It boosts the volume. But unfortunately it requires AAAA batteries, which are expensive and hard to come by (unless you buy them en masse). So because Samsung didn't include a headphone I had to shell out the following: Audio out cable and headphone jack connector: $12 at Radio Shack External speaker: $22 Boosteroo Headphone Amplifier $22 (it now lists at $42). 50 AAAA batteries: $30 I spent $86 to use this TV with headphones. Anyways, sorry for the drawn-out review, but nobody mentioned a headphone problem in other reviews. Hopefully this will help anybody interested in purchasing this TV.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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on the remote. Thus the sound on the headphones, which is VERY, VERY LOW, can't be turned up or down. In response, I bought $22 external computer speakers to try to boost the volume. Unfortunately, that didn't work. Then I called Samsung, and they said there was no hope of boosting the volume. I was scared I just wasted $680 on a TV that I can't truly enjoy most of the time. I assumed listening to a TV with headphones would be a very basic component on a TV set, like it is for possibly every other device. I had all but given up hope and was going to return the TV, when I discovered the Boostaroo headphone amplifier on Amazkon, which costs about $22. So I bought it, and it actually works great. It boosts the volume. But unfortunately it requires AAAA batteries, which are expensive and hard to come by (unless you buy them en masse). So because Samsung didn't include a headphone I had to shell out the following: Audio out cable and headphone jack connector: $12 at Radio Shack External speaker: $22 Boosteroo Headphone Amplifier $22 (it now lists at $42). 50 AAAA batteries: $30 I spent $86 to use this TV with headphones. Anyways, sorry for the drawn-out review, but nobody mentioned a headphone problem in other reviews. Hopefully this will help anybody interested in purchasing this TV.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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and DO IT - you will be amazed!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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then requires you to reprogram your favorite channels, hidden channels, picture settings, etc... Samsung has a long history with this problem - and of not fixing it. I will now avoid any Samsung TVs, and recommend you do the same.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the same HD Direct Tivo, and the problems go away. I was also concerned about the elaborate instructions in the (excellent) manual on how to avoid burn-in. Other reviewers say this is less a problem with newer plasmas, but why should I even have to worry about it? Also, the screen when it is turned off is not a dramatic dark black like my LCDs but rather a dull grey, like an old tube TV. I'm not so unhappy as to send it back, but certainly would not buy this same model again. And probably would think twice before buying another plasma from any manufacturer.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the same HD Direct Tivo, and the problems go away. I was also concerned about the elaborate instructions in the (excellent) manual on how to avoid burn-in. Other reviewers say this is less a problem with newer plasmas, but why should I even have to worry about it? Also, the screen when it is turned off is not a dramatic dark black like my LCDs but rather a dull grey, like an old tube TV. I'm not so unhappy as to send it back, but certainly would not buy this same model again. And probably would think twice before buying another plasma from any manufacturer.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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to the same HD Direct Tivo, and the problems go away. I was also concerned about the elaborate instructions in the (excellent) manual on how to avoid burn-in. Other reviewers say this is less a problem with newer plasmas, but why should I even have to worry about it? Also, the screen when it is turned off is not a dramatic dark black like my LCDs but rather a dull grey, like an old tube TV. I'm not so unhappy as to send it back, but certainly would not buy this same model again. And probably would think twice before buying another plasma from any manufacturer.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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So don't run out and buy a $1,000+ flat panel TV expecting a dramatic improvement in your picture quality - you'll be wasting your money, and terribly disappointed, until there are a lot more 1080 p/i signals available. Until then, you'll be far more pleased with your vacuum tube analog TV picture for all those signals that are less than 1080 p/i resolution. I seriously considered just returning both TVs, until that time - but, I've kinda gotten hooked on ESPNHD on the Samsung Plasma - it's truly phenomenal, crystal clear picture quality, with great color!

So... if your favorite channels are provided in 1080 p/i, run to your closest BB and get the Samsung Plasma TV - you'll be "blown away." If not, don't waste your money on any flat panel TV, until your favorite channels are available in 1080 p/i - you won't be pleased - unless you're just using it for Blueray DVDs and other 1080 p/i sources.

More later...

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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tenth the amount of models of plasma as compared to LCD. Many are concerned about the burn-in, but I can say from my personal experience that if you are even somewhat conscientious about not leaving the same image on the screen for long periods of time this won't be an issue for me. Some videophiles will tell you that it's a big mistake to buy a TV that does not accept a 1080p signal. However, The 720p resolution of this TV looks phenomenal on HD channels. HD channels don't put out 1080p signals anyways, and this will be a very slow and complicated process. My two cents about resolution, plasma, and color contrast: you're much better buying this TV than a 1080p LCD with similar color contrast. Save that 300 bucks because you won't notice the difference as much as you think.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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don't understand why so many people complain about the sound quality....the sound quality is fine....obviously it's not going to be surround sound.

you do have to play around with the settings out of the box. but when you adjust it, you will be extremely happy with the picture and you will feel even better knowing you didn't spend a fortune. the contrasts are excellent, colors are extremely accurate, and the scrolling bar feature helps reduce image retention for clear crisp blacks every time you use the tv set.

the remote is also very user friendly and ergonomic, it even plays a chime when you turn the tv on and off.

some people (probably 10-40% of the population) can notice green phosphor trails when viewing motion scenes on plasma tv's. This is simply an artifact of the way plasma cells emit light energy (green being the slowest to decay, and thus showing a green trail behind moving objects). This tv has almost NO phosphor trail. I recently purchased another high-end, brand-name plasma tv but returned it because I couldn't stand the phosphor trails. I can assure you, the Samsung 42 inch has almost zero phosphor trail effect. Thank you for reading this review.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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don't understand why so many people complain about the sound quality....the sound quality is fine....obviously it's not going to be surround sound.

you do have to play around with the settings out of the box. but when you adjust it, you will be extremely happy with the picture and you will feel even better knowing you didn't spend a fortune. the contrasts are excellent, colors are extremely accurate, and the scrolling bar feature helps reduce image retention for clear crisp blacks every time you use the tv set.

the remote is also very user friendly and ergonomic, it even plays a chime when you turn the tv on and off.

some people (probably 10-40% of the population) can notice green phosphor trails when viewing motion scenes on plasma tv's. This is simply an artifact of the way plasma cells emit light energy (green being the slowest to decay, and thus showing a green trail behind moving objects). This tv has almost NO phosphor trail. I recently purchased another high-end, brand-name plasma tv but returned it because I couldn't stand the phosphor trails. I can assure you, the Samsung 42 inch has almost zero phosphor trail effect. Thank you for reading this review.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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don't understand why so many people complain about the sound quality....the sound quality is fine....obviously it's not going to be surround sound.

you do have to play around with the settings out of the box. but when you adjust it, you will be extremely happy with the picture and you will feel even better knowing you didn't spend a fortune. the contrasts are excellent, colors are extremely accurate, and the scrolling bar feature helps reduce image retention for clear crisp blacks every time you use the tv set.

the remote is also very user friendly and ergonomic, it even plays a chime when you turn the tv on and off.

some people (probably 10-40% of the population) can notice green phosphor trails when viewing motion scenes on plasma tv's. This is simply an artifact of the way plasma cells emit light energy (green being the slowest to decay, and thus showing a green trail behind moving objects). This tv has almost NO phosphor trail. I recently purchased another high-end, brand-name plasma tv but returned it because I couldn't stand the phosphor trails. I can assure you, the Samsung 42 inch has almost zero phosphor trail effect. Thank you for reading this review.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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analog channels. This set can pick up digital broacast channels on the TWC's basic analog package. The viewing distance is definitely what should be used to decide on the screen size, but if you want to go with a larger tv, the Samsung Plasma is the way to go. I also recommend to flip through the manual before you commit to a set to reveal any details that may affect your decision.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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then LCD. I took me a bit of time to adjust the setting so the blacks show decent detail... set the cell light to 10 and brightness to about 70. There is some reflection if you have bright windows facing it, most of the reflection is on the bezel and dark scenes.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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then LCD. I took me a bit of time to adjust the setting so the blacks show decent detail... set the cell light to 10 and brightness to about 70. There is some reflection if you have bright windows facing it, most of the reflection is on the bezel and dark scenes.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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then LCD. I took me a bit of time to adjust the setting so the blacks show decent detail... set the cell light to 10 and brightness to about 70. There is some reflection if you have bright windows facing it, most of the reflection is on the bezel and dark scenes.

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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then LCD. I took me a bit of time to adjust the setting so the blacks show decent detail... set the cell light to 10 and brightness to about 70. There is some reflection if you have bright windows facing it, most of the reflection is on the bezel and dark scenes.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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sound system that I don't use since I bought this tv.

My only negative comment is that it has only one hdmi port. Therefore, if you have a blu-ray player or an xbox 360, you would have to take turns switching out which one is plugged in. A minor hassle, but still. How hard would it have been to include a second port.

I highly recommend this tv!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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sound system that I don't use since I bought this tv.

My only negative comment is that it has only one hdmi port. Therefore, if you have a blu-ray player or an xbox 360, you would have to take turns switching out which one is plugged in. A minor hassle, but still. How hard would it have been to include a second port.

I highly recommend this tv!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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sound system that I don't use since I bought this tv.

My only negative comment is that it has only one hdmi port. Therefore, if you have a blu-ray player or an xbox 360, you would have to take turns switching out which one is plugged in. A minor hassle, but still. How hard would it have been to include a second port.

I highly recommend this tv!

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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this is a great buy. I purchased it on sale at $699 but would gladly pay $799 as listed now. The picture is outstanding. I can't really tell the difference between my 1080p LCD and this. In the future I wouldn't be spending much more to get a 1080p if there are comparable 720p's that are priced much less. Samsung makes a real quality product and given the amount of TV you get for this price it's practically a steal.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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ess.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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ess.

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Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

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looking for a plasma set, but did not want to get out of the Samsung, Pioneer and Panasonic corridor. These are the three manufacturers extant which build plasma. Why plasma?
Honestly, 1080p is a lot crisper; of this there is no question. The screen 'seems' brighter, and the longevity of screen is greater than some plasmas....BUT...There is no question that in the end, the plasma will give the best rendition of black. The colors are a lot warmer. All other things being equal, after my wife got home last night, we lifted it on to the stand (while I screwed it in place and connected cables from my antenna and the Dish Network SD box), and then I sat back to see if it would start up right away or if we had a D.O.A.
It is beautiful. It worked like a charm right out of the box. I have not had to fiddle with the colors or brightness as it came out of the box. I am a sound person. I made some adjustments with the equalizer. We watched three hours of Law and Order HD on NBC using my Phillips indoor antenna (I have it situated in a corner ... everything comes in including the independents in HD). I could not discern the difference between an 720P or a 1080P picture. For our use it is more than ideal. I haven't tried it on sports as yet; other reviews think that the argument for 1080p is there. This television is more than adequate at the price.
Price is very important to me. If we could not get this set, my wife started querying me about a 50" Samsung plasma which was coming up for sale at BJ's. After I quoted her the sale price of $850, it was right back to Amazon!
The set is excellent. I recommend highly that you purchase the extended warranty. Anything can happen to these sets. We are living in the lightning captal of the world. I have it running through a very expensive box for protection, but one can never tell. I never buy these warranties, and if you look at it closely, it covers the set from DAY ONE. You may think that this is ingenuous of them; on the other hand it also includes damage from SPIKES in the line which the REGULAR warranty does not. Get the warranty. It is already at $710. That brings it up close to $800. You pay for it now or you pay later. Read the reviews of the service calls regarding the warranty. They are MUCH better than average.
Over the years I have populated my home with MANY purchases from Amazon. Even when returning a D.O.A. DSL router/modem we received nothing but the highest level of service. My living room is replete with sound equipment purchased through and from Amazon. Their service is great.
Buy this Samsung 42" Plasma and enjoy. The setup is simple. Turn it on and follow the screen instructions. You will NOT be disappointed.
Tony Genco

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

looking for a plasma set, but did not want to get out of the Samsung, Pioneer and Panasonic corridor. These are the three manufacturers extant which build plasma. Why plasma?

Honestly, 1080p is a lot crisper; of this there is no question. The screen 'seems' brighter, and the longevity of screen is greater than some plasmas....BUT...There is no question that in the end, the plasma will give the best rendition of black. The colors are a lot warmer. All other things being equal, after my wife got home last night, we lifted it on to the stand (while I screwed it in place and connected cables from my antenna and the Dish Network SD box), and then I sat back to see if it would start up right away or if we had a D.O.A.

It is beautiful. It worked like a charm right out of the box. I have not had to fiddle with the colors or brightness as it came out of the box. I am a sound person. I made some adjustments with the equalizer. We watched three hours of Law and Order HD on NBC using my Phillips indoor antenna (I have it situated in a corner ... everything comes in including the independents in HD). I could not discern the difference between an 720P or a 1080P picture. For our use it is more than ideal. I haven't tried it on sports as yet; other reviews think that the argument for 1080p is there. This television is more than adequate at the price.

Price is very important to me. If we could not get this set, my wife started querying me about a 50" Samsung plasma which was coming up for sale at BJ's. After I quoted her the sale price of $850, it was right back to Amazon!

The set is excellent. I recommend highly that you purchase the extended warranty. Anything can happen to these sets. We are living in the lightning captal of the world. I have it running through a very expensive box for protection, but one can never tell. I never buy these warranties, and if you look at it closely, it covers the set from DAY ONE. You may think that this is ingenuous of them; on the other hand it also includes damage from SPIKES in the line which the REGULAR warranty does not. Get the warranty. It is already at $710. That brings it up close to $800. You pay for it now or you pay later. Read the reviews of the service calls regarding the warranty. They are MUCH better than average.

Over the years I have populated my home with MANY purchases from Amazon. Even when returning a D.O.A. DSL router/modem we received nothing but the highest level of service. My living room is replete with sound equipment purchased through and from Amazon. Their service is great.

Buy this Samsung 42" Plasma and enjoy. The setup is simple. Turn it on and follow the screen instructions. You will NOT be disappointed.

Tony Genco

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

looking for a plasma set, but did not want to get out of the Samsung, Pioneer and Panasonic corridor. These are the three manufacturers extant which build plasma. Why plasma?


Honestly, 1080p is a lot crisper; of this there is no question. The screen 'seems' brighter, and the longevity of screen is greater than some plasmas....BUT...There is no question that in the end, the plasma will give the best rendition of black. The colors are a lot warmer. All other things being equal, after my wife got home last night, we lifted it on to the stand (while I screwed it in place and connected cables from my antenna and the Dish Network SD box), and then I sat back to see if it would start up right away or if we had a D.O.A.


It is beautiful. It worked like a charm right out of the box. I have not had to fiddle with the colors or brightness as it came out of the box. I am a sound person. I made some adjustments with the equalizer. We watched three hours of Law and Order HD on NBC using my Phillips indoor antenna (I have it situated in a corner ... everything comes in including the independents in HD). I could not discern the difference between an 720P or a 1080P picture. For our use it is more than ideal. I haven't tried it on sports as yet; other reviews think that the argument for 1080p is there. This television is more than adequate at the price.


Price is very important to me. If we could not get this set, my wife started querying me about a 50" Samsung plasma which was coming up for sale at BJ's. After I quoted her the sale price of $850, it was right back to Amazon!


The set is excellent. I recommend highly that you purchase the extended warranty. Anything can happen to these sets. We are living in the lightning captal of the world. I have it running through a very expensive box for protection, but one can never tell. I never buy these warranties, and if you look at it closely, it covers the set from DAY ONE. You may think that this is ingenuous of them; on the other hand it also includes damage from SPIKES in the line which the REGULAR warranty does not. Get the warranty. It is already at $710. That brings it up close to $800. You pay for it now or you pay later. Read the reviews of the service calls regarding the warranty. They are MUCH better than average.


Over the years I have populated my home with MANY purchases from Amazon. Even when returning a D.O.A. DSL router/modem we received nothing but the highest level of service. My living room is replete with sound equipment purchased through and from Amazon. Their service is great.


Buy this Samsung 42" Plasma and enjoy. The setup is simple. Turn it on and follow the screen instructions. You will NOT be disappointed.


Tony Genco

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

you are on the fence with HDTV, this is a great, great start. Enjoy yourself :)

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

great start. Enjoy yourself :)

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

great start. Enjoy yourself :)

+ 0 likes

Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

...

Overall this is a good value. I do not regret not buying the Panasonic, and some of the online reviews (professional and personal) didn't really give either set a bad review, but it seems people are pretty pleased with the Samsung, so I would not hesitate to buy or recommend one.