PN58C500 - 58" Samsung, new model?

.. probably much like described in this thread (post #3); happens pretty much each holiday season & seems to help 'specific' B&M's guard against cost matching:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1291753

add: also, doesn't hurt to offer 'stripped-down' versions of a popular offering to help get people in the store.

Was at BB at lunch and they didn't have one on display, but they did have them in stock. When I asked the sales rep guy in the TV department about the 500's he said they are basically 550 series sets minus 1 HDMI port. I'm assuming the 550 > 590 Cinema Smooth trick works on them but haven't found a set to confirm with.

Anyone been able to confirm if that works? If it does, that's a pretty decent deal...

It's pretty much identical to the PN58C550G1F with the exception of -1 Hdmi, no USB and no Composite Inputs, I also noticed that spec wise the stand is slightly shorter, and I am guessing product depth with stand is 1 inch less than the pricier model, so that leads me to believe that the stand itself has a slightly smaller foot print thus less space taken or that it's actually skinnier do to not having some of that extra stuff. The cheaper 500 unit has a 30w speaker vs a 20w.

Im really tempted to go with this since I been holding back on getting an hdtv for the longest time. but then again I have tried the Sony lcd 3d screen and I liked the goggles they use a lot, have not tried the Samsung set 3d. So really tempted, go large, or go 3d. I do have a ps3 and want to use more of it, sd tv is holding it back.

I took the plunge and bought a PN58C500 at Best Buy tonight. This is the first thing I haven't been able to fit in my Nissan Armada, the packaging is really that big, so unfortunately it's still at the store. Delivery is a week out so I'm going down my friends list trying to find someone with access to a minivan or pickup truck. Will post up more info once I get it home... I'm really curious about the C500 -> C590 Cinema Smooth ability via the service menu since the C550's had it.

friz

My Samsung c550 just broke, That is 2 Plasma In 30 Days, Blue line in the middile and know the new made a poping sound and now know picture.. Samsuck

I heard some dude mention this screen does not support 16:9, he could be wrong.
DCunited sorry to hear about your short lifespan on the samsungs, but recently I would think twice about bothering with a Panasonic since they had a problem with fading blacks.

Frizille, hearing your story brings my hopes down on being able to get one in store, I considered borrowing an friends old ford expedition, or maybe an x5, but if your armada can't swallow that then it might look like the need of a van, or maybe rent an uhaul truck. Getting it delivered from them would not work too well because 15min from the store and it's in the state over which is tax free (NH), but if I get it delivered to MA from them they make me pay the MASS tax. Another option is I think Amazon and tiger direct have the same deal so I know Amazon would ship it free and it would be tax free for me, I dunno how much I trust having it shipped.

I tested a 3d screen today at bj's wholesales club, I am really liking the idea of 3d, but I did like the goggles better on the sony lcd thou.

Frizille how did you manage to get one, as I thought they weren't going to be onsale until Friday morning?

@ellover -

RE: 16x9 - it's a 1920x1080 set according to the specs, that's 16:9 as far as I know.

RE: shipping - I shipped my previous plasma from Visual Apex (Seattle) to Atlanta, that was back in 2005 when I got one of the industrial model Panny 50" sets. Showed up fine, double boxed, and it's worked flawlessly for years. Shipping is probably ok so long as you go from a reasonable distributor.

@Cash - They're available from Nov 21 through Nov 29th with the special pricing, I assume after that they'll go up a little bit since it's a "Black Friday Week" Samsung deal, but no idea with Christmas sales and such. Every store I've been to hasn't had one mounted, but tucked in the corner you'll find a pricing sticker for it. To get mine, I just found one of the guys who works in the TV dept and had him look up the model # in the computer, and they have stock (been to two different stores, 3 units per store, about 300 in the distribution warehouse which serves all the Georgia stores according to the guy I talked to at Best Buy). Just rang it up like normal and that's it - was quite painless.

A friend is coming over tonight with his pickup truck. Hopefully will have the TV setup and connected later tonight if everything goes according to plan.

Interesting. It's listed on the Black Friday flyer, and the website says coming soon. I'll have to stop by after work and see what's what. Thanks for the info, because I really didn't feel like camping out in front of Best Buy unless I absolutely had to.

Yes it is a special model just for Black Friday and only a couple retailers will have it like BB , it is a stripped down version but thats why they do it for the price point.

Other then 1 less HDMI and component input, I don't see how this model is spec'd any differently then the 550. That's not what I'd describe as "stripped down." A quality 58" panel for just over a grand is a pretty sweet deal as far as I'm concerned.

So the PN58C500 is home and finally got it hooked up. Disclaimer: I haven't tuned anything and all my PQ opinions are based on the base settings. Will update once I get some things tuned up.

- Connection wise, the only thing I can tell is missing is the 1 HDMI port from the C550. It's got 2 USB's, one on the side and one on the back (someone said it didn't have USB ports, that is false).

- Default picture settings are ... ehh. Was not impressed initially using Transformers HDDVD as my visual benchmark (yeah... no blu-ray player yet).

- I'm getting a lot of pixelization during fast movement. I'm running all my video through an Onkyo 607 receiver and just had the HDMI board replaced in it under warranty a couple weeks ago. I'll be rerunning all the cables later tonight and trying to test direct to the set. Will update on that later.

- Bezel is a little annoying. My old Panny had a matte finish where as this one has that clear glossy touch of color crap. Just give me flat black matte and let's call it a day eh?

- I'm overloading my UPS. Going to have to make a trip to Fry's and buy another UPS. In the meantime I've got an orange extension cord draped through the living room and that seems to be working just fine. The irony here is that the newer plasmas are supposed to be lighter on the juice than the older ones, so much for that save the planet thing.

- Service menu and flipping the models like you can with the C550's is possible. Mute, 1, 8, 2, power on to get there. Go to Options, Model, then right and left to select model. It seems like you can select almost any model Samsung has made recently. I picked the 590 and no issues I can tell in the 5-10 min I was running with it set.

- Xbox looks a little sharper, but still pixelated quite a bit during fast movement. Could be receiver, could be TV... don't know yet.

So that's it so far - any questions post em up and I'll see if I can get an answer for you.

Ok, got the pixelization problem fixed. The uVerse, receiver, and xbox were all set to 720p. After correcting them to 1080p (1080i for the uVerse) things are MUCH better. Still need to adjust colors and all that but so far it looks good. As far as smoothness goes, things feel MUCH smoother on the new set than my 5 year old panny, a noticeable improvement in DVD's, HDDVD's, and COD: Black Ops. That shouldn't be a surprise but was a nice observation.

I've got a slight buzz that comes and goes, nothing major, and you can't hear it once you turn on something with sound; movie, games, TV, etc.

Does this screen automatically switch to zoom in for non 16:9 content, aka 3:4 content on cable adjusted to fit screen?

Not that I can tell but will look in more detail tonight after T-day dinner.

Yep - it looks like they made a bunch of 550's and someone forgot to put in an extra HDMI port so they called em 500's and shipped them.

Means this TV is not a good scalar then. Does the 550 scale well?

Just lugged that cumbersome box into my house yesterday. A big thanks goes out to my parents for stopping what they were doing so they could bring their PU truck to BB and help me haul it home. Just FYI, unless you like living on the edge and strap the refridgerator sized box to you luggage rack, then a Chevy Trailblazer will not be sufficient.

After ripping the box open like a kid on xmas i was shocked to find the tv's bezel did have that reddish touch of color in it. The sammy website said just matte black. Nice surpise. The tv was decently packaged and protected with the film around the tv. All of the goodies came in a heavy duty sealed plastic bag and nothing seemed left out. The TV is a monster compared to 40" sony lcd i have in my livingroom. Once i get the rest of my goodies shipped then i can mount, run wires, hook up and test out the new HT room. I cant wait to get done and kick back and watch some RAVEN football.

I will post more when everything is done.

Can you give an accounting of all the inputs and outputs for this unit? Any composite in? How composite out audio ports? A pic of the ports would be nice

No prob. Pic from box attached; side ports + rear ports. Couldn't get a decent pic from behind the TV.

Congrats on the new set.

No idea. Anyone else?

Thanks frizille. Do you plan on breaking in the TV with one of those break-in discs i've read about? Supposedly the pic gets better after the break-in period.

Using the following settings from the C550 series tuning posts; seems pretty good. It's a little dark but once I put a few hundred hours on it I'll increase the brightness, it's pretty low now.

Red-Offset: 22
Green-Offset: 25
Blue-Offset: 12

Red-Gain: 33
Green-Gain: 25
Blue-Gain: 33

Picture Settings:
Picture Mode: Movie
Color Temp: Warm 2
Brightness: 56
Contrast: 90
Cell Light 8
Color: 53
Tint: G35/R65
Sharpness: 10
Black Tone: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Gamma: 0
Colorspace: Auto
Flesh Tone: Off
Edge Enhancement: Off
Digital NR: Auto
HDMI Black Level: Low
Film Mode: Auto

Eh... maybe. I downloaded it and have it burned to a disc but haven't used it yet. I've been watching a little content and just keeping the brightness down for the time being.

I wish i brought my manual to work to pass the time. From what i've read am i correct in saying that this TV is not VESA compliant? I'm looking to buy a wall mount bracket asap but am hesitant now. Normally the size is 600X400 but somewhere in smaller print i read that the 58" model is not VESA compliant. If this is the case then i wonder what brackets would work for this monster.

Does anyone have the dimentions of the box? I am trying to find out if it would fit in my friends old Nissan Quest minivan. Should have a deeper floor than an suv.

Looking at the devices listed, it is very likely that one or both of those tests were resulting in scaling the signal twice, which is never good.

Now, whether it scales well or not, I don't know. I would bet it scales just like the C550. I don't have much info. on it, just that one person on AVS, who buys TVs very often, (a lot of them Samsungs), said that the C550 doesn't have as good a processor (scaler) as the higher models. The better Sammys supposedly have a very good processor, (better than Panny and LG); so, 'not being as good' doesn't tell the whole story.

If true, it wouldn't be surprising, as these TVs have to be worse in at least a few ways. How much worse, and how it compares to the price competition, who knows. Still seems like a very good deal on the C500, if one knows what they are getting, and has tempered expectations.