Samsung PN50A650 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV with RED Touch of Color

I did my research like most techno geeks and decided to go with Plasma over LCD. Took into account the viewing distance from the TV to figure out how large of a tv to consider, the number of components that would need HDMI connections and so forth. Watching regular analog broadcast tv on this model isn't anything to get excited about like most flat screens. However, tune in to a digital or HD channel or pop in a Blu-Ray disk on your favorite blu-ray player and this thing comes to life. Blacks are true, skin tones are accurate, no visible edge-blurring. Viewing angles are great from all around, sound isn't the best, but more than adequate even if this is your only sound source.

I can't say enough about this television considering I was able to get a Samsung Blu-Ray player as part of the deal for basically free, and free shipping for everything as a bonus! Delivery and set up was flawless. Great communication by the delivery company called "pilot" and friendly service. If you're hesitating on this one . . . don't. You won't be sorry.

I really can't add anything new to what has already been written. I was apprehensive about buying something so physically large and expensive over the Internet from Amazon, but the experience was excellent. The delivery company (Pilot) called ahead, showed-up when they said they would, brought it in the house, took it out of the box, set it on the stand and checked to make sure it worked. I saved over $500 from the BB "special" sale price and still got free delivery.

The TV itself is beyond my expectations - I'm very pleased. We get our service from DirectTV - be sure to purchase the HD upgrade so you can be blown away from the picture you're going to see on the many HD channels available. Don't spend your money on this great set and then settle for a lousy non-HD signal from your TV provider. I was however disappointed when DirectTV took my nice Samsung remote control away and gave my their one-size-fits-all remote to use with their tuner. The Samsung backlit buttons on their remote control were really nice.

I was a little concerned about the "Touch of Color" (TOC), but I can hardly notice the difference between a solid black bezel and the TOC. If you are hedging on the TOC it's really a non-issue in my opinion.

The sound could be better - the base tones are a little weak; but it certainly isn't a deal breaker either. I plan on adding surround sound later anyways. I was also concerned about the glare issue - but I haven't had any problems whatsoever. I haven't started tweaking the picture yet because I really am happy with the way it looks out of the box. I may experiment later - but I'm definitly not a video geek.

I'd like to give this 4.5 stars...I can't give 5, and 4 is too low, but amazon only limits this to whole stars, so 4 it is.

Got this item at a steal of a price from a local retailer who was desperate for business. That aside, I had done plenty of research prior to purchasing and after a week, I can say I have no "buyer's remorse" for jumping on a TV at a great price. We've been looking to upgrade our old 27" zenith tube and the choice has been between this set and the 50" Panasonic PZ85U. Finally getting the opportunity to see these side by side in the store was where I made my final decision. I thought the Samsung looked a little more natural than the Panasonic as I come from a photography background. The Panasonic just looks a little too warm for my taste next to this set. Now...I'm sure neither one of the sets were calibrated at the store, and honestly, I don't think anyone can go wrong with either of these TVs...both produce an exceptional picture, but I liked the A650 over the PZ85U. To boot, the final price on the 650 was 50$ cheaper than what the salesman would give me the 85U for, so we got the Samsung.

Now that I have it home, here are some impressions...

Video - The digital tuner built into the set means you don't need a fancy box to receive over the air broadcasts after Feb. 2009. Oh yeah...the hi-def broadcasts out now over the air look fantastic on this set. One thing I have not yet had the chance to test is a separate HD video source since I don't have an HD dvd or Blu-Ray player, but I can say that the 480i my current DVD player puts out is pretty awesome looking on this TV as well. We fired up Ratatouille over the weekend...conveniently, the DVD comes with a set of test-patterns you can adjust the contrast, brightness, sharpness, and color with so I did the best I could prior to hitting play. All I can say is wow...the shadow detail was fantastic compared to my old tube and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie. I used the same settings to watch Sunday night football last night, and I tell you what, I don't know how I'm going to be able to watch standard definition sports anymore. No motion blur at all with this set, crystal clear and sharp pictures...the only distracting thing is that now I can tell when the cameras that are recording the action on the field are having problems focusing accurately. You literally see every detail with this TV set-up correctly.

Audio - This is the only area where I "ding" this set. Now...for most folks out there, this is going to be part of a Home Theater or entertainment system, so they will have a separate audio source, but for me, this TV is all I have (for now). The audio is by no means bad...it is just not as crisp and clear as I would have expected. The audio is a little muffled and maybe after some more tweaking of settings, it will get better, but if I had an entertainment center, I would certainly buy a separate speaker for the center channel and turn the one from the TV off.

Looks / Usability - Wow...this set looks great in the basement. The "Touch of Color" design is sleek, and it will look fantastic once it's mounted on the wall. The touch-pad power / channel / volume / menu are a sleek 21st century feature and give it a hint of class. The remote and settings you can access is very well laid out and intuitive. There is almost nothing you can't tweak. Samsung even gives you the ability to tweak the white balance over the RGB color scale without having to access a special menu through a remote sequence (basically these levels control how your TV is set-up to interpret colors from the video source). A nice feature that I don't recommend messing with unless you know what you're doing...being a part time photographer on the weekends, this is a welcome feature to get the absolute best color out of my TV.

The number of inputs on the back and side is more than ample...I don't ever know that I'll have 4 HDMI sources to input, but it's nice to know I can. There are 3 component video inputs as well, so unless you have like 5 gaming systems and 3 DVD players, you should be fine with the number of inputs.

Overall, I'm very happy with this TV, and would have no hesitation recommending it to anyone. If they made a 46" version, my neighbor would buy one too as his space does not allow a 50" set and he wants to maximize his screen. He's going to go with the Panasonic 85U, but after seeing my Samsung A650, he might be re-locating his space to be able to step up to a 50" TV.

UPDATE 3 DEC 2008:
A word of caution. If you are going to watch this TV even though Samsung claims there is no break in period for issues like image retention and burn in, you need to break in the phosphors on this TV. Avoid gaming or anything that has a static logo on the screen for an extended period of time in order to uniformly age the phosphors that make up the plasma picture for at least 100 hours. Keep the contrast and brightness dialed back to 50-60% during this break in period.

We recently noticed some Image Retention after watching 4:3 format picture from the cable box for 4 hours one afternoon. I popped in a DVD for my son and noticed that the edges where the black bars were from the 4:3 format picture were brighter than the center of the screen. You could also see a vertical line on the left and right of the screen separating the regions. However, this is correctable. A few hours of the scrolling white bars across the TV removed the retention issue and the picture is once again uniform.

When I buy something that costs this much I do research, maybe it's more like obsessing. I bought a subscription to Consumer Reports specifically because I was going to buy a large flat panel TV, I talked to salesman (don't trust any of them), and I checked many of the major websites that do or allow reviews of electronic equipment. Amazon.com,Cnet.com,PCmag.com and a ton of others. I also signed up for many of the HDTV forums that exist for the sole purpose of discussing High Definition and assorted accessories. Let me tell you what I learned from all my weeks of research. The Samsung PN50A650 is a great buy! You will not be disappointed. It has a fantastic picture and received nearly across the board excellent ratings from Consumer Reports. The only area that received a rating below excellent was the TV speakers and even that received a "very good" rating. I have done the research on this TV so now you don't have to! If you want a fantastic TV at a great price you can not get any better than the Samsung PN50A650 in my opinion.

I purchased a Samsung 650 Plasma and was amazed.. Understand, I didn't trust the internet purchase and was not sure if this was really the product I wanted. (LCD vs Plasma) No doubt the right decision. Process was safe with Amazon and the delivery Company was great.. The delivery company called to confirm the delivery, respectfully conversed with us, and pulled the TV out of the box, placed it on the table and showed me it was working as planned. Asked if I wanted the box or they would hold it for me. More about the the 650. Did I say WOW... I just wanted a tv I would be happy with and not regret my decision. LCD vs Plasma.. Tough decision. My co worker does this for a living and talked me out of a LCD ..Great move..Distance from the TV is 8- 18 feet. Love watching Football and Hockey. Great angle viewing and glare is not there. (I get alot of sunlight in the room) Sound is of good quality.
Bottom line, we all want a quality product and a good price. With the money I saved, I bought cables, wall mount and a power washer and still saved money compared to Best buy.. You will be happy with this decision!!!!