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"Beautiful picture, but the buzzing is unbearable"
on by pbischoffPros Beautiful picture. Great menus and control options. Wonderful apps platform.
Cons Loud buzzing sound from front of screen. Lots of image retention. High heat output.
Summary The C8000 has the nicest picture of any set I've ever owned, but I ultimately had to return it because I just couldn't stand the buzzing eminating from the front of the screen. There has been endless discussion on the web about Samsung's buzzing problems. One take is that some sets buzz and others are silent so you just have to get lucky or keep trading in buzzers until you find a quiet one. My take is that they all buzz and some people are probably just less sensitive to it. (And by the way, the buzzing is apparently much worse on the larger screens). Also, it is a directional buzz, meaning you really only hear it if you are sitting directly in front of the screen's center. But this is a 3D set, so you are definitely going to want to sit in the center. If you are considering a C8000, just be sure you buy from someplace that has a clear return policy. I bought from Crutchfield and they were fantastic. A 60-day return policy instead of the typical 30 days and they paid for return shipping since my set was clearly defective.
Other negatives are a disappointing amount of image retention and rather high output of heat. These are both 'normal' plasma issues but they seem more prevalent on this set that on other plasmas I've tried. I had the set for 7 weeks, and I ran the break-in slides, but IR continued to be an issue. It disappears fairly quickly once you change up the image, but I found myself worrying about it and that's annoying. Likewise with the heat output, I know that all plasmas put out more heat than LCDs, but the C8000 seems especially toasty to me.
The good news is that this set delivers fantastic PQ and deep blacks. The quantity of picture controls means that you can really fine tune this set, which will be a real boon for videophiles. Don't freak out when you hate the PQ right out of the box. A few tweaks of the settings and the picture really looks sweet. The menus are easy to read and navigate, and the apps platform is the best around. The 3D functionality is cool, although I found myself feeling a little dizzy when using the 2D-to-3D conversion. Native 3D is beautiful, though, and I didn't notice any crosstalk issues.
The bottom line is that I would have kept this TV if the buzzing hadn't driven me completely crazy. I was going to try the new Panasonic Vieras, but ultimately decided that the markedly better PQ wasn't worth all of the baggage that comes with plasmas. I traded the C8000 for a Samsung 8000 series LCD and I'm very happy with it. -
"The picture quality is one of the best HDTV available"
on by wmarin01Pros Cost less than Panasonics vt25 and 2D-3D quality is great. The achievement on the black level is exceptional. The samsung design is pretty attactive.
Cons Small buzzing sound but hardly noticable.
Summary Get the most band for your money.I t trully represents why Plasma is still the choice or TV for movie viewing. The picture quality is just a shade down in comparison to Panasonic's VT25 series however the it cost much less
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"Best TV ever!"
on by bmw74Pros Incredible image quality on both 2D and 3D.
Handles 1080p/24 frames smoothlyCons Generates a lot of heat
Internal sound is a little weak
Some TVs experience buzzing sound. Best Buy exchanged it and the buzz is gone.Summary I love this TV, would not trade it for the world. I only wish I had gotten the 58".
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"Perfect picture, excellent features, great value"
on by rpd444Pros Picture quality is outstanding and the feautres are on the razor's edge, not to mention in includes 3D capabilities. The anti-glare feature functions well in blocking out sharp glare on the screen. For the money, (~$1,800), it's hard to beat.
Cons Speakers (because of its thickness, about 1 inch, the speakers are not very robust, but they are still perfectly functional for everyday viewing). But for the speakers, the product would be a 5-star.
Summary I have a unique perspective on this product, as I've literally been able to try both the PN50C7000 and the PN50C8000 for an extended amount of time. (The C7000 I originally ordered came with blown speakers, go figure, and since the speakers were on such a back order with Samsung at the time, they simply gave me a C8000 upgrade for free. Not too shabby, huh?)
I originally purchased the C7000 combo which came with an accompanying Blu-ray player and set of 3D glasses for $1,699 from Crutchfield. They exchanged the C8000 roughly 3 weeks after I discovered the C7000 speaker problem (I use a Sony surround sound system, so I survived...thankfully).
I'm sort of a techno geek and I researched TVs for weeks before selecting the Samsung plasma. Previously, I had heard the mantra that "LCDs are the wave of the future" and that "plasmas still have burn-in problems." Let me tell you first hand, this Plasma (oh by the way, the picture quality on the C7000 and C8000 are virtually identical) has been great. I own an LCD for our bedroom which is also from Samsung, but is an LN40B750. The picture quality on plasma is superior, don't believe the LCD hype.
Though I've read it isn't needed, I went ahead and allowed for a "warm-up" period of 100 hours TV viewing where I kept all the brightness and contrast settings at a minimum setting. After the 100 hours, I turned up the settings to what I thought would be the best (not "torched", but nice and robust for good all-around viewing). Not only is this TV nice and bright (some people also fear that Plasmas aren't as bright as LCDs), but I've had literally no image retention or burn-in problems.
The picture is almost too-high def; sometimes it feels like you are looking through a window at what you are watching, rather than seeing it on TV. Though the 3D content is not very extensive (for now), the actual 3D effect is impressive, and better than what I saw on the Samsung LED; I would chalk that up to the frame rate being so much higher on a plasma (there again...LCD-ophile would say that once you get above 240hz, it doesn't matter. I suppose there's some truth to that).
The black levels are rich (and adjustable), and the color is as accurate as I have ever seen. When watching 3D shows natively (in particular, over Blu-ray) the 3D is great, however, I wouldn?t rely on this TV to convert 2D shows to 3D. For some reason, it just doesn?t seem to do as well. (But I think that is an issue with all non-natively produced 3D pictures.)
The TV is also form friendly, with a svelte profile of a little over an inch and is surprisingly light. If you hadn't told me that it was a plasma TV, I would have thought it was one of those new, low-profile LCD or LED TVs.
Samsung, as you know, has bought into the over-the-internet-viewing options heavily. It comes pre-loaded with Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, ESPN and a slew of other Samsung apps which allow you to watch TV shows right over the internet. It doesn?t come with a wireless WiFi dongle, unfortunately, but I would argue it is better to use an internet cable anyway. The apps are fast and easy to navigate. I can?t tell you how often I?ve sat there going through various YouTube videos instead of watching normal TV.
The only ?problem? I have with the TV is that the speakers aren?t particularly robust. They aren?t bad either, just average. Of course, they do the job just fine for normal TV viewing, and you wouldn?t even notice it that much if what you watch is cable news and sports center. If you intend to watch big-time action movies, then I would recommend jumping on Craigslist and purchasing a decent surround sound system. You can find them for under $100 that work very well.
As to the ?Buzzing? issue of the TV: I have not had that problem, thankfully. That is not to say that the problem doesn?t exist, as I?m sure it might it some of them, but mine sounds fine. I did notice some buzzing at one point, but that was due to the fact that my DVR?s volume had been turned down and my daughter had turned up the TV?s volume to compensate. When I turned the DVR volume up, the buzzing went away and the sound was full again.
I would recommend this TV for the person who wants the most bang for their buck (which is basically all of us.) If you are going to spend around $1,800-2,000 on an HDTV, you really can?t get more value than this. -
"Loud Buzing ruins this otherwise amazing TV"
on by elpablo_Pros One of the best pictures of any TV ever made
Cons Continuous very loud buzzing noise which can be heard even with stereo set to very high volumes can always be heard and makes viewing unbearable. T
Summary CNET is definitely not non bias and is in bed with Samsung for not even mentioning any possibility of the horrible buzz this is effecting many panels with wide spread reports that have been posting on line for a long time. See this thread at the AVS Forum about the buzz that has over 400 posts and 43,000 views: his issue is very well documented on the web. See this thread at the AVS Forums with
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