[shahineo]

This model is on sale at BB now. It looks fantastic. BB seems to be the only retailer carrying it.


The PQ looked great as I saw it in the store. It was hooked up to a ATSC tuner using VGA.


The Plasma has DVI, a nice bezel, stand, and 1200:1 contrast ratio.


Is anyone thinking about getting it? I am pretty close to pulling the trigger. I can't wait for Panasonc any longer (to add DVI to their current displays). The nice thing is that the retail price of this display is really competitive!


-Omar

 

[shahineo]

So I picked this bad boy up. It's a very amazing plasma. Should give the Panny EDTV a run for it's money.


From looking at the service menu it appears that this display has the FLI2200 deinterlacer in it (last year?'s Faroudja DCDi). Getting to the service menu is the same as the sammy DLPs (with Plasma out, Mute 1-8-2 power).


I've hooked this up to my HTPC using DVI and sadly, my Radeon 9500 can't do 852x480 which is the native res of the display. I ordered a Matrox Parhelia card though so we'll see how that works. Right now I am sending the display 848x480 and no matter what I have tried, I cannot stop the display from scaling the input to it's native res. I tried every trick in the book, with VGA and DVI and no dice.


Anyway, the PQ of the display is fantastic. Out of the box it seems well configured. The black levels rival that of the Panny.


Overall I think this is a fantastic value.


-Omar

 

[rogo]

I guess this is a good value for retail. I wonder what the mail-order/online price will be from other vendors. Because the brick-and-mortar retail is higher than what you can get the Panasonic for online...


I'm glad you like it though. That's great news.


Mark

 

[Mane3215]

Quote:

Originally posted by rogo I guess this is a good value for retail. I wonder what the mail-order/online price will be from other vendors. Because the brick-and-mortar retail is higher than what you can get the Panasonic for online... I'm glad you like it though. That's great news. Mark

3208.00


compare4price.com


-Chris

 

[tintinet]

Thanks, Chris, although your post might be short-lived!

 

[tintinet]

I'd like to hear how this unit does with scaling SD content.

 

[Mane3215]

Yeah though it survived the other thread, I cant wait to see their HD unit, I am hoping its just as good as the panny hd, and that the price drops as fast as its ed counterpart.



-Chris

 

[iqwertyi]

If you live in FL, SoundAdvice (a Tweeter Company) also carries this model. I saw it last weekend and must say was very impressed. It was sitting next to a Samsung 61" DLP and, unless the samsung was not adjusted properly, the black look amazing next to it.

 

[rogo]

The Samsung DLP has its own set of black issues.

 

[Mane3215]

Sounds like this new samsung maybe a winner, I am itching to check it out, and cant wait for the hd model next month.


-Chris

 

[leobag]

shahineo,


I have a 50" Samsung... I never knew about that service menu (it worked for the PPM50H2). Other than completely messing up the plasma, is there anything notable that can be done from this menu?


Thanks,

Leo

 

[AnthonyM]

Omar, how is the SD content? Also, a previous thread was questioning if Samsung is misleading the public with the functionality of the 2 component inputs. Can you confirm or deny? Thanks!



From Leo

"In the past, Samsung would really mess with it's 'input' terminology... I had the PPM50H2 (50-inch plasma) and it claimed to have 2 component inputs, 2 RGB inputs, and the normal composite and S-Video inputs. Sounds great on paper, but what they did was combine: One of the RGB inputs and both of the component inputs into one one set of H/V/R/B/G connectors So, for video, the Samsung really only had one DB-15, one composite, one s-video, and one set of H/V/R/B/G connectors. It was pretty annoying. If the same signal feed switched from progressive to interlaced (i.e. XBOX does this quite frequently), it would not auto-detect the change, so you would have to press the appropriate 'video' button the witch to the the non-interlaced "component 1" setting.


Now... that was how Samsung WAS... this model looks to clearly have 2 sets of Component jacks... I would hate to think one of those jacks are limited to 480i and the other limited to "480p/720p/1080i". The website and PDF show different information... The website says that one component jack is 480i, where the other is 480p/1080i (no 720p). On the brochure side, the text states: component 1 is 480i and component 2 is 480p/1080i/720p. However, the little diagram of the jacks give the impression that both component 1 and component 2 can handle "480/480P/720P/1080."


If it was true that component 1 was limited to 480i and that component 2 was limited to 480P/720P/1080i... What would happen in the case of the Xbox? Would you not be able to see the interlaced picture if plugged into the "480p/720p/1080i" jacks?? According to that, even switching "video" selections wouldn't work (because they Xbox isn't plugged into the interlaced jacks)."

 

[shahineo]

Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyM Omar, how is the SD content? Also, a previous thread was questioning if Samsung is misleading the public with the functionality of the 2 component inputs. Can you confirm or deny? Thanks!

Both components accept 480i/480p/720p/1080i. There is a label on the back of the display that states such. So does the manual.


Also I hooked my xbox up to the rear of the plasma in both inputs and it appeared to work fine.


-Omar

 

[shahineo]

Quote:

Originally posted by leobag shahineo, I have a 50" Samsung... I never knew about that service menu (it worked for the PPM50H2). Other than completely messing up the plasma, is there anything notable that can be done from this menu? Thanks, Leo

Well, most folks use that to tweek their PQ. I don't want to mess with it yet cause I have no idea what I'm doing.


Also, there is this mode called SNI that if you turn it on applies this very soft filter to the displayed image. It makes film look very good, but makes text a bit blurry.


-Omar

 

[leobag]

shahineo,


When using your xbox, does the Samsung automatically sense the different signals (progressive/interlaced)? or do you have to manually switch the 'source?'


Thanks,

Leo

 

[shahineo]

Quote:

Originally posted by leobag shahineo, When using your xbox, does the Samsung automatically sense the different signals (progressive/interlaced)? or do you have to manually switch the 'source?' Thanks, Leo

I didn't have to manually do anything (except change inputs from DVI to component). I plugged the xbox into component 1, and viewed it, then into component 2 and it worked the same. The XBOX is configured to output 480p right now.


-Omar

 

[michaelpatriceh]

Two questions for Omar:


1. What is the color of the bezel and the stand? Silver or dark-grey? It is hard to tell from the picture on the Samsung website.


2. Why did you setup the Xbox for 480p? Did you try higher resolutions and the PQ was worse?


- Michael

 

[shahineo]

Quote:

Originally posted by michaelpatriceh Two questions for Omar: 1. What is the color of the bezel and the stand? Silver or dark-grey? It is hard to tell from the picture on the Samsung website. 2. Why did you setup the Xbox for 480p? Did you try higher resolutions and the PQ was worse? - Michael

1. The color is a dark-grey. It's not very dark though, but definetley not silver.


2. While the XBOX can natively drive 480p/720p/1080i there are very few games that support 720p/1080i. All the games I have are 480p games. In fact, I believe there probably won't ever be any 1080i games (or was it 720?). Finally, may as well send the plasma video that is in it's native vertical resolution, then the scaler is just stretching.

 

[tintinet]

Omar,


Are you running any direct SD input through the panel (cable or DTV?) If so, how does it handle SD content?


Thanks.

 

[docrings]

Shahinio:


Download the PC program "powerstrip" and see if you can customize your ATI 8500 output through the software. Check the HTPC forums for FAQs on how to use this program to customize output resolutions...


DocRings