Samsung Series 8 Full HD Plasma HDTV Review

Samsung’s Series 8 Full HD (1080p) plasma HDTVs for 2009 feature increased energy efficiency, ultra-slim depth and media center features. Natural strengths of plasma televisions shine through with an enormously high contrast ratio of 3,000,000:1 and a response time which is to order of a 1,000 times faster than LCD HDTVs (0.001ms) for fast moving on-screen action without blurring. It must be noted that these models are pleasing to the eye with their slim profile and their chrome-like, translucent accents to the bezel.

Samsung Series 8 Full HD Plasma HDTV

The series 8 Samsung plasma range consists of the 58 inch PN58B860 and PN58B850 and the 50 inch PN50B860 and PN50B850. The difference between the B860 and B850 models is about $100 in RRP and the inclusion of Cinema Smooth for 24p playback with the B860 models. For the small difference PTek suspects that most customers will opt for the B860 models.

Any glare on a HDTV display can be extremely detrimental to picture quality and to deal with this situation Samsung a have included their Ultra FilterBright Plus anti-glare technology to help the Series 8 plasmas achieve their impressively high dynamic contrast ratios. Samsung quote a reduction in luminance in black levels by up to 50 percent over previous Samsung models.

As mentioned the B860 models come with CinemaSmooth technology for playback of 24fps Blu-ray content, as well as 24fps movies via HD satellite service providers so you get the same picture quality you would get in a movie theater. No judder. Also included with the B860 models is the latest Crystal Full HD Engine chip which unifies all of Samsungs video processing technologies for the best image quality. Samsung’s Wide Color Enhancer 3 maps high definition signals to the panel’s native color space, ensuring that a full range of vibrant yet natural colors (110 percent of the current HD specification) are always shown on-screen.

Samsung’s Medi@2.0 Suite

The Samsung Series 8 plasmas follow the latest trend of HDTVs incorporating more home media center and networking features, incorporating new interactive networking features. All models come with Samsungs Media 2.0 suite which includes; Internet@TV, DLNA connectivity, Media Play and and a Pre-loaded Content Library.

Samsung’s Internet@TV Content Service provides onscreen access to web-based content from a host of Yahoo! properties (Flickr, News, Weather, and Finance), and well-known names like USA Today and others. The interface is a widgets-based scrollbar across the bottom of the screen for easy browsing. Widgets can be added after purchase. To encourage new content development Samsung have made a widget development kit available for content providers.

Samsung’s Media Play allows you to play music files, pictures and movies saved on a USB or DLNA device.

The Home Network Center makes it easy to locate photos, music and videos on networked PCs from your HDTV.

The preloaded content library is a multimedia collection including photos, artwork, games, recipes and more.

While Samsung state that their Series 8 plasma HDTV models are ENEGY STAR compliant actual power requirements don’t seem to be available. However, plasma HDTV inherently have a higher power draw than similar size LCD HDTVs.

Samsung have provided powerful twin 15W speakers and SRS Lab’s patented SRS TruSurround HD a multi-channel surround sound virtualization technology which produces a surround sound effect using only two speakers.