Today's HDTV market is extremely fast paced with many new wide-screen HD television models seemingly entering the market every day. The Samsung PN42A450 is the current entry level Samsung 42" 720P Plasma HDTV. This was my third digital HDTV and was my first plasma.
My desire was to buy the best 42" plasma HDTV on the market (a discontinued Pioneer with split screen and 2 RF inputs), but unexpectedly along came the Samsung PN42A450 at less than one third of the price of the Pioneer by ordering online. I simply could not justify paying more than three times the price or possibly even more if I had to give up FREE SHIPPING and NO SALES TAX. So, sight unseen, I jumped on the Samsung PN42A450 for $799 delivered.
My use for this plasma TV is watching over-the-air and digital cable programming. I don't watch Blu-Ray or HD DVDs, so the Samsung PN42A450's 720P resolution is perfect for my needs. In fact, many claim that 720P programming looks better on a 720P display than when it is upconverted onto a 1080P display.
One reason I wanted to replace one of my LCD HDTVs was that they do not display motion well.
Another reason I wanted plasma was to have a glossy CRT-like screen so that, even when off, the TV would be a high tech black glass work of art. My living space is very dark with no sunlight, so glare and reflections are no bother. All of my computer monitor LCDs are glossy style. But sad to say, the Samsung PN42A450 boasts "anti-glare" as a key feature and the display does not look much like glass. In fact, even when off, the display of the PN42A450 is grey and not black which renders this Samsung plasma TV to look much more like a LCD TV. This issue is up to the reader's personal taste.
The final reason I wanted to trade one of my LCD TVs with a plasma is that plasmas have a more even brightness and fewer angle-of-view issues.
Although the Samsung PN42A450 is not a black glass work of art as noted above, it is super thin. In fact, this 42" Samsung plasma TV is slightly thinner than my 27" Olevia HDTV. And unlike my 27" and 32" LCD HDTVs, the Samsung PN42A450 comes with a sleek swivel base. Even the remote control has a stylish design.
The Samsung PN42A450 displays motion well. Samsung has better noise reduction than the non-Pioneer competition. Other than Pioneer, only the double-priced top line 800/850 series Panasonic plasmas can match it. The display is evenly bright as plasmas should be. There are plenty of connections.
Audio is fine (SEE UPDATES). Video is fine (after you turn down the preset factory settings). One thing I really like is that it has a fast response when channel surfing. The Samsung PN42A450 responds quickly to the remote control, and it is able to tune in each channel more quickly than my LCD HDTVs.
One weakness I have found with the Samsung PN42A450 is that, unlike basic LCD HDTVs, it does not offer 1:1 in TV mode. There is a 4:3 mode but it comes with distracting light grey bars on the sides of the display. The 16:9 mode stretches and distorts standard definition video. Zoom mode takes away the bright side bars and distortions, but Zoom also takes away the clear and sharp image most viewers seek.
A second plasma-oriented weakness is that solid bright white creates a bit of a flicker or strobe effect. This can also be seen on CRT TVs but is never seen on LCD TVs.
One quirk I have discovered is that as you channel surf the PN42A450 auto deletes channels that, at the moment, have no signal. It deletes channels regardless if they are saved as "FAVORITES" or not. If you have a cable system with part-time channels, or if you watch pay-per-view channels that are inactive when not being used, you will constantly need to re-do the channel scanning program. Reading the manual has not helped. It is impossible to permanently program in a part-time channel. The best you can do is avoid channel surfing once you go near the numbers of part-time channels. My 2006 and 2007 digital HDTVs do not do this. I find this channel deleting issue a total annoyance.
There are better HDTVs on the market, but most of them cost more.
Because of the channel auto-delete quirk, I would recommend this TV to a friend with this one major reservation.
[Please see my Epinions review of the 2008 42" 720P Panasonic TH-42PX80U plasma HDTV. I bought the Panasonic after buying the Samsung and so I was able to make a side-by-side comparison of these two directly competing 42" plasma HDTVs]
11-26-08 UPDATE: After 2 1/2 months of use, my Samsung PN42A450 plasma HDTV developed the weird digital audio distortion that others have reported. Watching any digital channel via cable, the audio severly distorts and breaks up, then goes silent and comes back normal for a while. It just started doing this one night and has not stopped. The audio repeatedly distorts while watching any digital channel, but sounds normal when watching any analog channel. The infamous Samsung warranty support people have offered little help other than to keep unplugging it.
02-17-2009 UPDATE: After the above update, Samsung sent out a repair person who replaced the "main board" or most of the innards of the TV. Still, the same severe audio distortion took place. The Samsung repair person said my set was not overheating, and there is "no known solution" for this problem. It took only one request (and some time), but Samsung replaced my defective PN42A450 set with a higher plasma model. It arrived in a factory new retail box. I sold it for a profit and bought a different brand because I was affaid the same weird thing would happen. In the end, I must say that I was happy with Samsung's warranty support. I will write a review of the new TV shortly.
