Samsung 51" Plasma HDTV - PN51D530

perfect value tv - uber pound for pound - features incorrect* January 24, 2012

xmas 2011 pound for pound this was the best value i could come up with for price vs set reputation and pic quality.

Before purchasing i stalked every review on the set i could find, which at the time were pretty rare, with the most coming from sites like newegg, amazon, etc. A good deal of the reviews claim the set fails within a month. That is unfortunate, but as i was buying it from a brick and mortar, i wasnt too afraid(since returning wouldnt be a hassle if needed). My idea is that yes, unfortunately theres always manufacturing/design flaws at some point, and these are the reviewers your bound to see posting pretty quickly. -- For all 20 people that said it died, they probably sold another 20,000 or whatever units that were pristine.

It looks SWEET, like most samsungs do. IMO Samsung atm, is the mitsubishi of the 80s/90s. Being a plasma, you will hear a feint feint "fuzz" emitting from the unit. It is feint.

Screen will reflect light well, so consider this when going plasma and needing to place it in an area thats not blared on directly with light(s).

As far as the description goes, in most, or every case at the time of purchase, its not correct - theres no 3d, and on the back theres only minimal inputs, hence the sheer value of the set - perfect for a good portion of people i imagine. 2x hdmi, 1x component that can also be used for composite, optical out, and an eigth inch service jack, and one usb port.

Its a 51", but the super thin bezel kind of makes it appear bigger, since its not the beefy frame you might more commonly see. Black is like a hole in the set, and its vibrant and beautiful colors, as samsung does.

This tv is a super value, compare this model to the other samsung models in its class - basically by stripping some inputs, and the foolish novelty of 3-d - it strips off mass dollars from the price.

GET  IT.

Samsung 51" Plasma HDTV is exceptional and we are very happy! December 29, 2011

Our new HDTV has performed without a flaw.  The picture is grand and the functions are easy to navigate through.  It has a strong sturdy structure and the movie/sound is awsome.  overall, this was a great purchase especially based on the low price!!

Thanks

DIED AFTER THREE WEEKS! DO NOT BUY! December 27, 2011

For those considering buying this tv -- Be afraid! Be very afraid! After three weeks of light usage this set died, and after a fair amount of troubleshooting it still failed to come back to life. If you look at the reviews on Amazon.com -- these are the most unbiased reviews I've found -- you'll see that this is a consistent problem. And just like the other negative reviewers, my set died and when I tried to turn it back on it would make a clicking sound, that's it. Too bad, because I've owned a Samsung tv in the past and have been very happy with it. But I have to say Sears online return in 5 service was very useful and the return to the actual store went smoothly. So shame on Samsung, but cheers to Sears!

Samsung PDP - Just what I wanted, nothing more, nothing less. December 15, 2011

With Samsung you really can't go wrong in terms of picture quality.  The Samsung's 1080p plasma simply looks great.  Though I did opt for a plasma TV.  Colors look rich, yet natural (LEDs looked too saturated), and movement is very fluid and smooth (LEDs had a "vibrating" effect).  Also note this TV does not have 3D capability.  Personally, I did not care for 3D.  What 3D TVs I saw at the store reminded me of those old Viewmaster toys.

Navigating through the menus is a bit confusing.  One can argue that there are too many buttons on the remote because different buttons and button clicks get you to the same menus.

This TV only has 2 HDMI inputs and one color component and audio input (RCA jacks).  Though, for me, this is fine.  I only plan to hook up a Blu-ray player and a PC (with HDMI out) on occasion.  There is one USB input, and unfortunately, it's at the back of the TV, not on the side for easier access.  You can view JPG images from a USB flash drive, but there are only 3 slideshow speeds (slow, medium, fast), and there is no image transition options (like fading out and in).  MP3 files can also be played, but I haven't tried that yet.

Finally, there is one optical audio out that you can feed into a 5.1 unit.  The TV's sound is average, yet very acceptable, and its own surround sound is so-so.

Overall, I'm very satisifed with this TV.