Samsung PN42A450: Great Picture! Great Sound! Great Deal!

This Fall, my 36" tube-television finally died and went to silicon heaven.  I spent several months researching HDTV's, as I really wanted to upgrade to a nice, new HDTV.  Several months, many magazines, recommendations, web-sites, and store-visits later, (and based on my budget), I chose the Samsung PN42A450 42.3 inch HDTV.  I love it!
 
Set-Up:

Set-up was a breeze!  It was much easier then I expected.  The packaging in the box was nice, tight, and safe, and with two people it wasn't too hard to unpack.  The weight is such that one or two people can easily move and manipulate the television, which was a huge problem with my old 36" tube television (which seemed to weigh more then an object that size should).

I placed the TV on its new stand, connected the power cord and the clip-on device that is supposed to reduce interference from the cord, and plugged it in.  I connected an HDMI connector to my HD cable box and regular connections to my old DVD player (unfortunately it is standard-def).  I then turned it on, and it worked!  It is smart enough to know when a device is connected and turned on, so I did not need to manually set-up any channels for the devices.

The TV

The TV looks fantastic!  It has a shiny black border surrounding the screen and stands on a swivel stand that helps make viewing in a small condo easier.  The swivel moves easily enough if you use two hands (one on each side) and turn slowly.  Nice.


The Screen

Watching TV on this plasma screen in a condo with many windows and lights has actually been better then I expected.  I almost went with an LCD display due to the glare issues, but went with the plasma based on price and viewing angle.  The Ultra FilterBrightTM anti-glare filter (which claims to reduce glare) seems to work, as I don't get much glare and have much less then I used to on my tube-television.

The viewing angle is perfect for my tight condo, as I can watch from almost directly to the side with almost no distortion or darkening (175 degrees, according to the specs), which I need in my viewing space. 

The contrast seems sharp, with deep blacks and vibrant colors, especially on HD programs.  Watching Survivor or National Geographic is just an amazing experience!  I also find I don't have the motion blur that I've seen on many other HDTV's in the store.

Part of this great picture is (theoretically) the technology that is included in this television: DNIe.  This technology includes a contrast enhancer, a motion optimizer, a color optimizer, a silhouette editor (which makes faces seem more natural) and a detail enhancer.  I don't know if this is what does it, but the picture is amazing to me!

The TV comes with anti-burn technology, which is great for me as I tend to pause movies quite often while handling my almost-2-year-old and we watch many shows in 4:3 ration, which leaves bars that could burn-in on the sides.  So far, so good, no burns.

The Sound

The sound is based on 10-watt per channel built in audio amplifier with a direct down-firing speaker system, and SRS TruSurround XT.  While I'm not familiar with the technical's of all of this, I don know that the sound is great!  I'm not currently going through my stereo system, so I've been using the TV directly, and I can't tell the difference, except that I have no surround sound currently.

Connections

This TV has a nice array of connections that meet my every need (so far) and my future planned needs.  The most important feature is that it has 3 HDMI connectors, so when I upgrade my DVD player to Blue-Ray, I'll still have one more open connector (the first is for the HD cable box).  In addition, there are 2 component video inputs, a PC input, headphone input, an RS232C (I'm not sure what that is for), and a Universal Anynet Plus, which I think is for the connection for Samsung products that work together.

The Remote Control
 
The Remote control fits nicely in the hand and does the job nicely.  Besides that standard remote buttons, it has a button for changing the picture aspect ratio, which I find extremely helpful.  Through the remote, I was able to do on-screen changes to channels, date/time, color, contrast, etc.

Final Thoughts

With its beautiful picture, easy-to-use controls, nice set of connections, and good sound, I highly recommend this HDTV!


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Product:  Samsung PN42A450
Size: 42.3 in.
Type: HDTV Plasma TV
Formats: 720p (HDTV), 480p (EDTV), 480i (SDTV)

Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Contrast Ratio: 20,000:1
Display Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels
Weight: 67.2 lb.