Samsung PS42S5H spec shenanigans!

[quick joey smal]

I wish to purchase a Samsung PS42S5H plasma TV however I am having great difficulty getting the correct specifications for this model. Indeed even the 'Australian' people at Samsung UK say that the specification figures for the specified colour amount on their site is wrong! Even though the spec has been on their site for months, and is still there now!
Some retailers have "Number Of Colours 549 Billions".
I do know that these plasma's are available in the States under a different model number and they employ a 13 bit colour processor to give the 549 figure. However most of the the European retailers quote the colour figure at 69 Billion Colours (Dual 12-bit).
I really need to buy the plasma ASAP but I don't want to buy a 'last years model'. I would guess that the TV should be a 'Gen-5' panel.
Any help from anyone would be much appreciated.
Regards to all...

 

[gIzzE]

Seriously before you persue this screen any further do a good search on this forum, it is not highluy regarded at all.

I personally think it is one of the worst plasmas I have ever seen.

 

[jonnye]

I.ve waited 4 months for this panel to be released...have now given up and bought the pio 436. From what i.ve been told...this panel aint being released till they've got rid of all the s5h models. DigiUK had this P5H i=on their site since June 05, and have now taken it off....they're the uk's main online distributer....do the maths...this panel aint being released anytime soon...even if JL are advertising on their site.

Good luck.

ps. the specs are identical to the s5h apart from new shell and second hdmi port. otherwise identical

 

[gIzzE]

Same picture though!

 

[quick joey smal]

I'll be using the plasma with Windows Media Centre and therefore it will only be used in computer monitor mode I.E, I won't be using the built in tuner.
And from what I've seen, this panel seems like the most obvious choice for my particular use.
Can anyone confirm the 549 Billion colour claim for this model as listed on the samsung.com/uk site?

http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/television/plasma/ps42s5hxxeu.asp?page=Specifications

 

[MAT365]

well if it has a 13bit color processor:
2^13 = 8192 so 8192 combinations per color
RGB = 3 colours so 8192*8192*8192 = 549.755 million
Thats the maths so in theory could be said to be true.
However that is going to be over the full contrast dynamic range, so the number of colour combinations will be much less than this, say at low brightness e.g dark scene

However why is the number so important ??, much better to see a comparison between sets side by side.

 

[MAT365]

sorry didn't read all your measage
If it is 12 bit following the same logic as above
that's gives a max of 68.7 million colours.
incident 13bit is a strange multiple for a colour processor. This would make the internal IC maths difficult, for this reason I would strongly suspect it is 12bits.

 

[gIzzE]

I havent seen it with the built in tuner, I have just seen it with an HDMI dvd player and sky.
Awful screen, doesn't matter how many colours it says it can display.

 

[tjradiohead]

Forget ANYTHING the spec sheet says with regards to colour, i owned one for a month, and banding and colour detail were awful.

 

[Peabo]

Samsung plasmas = bad.
Buy any other screen but this one.

 

[quick joey smal]

Thanks for the replies guys,
But I think you're missing the point.
The reason the 12 or 13 bit processor is important is because this tells me I have the latest gen-5 panel! I'm not going to shell out for a panel that will be superseded in a couple of weeks.
Also I would have thought that a lot of the reported problems with the panel could well be in the tuner, analogue or digital.
MAT365, have a look at the Samsung specs via the link I posted earlyer.
The latest panels are definitely 13 bit, have a look at this jpeg

 

[Chavvychase]

Good points quick. Don't be put off by some of the posts on this thread. Any thread on the 5H gets an immediate negative reaction from gizlaroc, peabo and a couple of others, who seem to be obsessed with slagging off the 5H at every possible opportunity. There are people on this forum who are pleased with the 5H overall (moreover, in two recent reviews in video mags it scored 4 out of 5 stars). I am not saying it is the very best money can buy. Like all panels, it has its flaws. But for the money (remember it is considerably cheaper than the 500) and for an HD ready panel (note, not simply HD compatible) its worthy of consideration.

 

[gIzzE]

Chav mate, sorry but I would never knock a product without just cause, and this really is not a good screen, it has serious issues with colour reproduction and the way it process' anything thrown at it.

What I will say is this, I have two mates who bought these cause a local retailer was doing them for just over a grand and they couldn't resist, the guy who bought it as his first plasma says it is OK, the colour bandding annoys him as do the washed out blacks but he is generally quite pleased with it and loves the bigger screen.
The other guy has a panasonic pw5 which he has been running for 4 odd years, now he bought the screen because it is HD Ready and wanted to replace his old panny panel with something newer, he was going to put the panny in the kids playroom. Now he hates the samsung, he is on his third as he thought the first two were faulty! All I will say is his Panny is still in the main room and the kids have a new Samsung in their playroom.
Chav if you and others are happy then that is great, ignorance is bliss, but I tell you something, when you see a proper screen set up properly and see that plasma done right should beat CRT you may have big enough balls to come back on and say that maybe, just maybe we were right!?

The new Panasonics do 14bit colour processing on the hdmi input, but the hdmi still looks ***** compared with decent RGBhv or YUV on them, don't fall for the specs game, it's a mugs game.
And don't go and make the mistake of buying this screen, I have had so many PM's from people on here who have this screen and are gutted it is unreal, now none of them want to slag it off because they are trying to sell them, but believe me this gets more of a slating from owners than the Hitachi 6600.

13bit processing is all very well if everything else is done right, but that is the whole point, nothing else is actually done right on this screen.

 

[NonPayingMember]

I would highly advise avoiding this screen. Absolute guff, even if driven natively with a PC. If it's a dedicated PC monitor you're after snatch up a Pioneer MXE1 which I hear are going cheap at a few places (Richer Sounds?) - still the best screens to be run from a scaler or PC, just a lack of HDCP for HDTV. The LGs aren't too shabby either, although a Pio or Panny is still better

As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. There are reasons behind people slagging off screens like this and the Hitachi. Unforunately not everyone realises that a good picture shouldn't suffer colour banding, poor black detail and level, picture noise, combing and other obvious deinterlacing errors, in-accurate colour balance and gamma etc so simply do not know what they are missing. The amount of enquiries I've had where people have given up trying to get a decent picture and resorted to spending the same amount again on a video processor to do it is astonishing.

 

[tjradiohead]

Thanks for the replies guys,
But I think you're missing the point.
The reason the 12 or 13 bit processor is important is because this tells me I have the latest gen-5 panel! I'm not going to shell out for a panel that will be superseded in a couple of weeks.
Also I would have thought that a lot of the reported problems with the panel could well be in the tuner, analogue or digital.
MAT365, have a look at the Samsung specs via the link I posted earlyer.
The latest panels are definitely 13 bit, have a look at this jpeg

Its certainly NOT the tuner. I had banding/solarisation even running DVD through component. Alot of Comet stores have the s5h in stock, go and check them out with your gear if it is indeed the same panel as the new model. I think you might be glad that you did.

 

[NonPayingMember]

It wouldn't be the tuner, it would be the processor (and more bits should usually mean better gradation of colour and therefore no banding - goes to show spec means nothing). Unfortunately even feeding from a PC, at native resolution, still goes through the processor. You cannot totally bypass a plasma processor, you can just give it the best signal that it interferes with the least. This is why even though it will be a dummy monitor for your PC, it will still suffer issues.

 

[gIzzE]

Seriously, stick on the superbit version of The 5th Element and use a good source, try SDI dvd player into an SDI scaler, and have a look at the solorization on her face before she swan dives off the ledge, then look at the noise in the image when the scene moves inside the police car.
That is not a good image!
My £160 iiyama lcd monitor does it properly, my PW6 did it properly, my 435XDE did it properly and even my NEC 42XM3 did it properly!
If you guys have some magic settings then please share them, I would love to get this screen looking OK, my mate would like it looking OK even more so than me!

 

[quick joey smal]

Aghhh, You're right!
I just came back from Comet in Ashton, The Sammy looked great but compared to all eight others the pq looked terrible.
What can I say, I really wanted one of these.
The only way I would have one of these is if I could get one for less than a grand!
Thanks for your well founded advice...

 

[gIzzE]

Better to realise before it is in your room. Once the initial excitement has worn off and you start to noctice problems it is usually too late.

 

[quick joey smal]

I've gotta say it guys,
I just got back from Manchester and after viewing loads of plasma screens my conclusion is that they all stink! It's not quite there yet...
Yeah for sure, the Sammy's are amongst the worst but, they all suffer from blurring and that's quite a serious side effect. Maybe in a couple of years the electronics will have got that bit faster.
I know LCD looks sharper but the contrast ratios are s**t.
Crt is fine for analogue broadcasts.
Here's my conclusion...
I need a screen that will act as both TV and PC monitor.
I'm gonna go for the Sammy coz it's cheap, asteticly stunning, and does the job. Ok, the black stinks but hey, what happens when it's black and moving fast! they all stink. Noisy? I know, but some of that I reckon is down to the tuner and who knows, there may even be a firmware update!
Thanks for all the advice from the forum. I've gotta say, I've made my choice, and I will live with it...
Regards to all,
Wal...

 

[gIzzE]

As you are using it as a monitor why not buy a monitor?

The pioneer MXE1 is being flogged off for £1300 at Richer Sounds and is awesome, no blur at all as there is no frame rate conversion going on, and the blacks, although no darker than the Samsung, are completely noise free.
I personally prefer the Panasonic, but that is another £800 and have to admit for an £800 saving the Pioneer is very tempting.

 

[tjradiohead]

Noisy? I know, but some of that I reckon is down to the tuner and who knows, there may even be a firmware update!
Wal...

Its NOT the tuner....

I had blurring, banding, solarisation on ALL sources. I dont care what kind of colour processor this panel has, something in there isnt right. I didnt use the tuner at all. The colours are all wrong too.

Good luck

 

[gIzzE]

Agreed, you can feed it with a really clean HD signal and all the problems are still there, you can feed it with a PC and they are all still there.

 

[NonPayingMember]

Repeat - not the tuner, but the internal processor. Nothing can be done. Bit like flogging a dead horse.

 

[gIzzE]

I'm gonna go for the Sammy coz it's cheap, asteticly stunning, and does the job. Ok, the black stinks but hey, what happens when it's black and moving fast! they all stink. Noisy? I know, but some of that I reckon is down to the tuner and who knows, there may even be a firmware update!

I agree with the bit up to asthetically pleasing!

It won't do the job, not all blacks stink, you need to see a proper screen.
Firmware update!? Hmm.