Customer Reviews

Samsung HPT5054 50-Inch Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The samsung 5054 is great to look at and the picture is excellent at 720p. You would be hard pressed to discern a difference over the 1080p HDTV's. But, the HDMI input suffers from random audio drop off. Samsung offers no explanation, other than to blame the Cable box or the HDMI cables. You are watching a program and suddenly, no audio. You must turn the TV off and the sound does come back. Samsung says to bypass the HDMI and use the component inputs.Sort of like saying, just use the low speed on the wipers since the high speed does not work. Anyway, if HDMI is important to you, do not buy this TV. If you do not mind using low tech and cumbersome component cables, it will serve you fine.

I bought this TV to use with the xbox 360 and the PS3.

The quality on the picture was outstanding for the game consoles.(component connection) I was worried about screen burn in since it is a plasma but I have had no problems so far with long gaming sessions.

Movie playback with HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and HI-Def downloads are great. The number of connections you have and different connections is pretty good.

For the PC connection the colors are a little oversaturated with the default TV setup for games but that is easily fixed through the menu system of the TV.

Also the number of options you have for viewing sources is great. You have many different options for viewing 4:3 and PC signals.

The only con is the TV's menu system. It seems that options are mixed up so you have to hunt for a few of the advance options. Its not bad just a minor gripe.

Overall this is a great TV and well worth the price.

On a side note you can turn the blue LED to off so it never comes on in the TV menu system.

The PQ is top notch only the pioneer i thought was better but you have to pay a lot more for little gain. HD looks outstanding and bonus is that the SD looks good too. (I watch from about 10 feet away) The audio drop is just a simple firmware update. Samsung support was quick and easy. Right now there is no better plasma for the price than the 5054. If you need a usb port then go with the 5064 but i believe the 54 has better PQ. Lots of ways to tinker with the picture. Lots of ways to protect the TV from burn-in. Lots of ways to hook up anything u need. Sound is good but im using my yamaha receiver most of the time anyway. Mine doesnt tilt. If it did id just put it on the wall. The swivel stand is actually a useful feature i didnt even anticipate. I just set my directv H20 to native and let the tv do all the processing its awesome. Baseball has never looked better. Im even watching golf because it looks so amazing. Planet Earth on Discovery HD theater and i was sold. Caution with the $$ u save buying this sweet TV you will spend it anyways on a new HD DVD or Blu Ray player, new hdmi receiver, speakers etc. but dont fret what else you rather waste your hard earned money on? I did tons of research and am totally satisfied.

Recently purchased this TV from Amazon (delivered through Eagle) and I am extremely impressed thus far. I'll start with the cons:

> The stand is somewhat wobbly. I chose not to wall-mount and I was worried right away that the TV was going to fall off the stand because it is a bit unsteady, however I believe this is due to the fact that the stand is made to swivel which actually is a nice feature.
> Sound. For those of you (and this probably won't be many) who are looking for a good center channel this TV does not deliver. It lacks any kind of depth. Might be worth considering the 5064 because it seems like do to the design the center channel isn't as robust as it could be.

Now to the good stuff:
> Look: As stated above, the design for this 50" set is a bit different than the rest. It is the primary reason I chose this over the Panny or even over the 5064 model.
> Connections: 3 HDMI in, standard digital audio out (works great), usb is nice & in a great location (will be useful for firmware upgrades), no SD slot but not a big deal for me at least. PC connection is a bit awkward as stated in some of the other reviews but it is there.
> Picture - it's great. Of course with low-res/analog it looks pretty crappy to be honest but with dvds, hd, and all the digital programming this thing either blows away or is neck & neck with the comparable Plasmas. Be sure to check out multiple models in different modes but this has yet to dissappoint whether viewing a movie, hd programming ranging from 480i to 1080i. Not 1080p but unless you are a videofile and are really gearing towards true HD don't sweat it.
> Anynet: It's a feature I didn't even really consider until I looked into purchasing a sound system. I live in a small apartment so pairing this with the Samsung XT40 system is great - only 1 remote, the system looks consistent and there is seamless operation all the way around, it's more convenient than you'd think.

I will try to update this if anything changes but I am extremely satisfied with this purchase after doing a ton of research & viewing at the local stores. You won't regret this!

The picture quality is amazing, before you consider buying a 1080p TV research the web and look for articles that compare the two resolutions. You will find that there is almost no difference between a 1080i and 1080p especially for watching movies even with blue ray DVD.

As for HDMI, the quality is noticeably better especially with my $80 Toshiba upconverting DVD player. It's simply amazing. DO NOT spend more then $15 for HDMI cables. Realize that digital signals are more resistance to interference so don't waste you money on expensive cables. Also, cables used for digital signals are generally cheaper to manufacture with some small exceptions. I bought 4 HDMI cables from Amazon all for $25.00. Cheap but works great!! 1 for DVD player, 1 for Cable box, 1 for computer and 1 spare!

. 15000:1 Contract is actually too much in my opinion. So I have it set at 80% and it's perfect.

The only drawback? Hum... built in speaker is terrible, but why spend this much money and not use a HiFi audio system?

Well I finally bit the bullet and bought this Samsung 50" Plasma TV and lots of research. If you where to ask all who know me I research till I exhaust all my resources. More bang for the buck. Once I ordered it was shipped the next day from Amazon.com (super saver at that), which was Tuesday. It arrived in the area on Friday and the delivery company (Eagle) called on Monday for a delivery time. Wednesday it's been delivered/unpacked and they waited until my wife turned it on before leaving. Great job Amazon and Eagle for making the purchase so easy and painless.

As for the Plasma we all love it. Picture is great and so is the sound. We have had the set for about a month now. I would recommend this product to anyone and great price to boot....

Get firmware 1039 and that will fix the judder and audio drop issues making this a steal of a deal. If your watching from 10 feet back as you should. this tv will look just as good as a 1080p your eyes can't tel the diffrence from that distance.

Make sure you type samsungplasmatvfaq into your browser of choice for a weath of information on this product!

I don't know why amazon keeps kicking out my review for mentioning the website becuase it is very helpful for owners of this tv. you will learn display setting and get a lot of tips!

use zippys setting for first 150 hours and enjoy a great tv! use amazon and watch for 30 day price drops and go for no tax/free shipping! enjoy

This is THE TV to buy. I was between this one and the Panny in the same price range. I went to Worst Buy and compared the two that were actually right next to each other. Aesthetically the Sammy wins hands down. Also it has more features than the Panny. I actually like the extra controls over the picture. Check out the AVS forum thread on tuning this set: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=841319.

The picture is phenomenal on this set. I have HD through my cable company via HDMI. Couldn't be happier. DVD's are good but not as good as they could be with HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. I wish one of them would go away so I could decide on a player.

The speakers aren't great. Adequate at best. They are actually firing out the back of the set so you get a lot of reflections off the hard wall behind. No lows and the highs could be better. Best off with some sort of surround sound.

Delivery was good (Eagle Delivery)except there were not 2 delivery men that was stated in the contract. He did help unbox the TV and make sure it was functional before I signed. He also took the packing materials as stated. Be sure to tip the delivery man if you get as good as or better service than I did. Also be sure to keep up on the tracking info and call them as soon as it makes it to your local station. If you don't it will sit at their facility until the day before the estimated delivery date. I actually got a call 3 days after they delivered it to schedule delivery...DUH!

In conclusion, you can't go wrong with this set. The price..the performance...I'm telling everyone that asks.

I bought the Samsung HPT5054 because of its modern design and picture quality. In these two areas, the TV does not disappoint. It is certainly a very sharp TV and has an excellent picture while in HD and SD. Sadly, the TV also seems to suffer from some emerging technical issues that you may want to think twice about before purchasing.

My first TV for lack of a better word was a lemon. It started to make a high pitched electrical chirping sound after a week of operation and went through extended periods where the sound would cut in and out. After examination by a service tech, he concluded that several boards needed to be replaced to remedy the issue. Disappointed, I sent the TV back for an exchange.

The next TV did not exhibit any of these same issues and, as stated earlier, I believe it was an isolated problem with that particular TV I received. The new TV worked fine, but after a few weeks of viewing I noticed a very subtle flickering of the image while watching. Friends invited over did not seem to notice this, but after pointing it out to them, they saw it and were annoyed by it as well. It is only a matter of time before you see it, and then it becomes very distracting.

After some research, it appears that this is a very recent logic board issue that exists not only on the 5054 model, but on the 44 and 64 models as well. Some have claimed that replacing the logic board will fix the issue, but I have been unable to verify the veracity of this. In short, if you buy this TV you are gambling that the flicker issue will either not exist, or not be noticeable to you. If you are unlucky, it may be fixed by replacing the logic board.

Overall, I love the TV but I wished it actually worked without the annoyances. The flickering harms the viewing experience for me to such an extent that I will probably try a different manufacturer and set.

Got the TV about 2 weeks ago and have been really pleased with it. It was very easy to set up and has a lot of connectivity options. The HD picture quality is great!

Only problem I have noticed is that sometimes when I first turn it on for the day it takes a while for the picture to come on, but after that it seems to work fine and when turning it on and off throughout the day it works very well and has almost immediate startup.

The basic sound is pretty solid too, so it works well with or without home theater support.

Overall a great value, Samsung is definitely the way to go.