Customer Reviews

Samsung PN58C8000 58-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV (Black)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I had the c8000 55" LED for over 3 weeks and loved the bright and clear picture, but it was hard to get the settings right for normal viewing, the viewing angle was atrocious vs. even LCD screens, and parts of the screen in dark scenes still have some clouding. I sent the LED back and purchased the c8000 58" plasma. I'm very happy with it so far, especially after tweaking the settings. Now, I have all the pop of the LED but with consistent colors, better blacks and unlimited viewing angle. The details. . . .

Pros

Great uniform picture - great price the $ vs. LED. Easy to self-calibrate vs. the LED Samsung.

Remote is very nice compared to the bluray remote (same as the c8000 LED remote), but I'm using a Harmony 900 for all my components so it isn't used.

You can turn off the motion judder canceller and ditch the soap opera effect when watching movies. Cinema Smooth makes high-end movies look great.

Bright screen compared to plasmas I've had.

Real 3D content (Monsters v. Aliens) looks great (even with a 1.3 highspeed HDMI cable -- however, 2D to 3D conversion of regular programs gives only nice depth - not pop out 3d.

Very thin TV - fairly lightweight for a plasma - nice stand (stainless) and bezel (dark gray), but not as cool in my opinion as the LED version which has a stainless bezel.

Netflix app works through both through the TV and the bluray and surprisingly has good pic quality - not bluray like, but close to DVD quality with no glitches (assuming you have a fast internet connection).

Much less screen glare than the c8000 LED. This TV does not have a matte screen like many other LCD HDTVs, but Real Black Filter kills the glare much better than the c7000 plasma I saw at BB. Note that the c8000 LED has an incredibly shiny screen, making it difficult to watch in a bright room.

Like all plasmas, the screen looks the same despite your seating position in the room. The c8000 LED has a good picture when straight on - but move a few feel off center and the picture would fade substantially. No such problems here.

Cons


TV isn't wifi - need a $80 adapter or have to hardwire it - TV firmware didn't update through the adapter - had to update on Samsung site with USB.

Overall a top notch TV that is larger than the LED, has a better and more uniform picture, lower glare, better off angle viewing and is cheaper. What is not to like? Here are my settings after having the TV a month. If you have a bright room or if you like the "pop" of the LED, these settings will blow you away. If you have a dark basement or watch only at night, dial the CellLight back to 10 or so and maybe put the color on normal vs. cool and you'll be set:

CAL-DAY Mode, Cell Light 20, Brightness 50, Color 50, tint 50/50, Sharpness 40, cool, native, MJC off, Filmmode 1, black (darker), dynamic contrast (med), gamma 2, other settings on auto. Cinema Smooth to "on" but it only works on bluray 24p input.

The first 5 weeks with this TV were fantastic, very similar experience to all of the positive reviews - we were more than happy with our purchase. That ended after 5 weeks, we had turned the TV on, went into the kitchen to make lunch, came back to a black screen. When we looked closely, we saw a spider like crack underneath the glass and the TV would not turn back on. The TV had been sitting on its TV stand since amazon had delivered it without being touched or moved. We are currently working with the Samsung warranty to get this problem fixed but I just heard back that they say it is "physical damage" and not covered under warranty. After some research, I found a forum on c-net dedicated to this issue - hundreds of angry consumers with the same exact experience we had - all flat panel samsung tvs that mysteriously cracked under the glass without anyone touching the unit. In most cases it took them weeks/months of complaining and filing to get resolution from Samsung - usually with first a rejection under warranty. It is just not worth the trouble. I am hoping Samsung comes through to fix the issue, but it is not looking good. At this point, I'd recommend avoiding Samsung all together (believe me, I did not think that a couple of months ago - I thought they were top of the line which is why we were willing to spend so much on the tv) - the complaints I found were on Samsung brand tv's specifically. They obviously have a defect issue with the number of complaints I have seen. This is my first ever negative review and I have avoided posting anything until I gave Samsung a chance to fix the issue and after hearing that we incurred the "physical damage" and that is not covered, I have to say something and post this review - it is just not right what they are doing. I plan on filing with the BBB and joining all the consumers on the forum who have already filed with the NJ Attorney General's office.

An amazing plasma TV! Wanted to upgrade from a bulky and heavy projection TV upstairs to new flat screen TV to make a media room in finished basement. Wanted latest 3D technology that wouldn't become obsolete so soon. Didn't go to local stores to view demonstration of TVs since don't know how well they are set up. Instead relied on Internet reviews posted on various models by owner of new TVs. Samsung PN58C8000 plasma recived lots of good reviews including comments on how picture didn't change with viewing angle or across screen, 600 Hz sub-field motion, deep blacks and only 1.5" thick.

This was most expensive purchase we've made thru Internet & it turned out fine! Order was completed on a Tuesday morning, set was shipped Tuesday afternoon and arrived at our Ohio home that Friday morning in fine condition. Set was placed on VAS TV stand we got from local Walmart that allowed 70 degrees rotation left or right so it could be viewed at kitchen or media room. Stand that came with TV provided 20 degrees left or right rotation. Used HDMI 1.4 cables to connect Samsung 3D Blu-ray disc player BD-C6900 and cable box. Set had no noticeable buzzing with or without ferrite cores on power cord which smooth out power voltage spikes. Set was manufactured in June 2010 so buzzing reported by some earlier reviews must have since been fixed by Samsung. We have not yet used Internet to upgrade TV firmware.

2D
After using and testing this plasma PN58C8000 TV for over two & a half weeks, it is capable of providinig an essentially perfect picture at any angle and across screen from edge to edge. It is amazing how picture has much better detail, bolder colors, brighter screen and very sharply outlined text than older 1080i projection TV.

Many adjustments can be made to picture in Mode, Advanced Settings and Options menus. Most can be left either at factory settings, Auto or changed once for viewer preference. Mode provides six pre-set picture type configurations of cell light, contrast, brightness, sharpness, color and tint(G/R) plus BD Wise configuration for Blu-ray discs playing on Samsung 3D Blu-ray player. These allow picture settings to be selected for one's preference, program source & time of day. Write down factory settings for each picture type before making any changes to them. TV remote is a nice contemporary design that allows quick access to picture Mode using Tools or Menu buttons.

Samsung 3D Blu-ray disc player has inter-connectivity features of BD Wise and Anynet+ of this TV that automatically sets optimum resolution and other linked operations thru HCMI 1.4 cable. It is one-half the size of older Blu-ray players, loads discs in one-third the time and has neat contemporary touch controls with blue see-thru disc window and logo. Has built-in wireless LAN which we haven't set up yet. Provides great picture for Blu-ray and DVD Movies & is frequently bundled with Samsung 3D TVs.

There are two test patterns for settings on shades or colors in Menu- Picture- Advanced Setting- Expert Patterns. But much more comprehensive HD set-up & tests are on Blu-ray disc, DVE HD Basics, available from Amazon.com. It explains how to set-up TV HD picture & Audio for optimum capabilities. HD video calibration patterns are provided for brightness, contrast, color, sharpness, resolution & geometry plus 1080p advanced video test patterns & demonstration videos. For Cal-Day picture mode, the TV was run thru video calibration & basic set-up patterns. This plasma TV passed every test pattern & could be set-up for exact reproduction of the incoming video.

Setting for Cal-Day mode provided by another reviewer of this TV at Amazon.com works good and only slight changes were made for viewer preference. My settings for perfect picture reproduction in semi-dark basement are: Cell Light 10, Contrast 90, Brightness 50, Sharpness 0, Color 50, Tint 50/50. Advanced Settings- Black Tone Dark, Dynamic Contrast Low, Gamma +1, others Off or Auto. Picture Options- Color Tone Normal, Film Mode Auto 1 or Cinema Smooth (only Blu-ray 24 Hz), rest normal, Auto or Off (Motion Judder Canceller Off). Cell Light can be increased to 15 or 20 if room is bright or just want very bright picture. Note that Sharpness adds artificial edge whitness not in original video & should be set to 0 for best picture fidelity. For personal preferences may want to increase Sharpness to 20- 30 or change other settings such as Black Tone, Dynamic Contrast, Gamma, Color Tone and MJC. Any of Picture Mode Setings can be changed for viewer preference.

3D
Only true 3D content available at this time was 3D movies Monsters vs Aliens and Cloudy With Chance Of Meatballs released at end of June. Viewing Monsters vs Aliens was amazing with great picture depth & occasional pop-out-of-screen events. Much, much better than old eye fatiguing red/blue 3D glasses. Shutter battery operated glasses that came with Starter Kit are very light weight and comfortable. They can fit over regular glasses & operate way off-center & up to 20 ft from IR emitter on TV's lower left corner. One neighbor viewing 3D movie on this TV said it was better looking than 3D shown at movie theaters. Samsung 3D Blu-ray disc player interacts with 3D TV so the 3D movie is automatically set for 3D picture.

It is very important to initially set 3D View Point to -1, factory settings of 0 or plus 1 resulted in ghosting & double background images for 3D Monsters vs Aliens movie. Access thru TV Menu- Picture- Enter- 3D- View Point. Once familiar with TV settings one can always go back to View Point & make adjustments to see what happens. For personal preference, Picture Options- Motion Judder Canceller can be set to Standard or Smooth. Picture Modes available for 3D movies are Standard, Movie & BD Wise.

2D to 3D
With only three clicks on remote, any incoming video from cable or Blu-ray disc player can be converted to a 3D picture. Hit 3D button, Enter & then on left double single person icon. Be sure to set focus/depth of the 3D image in Depth to 8 or 9 to give better 3D effect rather than factory setting of 4 or 5. Access thru TV Menu- Picture- Enter- 3D- Depth. 3D effect is not as deep as 3D movies & doesn't have pop-out-of-screen effects. But it gives a more realistic picture to any movie or cable program including some commercials. Like watching out of a window with background off in distance.

HD programs such as entertainment & sports benefit much from conversion to 3D. Blu-ray and even DVD movies take on a nice 3D effect- particularily with foreground/deep background scenes. Avatar 2D Blu-ray movie converted to 3D was pretty awesome, especially the flying scenes. Other movies meant for 3D, such as Journey to Center of Earth, have many scenes of foreground/deep background that have good 3D effects. Animated movies like Up, Cars, etc., really benefit from 3D conversion providing more immersion & enjoyment. Flying movies like 2012, Pearl Harbor, Amelia, etc. achieve great depth in the flying scenes. The series Over America, Over California, etc., and Wing Flight (available from Amazon.com) are really awesome when flying over cities, mountains and alongside the birds.

This TV was worth it just for the amazing 2D to 3D conversion of programs and movies since true 3D movies & cable programs are so few right now. It is entertaining just to review past viewed movies to see how more realistic the picture is.

Audio
As expected, the built-in small two speakers audio is poor, typical of flat screen TVs. It is mandatory that at least a 5.1 receiver/speaker set-up be used to get nearly the theater experience. Doesn't have to be very expensive or new system to achieve the enjoyable surround sound to go with fantastic looking movies. Samsung 3D Blu-ray disc player only has one HDMI 1.4 output, one digital optical output, analog 7.1 output & 2 Ch analog but no HCMI 1.3 output for current receivers. Newer 7.1 audio receivers have HDMI 1.4 pass-thru to TV & best Dolby & DTS capability. Otherwise a 5.1 receiver that supports lower quality Dolby Digital & DTS thru the optical connection to disc player is ok, like our 2001 audio system that can still rattle the walls. We plan to up-date to 7.1 HDMI 1.4 pass-thru system later.

Summary
A TV capable of giving perfect reproduction of original video at any viewing angle and can adjust many things for personal preferences of picture. 3D movies are awesome & gives occasional pop-out-of-screen effects. 2D to 3D conversion of cable programs & movies can give really nice realistic effect when have foreground with deep background- particularily flying & mountain scenes. TV is worth it just for 2D to 3D convesion. 3D glasses are comfortable & fit over regular glasses. Samsung 3D Blu-ray player is outstanding with small compact design, amazing quick disc load times & contemporary design with touch buttons & see-thru window above disc. This plasma cons are the poor audio which is universal with flat screen TVs making at least a separate 5.1 or better audio system mandatory for theater like expeience. (Didn't deduct rating for audio.) Also, this size plasma set uses 440W of power compared to 201W for old 57" projection TV & more than same size LCD flat panel TVs. But this is equivalent of only 2 more light bulbs being on and is small price to pay for exceptional picture with 3D capabilties.

Do not buy this TV.

I purchases this very expensive, $2,700, Samsung 58 inch Plasma HD television model number PN58C8000 and it arrived with a cracked screen. Amazon promptly replaced it, but four months after the purchase the screen cracked during normal use. There is a 12 month warranty on the product, but when I called for service I was told that Samsung will not cover "physical damage". There warranty says they will cover problems due to manufacturing or workmanship.

It turns out many people have this exact same issue.

Problem with the workmanship of this model:
1) This is a known problem related to "thermal expansion" and the thinness of the screen.
2) This is my second TV of the same model that was broken -- first arrived with cracked screen and was replaced.
3) The TV repairman that Samsung sent to investigate said that out of 1000s of TVs that he repaired, only 5 have had cracks like this and 3 were of my model
4) Looking on the internet, specifically at Amazon where I bought it, only the Samsung plasma TV has a cracked screen problem. If you look at the reviews, you'll see many customers who've had this issue. Sony and Panasonic do not.
5) There is a class action suit against Samsung for not honoring the warranty: Samsung have signed a "Assurance of Voluntary Compliance ("AVC") with the State of New Jersey, as a result of "the company's business practices related to repairing home appliances under warranty or service contracts." See link: [...]

I'm still hoping Samsung will come through and do the right thing. If they do, I'll happily modify my review.

I've gone through quite the adventure over the last 5 months with purchasing my new TV. I thought it would be helpful to others if I shared. Long story short, I've gone through the UN55B6000, PN58B860, UN55C7000 and PN58C7000 and PN58C8000.

We moved into a new apartment, and needed a new tv to go over our fire place. We were upgrading from a 5 year old Samsung 720p DLP TV.

--UN55B6000--
Loved the form factor of the TV. Got it home and after a few days I was just unhappy with the overall look of the LCD/LED. I really saw a lot of motion blur.

--PN58B860--
I returned the LED TV and went with this TV. I absolutely LOVED the picture quality of the TV. But it buzzed terribly. It sounded like a bug zapper. I could actually hear it over top of the regular tv volume at a 12 ft distance. Best Buy swapped it out for another one. The second PN58B860 buzzed even louder. I gave it about 3 weeks to see if it would get better but it didn't. So I returned it and waited for the 2010 models to come out.

--UN55C7000--
When I heard that the new 2010 models were out, I went down to my friendly Best Buy to hopefully pick up the new plasma. Unfortunately, they only had the new LED in. The sales person told me that all of the issues were fixed on this set that I was unhappy with previously with the UN55B6000. He convinced me to give it a try and that if I were unhappy with it that they would gladly take it back. Sure there was still lighting in the corners and some motion blur, but it was much better. I still wasn't sold on this set, as I LOVED the PQ on the plasma. I decided to go with the plasma and return this set.

--PN58C7000--
Awesome picture quality - however, it's stuck in the soap opera mode and can't be taken out. To me and everybody I know, it looks like a soap opera in fast forward. I can't stand to watch the tv in this mode. It's very odd to me that it's this way, as only the 8000 is supposed to have MJC, so why does the 7000 have it but not have a way to take it off? I found a work around that allows the user to turn the game mode on/off that then caused the MJC to turn off. As a result of this, I returned it to Crutchfield and upgraded to the 8000 series. By the way, can somebody explain to me who would want to buy the 7000 series plasma and be stuck with having MJC on? I just can't figure it out!

--PN58C8000--
I LOVE this TV. Seriously, it's amazing. I like the dark grey bezel better than the black of the 7000 series. Something about it looks more gadgety/elegant. This TV makes a sound when it's on. I can hear it 12+ feet away when sitting right in front of it. It's definitely not a buzz like the PN58B860 that I had before. It sounds more like a fan running. When the volume is at a regular volume I don't notice it at all. When you engage the 3D mode, it gets MUCH louder though. Still hardly notice it. In comparison to the Xbox 360 fan noise, it's much quieter.

I just purchased this from Amazon as my main TV. I ordered it online and scheduled a delivery right from Amazon's website. I had a choice of delivery as soon as 3 days or as long as 3 weeks from what I could tell. I got a follow-up email the next day from the delivery company confirming delivery. On the appointed date, they showed up ontime but had the wrong TV. He called his dispatcher and they had to return to base and get mine. About 4 hours later, they showed up with the right TV. The box looked undamaged but I opened it while they were there to make sure it was OK inside. They only unloaded it into my garage which was OK for me but they may have brought it in the house if I asked them to - They seemed friendly and cooperative. So, you may get them to delivery indoors to a particular room if you want - I guess it depends on the driver.

I upgraded from a 6 year old CRT rear projection HDTV (1080i). Overall I am very pleased with the picture quality but it took me a week or so of playing with the picture properties to get it where I liked it. Out of the box it was pretty much set correctly as far as color but I had to fiddle with the contrast, brightness and gamma to get the best picture - Initially it was fairly dark and dull. I wound up with the contrast and brightness up to 75 and the gamma at +1 and the sharpness at 20. I have read that I will probably have to readjust these in a few weeks as the TV needs to have 200+ hours on it for the phosphers to settle. I turned off most of the other stuff for picture control (black, dynamics, film modes, etc..) as I wanted an unadulterated picture. I was worried about glare and brightness but these are non-issues completely. I have it in a south facing room with a double window on the adjacent wall. No problems with screen brightness or reflections. In fact, my old CRT reflected a lot more than this TV. It is plenty bright and I do not have to fiddle with any shades. I don't know yet but the rub about screen burn-in seems to have been addressed with a feature built in to the TV that causes pixel shift every 10 minutes - this is on automatically and can be adjusted or turned off. I didn't notice it so I left it on. There was only one warning in the owners manual about screen burn-in unlike my older CRT where there were bold warnings on every page about screen burn. (I had that TV for 6 years with no hint of screen burn). I don't play any video games and there are no kids to leave the TV unattended with fixed images so I don't expect this to be a problem with this set either. I read other reports from others of a buzzing sound from this set or similar sets - mine is dead quiet. No buzz whatsoever. I noticed it did come with 2 ferrite cores to be installed on the power line if necessary so this buzzing sound could be an AC line power issue - perhaps geographic in nature depending on where you live and the kind of power (dirty vs clean, etc..)? Don't know. Mine is mute.

Compared to my old rear projection CRT HDTV, the sharpness of this set is MUCH better. I can see things in the background that I couldn't see before. On close-ups, it is phenomenal. I can see the thread patterns in clothing like never before. Yeah, I could see the nosehairs on my older set but now I can see a little too much of that nosehair. The graphics are much better too. TV guides and menus and so forth are much sharper. When I bought my older set, I didn't see a lot of difference between the plasma and the CRT at that time. Boy has plasma really improved. This picture is as sharp and bright and most any modern TV - yes even LCD. You have to go to the new 9000 series LED-LCD from Samsung to see any better picture - But that TV is $6000 in a smaller size.

There is no motion blur or off-axis viewing issues with this set like LCD or LED-LCD. It is also very thin at just over 1.5" - thinner than most LCD's. It weighed 84 pounds with the stand and I was able to lift it by myself up onto a low boy console (wall mount comes maybe next year).

I haven't used the 3D yet but probably will in the future. Nice to know it is there. I haven't used any of the net stuff like Amazon or netflix nor have I even hooked up the ethernet. I did download the latest firmware via thumbdrive from my computer and it worked flawlessly in about 15 minutes time.

One feature I didn't realize the set has was HDMI control (ANYNET+). I plan to buy a new AVR surround receiver in the future which will allow me to watch TIVO through the receiver without having the receiver on. This is HDMI pass through in a sort of standby mode. I have a sophisticated home theater setup but sometimes it is overkill to have all that equipment on just to watch the news - I want to just watch the TV and use the TV speakers. This feature should allow me to do this once I buy a current receiver that supports it.

The downside to this set, and the only one downside so far, is the heat this thing pumps out. It is a like a little furnace. It will raise the room temperature a good 2 degrees (11.5x15 room) in just a few hours. I thought these new sets were energy star compliant but I'm not sure where that comes from. I assumed that it would be NO WORSE than my 6 year old CRT but it is (much worse). My 6 year old HDTV CRT consumed 195 watts (57" TV) and this bad boy pumps out a whopping 440 watts (58" TV) according to the back panel information off of both sets. As a result, my electric meter is spinning and the TV is heating up my room. No problem in the winter I guess but right now, it has me sweating. I knocked it back 1 star for this but this may be severe on my part as power consumption my be something that Samsung can do little about for Plasmas.

Overall this is a fantastic TV. I bought this thinking I would keep it a year or 2 and upgrade to a local dimming LED-LCD as I figure that technology would have evolved to a point where the price would be better. $2500 for this plasma set is a bargain. With the extended finance option, it is a steal compared to other retailers. I wanted a 63" but it was another $1000 so this size is sort of the sweetspot, price-wise. Mabye the local dimming LED-LCD's will come down in a couple of years to where a 63" or larger will be around this price. That 9000 series Samsung LED-LCD is nothing short of phenomenal. Still have that darn motion blur though with LCD..............

I've had my pn58c8000 for a week, as I write this, and I'm very happy with it. (I didn't buy mine from Amazon, since Amazon won't ship it to Hawaii.) Here is my take on a few issues that concerned me when I was deciding to buy:

(1) Is the c8000 plasma enough better than the c7000 to justify its higher price? I think the jury is still out. The c8000 provides control of the Motion Judder Cancellation feature, while the c7000 doesn't, at least out of the box. But a future firmware release may add that control for the c7000. Most commentators dislike the MJC and just want to turn it off. I like it, personally, but in any case, it's good to have control of it. The Real Black Filter of the c8000 may or may not improve the apparent contrast of the picture, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

(2) Will the TV buzz? Samsung and other brands of plasma sometimes make an irritating buzzing or humming sound. This pn58c8000 is my third Samsung plasma TV, and none of my sets have buzzed. When my pn58c8000 was delivered, before I would sign a receipt, I listened carefully to it with the sound off, and I had my wife listen, also. No buzz -- dead silence. (But that doesn't mean your set won't buzz -- it might.)

(3) Will bright patterns be burnt in to the screen? Quite unlikely, I'd say. It's never happened to me. (I have had retained images on my previous plasma sets, but they go away after a few hours.) What little danger there is can be avoided with just a little care. Every few days, at least for the first few weeks, use the TV's menu selection for Screen Burn Protection, Scrolling. The white edge that pans across the screen will make any retained image obvious, and if you see any, just let the pattern run on until it "shocks" the pixels to remove the image. (I just now did that, for the third time since I got my set, and I saw no retained images at all.)

(4) How does 3d look? I don't yet have a 3d blu-ray player, so I can't tell you about 3d blu-rays. I do subscribe to DirecTV, so I've watched several hours of their n3D channel programming, using the Samsung SSG-2200AR rechargeable glasses. It looks good to me. I do occasionally see some "ghosting" with screen graphics, when a faint image intended for the opposite eye is visible. And I could wish for higher light output for sunny scenes. (The 3d LED sets, I understand, are worse on the ghosting issue, but better at providing high light output.)

(5) Does the 2d to 3d conversion work? I was surprised at how well it works, but I don't actually use it very often, so far.

(6) What about setting up the network? Nothing to it, if you've got an ethernet cable connection to a well functioning network. I simply plugged in the cable and turned on the set. It was all automatic. It took a while for the TV to download the standard applications from the Samsung internet servers. I haven't taken the time yet to do more than play a few UTube videos. Seems to work. On the other hand, playing photos/music/videos from the DLNA servers on my local net does not seem to work at all well. The TV can show menus of the available files, but so far it has refused to actually play anything for me. (I do have two other working DLNA clients, a PS3 and two DirecTV boxes, so I don't think it's a problem with my installation.)

(7) Do the picture controls need to be changed? Yes, I think so. Mine looked good when I first turned the TV on, but not great. But there are plenty of user controls available (this is a strong point of Samsung TVs). Here are the picture settings I'm using now: Mode Movie, Cell Light 15, Contrast 62, Brightness 72, Sharpness 15, Color 41, Tint 50/50, and Advanced Settings: Dynamic Contrast Low, Gamma +1, Flesh Tone -9, and Picture Options: Color Tone Warm2, Motion Judder Canceller Smooth, and 3D: Depth 7. Other controls I have at their default values. It looks great, to me, but it might be a little dark toned for some. (Settings edited 7/25/10 to make colors more subdued.)

(8) What settings to use for 3D? The shutter glasses cut out some light and impart an orangey tint, so to get a natural looking picture, you have to compensate, somehow. I'm not all that happy with the following settings, but it's the best I've been able to do. Mode Standard, Cell Light 18, Contrast 76, Brightness 68, Sharpness 20, Color 43, Tint 54/46, and Advanced Settings: Dynamic Contrast High, Gamma +1, Flesh Tone -9,and Picture Options: Color Tone Cool, Motion Judder Canceller Smooth. (3D settings edited 8/1/10.)

(9) Screen reflections? I have my TV in a very light room, with multiple windows on three walls. There is a window behind my chair, and I do see its reflection in the TV screen, during the day. It's slightly diffused by the TV's screen coating. It doesn't bother me, and my wife hasn't mentioned it, one way or the other.

--Greg

I have to say that the picture quality on this television is almost perfect. I have had many televisions ranging from Samsung LED 55UNC7000 to Panasonic V10 plasma. Out of all of them, this television has the best picture quality. The black levels are super and the video processing is excellent. The remote control is really nice and is backlit. I really like Samsung's PQ, especially when it comes to color saturation. If you are looking at this television in a store and think that the colors are washed out, then they probably did not change the default settings. I prefer Samsung's PQ to Panasonic's, due to how vibrant the colors are on the Samsung.

Television Issues:
Even though I love this television, it does have some issues. This television does give off a buzzzzzzzzzing sound. Some people may not consider this an issues because the loudness of the sound might depend on their setup (how close the back wall is to the television, angle of the TV, sound dynamics of the room, etc.) My television makes a popping sound sometimes, maybe due to temperature changes inside the unit. One other thing that I am noticing on the PN58C8000 is the dejudder mode is causing strange things to occur on the screen. For example, if a person moves their head quickly, there is sometimes what looks like pixelation around the head. This occurs frequently.

Overall this is a great television, but it looks like Samsung did not learn from last year. I would give this television 5 stars if it did not exhibit these strange and maybe annoying sounds.

I bought this set on a pre-boxing day sale mostly based on the strength of the editor and consumer reviews on CNET. I was incredibly happy with the set until it died after 8 days off use. I was in my kitchen when I heard a very loud snap or crack noise come from the set, now there is no picture at all or even menus. The power indicator comes on and the little samsung jingle it plays on start up but that is it. After it happened I searched and found many cases of the same issue so it seems to be some sort of production problem. I've contacted Samsung but I'll probably be waiting without a TV much longer than I got to use this set. Buyer beware for their best Plasma set this is pretty poor quality control.

I was a big fan of LCD tv's for years and had many of them.

I never considered plasma as they all looked dim in the store.

I also could not understand why they were much cheaper than a equivalent LCD, assuming they were inferior.

Finally I decided to take a gamble and purchase this set, one of the best decisions I have made tv wise.

Picture is great, every bit as bright as a LCD.

Colors are much deeper than a LCD, so much that you need to resist the temptation to keep the screen so bright it washes out the colors.

And the blacks, well you have never seen blacks until you purchase this set

Thats the thing with LCD's, everyone keeps them so bright, the colors wash out and you have a inferior picture.

You must calibrate this set. There are many settings and spending a little time with it will result in a picture you would not think possible out of a television.

These new plasmas are light and thin, much lighter than previous plasmas.

Samsung claims the are no more burn in issues, and the tv needs no break in.

This is still a hotly debated subject, so I would not recommend any still picture for hours on end just to be on the safe side.

I have ZERO buzz out of this set, although some have complained that the set they purchased has a buzzing noise.

No common lcd issues such as flashlighting, halos, color bleed etc.

Reflections can be a problem as with most LCD tv's and plasma's, I have always kept the blinds drawn for daytime viewing although I am the only one in the household that notices it.

The internet acces is a plus, I bought samsung's wireless dongle and it connected immediately to my wireless network.

Netflix on this tv is awesome, which puzzled my as the quality on a computer screen is less than average at best.

This tv is just full of options, more of a mini computer.
For the money, this top tier Samsung offers the best picture and features that can be found at a price at least a thousand less than samsung's comparable LCD.

The remote is much improved over previous samsung remotes, and has a good layout.

So don't let the dim unadjusted picture in a store sway you, they are kept like that to influence you to the LCD which carries a higher profit margin.

I guess you could call this set one of the best kept secrets on the plasma market and carries my highest recommendation.

The only thing that was laughable was the delivery.

The set was supposed to be brought inside and tested to see if it was working.

The trucking company sent out one little gentleman, that looked to be in his late sixties, I had to get my teens to get the set in the house, this poor guy had no chance to get it in.

I shudder to think what would of happened if there was no one available to help, or if the tv had to go to a second floor.

I was expecting two people, which I felt was needed, but the shipping was free, although substandard for those that don't have the ability to help.

Unpacking the tv takes less than a minute, remove the strapping, remove the 4 plastic clips at the bottom, and the box slides off the top, with the tv ready for mounting, which is a TWO person operation.

If you wall mount, remove the base screws BEFORE you remove the tv from the bottom of the box, the base will remain in the box when lifting the tv with no effort required.

Make sure you install the ferrous cores on the power cord on installation.
The power cable must be looped though these cores, or the cores will slide up and down the cord.

These cores need to be kept withing one inch of the tv and the plug.

A higher end power strip is recommended for power surges, as even the smallest wear down the tv's electrical comonents over time and can lead to premature failure.