Customer Reviews

Samsung PN58C550 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Set up my unit on 5/21 which I bought from a brick/mortar store (sorry Amazon!), after researching the hell out of it. My equipment includes a WDTV Media Player (HDMI w/optical out), Nintendo Wii (analog), HD HTPC on the make, and Denon AVR-590(two optical audio inputs and three HDMI inputs).

PROS:
- NO BUZZING! YEAH!!
- Great picture out of the box - will be fine-tuning things later, but early indications are very positive. Several units had more features but PQ suffered. With so many blu-ray players and HTPCs that stream Netflix/Pandora, don't get lured in by feature-laden units that fail to deliver great PQ.
- Media Play - plug in any USB or HD into the unit to watch video, listen to music, and view pictures.
- Input panel is easy to access - swivel base is a real plus.
- The manual states that it can connect to a home network and "can access the Internet through your LAN connection" - this one might be interesting if I could get a third party wireless USB stick to work. So far, no success - I'll report back on this one.

CONS
- No memory card access - will attempt access with a card reader.
- Cannot tell unit to show subtitles only when muted - 7 different versions available, but none of them allow you to read subtitles when it's muted.
- Lack of widgets - I really wanted the web widgets, but wouldn't sacrifice PQ. With the new HD HPTC almost finished and running WMC 7, it will interesting to see if WMC will be enough.
- Sound effects and music sound great through Denon, yet dialogue is sometimes difficult to understand - I suspect that is due to my inability to read the language known as Denon and to configure it accordingly. Audio is being passed through the Denon with a single HMDI connection to the back of the Samsung.

Manufacturers like Sony and Samsung make way too many units. Once you choose a manufacturer or a set of features you cannot live without, eliminate as many inferior units as possible. Then, find where your top 3 prospects are sold and get full demos on each including use of the remote. This was the only way I was able to determine that the 550 would work.

I was hesitant at first to buy a product without any reviews but I really needed a tv so there it goes.....
First one was delivered damaged but i got a replacement in about four days.Tv looks good on or off.I think it has really nice colors and after messing with it for a day or so I got it where I wanted it.I think the colors look better than on an LCD.Being a plasma I was a little worried about the screen letting out some heat and consequently the energy consumption but I was impressed once I hooked it up to a kill-a watt monitor.I Normal mode (after calibration) it takes between 130W to about 170W which I think it's impressive for a 58 inch plasma.Also it emanates just about as much heat as a new lcd which is very little.I hooked it up to my router and now I can stream movies and pics to it from my laptop wirelessly(wired from the tv to the router but wireless from the router to my laptop).I would buy again.It does buzz a little but I can't tell unless I sit a couple of feet from it.

I purchased this TV brand new about three weeks ago. I found it to be an excellent plasma for the size and price. The color and contrast are great. I have to disagree with the other reviews saying this TV has a loud buzzing sound. Mine doesn't buzz at all. The TV looks great with HD cable, DVD's, XBox 360, etc. I would purchase this again and would recommend it to anyone.

The only thing I would caution anyone about is the speakers. Mine do not buzz, but they aren't great. They seem too quite and there is hardly any bass (comparing them to my older 42" Panasonic Plasma). Even after changing the equalizer, the sound is still weak. If you do not have any sort of home theater system, you may want to consider one.

If you get this TV when it is on sale, it is an incredible deal.

Some of the greatest features of this TV that separates it from the pack is the ability to view things through your computer network, pixel shifting that cannot be seen by the naked eye (protects your screen), and the ability to play videos/pictures from a USB memory stick.

However, the big down-side to this TV is the "buzzing" sound that several other people before me mentioned. I bought this TV because one reviewer mentioned that the "buzzing" problem was solved in this new March 2010 model C version; I can guarantee you that this is not the case. When I contacted tech support about this, I found out that plasma gas (or Samsung's at least) is affected by altitude. It is for this reason why you will never find a plasma screen on an airplane. So if you live closer to sea level, you will not have a buzzing or it will be so minute that you will never hear it. But if you live in Denver or Albuquerque, you better crank up your surround sound system to drown out the noise (and if you are up high in the mountains like me, it is LOUD). There is nothing technically wrong with the TV so there is nothing to fix; it just does not agree with where I live.

But again, if you get it on sale at an incredible price, then it might be worth putting up with the buzzing.

This is a replacement for my first order which arrived with a cracked screen. Seems like I'm not the only one to experience that. Thankfully, this one was undamaged. Amazon, gets top marks for customer service. They were very understanding and helpful in getting the replacement on the way. Why buy anywhere else?

First off, this TV looks great and has a wonderful picture. It replaces a Sony, 50" 3LCD, which was only four and a half years old. It also had a top-notch picture, but we wanted to upgrade and our kids were happy to get the Sony.

I was kinda worried that I might get one that buzzed, but this one is very quiet and so far (3 days) we are delighted we chose this TV. I did a lot of research before ordering. Trying to decide whether to go with Plasma, LCD or LED. After viewing this baby our decision to go with Plasma, was a good one. Looking forward to football season now.

We have the signal coming through a Yamaha, receiver via HDMI. It's great to be able to get rid of all those other cables and it's as simple as the push of a button to switch to/from TV speakers to surround system or to Blu ray. I would have given this sweetheart five stars but nothings perfect.

If you are looking for a really good plasma in this size I highly recommend you look closely at this one.

First i'll start with the tv then then shipping and handling.

The tv is AMAZING!! Perfect size, not to big, not to small, very good for any room in the house and a very nice addition to a living/entertainment room setup. The tv itself has a very sleek and stylish look to it which is very nice and you dont notice anything else but the beautiful picture staring back at you. Having owned a 54" projection tv before this one there is certainly no problem from glare or poor picture viewing from any angle. The picture quality is STUNNING! VERY rich, deep, vibrant, bright, etc colors and very crisp picture whether playing games or watching movies, tv, etc! I have hooked up to it an xbox for games and movies, a wii, and satellite and all look great. For all you gamers out there which i am a HUGE one the picture is awesome for it! Whether playing madden, or call of duty, or halo, or wii bowling you name it you can see every detail and it looks fantastic, and that is with component cables hooked up, not even hdmi! Now the reason i didnt use hdmi for the xbox is cause i have an older surround sound system that doesnt have many plug in options so i have to use 2 composite cables to run my sound to it. I have read reviews saying the tv speakers arent that great but from what i can tell they sound plenty adequate and worked just fine. Not to mention most people that spend this amount of money for a tv have a surround system they use anyways like myself so that is not an issue. Also ive heard people complain of a buzz, NO BUZZ! Tv runs absolutely silently! Tv is also very easy to setup, easy remote to use, and tv hookups are set up well also. As far as tons of features i cant really comment on it too much cause my needs are pretty simple and between my gaming systems and netflix i dont have much need for widgets, internet on the tv, etc. I assume use my computer or xbox for such things. Bottom line, AWESOME TV!!!

Now as far as shipping and handling is concerned i give electronics expo a C+/B-. First tv did in fact show up with about a 2 inch crack on the top right of the screen, now i dont fault them entirely cause they shipped it do a different company who set up delivery, MAKE SURE YOU INSPECT YOUR TV WELL UPON ARRIVAL!!! I almost missed the crack and that would have been a BIG headache! But i saw the crack, had the shipping company take it back and contacted electronics expo and though hard to get ahold of claims on the phone the lady was very friendly and scheduled another delivery of a new tv with no problem except for having to wait another 2 weeks which sucks when you are excited for a tv. I will give credit to electronics expo though because i did order last years model, the PN58B550 which they in fact did not have anymore of so i was upgraded to the C model for no extra charge.

Overall the tv gets an A++++++++ while the amazon, electronics expo, shipping experience ill give a flat C, which is why it can be a lot less headache to go to the store but for the overall money saved amazon is worth dealing with. Hope this helps!

The TV worked perfectly out of the box, with no buzzing. The CEVA delivery crew were PERFECT: Arrived when scheduled, unboxed the TV and had it operational within 2-3 minutes, and took away the packaging materials after successful checkout. The out-of-the-box picture was very good, but became wonderful when I set it to the recommendations posted on the Internet for color calibration. The power-on/off time is refreshingly quick. SD stations look better than I expected, and HD content is compelling. The 58" size is perfect for our living room - any larger would be too large, and our previous 52" was nowhere near as nice as this.

I debated long and hard between this set and the PN58C7000, its 3D-capable sibling. My son and my wife talked me into going this way, and I'm glad that they did. This picture has excellent depth as is, and I don't have to wear glasses and can lie down while watching it (and saved money, too).

I'm using it with my surround sound system, so I can't offer an opinion on its sound quality.

All in all, exceptionally pleased with this set.

This is actually my second TV purchased through Amazon of this make/model although the first one was the B series and this is the C series. Both are pretty much identical but the C series has a slightly different on-screen interface. I had to purchase a new TV though after only one year as my 4 year old decided to hit the TV pretty hard with the corner of a plastic DVD case. I was surprised that the outer protective "glass" didn't break but instead the inner plasma glass cracked big time in two places. Seems the TV is a big more fragile than it should be but then again it was hit pretty hard.

That aside the TV has great picture quality which is why I purchased a second one. I love playing my PS3 games on it and Blu-Ray movies from the PS3 look great. Sound from the TV speakers alone is just barely ok in my large room but I rarely use them unless playing Wii. The PS3 and DVR are connected through my 5.1 surround system to I turn the internal TV speaker off. I had a glitch with my B series where the DVR would cause the picture to flicker for about 3 minutes using HDMI connections until everything was in sync. The B series also had the "buzz" that people talk about but I didn't notice it once the 5.1 was on. This TV the C series I don't have any HDMI flicker issues with the same DVR but I do have slight flicker issues using my Wii on the component connections that I didn't have with the previous B model. I guess the flicker issues moved to the other input :) Overall though it's a great TV and if I need to get a third I probably will get the same one if they're still around. It's great if you just need a monitor to hook up to your home theater and don't necessairly want all the internet widgets and stuff that you ultimately pay a premium for.

One thing to note though if you have a home theater system. The TV has an audio out on it but it will not output 5.1 signal to your home theater. All your audio connections have to go to the home theater first. Unfortunately though in my case all my HDMI for picture had to go to the TV as the TV would not read the HDMI signal from my amplifier. At least the B series one didn't.. haven't tried a single cable from the amp to the tv on the C series. I didn't have this problem with my previous JVC so it was frustrating. Probably something with the way it translates the copywrite signal or something.

Anyway as mentioned I would definitely recomend this TV. It's a great low cost TV with great picture quality and has been a great addition to my large 20x20 room. Very easy to see from anywhere in the room.

Bought this Samsung 58 inch plasma television from Amazon and the order was filled by Electronics Expo. The delivery was scheduled between 8 am and noon, but didn't show up until 6 pm... 4 days after setting up the TV, the set blew up (power supply and main board shot) and wanted to return it. Electronics Expo doesn't accept returns of any TV's over the size of 20 inches. Wish I had known that before ordering... Now am stuck with dealing with Samsung and their delays in trying to get this fixed... Anybody want a 15-hundred dollar doorstop? Beware of the fine print of Amazon sub-contractors...

Great TV. This was the first time I ordered something like this at Amazon and I could not be happier. The local store was $200 higher. Add in tax and delivey and my savings were around $400. The service was outstanding and was delivered right on time.

Now about the TV.

Pro's
1. For the size and price you can't bet it.
2. Picture is outstanding. I did have a Samsung LCD and you really can tell how much better the picture is because the blacks are so much better.
3. So far I have not had the set professional celebrated but I did run a THX dvd with a video set up and the movie mode right out of the box was right on.
4. Controls and Menu is really easy to use expect as noted below.
5. Frame and style is very nice.

Cons's
1. Some how the TV can control other non-Samsung devices. I have a Pioneer AV receiver that I wanted to control everything. Some how when I used my universal remote to cut everything on the receiver needed to be on HDMI 1 but the TV thought it should be on TV/Sat setting. Every time I cut it on everything would work but the tv would switch the imput on my reviver and I would loose my picture and sound. After about 20 minutes I found how to cut that off and now everything works great. Thats why I still give it 5 stars

BUZZ note: One thing that just about made me go with another TV was the Buzz factor. After having the TV for about 2 weeks there is some sound coming from the TV. In the owners manual Samsung does say that Plasmas do make a noise. To me its not a Buzzing sound but more like static. Its like when you turn your speakers up to loud with no sound and there is a static sound. That is what it sounds like to me. Also I have the TV wall mounted so it should be the loudest with that mount but I can say I hardly notice it. Sometimes if I am switching from PS3 to DirectTV it is louder but once the video feed come in it goes away. Also if there is any sound in the room you do not hear any static/buzz. I have not noticed at all that this TV get hot.

Sound: I have no idea how the speakers sound. I use my AV reciver with 7.1 surround speakers so I have not even cut on the TV speakers

Over all Great TV at a Great Price!!