Customer Reviews

Samsung PN63B550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have lived with this tv for only a week now but I would like to say I researched to no end for a tv that is over 60 inches.The other choices were the 65 inch sharp lcd and the 65 inch panny plasma. I have compared this tv to the others with the same feed and similar settings and the samsung wins in my eyes. The colors on this tv are more vibrant then the lg ,kuro, and panny.

I would say the panel and stand are a very nice glossy black with the option to swivel to some extent. The tv arrived connected to the stand which made setup very easy. The menu used to change settings is very user friendly as well. I like how you can label each input source this way it is obvious which input works with each device. The BD playback on this tv is excellent. I could go on and on.

There is a B590 which inlcudes cinema smooth and a screen which is ultra filter bright plus as opposed to ultra filter bright. You will not notice the difference.

BTW, I also saw this tv side by side with last years 63A650 playing same feed using same settings mode. It was not even close in my eyes. The 63b550 looked sharper, brighter, colors were more vibrant etc...

I ordered my Samsung PN63B550 a week ago and it arrived 5 days later. Amazon ordering was easy and tracking my order online was very accurate on their delivery time. My tv was delivered two days before the actual delivery date from Amazon. It was ship by Pilot delivery service and they only sent one person to carry my tv from the delivery truck to inside my home. I had to help assist the delivery guy to take it out of it's packing material and place it on top of the stand. That was only thing i was dissappointed with I would suggest you call Amazon first before ordering and ask for a white glove deliver service instead. This was my first Samsung plasma Tv and I am thorougly satisfied with my order picture is wonderfull and movies on HD never looked so good on this 63" mammoth. If your looking for the best Tv for watching sports and movies look no further. I also saved $700 dollars when ordering through Amazon compared to Best Buy and Frys Electronics. Hands down the best Plasma Samsung has ever made. To many features to list like mega dynamic contrast and 600hz motion picture and 24fps for more relistic movie experience and uses 50% less energery compared to last year models.

You know that electronic hum your old CRT would make back in the day? Take that and times it by 100 and you'll have the buzz emanating from the back of this monster. The picture is fantastic, but the buzz is UNBEARABLE (think 20' away at normal volume levels and it's clear as day!). Unfortunately this is a VERY common problem and if you venture over to AVSForum you'll find threads dedicated to this issue. Consensus is that the power supply is the culprit and it gets worse the more white (more power to make a white screen) you have in your picture.

I managed to quell the roar by wedging a roll of scotch tape between the lower left hand side of the TV and the wall, which would seem to indicate the power supply is causing the outer housing to vibrate. Regardless, some have found this trick to work, some haven't, and some haven't had a problem at all.

So all in all the picture like I said is beautiful, and with the roll of tape I'm happy as a clam. Once I have the time and once I hear people getting replacements that address and not duplicate the issue, I'll give Samsung a ring.

Now that I think about it, I should call them now...I really shouldn't have to wedge a roll of tape behind my TV to make it right. Taking the buzz away from the review and I'd give this TV five starts all day long. Picture is truly mesmerizing.

Caveat Emptor

Ordered from Amazon, trucked by CEVA. Was nervous about ordering a monster like this as expected trucking damage. CEVA called 4 days earlier than claimed delivery and delivered 1 hour earlier than the delivery window that day. One big guy in truck. He unloaded it onto a cart and got it into the house. I helped unpack and lift it onto the tv stand. He stayed until everything hooked up and verified it was all working before I had to sign the delivery ticket. PAINLESS:)

Had not seen the 63" in a store. Replaced a 50" Sony rear projection. WOW what a difference. Blu-ray and over-the-air HD are phenomenol. Played the Pirates of the Caribbean last movie and the details are incredible. Great color, really dark blacks. Even cable standard definition is easily watchable but grainier on such a large screen. Absolutely no image retention - plasmas used to be susceptible to that and have been really looking for any. I am just mizing up what we watch for the break-in to reduce any chance of image retention. Watched a movie with top-bottom black bars the first night and no left over images at all. No buzzing or other screen noises. No fans. The stand does swivel and is a nice useful feature.

Negatives? Well no picture in picture :(. I knew that. Why is it that none of the manufacturers make true PinP TVs anymore? Especially with such large screens. Will really miss that come football season. You can get a version of dual picture in the more expensive Samsung models but it is crude and not very useful. The screen is not a matt finish, it is very dark but somewhat glossy. So, you do get some reflections. Not a problem for me as I have window drapes for movie watching. I don't bother closing the drapes for news-weather-channel surfing. The speakers are okay but kind of tinney. You will want a surround sound system to go with this.

Could not be happier with this set. LOVE IT.
Pete

I have had my 63B550 for about two weeks now. The picture is amazing. The colors are great, and it's a bright set. No signs of IR at all. I'd recommend it.

Had this TV for about a month & love it!!!!! Great picture and features. My cousin has a 60" Kuro and I like my Samsung better.
The 63" screen is much more impressive and the picture quality is
awesome. Plus you cannot beat the price. Delivery from Amazon was flawless. TV was delivered as promised, put on furniture stand, connected to the cable box and it was good to go!!! I also bought
the sleek wireless new Samsung Blue Ray with free shipping & no
sales tax. Wow!!!

After months and months of checking various sites for a large plazma, I finally settled on this bohemeth and glad I did! The price from Amazon was several hundred dollars less than anywhere else. I ordered this on a Monday, and got it delivered on Friday with no problems. TV was sent via Pilot Air Freight, and the delivery guy was extremely nice and wouuld not accept a tip. I assisted him in getting it into the living room, where he unboxed it, plugged it in and made sure there was a picture. He offered to take the box away, but I opted to keep it just in case....
Connected my HDMI cable, and WOW! This TV has a great picture, very bright, extreme contrast and super color. For the price, I am extremely happy so far, and three weeks later, the set is working great! What I am not crazy about is the sound as it emits from the bottom, and I had to turn up the highs on the equalizer to prevent the voice from being muffled somewhat. For movies, it goes through my 1200 watt surround system, and it's like you are right there! I had this in time for the superbowl, and what a game on this beauty!
If you are looking for a very large plazma, go for this one! For the price, it can't be beat!

I give this product 5 Stars, because I simply cannot find a thing wrong with it after about 30 days of usage. The picture is amazing and is 3D like without any drawbacks. The colors are fanstatic and there are enough controls for picture quality to keep you busy fine tuning the set if that is your preference (but it works fine at default settings). I do suggest backing off on the contrast and cell lighting though.
I hesitated to buy Plasma due to most of the problems with that technology in the distant past. You have likely heard them all: Screen burn in, high power consumption and less durability than LCD. Plasma is a different ballgame now, those problems have been solved with the new plasma panels that came out recently sold by Panasonic, Samsung and LG.
Out of the box this set worked flawlessly. Samsungs new plug and play setup is great and gets you going in no time.
I have NOT experienced any buzzing or poping from the power supply that other reviewers have mentioned. I also find the TV speaker sound to be totally acceptable.
I have this set in my home theater setup using "basic" cable from Comcast and it does very well on SD and HD pictures. I use the TV speakers for cable and my home theater setup for movies. I have an HK 354 AVR with Bose Speakers and a Samsung Blu-Ray player and on Blu-Ray the picture is out of this world even up close. The Samsung Blu-Ray Remote also works the TV and Vice Versa. That's a nice touch.
If you are looking for a 60+ inch screen TV for a Home Theater you won't go wrong with this set and you will save some big bucks over the larger LCD/LED TV's out there.
Bottom line here, if you are on the fence for a large screen TV and undecided between LED/LCD and Plasma get the Samsung Plasma. Check the prices every day they seem to fluctuate frequently and don't be afraid to buy it here.

I did a lot of research before purchasing this set. I required a large tv between 60 and 65 inches for the space and room I was putting it in. After reading many of the reviews and specs for this set I decided to purchase it from Amazon.

Delivery went well. Despite some things I read regarding the shipping company amazon uses to ship these monsters we experienced no issues. The set was delivered and brought into our house and setup. The gentleman made sure the set got a picture before he left so we had a chance to fully inspect it before we signed off.

The picture on the set is amazing. I did not make any adjustments on it and it looks great. We did not hear any buzzing noise that some complain about. The set is quiet.

One concern I did have was that there are windows in the room I was putting it in. I read about the screen filter that Samsung applies to this set. Despite the filter there is still a good deal of reflectivity of light on the screen. If you have a bright room with lots of lights or windows and watch during the day this might not be the best set. The glare is pronounced. Fortunately for us we typically watch this particular set in the evening. The plasma looks best when the lights are completely out in the room at night. That said you can have normal lighting and the picture is still great. Just beware of window rooms during the day if the viewing angle puts a bright window between your eyes and the screens reflection.

Overall I am very happy with this Samsung 63 plasma set. The only con as noted above is the bright room with windows.

I bought this television 3 months ago and am TOTALLY satisfied. What a beautiful television by Samsung and what a great job by Amazon getting it here quickly and in perfect condition at nearly the best price on the market (I paid $2338, no tax, free delivery).

As far as pricing, I went to my local 'brick and mortar' store and saw the same exact television for $3298 and also found it online from a store that I was not comfortable dealing with for about $100 less at $2250 or so. I had never purchased a product this large or spent this much money online before, but because of Amazon's long standing reputation for customer service and my previous experiences with them, I pulled the trigger and gave them a shot. 3 months later I couldn't be more pleased.

After purchasing the television my delivery process was instantly progressing. I received several e-mail updates and my television was in transit the next day and was delivered about three days later. This was especially important to me because:

1.) I was so freakin excited about my purchase that I wanted it now.
2.) I had never spent that kind of money online and appreciated the reassurance that everything was going o.k. and moving along.

When it arrived the box was upright and in perfect condition with no dents or signs that it was roughed up during transit. The two delivery guys carried it in, unpacked it, set it where I wanted, and turned it on to ensure that it worked. Out of the box it was aesthetically beautiful, in perfect condition, and fired up immediately and with no problem.

As for performance, I'm running everything through HDMI cables which meant that out of the box I had my blu-ray, X-Box 360, and HD cable box up and running in about 1 minute or less and without problem. So easy a caveman could do it right? The picture is stunning, brilliant, and crystal clear no matter which component I'm running. Simply beautiful and everything that it should be. I can't comment about the speakers on the unit as I am running a home theater sound system but my thought is that if you're dropping $2K+ on a television, you either already have this or should be getting it next. You really can't expect a television that is 2 inches thick to be equipped with speakers that fill the room with rich bass and clear treble.

The menu interface is very easy to navigate, and customizing your settings is self explanatory as well. I found the factory default settings to be pretty good but I did some fine tuning for personal preference and have a picture that I feel is second to none. It is brilliant, crystal clear, and able to be viewed from all angles clearly and without distortion. I use a universal remote, but the remote supplied is also a very nice one which is backlit and ergonomically correct.

That should cover it.

In closing, I read these consumer reviews everytime I make an online purchase so thank you to everyone that writes them. Because of my outstanding experience, I felt compelled as well to share with prospective buyers how pleased I am with this product and with Amazon as a retailer. If you are considering purchasing this television then you can