Samsung HPT5064 Plasma HDTV

Everyone loves a 50″ inch TV. The HPT5064 50″ Plasma HDTV from Samsung is a pretty little monster for a price that will make convert the biggest of LCD-fans. It might not look as appealing when turned off or when reduced to a spec sheet, but the HP-T64 series of Samsung plasmas, the company’s second-highest-end line, definitely holds its own where it counts. The 50-inch HP-T5064 is a great example, and in many ways its picture quality outclasses that of other similarly priced brands.

The HP-T5064 does not have a sculpted, aggressively high-tech look when compared to other sets. Instead the squared-off corners and flat planes of its glossy black frame create a more traditional, albeit perfectly handsome, appearance. The swath of frame below the screen opens up into a long horizontal slit at its bottom edge, from which the sound of the otherwise hidden speakers emerges.

Samsung does include the same kind of swivel stand found on its LCDs, which allows the panel to move up to 20 degrees in either direction. Including stand, the HP-T5064 measures 48.5 inches wide by 33.3 inches tall by 13 inches deep and weighs 97 pounds; without the stand, the panel comes in at about 48.5 inches tall by 31 inches wide by 3.5 inches deep and 91.4 pounds.

Like most 50-inch plasmas, the Samsung HP-T5064 has a native resolution of 1,366×768, which is plenty to resolve every line of a 720p source. All sources, whether HDTV, DVD, standard-def TV or computers, are scaled to fit the pixels.

The HP-T5064 has nearly all of the numerous picture-adjusting features of the company’s LCDs. It starts with three picture modes that are each independent for each input, allowing you to customize each source with three different groups of picture settings. Only Movie mode allows full adjustment, however, so we recommend using it for the most-demanding viewing conditions.

In addition to the five presets for color temperature, there’s a full set of detailed color temperature controls. Labeled “white balance,” they offer both gain and offset adjustments for red, green, and blue, which allows more-advanced users to really zero in the set’s grayscale. The My Color control, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to do much of anything, so we left it in the default positions. The selection of secondary picture controls includes items labeled “black level,” which affects shadow detail; dynamic contrast, which adjusts black level on the fly; gamma, which affects the rate of progression from dark to light; and a selection for color gamut, which controls the range of colors the display can reproduce.

As for its connectivity, like more and more 2007 HDTVs, the Samsung HP-T5064 offers three HDMI inputs, as opposed to just two. Two are on the back, while a third can be found in a recessed bay along the panel’s left side. The Samsung’s commendable connectivity continues with a pair of component-video inputs, an AV input with S-video, two RF inputs for cable and antenna, and a VGA-style RGB input for computers (maximum resolution 1,366×768). That recessed bay offers an additional AV input with S-video as well as a USB port that can interface with thumbdrives to display photos (JPEG only) and play music (MP3 only).

All things considered, the Samsung HP-T5064 delivers excellent picture quality for a flat-panel plasma. You will be impressed by its primary color accuracy and shadow detail, although it should have a bit more accurate color decoding and a better glare-fighting screen.

With the Samsung Plasma, dark scenes display a very slightly lighter shade of black. The HP-T5064’s detail in shadows also appeared quite natural-looking. Color accuracy on the Samsung HP-T5064 was also superior.

The one area however where it needed improvement was color decoding, specifically in the HP-T5064’s desaturation of green compared to the other colors.

Connected to a PC source via the VGA input, the HP-T5064 performed relatively well. It handled the maximum resolution of 1,360×768, resolving every horizontal and vertical line according to DisplayMate. There is a defect is some pixel structure, however, especially in text smaller than 12-point font, that made text and some other fine details appear less clear.

Sources:
http://tech.yahoo.com
http://review.zdnet.com
http://www.devlib.org