Samsung PNXXc550 Owners Thread *NO PRICE TALK* - Page 18

Lots of people have reported the IR on this TV to be terrible. I to can report that. I use mine as a PC monitor so what does that tell you. Even though I get terrible IR, I just watch some full screen content and it goes away. Don't even need to use the built in wash.

Note, when I first got it, IR was extremely bad, but it now retains images less as it breaks in. So far my windows, scroll bars, start icon, etc. haven't burned in, we'll see.

Performance wise, why wouldn't it look good. It looks good on movies. Gaming would be no differenct I would think.

And this topic has been covered if you read this thread and others.

I'm seriously considering a 50" C550 vs. a Panasonic G25 of the same size. They are both fantastic sets, but I like some of the features the Samsung offers better. I will be using the set as a PC monitor and will be doing lots of gaming with a PS3, so how is the input lag? For a plasma, the G25 is excellent and I've read in certain places (with no screenshots or evidence to confirm) that Samsung is much worse.

There is no input lag with game mode on, with it off you notice it a little but no where near as bad as my Samsung LCD in the bedroom but again no input lag once game mode is on, however i'd go with the G25 if your using it alot for the PC as the image retention is pretty bad while the G25 doesnt suffer at all.

For anyone interested, here's my calibration settings for my 58C550 using Calman, an Eye One, and LG BD550 as source:

Mode: Movie
CL: 20
Con: 72
Brt: 58
Shrp: 0
Color: 51
Tint: G41/R59
Gamma: +1
Color Space: Auto
R Off: 25
G Off: 25
B Off: 28
R Gain: 46
G Gain: 25
B Gain: 29
Color Tone: Warm2

All other enhancements/eco mode off. BR player settings factory neutral.

Target is gamma was 2.2 and I'm reading 35 ftl on 100% window with these settings. It's in my bedroom so there's light during the day and I sit about 12 feet away. This gives me a decent balance for day/night viewing.

Does Samsung C550 go well during playing signal SD (standard def.)? My distance is 8-9' Do you see any imperfections (flaws) from this distance?

Did you see any flickering of brithness in dark scenes ? Some people complains watching some full of blacks scenes with high level of contrast. It is a big problem on spanish forum about Sam. (B550/C550).

What would u rather get? Samsung LN46C630 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV or Samsung PN50C550 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV for the same price?

I have had my C550 now for about 3 months; I am still crazy happy with my decision in purchasing this TV! Picture is clearly better than my Samsung LCD. I would opt for another Plasma over a less expensive LCD.
Like Ive said before the speakers are the only weakness on this model.

Go with the plasma, no contest. You get better picture quality and a bigger screen size.

Thx for the suggestion guys. Once I get it, I'll compare it directly to my dad 55" Samsung LCD.

I just hope there is no IR and buzzing with mine.

Out of curiosity, did you do a full calibration with Gamma=0? If so what gamma did this measure? I setup mine using the Spears/Munsil blu-ray and used Gamma=0 and Cell light 15. I think I will redo this with Gamma +1 based on your info and probably bump up the Cell light a few notches.

Did you measure a full gray scale to tweak the color offsets and gain or just a dark and light patch?

I just brought home my Samsung PN50C550 and after setting it up and watching a little golf (over-the- air) and a few hd movies, I am very very happy with my purchase so far.

This is my first plasma purchase. I have had 3 lcd sets up to this point, including a Samsung. I originally intended to go with the new LG 50PK550 or a Panasonc G25 but after seeing Avatar playing on this set in the store, I was sold. The salesman said the LG was a similar set but Samsung has a longer history with plasma than LG. I actually wanted a 46" set but the plasma had me convinced I would love the picture even at 50". These don't come in a 46" set. I wouldn't go any larger than a 50" anyway.

There was also a huge savings on this set. I know there is no price talk here but this 50" set was more reasonable than any of the (smaller) lcd sets I purchased.

This set is in a family room in the basement that has minimal lighting (one tiny basement window that is covered with a film and a small blind, so reflection is a non-issue for me. I was worried that I would be able to see scan lines, pixels, etc, like I had on the larger lcd sets. I had actually returned an lcd set (47") because of that and down-sized to a 42". I do not see any of those things at all with this 50" set. I sit the same distance as well, maybe a foot farther if I am in my 'tv-chair.'

Why didn't I buy a plasma tv sooner!

It has not been properly calllibrated, but I am 100% satisfied with the picture so far. I have switched between standard, movie and dynamic modes and all choices work well. Standard-def dvds are a bit of a disappointment but that is to be expected. They are okay to watch and I'll still watch them, but it is in the hd area that the Samsung reallly cruises. These sets truly are much more film-like than lcd/led sets. I threw in The Dark Knight, Avatar, Transformers 2 and Toy Story 2 just to get a taste. Absolutely beautiful!

I receive some nice over-the-air reception (7 channels) from Detroit Michigan. Even that looks terrific.

I have not detected any buzzing. I have the volume on the set turned to zero as I have the set connected a decent sound system. No lag in sound so far and no dead pixels.

Fast moving images are a moot point on the plasma but it was an issue for me on the lcd.

Anyway, I was able to make a switch to Plasma thanks to forums like this one. Like I said, I am really really happy with this buy. I have 30 days to decide if I want to purchase the extended warranty.

I do have one question though... when I pop in a movie and hit the 'info' button on the remote, it displays the hd or sd resolution size along with '60 hz' information. Is this from the dvd player? Also in the owner's manual, it says the panel is a 60 hz panel. Is that correct?

Yes the panel is 60Hz, not really an issue since the subfield drive, the refresh rate of the pixels is 600Hz.

As for the info you see coming from the DVD player, that relates to the refresh rate of the signal coming from the DVD player, in your case 60Hz. If you had a HDDVD or Bluray player you can set it to output 24p.

Would you say it's better setting the PS3 to 24p instead of 60HZ for Blu-ray's? I understand the set cannot do 24p properly hence why i have my PS3 at 60HZ currently.

I have a Samsung Dual Player (hd & blu) as well as a Panasonic (BD-60). I'll check to see if I can change that. Is that what you suggest?

You are both essentially asking the same question, so here goes...

24p, developed by the electronics industry to play back film sources in their native format thereby avoiding the 3:2 pull down situation, but there was a fly in the ointment! As mentioned by UkHardcore, the PN550 doesn't do to good a job of this, an neither do some of the BD/HDDVD players so, where does that leave us?

If the TV and the player could reproduce the source signal correctly, for 24p sources that would be the best choice, for 60p source of course 60p is the way to go.

So what to do? You have to try both settings with your set up, when I tried 24p on the C550 I noticed the judder during pan shots, changing back to 60p eliminated this problem.

So is this a problem? Only for some, I agree and understand this should work properly but it sometimes doesn't so I feel that the best solution is not to agonize over it but to try both settings and then decide for yourself which looks best and go with that.

how does this compare to the pn50c6500 in pq?

IMHO, from what I have seen the PQ is the same between this model and the C550.

The C6500 has the Internet app engine which you cannot get on the C550/C590 and it is thinner but of course that doesn't have anything to do with PQ.

Is it normal for the back of the 50C550 to get so hot that it almost burns my finger?

The front from 3 foot away heat can be felt.

I had a Panasonic TC-P46C2 and it ran much cooler.

What is the temperature in your house? I don't think what you've described here is normal at all. I would never be able to feel heat 3' away. Even 6" away.

When I touch the top of the TV after watching a 2 hour movie, it's warm, but I can leave my fingers on there no problem. My room temp is about 73 f and it's wall mounted with good ventilation.

About 70 to 75 with great airflo. (have a swamp cooler running) Outside temp 85.

I am having issues with the recommended movie warm 2 color mode.
Somehow. no matter how i play with the color settings/white balance /tint...even follow some of the recommended settings by review sites... i encounter color issues with the mode.

I am not sure how to explain it...or the term for it. Here it is:

i) Yellowish/Greenish hue on fleshtone, unless i set on very high red gain/fleshtone gain...to minimise it. But then, my whole picture screen and fleshtone will be rather too red/pinkish.

ii) There seems to be like a little solarize effect on the some part of colors...something like color banding on some light source and on fleshtone or kinda like rainbow thingy color gradients...mostly on darker scenes...not prevalent on well lighted scenes. I do not have the term to explain ths effect.

These two problems only manifest itself mostly in darker SD signals from satelite feed. On a good HD satelite feed, it will look brilliant.
This issue only arise in movie mode (warm 1 & warm 2 color)...However, on standard and dynamic mode..no such issues.


On HD 1080P or 720p source signals from BD or MKVs...the movie mode warm 2 color is excellent....just as the reviewers mentioned. So, its safe to say i only have this issue on satellite feeds.


I wonder any of fellow forummers have this issue ...or any insight on this..or does the latest firmware fixes this....

Your inputs will be appreciated...Thanks.

I just got this set today and I couldn't wait to get it. I wanted to see if this set has the buzzing problem. I was so relief to find out mine has no buzz and I have a pretty sensitive ear.

For the next 1 to 1.5 hours, I have been doing some PQ test to help me decided which one to keep: Samsung 46" LCD LN46C630 or the Samsung 50" PN50C550

I compared the PQ of this set to Samsung 46" LCD LN46C630 and also Samsung 55" LCD LN55B650 side by side. All of them have the same movie on and synchronize so I can really gauge the plus and minus of each set. I used Planet Earth, Up, Home, and Avatar as my source for video. Base on what I observed, the plasma has a deeper color, more color range, more shadow details, and much much darker black. The LCD is much brighter and more vivid than the plasma but it lacks shadow detail and everything thats I mentioned that's great about the plasma. The plasma is also more pleasing to look at since the color seems more natural to my eyes and my dad. Since both of TV cost about the price, I've decided I will keep the plasma and gain 4 more inches for the same price.

Also, anyone know why it cannot read some MKV?

Just a little more information might be helpful when asking a question like that. (don't you think?)

It has played all of the MKV's I have thrown at it (albeit with audio/video sync issues, but that is another topic).

Here is some of the information I was able to find. Let me know if you need more.

Video: CCV1 1920x1080 23.98fps [Video]
Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz 6ch [Audio]
Subtitle: UTF-8 [Subtitle]

Also, I'm noticing a slight buzzing sounds. Not a problem if I'm watching a show or movie but it's audible when I'm studying and trying to break in the TV with the break in images.

I would say that the combination you posted is not supported, the following is:

File Extension: *.avi, *.mkv

Container: AVI, MKV

Video Codec: Divx 3.11 / 4.x / 5.1 / 6.0
XviD
H.264 BP / MP / HP
MPEG4 SP / ASP

Resolution: 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 frames 8Mbps

Audio Codec: MP3 / AC3 / LPCM /ADPCM / DTS Core

For more containers see page 36 in the manual... lots of valuable information in there!

"We still agreed though, that fuzzy edges and jaggies were still present in some HD scenes and are the weakest trait of this plasma."

so sez "plasma tv buying guide review" website.

anybody agree/disagree?....

Hey, I've had this exact problem. I even posted it a while back. I refered to it as a "rainbow effect" on peoples faces. I didn't check cool or dynamic to see if it goes away. I think that is probably just washing the problem out and not a good solution.

For me, I pretty much only watch BDs. I don't even have cable. But I do notice this. So our problem is slightly different. With some white balance it got better, but not gone. I had come to believe it was the source material. I thought that low lighting on film sets perhaps cast this strange yellow grading to blue glow on foreheads and chins, that I hadn't noticed before. I had a PN50B530 before and I didn't see it. So was it that this TV had it, or I just didn't notice. Hmm...

How many people have service modded their 500s into 590 to use CS? I'm debating if it's worth it because of warranty and what not. Think it's risky?

I did so with my b450 because the tv was relatively inexpensive and I already had abnormal plasma buzz I was dealing with...so I guess I didn't really care if something went wrong. I currently have a 63c550 that has no issues and no buzz. So I'm reluctant to go change anything. Especially since CNET said the CS wasn't working correctly on the 590's anyway. I would be more tempted if CS was certain to work properly .

I can verify that CS doesn't work properly on my 'C590' so all you would gain is the Cal Night and Cal Day presets...

IMHO, not really worth since you can make most if not all the picture adjustments you would need with out these.