Samsung PS42S5H and Better Brackets recommended

[bejam]

In case it's of any use to anyone about to buy a Plasma, I've been following the various comments about £1500 HD-ready Plasmas. I decided to go for a Samsung PS42S5H for the following reasons:

1) The picture quality is absolutely fine. I compared it in a few different shops in Central London with several other makes, including Panasonic and Hitachi. It actually looked better in a couple of instances - but I accept that's just down to how they're set up. On the other hand, if shops aren't setting them up properly, one's never going to get an objective idea of the differences anyway.

2) If I'm honest, it's as much a piece of furniture in our kitchen/diner as something for my kids to watch the occasional bit of CBeebies and DVDs on etc. I thought the Samsung just looked a lot nicer than the competition.

3) I actually think PAL (standard def 625) on any 42" screen is going to look compromised, regardless of whatever image processing gizmo manufacturers care to chuck at it. I sit in front of a 20" Sony grade 1 monitor every day, so any plasma is going to look relatively smeary and solarised in comparison (and in my opinion, they all do.)

I think the Samsung has been given an unfair rap and if anyone else out there is considering buying one, I'm sure they'd be as delighted with it as I am. At the end of the day, if you do an A/B comparison with other tellies, you may/may not see quantifiably better/worse results. But, seeing as I only have the one plasma, it's not something I'm going to be bothered about.

That may/may not be against the spirit of a forum like this which often contains lots of angsting about the minor differences between this model versus that model etc. But for those who will just visit for a short term while they suss out what to buy - and that probably accounts for most - the Samsung's just fine in my opinion and it's great value.

One other recommendation if you've got this far. I used a wall mounting bracket from "Better Brackets" (betterbrackets.com) and thought it was very well made and the service was excellent. Cost me £65 - good value in a market full of identical stuff costing at least twice as much.

Oh and if, like me, you don't want to break up the wall around your pretty new piece of furniture, I have converted the speakers on the Samsung to be my centre channel by disconnecting them from the internal amp, mono-ing them in series (now an 8ohm load, rather than the 6 ohm load that my amp would like to see, but balances up quite happily in the pre-amp setup.) The terminal is the same as an ATX motherboard 4 pin power socket, so you can just replug the internal speakers if you sell it later or need to return it for warranty work etc.

[Chavvychase]

Excellent post bejam. Well considered and in my opinion very perceptive. I've had mine for over three months and am happy with it also. Plasmas are primarily for watching TV, not for fretting over relatively minor possible differences with other plasmas. I agree that the Sammy SD and 5H have been getting an unfair rap on this forum.

[tjradiohead]

I really wish i could agree

[zero_cool]

Ahhhh. Thank you both!!

I just received my Sammy on Sunday. When I first got it out of the box and switched on, I was almost sick over it. The colours were all over the place, banding was aweful, etc, etc. I have since re-adjusted the settings (thanks to the settings thread) and run the plasma continuous until now. It looks brilliant now with good colour, no blurring, hardly any banding and a solid picture.

I really want to hook up a Lumagen and boost the quality but will have to see first hand if it makes a difference first.

Chavvychase - what sort of equipment do you have linked to yours? I think you have that very fancy Sammy DVD player don't you? Also have you used a HD player and a HD DVD? Can you even get them yet?

[tjradiohead]

Which are the settings you decided on zero_cool?

Im going to give mine another go but i dont hold out too mcuh hope

[zero_cool]

Hey tjradiohead,
You have had some problems with yours haven't you? Did I read right that you have had 3?

I don't have my settings on me but they are a mix between Welsh's and Blarney's. I will get the exact settings for you but they are not perfect as the plasma seems to be changing as I run it more and more.

What does it do exactly that you don't like?

[tjradiohead]

Originally Posted by zero_cool

Hey tjradiohead,
You have had some problems with yours haven't you? Did I read right that you have had 3?

I don't have my settings on me but they are a mix between Welsh's and Blarney's. I will get the exact settings for you but they are not perfect as the plasma seems to be changing as I run it more and more.

What does it do exactly that you don't like?

NAh wrong fella, this is my first one, and last one unless something changes in the next two weeks.

Football looks terrible, any kind of panning or fast movement and all detail is lost, but to be honest i kinda expected this on football.

However, DVD via component is also poor, lots of solarisation and banding, which i dont think i should be getting really. Xbox looks fine via component, as does the gamecube.

I used LOTR as a tester for the dvd, might get it out of its rediculous sized box and have a go if its going to be worth it. i really wanted to like it because if i had, it would have been a great bargain.

[Bill_Abz]

Hi folks,

I'm also happy with my Samsung, but had certainly seen some of the other members complaints, expecially on Sky, (not really on DVD), but on Saturday night watching a movie on Sky, the colours and contrast were all over the place, and as the other half was in the bath, I messed around with the settings again, and Joy! I got a picture on Sky that was incredibly good. I managed to get rid of almost all of the banding and solarisation, and the end result is a great relief as it is possible to get a great picture on sky out of this set.

It may need a bit more faffing around with than other sets, on Sky anyway, but for the money, I think its great and I have kind of settled down with it now.

My first impressions of this set were very good (read some of my earlier posts) but visiting here kind of tainted my view of this set for a while, possibly of my own ignorance of plamsa pciture quality and issues, and I started to really be picky with the set, finding every fault there was, and in all honesty I have to agree with the findings of some of the others here.

Its not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the wife, kids and anyone else who has visited (none have plasmas) have all commented on how good the picture quality is, I was the one complaining.

After Saturday night, I'm now confident that I can get great picture quality, on most sources now (DVD, XBox and PC with HD stuff have always been awesome), and while they may not be reference material, they are certainly excellent in the context of a living room TV for the type of viewing we do. I would agree if you have a multi thousand pound dedicated home cinema, and you have high quality DVD pressings or the associated high quality source material, then this probably isn't the set for you, but as a big TV in the lounge its great. I spent 1500 quid on mine, and my old Sony CRT cost me a grand, so not a massive difference.

You do have to play around with the settings a bit depending on the channel, but now I've found my "reference" settings, there are only minor adjustments needed. Also have found using other settings from the forum really only serves as a starting point, because everyone likes something different.

Anyway, I'm glad there is starting to be some positive feedback on this set, and if you view this plasma in the context where it's most likeley going to be used, then I really can't fault it. The set doesn't have enough faults to deserve the knocking it gets on here, so I think it's worth saying this.

Bill.

[tjradiohead]

What are the settings you have with sky bill?

What dvd player/connectors are you using? any dvds that look particularly good/bad?

[zero_cool]

I was playing around with the settings again last night. Plugged in Reloaded and during the neo/multi agent smith fight scene noticed a green sort of halo effect around all black (which is most of the scene). I went to try changing some of the colours in the menu, the picture reset itself (had not touched the colour levels) and that was it. Halo effect gone and perfect image. Very strange. Maybe it was because it had not been switched off since 1pm Sunday. :S

[tjradiohead]

So zero, do you have your settings to hand?

[zero_cool]

I am sorry tjradiohead. I keep forgetting to get them for you! I had an excuse though, my Denon system arrived last night

I will get them for you. I am still not 100% about this screen. If everybody thinks the Panasonics are so wonderful maybe they would be a better one to go for. The pioneer looked lovely but the money just keeps going up and up!

Oh well. I will just keep an eye on this plasma. It would help if the digital ariel on the roof was not made out of old Russian bean tins and carrots.

[zero_cool]

After all of that a bit of an anti-climax as the settings were on standard the whole time!

I did put some custom settings on which are below. They make it a little too dark and alter the colours too much for my liking during DVD playback. Have a go with them though and see what you think.
Contrast - 60
Brightness - 46
Sharpness - 60
Colour - 41
Colour Tone - Cool 2

For me the standard settings are good. I am pleased with the quality now and will not be changing it after all.

To be totaly honest I cannot see what what everybody has been talking about. I can see no motion blur watching anything (but I don't watch football). The colours are great, image is crisp and detail good. The background in some movies I can see banding and poor colour blends but I am not really bothered. I have some Van Damme component leads coming to replace the aweful composite video lead I am using at the mo, so with Prog Scan it will be even better.

I am also in the market for a Lumagen Upscaler or DVDO line doubler so, again, can only get better!!

[tjradiohead]

Zero, if you get the chance, could you do me a favour? or anyone else with this set actually.

If you have lord of the rings, the first one, skip to chapter 11, the first shot should be from behind a tree in a forest. Pause the dvd. Can you see any detail on the "tree" to the left of the screen? the big tree? on my samsung it is just black, and only black. on the CRT you can see bark detail, this just isnt good enough.

Does anyone else get this? can you see the detail?

[zero_cool]

Sure mate, will do that for you tonight although won't be able to reply until Monday as my ISP has not connected me up at home, so have to use works connection!

Damn slow slow slow slow BT!