Samsung PN58A550 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

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.

First The Bad:
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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:
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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.

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, 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

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

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.