Customer Reviews

Samsung PN63C8000 63-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I've had this TV for 3 days now. I'm not going to go into great detail on the picture quality, because other reviews have commented on how good it is. The purpose of this review is to be a data point for a buzzing set. I have the latest firmware, the ferrite cores installed around the power cord, and the tv is sitting away from the wall. It BUZZES, plain and simple. If you're anywhere in front of the TV itself, it can be heard. If you move your head beyond the bezel of the TV, the buzzing goes away almost 100%. I sit 15 feet away and can clearly hear it during low volume. I'm trying to keep the volume loud enough to drown it out, but during quiet scenes I hear it. It's a very high pitched frequency. My parents cannot hear it (56 years old), but I clearly can (27 years old). My girlfriend can hear it but she says it doesn't bother her. It bothers me, to the point where I am not enjoying the TV.

I contacted ABT (one of the sellers listed here on Amazon) and they simply state "all plasmas buzz." While that is true to an extent, they don't buzz like this model. Both of my brother's have plasmas. One is a 58b550 that doesn't buzz like this, the other is a 60" Pioneer Kuro that doesn't buzz like this. I have a Samsung tech coming out soon, but I'm fairly confident on what will be said, either a) it's a normal sound or b) I'll need a complete new panel. I don't want either. I want to return the set and exchange it for the same model with hopefully a newer build date to see if the issue has been addressed. If not I'll move on to a different TV.

If you aren't able to hear extremely high frequency sounds, then you'll fall in love with this TV. If you can hear it, and you have the TV positioned so you sit in front of it at eye level, it will bother you. If you mount it above eye level so that the bottom of the bezel is above your eyes, you will not hear it.

I really wish this set didn't buzz. It's an awesome TV aside from the horrendous noise it emits. It's sleek, attractive, runs cool in comparison to other plasmas, decent black levels, excellent color reproduction, great video processing, but oh man, the buzzing.

I hope this review helps others to make sure beforehand that they can/can't hear this type of buzzing. Hopefully it will save you the headache that I am currently going through.

I bought this a few weeks ago from the local big box (Amazon didnt offer it for sale yet). Did extensive comparisons with the Panasonic 3d TV but bought this one because it is thinner and I might want to eventually mount on a wall. I did notice that Aliens vs. Monsters does have some halo effect where sometime when something very light is next to something very dark it is like there is a smudge around the item (in the movie it most often occurs with the bleach blonde hair of Susan when she is in front of dark background, or around the moon at the beginning). This really bugged me. However, there is no other 3d source material to watch yet, and you cant even use the panasonic 3d demo as it wont work with the samsung tv, so I cant otherwise comment on this rare effect. It does not occur in 2d to 3d conversion or in 2d ever.

The screen has some glare when viewing dark material in daylight, but otherwise the TruBlack does a great job of reducing glare, and 3D glasses reduce glare by 50% as well. I rarely notice glare at all, which is surprising for a plasma.

Other than the rare halo artifact (which is not visible on the Panasonic demo, but I havent seen Monsters vs. Aliens on the Panasonic tv) the tv is virtually flawless. Put in a quality blueray source and the picture is a knockout. Try King Kong, or Pirates of Caribean. Wow. I gaurantee you have never seen such a quality picture ever before. Then, as there isnt currrently any significant 3d source material, try the 2d to 3d conversion (not available on the Panasonic). Wow. It does not have quite as much depth as made in 3d, and sometimes the 3d is not absolutely perfect, but it is amazing. I just watch 2d to 3d all the time and cannot figure out how they do it. The only thing that is annoying with the 2d to 3d is when multiple lines of text are on the screen, each line of text will be given a different depth apparently randomly which is a little wierd, especially because usually it should all be in the same plane. People, scenery, sports, playstation games, etc. all look great--it just does a superb job of extrapolating the 2d into 3d. Love Call of Duty in 2d to 3d. It is like you are there.

I do think that when viewing in 3d you want to be closer to the tv than you would be ordinarily (and many others feel the same). You will also want a bigger screen than you would ordinarily want for 2d. Otherwise, it is like you are looking through a window at a 3d world. I have a home theater room with 100 inch screen and cant wait to get a 3d projector (not available yet in 1080p), but would recommend the largest 3d tv that you can afford, and 63 inches to me is only a half as large as I think is optimum.

Sony and LG are supposed to come out with 3d tvs this June in time for the ESPN 3D launch for World Cup Soccer. As they are LCD based systems they are inferior to the plasmas of Panasonic and Samsung because of the much lower refresh rates. The professional reviewers who saw them at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas commented that they were not as good as the Panasonic and Samsung.

Only things I dont like about the tv besides the occasional halo effect: The stylish remote will only control samsung components, and it annoyingly does that. For example, each time I turn on TV it turns on the samsung blueray player as well which automatically starts playing. I only wanted to watch TV. Rubbish. Plop down a few hundred extra dollars and get the Harmony One remote (but the other harmonies are all crap). Youll be glad you did.
Also avoid the Samsung receiver, it is known to have a lot of problems. Pioneer carries the only other HDMI 1.4 receivers at this time that I am aware of and it works fine for me, although not truly necessary unless you want to pipe the HDMI through the receiver on the way to the TV.

Overall this TV rocks. The 2d and 3d pictures are stunning. The glasses are more comfortable than the Panasonic's. The TV is only an inch thick compared to 4 inches for the panasonic which makes it look like it is from yesteryear. If you are going to wall mount for this reason alone get the Samsung. The LED tvs all suck compared to the plasmas for 3D (although the LEDs are reportedly a little lighter, brighter, lower energy, and better ambient light control all these advantages are slight and the difference in 3d picture quality is large).

Get this TV, you will be glad you did as it is the best of the currently available choices, unless you can wait a year for 3d 1080p projectors and have a dedicated dark room for the projector.

Yes, there is almost no 3d source material currently, but the 2D to 3D conversion alone makes it worth it.

One more note about the 3 channels coming for 3d (ESPN 3D, Discovery 3D, and the third I forget). All cable boxes currently in existance have HDMI 1.3. This wont carry enuf bandwith for 3D, so you can only view 720P picture in 3D as I understand it. I will update post in mid June when view these 720P 3D on ESPN 3D. So far, DishTV and Comcast have contracted to become carriers for ESPN 3D but noone else. Hopefully, 3D TIVO and cable boxes will come soon, as well as more movies besides just Monsters vs. Aliens. Mid summer is release of playstation 3D upgrade, and 3d games should shortly follow, but because of the HDMI 1.3 jack on PS3 these also in 720P only.

6/15/10 Update:
I still love the TV. World Cup Soccer on ESPN 3D is very nice in 3D, (but had to get new cable box from Comcast (have to have one that works with HDMI output, not coaxial output). Shows shot in 3d definately have more depth than 2d to 3d conversion. The 2d to 3d conversion has occasional problems, like in hockey it couldnt understand the ice and makes the ice as a backdrop with the players flying through the air. Works great most of the time, but frankly becomes a novelty after a while.
Almost all brands of receivers now out with HDMI 1.4.

I bought this tv to replace my Sony 52" XBR4 (Which was great when it first came out) becuase I wanted the new 3D technology as well as well as a good HD TV. This is my first Plasma TV. I have 4 other LCD TVs that work great but I was really impressed witht he picture of the Plasma. The black are definately blacker than my LCDs. For a general HD TV it has the best picture out of all my TVs and it is also one of the best I have seen on the market. The internet on the TV is pretty good. It was easy to set up. I am using it directly connected to my router so it is wired. I did not fell like paying $80 extra dollars for the wireless adapter plus I had a Gigaswitch located in my rack that was easy to run a cable. The apps for the internet were quite responsice to my surprise. I though there would be a long lag time but that was not so. You have access to sports scores, weather, YouTube and Netflix just to name a few. I did notice a buzzing noise at first as mentioned in other reviews but it was only there when I initially installed it and now it its no longer there.

Now onto the 3D. I demoed it at the store and I was pretty impressed. It was on a 47" or 52" LCD I think. It was not until I got the 63" in my house that I was blown away. The 3D on the plasma was so much better. The picture just looked like it was going to pop right off the screen. I was really impressed with the 2D to 3D function of this tv. It actually works. It may not be the best but it works quite well. Yes you do look silly wearing the glasses but they felt really comfortable. I wear glasses and the 3D glasses fit right over them nicely. I did not get dizzy or get any headaches.

I wanted to clarify some information about setting up a 3D system. when going to some stores i was given some wrong information. I was told that I would need to buy all the same brands for all the equipment needed. So I would need to buy the Samsung TV, Glasses and Blu-ray player. I knew that I need the TV and the Glasses to be the same but the Blu-ray player does not. I wanted to purchase the Panasonic Blu-ray player becuase it had the duel HDMI ports on it so that I would not have to upgrade to a receiver that has HDMI 1.4 to get the HD audio. I did purchase the Panasonic blu-ray and it works just fine. This is the way to go if you have an older Reciever with HDMI Switching and you want to get Dolby Digital HD and DTS Master Audio HD from your Blu-ray player.

I would definately recommend it to anyone.

I researched for about 1 month before deciding on this TV. Initially I thought I would buy a Sony but I started leaning towards the Samsung 55 inch LED. However after demoing this TV and reading about it extensively, I decided to go for it. I made the right decision. If you are thinking about getting the Samsung LED over this, I would strongly suggest this Plasma. Infact I think its the best TV available other than the Samsung 9000 series LED which costs more than twice as much and is smaller.

Pros: Outstanding Black level, I didn't realize how important black level was to the overall picture quality.
Outstanding color reproduction, I am seeing shades that I didn't know existed.
Good color vibrancy: Bright and outstanding in low lit rooms. Ok in bright rooms, there is some reflection. and not as bright as the LED, but viewing LED at angles is absolutely horrible. This TV is great when watching from any angle.

Cons: Does buzz a bit, but its just at the borderline of being annoying. So far I only hear it when listening at very low volume when the kids are sleeping. But not too noticeable. It does get a little louder when switching to 3D. If it gets any louder i would have a problem with it, but not now.
Also this set generates alot of heat, i was surprised, but read elsewhere its normal. I mean it is a very big screen so its understandable.

Other thoughts:
Only get this TV if you don't watch much standard definition TV, its too big and just magnifies the defects of SD, get 46 inch or smaller. If you watch alot of HD, then you'll be happy.

I was not impressed with the 2D to 3D conversion. Maybe i'm not watching good source material, but it didn't seem to add much depth and instead made the picture darker.

Watching my home movie which is recorded in my HD Camcorder is amazing! Its like watching HD TV.
Can't wait for the PS3 upgrade to be able to play 3D videos and games. I'm sure watching a 3D source will be worth the wait.

This TV's picture quality is so good that you notice the slightest defects in the picture itself when for example the camera is trying to focus, you can see the slightest shifts in focus, light changes and camera movements. I was thinking that the picture is so good and large that it amplifies the defects of the recording itself.

All in all, this is a fantastic TV.

UPDATE After 1 Month of Ownership:
There were many factors that made me choose this TV over the LED. For the same price, the size--going from 55 to 63 inches is a big difference, you are increasing viewing area by about 25%. 600 HZ refresh is also very important, I hate to have pixilation or picture jutter, when demoing the LED I noticed it more..... I only get it very rarely on this TV, usually when the entire camera pans up/down, not so much side to side. Also the picture brightness is almost equal to the LED, the LED has an edge in this area, but it also makes the picture appear a bit artificial, almost too much vibrancy that does not seem natural. The Black level is superior but 3D is alot better than the LED. Plasmas reproduce better 3D. Also, viewing angle was important to me since my viewing position would not be head on in my living room. LEDs are not good when viewed from angles. It has been one month now since I've purchased this TV and am very sure I made the right decision. I would strongly urge getting this over the LED.

I recently decided to replace my 5 year old Sony LCOS/SXRD 50" TV. The Sony has served me well and to this day has an outstanding picture quality, but I wanted to upgrade to a larger size and a flat panel due to buying a new house with a larger TV room. The front of my couch is about 15' away from my TV, so I wanted a large screen.

When looking for a new TV, my #1 concern was and is 2D picture quality in a large sized flat panel screen. I could care less about 3D - I think 3D is a stupid gimmick, but because most of the top end TVs with the best 2D quality have it, I was stuck looking mostly at 3D capable TVs. For this reason, I'm actually happy the Samsung doesn't come with 3D glasses as that would add another $100 or so to the price. I also wanted true 1080p/24 capability, and to my surprise only a handful of TVs offer this, which was surprising given Blu-ray has been available for awhile now. When I started my search, I was absolutely certain that I wanted an LED LCD TV, but after doing some research and looking at TVs in stores, I was surprised to learn that Plasma isn't dead yet, in fact IMO it's the best choice for large screens (over 50"). Five years ago when I bought my sony I was turned off to plasma due to 1) risk of burn in and 2) the high gloss screens didn't do well in light or bright environments. In my opinion, both of these issues have been put to bed and Plasma deserves a very close look.

I read the CNET reviews (both editor and user) as well as many Amazon and other reviews as I could. I also went to Best Buy and looked at the competing models/technologies, though honestly I think going to such stores is not very helpful because you never know about the connection and the terrible overhead flourescent lighting does a poor job of represented how the TV will look in your house. Suffice to say, based on this research (and the in store look) I determined that Plasma TVs in general (and this Samsung in particular) would offer the best choice based on my viewing needs - mostly movies, HD TV, some gaming. I don't watch a lot of sports, but wanted the capability for when I do (and Plasma seems to handle the motion better than LED/LCD). The room my TV is in does have some ambient light although it does have good blinds, I wanted a TV that would look ok with some ambient light.

I've had this TV up and running since this morning, and have a few observations:

1) As expected (confirming my in store look as well as other reviews), picture quality is excellent. I'm very happy. The color was a bit off out of the box, but I went to CNET.com and printed off their recommended calibration settings - it look me about 10 minutes to complete the calibration and I'm happy with the results, though I'm sure I'll continue to tweak them over time. If you print off the CNET recommended settings (just go to their review of the TV and click the link), the calibration is very easy to complete even for the technology challenged. Picture from the HD cable box looks very good, picture for a blu-ray through my PS3 looks out of this world. After calibrating, I watched some Top Gear on BBC America HD and the picture quality was very good. Then I popped a Blu Ray of Revolver on my PS3 and was blown away - in particular there were several scenes in the film with old black cadillacs, and the black paint on the Caddys looked spectacular - deep black, clean, and glossy.

2) It does very well with some ambient light. This was one of the strengths of this TV highlighted in the CNET and other reviews, and I'm very happy with the performance of the Samsung in this regard.

3) It's huge - but I'm glad I went with the 63". I have mine in a 15x20 room (oriented with the TV against one of the shorter 15' walls). If you're on the fence, don't be afraid to go with the bigger size.

4) Many reviews commented that the TVs internal speakers are a weak point. My old Sony had excellent speakers, so I was a bit worried about this. In my opinion, these speakers are just fine for normal TV viewing, though a bit weak for movies. I do plan to purchase a home theater system. (edit: I ended up purchasing a Marantz SR5005 Audio Video Receiver (Black) receiver and a 5.1 speaker system from Aperion Audio ... I do recommend if you buy this TV you at least upgrade to a soundbar if not a home theater system).

5) It looks great and as noted it is very thin - very nice for a plasma screen of this size.

6) It's packed with features. Netflix streaming is a cool feature although I already had the capability on my PS3. It's got plenty of inputs - and a great feature is the inputs are oriented parallel to the TV, which is a great convenience (almost a necessity) if you want to mount your TV close to the wall.

7) Finally, the infamous BUZZING: Does it buzz? Well, mine does have a slight buzz. Emphasis on slight. In my opinion, it's not unusually loud compared to other household electronics/appliances that may buzz or have fans or otherwise make noise. Guys, electronic things sometimes buzz or hum. Take my house for example - my refrigerator hums, my small beer fridge hums, my wine cooler hums, my overhead fan hums, my HV/AC constantly cycling on and off hums - IMO having one more electronic gadget that makes a slight noise is a negligible change. I think this issue has gotten more attention than it warrants, it was something I was a bit worried about when I ordered (only because it was mentioned in so many reviews) but now that I have the TV up I think it's a non issue. It's not really noticeable with the volume on, and it's one of those constant noises (like a fan) that you just sort of get used to. Importantly, I'd note that of all the mentioned appliances/electronics in my house that make a noise, the ONLY one that bothers me is my XBOX 360 - I'd say the buzz on the Samsung is about one tenth of the XBOX. So for those of you who already live with an XBOX and the "buzzing" reports about the Samsung are conjuring up similar mental images, I wouldn't worry about the TV as it's nowhere near as loud as the 360. Bottom line - if you're worried about the buzzing, don't, simply buy the TV from Amazon and if the buzzing bothers you, return it. I have a feeling a lot of people who otherwise never would have noticed or been bothered by the buzzing have read about it in reviews and got themselves so worked up that they get the TV and are bothered by this non-issue. I'm sorry I wasted so much of this review talking about buzzing but I think it had to be addressed.


After doing my research and knowing what I was looking for in this size and picture quality range, I ultimately narrowed my choice down to this Samsung line as well as the Panasonic VT25 line Panasonic TC-P65VT25 65-inch 3D Ready 1080p VIERA Plasma HDTV and I chose the Samsung. While I'm not always a huge fan of direct comparisons, I'm sure a lot of people reading these reviews have narrowed it down to the same two choices. For that reason, I will outline why I think, at least for my needs, the Samsung is the better choice:

1) The biggest positive mentioned about the Panasonic TV is its outstanding black levels. While this is true, I'd highlight the following: The samsung's black levels, while not quite as good as the Panny, are still very very good. Also, the Panasonic black levels deteriorate over time - this is a documented fact regarding prior year panasonic plasmas and it was confirmed by CNET for this new model. True, apparently even after they deteriorate the black levels are still excellent, but I'm not sure I'm willing to gamble with the unknown of what's going to happen after a number of years, especially when it seems the excellent black levels are the #1 reason for recommending the Panasonic. Also, I'd highlight that black levels are just one aspect of picture quality - on every other measure of picture quality, the Samsung stacks up very well against and often better than the Panasonic. Bottom line - they both have excellent picture quality, I wouldn't get too hung up on minute black level differences.

2) The Samsung is significantly cheaper.

3) This was a big one for me - the Samsung is significantly thinner and lighter than the Panasonic. This is important if you plan to mount the TV on the wall. According to Panasonics website, the TC-P65VT25 has a depth of 3.6 inches. The Samsung has a depth of only 1.4 inches. That's an enormous difference. On top of this, as I mentioned earlier the Samsung has most of it's inputs oriented parallel to the TV (so the cords come in sideways). The Panny has most of its inputs oriented perpendicular to the TV (so the cords face into the TV) - this will be an issue if you want to mount the TV snug to the wall. Buying a bunch of 90 degree angle adapters will help the problem, but it still won't be as tight as if the inputs were oriented parallel. I was able to mount my Samsung very flush to the wall, such that the front of the bezel is only about 2" from the wall. While I'm sure it's possible to mount the Panasonic to a wall, it will be more difficult and you won't be able to achieve nearly as clean a result - the front of the TV will be 4-5" from the wall by the time it's all said and done. If you're interested, I mounted mine using the Sanus Systems LL11-B1 37-Inch to 65-Inch Ultra-Thin Flat Panel Mount which is well built and very low profile, but to be honest I'm not thrilled with it - it might be a little too low profile and I'm having a hard time getting the mount to lock in correctly (even with a slightly less low profile mount the front of the panel will still be only about 2" from the wall).

4) The Samsung has excellent performance in rooms with any ambient lighting (i.e. if you have a window in your TV room). If there's much ambient lighting present, the black level advantage of the Panasonic will be negated by the Samsung's superior bright room performance.


Bottom line - large size, thin and sleek design, great 2D picture quality (3D is also supposedly at or near best in class, but as noted I don't care about this and haven't tested the 3D or 2D to 3D conversion capability). In my opinion the Samsung PN63C8000 is a great choice for a large screen flat panel TV.

Like others who have purchased this television, I was just amazed by the picture quality. Absolutely beautiful. In fact, I was really impressed by the overall appearance of the television itself. What I could not tolerate was the buzzing! Upon receiving my second Samsung C8000 plasma (the first had to be refused b/c of an end to end crack in the screen), I was incredibly excited. I hired the Geek Squad to mount the television and set-up my Onkyo surround sound. As the technician was showing me how to use the various components, he and his assistant stopped and asked "what is that buzzing." Uninitiated by myself, he went through and double checked the various components to ensure that it indeed was the television making the buzzing noise. After deciding that it was, he stated that in five years of setting up home theater systems he had never heard such a loud buzzing sound from a television! He said this had to be damaged and when he returned to BB, he would place an order for a new television. Now, he did say that he had set-up one other c8000, a 58" version, and had not heard such a loud buzzing, so it is possible that non-buzzers exist (or at least televisions with a more subtle buzzing noise). And I should also state that all three of us in the room (and later a fourth person who double checked on it) were all men under the age of 30. And I am at a fairly high elevation (around 5200 ft). Variables that others have cited as potentially leading to a more intense buzzing experience.

Anyways, I had the television for a week and bzzzzzz. Intolerable. I mean just horrible. What is the point of a high end television and high end surround system if I need to sit to the side to drown it out(as others have said) or crank the receiver volume up. I mean, I literally felt as though I was sitting under a power line.

So the second television arrives a week later and it is the exact same experience. I sat there staring at it for 4 hrs trying to decide what to do with it, but could not justify spending so much money in order to try and live with the television. Soooo, my Panasonic 65VT25 should be here by next weekend.

I am not sure why some people have not had major issues with this. I mean I have high end monster cables, had this thing professionally installed and EVERYBODY heard the bzzzzz. For me at least, it was not subtle. If I can hear it, it is too loud. I just cannot understand why people are considering keeping a $3300 television that buzzes, when you can pay a $1000 more for a panasonic that has fixed the black level issues. Or even purchase a smaller version of a pansonic at the same price point or switch to led/lcd. If you do not have the buzz, than you are very lucky and got yourself one heck of a television. If you do and it bothers you, don't settle.

Moral of the story. Purchase the television from Amazon, Best Buy or some other store with a GREAT return policy. Samsung costumer service will likely say the buzzing is normal and I would have been one unhappy camper if I had had to keep this television.

Good luck with your shopping!

ps. This television seems particularly fragile, even for a plasma. If you order from a store with a poor return policy, make sure you go over it with a fine tooth comb before accepting delivery.

I have been waiting a while to get a decent high end TV, and have browsed for a good while to select this one. It goes in a room with a fair degree of ambient light, and I thought a TV design that pays the most attention to decent blacks would be a good way to go.

This was a bundle at a special price (BD player, glasses, 3D movie, and TV). The first one arrived with a cracked screen after waiting 6 weeks. Amazon customer service was all over it, but a new set was going to take 4 more weeks. It ended up coming little sooner. They offered me many other deals - substituting a 7000, etc., but I held out for what I originally ordered, and it was worth it. The set arrived in early October, and it was manufactured in September.

So, under those limited conditions, these are my thoughts.

Picture:
The settings out of the box seem fine to me. At some point I might play with it, but outside of having it calibrated, I am quite satisfied with how it looks. Details in shadow is good. Color is rich, and not over bright like in a store. I'm in the process of getting the cable hooked back up, so our watching has been via antenna, WiFi, and the bundle included DVD player (BD6800).

Live HD TV looks awesome, and digital SD TV looks way better than I expected. colors are rich, detail is crisp. Complex patterns on things like sweaters or telephone lines do not moire (although depending upon the signal, can have a few issues if you watch for it). One anecdote: watching an old Seinfeld episode (the 1990s were before HD), there was one character who required a makeup appliance to their face for part of the story (a large nose). The station was transmitting in HD, via antenna. Closeups on this person were practically unwatchable, as the makeup was woefully bad. I'm sure this was not an issue on SD analog broadcasts, so they probably didn't even worry about it, but it was shockingly bad when we saw it. I guess old shows that were filmed (as opposed to video taped) convert well to HD, because this makeup job was hideous.

The picture just blows everyone who sees it away. It's so much better than I'm used to, so I'm probably too biased, but I thought it was noticeably better than everything in the store when I auditioned it except the new Panasonic 3D 65" (TC-P65VT25). It's hard to tell, because brightness is so over driven in stores.

Tuner:
This tuner is more sensitive than a 2 year old Sharp Aquos 32" TV we had in the same spot (using an amplified Radio Shack loop and rabbit ears). We are in a decent signal area between two cities, and get a fair amount of signals. On a weaker signal just above the threshold for pixelization, artifacts pop in every so often, but are not distracting.

On Line Content:
I have not tested the on line content direct from the TV because I don't have the proprietary WiFi accessory nor a CAT 5 connection, so I have been using Samsung's on line content via the BD player, which has WiFi built in. Why they didn't do this with the TV I don't know.

On line content (assuming it the same as the TV offers when connected directly) leaves something to be desired. Haven't spent much time on the games. They provide some mild amusement, but we're not video gamers. I would suspect if you are, these won't satisfy much. Connecting to the network only took a minute or two, including my WEP key (other encryption also supported), but my initial firmware update (on the player) just would not execute. Samsung support suggested I use a flash drive from a PC to download the file, unzip it, and then plug the flash drive into the player. That worked like a charm, and subsequent firmware updates have not required that process.

We haven't used the trial for VOD via NetFlix or Blockbuster yet, so can't comment on that. Standard internet content (Youtube)is interesting, but resolution is low, so the experience is more for convenience. Google maps: It's a little eerie to be looking at your house from space on your TV. On a computer it's something you take for granted. On a large screen TV from your family room, it "feels" a little intrusive. You can also watch media from a USB flash drive or the network, and you can even play music via the same.

Any on line content requiring alpha numeric text to navigate can be somewhat maddening. As great as the remote is, the interface is not always intuitive. I say always, because while trying to do alpha numeric on a Google map search we could not figure out how to navigate the Samsung on screen interface, but on youtube it was less complicated, just slow to maneuver. It didn't make sense to me that the options on screen for selecting text were different for one than the other. I tend to avoid those features for that reason. Maybe a wireless keyboard would solve that issue. At least the response time is fast (not quite immediate), unlike a FiOS cable box, where the lag can drive you crazy.

Remote & GUI:
The remote is simple to use and not busy with a zillion nonesensical buttons. It's layed out extremely well, and clearly marked with large, square buttons, so my wife actually doesn't keep calling me into the room to help her navigate back to where she wants to be, and it's also very attractive (bright silver metal housing), and backlit.

Menus, channel changes, etc. are instantaneous. The GUI is very clean, transparent, and easy to navigate. It doesn't take long to learn it and get good at using it. Most tasks can be accomplished fairly quickly and without drilling too deep, and it's quick to exit.

Audio:
The sound is fairly anemic with built in speakers - adequate for a large open space we have it in, but nothing to look forward to. Hooking up my theater will solve that.

3D:
Going from 2D to 3D is extremely easy (taking a 2D source and simulating 3D), but I don't think anyone is going to really want to do that much. It's an "interesting effect" but not consistent, and frankly the picture is so stunning, not necessary. Watching 2D NCAA/NFL football in 3D, the graphics float in the foreground (pretty interesting), and the game action has a subtle 3D effect, but it doesn't buy you much.

Watching 3D content is kind of cool. The bundle came with a 3D animated feature (Monsters vs Aliens) which was fun, and you can easily switch to 2D on any 3D content if your glasses aren't handy. Watching the World Cup in 3D in a store was pretty wild. At one point there was a guy standing in front of me who was not in the room!

If you're going to watch 3D, it's best in a dark room, and especially where it's dark behind you. My TV is in an open floor plan, where lights from other rooms are behind me. I've noticed it gets distracting to watch 3D when there is light reflecting off the glasses from behind, but the program is much enhanced when that is not the case. At first I thought the 3D was very underwhelming. It's not perfect, but subtle glare from behind has a subliminal effect that really subtracts from the experience, so 3D content is more fun than I originally experienced once I eliminated that.

Other notes:
Aesthetically, the set is gorgeous. It's also razor thin. I should also add I don't get the electrical hum people complain about on earlier large screen Samsung sets.
The BD player has been excellent. Fast to load SD and starts up really quickly. BD content takes a little longer, 3D the longest.

I cannot begin to describe how awesome this TV is. I had been researching sets for about 9 months. I am what you would call a videophile wannabe and I knew I wanted the best possible picture out there. It was between this TV and the Panasonic 65" XVT. Since this TV was relatively new, there were not many reviews out there on the web, however, the reviews that ARE out there have been positive.
Initially, I thought I wanted LED, however, the PQ of this plasma is much better in my opinion. It is great for our living room which is bright. At nighttime, the PQ blows away any LCD or LED. HDTV content on HBO or Showtime looks like 1080p Blu-Ray content and Blu-Rays look even better if you can imagine that.
I actually like the smooth motion enhancer once in a while. It is great for sports.
The apps and 3D are really nice as well.
If you are considering a "hgh end" TV, there is not better set out there when it comes to picture quality at this time!

To confirm what the other reviewer said, this TV set has a peculiar directional buzz. It is manifesting straight in front of the TV (I watch at 14 feet). If you step 2 feet left or right the buzz is gone. You can certainly hear it when the sound is off. Under normal viewing conditions you can hear it in quiet scenes and you can hear it in loud scenes only if you're focusing on it. Depending on your level of tolerance it might be perfectly acceptable to you or a deal breaker for this TV. My advice : be sure you get the TV from a place with good return policy. This issues has been discussed a lot on the avs forums.

It is a shame (that it buzzes) cause otherwise is an EXCELLENT TV : great picture quality, excellent anti-glaring filters, nice design, good price and value. I am keeping the TV for a few more days before I decide to keep it or return it.

I bought this item after initially purchasing the Samsung UN65C6500 65-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV, Black. While the LED television was beautiful, it had these annoying white "spots" in the bottom and top half of the screen---looked like little white splotches where the pixels were permanently brighter. I thought it was just a bad set but the display model at two other stores had the same problem. Traded the LED in for this beautiful plasma set, and I couldn't be happier. This television has a nearly identical form factor, but the picture is better in every way than the LED. Much deeper blacks, richer colors overall, better with fast motion (football), and more life-like images. Don't notice any buzz at all. I haven't checked out 3D yet, as I was buying this for the 2D picture, but having 3D for the future is just an added bonus. Better yet, this plasma is still cheaper than the 65" LED. You will not be disappointed, this is the best Samsung TV that I've ever seen.