Samsung PN58A550 58Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

monster in the living room
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
delivered at the time promised tv is great love the monster in the living room

okay wow.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had been shopping for a TV for about 9 months. Having already been a big fan of Samsung and the color quality I’ve seen on the A550 40″ LCD.

Going back and forth to window shop at several retail chains, and annoying the staff with questions and not buying their TV. At first I didn’t care for plasma; the heat issue, the burn-in issue, and overall fragile vibe I had for plasma TVs in the first place.

Originally I had my heart set on the A750 52″ LCD. When I did a generic samsung search on amazon.com I found the 58″ plasma to be same price at the time.

Now I did the conversion from an HDTV back to a SDTV so I know what I was dealing with. A 52″ HDTV is the same height of a 40″ SDTV. This little bit of info is very important and why some people are confused with their HDTV purchase. Being familiar with the height of their previous TV, and replacing it with an HDTV and having that feeling that somehow its smaller.

Exactly what happened to me. I thought my 40″ HDTV was big, but when you take the widescreen out of the measurement. It become a 27″ SDTV.

BIG DIFFERENCE

and that is what explained why I felt it was smaller than I expected. This fact become more profound when you watch media that isn’t widescreen. The 52″ HDTV becomes a 40″ SDTV height wise.

Hopefully, I haven’t lost you yet.

Having waited and done my homework this 58″ plasma TV fit the bill. And as a bonus I got the better picture quality. Which is very important for me since I have the Sony PS3 for games and blu-ray movies.

It comes shipped in a box that was bigger than I expected. Very well packaged. I immediately turned it on and left it on for a few hours to see if there was any shipping damage. Because plasma TVs are a huge sheet of glass, I had to be sure before they left.

Yes, this TV will require 2-3 people to lift into place ! no kidding.

My only warning is this: this plasma is very bright and because of that burn-in can happen very quickly. A matter of minutes depending on what is on the screen. The user’s manual suggests turning the brightness down on several settings. It also mentions for the first 100hours, 200hours and 1000hours, burn-in is possible at different levels of severity. We have since learned to just flip the channel real quick when we pause a movie. The “JumboTron” as my friend puts it is worth that inconvenience.

The really good news is that burn-in seems to only last a few minutes if turned off or flipped to another channel. You don’t have to worry about ruining the TV.

Another interesting fact. When idle this TV runs at 215 watts with no signal. When in use, showing on broadcast or movie this TV pulls a whopping 675 watts. I know this because I still need to get a bigger UPS (uninterpretable power supply) for it. Since I wouldn’t want something stupid like a brownout (which is worse) or power failure to damage it.

So Yes, all in all I’m very happy I got this TV.

Great TV Great Buy!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have a combination of Vizio (1 LCD, 1 Plasma) and Samsung (2 LCD, 1 Plasma) and by far this is the best TV of all! As noted by others, the color, especially the blacks are unbelievable!

PS

I have also been very happy with the Vizio’s as well!

Samsung PN58A550
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I did extensive research on 50″ and bigger plasma TV’s. Based on my research I decided on Samsung. [...] This is a big heavy TV and I wasn’t sure how I was going to pick it up if I bought it locally. The TV was delivered yesterday, a day earlier than originally estimated. The delivery service brought the TV in, unpackaged it, did a basic set up, and tested it to make sure it worked. The delivery guys were very careful and knew what they were doing. They offered to take the packaging away but I chose to hang on to it. I’m connected to cable with an HDMI connection and the picture on this TV is outstanding. I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

Good TV! Good Amazon Services
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The TV itself is wonderful. Picture and color is good and I have also purchased the Samsung HT-Z515 to match the sound. With the HTS, the sound is alot better. Just the TV itself, the sound may be a little weak.

I’ve to mention that Eagle did a good delievry Job. Three Guy come and take care of the setup for me in 10 mintues.

I read a lot of review on how to take care of the Plasma burn-in problem. I followed the 100 hrs rule(Actually, I turned the TV on for more than 10 hours a day for 13 days with most of time just watching movie channels that without any statics logo) So far, I don’t realize there is any problem.

A Plus for Amazon is that the TV price dropped twice within 30 days. And I did call and get refund for the difference! (within 30 days). I like that!

ENJOYABILTY
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
TOOK MY TIME TO RESEARCH MODEL AND CORRECT SIZE. THE SAMSONG 58″

WAS A GREAT DECISION. PRICE WAS LOWER THAN CIRCUIT CITY GOING OUT

OF BUSINESS SALE. MY SON-IN-LAW – ENGINEER / THOUGHT I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A 52″ ROOM 15.5 FEET WIDE INSTALLED HIGH ON WALL

40″ ABOVE FLOOR WITH TILT MOUNT. MR. ENGINEER SAID RIGHT SIZE.

THIS IS THE TV TO BUY IN ANY SIZE NEEDED. GREAT QUALITY AT DISCOUNT PRICE.

WOW!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We love our Samsung.

Even our neighbors want to come watch the bright brilliant colors in hi-def.

Can’t stand to watch any other tv now. We love it.

Would recommend to anyone.

Thanks Amazon for a great product and great service.

B.Farrar

no faults
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Have waited 9 months to make this reveiw as I see to many immediate reveiws that don’t address longevity. I can find no faults with this TV and have experienced no problems. I remain to be amazed when I turn it on. The picture is incredible. The prise now is about $400.00 below what I paid Amazon and I’m still happy with my purchase. Amazons handling was perfect.

Wow! What a viewing experience.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My wife and I treated ourselves to new TV this year and we just love our purchase. Watching high def movies and programs on this is just like being in a movie theater.

Superb deal with a major catch!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First, buying from Amazon is the BEST! Delivery came a week early and with NO problems or hitches.

On to the TV, I was going to get the Viera 2008 model but realized that its specs were the same as this Samsung [...]. Slightly deeper blacks are not worth that…

[...]

The TV is large, but surprising not as bad as I thought. It is thick on side width. Swivel stand is very functional.

The picture, is superb. You can opt for a High Black setting that really pops the picture. I use an upscaled DVD (OPPIO) and TW HD DVR. Digital Cable (SD) looks great. HD is superb.

I recommend against the DYNAMIC picture setting, sadly this setting is only one that allows DNIE to be used, since it causes severe color bleeding with SD TV.

The audio is good not great. The surround effect is spotty.

The glare issue for me, since our condo is fairly dark, is not an issue.

Remote is MUCH improved from my last Samsung PMDP

Best VFM (value for money) deal!

(UPDATE 2/5)

Sadly I found a major problem – BURN IN! After a few months, the Time Warner 4×3 window outer borders are burned into the set. All the burn in prevention tools did not work. I can reduce it with the grayscale sweep, but the problem lines are there.

Fantastic Picture
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Still haven’t finished calibration but the picture is already great. The first unit was damaged during shipping but a second was shipped promptly and the Amazon and CEVA staff were helpful throughout.

excellent service excellent product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
the price was great the service was great and the delivery was fast. no complaints here.

Couldn’t be happier
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My first review for anything, ever. No need to repeat all the positive comments about the TV itself. I heartily agree with all of them. Not one negative thought, and I am a cantankerous old reprobate.

Most important: There have been negative comments about delivery and set up. My delivery company was “Pilot” and I definately give them five stars. E-Mail said delivery would be Monday, March 2 and after phoning to coordinate my schedule, they delivered on Friday, Feb. 27. Delivery was on time and EVERYTHING “white glove” is supposed to be.

I have some aux. pieces that I also wanted installed and programmed. Based upon the note on the Amazon web site, I contacted ZIP Installation. They left about 45 minutes ago and they get the award for the best part of the whole deal. My guys were a sub contract from ZIP so I suspect they are available country wide. There isn’t enough space to go into detail about all the positve things I could say. Bottom line, next time I need this type service, they are going to get my money. Nuff said.

Overall very pleased
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve had the PN58A550 FOR about a month now and overall I am very pleased.

Positive:

The value is very good on this TV. The picture quality is great. Setup option are more extenisive than most TV’s. You can really dial in everything about the picture using regular menus. The overall finish on the TV is really nice. It has a piano gloss finish on the frame and stand that look really sharp. Samsung TV’s used to have some of the worst menus ever but the one on this TV is really very good and intuative.

Negatives:

1) There are no S-Video or Composite connections on the back of the TV. There are 1 of each on the left side of the TV.

2) The picture “zoom” feature is just stupid. Sometimes when movies are letterboxed I like to zoom in and not see so much of the top&bottom bars. On the Samsung zoom doesn’t zoom, it stretches the picture vertically so everything looks a little too tall.

3) The screen is pretty reflective. Other plasmas do a better job of cutting the glare.

Overall I’m really pleased with my purchase and would certainly do it again.

Great product, great price, BUT…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was supposed to get “White Glove” delivery and was that ever a joke. This was a 58″ Plasma TV and was very bulky and heavy. It needed to go up a flight of stairs which had a landing and a turn needing to be made. The TV is delivered by one guy and he wasn’t getting it up the stairs by himself. So I had to help him and after taking out 3 freshly painted walls (new home) we managed to get it where it was supposed to go.

Apparently Amazon or whomever scheduled this sort of “special” delivery service doesn’t have a clue who they are sending.

The TV is 5 star but the delivery service is aa no star.

Good Price but Defective Piece
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought This TV with very reasonable price and service is real good tha tincludes Delivery as well as after sales customer service..the only thingi have to mention is i got defective piece @ the cost of New so quality is not good got vertical thick different color line at half screen stay for 20 minutes wheveer you turn ON the TV which is repaired by samsung service man at home butin other word i can get better refurbished TV at that price..

Excellent Picture – good sound & 1st TV died after 30 hrs
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Got the 550 58″ & found the picture to be stunning. Sound is OK for regular TV. Found the energy save function & set it a medium. After about 30hrs of use the set went totally black – had sound & channel change – no picture. Technicians came out & ordered a motherboard, x driver & Y driver. They came back In a week with 2 of the 3 boards. As luck would have it the missing board was the one needed! So, the set was replaced & #2 seems to be working OK.

great product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The picture is awesome. Delivery day though, only one guy was on tap, so I had to help out. No big deal. I just thought though that you’d have at least a couple of guys available to give the best customer service.

Positive review of Samsung PN58A550
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I only have great things to say about this TV. The setup and use was easy, the remote is laid out in a common sense fashion, and the picture quality is great. This is the first large purchase I have made via the internet and was pleased with the results…both from the merchandise and Amazon’s perspective. One gripe was the shipper. The tracking number provided showed several departure dates, times, and locations. It was never clear on where the TV was or when it got there. That said, the bottom line is the TV arrived early and in good shape. Overall a great experience.

All Good News With This TV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I could not be more pleased with this TV and Amazon. I was an early adopter of HD TV and bought my first 50″ HD set in 1998. When it died I went shopping. Compared to this set I think I have never seen HD TV before.

The Olympics just happened to be on the first week I had it. WOW. I think the set paid for itself immediately with the airfare I saved to Beijing, because you think you are there with this thing. I get distracted watching people in the crowds because the little details are so clear.

The bad reviews you see here about windows and a light room have no basis in reality for me. I have the TV facing three windows with inside plantation shutters and the TV is clear and easy to see even on bright mornings with the shutters partially closed. I have Direct TV and used the HDMI cable to connect the TV. Best picture I ever saw. I have a surround sound system so I don’t use the TV speakers and can’t comment on the built in sound.

The color and blacks make Plasma worth the concerns with burn in. The TV has a pixel shifter feature that was on by default that should minimize burn in, my other big worry. They say this is a worry mainly on the first 200 hours, so I’ll be careful for now.

This is a great deal, the delivery was fast and efficient and the delivery company was asked to call me at work 30 minutes before they would come to my house and they did, so I did not have to sit around for half a day.

Great deal, great TV.

Sweet sound of happiness
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
How could you not love a TV that plays a soft tune to welcome you to its glorious picture and another to express the sadness you’ll feel when you have to turn it off. I’ve only had this newest addition to my family for a few weeks (and I obviously haven’t been able to enjoy its true calling – NFL season), but I’m thoroughly impressed so far. First of all, it’s remarkably heavy so bring a friend. Secondly, as big as it may sound, in the right room (I have it in a game room that’s about 15 x 20), it’s really a perfect fit and it won’t overwhelm its watchers with unmanageable bulk.

The picture however, will keep their eyes glued to its shiny screen. And I do mean shiny, so I hope you’re either in a room with good light control or only watching in pitch black at night, or you can practically groom yourself in the reflection. The color and texture, the deep blacks and the HD quality are so impressive, that I’ve started watching entirely new shows just because they were as bright and beautiful to me as a bug zapper to a mosquito. And all this from a makeshift clothes hanger sticking out of the back for the 3 weeks I had to wait for actual cable (needless to say, I was taking great advantage of the built-in HD tuner).

I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with picture quality options and setup specifics, but so far it’s as happy-making as I had imagined it would be. It can make believers out of any doubters and TV lovers out of even the most hopeless (given the right programming choices). Planet Earth is amazing, and any sports game will knock your socks off, but you may have to search a little harder. My wife lost any post-purchase regret or “I-was-happy-with-the-27-inch” thoughts the moment she saw Elf in all its 1800 square inches of glory.

Best Value 58″ Plasma
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The TV is fantastic. We’ve had it for a month now and have had no problems. The picture quality is great and you have a ton of options for configuring the image to your liking (factory settings were terrible). The sound, though clearly nowhere near the quality of a home theater system, are actually pretty good for a TV. The unit looks great as well. For those of you concerned about the Touch of Color, it’s so subtle that I don’t notice it — it looks like it has a beautiful piano-black frame. I was most concerned about how effective the anti-reflective screen was at dealing with glare as we have a lot of ambient light in the room (this was an issue with our old CRT). I’m happy to say glare is no problem with this plasma during the day or at night. Keep in mind, this is a HEAVY TV. Make sure you have at least two strong people who are comfortable lifting heavy/bulky items when moving it around.

Excellent Plasma
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had a friend help me evaluate plasma tv’s and price points. That friend calibrates hdtv’s and recommended the Sammie highly due to it’s color accuracy and decent black depth.

There are other TV’s with better black depth, but they cost a good 50% more than this tv and when you add the price of a decent 5 yr warranty and wallmount, I wanted to keep my costs reasonable.

I have this tv in my great room opposite of my fireplace — I disliked the idea of subjecting my TV to nightly heat baths in the winter. The room has 11 windows and at times there is glare. But that’s what you get in a room with that many windows — no tv is going to be able to remove glare completely.

To deal with glare we have blinds and window coverings that can be used to strategically block light. Additionally we’ve mounted this plasma on an Omnimount UCL-XB cantilever mouont. It’s easy to change the angle of the tv to reduce glare on a movable mount. Get a mount that supports 150-200 lbs.

Sound is ok/functional. I have a 7.1 speaker system in the room that I’ve installed this in, and there’s no reason to use the internal speakers. But they work, and they aren’t horrible. Best feature is that they are down firing and invisible. So since I’m not suing them its as if they are not even there.

The TV is heavy — make sure someone is home that can help the driver get it into the house. If my wife was home, there would have been no way that the tv would have made it inside with out neighborhood help. It seems to me that amazon should mandate that the delivery company sends enough ppl to deliver inside, but maybe they do and the shipping company is at fault.

So yes.. you can feel comfy buying this TV from amazon. It’s beautiful. My wife has even warmed up to its size and quality… the 58″ was “too big” before.. and “just right” now.

Get this set calibrated by a professional after a few hundred hours of use. Keep brightness and contrast down initially. Let the professional set it to your taste. You won’t be dissapointed.

Great TV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This TV has a fantastic picture and all the options for connectivity I will ever need. I chose this 550 model over higher models in the same line due to the size. It has a smaller width and less bezel around the outside. The black bezel and stand are beautiful but are a dust magnet. As I placed this tv in a cabinet, the placement of the remote sensor on the side would be better in the middle. Great TV!

To be avoided, BAD CONSUMER SERVICE from SAMSUNG AND ADORAMA
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
So, at CES 2006, I saw the TV I Really wanted, It was a prototype, scheduled for Q1 2008: 1 000 000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 30 000:1 static contrast ratio plasma.

The Blacks are black, the white are while, and no color echo with high motion … Yes, it is what I wanted …

So, I decided to start saving for the day a release. In Q2 2008, finally Samsung release it, 58″ of awesome picture quality, went to fry’s , look at it … same awesome TV!!!! so, http://www.amazon.com, i order the TV, and dance for a week, waiting the beast to show up.

It finally arrives, the 1st of July. Wall mount it, it looks awesome … buy a PS3, just for the Blueray play back, on the top of the PC I have too. It is all good!!!!!

The 4th a july comes, I have couple of my friends of the perf lab coming over, to enjoy the 4th of July.

During the after noon, we decided to watch one of those very “acide” movies, “the Onion” … No brain required for this one, while we were enjoying the BBQ , sun was too hard to stay outside. Room temperature was normal, nothing to be affraid off.

After a very funny scene, where a lady has a fairly large space between the teeth, a black bar appeared on the screen, about 150 pixels larges, from the top of the screen, to the middle. I immediatly got it … and felt one of those heat wave into my body, you know the kind that can drive you mad … one of the plasma matrix element just died … Grrrrrrrrrr

Nice way to spoil my 4th of July … on the top of this, I call Samsung, and surprisingly, a lady pick up the phone … I explain my problem, explain her that I did try to reset, I did unplug for 10 min, and i let the TV “rest” for 30 min … and it is still having the black rectangle.

She tells me then that the TV is defective, she propose to send a technician.

I answered that this is a new TV, and I don t want it to be open, I want an exchange … she answered “Sir, we do not change TVs, even brand new, we only repare, it is Samsung policy, even if the TV is 3 days old”

Then, I explained her that I can use the 30 days return of california, and this will cost Samsung more than just sending a new one and I return the one I have. She just said: “Sorry Sir, I can’t help you” kind of polite answer that means to go to hell, even if it is about 2 years of hard saving …

Looking online, it looks like quiet some people are getting this retangle issue.

Fortunatly, the state of new york, and california has laws to protect me.

I called a consumer association this morning, just to make sure.

7th in morning, as planned, i contacted the retailler, ADORAMA, out of Amazon.com … ADORAMA is good ranking, but if you look carefully, they in fact sells a lot of cheap items. I got connected to “Monique” , she was nice, up to the point I asked for returning or exchanging the TV. Then, she started telling me that ADORAMA does not allow returns on TV bigger than 20 inches … That mean the entiere TV line is not exchangable … When I propose to return to ADORAMA, Monique basically told me that if I do so, they will decline the return package, and leave it in the street. Strong of this dissapointing information, I did recontact SAMSUNG. Samsung is sending a technician the 9th to access the repair or replacement of the TV …

Bottom line …. DON T BUY SAMSUNG, nothing elegant into their practice, and they choose very badly their retaillers.

ADORAMA is a terrible store, only focussed on selling and not helping their customers in case of problem. To be avoided at any cost. They refuse the return even if you remind them the federal laws on return policy. I will send them a lawyer for damage anyway, I can afford it, and I think it is a good think to prevent this kind of behavior.

FP

Worth every penny… and then some
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I researched for months and finally decided on the Samsung plasma TV for my latest purchase. The specs were solid and the reviews were some of the best out there. I got the white glove delivery and couldn’t have been happier.

I have had it for a couple of months now and I am extremely pleased. I watch everything from TV shows to movies and I play a lot of games… and I truly mean a lot… maybe 20-30 hours a week. No burn-in, no dead pixels, simply beautiful picture in all instances.

If you play games or watch a lot of movies, you will love this TV.

Awesome Set
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is one awesome television set. The color and clarity of the picture is amazing. Actual set-up was simple and quick. My expectations have clearly been exceeded.

Lovely T.v. – Delivery Service Not so good
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Although the t.v. is a great t.v., the delivery date on amazon was way later then it stated. Pilot Frate Service was not good. They were supposed to call on the 8th, they didn’t call until the 13th, I was expecting it to be delivered by 1/13 as per amazon, but its not schduled until 1/16/09. I will add more after it has been delivered.

Samsung PN58A550 Plasma TV
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had this TV now for about 3 weeks and am very happy with it! The picture is very good and I am still tweaking things to try to make it better! Easy to navigate the menus and there are enough settings to keep you busy for a long time.I would recommend this TV to anyone who wants a big beautiful picture!

amazon lied to me
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
love my 58 samsung tv.easy setup and great picture but was disapointed with amazon.com.i bought this tv from amazon.com with white glove delivery.after paying with credit card i recieved email that i bought it from one call.tv was set on side of road after 5 promoie deliver dates and with 10 minute warning.my wife and i are bouth disabled.had to call nabers to drag inside.will not buy from amazon.com again nor one call.

Amazing!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This tv is amazing. The picture quality is very good. When we turned the tv on we were blown away. We have our own mini movie theater now! Blu ray makes a big difference. We’ve had no problems with it being too hot or having any problems with glare.

Great TV…but excellent with HD!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
VERY happy with this TV. I did tons and tons of research before buying this and reach lots and lots of feedback. I was so hesitant buying this instead of the Panasonic. I decided to buy this one since it was a few hundred-dollars less. I am SO pleased with my decision. This TV is great. It is pretty grainy when hooked up to regular TV but the HD channels are incredible. If all our channels were in HD we would have definitely given this 5 stars. It looks like the people are right in my living room. I have never seen a picture this clear in my life. It is amazing! I just can’t wait till more of our channels are broadcast in HD! I would highly recommend this TV to anyone! It is a great buy for the money.

Waste of money!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Purchased this TV on 11/26/08 after reading several reviews. Here were are nearly a year later and the TV is useless. A few weeks ago, the TV developed vertical mult-colored line on the screen. The TV is under warranty but it’s been like pulling teeth to get anything done. Stay away from Samsung!

The best Plasma out there for the money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had researched the plasma verse lcd and finally settled on the plasma. I kept waiting for the price to come down but no luck. A friend told me he had purchased his at amazon, so in december I checked their site and sure enough the same model was 800.00 cheaper than the area box stores were selling it. I jumped on the offer, no tax no shipping I could not believe my luck. The family came over for christmas and were amazed with the picture. Even my brother-in-law who just purchased a lcd 6 months before said he loved the picture better than his. One of my nephews said that we should have superbowl over at my house as I had the better tv now. I could not be happerier with this tv. Consumer reports have this model rated #1 and they were correct . The remote is easy to use, adjustments are easy. The only thing that was not that satisfactory was the white glove delivery that was promised, now reading the other reviews I couldn’t wait for the delivery and hook-up. Well this is what I got; 2 guys bringing in the huge box placeing the tv on the console getting a channel asking how the picture was and they were out the door. I asked about hooking up the blue ray and the speaker plugs and was told he did not do that, so that was a little disappointing but we figured it out. Remember it is all about this tv. I have a bright family room and have no glare what so ever.

So Clear, I even watch commercials
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This TV is absolutely amazing. I did my due dilligence on this one. I shopped over 6 months before I pulled the trigger. Panny was nice, bit overpriced. Same with Sony. Looked at the lower cost Vizio, but I just couldn’t get past the name. Also, they did not have a 58″ model. Got the Samsung and have zero regrets. Also, I was a little nervous about buying something this large on line especially given the mixed reviews about Ceva as a shipping company. All I can say is everything worked out perfectly. Ceva was one day early and communicated well. TV was set up in my living room. They even offered to take away the box if I wanted. I was skeptical of this whole thing going in, but as you can probably gather, I am a true believer. By the way, this is my first review as I usually don’t take the time to compliment. However, this one deserves it.

Samsung PN58A550 – Great HDTV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This 58″ Sumsung Plasma HDTV provides a stunning picture that is extremely sharp with dark blacks and vibrant colors. View from an angle is no problem and I don’t see blur from fast motion like LCD’s have. The set is heavy and runs hot (Plasma), but the picture top notch. I would recommend this HDTV.

Great TV for the money
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Very happy with this purchase. Great 1080p and much better than average digital/analog cable reception as my other two large format plasmas. Great sound from the downfacing hidden speakers. Good menus and set-up screens. The only reason for the 4 star rating is the location of the back connection panal (lower rear corner of TV), which makes for a easy hook-up, but can cause some issues with cables when using low-profile tilt mounts.

Awesome TV but I got the dreaded pink hues
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I had the PN58A550 for 20 days. All was good and but around day 15 or so I got big pillar size pink hue ( 3 to 4 of them). It was very noticeable watching hockey and I couldnt bear so I returned it for the Panasonic 58 800u. If it didnt have the pink hues I would have kept it. I went back to Panasonic right away because of past experiences with them. I already have 2 50inch Plasma a 60u and 75u and not one complaint.

Great Buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great picture and price for size. Was easy to set up the blu ray, sat, vcr/dvd with manyt inputs for video games. Came pretty quick too.

An amazing TV!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After doing a good deal of research I decided on this set and couldn’t be happier with my decision. I’ve mounted it on the brick wall above my fireplace and the picture is just beautiful. No glare problems at all. It does put out a lot of heat and make sure you have a couple of strong friends to help you mount it but this is the best value I found. You can’t go wrong with this set and the entire Amazon experience was outstanding. [...]

Disappointed
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I really wish I could have rated my plasma experience higher but I just can’t. Amazon gets 5 stars… but Samsung NO. Here’s are my details- First set delivered by CEVA. They asked- “do you want us to unpack it?” I thought this was supposed to be white glove. I’m glad I said yes because it was cracked from one side to the other. They covered it back up and said no worries- called Amazon and thay had another right out. Also They dropped the price for me even though later I found out they stopped that last year. The next set showed up fine. No white glove delivery but this is LA- what do you expect. As far as the actual set, it has great colors but I was extremely disappointed with the black levels during very dark scenes or credit rolls etc. During a high contrast scene, the blacks are inky-black. But the rest of the time they look muddy gray. I was so set back by this, I called Samsung support which is useless and they took three weeks to send out a even more useless tech who wanted to just swap out the main circuit board. I said I wanted them to test it first to see if the blacks are normal or actually bad. He said he had no test equipment. Another tech said the same thing. (Professional calibrators have the gear). Anyhow, I sent the set back because it seemed like the blacks were defective to me. Amazon sent a replacement set a week later delivered by PILOT and they too just wanted to plug it in and that’s it. This last set was the same so I guess that’s a good as the blacks get. Hmmm I would have expected more for a $2500 TV. As I have now learned reading all “AVS forum”, the blacks are just that. That site has a great source for what numbers to set up the tv to. Be sure to lower the contrast and never use the dynamic mode- there’s a whole owner’s forum just for this model TV. Anyhow, this last TV has a wierd film all over the INSIDE of the glass- like an oil film from manufacturing. The second set did not have this problem. It doesn’t effect the set when it’s on, but it makes the screen look dirty when it’s off. It can not be cleaned off. The sound is okay from the speakers that face out the bottom and the PIP is completely useless since you can only use analog signals inside the box- which we be obsolete as of Feb 09. Also I notice a lot of latent images with the plasma as I switch channels, etc. The rest of the setis great but I need to buy two more sets and I think I’ll go LCD. I only got this one due to its large size. So all in all I’m kind of bummed about the whole TV. Don’t get me wrong. The set does do a lot of things great- just like consumer reports points out, but they were right about the blacks too. When I’m watching a movie on it, I am very happy. So since I decided not to spend $3500 on a Kuro Pioneer for the real blacks, I have to settle for the few minuses. The only thing that was flawless was Amazon and their help. I will continue to use them. They are excellent.

Amazing TV for the Price
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First thoughts on delivery day.

While a long time Amazon customer I was hesitant to order such a large TV. [...]

The delivery was actually 2 hours before the scheduled window, the delivery man did call and say he was coming. One warning: only the driver comes, there is no two person team. Therefore you have to help pick up the TV and put it on your stand, and help maneuver it into the house. While TV’s are lighter than the old days, this still weighs in at 138 pounds, over 150 with packing. Not easy to lift. The driver did offer to hook it up but knowing my system better I decided to do it myself, after making sure it did work.

The HD picture just jumps out at you. It is amazingly clear and sharp, literally like looking out a window. This is not my first HD TV, its actully my fourth, so I’m used to HD and would not be impressed just by seeing HD for the first time. But this beats my Toshiba plasma picture easily and my old (3 years )JVC DLP. The reason to buy an HD is obviously the picture so given how good the picture is I’m willing to put up with the cons listed below.

SD is about average for an HD TV. Might get better with some fine tuning. The only cons so far, obviously being plasma you must control the light in your room and the menus seem, at first glance, to be somewhat cumbersome. There are so many picture options, color, tint, warmth, etc. I’m not sure if that is a plus or a minus since you could spend a week trying all the combos.

So far very pleased, will update should anything noteworthy occur.

plasma HDTV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
a great buy! the reception is incredible and worth the money. i am very happy with this product and would recommend it to anyone looking to get a big screen tv.

Samsung 58″ Plasma Rocks
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Writing a review is not easy, when first impressions are so strong. But here goes. I am an engineer by profession; thus I read and read the ink off of tech. specs.Samsung PN58A550 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

As a past engineer involved in the TI DLP product it was really hard to think of any other TV to replace my aging 40″ HDTV from Toshiba. However I decided to open the mind a bit and look and test. We watch sports and lots of action shows almost all the time, Plasma rocks for that. I was concerned about black levels, almost all the Plasma’s again rock but I fount DLP was just as equal on that. Then I found a new DLP with laser not a color wheel or lcd color generator, and then the price WOW $7,000.. oops way too much for our budget. I then came back to Plasma TV’s, and knowing how Samsung builds a product; it was a no brainer there. And size does matter. I chose the 58″ after measuring our viewing distance and side to side guest viewing. Amazon had the best price, the white glove at no cost extra; and the Plasma that met all my specifications.

Now why did I give it 4 out of 5 stars. After the set up; and CEVA left, I moved all my furniture back and found that the screen slopes to the left about 1″ and I have to prop that side up since there is no adjustment on the mounting stand. I am not using wall mount, and know that could fix the problem of it not being level. I am not going to return it, I know I should but it would be too much pain since I have everything wired up and I can’t keep my eyes off of how great it looks.

Stunning
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I did a lot of research before purchasing this TV in September, and now that I’ve had a few months with it, it’s changed my life. This isn’t just about how making that upgrade to flat-panel makes a difference, it’s about how nicely this Samsung Plasma TV is put together.

When comparing LCD and Plasma side by side, there was no question as to which had the better color depth–it was definitely plasma. When examining pros and cons, Plasma technology has come a long way. For example, Samsung has a technology called “Pixel Shifting” that will prevent image burn-in by subtly shifting tiny areas of the picture at random. I have yet to be able to see this happen–it seems invisible (but you can also configure how it runs if for some reason you can actually see it). Even if I start to see after-images, Samsung offers me 3 ways to clean it up, all of which are simple: you access the menu, run the cleanup routine for an hour or more, then hit a button and it stops. We also run in a power-saving mode and haven’t seen any drop in picture quality.

Meanwhile, we have a plethora of inputs: S-Video, Component, Composite A/V, and HDMI. Some of these inputs are even handily located on the side of the TV, which makes it easy to connect my PSP or a laptop and have my eyes cross and my jaw drop. The TV comes in-the-box mounted to the stand, so no assembly is required: just open the crate, lift onto a stand, and plug in.

The viewing angle of this TV is as close to 180 degrees as I can imagine: I can easily watch the picture from another room when I peek around the edge of the doorway. Glare was a big consideration for us, and thus far the only time we have a problem with it is when a light is on that’s directly reflected from the TV. In other words, if you have a lamp on behind you, you’ll see it reflected, but if you have a lamp off to the side, the light won’t wash across the surface and make it hard to see. I’m also familiar enough with flat-panel technology to watch closely for color bleed, motion blur or other refresh rate problems, and I haven’t seen any that were the fault of the TV (watching a home video, for example, will do these things on any screen).

There are only a couple of drawbacks to the Samsung PN58A550:

- The menus can get pretty complex

- The menus take a while to disappear if you don’t have the TV remote handy and use it to tap “Return” when you’re done

- I haven’t actually used anywhere near all of the features of this television. I don’t even know what all of them do.

- flipping from one input or size of screen to another can take several seconds

One thing that seems to be important, in general: if you’re buying a TV like this, you really need to have it professionally calibrated. That’s the system where a technician comes in with gadgets they stick to the screen, they read the signal into a device like a laptop, and manually tune every last way the TV projects its picture. It takes about an hour, but it evens out the color balance and makes the circuitry run more efficiently. We had ours professionally calibrated and it seems to run cooler.

Terrible Terrible Terrible Experience – READ THIS!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Please beware – it is NOT amazon that is selling this TV, it is OneCall, they DO NOT have white glove delivery as Amazon claims to have! Also, they have a return policy that states that they cannot take return of TVs over 20 inches. So they drop it off literally on the curb and claim you damaged it getting it in the house and they will not take returns! I am still fighting this one with my bank; they tried to warn me (apparently they have had numerous complaints about OneCall). Amazon is becoming like eBay, with unscrupulous merchants who they claim no responsibility for. I never got to see what this TV was like I spent $2,400 for nothing and it has not been returned yet.

BEST PRICE, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
1st time I brought something from Amazon.com and that was big ticket item

Samsung PN58A550 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

we got this lower price then lots of retail stores WITH NO DELIVERY CHARGE

TV was delivered in 5 days

and I am very happy with product and service we received

[...]

Thanks

we will do business again for sure

Great buy!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this fabulous TV before I could really use it. There was no problem holding the unit for a few weeks until I could prepare the place for it. Delivery was fabulous (a few minutes later than the scheduled 4 hour window). They unpacked the TV, mounted it on my display unit (not the wall), made sure that it worked properly, cleaned up and removed the packaging all for no additional cost. The TV is fabulous, but the entire purchase and delivery procedure was delightful.

OUTSTANDING is NOT the WORD !!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This Samsung PN58A550 Plasma 1080p HDTV is beyond AWESOME and OUTSTANDING. Already had a 720p Samsung, moved it to the bedroom when this one arrived Christmas Eve. Truly no comparison, wife was greatly impressed with the color and real life appearances. This was delivered by CEVA after being purchased from Amazon, the lowest price I could find; delivery was uneventful, shipping container was in excellent condition, the delivery guy unpacked the TV with great care and knowledge, we set it up on our entertainment center, plugged it in and WOW!!! Their white glove service is very impressive, the fellow even took the packaging material so I wouldn’t have to dispose of it myself. We have nothing but GREAT COMPLIMENTS for Amazon and the delivery service and the PLASMA TV by Samsung!!!!!

Just the right TV for the living room.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We bought this in Jan 2009 at the then low price of $2299. Even though the B series is now available for as little as $1750, we are still very happy with our purchase. This has been a GREAT TV. Picture is outstanding (even in standard def) in all light conditions (as compared to any CRT) and the screen can be viewed easily from most angles. Much better than LCD for action sports. Absolutely no problems in the last 9 1/2 months. No burn-in with the built in pixel shifts being used. The built in sound is really pretty good and is what we use most of the time even though we have a surround system hooked up.

Only wish would be to add one more component hook up location on the back panel as we had to use the side connection for the VHS S-Video hookup.

Will buy Samsung again.

Great TV for the Money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I didn’t originally purchase this TV I purchased last years model and had originally asked for my delivery to be delayed a couple weeks as I was in the process of remodeling my basement and didn’t want to damage the TV. I received a call prior to shipping that they were out of last years model and was offered this new model for the same price, I was a little reluctant at first becuase there were no rating available. The picture seems better than last years model, might just be me. We have had this TV for a couple weeks with no problems. TV has alot of picture control options and inputs including side mounted inputs which have been convienent so far. Have not noticed any problems as of yet with the exception of the one that I have read on all similar Plasma TV’s and that is sound. Don’t get me wrong the sound is fine for viewing but works better when hooked up through a surround sound receiver.

Samsung PN58A550- Awsome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This TV is just great. Perfect size and beautiful colors and clarity. Saved over $700.00 bucks through Amazon.com vs Circuit City. Plus, no sales tax, free shipping and free ‘Gold Glove’ service -I couldn’t ask for more. Hooked it up to my Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver and the sound is fantastic. The Remote has alot of menu functions (many I have no clue about and don’t care) but is pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it. Overall- I love it.

Amazing TV, great service, couldn’t be happier!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let me start out by saying that I was really, truly impressed with amazon.com’s handling of this TV. Ordering was a breeze (May 1st), quick and easy, and within 2 days of ordering CEVA contacted me, and set an appointment for Wednesday May 7th (which happens to be today). I received a call last night around 730pm and it was the CEVA driver. He was assigned to deliver my TV, and told me that he lives in Fairborn, OH (where I also live), and that he was coming home from Cincinnati and wanted to drop off the TV on his way home, rather than have me wait until my scheduled appointment which was Wednesday May 7th at 8am. I was BLOWN AWAY by this, and of course agreed. He showed up around 8pm, and by 830, we had unpacked the TV, had it on my TV stand and up and running. He cut off all the serial number tags off the box, and took the box away for me.

I have everything set up through a component HD source selector as I don’t have any need for HDMI yet. [...]. My HD cable box, and upconvert DVD player has HDMI, but through research I found that only Blu-ray benefits from the HDMI cable over component. The 1080i from my cable box, 1080p from my Xbox 360, and 1080p from my upconvert DVD player work just fine over component, and they are all crystal clear.

The HD from my cable box through Time Warner is amazing. After a quick setup on the TV (which is very easy as every setting has a “tooltip” description down at the bottom of the menu), I set the TV to “Just Scan” which auto scans and adjusts the exact resolution being transmitted to the TV, and used the “Movie” setting with a warm2, to give a little color to Bones’ cheeks. The show looked really amazing, true HD. I sit about 8-10ft away from the TV and it is the perfect size and resolution. I also have pretty dark paint in my living room, and double blinds with heavy drapes over my windows, so even during the fading daylight last night, I didn’t notice any sunlight glare at all. I like a dark environment, and rarely watch TV or play games with any lights on.

I have been taking the precautions to avoid burn in, as most of the channels I watch don’t have any static logos or tickers. If there are, I usually won’t watch that channel for more than 1 hour, or 42 min at a time. Also I haven’t really noticed any significant heat coming from the TV. There is some heat, but not as much as this older Samsung I have in the lobby at my office. The one at my office you can feel from about 2 feet away from it. The new 58 inch at home, starts to feel warm at about 6 inches. That I hope will save on some power consumption.

I am also an avid gamer and played Grand Theft Auto IV till about 3 in the morning. (Coming in to work at 7am this morning totally sucked, but was so worth it). After each hour of game play, I would switch to my cable and watch some Discovery HD Theater for about 15 min to avoid burn in. The game looks absolutely incredible over the component cables! I could read all text on the screen without any problem and everything in the environment looked rich and vivid. Discovery HD Theater is amazing; there was some show on last night that was showing world environments. It honestly felt like I was there, looking through a window.

One final thought, just before going to bed I tried out my Phillips upconvert DVD player with the movie 300. Of course it’s not an HD source, but it still looked really amazing. Just slightly clearer than playing 300 on my Xbox 360, and I am sure most people wouldn’t notice the clarity difference, and I may be nitpicking, but regardless both played a regular DVD with really good quality.

This is my first HDTV and I couldn’t be happier. Anyone looking for their first HDTV or an upgrade from an older HDTV, let me tell you, this one gets it done right. I give 5/5 stars and 2 thumbs up. WAY up!

99% good
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First The Bad:

————–

White glove delivery was far from my expectations. I’m sure it depends on your particular location since other people have been happy with it. But in Houston, they had to reschedule for later in the day due to truck problems and making sure they had 2 guys that could carry it inside. When they did show up, only 1 guy was on the truck. He seemed surprised that I wanted to open the box and make sure the TV worked before he left. So we opened it and I had to help with all the lifting since they only sent 1 guy. He did put the batteries in the remote while I plugged all the cables in the back of the TV… I guess that is the “white glove” part.

Only other bad I’ve noticed so far is that when the screen is mostly white (say 90% or more), such as when a logo is displayed at the end of a commercial, the white becomes a very cloudy grey color instead of a true bright white. But when the screen is not all white, the white portions do pop out and look very white and bright. I’ve tried adjusting the picture settings but so far have not found a fix for it. I’ll keep working on it.

Now The Good:

———–

Price. Amazon wasn’t the very cheapest when I bought, but for the service I expect from Amazon it was the clear choice. [...]

TV. I was worried that such a big picture would make standard def TV look really choppy. I have a 40″ Sony LCD where if I’m somewhat close I can see a lot of jagged lines around the picture. This Samsung is actually a little better. Even though the screen is much bigger, I actually have to stand a little closer to the TV to see the jagged lines (I’m talking like 3 feet or closer). The color looks much better than the LCD TV, especially in high def. The All-Star game looked fantastic, I could clearly see everything even from the kitchen. Can’t wait for college football to start!!! The glossy black frame can really show fingerprints so you’ll have to wipe it regularly unless you can convince your kids to keep their paws off it. I’m using a Harmony universal remote and Onkyo audio system so I can’t comment on the included remote or sound quality. If you want to plan out your connections ahead of time, download the owners manual from the manufacturer’s website. I don’t have a very bright room so the plasma works just fine. It is definitely a beast — for the price I can’t imagine anything better. PS3 looks very good on it. Consumer Reports also rated it at the top of their most recent reviews. I think 99% of consumers would be happy with this product.

Awesome!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Hi guys

I generally do not write reviews but this is such a new TV without many reviews in the public domain and so decided to put my two cents;

1. Why plasma not LCD…well, plasmas, are cheaper once you are in the post 50″ realm. Past 50″, plasmas rule when it comes to price. They are also not limited by 60/120 Hz. cycling issues like the LCDs (remember we never had a “triple ball” effect with our old CRT based TVs, that we have used for the past 50 years; well, plasmas are an extension of that technology, just way more sophisticated.

2. [...]

3. Amazon service: 5/5 Top class. Ordering on line was a breeze.

4. Free white glove delivery included delivery, unpacking, set up, and trash haul. Also, if you do not like what you see, Amazon will take the TV on the spot at their expense. On my TV, there was a free white glove delivery! CEVA tracking promised delivery on 7th May but delivered the TV on 1st May. How is that for under promise and over deliver. 5/5 to CEVA for white glove! It took 2 guys to haul this beast in. I had the cart ready and they spent half an hour unpacking and helping me screw the TV to the stand (M8 36 mm screw). The screws on the back from Samsung are not long enough (though M8 type). You will need to undo the swivel base (the CEVA guys did that and hauled my old 36″ (read heavy) clunker into the basement also).

5. Return policy: 30 day no questions asked on Amazon as opposed to 15 days in bricks a mortar stores.

6. The TV picture quality itself blew me away. For the price, it is a no brainer. Sound quality does need enhancement with a home theater system for a full HD/HT experience. The picture out of the box is truly marvelous. I did not have to tinker with the settings much. Just make sure you have either an HDMI or a component cable that is able to display 1080p/i signal (the old coax does not display 1080p/i).

7. Blue ray player: For people with children, Sony PS3 is an obvious choice for a blue ray/game player combo.

8. This TV has higher contrast ratio than their earlier FTP5884 model, and therefore, whilst both were available, it was a no brainer to go with the newer PN58A550 model.

9. One last comment. If money was not an objective, I would have bought a bigger (65″) panel. I had the hunch and it is now confirmed, no matter how large a panel you buy, you may end up feeling that it is not big enough.

Overall, Amazon saved me mucho dinaro, and delivered as promised. No fuss, no muss, no questions asked! Good luck guys/gals.

Couldn’t be happier!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After 6 months of looking and comparing I decided on either the Samsung 52″ series 550 LCD or this 58″ series 550 plasma. I finally decided that size DID matter. Boy am I happy! The pix is fantastic, color and blacks are superb, according to the instructions (and reviews) it takes up to 2 hours of static pixels to have a threat of burn in (which I never foresee) so I couldn’t be happier. Some have written about the sound, but my family can’t find anything to complain about. When we watch something really important we use the BOSE Lifestyle Dolby 5.1 anyway. I read that plasmas put out heat which is true. When watching an evening of TV we have to use the ceiling fan in the great room when it’s unnecessary in the rest of the house. But it’s just the nature of the beast and it is 110 degreees outside. It has nothing to do with this unit.

[...]

But what I really wanted to write about was the delivery service. I had read some real horror stories concerning Amazon & CEVA delivery. So when I was told that my [...] investment would be coming via ‘Inept Shipping Inc.’ (CEVA) I almost backed out. But, I can’t tell you how beautifully the transaction went!!!!

Now you’ve got to understand, I ordered this set about midnite on Friday of Memorial Day weekend so nothing was going to happen until Monday or Tuesday. The set arrived in the nearby ‘big city’ (we live 90 miles from Oklahoma City in a small town of 36,000) on WEDNESDAY!! I took the initiative and called the local CEVA office to setup a time for delivery. (Most complaints seemed to deal with waiting for them to call you and dealing with the 800 number rather than the local office. The local office is available via their website by simply clicking on a map of the U.S!) They were willing to deliver it the very next day on Thursday but I was unavailable. So we set it up for between noon and 2:30 on Friday. The guy called when he was 20 minutes away, 1pm, unloaded the TV, helped me unbox it, lift it up on the new credenza, set up the channels and gave me some tips on usage, LIKE DON’T EVER USE THE POWER BUTTON ON THE FACE OF THE TV. ALWAYS USE THE REMOTE. THE PRESSURE PAD SYSTEM ON THE SET ITSELF IS SENSITVE TO MOISTURE SO IF YOU HAVE DAMP HANDS YOU CAN BURN OUT THE PAD TO THE TUNE OF AN ALMOST $400 REPAIR. I have since checked this out with Samsung and they say yes, it is possible. That sure isn’t in the book! Thanks Mike the delivery guy at CEVA for ALL the great service and help! I got my 58″ plasma TV delivered to my home with true service and set up in under a week at a [...]! Can’t beat the price or the service!

Review of Delivery and Initial Impression
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We just had this TV delivered today so I can’t give the all important review on longevity, but we are so pleased with Amazon and CEVA that I had to write an initial review for anyone shopping for the holidays. Like us you may have doubts about ordering something this big online and having it delivered. Trust me, this was easier (and cheaper) than dealing with the sales people in the stores and then trying to load it in your car or paying to have it delivered. Note: This was sold by Amazon, not a 3rd party.

We ordered late Thursday night and it was delivered early Tuesday morning by CEVA. I did use the tracking information that was sent to me and as soon as I saw on Monday that it had arrived in Dallas I called CEVA to set up a delivery. They are supposed to call, but with Thanksgiving this week I didn’t want to wait even a day. They said they could come the next day and gave me a time frame.

The White Glove delivery was perfect and 10 minutes after they left we were watching a gorgeous picture complete with the cable, TIVO and sound system set up. They don’t connect all that, but the TV is that easy. We’ve had the TV on all day and can’t get over how much better the picture is than our[...] 52″ Mit DLP. I’ll try to remember to update this review in a few months with more info on the actual TV.

Samsung Excellent Plasma
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Amazon’s delivery and unpacking service was excellent. Samsung’s quality and ease of set up really stood out in this product. Plasma picture is sharp, bright and clear even in medium level room lighting conditions. Like all Plasma’s the set runs a bit warm but makes up for it in performance.

WHEN IN DOUGHT – GO BIG!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Finaly decied to upgrade the bedroom TV. Since we’d be viewing approx 90% of the time in the dark, we decided on Plasma. I love their blacks (we have a Toshiba DLP and a Sony LCD and I don’t think they compair to the “Movie Theatre” blacks of the Plasmas).

So I read my reiews and shopped abound. Decided on a 42″ Panasonic 1080p from Costco. Got it set up on a swivel wall mount w/ the wires hidden in the wall. Looked really nice and picture was unreal. I don’t know where they can go from here.

The problem we had was it was just too small. I measured our viewing distance at 16 ft.. So with further research, I discovered they recommend 70+” at this distance. Also, at this viewing distance the difference between 1080p and i is not detectable by the human eye [...].

[...]

Reluctant to buy online, but with a significant price savings I revisited this options. Amazons price was very competivie and with their return policy and free shipping, we ordered the Samsung 58A550.

TV was here in 4 days. They opened the box to a cracked screen. They boxed it back up, took it away and gave me a number to call. Amazon said they had another in stock and would ship ASAP.

4 days later, the new tv arrived and all went well this time.

Bottom Line: Very happy with this purchase. Picture with cable is great and through the Blu-Ray is awesome!

My Advise: GO BIG. I thought the 58″ in the bedroom might be too big. In the store and when the box arrived, it sure seemed very big! But once it’s up for a few days, it seems just right. Watching TV and movies is like going to your private theatre. It’s been very exciting.

Awesome TV for hundreds less than in stores
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this TV for my new townhouse to replace my old 32″ Sharp LCD and all I can say is “wow”. This TV provides amazing picture quality, excellent contrast ratio, and absolutely no motion blur when watching sports or other fast-moving shows. Not only is the picture excellent, but the sound isn’t too bad either, although I did buy a surround system for it as well. The setup was easy and it has ports galore in the back of it, including 3 HDMI, a couple of component & composite inputs, and an optical audio jack as well, which I am using for the surround system. It has enough HDMI ports that I can hook up my PS3, Xbox 360, and cable box all through HDMI, which is something that my old TV didn’t have.

The delivery was OK… the guys had to circle back around to deliver this TV because I missed their call the first time that they called. However, they did deliver on a Saturday, which was pretty impressive. When they got there, they only had two guys and the TV weighs about 110 lbs. so I had to help them get it in the house and down the stairs. They tried to leave without helping me set it up and I had to ask them to do so. However, once I did, they unboxed it for me, lifted it onto my TV stand, plugged it into the wall, and plugged my cable box into the back of it. They then put the batteries into the remote and turned it on to make sure it worked. So all in all, they turned out to be pretty helpful.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a big TV with stunning picture for hundreds less than at Best Buy or Circuit City (it was listed at MSRP at both places), then this is the TV for you. I got this for around $2750 and then got a $100 credit because of the price drop guarantee (which Amazon doesn’t do anymore, by the way). I would definitely recommend this TV and Samsung in general to anyone looking for a good quality TV.

LOVE the Samsung 58 inch!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Wow..is all I can say. We have the TV mounted on a finished basement wall and the picture can’t be beat. We hooked up to a Sony home theatre so the sound is perfect. The colors are so crisp and vibrant. We have really enjoyed watching the Olympics in HD on this TV!

Great TV!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the best TV money can buy. The picture is flawless. The black levels are amazing. To date I haven’t had any problems with burn in. I use it for gaming quite a bit. I’m very pleased with this purchase. No buyers remorse here.

better than I could have hoped
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this TV back in May and wanted to wait a while before making a review. I had an orginal Panasonic HDTV and loved it. It went out in January and I decided to buy a Panasonic but wanted this years 58″ model. While waiting for the Panasonic to come out I saw the Samsung in Circuit City. I was very impressed but wanted the Panasonic. After waiting months with no release date, I decided to buy the Samsung. What a deal. This television is outstanding. I have this TV in my living room that has a large window. The glare is less than my original projection Panasonic. If I close the curtain there is no glare.

I have nothing bad to say about this set. Regular cable is what I expected but HD is awesome. Blu Ray is even better. If you want a Panasonic don’t overlook this television. It saved me at least three hundred dollars over the Panasonic and I didn’t have to wait forever.

Also Amazon is great. I got this TV 2 days after the order was processed. Hope this helps the people looking at Panasonics and Pioneer. They are all great but for less money you wont notice any difference.

awesome set
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Well we have now had the set for 4+months now and wanted time with the unit to write a review.

Because I have a sony lcd XBR set which from the first week the picture went out, in came the service, 2 weeks later, picture gone again- service again, and again and again to where the service tech knew me quite well, and as most should know, the XBR seriers are suppose to be the top-of-the-line,,, things happen, but decided to focus on the plasma.

I bought a panisonic plasma that the picture just brought tears to your eyes but saw this samsung at a store and what a picture. [...] I set it up with a playstation for the blue-ray and mounted the system on the wall.

After 4 months, zero problems, the picture in HD is beyond words,,, only one problem- to parents!, I left for 4 weeks to do some work on a cabin and was informed that I lost the tv to the kids, x-box was hooked up, they bought new games for the playstation and was it in use almost 20 hours/day (schools out). HIDE THE REMOTE! My wife questioned the size but once in place she wants the 42″ in the bedroom replaced,, I agreed. Remote is nice and easy, bought a yamaha 863 with hdmi hookups for the surround sound system. nothing noticable on the elc bill even with the kids. great investment and much better than the panies.

Great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great HDTV. The picture is amazing – hard to imagine any of the more expensive TVs (Panasonic, Pioneer, etc.) justifying the cost difference. Amazon was outstanding as well. We had the TV just 3 days after placing the order

The greatest Plasma HD TV you could buy.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am totally happy with my Samsung 58″ Plasma HDTV. No regrets what so ever. I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the perfect birthday gift from my husband.

Thanks Amazon.com,

LCJ

Very happy with this TV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m very happy with this 58″ plasma tv. After 3 months of researching, I am glad so say this is a great plasma tv for the price. The colors and the tv itself look great. I was worried about the glare on the tv, since I’ve read some negative responses with glare and plasma tv’s. I have not had any glare issues at this point, as long as the blinds are closed. The HD channels look incredible, so does the blue ray movies. I highly recommend this anyone looking for a plasma tv. I also got $150 credited after I bought the tv, because the price went down. I was also worried about the delivery of the tv. The whole delivery was good.

Excellent picture quality and sound with the HDMI cable
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Of course this TV is great for any home, the picture quality is amazing and if connected with an HDMI cable, the sound improves considerably.

A sorround sound stereo system or a home theater sound system will nicely complement your purchase, but it is the HDMI cable that makes the difference with the sound.

Reflection of light on the screen is not at all a problem.

Captions don’t work through component or HDMI cables, only through the coaxial cable, but this is common to all HDTV’s up to now. As you all know, movies exagerate special effects sounds, like explotions and the like, while conversations are a whisper, actors these days seem to be telling secrets to one another. If you live in an apartment building, you risk upsetting the neighbors just to try to hear what they are murmuring to each other. I resolved this by changing the setting up on the screen/menu equalizer of the TV (especially the 300 MHZ control) and by turning the Captions ON when needed at the cable company box. Then Captions will show even when receiving the TV signal and sound through component or HDMI cables. The TV has also a “speach” setting to help on this a bit.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think this TV has Picture in Picture. It’s an option in the Menu but I coundn’t make it work so far.

Finally, HDMI cables are a must also for a better reception of the image. With HDMI cables the TV will give you 1080i lines even with regular channels, with non High Definition channels, and it may do it by making the image somewhat smaller, not using the whole screen unless the channel is really coming on High Definition.

This is an excellent HDTV, for the price you will not find anything better. Careful: the weight is 138 pounds, you need two or three people to handle it.

Great Tv set
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This plasma HDTV has everything you need to look for in a plasma tv. Picture and sound quality are great. I was looking at pioneer PDP_6010fd at first,(a great tv also) but after doing some research I found the two tvs very similar,except the price. The Samsung is almost half the price of Pioneer PDP-6010fd. All together I’m so happy with my purchase and I do recommend this tv.Samsung PN58A550 58-inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Great 58in. HDTV for the money!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had my eyes set on the Pioneer 6010 or the 6020 but never pulled the trigger because it was over $4200.00. Then came the Samsung PN58A550. Had some good features and was very affordable. So much affordable that I ended up buying it from Amazon with their 12 months no monthly payment/no interest offer and had so much money left over that I bought a PS3 for Blu-Ray, a 5 year extended warranty, and a new sound system.

The carrier was Eagle and two guys unpacked the Samsung and they were in and in and out about 15 minutes. They did stay while I hooked up a HD-A35 player to the TV to check if it works. This TV is huge! I mounted it on a Salamander Triple Mount Stand and have it tilted down 7 degrees. It took 4 guys including me to mount the heavy thing. The TV faces a large window across the room but due to the TV at an angle there is barely any glare/reflection at all. Now if the TV was not tilted I would experience some glare/reflection. A550 doesn’t have the best glare filter vs their top end models like the A650 which has Ultra Filter Bright.

Black levels and picture quality looked great to me. Now some people say that plasma TVs produce too much buzz or too much heat. There is some heat coming off the screen but it’s not HOT. Just a bit warm. Sitting about 10ft away there is no audible buzz from the TV. When I was behind it though doing the wiring there is some humming but it’s nothing to complain about.

Please check out the pictures that I added on the product image.

The TV speakers are nothing special but I have mine hooked up to an Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver with BIC Acoustech Home Theater system. Other devices that I have for entertainment are Toshiba HD-A35, PS3 for Blu-Ray, and a Xbox 360 for games.

I am very happy with the Samsung 58A550 and I highly recommend it for medium to large living rooms. I don’t recommend this TV for a small or medium size bed rooms.

PROS:

1080P. Great picture quality. Great black levels. Great value for a 58 inch plasma. No buzzing noise that some plasmas are plagued with. Decent glare filtering. 3 HDMI inputs. Supplied TV stand swivels and is very strong.

CONS:

Screen does give off noticeable heat and will increase room temperature a bit. May not be friendly to your electric bill depending on your Energy Savings setting.

Spectacular Television
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Though not “cheap”, I am amazed that a TV of this quality can be purchased for the price it’s being offered at.

I’m lucky: my experience was near flawless with the delivery of this television.

It arrived when they said it would, and it was carefully unboxed, plugged in to make sure that it was working and then away the delivery men went. At first I asked that they take the box with them, but one of them wisely (or lazily… I think the former) suggested that I keep the box for a week in case something went wrong and the TV should have to be removed. In hindsight, though nothing has gone wrong with the TV, I think this sound advice. Storing a box of that size, however, presents problems of its own living in an apartment in an urban environment where space is harder to come by than in the suburbs.

If not mounting the TV right away (as I did – had to put the 3rd party stand together when it was delivered) make sure to completely unbox the TV so that it can stand true.

It’s a monster: it’s a giant sheet of fragile glass sitting in your room, not unlike the monolith in Arthur C Clark’s books. It’s not terribly heavy (158lbs with stand, 135lbs without), but it’s awkward when lifted and a big slab to navigate should you have to go up stairs or around corners (neither of which I had to do).

Once it’s in place, it really is a thing of beauty with stunning picture quality and amazing detail at its native 1080p resolution. SD pictures on it, as many have said, are not great, but I belong to the school of thought that reasons you should be watching HD if you’re buying this television, or any 1080p television of this size.

I have a PS3 to accompany this behemoth and games and Blu-ray movies are mind blowing. I use a separate receiver, and speaker set-up for sound so can’t honestly assess the aural qualities of the TV’s speakers.

The only problem you might have is that your living room will become your friend’s new favorite movie theater… “Time to go fellas. Seriously. Fellas?”

This TV is sold through Amazon, but WHO actually sells you the TV can revolve between any number of providers. I (wisely, or so I believe) waited until the TV was for sale by Amazon itself and not a 3rd party vendor. This made me feel more secure about the purchase and my recourses should something go wrong.

Glare could also be an issue for those with a viewing set-up that has natural light behind the viewer, but in my case that hasn’t been a problem.

On the downside, and why I didn’t give it 5 stars, is that it generates a lot of heat, and uses a LOT of electricity. I recognize that these drawbacks are inherent in the plasma technology, but it doesn’t mean I have to like them.

Overall, I am very, very happy with this purchase, and would recommend it to any and all of my friends.

UPDATE: I’ve had the set for a little over 7 months now and it has performed like a champion. As I mentioned before, the picture quality continues to impress (Dark Knight in Blu-ray will blow… your… mind! The Dark Knight (+ Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray]). I would still highly recommend the set, and though the price is only $69.78 less than I paid 7 months ago I still think it a great bargain for what you’re getting.

Great HDTV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
All new TV`s work perfectly right out of the box. You don`t need to buy locally as there is nothing they will do extra/differently at delivery. You will be paying more, but get nothing more in return.

Very Nice
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a gorgeous TV. I would have rated this 5 stars except for one thing. My entertainment wall faces a bank of windows to the west, in a sunny climate. As much research as I did, I would have thought I could purchase the right TV the first time. Not so. If I were to say one thing about plazma (from my experience) buy it only if there is ‘not’ much light in the room. This would include lamps placed on the wall you view from. I believe that the way these TVs reflect/glare is way understated in reviews. I imagine this TV is not much different than most other plazmas when it comes to reflections. I can not stress the reflection/glare enough. These TVs are mirror like.

As this TV arrived last Monday I was very happy with the cosmetics, connections etc. I hooked it up and everything worked pefectly in HD and SD. My wife walked in and confirmed my opinion. Too much reflection. With low light the TV is magnificent. I saw things I have not seen with my two year old Sony HD.

The TV came in on Monday and I called Tuesday to have it picked up and replaced by a Sony LCD. We have watched the plazma for a week while waiting. It truly does have an excellent picture, ‘in low light’.

Update: May 8, 2008

Yesterday we received our Sony KDL-52XBR. We unpacked it, plugged it in and away we went. It is absolutely beautiful, cosmetically and performance wise. And, no glare or reflections from lights or west side bank of windows facing this TV. I’d love to see more people weigh in on the plasma reflections and lcd non-reflective screens. We were not imagining things when we talk about the plama reflections, even though the plamza was wonderful at night in low light. We love this LCD and the difference is immediately noticable. But, that is a story for the Sony review, which I will do. I also want to acknowledge that the Samsung plazma at $2700 was a super deal on a television of it’s size and quality. We have paid $500 more for a smaller 52″ lcd screen (not real noticable in size). But, we consider the reflection issue a big concern and worth the difference, when there is a lot of light in the room.

Update: May 21, 2008

I absolutely agree that the Samsung picture is better than the Sony. It was simply glare and reflection from the plazma ‘glass’ that could not be ’set’ to accomodate the light (I can’t control) in the room! If you have a room with normal light, I feel quite sure the Samsung would be a better choice. If you don’t have the possibility of “drapes, blinds” etc the Sony simply has less glare.

Also, not that this matters, if you are ‘not’ using surround, the Sony has better sound. The Samsung actually ‘rattled’ when I increased the sound. The sound from the Sony (set flat) was much better. But, here again, sound is not a problem since we have a great surround system.

Superb TV
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My wife and I bought this TV in August 2008, and have been delighted with its performance over the last six months. It was an exceptional value to start with. I had never bought what I consider to be a “big ticket item” through Amazon, but would not hesitate in the future. The box and set were larger and heavier than my wife and I could have handled by ourselves. Having it delivered to our home and set up was included in the price, and was a huge plus. Before purchasing, I spent time reading the reviews that were available at the time and had two concerns. One was the quality of the HD picture, particularly during the daytime. We have a large picture window on a wall opposite the TV. We found that Samsung’s coating on the screen really works for us, so long as we keep the blinds closed. We wanted full 1080p and 1080i. The HD quality is exceptional. Our other concern was sound quality. We have attached a stereo system to the TV, but most of the time we don’t even bother to turn it on, because the sound is more than adequate for us in most situations. We only turn on the full stereo system for football games (to simulate being in the stadium), and for a few movies.