The OFFICIAL SAMSUNG PNXXE550 OWNERS THREAD - Page 3

Hi,

Just bought a 60e550 and I'm wondering how to hear the sound from it through my receiver (Marantz SR6006). I've turned on HDMI control, i get the TV to recognize the receiver but still no sound.

Does this TV support the ARC (Audio Return Channel) function?

I have connected the digital optical (toslink) out on the back of my E550 to the optical digital (toslink) in on my receiver. That way whatever source is supplying the TV with signal is also going to the audio amp. I don't have to switch inputs on the audio amp because the TV provides it.

It does, but only one of the HDMI has ARC support. It is labeled on the back of the TV. HDMI 2 maybe?

Thanks, it's perfect now.

Had it on HDMI1. It's a good idea to read first, instead of connect first

Speaking of sound, how does this set sound on it's own?

Specs say "Audio: 10W x 2 / Dolby Digital Plus/Dolby Plus, SRS TheaterSound HD." Anything more impressive any any other flat panel TVs?

Thanks,

Rhys

I exchanged the PN64E550 for the Panny 65ST50 due to the Sammy having the buzz issue. I received the panny this morning and out the box in cinema mode I can tell you that the sammy looks better. Yes the panny has a little darker blacks but overall just a slighty darker picture as well. Its too soon for a real comparison, this is just my personal opinion on out the box picture quality. I will be playing with the panny a bit more and try to calibrate it with the Disney WOW disk.

Bad news for you. But I guess it is potentially GREAT news for us (owners of the E550)!

As for the above question regarding sound: The speakers are typical flat panel speakers. They will do the job, but I use my 7.1 surround setup.

Now that all of the 2012 models are out it seems to me that for the majority of folks that can control the lighting in the TV room and need just basic features, the 3 contenders are this model, the LG 6700 and the Panny UT50. All are quite close in price (%950-1000 for 50") and features. Not sure if there's a deciding factor between the 3.

After two week ends with the Samsung 51 inch E550 I must say I continue to be impressed. I have absolutely no buzz problems and the image quality is outstanding with just basic adjustments. I can now really see the IQ issues with Charter HD channels. I will have UVerse installed this Friday. The Samsung E-5900 BD player is also performing very well. Very fast load and great IQ.

Stay tuned.

Of the 3 the Sammy is the best deal (UT might have better blacks). Samsung is the only one with 2 glasses included. Plus their glasses are cheaper... only $20. Panasonic charges $60 EACH!

I have had the 51 inch for a couple weeks now. Love it. Excellent value. Only issue is that it is too small coming from a 60 inch Sony SXRD. The big box stores do not have the 60 or 64, going on 3 weeks now. Must be able to touch, feel, and return if necessary. Anyone have any insight on what the hold up is? Thank you.

Just got a PN60E550 and am liking it a lot!

Confirming the screen has no AR filter. My room is setup so the glare doesn't bother me. As I understand things, the AR filter, the stand and bezel and some advanced color management settings are the differences between this panel and the E6500?

If I listen for it, I can hear the buzz sometimes, weird how directional it is. It's not loud enough at 10' for me to hear it unless I am looking for it.

I picked up the Disney WOW disc and am using a PS3 to play Blu-rays. I have got all the auto adjust stuff turned off on the TV and am having some problems with the Contrast and Brightness settings. I can never get the blacker-thank-black or whiter-than-white bars to show up. Forum searches say that isn't unusual. What I do not understand has to adjusting the white level (contrast). As I raise or lower it, all it does is change the tint of the screen and the bars never approach the white of the background. I have the panel brightness at 15 but also had the same problem at 20. Eco Sensor is set to off as well. Anyone had any luck with this?

Otherwise very pleased with the panel and am enjoying the larger screen. If anyone has any questions not yet answered, I will do my best to answer them for you!

My bars all show up. Check my settings earlier in this thread. Blacker than black and whites ALL show up if I want them too.

I have the 51".

Forgot about the glases - tho I don't know how important 3D is. One thing the other two don't have is a browser - has anyone tired it? How is the input with the remote?

It is unusual if you are feeding the display a proper signal. I think these are the proper settings for the PS3 - they should allow both WTW and BTB to pass:

Y Cb Cr
RGB limited
Super white on
Upconversion normal
all noise reduction on "0"

Your contrast control shouldn't change the tint unless it's "pinking" (reddish tint develops at high contrast settings). You should always set contrast below the pinking threshold. Reducing contrast can sometimes also let more WTW levels pass. You don't really need to see anything in the BTB range, IMO.

The Panasonic glasses are rechargeable and the Sammy's run on batteries, that's why they cost more and that's why the Sammy's ship with the TV.

Yes, the Samsung glasses do run on batteries, but it is ONE button cell battery. You can get it for like $2 at Wal-Mart or some other similar store. At $20 per pair, I can buy about 25 batteries (plus they come with one already) before they add up to one pair of Panny glasses. That is a heck of a LOT of 3D movies.

Just a heads up that there is a firmware update today (May 15). Just says that it fixes DLNA compatibility issues and improves picture quality. Funny, that is EXACTLY what the last firmware said! I popped in my calibration disc and the update didn't require any re-tweaking. Seems okay, but who knows.

Heya!

Thanks for the help on the settings AvidHiker and bhoier. I will try out basing my settings off yours and let you know how it goes.

Maybe it was pinking that was going on. I would change the Contrast and it would seem to tint reddish every other number or so. I tried a range from about 50 up to 100 and it didn't really change the white level at all. I should set the contrast down much lower then and try again?

Will try it out this evening and let you know how it goes! Nice thing is it still looks great even at Cinema defaults with all the motion and eco stuff turned off.

Although my calibration disc shows that brightness could be as low as 40-ish, I find it too dark for many movies. I bumped it up to 43 or 44 now. Should I go for (slightly) darker blacks, or more detail in the pic? Both look great, but in different ways.

Also, what happens after that magic "100 hour break-in" period? I know it lessons the chance of IR, but how does the pic improve? I hear people always saying "Love the picture, and can't wait till it gets better!" Better blacks? Color improvement? Will I need to re-calibrate using my disc because of these "changes"?

Sorry for all the questions. My first plasma and only at about 40-50 hours.

It's easy to get carried away in search of perfect blacks, but that can result in some significant loss in shadow detail (at least for the D series, not sure about the E). With the right equipment, you can get around that by calibrating to a custom gamma curve.

But with or without a custom gamma curve, I like to use the APL clipping pattern on AVS HD 709 to set brightness (helps to prevent you from setting it too low), and if I still feel like I'm losing shadows I will raise brightness to just barely see bar 16 flashing from my viewing position. That's a loss of MLL in exchange for full shadow detail, but I want to see everything in the image.

There is no evidence of any magical picture enhancement from breaking the TV in. I'm sure someone would have measured it around here if that was the case. Basic calibration settings (bright/cont/color/tint) will probably not change much if at all. Advanced calibrations (color space and grayscale) are known to drift more in the first 100 hours or so, and need to be checked every 500-1000, but this is for the pros (and DIY cal crowd).

Hello again!

I set my TV to your settings and tried the WoW Disk again and same thing, no Whiter than Whites or Blacker than Blacks. So I decided to try and run my PS3 directly into the Plasma and bypass my Denon AVR1712 and sure enough, they showed up. I can't find any settings in the Denon that indicate it would be changing the HDMI signal at all, but obviously it is. That leads me to a couple questions.

1. Maybe one of my cables isn't the latest HDMI spec?
2. Should I calibrate plasma with it connected directly and then plug things in passing through the Denon or just run my HDMI sources right into the TV and use a separate audio cable?

Really appreciate your help on this!

Not likely to be a cable problem.

You might want to ask in a thread related to your Denon or communicate with Denon directly (there may be a firmware update for it). If I were you, I would bypass the Denon if possible because I won't tolerate any device messing with my video like that. If you need to run it through the avr, then calibrate it in that configuration.

Does yours e550's plasmas have wifi built in as stated in the spec sheet?

Mine doesn't! It's a (ref nº) ps60e550w1

I really want a 64/65" TV but I am a bit averse to the prices of the E7000, GT50 and VT50 as they are currently. I am looking on Amazon right now at the Samsung lineup comparison chart, it lists all the TV's from the 8000 to the E450. The list below are the things the E550 lacks:

1) Clear image panel (only on the 8000, from what I've read no one knows what this does)

2) DNSE (digital natural sound engine - I'll be running through a receiver so not sure if this is important)

3) No ultra slim design like the 7000 & 8000 (aesthetics)

4) No dual core processor (I guess this would effect web browsing and app performance, this could be important for Smart tv use)

5) Signature interaction (8000 only)

6) Built in camera (8000 only)

7) Smart touch remote (8000 only)

The attributes it shares with the 8000, 7000 and 6500 are the following:

1080p resolution
600Hz refresh rate
600Hz subfield motion
wide color enhancer plus
real black panel
Full 2D & 3D
Eco sensor
Cinema smooth
Built in wifi
ConnectShare movie
Apps built for TV
AllShare play
Search All
Web browser
Your video
Skype compatible
Smart tv
Smart hub
Signature services
2 Pairs of 3D glasses
Standard remote

What are (if any) the technological aspects related to picture quality missing from this model compared to the higher end 7000 and 8000?

Howdy ruiz00tx!

That is my understanding as well. I think the only things you missed are a better (more options) color management system (unconfirmed) and anti-glare coatings/films on the glass (confirmed). This TV has no AR coating at all on the screen.

I am not too concerned with the color management system as my experience with the set has been spot on colors using 2 different calibrations tools. My only issue so far is the contrast not adjusting properly and I am not sure if that is a result of a bad panel or perhaps my PS3.

I am fortunate to have a light controlled room so besides buying a light blocking shade for one window, I have no problem with the lack of AR coating.

Hope that helps!

Ordered my PN64E550 from best buy today. Gets delivered on Saturday. I can't wait!! Been playing tv roulette past few weeks. Two LG 6700 plasmas with defective panels, one LG 6700 LED with backlight issues and a LG PA6500 with the worst dithering I have ever seen. First and last experience with LG. I have 2 Samsung LCD sets that have been fine for years. Hoping this one is as impressive.

Thanks for the info Zinger, now that it seems I am leaning more toward better value, it might be between this one and the ST50.

I have/had both sets with weird experiences. I first got the E550(64') and it looked amazing out of the box in movie mode. The only problem it had was that infamous Sammy buzz. I decided to swap it with the ST50(65'). The Panny out of the box looked terrible even on cinema mode and also with cnet calibration settings, the screen just had allot of dithering specially on dark scenes but after a few days of breaking it in with normal viewing and running a bit of slides the picture quality actually became quite superb, similar to the Samsung. slightly less sharper, maybe.

I ended up selling the ST50( to a family member(since he loves Panny) and got me the E550 again. Only problem now is that the new Sammy I received has way more dithering than the Panny did initially. My only concern is that I already ran slides for +200 Hrs (way more than I did with the Panny) and I still can see dithering making the picture seem not sharp at all.
Is that normal? Will it go away just like it did with the ST50?

Btw, I opted out for the Samsung just because to my eyes they both have similar pic quality, while the E550 is not only cheaper but has better 3D. The Panasonic has better Anti glare and the buzz is non-existent unless u put your ear to the back of tv.

Regarding contrast issues on the PS3 did you turn SuperWhite On?