Plasma TV Reviews: Plasma TV for Less

Reviews

The item was packed just fine and no damage what so ever. Did not take long for 2 people to put it together. Easy instructions. Item looks great. Had an issue with getting the doors to close smoothly so we just took them off and it still looks great with my 50 inch plasma on it! Great looking especially for the price and very modern.

We purchased this stand on Amazon with a little trepidation, having had bad experiences with DIY assembly furniture in the past... especially items made in China. We were very very pleased however with this unit. The materials used are high quality MDF, and every pre-drilled hole and plug was in exactly the right position. (No off-center or missing holes like many previous items we have assembled). The unit is made in Quebec, Canada, and the company is clearly dedicated to quality! The assembly manual was thorough and understandable. Every illustration in the manual showed each piece precisely as it should be oriented, with every pre-drilled hole shown in the illustration. This is critically important, because it eliminates the potential for assembling any piece the wrong way and having to start over. Each piece is clearly marked with a code that is referenced in the manual, and the company ships the unit with a few extra small items like plastic dowels... "just in case"! Assembly was straightforward and timed at exactly one hour... including downing two cups of coffee during assembly! The description on the Amazon site shows this base as limited to a 40" TV, but we found our 47" Vizio (85lbs) fit without issue and looks great on the stand. (The manual indicates a maximum weight on the top shelf at 185lbs.) As others here have mentioned, the smoked glass on the cabinet doors does NOT inhibit infrared remote use. We have a DirecTV satellite box in the cabinet, and the remote works perfectly through the door. (See the user picture I have posted on this page with notes) PRO's: - Beautiful stand made of High Quality materials - Every piece fits perfectly, and instructions are clear and complete - Infrared devices can be used for electronics kept inside the smoked glass doors - Easy Assembly in about an hour Neutral's: - Plastic legs may become worn after repeated moving by sliding the base instead of lifting CON's: - None really. This is a very well-made unit NOTE: This review is for the PRODUCT and if I could, I'd give it SIX stars. It's really that good. HOWEVER, if I was also rating Amazon's handling of this item, I would drop it to THREE stars due to inaccurate shipping info: - I ordered the unit on 1 December with PRIME 2-day shipping (With the caveat that Amazon stated a 2-5 day processing time on the item's order page) - On 3 Dec, Amazon's Order Tracking indicated that the item had been shipped and that delivery was scheduled for 4 December - 4th and 5th December passed without delivery, so I called FedEx to ask about the tracking number. They said they hadn't yet taken possession of the stand, only a pickup order. - I called South Shore's number in Canada to ask "what's up" and spoke to a VERY NICE lady who advised me that all their products get delayed by CUSTOMS at the border. Understandable BUT Amazon should clearly reflect this possible delay in shipping, and provide more accurate shipping data. - Stand finally arrived on 8th of December via FedEx. Not bad for the item, but caused some frustration due to Amazon's inaccurate tracking and delivery estimate. In summary, this is a GREAT stand; easily assembled; functional and esthetically pleasing. And while Amazon dropped the ball a bit on shipping data, this unit is still HIGHLY recommended!!

Saw it. Loved it. Ordered it. Easy Assembly. Fits in our home perfectly, all our components fit and the height of the TV is at eye level from the couch. Arrived with one damaged piece, called South Shore and a replacement part from sent immediately. Highly recommend this product.

I bought this TV stand in June 2009 and so far it has been 100% satisfying. Pros: 1. Holds my 54" Plasma TV with no stress even thought ad says it is for 36" and 40" TVs. 2. Very contemporaryish. 3. Delivery and Price 4. Assembly (Took an hour or so by myself) Cons: 1. Attracts dust and maybe visible depending on lighting and if you get close enough to the stand. With frequent dusting, shouldn't be a problem. 2. Can't keep electronic components on either side with the doors closed due to overheating. 3. Legs are plastic and not metal as I thought it would be. My Verdict: Excellent buy as far as I'm concerned. Highly recommend it!

I ordered this from Amazon. I just love it. It arrived quickly and was just what I expected. Great design and quality and was pretty easy to assemble. It has great storage space and room for cable box, dvd player/recorder and mini audio system. Excellent!!! PS - one of the doors was damaged. I emailed Southshore and they are shipping it out to me. No regrets at all.

Reviews

Especially when it comes to Plasma TVs, and particularly when it comes to accessories for Plasma TVs. I dont know what the hell Super Mommy is talking about. I own a 50" Panasonic UK Plasma and this stand takes about 5 minutes to assemble and position the display on with the help of a friend. All this talk about "adjusting the bars, screwing on the TV, banging on it with a hammer, and worrying about the plasma tilting over and falling on small children" is the funniest thing I've ever read anywhere. (Put the hammers and crowbars away.) The stand comes with two cast aluminum pins that are screwed onto a specific location for 50" TVs with two small bolts using a Phillips head screwdriver. The locations are marked and if you cant figure it out then a quick glance at the instruction sheet should point you in the right direction. Position your stand, now you and your pal can lift it onto the guidepins and just let it settle onto its base. Once the Plasma is seated, it will swing freely in about a 10degree arc, but its natural position is to rest in a slightly forward position. This is by design, and I can guarantee you with the heavy counter-weighted base there is absolutely no possibility of your new Panasonic Plasma "falling over" and crushing your rug rats. 5 Hammers

Reviews

This is the #1 rated 50" plasma TV as rated by Consumer Reports and I agree. It looks great and I have no complaints. Extremely pleased!

So I've had the TV for about one week now and was waiting until I mounted it and hooked up the surround sound before I wrote the review. The shipping process was pretty benign. Pilot, the company that shipped it, was in constant contact with me from the get. The only issue was that they didn't deliver on weekends, so I had to authorize my apt to have them drop off the TV when I wasn't home. I was a tad apprehensive of this, as I live on the third floor without elevators. Thank goodness it arrived in one piece and flawless. I did a lot of research before buying this plasma. In fact, I was set on a Samsung LED edge lit when I walked into Best Buy one day and I started looking around. One TV in particular caught my eye and it was the 50 inch pn50b650. It was more lifelike with truer colors and deeper blacks when compared to any edge lit LED. At that time I was set to buy the TV, but felt I must do my due diligence and research further. I read all the rave reviews, but I also read about the dreaded buzzing. Now, I'm not gonna lie to you...there is some buzzing, but its inaudible at practically all listening volumes, and I sit about 12 feet away. So if you are concerned about that, don't be. Second is image retention. If you don't break the TV in, I suspect you may have an issue with this. I was watching a basketball game on the CNET rec settings and had some image retention, but it quickly disappeared after using the scrolling function. So my advice on that is to just take it easy for a while on color and brightness. As for glare, I have a very brightly lit room during the day and at times there can be some glare, but I can just close the blinds. It's a small sacrifice. Now for the good stuff. The pic on this is amazing...even now as i'm breaking it in. Everything is lifelike and so true, unlike the way some LEDs make pictures seem kind of surreal.. I absolutely love this TV. I've mounted it, hooked up my mirage nanostat 5.1 and am in Heaven. Watched dark knight and was amazed. If you are having any misgivings about this TV, don't..It's an unbelievable TV, esp for the price (I got it for 1139, but now I see its up to 1439, prob because it's discontinued.) You can pay more than twice this amount for edge-lit LEDs and the picture won't be as good. If you are set on an LED, then make sure you get local dimming. Hope this review is helpful. Also, if you are deciding between 650 or 850, the only difference is the thickness of the TV. Cnet even states that blacks are deeper on the 650. You will be happy with this TV.

This television exceeded my expectations. It is so life like it is better than being there. Sports games make you feel like you are right on the court or field. You don't want to buy tickets to games because you couldn't be as close to action as this television takes you. Movies are better than the theatre because the color and clarity are just as good or better and you have no chance of having annoying people around you.

It was a bit nerve-wracking to click on the mouse and spend so much money but everything was just as advertised.Great tv and delivery on time with no problems.

This TV is always amazing me with its clarity and sharpness of picture. The only down fall is the sound system. I'm sure that when they we're in development, they assumed that people would put a sound system with this TV. OK

Reviews

I just received this unit today and it has exceeded every expectation. I was worried about the 'buzz' that many people have reported experiencing, and while I was able to hear it (not nearly as loud as a dvd player, or game console), the sound completely went away after ~3 hours of having the unit on. The same goes for the mild image retention common with brand new plasmas. After running the image retention 'scrubber' program on the tv for a few hours overnight, the very slight ghosting is completely gone. I can't say enough about the image quality. I've never seen anything close to this set's color reproduction and smoothness. I've tried it with blu-ray, standard dvd, ps3, 360, and media sharing. After some calibration (excellent options available), and following CNET's guide [...] for movie picture settings, I was blown away. The built in UI for navigating options on the TV is excellent and intuitive. A real pleasure to use after Sony tvs. The only drawback is the speaker setup. It's adequate for light tv watching, but you're going to want to use external speakers for serious movie watching. A small trade-off for the positively stunning 1.5" depth for the whole set. Can't recommend this tv enough!

We bought this item in Oct 2009 after doing lots of research and a visit to Best Buy, actually two visits and I walked out during the second visit due to their withdrawing on their offer. Found this item here through [...] and got a great deal. Delivery was quick and actually a day early. Delivery men unpacked and placed set on our stand, turned it on to be sure it was working. (next day cable company came out to set up.) This has exceeded our expectations and everyone who has seen it has stated it's the best picture they have ever seen. We agree and would recommend it to anyone. This was our first HDTV and the most expensive item ever purchased on line but no regrets.

I had intensively researched HDTV's (online reviews - cNet, user reviews, etc) for a couple of months. I was on the hunt for the perfect tv for my bedroom. I wanted something big but not bulky. Initially I was set on getting an LCD (narrowed it down to a Samsung LN750 or a Sony XBR9). Then I read about the clicking issue on the Samsung LCD's and decided to get the Sony. To solidify my selection and make sure there wasn't something better out there for my needs, I made yet another trip to my local big box store. Let me tell you that I have never owned a plasma. I never even consider getting one because of old ideas I had about them (burn in, longevity, energy consumption, etc). When I saw the Samsung PN50B860 on display, I couldn't believe the picture I was seeing. Wow!!! The picture was awesome and the tv profile is simply stunning. It has the aesthetics of an LED without the huge price tag. I went home and did more research on plasmas. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that these concerns were, for the most part, non-issues nowadays. The other MAJOR concern I had was the buzzing issue. I read numerouse online reviews that most people were very satisfied with the picture quality, but in the end, the buzzing issue was a dealbreaker. The tv went on sale at a local store ($700 less than the Sony I was originally considering) and I decided to risk it. The tv was delivered last week and I was devastated when I instantly heard the buzzing. I decided to give it a few days to see if I could live with it. Last night I was reconfiguring my components and happily learned that the loud buzzing I was hearing was NOT from the tv, but rather from the HD cable box sitting directly below the tv. The cable box has since been placed inside the cabinet and all buzzing has disappeared. My tv has a manufacture date of December 2009. Hopefully this means that Samsung has since fixed the problems reported earlier. I highly recommend this tv to everyone. The quality is second to none. Run, don't walk....

I just got my Samsung pn50b860 delivered today and let me tell you, it's awesome. The manufacture date was January 2010. Vanns told me they only carry recently build models. No buzz whatsoever. I can't even hear anything putting my ears next to the tv. The base is super strong and very elegant looking. The tv matches my decor perfectly. This tv does emit a lot of heat from the front making my living room nice and toasting for long viewing My only complaints is the speaker, it's very weak and the touch sensitive buttons on the tv does not light up. Bought my tv from Vanns for 1429.

I have owned flat panels for over 10 years now. My last purchase was a Sony Bravia 52" LCD top of the line. While LCD is fine, nothing beats plasma. stunning picture and SAMSUNG has out did itself with the thickness of this TV.. I mean thin!! I also purchased the SAMSUNG mount (picture style).. what a breeze to install and hang the TV. I know there have been complaints about the buzz sound, but honestly it is only heard if I put my head right up to the display and even then it is nothing out of the ordinary.. Super easy to get this unit going. Out of all the TV's on the market, LED backlit, LCD's.. plasma still wins hands down.. And the price, very good.. Don't waste the extract money on an LCD, if you want a really nice, cool thin flat screen this is the one!!!

Reviews

So this is my very first HD TV and let me say that now I know what all the fuss is about. The picture is gorgeous, comparing it to a CRT is like comparing Jessica Alba to, well, a rock. This picture is so much better that it cannot be compared to CRT picture quality. The TV itself was easy to install on the stand, and once it was set up and hooked up, I found the menus to be easily navigable. Personally, I tried to use my electronic expertise to go at it without the manual, that didn't work. Thankfully the manual had an easy to find fix for my stupidity. On top of a great picture, the actual hardware is pretty. I say that if you are thinking about this TV or the 1080 model, save the extra dough and get this one. The other 360 lines of resolution won't make that much of a difference until you go higher than 50 inches. I know this because, though I am new to the HD world, I studied and read up more about this tech than I did for the SAT, ASVAB, and Pre-calculus combined.

I got this tv on sale the day after it arrived in stores for only $720 and I could not be happier with it. The picture is fantastic right out of the box. As with all plasmas, make sure you take the break in period seriously by turning down the contrast and brightness a bit for the first 100-200 hours. I've also been running the anti-burn in scrolling feature for about an hour a night when I go to bed and have yet to notice any sort of image retention although I haven't played any video games on it yet. There's a lot of chatter about these Samsung plasmas having an annoying buzzing sound coming from them but I have yet to notice it. Maybe I just got lucky with mine but it runs very quietly.