Samsung PN50C8000 3D Plasma TV

The Samsung PNC50C8000 3D Plasma TV is a lightweight 3D plasma TV - only 63 pounds, including the stand, that produces sharp 3D pictures with great color shading and contrast.

It automatically recognizes HDMI version 1.4a 3D frame packing format, which delivers movies at 1920 x 1080p at 24 Hz resolution. This means that if you begin playing a 3D Blu-ray disc, the TV will automatically switch on 3D mode.

The TV also has a 2D to 3D conversion algorithm, which allows you to transform everyday 2D movies and TV shows into 3D.

There are three dynamic contrast settings, three black level settings and an adjustment for reducing or enhancing shadow.

You can calibrate hue, contrast, saturation and basic brightness, and select red-only, green-only or blue-only modes.

Cell brightness, which depends on how hard the plasma pixels are driven, can be adjusted on a 0 to 20 scale.

A front-surface vertical polarizing filter cancels out reflections, while a glass filter that is patterned reduces unwanted brightness. This filtering does not harm image contrast.

Sometimes, ghost images will appear after the PN50C8000 3D Plasma TV has been used for a short time. This can be avoided by leaving the white test pattern or the internal scrolling pattern on the screen for about 200 hours, allowing the blue phosphors to settle.

Aspect ratio can be set in any of four different ways, and temperature settings can be set in any of five different ways.

"Eco Solution" allows you to choose between a number of different "green" energy settings.

An MPEG noise filter can be used to reduce macroblock artifacts and mosquito noise. However, this low-pass filtering software can reduce the detail of high frequency images.

The PNC50C8000 uses Auto Motion Plus by Samsung. Auto Motion Plus pulls the frame rate up to about 240 Hz, which corrects for 24-frame judder. This makes filmed content appear live or like it was originally shot as a video, since 240 Hz is the same speed that the PN50C8000 uses for 3D mode.

Menus are easy to navigate. There six image presets: Standard and Movie, which can be used for everyday viewing, Dynamic, which provides very bright pictures (possibly too bright for some viewers), Relax, ISF Day and ISF Night.

Movie Mode is also very bright and can be calibrated.

ISF Day and ISF Night can only be adjusted with a calibrator.

The Samsung PNC50C8000 3D Plasma TV has four inputs for HDMI. All of these are compatible with version 1.4a. One of the inputs will allow you to connect to a PC. You can use another to connect an external AV receiver's audio return channel.

CEC is supported by all of the HDMI connections, so when you turn on your Blu-Ray player, the TV will automatically turn on and switch to that input.

There is a luminance ("Y") connection can be which you can use as jack for composite video. There is also a single analog YPbPr component video connection.

Unfortunately, these connections are very close to the back of the TV, so they require small-diameter RCA connectors.

However, there is a threaded F-style RF connector that is surrounded by plenty of space.

All in all this is a very good TV and would be a good addition to your home.

See: Samsung PN50C8000 50-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV (Black)