Samsung PN42A450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

I actually, accidently bought this plasma Sumsung last week. I was drunk and thought I was buying a 42 inch LCD. It came and I realized it was a plasma when I was astonished by the amazing diffence. I found true that plasmas produce more descriptive and deep pictures and Samsung is the top of the line in my eyes (literally)... I've tested them all, at Circuit City, Fry's, Best Buy, Video Only and what have you not, and unless ya gettin stereoscopic then this Samsung is niceeee... My brother has an LCD and mine is better....ha ha ha... and since I bought it on here I spent dramatically less than him.....

Like a few others I have read here, I am new to HDTV. I did a bit of research and narrowed my choices to this model and the Panasonic TH-42PZ85U.

I was looking at the Panasonic because initially I thought I wanted 1080p resolution, but after reading a few articles I decide I did not need it. HD cable is 720p right now and apparently will not be 1080p for some time due to bandwidth issues (although someone more knowledgeable on this topic is free to correct me on this point). And this TV is several hundred dollars cheaper than the Panasonic 1080p model. I looked at the Panasonic 720p 42 inch but that model (TH-42PX80U) does not have a PC input, which I wanted.

Anyway I went to my local Best Buy and they happened to have the Samsung PN42A450 and the Panasonic TH-42PZ85U right next to each other, and they both had a great picture. I liked the colors better on the Samsung though--they appeared richer to me.

So I went with the PN42a450 from Amazon. Best Buy's list price beat Amazon's, but when you factor in free shipping and no sales tax, Amazon had the better deal by about $70. I've had the TV for about 6 weeks now, and I love it. Baseball games and movies look great on this TV.

A few words of caution about my experience with the free shipping: you do get what you pay for. In my area at least, the company that Amazon contracted to do the delivery did not seem to have a particular specialization in electronics or TVs. The guy who delivered my tv was courteous and helpful, but did not have a high degree of knowledge about plasma TVs. First of all, it was only this one fellow win an unmarked white panel van full of boxes. He was pulling the TV out and was going to bring it into my house by himself and he was kind of awkwardly carrying it (it really is a two man job to keep it level) so I helped him carry it in. Also this TV comes in a special box that lifts off of the TV so that you don't have to lift the TV out of if. The delivery guy didn't understand this (and neither did I initially). First he was going to lay the box on its side to slide the TV out which from what I understand is not the best thing to do with a plasma TV (laying it on its side can possibly damage the huge piece of glass that makes up the screen). I didn't know much about plasmas but knew enough to stop him from doing that. Finally we cut the box apart to get to the TV, after which point I found out that the box can lift apart by itself. So I ruined the box which I could have saved to safely transport the TV if I ever need to move. Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice to keep the box.

So in summary I am happy with this purchase. The only caution is that I would advise you to be home when the TV comes in order to make sure it is taken into your house and unpacked correctly.

Have had this tv for a week now. Did a lot of research and chose the plasma over LCD based on the "black" performance and faster refresh rate. We mostly watch sports and movies. 720 seemed the way to go because cable and DVD's do not support a higher resolution input. I was told you have to purchase blu-ray movies if you want 1080 feed to your tv. In the store I was not really able to detect any difference between 720 and 1080 in the 42" size screen. We are most impressed with the excellent picture quality and the price was great ($870 at circuit city). Highly recommend!

This is the second Samsung plasma TV I have purchased and I'm just as happy with this one. Beautiful picture and color. I have no complaints at all. This TV is mostly used for XBOX 360 game play which looks fantastic, I run it through the HDMI input. I would recomend this TV to anyone and have. Arrived on time in perfect condition.

I bought this tv back in june from fry's electronics for $800 shipped.They shipped it via dhl,was kind of worried because the box was a little crunched on one side,but thankfully the tv was fine. This replaced my 20 year old sony 27 inch,I turned the samsung on and was surprised on how good the standard definition picture was,then i looked at the pbs station in hi def and WOW! Ive made sure not to watch too much in letterbox format, just zoom to avoid the black bars,at least for the first 100 hours.I have not experienced any image retention yet,but if i do the set has a "screen cleaner"to help avoid any burn in. I also turned the brightness and contrast down for the first 100 hours.I was going to wait for a 1080p but any screen under 50 inches you realy can't tell the difference anyway.Everyone told me to buy a lcd, but I think this tv looks better than any lcd, 1080p or otherwise.The set also has a hdmi conection on the side and more in the back.I also like the piano black finish,I'm so glad I made the plunge into Hi Def with this tv.