Samsung PN58A550 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.