LG 50PA650T or SAMSUNG PS51E530A3WXXU ?

Hi ya, anyone ever get back to you about the 50PA650T? I'm interested in it but the only review I can find are the 4 or so on amazon! Thanks.
 
I too am looking at this LG 50PA650T and am going to test one out hopefully at Richersounds and Currys. Yeah almost no reviews, the TV is only out these last months.

Am upgrading from SAMSUNG LE40M87BDX 40" LCD. Love the black level on this TV and its great for Windows desktop which I have on it every day. Games BF3, etc all look good.

But am unsure about moving to Plasma for the first time, I use the TV for Windows 7 desktop as one of two screen but its my main screen. I watch MKV movies with Zoom player and MadVR, some freesat HD channels like BBC HD, and of course game 1080p with it from the PC.

So need a good set to work well for all these. My current Samsung is great for Windows desktop and games but not so good for films and TV shows via the PC (720p-1080p MKV/MP4 and AVI)

Any extra review links and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

-Jonny
 
Went to Currys today but they had only taken delivery of the set this morning and not put one on display. Will try again tomorrow, and Richersounds Weds this week.
 
Hi

Well, at least that is something :) Hopefully it delivers! Things are finally heating up with the 50PA650T :p
 
If it helps, I was told by LG themselves that the 50PA6500 is the american model number for the same TV i.e. 50PA650T. Google it and you get a load of american reviews.
 
Right I have a good look today in Curry's whom had just got the LG 50PA650T on the wall. And also the 3D version of the same screen the 50" LG 50PM680T which comes with a free BLURAY player (cheapo one)

Both seem good screens. I took a stick along with some 1080p IMAX Hubble space station HD content and a Bluray SG Atlantis space bound episode, and some Battlestar Galactica bluray Season 3 ep 4 (exodus) so lots of space battle stuff. Just the sort of thing I like best,,, so my idea test footage. All best bluray rips (not HDTV)

Both screen faired well, this being my first plasma experience coming from just returning for refund my old SAMSUNG LE40M87BDX 40" LCD.

So I asked the guy in Curry's to put a £800 LED screen next to the LG 50PA650T for comparison. I found the LED would be better a little bit for my windows 7 desktop and games with brighter sharper colours but I already knew this. But of in order of usage its Movies, Desktop and then Games for me so this time I want a best for movies and TV shows screen and this LG 50PA650T and the LG 50PM680T didn't disappoint.

I even loaded a Star trek Voyager episode (720x576 Pal rip) 500Mb Mkv, so low res on a large screen like this, but the TV played every MKV I threw at it very well and with very minimal visual frame drop, so i was impressed.

The low res ST Voyager ep looked good I thought. As did the 4Gb IMAX Hubble content, sharp and without ringing or ghosting.

Brightness, coming from an LCD it seems less. I have got used to the brighter screen LCD, my front room is a low light environment so this should not be a issue for me personally. The screen was not ass bright as the expensive LED screens I tested side by side but that's to be expected plasma/LED. I'll need to adept my viewing ideas coming from a 2006 LCD set. Its not to much different but in a more day lit room this might be more of an issue for some.

TV Sat SD and HD. Didnt test these, the Curry's feed is of course some HD fantastic feed. So no proper Sky HD or SD, or Freeview SD or HD test. Sorry :(

Of course I started by turning down or off all the fancy features. Dynamic contrast to low, HDMI black level to low, sharpness to <20 and then <30 and then off, edge enhancement off. There are various other new features I didn't know what they were but assumed it was more of the same. So tested with on and off. With large HD content the screen looks very good I thought. Some reflection as I am unsure what if any anti-glare film is present. I have a low light front room so glare is not a real problem, but in the brightly lit curry's store, like with pretty much all other sets there the reflection and glare was hard to avoid. Although I did ask for the lights to be turned off quickly... they didn't go for that.

The set-up controls I found are somewhat dumped down, might be too dumbed down for my tastes. Maybe can get access to the engineers menus for greater colour control. But with just gama low, med high, and that goes for just about everything else, it left me wanting much more in the set-up dept. This one thing alone might be a deal breaker for me cos I like a complex set of controls and from my first impressions you don't appear to have this with these TV's. there was no colour space setup, no advanced gamma or white levels menu. Now maybe new plasma's do not need this, as I mentioned I am coming from the early LCD Samsung... but mine had plenty of controls which I do like to have.

Of course future firmware might change this and I do see there is already a firmware update on the LG website for the LG 50PA650T.

The bezel is silver/grey and pretty thin. I didn't notice any issues with the pictures edges all around the screen. The unit is pretty thin depth wise but the audio was not too bad and did a pretty good bass reproduction for what it is. A sound bar with sub bass might be a good idea and one I might consider. As I prefer my sound to come from the TV area. The unit was warm to touch but not too hot.

The rear connectors are limited, no analogue audio out I noticed but this is the way of things now, and the set costs only £500 > range. 3 HDMI's 2 at the rar and one on the side with the USB sockets, easy access. My flash stick did work well and found it fast, source switching seems much faster than my last TV, and as fast as teh LED screens I tested side by side. the USB media controls were adequate, skip, fast forward etc and they worked well.

The usual other connectors, VGA, component, RS232. A bit limited compared to my Samsung I just got rid of but very usable :)

The controller seems nice in hand as well, large easy to use buttons and arrows, with logical place for 'back' return. But its always down to individual tastes with a lot of these things. For me it seemed ok... and with all new tech we learn and adapt in a short time. With onlly a budget of £550 max I cannot be too fusy over things like controllers and rear connections. As long as I have my basic requirements... then its all about the screen for me and the setup controls and the source switching.

For me the LG 50PA650T and its 3D friend the LG 50PM680T are good new sets for the money, nothing too feature busting, but with good solid screens that I think look good. The 3D on the LG 50PM680T looks OK, but having no experience with TV 3D I am not the best to review the 3D quality,,, for me my eyes hurt no matter using what glasses passive or active so I dislike 3D TV's at present. The screen controls in the menu seem a little dumbed down for my tastes, but that said it might be all thats needed. I need a little more testing. But can say I am impressed and might well buy the LG 50PA650T,
 
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what was the option for HDMI black level, low and normal.
also why did you leave dc on low.
 
@Scottthehat

DC, well coming from a SAMSUNG LE40M87BDX 40" LCD where I liked the DC set on low, its just where I started from with this Plasma. I'm new to Plasma's so went with what I knew. Plus the 'High' setting did seem to almost remove all the stars from my IMAX 1080p Hubble HD content I was testing. So should DC on plasma's be High/Med then?

Its not so easy to test in store for my low light front room environment, so i go with what I know.


And HDMI Black level was Low/High. not a great deal of user adjustment there.


There were more advanced colour option controls, but for most controls its on/off or Low/High or a couple of Low/Med/High Very few actual values can be added anywhere except colour.

I may of missed a menu, but will check again Friday as I am going once again to checkout the non 3D screen. There were a handful of features and names I am not familiar with and will need to note them down and look them up... 'Super Resolution' was one I think.

Viewing all black area shadow detail in brightly lit store is not easy, and the screen does have reflections to deal with, so I am assuming its not got the anti glare/reflection film more expensive sets seem to have. Although in Curry's all screens even the £1500-2000 one's were hard to see under the bright store lights. The LG 50PA650T seems to have good black level detail from viewing my test material listed in my review. For me its always about Sci-fi space stuff... and water for best testing, although if I had a larger flash stick I would test my Avatar 1080p 40GB MKV.


Now I'm not overly technical with screens, but at the end of the day all the spec''s in the world don't always mean its going to sit well with our eyes. We are all different in the way we perceive these screens, so I tend to visit the store with test material a few times and have a good long time in front of the screen, and then if my gut tells me I'm happy then well that's that. I buy it. :)

As I said I'm new to large modern Plasma's so any testing in store advice would be most useful to have from other members.


**Edit update 11/08/2012**

My friend bought a LG 50PA650T from Richer sounds Cardiff today and had it delivered within 3 hours!

Once I got his Sky+ (not HD) set-up and also the HDMI from the desktop connected, I then found a whole bunch of extra picture and audio settings that were not offered when I just plugged a USB stick in when in Curry's testing the TV set.

Many more settings than I first thought it had... amd going to have to read the PDF on line 136 page manual. But after basic set up my 12Gb MVK 'Battleship' 1080p movie looks stunning for sure. I have a 23GB version to test when I buy this TV myself next week.

For the price £539 + RS warranty £53 its a bargain for a new plasma.

The brightness is a little better than previous price range plasma's, maybe just enough. Not LED levels of course. The windows 7 desktop looks pretty good, not LED very bright but very good to my eyes and I am going top be using most of the day every day at home. With more detailed set up it will no doubt improve again. Have not tested in games yet but will update here when I get mine next week and get a chance to try them.

Movie and TV shows via HDMI though, yes its very good for the price range.

Changed dynamic contrast to high and it looks good. There are now plenty of controls, so I revise my first impressions review earlier in this thread.

I did notice a couple of things with source swtiching thought. It seems it does not appear to auto switch sources for new plugged in sources like a HDMI lead from the computer. I had to go to the source screen and re-click the same HDMI1. This might not mean it does not do auto switch. But I cannot find any info and when calling LG the person didn't know much more than reading the PDF online manual. So will try again for someone else at LG with more knowledge another time ;)

Am going to check the firmware version and maybe try a firmware update for the screen via downloading the firmware from the LG website and run it from the stick plugged into the TV set.


My gut tells me its worth the money and worth me buying. My budget is only £550 max for TV & the RS warranty. So am buying one next week for sure :)
 
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Well I bought one (50PA650T). Will take some getting used to this plasma in windows 7 desktop. I had read that plasma's were not as good for windows desktop and it was a little shock. Mainly because it was the last thing I couldn't test for in Currys or RS. Lots of controls, some not that great but hey all sets have their fair share of tech thats usually best turned low or off. Fonts in windows are not as clear and sharp as an LCD. It does bug me right now a little but my eyes have been used to a 2006/7 LCD for nearly 5 years.

Movies and TV shows (720/1080) wow, now its really a vast improvement over my last LCD and my 49GB 1080 Avatar MKV extended looks out of this world.... pardon the pun.

Pitch Black 1080p, Battleship 1080p, Firefly 1080p. The tv shows, Longmire, Continuum, True Blood, The newsroom. All look really good. Using Zoomplayer 8.15 with MadVR (test build5 and Reclock).

Not got around to games yet.

It will certainly take some setting up and I look forward to the more experienced members starting an official settings thread in the near future... cos I need a little guidance:)

00 flashed the updated firmware with no issues. No changelog as far as I can find so no idea what's changed. And although at first sight of the networking Ethernet socket on the back, connection and running the network set up and test to the gateway, DNS and internet which all passed. I cannot for the life of me find any features or sections that use this active connection. I turned on my PC's media sharing and shared a video folder. But the Tv appears to do nothing with the connection. Am planning to call LG tomorrow to ask why its there, testing as working but with apparently no actual use...or none that I can find yet.

Any thoughts of known facts on this networking (or not) and settings, most welcome.
 
Two days on. I am having a difficult time getting used to the way a large plasma looks in Windows 7. Its not great I have to admit. LG confirming there is no monitor driver inf file nor a color profile ICC file. The network connection at the rear is only meant for special screen firmware updates and engineers.

An LED/LCD is far better for windows desktop so I am going to have to somehow mount one of my two 24" LCD screens on a swing arm bracket next to my sofa so I can swtich to it and just move it into place when doing color important work £12 for bracket of amazon and a long DVI lead will do the trick.

I have been looking for font smoothing apps for windows for plasma screens. took me a day ot two but I have discovered something called GDI++ (version: GDI++0959) There are many youtube videos on how to find and get it running. It sits in the system tray and is light and safe to use. It employs some fake font smoothing effect to about 2/3 of windows. Basically just extract the files to a folder and run the 'gditray.exe' as admin and thats it. Right click over its try icon choose enable if its not already and then 'redraw desktop' Most windows adn menus and apps and popup boxes will then have a more MAC style of font smoothing.

Its a nice improvement in most windows places on a plasma screen I have to say. It has minor glitches but the project is live and evolving. It seems to turn of cleartype and run its own mac style of smoothing effect. At present it does not cover 100% of windows, menus, dialogue boxes, file browser. But has some effect on them. It appears safe, I scanned it with ESET. And can be started with windows with a tiny footprint and does not appear to be malware. So for now its something to experiment with.

I do need some help with setting up colors though. I notice the red spell checker lines as I write this under misspelt words is hard to see as the brighter red it should be and is appearing as a more crimson red. But I am not sure what advanced color settings to adjust.

So I think my worries here are just having to adjust to plasma screen over LCD(LED). If I had the budget for a 55" LED then yes I might have opted for that even though the movie playback isint as cinematic as plasma is. I do use windows 7 a lot with the big screen so would see the benefits here...but as I said I didnt even have the budget for a 47" so my choice were limited. Plus I did get the RicherSounds 5 year warranty.

With some tinkering with Firefox (about:config) settings for font smoothing and this windows font smoothing app GDI++ I can make my plasma's fonts look better in windows.

Watching a lot of TV shows downloaded in 720p and movies at same and 1080p the screen is very good.

Also tried a game, Battlefield 3. Looks great using game mode. Will test this more when I have more time.


Any members have a good settings/color set up guide I can try do please let me know. And any other questions I can asnwer about this TV if your thinking of buying just reply here or PM me.
 
Yea, any news on gaming? Heard about terrible input lag? I'm no hardcore console gamer but do play a reasonable bit!

Then again I'm coming from a 5y+ Samsung 720p so I can't imagine any of its worse than 5y old tech!
 
Ordered from PC World, almost went with the <499 used from Amazon Warehouse, but decided it wasn't worth the risk! Should be here tomorrow, which is surprising!
 
Gaming, yeah its ok. Not as bright as my old samsung LCD, but this is the small price to pay. Input lag, I wouldnt notice even if you pointed it out. I've just got into the Beta of Planetside2 and its looking great on the screen. Played BF3 1080p and its great, BIG. I am having to get used to the image retention of plasmas and the whites not being like a LCD/LED. But my movies and tv shows via PC/HDMI are really really worth it. Just DL'ed Avengers Bluray 1080p 16gb MKV, and watched it thru. Loved it. Looked great no complaints for quality of picture. Using Zoomplayer 8.15 and MadVR latest build, and Reclock. Cinema TV mode with some adjustments and its fantastic. Blows my old LCD outa the way.

Of course I know its a £500 range TV, not a £2000. But hey its all I could get and is really good for me. As I can't be £2000 range fussy.

One thing that I did have a shock with and thats the windows 7 desktop rendering of fonts, both windows 7 GUI and Firefox and Chrome. it wasnt good by any means. But after some Google digging and testing with some GDI font smoothing apps I have found one thats still in development 'Mactype'. First I have changed all my windows 7 fonts to the really good built for windows 7 and cleartype smoothing 'Calibri', and then installed the little 'Mactype' app and set it to registry install and then chose the 'Win7 Optimised' profile. And its smoothed out all the fonts much more like a mac, maybe too smooth for some, say using a LED screen. But with the plasma its just right. Google Chrome using the OS font smoothing is looking good. And most of Firefox also. I found Mactype to be stable, more stable than other other options out there like 'GDI++' and 'GDIPP'.


I will have to fix one of my 24inch screens to an arm near my sofa to use for color web and photoshop work as the plasmas isn't the screen to do work on like this even with my best eye calibration. But thats ok I expected this.

Having the TV on for long periods also I am using the Orbiter screen movement tool built in that shifts the screen 5 pixels every X minutes to avoid burn in. And also run the screen color wash feature to clear the screen say before a game session or good movie.


All in all a good buy, and from speaking to LG tech support a new firmware is on its way soon as well. It might be released via the network feature of the TV but I dont really want to leave it plugged into my network 24/7. So might just wait for the file to appear on the website and flash the screen putting it on a USB stick.


So I've not noticed any input lag. But have only a mid range self built PC desktop. No PS3 or Xbox. For £500 range I doubt a better plasma could be purchased at the moment. And any 47inch LED was £600+ and I didnt want a 47". The 55" LED's are hitting £700-900 whichb was out of my budget, so this TV will do and do well :)


I can point you all to the USA version of the same TV (if I am not mistaken) is the 50PA6500 and is on the US AV forum website with an official thread I've been reading thru and finding many useful tips and answers to questions. The [URL is here]. I hope it helps you as well.



Let me know how your experience goes :smashin:


This TV will do very well for a few years now, and then I guess its all going to be 8k sets filtering onto the market at bank breaking prices!
 
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Thanks muchly for that! I was originally looking at a 42 with 3d, as most plasmas in the <500 where all 1024x768, but glad I saw this one, esp with the 24p and deep colour support. I wouldn't mind if its not as bright, as I can control the brightness of the room...but it should have better blacks and natural contrast than my old set.

And most of my watching is blu, or HD mkv's via XBMC, so thank for that mactype link, will look into that too.

If you've not noticed anything with BF3, (might have to shift my pc into test that!), I can't imagine the source changing makes a difference, so thats excellent news.

Just worried that it's lower than my old one, and I'll have to shift my centre somewhere/somehow! ah well its not a bad Bank Holiday if your playing with a new tv :)
 
Does anyone know what this can decode?

I have seen you guys talk about .mkv but what about divx and xvid?

I can't seem to find it anywhere even the guys at RS couldnt find it.

Otherwise is everyone still happy with the TV?

Cheers
 
Decode, yes it decodes MKV, AVI, XVID, MP4. So with AVI-XVID it should also do DivX but I dont have any DivX to test this though.

But watching 1-2Gb AVI/Xvid's on such a large screen will surely expose the encoding issues and blockiness of those formats.

Am sure there are other movie formats and most still image formats it will decode.

I only tested a bunch of XVID,s and massive MKV's from a large flash drive stick in the Curry's and RS stores's. At home I'd never plug a flash stick in because it all runs 1080p from the desktop media PC
 
Hi Jonny,

Thanks for all the feedback on this TV. I am in the market for a new TV and thought a full HD plasma would be out of my price range so was pretty surprised to find this. I have a £10 discount voucher from Richer Sounds so I am seriously considering buying this for £470 next week.

Can I ask a couple of questions please?

I have a relatively small front room so I am going to run a HDMI lead from my PC to the TV and optical out of the TV into my 12yr old JVC hifi (saves me buying a sound bar or 2.1 system ;) )
You mentioned issues with displaying the win7 desktop, are these issues only in the browsers and desktop or do they effect other apps? So running games or media players playing blu ray movies from the PC to the TV look OK?

Have you used the optical out on it and, if so, have you noticed any problems with it?

Also my front room is south facing so is pretty bright (even in Scotland lol) - how is it with reflections now that you've had it a while?

Thanks again, this thread has been really helpful.
 
LG 50PM670T 50-inch Full HD 1080p Plasma 3D Smart TV

Same except 3d?

So should decode similar files?

Cheers
 
AFAIK yes but also the 50PA65T isn't a 'smart TV' so you can't connect it to a home network.
 
LG 50PM670T 50-inch Full HD 1080p Plasma 3D Smart TV

Same except 3d?

So should decode similar files?

Cheers

So does anyone have any experience at all of the LG 50PM670T Plasma as I have seen this for £599 at Richer Sounds. Just wondered if anyone has any additional info or whether it is in fact identical to the TVs detailed above (except for the Smart TV function).

Cheers
 
I am returning my 2nd set of the samsung.

First set buzzed and lots of DSE

2nd set the picture was niicccee but buzzed!

so now getting another brand.

LG i looked at and wasnt impressed with it.

both 60inc versions so dont know if the 50 would be any different.
 

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