Samsung PN63C550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black)

by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 59.1 x 37.9 inches ; 97.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 127 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B0036WT42E
• Item model number: PN63C550
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,566 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 12, 2010

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Samsung's new PN63C550 plasma flat panel HDTV is a refinement of our commitment to design, performance, and cost of ownership. It's 50 inches of 1080p Full HD picture performance is the perfect fit for most rooms. The attractive Touch of Color™ design adds a subtle clear-to-charcoal gray accent to the set's bezel. Enjoy brilliant, film-like images in Full HD resolution. Samsung's breakthrough mega dynamic contrast ratio offers a more accurate color tonal range, deeper blacks and shadow details. The new E3-Panel technology featuring our innovative Clear Image Panel technology reduces off-angle blur and glare in brighter rooms and delivers a better picture while using less energy. Add 4 advanced HDMI® inputs featuring Samsung's Anynet+™ (CEC standard) technology makes system control of compatible A/V devices like a Blu-ray™ player or HTIB system a one-touch operation. Experience Full 1080p HD performance on Samsung's new C550 series plasma HDTVs, it's easy on the wallet and easy on the environment.

Key Features Clear Image Panel: A reflection- reducing coating on the inside of the panel, virtually eliminates picture distortion. DLNA® enabled ConnectShare™ Movie: Connect a thumb drive or digital camera quickly and easily. Userfriendly interface allows access to videos, a music playlist and pictures via the remote. Game Mode: Enhances dark areas, sharpens the picture, speeds up the image processing response and enhances the sounds of your games. Picture and sound quality optimized for the special needs of gaming systems at the touch of a button. Vesa Wall Mount Support: 23.6" x 15.7"

Product Description

Get a true cinematic experience without going to the cinema with a Samsung plasma HDTV. This Samsung PN63C550, with Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio makes sure every frame is saturated with dense, rich color. Samsung is also ENERGY STAR compliant so you are assured that your 63 -inch plasma HDTV is helping the environment by using less enery while saving you money.

Accessories

• 2010 LinkStick: Connect wirelessly to a world of digital content from Samsung. The LinkStick wireless LAN adaptor eliminates the hassle and cluttered look of wires. Learn more about the Samsung WIS09ABGN LinkStick Wireless LAN Adapter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great picture, much lighter weight, awful remote control., May 14, 2010

By 

Sam (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung PN63C550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black) (Electronics)

Summary:

* Superb deep blacks. Better than any LED LCD TV's.
* Skin colors are very realistic.
* In movie mode, the TV gives off very, very little heat.
* You don't need to have the TV calibrated. I made the adjustments myself and there are tons of user adjustable settings.
* The image is big. We sit about 8' or 9' away from the the TV and the picture is not too big. It's like being in a movie theater.
* The weight has been reduced to 97 pounds. My previous 63" Samsung (which I returned) weighed 75 pounds more.
* The TV can swivel.
* With Blu-Ray and HD content, the picture quality is truly astonishing. I have had the TV for a full year now and I'm still in awe.
* The screen is very shiny. Avoid having any sources of light behind you.

[May, 2011 update: The picture is still awesome. I haven't had to tweak the TV in months. As it turned out, I didn't need the have the TV calibrated and I got my $300 back (it's a long story). The TV image is truly spectacular. I've now had the TV for a full year and I'm still in love. To truly appreciate what this TV can deliver, you have to watch Blu-Ray or HD television.]

[May 20, 2010 update: I've had the TV for several days and the only other change I needed to make to improve the picture quality is to set the darkness level setting to 'darkest'. Unlike my previous LCD TVs, this required just a few tweaks for my own personal preferences. Unless you're going out to the movie theater to see that latest release or want a night out, you'll prefer this TV over what you'll see in a movie theater.]

---------------------------------

My previous brand new Samsung 63" plasma was a dud and I wasn't able to exchange it for the same model since it was out of production. This model came out while I still had time to exchange it from Best Buy within the 45 day window (I know it's normally 30 days) and not have to pay an additional delivery fee. We bought it from a Magnolia store.

By playing around will the cell light (now goes from 1-20 instead of 1-10) and brightness, I'm able to achieve an extremely pleasing color with reasonably good blacks. So much less fussing. The TV has only been on for one day so it's far from being burned in. The default brightness is not maxed out like on previous models.

Having gone from a Samsung 55" LED/LCD TV (very nice TV after days of tweaking but too small for my wife), to a 63" Samsung PN63B550 plasma which was a dud (it couldn't achieve anything close to deep blacks which was confirmed by a tech from the Geek squad), this TV with minimal fussing delivers a nice picture. In a few weeks I'll pay the $300 and get it professionally tuned.

The good news is that the TV is now only 97 pounds versus 145 pounds from the 2009 PN63B550 model. How did they reduce that much weight? The TV still swivels. The PN63B550 had a very slight buzzing sound at the back. I haven't noticed any buzz at all with this TV.

The screen is very shiny and if you have any windows or light sources in the background, you'll find it very annoying. We keep one dim light on off to the far side so we don't have any glare problems.

The heat output seems to be the same as the PN63B550 model and despite everything I've heard and read, this TV gives off far less heat than a 2008 52" LCD TV or the Samsung 55" LED/LCD TV. The screen is relatively cool to the touch and the back of the TV gives off only a moderate amount of heat -- when I put my hand in the back of the TV I can feel slight warmth. However, we run our TV at night with the brightness set fairly low.

Unlike the PN63B550, this model is viewable from extreme angles. The PN63B550 was very fuzzy when viewed on angles. I saw this with the same TV at the showroom so I know it wasn't just my TV.

The bad news is that the remote is positively awful. All the buttons are now dead flat and while I could easily navigate the previous control by touch alone I now find it's a hassle. I'll have to transfer the control to my universal remote. It also seems with each new model that you have to more carefully direct the control to the TV sensor. If this keeps up, I'll have to place a sniper scope on top of the remote control. The good news is that we rarely need the remote.

As with other higher end Samsung models, this TV has all of the user menu settings (advanced settings, cell light control, etc.)

The TV comes in an incredibly huge box. While I normally save all of my boxes, this box is almost as big as a Smart Car and I didn't want to use that much storage space.

The TV with high def output (e.g. Blu-Ray) is astonishing. I can't comment on the sound quality since we use external speakers.

Aside from the crappy remote, I can't think of a single negative aspect of the TV itself. I think you'll love this TV.

[tags: samsung,plasma,63,hdtv,panasonic,1080p,plasma tv, samsung plasma, panasonic plasma]

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Everything Except Shipping..., September 17, 2010

By 

Rick - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Samsung PN63C550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black) (Electronics)

We had to have four shipped before one finally arrived undamaged. The first two had serious cracks, looked like they were caused by the box being dropped. The 3rd one was delivered by the same people who had delivered the first two. They didn't even unload this one. They had me look at it in the truck. There was a hole in the box that appeared, in size, to be from a fork lift. I was able to stick my hand into the hole and feel the cracked screen. Finally, the 4th arrived in mint condition and it's awesome. I order my first on 8/7. The 4th arrived on 8/27. The Samsung packaging is excellent and it seems to me the box would need to be seriously abused to damage the television? Don't understand how Amazon could be making much of a profit on these systems if they need to ship four to get one undamaged to the customer. I did have some problems with Amazon customer service regarding a delay in crediting my account for one of the TV's but after a total of a couple of hours on the phone everything was straightened out.

We're glad we hung in there, after two it was tough... but my wife said let's just drain their stock till we get a good one... only took 2 more tries.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this TV!, September 22, 2010

By 

Banana Pup (Dallas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Samsung PN63C550 63-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black) (Electronics)

We had been looking for a TV to replace the '08 Samsung LN52A650 52" LCD which is a great TV that does everything exceptionally well *except* sports where there is noticeable blurring. Since plasmas have a 600 Hz refresh rate compared to 240HZ for the best LED/LCDs, we decided to go back to plasma.

I checked out some reviews and narrowed it down to about 10 TVs in the 60-65" range and went to BB to look at them. They had the PN58C550 on display and it looked fantastic. I asked two different salesman what they thought of it. One said Samsung made the best plasmas and that plasmas offered the most realistic color. A different salesman said he just bought the PN63C550 and loved it. I asked him why and he said he'd been in the business for 17 years and he thought this was the best TV out there for the price.

I checked Consumer Reports and they rate the PN63C550 (along with the LG Infinia 60PK950) as the #1 TV of all plasmas and LED/LCDs with a score of 81. With that, we ordered it on a Fri and it was delivered the following Wed. The CEVA delivery was as promised. The box is huge as another reviewer said.

The picture is stunning right out of the box with no blurring during sports. The picture with a blu-ray player is equally impressive. I tried about 5 different blu-ray movies through it and can't see any difference between this TV and our '08 LCD with blu-ray (which is a good thing). After watching about 8 hours of football on Sunday on this TV, it was barely warm on the front and at the vents in back...I would estimate 90 degrees. There is no buzzing at all on this TV, even with the volume muted and standing inches away from it. Standard def picture seems about the same as other HDTVs, nothing special.

Overall, I highly recommend this TV and would buy it again. I've also included a picture of the TV in the Customer Images section entitled "Picture with DirecTV."

Pros:
Fantastic picture
Light weight for a plasma (98 lbs with stand).
Price
TV swivels on stand


Cons:
TV sound is a little tinny