Nearly ready to buy a Samsung HP-S5053 but... - Page 2

Originally Posted by orbital517

I'm not a salesman like some people on here who try to push the brand that they own, so you aren't going to get a sales pitch from me on how big a company is or why you should buy from ________ company. All I can tell you is that I've owned many different Samsung products in the past and will definitely NEVER EVER buy another Samsung product in my lifetime again. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, so I will state mine. I would never ever put Samsung and reliable in the same sentence together.

Originally Posted by dBond

EDIT, ok, didn't notice the entirety of some replies.

Yes, as I've stated, I'm doing my own comparisons. I've done my research. I'm kinda tired of the "do side by side comparisons" blah blah blah, especially to those genuinely interested in other's opinions and not looking for a decision to be made for them.

Clearly I had done my homework and was just posting for some addition user insight which I obviously can't gain until I buy the thing.

Don't mean to be bitchy, just sayin' is all.

Thanks again!

omletpants, I just meant I'd say Samsung received a couple flames. Thanks for the input though.

Originally Posted by omeletpants

Tdavis, this is also what I said and my "point":

"Being the largest electronics company in the world means they are doing a lot of things right. So, if they are the largest then your opinion is based on your expereince not what the marketplace thinks of Samsung. Because if the marketplace thought the same as you then they wouldn't be the largest. Simple Socratic reasoning"

Can't make it any clearer than that

Originally Posted by Enigma869

By the way, it should also be mentioned that being the "largest electronics company in the world" and making tv's are two entirely different propositions! As far as I know, Samsung is a "Johnnny Come Lately" in the world of tv's. I just know that back in the 80's all of their "electronics" were designed to self-destruct within about 60 days of purchase!

On another note...Let's be fair to Samsung...Anyone care to post a link to a review (not by an individual on this board) from an electronics magazine where a few of their tv's are considered to be in the top of their class?? I'd certainly love to read it! If we could ever combine Samsung's aesthetics with Pansonic's picture quality, we'd be onto something! Samsonic would be born

John from Boston

Originally Posted by deke rivers

personally I would value the opinion of someone who owns the set and has used it on a day to day basis over a period of time vs. some mook in a lab running test signals to it for an hr for a magazine review

Originally Posted by orbital517

I don't consider reviews from magazines as the deciding factor when deciding on a purchase, but the "professionals" do have more resources to test each and every product out there (that most of us don't have resources to). They also have more time put into each product that they test, as opposed to most of us on here will only have the resource of comparing TVs in the stores which we all know is not as accurate as in the "labs" that you mention. I would rather take the word of "some mook in a lab running test signals" than most of the biased opinions on here.

Originally Posted by orbital517

I don't consider reviews from magazines as the deciding factor when deciding on a purchase, but the "professionals" do have more resources to test each and every product out there (that most of us don't have resources to). They also have more time put into each product that they test, as opposed to most of us on here will only have the resource of comparing TVs in the stores which we all know is not as accurate as in the "labs" that you mention. I would rather take the word of "some mook in a lab running test signals" than most of the biased opinions on here.

Originally Posted by dBond

Right, because every reply so far has been just chalk full of pertinent info. Give me a break. By that time the discussion was well off topic.

How exactly am I moaning? One post came up while I was mid-reply and I missed a standard issue 'do side by side comparisons' in another. I beg your forgiveness. Please don't be disappointed.

And 'in case you hadn't looked' I've stated that I've been doing research here and elsewhere so yes, I have in fact seen the sticky. I even used the Search function.

Anyhow, if anyone has anymore insights of value into the television, great. Otherwise I think this thread pretty much run it's course.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by orbital517

Did I get burnt? Yes, indeed I did. As for your trolling statement, do you only want to hear fairy tale stories about how great samsung is, or would you like to hear the truth sometimes? Maybe the truth hurts a little bit for you? Or do you only want to hear great stories so that way it makes you feel good about yourself and owning a Samsung?

Originally Posted by Frost147

deke - there will always be zealots from both camps, but they are definitely in the minority among the users. We make our decisions based on research, testimonials from other owners of the equipment we are looking at, even a bit of gut reaction, too along with what our own eyes tell us. The health of our wallets also steer us to the right solution for our own unique application.

Hell, I'll be the first to state that as a Samsung owner, I couldn't care less what anyone else buys, because I KNOW that for my taste and financial situation, the Samsung purchase was the right one for me. And to ensure that my Sammy delivers the absolute best pq it can, I fronted the 3 bills for a pro-cal. And never regretted that purchase, either. I'd planned on getting it done anyway, regardless of set purchased.

Someone hates Samsung? Ok, whatever. Got a hard-on for Panasonic? Knock yourself out. Can't live without telling everyone else around here that you spent the maximum $$ you could on a Pioneer Elite, so it MUST be better? Fill your boots, then - be my guest.

For the new members out there though, who are looking for answers, I'll continue to offer whatever advice I feel may be of value to them. They are free to take it or leave it, but they can't say they didn't get it!


Take care.

Originally Posted by Frost147

Jon - that's where your secret "stash" comes in handy Conversely (although it may be too late for Jon), just tack on another 3 bills to what you paid for the set in the 1st place - at least that'll be the story you can tell the wife..

Originally Posted by Frost147

Jon - that's where your secret "stash" comes in handy Conversely (although it may be too late for Jon), just tack on another 3 bills to what you paid for the set in the 1st place - at least that'll be the story you can tell the wife.

deke - the pro-cal that my guy peformed, involved the use of 3 separate scanners - one of which was valued at over 14 grand - so yeah, they do alot more than the average consumer can do, because they know how to use that equipment! He also brought along his laptop and burned 2 DVDs (1 for me, and 1 for his files) of everything he did to my set. In the unlikely event that I go and bugger up those new settings or some other catastrophe happens to screw the set up, we'll always have one DVD and a back-up to bring the set back to it's calibrated state.

He also left me a "party" DVD of several vignettes, showing what my plasma could now do. You know the kind of scenes: spaceman-type dogfights, volcanoes and water geysers spewing their stuff all over God's green earth, an avalanche, a rock concert - you get the photo

I also have before and after charts/graphs demonstrating just how out of whack my set was with those factory settings and how now, the set is bang-on for colour representation, just as the film producers and directors wanted it to look for their movies.

An added bonus to all this is the fact that I don't ever have to go back in and tweak those settings again. I don't know about the rest of the plasma owners out there, but the fact that there are SO many different ways of adjusting your picture, I found that I was constantly going in there and poking around, trying to get a great pic. I'd read on this board about someone else's config and I'd run down and do the same to my set - just to see if it gave me a better pic - drove my wife crazy, that did!

I know that the picture I now have is the best it can be - no more diddling in the menus pour moi!. Before he left, he arbitrarily pegged all my settings at "50". He could have chosen any old number, as it wouldn't have made any difference - all the adjustments had been done "behind the scene" so to speak.

Professional calibrating isn't for everyone and Lord knows, there are those out there that can use the DVE and AVIA discs and get amazing results - I bought the DVE and wasn't happy myself, but that's probably because I'm just not so inclined. I couldn't be sure I had really done anything that could be called an improvement.

But for those that ARE so inclined, it'll be the best damn 3 bills you put into your Home Theatre, bar none. The best.

Take care, guys.

Originally Posted by Enigma869

By the way, it should also be mentioned that being the "largest electronics company in the world" and making tv's are two entirely different propositions! As far as I know, Samsung is a "Johnnny Come Lately" in the world of tv's. I just know that back in the 80's all of their "electronics" were designed to self-destruct within about 60 days of purchase!

On another note...Let's be fair to Samsung...Anyone care to post a link to a review (not by an individual on this board) from an electronics magazine where a few of their tv's are considered to be in the top of their class?? I'd certainly love to read it! If we could ever combine Samsung's aesthetics with Pansonic's picture quality, we'd be onto something! Samsonic would be born

John from Boston

Originally Posted by madmia

Here is a review that liked the samsung just fine...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12...1/article.html

Originally Posted by madmia

Here is a review that liked the samsung just fine...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12...1/article.html

Originally Posted by Enigma869

Thanks for posting the link. I must say that after reading that article, I put ZERO credibility in the opinions expressed, and it's not because they rank Samsung 4th! My issue is that they are listing brands I've never even heard of (who the heck is "AOC")!

Also, whether you like Pansonic or not, there is absolutely NO
POSSIBLE WAY that Panasonic can be left off of ANY list that ranks the "top 5 42 inch plasmas". That is just plain absurd! Most people who know anything at all about plasmas tv's would rank Panasonic the number one 42" plasma, and even those who wouldn't, would still rank it in the top 5! For the record, I'm speaking of people who critically evaluate MANY plasma tv's and not us HT enthusiasts who buy one or two sets! I can tell you that if the list had included Pioneer and Pansonic along with Samsung, I certainly might give it at least some credibility!

John from Boston

Originally Posted by aviman33

Maybe Pioneer was 6th and Panasonic 7th.

Jon

Originally Posted by omeletpants

When you say you don't believe Samsung to be a quality brand you bring only your anecdotal experience to the table. Being the largest electronics company in the world means they are doing a lot of things right. So, if they are the largest then your opinion is based on your expereince not what the marketplace thinks of Samsung. Because if the marketplace thought the same as you then they wouldn't be the largest. Simple Socratic reasoning

Originally Posted by digimat

Wow great job guys... instead of some insightful comments on the TV's he's looking at, you simply argue like two year olds.

I too am close to purchasing a 50 inch plasma and was looking at the S5053, as I am also weary of the Cnet review.

Originally Posted by digimat

I had a chance to look at the set today at London Drugs and got the sales guy to hook up a regular dvd player and threw in Narnia.

The picture really did not look good, I didn't get a good chance to mess with the settings, the set also said the signal was 720x480i? so Im guessing the player wasn't set to progessive.

Originally Posted by digimat

One thing I did notice is the issue with the dark scenes, the black looked really muddy, I guess the best explanation is kinda like when you set your desktop to 256 colors. But that could just be a result of the player or the source material.

Can any owners of this TV post about their experience with this issue?

Originally Posted by digimat

One other thing I read in another post that the 5073 is the replacement to the 5053 and that it has an improvement in picture quality... can anyone else verify this?

thanks,

Originally Posted by digimat

So your certain there is no improvement in picture quality?

Seems kinda odd they would come out with one model and then a revised version in the same year unless something need to be fixed.