Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Bought my first plasma!!

Well guys, I bought the Samsung PN58A550 on sale today and am super excited!! I actually got to see the set as they had one on display and the picture is very stunning. It comes on Tuesday so I was wondering if you guys had any setup suggestions like TV settings, and connecting my components. The only components that I have to change around are my satellite and one of my DVD players; now that I have component cable hookups. Should I run both into my Denon and then one component out from my Denon to the TV? Also I don't have any clue about setting my Denon up or my TV up to get the best picture. Oh yeah, the TV has a two year warranty and future shop will add their warranty (four years) which in essence tacks on another two years for $500. Do you guys think it's worth it? The salesperson said that they get a large percentage of warranty claims. I know I'm probably missing something, but any input would be greatly appreciated. You guys are the pros and I'm the peon .

Thanks ahead, I can't wait!!

PS. If I get lots of suggestions and input I'll post lots of pictures

Hey, didn't you know electronics are out of season and you're supposed to be buying rings?

I'm spending my money on electronics now because I'm dreading the day that your statement applies to me

HA!

Cam, here is a two cent intro. Just don't jump on me if you know all this already, I'm just going through the basics i can think of off the top of my head. I'd go with HDMI if you have the option from your cable box and DVD /BluRay, that will simplify things dramatically and reduce wire clutter and reconnection time if you need to unplug it all for whatever reason. Monoprice seems to be the source for wire that everyone here supports. Blue Jeans cables is another good site for cheap quality wires. If you go with component, try to use the optical out from the TV and Cable Box so you get 5.1.

I would say go to AVS forum and they likely have a thread dedicated to your TV series. It dramatically sped up the tweak of my RPTV. You will get a quick handle what changes everybody has adopted and how to get into the service menu to make real changes. If you don't have a BluRay player I would put that on your short list. There are some out for much cheaper now.

With a big 1080p TV you need to feed that beast some sweet 1080p food. I recommend Dark Knight as the eye candy of choice with its IMAX images. (Adrian mentioned Darkest Knight, apparently a love story between Joker and Robin, but I have not seen it so I will reserve judgment. Not that there is anything wrong with that!)

Yell if you have specific question, I am sure the answers are here.

Oh good, Adrian is here to give us the book report on Darkest Knight (or is it Night). I'm guessing Brokeback Mountain with much creepier dialogue. Or, perhaps it is just Top Gun with tights instead of towels? Gay Top Gun Explained

The only option I have from my satellite and DVD player is component, but I don't understand what you are saying when you mention to use the optical out the optical out from the TV and cable box so I get 5.1. Right now I am using the digital audio out from my satellite box to my receiver, is that what you mean?

My thread got hijacked upon its first reply

Haah! I'll give my pal Quinton Tarantino a call to explain The Dark(est) (K)night to the non-believers!! I mean c'mon what do you think Batman means when he says..."Robin, to the Batcave"?

Yep, just making sure you had a digital audio connection from your sat box - don't want to miss the beauty of "What Not to Wear" in surround sound!

... ... ... That is exactly the creepie dialogue I was talking about.

When, Alfred the butler retires, you just know he's heading out on the talk show circut. He'll write a book, appear on Oprah, Larry King Live and spill the beans on Robin. What was Robin REALLY thinking when he slid down the Batpole, hmmmmm?

I would pass on the extended warranty. According to Consumer Reports, plasma TVs have proven to be very reliable. Any problems will more than likely occur within the basic warranty period.
For calibration, you can start here for the basics. You can spring for a calibration DVD if you want to take it to the next level.

Spring for the calibration DVD. It will be worth it. I found that I was able to get notably better black levels and was able to minimize red push on my RPTV.

Congrats on the purchase Cam. No other useful advice to offer unfortunately.

Jason

Congrats Cam.

+1 vote for getting a calibration DVD. I got the AVIA disc when I got my Toshiba RPTV and it made a huge difference.

As for the warranty question, it's your call but here's a little insight. The story's a little old now, but the song remains the same, as it were.

There's a reason that he told you that they get a lot of claims. I'd say that if you're going to have problems, you'll encounter them within the manufacturer warranty period. Enquire about being able to purchase warranty later on, like four years from now.

Thanks for the insight guys, I figured there was a reason he was telling me that they get lots of claims and, well, I waited because I have the fellow Axiomites to help me out. As far as calibration goes, I do have a calibration DVD although I'm not sure which one it is, but it's definitely not AVIA. Does anyone know if you can return cables to Future Shop if the box is open? I bought some component video cables only because I need them for Tuesday and day came to $70. My plan was to look for some at Monoprice (if anyone could provide me with a link to good-quality component video cables it would be sweet) and then return these when I get the others in the mail.

And no they were not Monster cables LOL.

Here's the Monoprice link.

Thanks dude

As far as warranties go, when I investigated last year, I came across a consumer reports article stating that failure rates on LCDs and Plasmas were around the same as old style TV's, 1-2%. When I spent $1000 on the last tube TV I bought, I didn't even think about an extended warranty, and the store didn't push one (local independant).

Very good, Cam. As far as extending the warranty, as Joe and Fred pointed out, LCD and plasma sets have been very reliable and its highly unlikely that the extended warranty would be of financial benefit to you(although it certainly would be to the salesman).

Guess they saw me coming.

I don't know, I still hear many problems with dead pixels and such in the forums. I for one have an entire line of dead pixels 4" up from the bottom on my Samsung LN-T4069F and it happened just shy of the 1 yr factory warranty and luckily I did purchase the extended warranty, so I am just waiting till it nears the end of its life(the extended warranty period) before having it repaired/replaced.

I paid $299 for 3 years. I think they wanted $399 for 5 years. I didn't want to go for any but I managed to get talked into it. I knew the pitch was coming. I thought there might be a lot to go wrong with one of these. (52" LCD)

I'm not usually a big fan of extended warranties but the Sharp LCD we had took a dump just short of the 24 month period and I'm glad we had ours. I would say 5 bones is awful steep though. Cam, look over at the big 550 thread on AVS, they have a lot of good info there.

Has anyone used a plasma break-in DVD like this ? It's recommended on AVS to either run your TV for 100 to 150 hours on full screen or use said DVD which is apparently very popular.

Thanks

Here is some food for thought

"Opposing View on Break-In: Not all plasma owners believe a break-in period is necessary for the later generations of Samsung plasma sets. The Samsung factory supports this view. Samsung's Support FAQ, as of 2007, states: "Samsung Plasma TVs do not require a break-in period." There has been much concern and confusion over this issue because both Pioneer and Panasonic published documents as late as 2004 stating their plasma sets required 1,000 hours of break-in. As of 2007, no plasma manufacturers suggest their sets require break-in. Some owners see this as good news, while some market analysts believe as plasmas continue to lose market share to LCD's, plasma manufacturers are no longer pointing out areas of concern that could impact sales. NET: Use your own best judgment"

I pulled this from here:

http://samsungplasmatvfaq.com/index.php/Break-in,_burn-in,_and_image_retention

1000 hrs of break-in ? wow...if that were the case I'd just buy one of the store demos/open box for less $$. (I bought LCD)

I haven't ran any break in dvd but I have been veiwing most evrything full screen so far. I'll do this for the first 100 hours or so just as a caution.

Hey I bought the same model last September (?) for the same reason, I went in to purchase the Samsung LN52A650 LCD (had already negotiated a price) and saw this one on display and just had to have it.

I've been told that calibration will extend the life of the plasma but right now it looks so great to me that I haven't changed any settings (plus I’ve been focused on getting the surround sound up to speed). The picture is quite vivid, I'm sure it's not perfectly accurate without calibration, but the one I saw on display had been calibrated and looked just as vivid, I guess I'll get around to it one of these days to protect my investment.

My Wife took my PLASMA !!!!!

True actually, she spent a couple of years as a phlebotomist for Canadian Blood Services. I used to donate plasma on a regular basis. I should really start that habit again, or at least whole blood. That's a lot quicker a procedure.

Hey guys, I got the TV all hooked up!! A couple questions though . I've played Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds live at Radio City and the video quality seems to be grainy and washed out at times. I'm running everything via component video because I don't have HDMI, and I've also calibrated everything as recommended on AVS forum thread for my television.

Is HDMI a giant leap from component video? At future shop I told them to play the Planet Earth DVD which was hooked up via HDMI and the picture was phenomenal, but it didn't have the "dark color" like the aforementioned DVD.

Is it normal to have a subpar picture like this running through my older DVD player? Honestly, the picture wasn't even close to as "washed out" on my old Hitachi connected via S-video.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I have the same unit and use hdmi and the sony 350 blu ray player to play dvds. I believe in voodoo like power conditioners, prior to hooking mine up I was unhappy with normal dvd and normal hd directv (I kept thinking "Where's my blu ray?")

Currently I enjoy all hd content on directv as well as dvds without feeling I am missing anything (e.g., LOTR dvds etc). Of course I can notice the difference and when I plug in a blu ray such as Dark Knight I go "Wow!" perhaps even more so due to the sonic difference, the visuals of course are amazing as well, but I'm definitely not jonesing with standard dvds.

So from what you are saying something to me sounds wrong although from what I have read/experienced I couldn't begin to imagine that it would be the component video connection, perhaps it is the dvd player, haven't played dvds to hdtv except through sony 350.

I still have questions, for example, when the external RAID hard drive unit to my HR21 I purchased from Weaknees failed (?, interference), how come all of the Directv HD content looked fuzzy, not just the intermittent breaking up of the picture? I thought the virtue of digital was that it was either on or off, never fuzzy?

I have my cable hooked up via component and I have not noticed the picture to be grainy on the 460. The HD channels output are outstanding looking through component (1080i), I would have to think it is the dvd player.

Wheelz,a good friend of mine bought the same tv as yours and a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray player.We ran HDMI to his YAMMY and HDMI to the TV,we watched Happy Feet on Blu-Ray.The PQ was just amazing.Then we put in the same movie on DVD to check out the upscaling and well....that lasted for about 1 beer.The difference was night and day.Grainy and washed out is what it was.You may have to spring for a BR player.The whole time I was tring to figure out how to bring that TV home without the wife noticing,still working on that.
Darcy.

Cam, is you DVD an upconverting player? If not, I can see a true 480 image not looking great on a good TV. The TV's internal scaler may not be up to par, or the play may just suck? If it is upconverted, then the problem might be with the player. Do you have access to a Blu-Ray player? If so, try that through the same input. If that looks fine, it is probably not the TV. If that looks bad however, call the store and complain.

Thanks, I'm trying to get my hands on my friends PS3. I called the store and complained and future shop gave me a number to call and they can come out and check it at no charge. My DVD player doesn't do up converting but I checked the manual for it and the only option I have under video settings is to change the aspect ratio. I'm assuming it's set to 4:3 for my old TV so I will check it out and if need be set it to 16:9, hoping that makes a difference.

Thanks for the help Zimm and others.

Standard def on a TV like that will look grainy, time for an upconverting player or Blu Ray.

Well Jay, I did just that. I was holding out for the new Oppo but after getting a response from them this morning in regards to their release date, "We anticipate releasing the BDP-83 in March for a MSRP between $499 and $599" I bought the 980 today. I didn't want to get one of their higher models because I will be getting their Blu-ray player when it comes out so I hope the 980 will suffice and is a good unit.

Not to be a party pooper, I think I might have paid a little more and went for the 981, supposed to have better upscaling, IIRC. ALthough I think I would have really just gone out and purchased the Samsung DVD1080P8, for $80-90 and waited to spend more on the Oppo. I have the P7 version and it has upscaled very well for me for over a year on the 40"LCD. The PQ is really quite outstanding for this price.

This is from Solutions AV(oppo's cdn dealer)on the 980H

"We recommed the 980 to clients with TVs that are 32" or less, or with 37-42" displays that are 720p only and are not native 1080p. For sets larger than this, the improvement in picture quality by going to the 981 will be well worth the difference in price. The 980 is also ideal for older CRT displays, and even as an entry level CD/SACD player. The 980 also does 480i over HDMI, useful for high-end videophiles using external scalers and wishing to use the 980 simply as transport."

err, I did read that on their site a while ago. I really couldn't afford another $100 for a player that I will hopefully only have for a couple months, as I plan on selling it and buying Oppo's Blu-ray. That said, I could return it and get something like the model you mentioned but the unit cost me $130 so I don't think return in shipping and a cheaper model will work out better for me. Should have asked for suggestions before pulling the trigger.

Edit-actually it was $230, so maybe going your route is the way to go. I'll have to shop around for a cheap, good quality upscaler.

Well Jay, I found a refurbished Samsung DVD1080P8 for $60 and picked it up. Now I'm just trying to cancel my order of the 980 before I receive it.

I hope I didn't steer you in the wrong direction! But that little Samsung I have does an outstanding job as far as I can tell. I would use a HDMI cable as I have noticed, not surprisingly, better resolution this way. I hope the newer version works as well for you as mine does for me, but you couldn't go too wrong for that price!

No, not at all, at the very least I can compare both models and see which one performs better but I'll be keeping the Samsung regardless just because of the price.

Every time I see this thread, I think about chiming in with a blood joke. Then I read the thread and see that Murph took care of that a while back.

Good to see that we're on the ball like that.

I usually give Platelets. I think I gave plasma once.

Whole blood for me, baby.

I can't afford to

The questioning you go through every time you donate Plasma is like being grilled by a police Sargent, except done by a much friendlier nurse.
Have you had sex for drugs or money in the last x months?
Have you had a tattoo or a piercing in the last x months?
Have you been in jail or prison for the last x months?

I had some fun once with a nurse who was good friends with my wife and I by then. I did IT work for the Dept. of Health at the time and the local prison was part of our jurisdiction so when she asked if I was "in prison in the last x months," I replied honestly, "Yes, I just left there to come here." First time I saw a jaw drop in real life.

Hey guys, I need some suggestions please on a quality, inexpensive wall mount for my TV. I would really prefer if it extended from the wall to make connections much easier. I found this one that is pretty sweet, but the price is fairly steep.

Again, all input would be greatly appreciated. Oh yes, for weight requirements I believe my TV weighs 165 pounds.

Thanks again

Edit-actually there are quite a few more on that website that I missed, including Omnimount mounts.

Try this page Wall Bracket

Hey, I passed 200 posts, which free speaker do I get at 200? Probably the little computer speakers right? How do they know where to send it, I made up all my "contact" information?

$200 Canadian (including shipping) much better! I would venture to bet that that's the cheapest that I will find.

Thanks Zimm

No problem. I was looking at Monoprice to see why all the hip people here always recomended them. Those brackets jumped out at me as a damn good deal - and I don't even have a flat panel. Glad you needed that information before it leaked out of my head to make more room for Airplane quotes and the like.

What is the exchange rate? It says $78 US - how did it climb $200 CD?

Shipping and handling costs just as much as the unit itself. The total was $150 American.

wow, that is something to keep in mind. Good deal gets eaten by shipping.

Yeah, that's where Canadians get killed by monoprice. Expect to pay 50-100% extra on S&H. Sad thing is it's still usually way cheaper than buying local.

Too true.

Jay and others, I got the Samsung 1080P DVD player hooked up and the picture quality is a very poor. You are very happy with your player and I was wondering what the size of your TV is. I called Samsung and they said that I shouldn't have a poor picture, so I was wondering if it's a poorly refurbished player; what do you think?

Does anyone else have experience with this upconverting DVD player?

Thanks

I have mine hooked via HDMI. Maybe a setup issue in the menu?IIRC, you have to set it to upscale to 1080P as well.

I have mine hooked up to 40" LCD but it still looks crisp at 4' away. Do all discs look bad or just a few, could be a source issue as even some BR's look bad by some accounts.

As far as setting it to upscale to 1080P, it does say 1080P on the display on the DVD player, does that mean that it is upscaling (I didn't change anything in the menu)? I also have it connected via HDMI, and yes I get the same poor video quality with all discs.

If I was to rate my old standard definition DVD player, the Samsung, and the Oppo, video quality would be as follows:

Standard definition DVD player- 0

Samsung-4

Oppo- 10

I have the Samsung 1500 and am very happy with it. I have it hooked up to a Samsung series 6 52'. Have you hooked it up via HDMI? and have you gone through the settings? When I put in a BR or is DVD I get a small menu window pop up on screen that tells me what resolution its playing in.

DVD menu is set accordingly:

Connected via HDMI
TV aspect- 16:9 wide
Resolution setting-manual-1080P (1920x1080)

I just took a peek at the online manual and there are two settings under "video output" and they are I-SCAN and P-SCAN, I don't know what the default setting is, but what should it be set to? That's really all I can find in the manual that possibly should be changed.

Thanks

you want P-scan(progressive scan) it is a smoother picture.

I didn't get the issue with the poor video quality from the Samsung DVD player fixed, so I just called TigerDirect yesterday and they are sending me a replacement unit.

I called Samsung regarding the issue and they said that the video quality shouldn't be as described despite the size of my TV, and they agreed with me that it's probably a problem with the DVD player because it's a refurbished unit. I guess I will truly find out when I receive the replacement.

I'll keep you guys updated.

As promised, here's a picture of my room with the new addition!! Don't mind the mess, just admire the TV . I just got everything cleaned up so hopefully I'll be able to post a picture later on today. I'm still looking for either a stand of that height, or mounting it on the wall (I've found a mount) accompanied with a cabinet that's preferably wood, with glass/see-through doors. The conundrum that I'm stuck in is that I do like the fact that I can access my components in the entertainment unit, but I also want to get rid of it as I think it will be a much cleaner look.

Any suggestions with pictures/links would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks pals

Empty room, I don't see a thing....

He did say it was empty didn't he?

That's very weird as I did see it this morning.







honest I did.

Do they delete pics if they are too big? Anyway, here is a smaller version.

[img][/img]

Looks good Cam.

Wow. Strange furniture arrangement. You could drive a wheelchair right through the sweet spot.

nyuk nyuk...

Nice indeedy Cam! I like where the 150 is placed, I bet it really blends well with the 80s huh?

I've always had my center channel above the TV, but I quite enjoy it in its current position; minus the liquor dispenser as a stand.

Yep, I'm in it every time

OOoooohhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! I get it!

Hey guys,

I'm planning on getting this wall mount for my plasma screen. I contacted Samsung and they stated that plasma screens from 57 "to 63 " don't comply with VESA and recommended to use their own wall mount, but after talking to them they suggested that I talked to whomever it was that I was going to buy the wall mount from. I contacted Monoprice and they said that it would most definitely work. A couple questions I have is has anyone else used this with the 58 " 550, is monoprice usually very informed, and does anyone know if it really matters if it complies with VESA, or just as long as it will withstand the televisions weight?

Thank you very much.

Hi Cam,

First off that is one beautiful TV you have, colour me green.

As far as I know the VESA specs apply to the distance between mounting holes, depth of mounting holes, and the weight that the mount will hold. I wouldn't recommend a VESA mount for a non-VESA spec tv, if there was any damage to the TV I think you would be out of luck with the warranty.

I don't understand why all manufacturers do not adhere to this spec... other than the the fact that they would like to sell you their overpriced mount.

Sorry, I haven't been much help, a post on AVS may be of more benefit, good luck.

I think in this case, it is the size of the TV and the weight. I am thinking not too many people would be looking to mount a 58" TV to the wall, it weighs in at 136lbs.

Just did some checking and it seems many of the wall mounts capable of handling the weight are also non-vesa able as well, so it seems to be no big deal whether or not a TV is Vesa compliant.

You kidding, Jay? We have a 60" plasma wall mounted at the office, and we just had a 65" installed in our new president's conference room.

Ken, I was speaking more in reference to the need for a TV to be vesa compliant with respect to wall mounts etc., as my edited post now shows and I stil think many with a 58" and up would be more afraid of them crashng to the ground in a home environment. I know I would be after seeing my 'little' 40" LCD wall mounted and the strain the backing cover is taking from the mounting holes.

Oh, we definitely don't use VESA mounts like your standard computer monitor has. And ours is mounted to a steel plate in the wall, so I guess you have a point there.

Thanks for the input regarding the wall mount guys. I was up today and I have a couple more questions if you could help me out please.

My mom was switching DVDs players for me this afternoon, and she accidentally unplugged my satellite receiver and as soon as it came unplugged, everything (my receiver and TV) that was plugged into the same power bar shut down and the power bar turned off. We plugged the satellite receiver into a different power bar, and turned the power bar back on, and everything is now up and running okay. Any idea what caused this?

Also, I was going through the Denon GUI for literally 2-3 minutes, and there is a very faint image of it continually on my screen. This is the second time that this has happened from using the GUI for a couple minutes. I don't imagine that this is normal. Could there be something wrong with my plasma screen?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

You're scaring me away from plasma's.

Don't be afraid, mine has been running good so far. The pic on this 720P set is fantastic.

Cam, are you certain the main power switch wasn't turned to the off position on the power bar.