 Knock Your Socks Off!!!! |
| Review Date: April 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: R. Lynn Rea, Dallas, Texas |
Well after Amazon's usual service and delivery I just could not wait to hook up the Samsung 3D Blu-ray to the new PN58C7000 Samsung Plasma 3D TV.
And I was not disappointed. The made for 3D Monsters vs Aliens was understandably outstanding, it was created just for this. But the 1966 2001 A Space Odyssey on Blu-ray was equally impressive with nice depth. The pen in the space liner sequence floated out in front of the screen. The entrance into the space dock was likewise rendered with depth making the movie quite a bit more enjoyable than with the 3D turned off.
I suspect we will all be watching in 3D more and more. I am glad that I waited and paid the small difference in price.
I'll let someone else help with the decision about the black filter that is the difference between the C7000 and C8000.
And when can we have something about 85" Samsung? |
So far, so good
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| Review Date: May 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: John L. Curtis, Jersey City, NJ |
I'm probably among some of the last of the "Luddites" in that I haven't changed out TV's since the early 1990's. Finally my old Tube TV, an ever faithful Zenith, bit the dust. But even though I've been a hold-out that doesn't mean I haven't kept up with the technology. I'd like to think I have. I've reviewed the LCD's, the back-lit LED's and the Plasmas. From a strictly consumer standpoint, despite all their high-points, I came down in favor of Plasma's over LCD types. Why? In a nutshell viewing angle. It really came down to this. The simple fact that off angle viewing is lousy with the LCD types made me balk.
So having decided on the Plasma's I then proceeded to winnow it down from there. I have to say that the Panny's (Panasonics) had me sold. Indeed I almost bit down until I started reading about black levels receding (the V series was my focus) after X number of hours (you reading this Panasonic?). And apparently they're pulling a Toyota in trying to play it down and/or ignore consumer concerns about it. (You reading this Panasonic?) They lost a sale because of it.
But even though Panny lost me I wasn't completely sold on Samsung. Screen and border too shiny (I know, I know....not the most technical of reviews but my reaction is what it is)....and then there was that persistent buzzing "thang" claimed by some consumers. That was more worrisome. However, one night a couple of weeks ago I was walking thru a store and chanced upon the new 2010 Samsung C-series line. In a word; Nice. Great eye-candy. A bit of research swayed me. I chose the PN58C7000.
I then came to Amazon because the price points were the best. And, to be frank, no state tax. Heh! Anyway the TV arrived and it was beeaauuuutifullllll. And the screen was cracked. :P! The shipping company took it right back; I called Amazon and 1 week later number 2 arrived. This time it was perfect. At the time of this writing this was last Wednesday. I've only begun to play with it but so far I've got to say I've got no complaints. The picture is perfect; I've linked it to a PS3 game/blue-ray station and also tied it wirelessly to my LAN for internet linkage. The view, if such can be deemed the proper term for watching a TV, can be almost staggering. Advice...watch Blue-ray Coraline on it.
Anyway, I'm playing with the settings and widgets now, and haven't yet formed an in-depth opinion.....I will come back and add my details as I get use to the new toy. I will say this. I cannot pry my almost 6 year old Godson away from it. I linked his Wii to it along with my PS3 and the kid has basically fallen in love.....from his point of view the screen is like looking at a marvelous picture window with full-sized Wii games wonderfully disorienting in their visibility and play. It's a laugh watching him almost fall into the TV while playing....he is indeed part of a video generation.
More later....
John~ |
BUY THIS TV RIGHT NOW!
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| Review Date: August 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Gearhead, |
Let me save you the time in case you don't want to read this detailed review, then just hear this caveat out: "The PN58C7000 is the GREATEST deal you can possibly get for a new 3D HDTV".
There's so much detail for this review, I don't even know where to begin! It would be helpful to state a precondition that this plasma ultimately replaced a Samsung 42" 720p plasma, which was tipping the scale at 6 years old, but still had an incredible picture for its time. Within the last several months, I spent a lot of time watching 1080p content on my friend's TV, and started noticing the difference. If anyone out there is not a believer that 1080p will blow your old fabulous 720p set away, believe it as it will.
This was one heck of a quest. Let's rewind the clocks a bit as this all started back in December 2008, when I was visiting ABT checking out their newest HDTV lineup. I had been itching to get a new TV, and having had a plasma all these years, I was determined on getting a plasma replacement as the reviews usually include them on the "best HDTVs" list. Anyway, if anyone has been to ABT, then you'll know that by the furniture/appliance area at the entrance of the store, they have home theater seating to sample, and usually have an incredible HDTV on display. Well I remember looking at the regular LCD/Plasma "row display" (near the TV/Audio sections), and looked over by this area to see 3 TVs lined up on the wall. To say the least, those TVs had the BEST picture of any set in the entire store. As I approached, I could see the words "Panasonic" and "THX" enlarged on the wall. They were truly the most magnificent displays I had seen at the time, matched only by the Kuro (which they also had on display in the projector room). Well as it turned out, the TV series was the infamous Panasonic TH-PZ800U. They had a 42, 50, and 58" screen all in a row of 3. I instantly fell in love with the 58" model. I was shocked how much larger the 58" is compared to the 42", which is what I had.
Low and behold, the 800U from Panasonic was CNET's TV of the year, and the second highest rated TV ever, second only to the Pioneer Kuro. Now let's fast forward to January 2010. Since seeing that TV at that time, I instantly was a Panasonic fanboy; I had no choice really now that they were the largest manufacturer of plasmas. I followed the V10, G10, and Z1, all of which received serious accolades. I came close to pulling the trigger on the 54G10 many times, but decided to wait until CES 2010. Boy am I glad I did! With the release of 3DTVs and HDMI 1.4, I did not want to buy an obsolete model. Another major milestone I'll never forget reading about was the infamous CNET/AVS articles regarding the Panasonic "rising blacks" issue. More shocking was Panasonic's arrogance that this issue was expected with no fix. This totally destroyed Panasonic's reputation with me. An entire year of following Panasonic plasmas went down the drain.
At that point, I had given up hope on plasmas, and thus started a new quest: LED. I looked at the UN55B6000, B7000, and B8000 models. Recently I came close to buying the UN55C7000 (3D model), and had a chance to get an awesome deal; actually I would have saved almost $50 this route. Seeing the TV in person really changes you though, the flashlighting (in the corners) and image ghosting was noticeable in the store. The 240hz feature was unbearable as well (soap opera effect). To me, 240hz feels like someone is fast forwarding the scene 1-2x on a DVD. I have no idea why people are pretending they don't see it. I eventually came to terms to getting the Vizio VF552XVT, but something held me back. The picture looked okay in the store, but perhaps it was the design of the TV. I mean, it's really an ugly TV, how can its design even compare with that of Samsung? It's almost a whopping 5 inches thick, which in today's day and age, is just unacceptable. My 6 year old plasma is exactly 3 inches. I felt this would be a downgrade from what I already have as I wanted some appeal as well.
That was one part as to why I didn't want the Vizio. The other was 3D. I have been following 3D for quite awhile now, and originally didn't plan on being an adopter because of the lack of content. However, after seeing that the price deviation from 2D to 3D TVs had dropped to about $200, it was a no brainer. The hard part was choosing LED or Plasma for 3D. After reading numerous threads from owners of both LED and Plasma, I came to the conclusion that plasma was a better choice for 3D, mainly due to its response time. This made me ecstatic as I had originally thought plasma was totally dead. I mean, how could it not be? Check out this list of the only makers of today's plasmas:
1. Samsung = buzzzzzzzz
2. LG = gets mediocre reviews for its subpar quality, and has a mirror screen finish for antiglare
3. Panasonic (the king of plasma) = rising black issue; unimpressive designs (with the exception of the Z1)
I considered the LG PK750 (after reading CNET's review), but couldn't find enough positive reviews; I don't believe I've seen an LG plasma consistently listed on CNET's top 5 plasmas list, or even LED for that matter. I also considered the Samsung B860, as I saw this in person. The B860 was one of the reasons I kept hope alive with plasma. To me, the B860 has an excellent picture, being compared to various LEDs and the Panasonic V10. I even compared it to the PN58C8000 at Best Buy (the 8000 was on the bottom; B860 on top), and honest to god if I couldn't tell which model was which, I probably would've chosen the B860 for its deep blacks compared to the grays of the C8000. I also looked at the VT20/VT25 from Panasonic, but the price premium is exorbitant (close to $600 more than the Samsung). Plus I could care less for the 2 included movies that you get (Ice Age and Coraline). Besides price, seeing the marketing ad from Panasonic that their plasma is an "ultraslim design" at 3.6 inches, is a total joke to me. The Samsung PN58C7000 is 1.4" thick. Coming from a 3" thick TV that was 6 years old, and seeing Samsung's museum style models, ultraslim to me now means under 1.5 inches, or even the new Samsung LED C9000 at 0.25 inches! Panasonic needs to go back to the drawing board on this. Sony also suffers from this pitfall. Their new flagship XBR60LX900, which costs $4,500, claims "ultraslim design" at 3.625 inches. Seriously, who are they kidding???
In my humble opinion, if 3DTVs weren't becoming mainstream, I would have given plasmas an expiration date. I feel that 3D is a game changer for plasma. Panasonic won the Best of Show CES award for 3D, and the VT25 is listed as the top TV on CNET, and for 3D. Almost every review I have read comparing LED to Plasma for 3D, I have heard of the same issue: ghosting and blooming for LEDs. Plasmas have an unparalleled ability for response time, which is essential for fast motion 3D. I haven't heard one person NOT complain about image ghosting and response time with an LED 3D set. One of my friends has the UN55C8000 3D LED (which is the flagship Samsung LED that costs $1,000 more than my C7000), and even he admitted it has ghosting and artefact issues, as well as flashlighting. To say the least, prior to 3D and Panasonic blacks issues, I was ready to abandon ship on plasma technology. Then the Samsung PN58C7000 came along. This was it, and my quest was over. After 18 months of searching for the perfect TV, I now have it. The design is unparalleled, the image quality is spectacular (Avatar looks just as good as it did when I saw it in theaters), and the set is future proof with HDMI 1.4 and 3D. All packed together for a remarkable price of close to $1,800. We come back to my original statement: "The PN58C7000 is the GREATEST deal you can possibly get for a new 3D HDTV". Enough said. The price to performance ratio is just monolithic.
I should mention that this TV was bundled with the free glasses and C6900 BD player. That's right, FREE. It's almost as if you're getting paid to take a 3DTV off their hands. However, if anyone is curious, I would have done the combo deal with BD player and the free glasses. Why wouldn't I? The kit costs $350 on its own (glasses $150 each). You also can't find Monsters vs Aliens 3D anywhere except eBay, where the price can go up to an astronomical $100. You'd be a fool not to jump in on that deal. As far as I know, Monsters vs Aliens was the first 3D blu ray in existence, and is only included in the exclusive bundle from Samsung. Even if you somehow already own a 3D BD player (like the PS3 which to date does not have the 3D firmware...), you're still better off buying the BD player to get the free kit.
3D Glasses - they are very comfortable and sturdy (except for the arms which seem flimsy). They have a 1 year warranty, so I hope their durability proves the test of time. The nice feature I like is the glasses turn off when contact with the 3D emitter is lost and instantaneously reactivate when the emitter is back in focus (this happened when I was laying on my couch and turned my head away). They also power off when there is no 3D content playing through the TV, upconversion included. Since they are battery operated, this is important. Lastly, you cannot power them on at all until the TV is in 3D mode, which is a really nice power saving feature.
BD-C6900 - an awesome BD unit. The BD discs load up as fast as my old Sony reference DVD player. Also, my friend's first generation Samsung BD/HD DVD player is so old that it takes close to a minute to load up. That's how my old Toshiba HD-A1 (HD DVD) player was. Thank the Gods that you can load a movie in under 15 seconds! The audio is also excellent. I have the HDMI going directly to my TV, and am using the 7.1 multichannel inputs on my receiver. The sound was extremely crisp on my test BDs. I'm pretty shocked at the quality of analog inputs. On my friend's older Samsung BD/HD DVD player, the 7.1 analog inputs sound very dull. A pleasant surprise. I did an A/B test of using optical audio versus multichannel analog, and decided there was too much detail lost when using optical. With bass management being a potential issue, I liked using analog so much I will just jack up the volume on my subwoofer when watching BDs. Eventually I am planning on upgrading to an HDMI 1.4 receiver.
To address the common questions and/or complaints I have read about the C7000:
1. Buzz - I have heard horror stories about this as this is the biggest downfall of any Samsung plasma (my wife's PN42C450 has a low buzz that can be heard on mute). Some can hear an annoying buzz over normal volume. One extreme was comparing the buzz to their refrigerator. Unbelievable how a TV can be manufactured like this! Does mine buzz? Well, I would say no instinctively. Why? Because it does buzz SLIGHTLY, and I mean slightly. Can I hear it with the slightest ambient noise? Not at all. In fact, the only way the buzz is heard is by placing my ear a half-inch away from the screen in the middle. If it is dead silent in the room, and you step back 6 inches, you won't hear a peep. Does that qualify this set as a buzzer? I honestly doubt it. My old plasma buzzes louder. Perhaps it's the fact that I have a 1500 watt amp powering my speakers, but I assure you that if you watch the news at the lowest of levels, you will not hear a buzz. When I started reading about the Samsung buzz issues, I put my old plasma on mute one day, and low and behold there was a buzz.
In fact, the buzz on my former plasma is actually 100 times louder than on the C7000. Even on my old set, with the tiniest bit of audio from the TV, you can't hear it at all. If I can't hear it watching regular TV, then I doubt it will be an issue when I watch with my home theater at 75-80 decibels. It's true, all (or most) plasmas have a buzz. This is something I wasn't aware of (I'm the only plasma owner I know). However, I never noticed it in 6 years until I heard complaints about Samsung. I can't tell you how worried I was about my set being a buzzer (which is why this issue was listed first). God must have blessed me with a non-buzzer. Honestly, I hope Samsung addresses this. For a TV at this price point, you SHOULD NOT have to gamble with a 50/50 chance of getting a buzzer. I have heard that most of the earlier models that have a build date of April or May are susceptible. June and beyond should be better. I don't know what my build date is as the box it came with was hauled away.
2. Lack of wifi - I'm not sure why this is a complaint. You can buy a 100FT Cat5 cable for $6 to run to your modem. Wifi will add a higher premium to the TV, as will the separate $80 wifi dongle. $6 vs $80...hmm, I wonder??? I'll pass. Not only is wired ethernet cheaper, you will have the best possible and stable connection to the internet for streaming. Period. Don't buy into the wifi fad, unless you absolutely need it (plaster walls; multiple levels, etc).
3. Motion Judder Canceller (MJC) - I can't BELIEVE how overhyped this is! I fired up the TV expecting the motion judder canceller to look like a 240hz LED (I absolutely detest the cheesy soap opera effect of LCDs), and the MJC is NOT THAT BAD on this plasma. What is everyone complaining about??? Coming from plasma, which is the king of motion response time, I can tell you the MJC is extremely tolerable on this set. Quite honestly, the MJC on the C7000 is somewhere in the middle of a LED 240hz and plasma; it feels like only half the speed of a normal soap opera effect. If you're as detailed as I am, you'll have read the 135+ thread pages on AVS regarding this plasma and the MJC for the C6500/C7000/C8000. Yes, it's installed by default. Not sure why Samsung did this as there are loyal plasma and film fans that don't want it. I do respect that. Luckily, there are some workarounds to this. I used Star Trek BD as a test, and disabled MJC from the TV; I wound up reactivating the feature since the picture quality looked noticeably better. Let me tell you, if it was that bad I would have used the workaround to permanently disable the MJC already. I wound up resetting my picture options to turn MJC back on, though. Being a loyal plasma owner, this must tell you something. Future firmware is also making this less of an issue.
4. Image Retention (IR for the tech savvy) - I have yet to experience this. This issue should really be a universal problem of all plasmas. However, as long as you break in your plasma for more than 100 hours, you should be good to go. Technically, Samsung stopped requiring a break in period for plasmas as of 2007. The old adage is still to do one. The C7000 manual clearly states there is a possibility of "image retention" (fancier slogan for burn in). Until plasma manufacturers GUARANTEE there is no chance of burn in, I will continue with the break in protocol that has been adopted since the birth of plasma. The burn in prevention technology Samsung uses is awesome, you get your choice of a screensaver, scrolling black/white page, and pixel shift. I use all of them. My old Samsung plasma didn't have tweakable burn in tech like this, and there was never IR. Keep in mind, I do heavy gaming. Once the C7000 passes the break in period, I'll start playing again.
5. Poor antiglare - I have heard that if this plasma is in a brightly lit room, or near a window, the antiglare doesn't help much. I can't really comment on this as I have a dedicated home theater room with no windows. This isn't an issue to me, which is another reason I passed on the C8000 plasma's marketing scheme of the "Real Black Filter".
6. Lack of "Real Black Filter" (RBF) - The C8000 has it but not the 7000. I believe it helps reduce the antiglare. I do know that it partly consists of a simple film that is attached to the screen; I heard some cases of it being removable. That seems cheap to me. I cannot discern if it's worth the extra $500 to get it. It is the only gimmick that people seem to know about versus the C8000.
7. Lack of Connectivity - This TV was designed without analog in mind, and purely for high definition and HDMI, which is the absolute BIGGEST complaint I have to agree with people about this TV. Specifically, the lack of S-Video, composite, and component outputs is quite upsetting. There is no S-Video output at all (not that surprising), and 1 component output that is shared with composite (major surprise for me), which basically means that you can only use one component or composite. Samsung's website states there are 2 components, and 1 side composite. NOT TRUE! There is only one shared component/composite port. That's all. How can a TV manufacturer get away with this? Several of my legacy analog devices are no longer compatible until I upgrade my receiver with HDMI passthrough (I'm using an older non-HDMI audiophile pre/pro). However, I have come to grips that S-Video is being deprecated. No current Samsung or Sony device implements S-Video anymore, and I believe LG and most BD players have followed suit as well. It's only a matter of time before S-Video is extinct completely. Nonetheless, there should have been AT LEAST one separate composite port, and one component, not a COMBINED composite and component. Samsung, fix your website specs!
8. Digital audio port - Another complaint of mine. Yes, you can connect a toslink optical cable from the TV to your receiver. No, it WILL NOT output Dolby Digital for any of your connected sources, only with DTV broadcasting. What this means is, if you connect your Xbox 360 or DVD player to your TV (with optical through your TV to your receiver), you will NOT get 5.1 digital audio. The TV will downmix the audio stream from the source component to 2 channel PCM. This is stated through the TV manual (page 11). What's the point of this? I feel this is purposely limited by TV manufacturers in order not to compete with their HTIB systems.
9. It's hot enough to fry an egg - This must be a case by case issue as I have no overheating issues whatsoever. My old plasma literally generated enough heat to warm my home theater room in the winter. No joke. You could feel the heat generated from the TV two feet away, and to touch the rear of the panel was quite hot. I should note that my old plasma was one of the very first to have "fanless cooling", which meant it was very quiet. I have been breaking in the C7000 overnight, and just today went to power it off. After 13 hours, the entire panel was almost cool. There is very little heat, which is a major concern for an electronic device. I did not feel any exorbitant amount of heat anywhere within 1 foot of the TV, certainly nowhere near as much heat as earlier generations of plasma. The C7000 has worked like a champ in this regard. This makes me happy as I have been known to literally play games 12 hours straight.
10. "It's not Samsung's flagship" - I beg to differ! I actually never saw the C7000 in person before purchasing. Magnolia had the C8000 and B860 on display, and I used that as a baseline. The B860 was last year's model, and the difference was discernable. If we did an A/B test in my home theater room with the C7000, C8000, and B860 models, I bet you would have a hard time picking one out over the other, or the results would be marginal at best. Save yourself $$$ by getting the C7000!!!
Last but not least, I should mention the entire reason you're probably reading this review: 3D. The 3D is PHENOMENAL!!! Forget any 3D demo you may have seen at a store. I watched 3D demos on Samsung LEDs, Panasonic plasmas, and Mitsubishi DLPs. I honestly wasn't that impressed. Holy cow, those store demos might be the reason people are skeptical about buying a 3DTV. Watching Monster VS Aliens was a total treat. The image REALLY DOES pop out at you (just watch the first few minutes and you'll see what I mean). Now on the flipside, I noticed an image ghost 3 or 4 times throughout the movie. It was noticeable in sharper scenes, mostly the character's hair. This happened near the middle and end of the movie (I guess the studio's wanted to impress everyone with the beginning of the movie). I had heard the 3D was horrible when these TVs launched, but with recent firmware updates, it has greatly improved. I would highly recommend adding the latest firmware before using this TV as a workhorse. Samsung, keep them coming!
The 2D-3D conversion is very cool, and adds value to the Samsung over any other 3D brand as they're the only ones (plus Sony) who have this conversion engine. Can the 3D be improved? Certainly. This is a first generation 3DTV though, so bugs were expected, as they should be with a new product launch (DVD wasn't perfect either, anyone remember The Matrix "white rabbit" DVD problem?). The images don't pop out as much with the 3D upconversion, but I also haven't properly calibrated the TV as I'm in the break in mode. If you're like me and buying this set for current 2D content, then the 3D is just a value-added bonus.
Luckily, Samsung has been excellent with releasing new firmware every month. My TV came with 1019 installed. I manually updated to 1022. If you check, there was just an update to 1026 was recently released. I highly recommend making sure you get the most up-to-date firmware as there are a lot of 3D fixes.
Amazon shipping - I was worried about this as several reviewers had received TVs with cracked screens. I heard one story where someone had to exchange their TV 3 times due to cracked screens. Good God, that would be upsetting! I once again lucked out. The shipping service was Pilot, and they were most excellent, especially since the TV arrived in perfect condition. I scheduled the delivery window online through a link emailed to me. I received a call an hour beforehand that they could deliver it sooner. Since it was before my 4-hour window and I was preoccupied, they came back at the scheduled time. They brought the TV in, unboxed it, set the TV on the stand, and powered it up. I had to sign a checklist that there was: no damage to the set, screen powers on, screen has no dead pixels/bad image, and remote works. They then took the box away. I would say the entire process took 10 minutes. What service! If I ever need another TV, I will use Amazon henceforth.
So that's my review. Take it as you will as I understand your mileage might vary. If you're on the fence, I would just order this set as you might be in the surprise of your life. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. CNET didn't review this set at the time when I ordered it, but they have now and it is currently listed as the best 3D set, and number 2 overall for 2D picture quality. Consumer Reports also rated this as a best deal TV.
I have heard some cases where the TV has worked perfectly, then 3 weeks later it takes a dump. I've had it about a month now, and will update this review appropriately should there be a change in my rating. |
Great TV.
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| Review Date: July 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: James T. Gearing, New Hampshire |
UPDATE - Still love the TV, but am a bit annoyed with amazon. They are running a promotion and you can get a 3d Bru-ray player and 3D Starter kit with 2 glasses and a movie for FREE. I assumed they would just ship them, but I guess you have to put them in your cart like your buying them and than at check-out, the cost for them is removed... So I call amazon a bunch of times to get them, the only way they will do it is if I return the TV I have now and submit a fresh order... I did this, but what a waste of time for me and for amazon... oh well, its still a great deal!
I have had this TV for about a week now and am amazed at what a great picture it produces. Video games look very nice, blu-rays, wow. This TV is also very slim, about an inch thick!
3D: I dont have a 3D blu-ray player yet, but have played with the 2D -> 3D up convert and it is pretty nice, it dosn't have the pop of true 3D content, but you can see depth, great feature for existing video games.
Issues: I don't hear any buzzing at all. I have read that in other reviews, but I don't hear anything. I did notice the video camera "soap opera" effect, that I had never seen on a Plasma before. I downloaded a a firmware update and played with the picture setting and this went away.
Delivery: I have had both of my samsung big screen TV's delivered through amazon and both went great. They were on time and helped plug it in to make sure it was working and not damaged in transit.
My other TV a 2 year old 52" samsung LCD is no where close to this. This settles the LCD vs. Plasma debate for me. Better motion, colors and price, Plasma is just better. |
Great TV at a great price
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| Review Date: July 17, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Parker, Indiana |
Got the TV with the BD-C6900 and 3d starter kit as a package deal for a bargain.
DELIVERY SERVICE:
The TV was delivered from CEVA with their white glove delivery service. It was 12 days from ordering to delivery, which was a bit long, but I'm shouldn't complain because shipping was free. The CEVA driver helped me carry the TV downstairs to my theater room, unbox it, plugged it in, set the time zone, made sure the HDMI input worked, made sure the remote worked and carried the box back up to the garage for me.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:
The TV is very thin. If you are using a slim wallmount make sure your connections are in place before mounting on the wall because you won't be able to make them after it's hanging on the wall.
I can't get used to the amazing picture quality on this TV. Even old DVD's look better than ever. There is definately some video processing at work in the TV to achieve this effect, and I love it. Everything looks crisp, clear, and vibrant.
INTERNET@TV and YAHOO WIDGETS:
I thought internet@TV and the yahoo widgets would be a gimmick and never used. I was wrong on both accounts. internet@TV is great for streaming movies from netflix, roku, blockbuster, and amazonVOD services. They all work very well. This is about the only feature of internet@tv I see myself using. I don't need the games, or slideshows or facebook here, but streaming movies is great.
the yahoo widgets are useful as well because they can be popped up onscreen without having to pause the action on the tv. It's great for checking the forecast, or tv listings.
For either of these features to become truly useful they need to allow a wireless keyboard and mouse to connect to the tv because entering text with the remote is slow, and painful.
3D:
I was skeptical about 3d movies, if it would be a gimmick, or not worth the money, but I have been really impressed with the 3d movie Monster's vs. Aliens and ESPN 3d which I actually liked better than the cartoon. It really works well for 3d movies. I haven't been too impressed with 2d to 3d conversions, but at least you have the option to do it.
My wife had some issues with the 3d cutting out the first time we watched Monsters vs. Aliens. A firmware update fixed that issue.
OVERALL:
Great Picture Quality, Great Price on Amazon, 3D is Cool. |
Holy Samsung! This Plasma ROCKS!!! and it's 3D!
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| Review Date: July 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Joe, New York City |
After months of shopping for a "larger" LCD I saw the PN58C7000 at a nearby superstore and couldn't believe the realistic picture (HD/3D) and all the built in features (internet widgets). It put similar sets surrounding it to shame... but the price was way more than i wanted to spend. I moved on...
After shopping online I came across the PN58C7000 again at Amazon.com for a sweet discount (very, very, very sweet). Enough to buy it without a second thought.
Im so glad i pulled the trigger on it. I got a great price and FREE shipping.
There's no buzz or sound coming from the TV itself, no motion blur on HD broadcasts or Blu Ray playback, the built in sound is great on the set itself. I have my PN58C7000 connected to a Comcast motorola HD DVR and I cant be happier.
The PN58C7000 is SUPER UBER THIN like it's LED siblings at more than half the price. i think the picture quality knocks this TV out of the park! SORRY, there's no comparison at this price point.
Once you calibrate the 3D (color, depth), the set will convert any normal broadcast to 3D. The "Tour De France" was incredible on VS HD. Football on the NFL Network HD looked great (you dont have the depth of a movie like Avatar... but the "pop" is still there).
Picture, Features (tons of internet widgets... Netflix), Price and Samsung Quality make the PN58C7000 a can't miss. |
SAMSUNG DOES IT AGAIN
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| Review Date: July 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: noah677, |
I wanted to buy a 3D HDTV. So the first thing I did was view amazon.com's 101 about 3D TV. That settled the issue for me---Plasma it is. Then I went to the local Best Buy (really WORST BUY) and viewed one. It was superb, excellent, wowed me, never seen anything like it.
The picture is so real that at times it scares me. I see a well known actor and with this TV it makes you feel like you are right there. You see features on people that you NEVER saw before. It is true that the actors are now paying more attention to their make up--they have to. The 3D is so good it can startle you. The 2d-3D conversion is good, but depends on the movie. If it is not a action picture then the effect differs. I doubt you will want to watch the nightly news with this feature.
One thing I always wanted to know but no one mentioned was: what happens if you play a blu-ray 3D disk that comes with the paper glasses??? Well what happens, unfortunately, is nothing. You have to use the paper glasses. This, of course, will change as more media is developed for real 3D HDTVs
One of the best features is that Samsung was extremely smart to be in the forefront with their internet connectivity (WIFI)--- and things are already there, from facebook to netflix. It is made very easy for the consumer. Before this set I did not bother with the internet and TV because it was just to much trouble.
As you can tell, at this point in time, I think Samsung is way ahead of the HD and 3D curve. I cannot recommend this set enough and amazon.com makes it very easy to get via their home delivery and in home setup (Best Buy with their Geek Squad want $400.00++ to adjust your settings!!!). Amazon.co should pay me for this review. Also, if you want a 3D blu-ray player, buy Samsung. Again, the connectivity is a snap and the internet is easy. |
Samsung PN58C7000 viewing is allive
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| Review Date: August 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: jerry1990, |
| The picture is so real that at times it scares me. I see a well known actor and with this TV it makes you feel like you are right there. You see features on people that you NEVER saw before. It is true that the actors are now paying more attention to their make up-they have to. The 3D is so good it can startle you. The 2d-3D conversion is good, but depends on the movie. If it is not a action picture then the effect differs. I doubt you will want to watch the nightly news with this feature. I viewed this on the screen [...] |
Awesome deal!
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| Review Date: August 18, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jimmy Yuen, Walnut Creek, CA United States |
| Got an unbelievable deal on Amazon for this 3D plasma, plus a free 3D Bluray player and a Samsung 3D starter kid. All for $2014.98. If you see this deal again, jump on it. You would be blown away by the quality of the pictures. Also get the Samsung slim wall mount so you can just hang the TV like a picture frame. Everything works flawlessly. |
Samsung PN58c7000
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| Review Date: August 24, 2010 |
| Reviewer: MBK, |
Received the Samsung PN58C7000 via Pilot shipping through Amazon. First, Amazon's follow-up was excellent, providing tracking and Pro numbers to follow the shipments. Because it was a bundled deal, the TV came separately from the dvd player and stater kit. The dvd player and starter kit arrived about two (2) days before the TV via UPS. Pilot scheduled a delivery and the two (2) delivery men arrived on time, carried the TV upstairs, removed it from the box (and disposed of it as well), put it on the TV stand, and tested it to insure that it was in perfect working order with no dead pixels.
I got the calibration settings online from the CNET website. After a few minutes putting in all of the numbers through all of the different screens, I was ready to watch TV. (Also, turning off the motion judder is a must do, whether via update or toggling on and off game mode). WOW! What a picture! The colors are dead on. Skin tone is perfect and all of the colors are right on the mark. Played the 3d movie Monsters vs Aliens and it was as if it was coming out of the screen. Too bad that there isn't much content at present. The 2d to 3d conversion does provide some depth, but not as dramatic as a 3d movie. Since the dvd payer is wifi, I set it up for Blockbuster and VUDU. Although I haven't streamed any movies yet, that aspect seems to work well. First thing it did was automatically update the dvd payer to have the latest software. So far, watched about 25 hours on the TV and have not heard any buzzing whatsoever. Near the end of Monsters vs Aliens, I did hear the fan for the TV, but it only lasted for a few minutes and I have not heard it since.
Great buy through Amazon. Printed the price, went to HH Greg and asked if they could match the deal. They told me that at that price, it was below their cost. Salesman said that if he was in the market, he would buy it immediately. I went home and did. I would highly recommend Amazon service, follow-up and follow through. |
Outstanding TV
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| Review Date: September 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Harold Shearer, |
Forget the long drown out reviews - Bottom line this is one outstanding TV. I have read a lot of reviews and worried about all the negatives some pointed out.
For 99.9 percent of you - you can rest assured they are nit picks! This TV has a wonderful picture in both 2D and 3D. You can adjust the picture in a thousand ( exaggerated but not by much) ways so you can have just the way you like it. In answer to some - no buzz - no Blurr - sound is as good an any TV in general but for most you use a home theater amp anyway so not a consideration.
The 3D glasses are the lightest and most confortable of the major TVs now out in 3D. The 3D is awesome and DirecTV now carries 3 channnels in 3D so content is comming. |
Best value 58 inch TV but not perfect
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| Review Date: July 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Brandon Cherry, |
After doing a lot of research on 2010 model year TVs in the larger than 50 inch I settled on this Samsung. Its not perfect but it has a very good picture and all of the bells and whistles you can get on a TV this year. It is 3d ready but it doesn't come with any glasses which are rather pricey. It is a better value than any of the Panasonic plasma TVs and really a value over the LCD/LED TVs near this size.
It does not buzz as some Samsung plasmas in the past.
It does have some negatives:
1) line bleed: For those that don't know what this is you can see it very clearly in one of those green preview slides where the darkness of the letters extends across the whole screen. It is annoying but you don't see it very often. I have seen this in non text screens as well. It is not the first TV that I have seen it in but it is the first "higher end" TV that I have seen it in.
2) screen uniformity: when looking at a solid screen the color is darker in some places than others. This is really only noticeable in normal viewing when you are watching a beach scene and the screen pans up over the sky. I really don't think this should be a deal breaker for anyone but I wish I had known about this issue before purchasing.
Also to note: be sure to upgrade the firmware on the TV.
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Unbelievable Detail
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| Review Date: August 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Hoppe, California |
I am not one to normally write reviews, however i felt compelled to write this review since there is not much first hand information outside of CNET on the PNC7000. I am sort of a video file and have been do homework on my new TV upgrade for almost a year. I currently had a Samsung 40" LCD which i loved. The picture was amazing and i never had any ghosting, motion blur, or image problems whatsoever. I did need however a larger screen size, 58". I began looking at LED LCD's exclusively . Plasma wasn't even a consideration. I had my eye on the Samsung UN55B7000/8000 series. This LCD had received pretty good professional and user reviews. I was sold on this LCD until i watched one in person outside of the retailer showroom. The motion blur and dejudder were horrible and the colors and images looked unrealistic. At this point I starting looking at Plasma. I began to really look at the detail and realness of the plasma vs LED and not the brightness and vivid colors of the LED. Looking at TVs with this perspective showed me the major difference between the two technologies. I went to BB and did a side by comparison of the Samsung UNC6000/7000 and the Samsung PNC7000. The image detail was so much better on the plasma. Watching Discovery channel is simply amazing. The colors of the grass look real. The flesh tones looked real. Now its certainly not as bright as the LED and that takes some getting used to if you already have an LCD, but the Plasma shows much more realistic image quality. I did however really like the UNC8000, but it was way out of my price range. For under 2K with free blue ray and glasses this set cant be beat. As for 3D, its really cool. Although not a feature i needed to have, i am glad it does. It shows really well on MvA and I cant wait for more 3D content. Its a great feature. Style? this set gets major style points. It has a matte finish, hard to find over piano black, and a clear glass border which is sweet looking. It also comes mounted with a clear bezel on a stainless steel stand that looks killer. Great WAF(wife acceptance factor)
The reason I can't give this set 5 stars are as follows: Buzz! the only real issue from the users standpoint was the buzz. I took a chance and my set has a consistent buzz after start up. The good news is that i can only hear it when the volume(i am connected to a Yamaha receiver and Take 5 Classic surround speakers with Polk Audio 10" subwoofer) is down so low you wouldn't be able watch TV anyway. The Xbox 360 has a louder hum than the TV, but the TV should'nt have it at all. Its certainly not a deal breaker but the buzz is real. There is also no Standard AV connections on the back(this did not affect my rating). I needed to upgrade my wii cables to component video to be able to play it on this set. Not a huge deal and i should have looked it up prior to ordering. I just assumed there would be at least one standard AV connection. Could only give 4 stars because of the Buzz!
All in all i feel that this is the set to have for the price and image quality. 3D looks amazing, plenty of picture adjustments and settings, widgets(i have CAT6 hardwired for widgets and updates), blue ray looks outstanding, great stand alone image appeal and the set really captures the detail and realism over LCD, in my opinion. |
Not nearly as good as the mainstream reviewers say
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| Review Date: June 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Darik Horn, Dallas, Texas |
I bought this TV on the recommendations that Samsung televisions have been getting from reviewers like Consumer Reports, and it looks really good in a retail showroom, but I was disappointed with the PN58C7000 after I installed it in my home theater.
The display itself is beautiful and the PN58C7000 would be worthy of 5 stars if the secondary parts of the TV were done properly.
Problems:
1. Missing surround sound passthrough on the SPDIF optical output or the HDMI-ARC ("audio return channel") output.
The PN58C7000 downmixes surround sound streams to PCM stereo, which means that you need to put the sound deck before the TV to get 5.1 or 7.1 audio. This bug makes the HDMI-ARC capability pointless because you get the same output from the 3.5mm stereo plug. Samsung mentions this on page 11 of 198 in the TV manual.
2. Mechanical Buzzing.
Samsung didn't fix the 2009 buzzing problem in their 2010 models, or I got a dud unit. This ruined my unboxing experience. Yuck.
3. IR noise.
I can't use my wireless IR headphones because the PN58C7000 fills the room with infrared noise. Weaker remote controls are drowned out by this TV. Plasma TVs typically emit some IR noise, but this TV seems to be abnormally noisy.
4. Electrical noise.
This TV spews electrical noise that you can hear as humming, throbbing, and buzzing through speakers and headphones. I used both of the ferric cores that Samsung bundled with the PN58C7000 according to the installation instructions. My older TV didn't have this problem in the same setup.
5. Shared RCA plugs for the component and composite inputs.
You can't use the 5-cable component input and the 3-cable AV input at the same time.
Pilot Air delivered this TV on behalf of Amazon. I live in Dallas, and they let me get the TV from their DFW depot instead of scheduling a 4 hour delivery window during the day, which was very convenient. Their DFW depot hours are 7am through midnight. |
"Great 3D Experience minus the 2D Experience"
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| Review Date: August 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Dan Philbeck, STANLEY, NC USA |
| Do you ever wonder what a 3D TV should like like? Well this TV (Samsung PN-58C700) is great for viewing 3D content minus the 2D content. I have had nothing but trouble for viewing ANY other HD source content thru this TV. After having it 2 days, motion distortion happened. I contacted Samsung to find out why a 8th generation Plasma TV would have this problem. They didn't know and sent out tech (2 weeks later) thru a third party to look at it. He requested a new panel. Another week later, panel was replaced and all seemed good. But after viewing for another 2 days, same problem. As of today (Aug.2), Samsung agreed to replace the TV with a new one. TV could not be returned due to 14 day return policy at Hhgregg. After 40 days and complaining about the repairs, I hope this issue is over. Update will hopefully be soon. |
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