Samsung HP-S5053 Review

Samsung HP-S5053 Review, Samsung HP-S5053 Spec & Features

Samsung HP-S5053 50-Inch Plasma HDTV

Samsung HPS4253 42" Plasma HDTV

Features

• 50-inch plasma TV with integrated high-def ATSC tuner; measures 48.3 x 33.3 x 13.4 inches (WxHxD) with stand
• Samsung Digital Natural Image engine improves contrast, white level, picture detail and incorporates digital noise reduction
• 1366 x 768-pixel resoltuion, 1300 cd/m2 brightness, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 175-degree viewing angle
• Connections: 2 HDMI, 2 component, 2 composite, 2 S-Video, 1 digital coaxial, 1 digital optical
• Two stereo speakers, 10 watts apiece (20 watts total); SRS TruSurround XT virtual surround sound

Offering an incredible feature set and exceptional quality for its price, Samsung's fifth-generation 50-inch HP-S5053 plasma TV uses the company's proprietary electronic chassis and the latest DNIe enhancement circuitry to deliver outstanding brightness, contrast, and image clarity. Use it for home theater and use it for your PC--it's perfect for both. In addition to a standard-broadcast NTSC tuner, it also features an integrated ATSC tuner that can capture over-the-air digital broadcasts from local network affiliates (the set will still require a set-top tuner for receiving non-terrestrial HD broadcasts from channels like HBO or Discovery).

The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) Video Enhancer refines all analog NTSC and wideband video inputs for an overall improvement in picture quality. DNIe improves contrast, white level, picture detail and incorporates digital noise reduction to improve lower quality video inputs. Thanks to the new 13-bit processing capability of DNIe, the HP-S5053 can produce over 549 billion colors (compared to the one billion colors that TVs with 10-bit processing can produce.

This set features a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, 175-degree viewing angle, brightness rating of 1300 cd/m2 (candela per square meter), and an amazing 10000:1 contrast ratio. (The higher the contrast ratio, the greater a TV's ability to display subtle color details and not get washed out by ambient room light.) The 3D Y/C digital comb filter constantly analyzes the three dimensions of picture height, picture width, and picture changes-over-time to dramatically reduce edge image artifacts while improving transition detail.

The anti-glare plasma panel offers several protective features to resist burn-in, including auto pixel shift, signal pattern processing, and white screen function. It's rated for a 60,000-hour panel life (6 hours of usage a day for 27 years). Other features include:

• Picture-in-picture (PIP) enables convenient simultaneous viewing of TV programs and video or PC sources.
• Parental Control (V-Chip) helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
• Auto volume leveler keeps audio volume consistent during channel changing.
• Multi-lingual on-screen displays in English, Spanish or French.
• Side A/V input

High-quality virtual surround sound can be experienced with just the speakers built into the sides of the TV. SRS TruSurround XT technology delivers an amazing, simulated 3D effect with clear dialog and powerful bass. It produces 10 watts of power per channel (for 20 watts total) and offers the following connection options:

• Composite (RCA audio/video): 2 inputs (1 on the side)
• S-Video: 2 inputs (1 on the side)
• Component (Y/Pb/Pr): 2 inputs
• HDMI: 2 inputs
• PC: 1 D-Sub15 input
• RF: 2 inputs
• Digital audio: 1 coaxial and 1 optical

Tech Talk
HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV--all over a single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced or high definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It supports all ATSC formats--standard (SDTV), enhanced (EDTV), and high (HDTV).

TruSurround XT audio adds three new audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

• Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into ÒfocusÓ during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
• TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
• The SRS WOW feature widens the soundstage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.

Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.

What's in the Box
Plasma TV, remote control (with batteries), power cord, printed operating instructions

Very good plasma TV for the money
After shopping for several months I finally took the plunge and purchased this TV from a national chain. I finally decided plasma over DLP because of the vertical fading effect I saw with all the DLP sets. I took two of my own DVDs in to the store with me and made the staff there hook up a player so I could see both the fast action of The Matrix and the beautiful scenery of Spring, Summmer, Fall, Winter, Spring. The picture on the Samsung HP-S5053 was the second best of the many plasmas that I examined. The Pioneer had a better picture but was significantly more expensive. I do not use the built in speakers because I had an existing 5.1 speaker system. I really like the minimal black casing since the silver finishes are distracting-at least to my eye.
The menus are extremely intuitive. I didn't have to read the instructions at all to get anything working within an hour of unpacking my system. I purchased an upconverting DVD player and an HDMI cable at the same time I purchased this TV. My old DVDs look great on this TV. The 10-15 HD channels I get with Cox cable also look incredible. The one fault I've found is that if I use the HDMI cable from my cable box or DVD player and connect to the TV and then connect the digital audio out of the TV to my receiver I only receive stereo sound even when the original broadcast is 5.1. I get around this by using composite video cables from the cable box and DVD player to the HPS5053 and also run a digital audio line from each source to the receiver. The HPS5053 has plenty of inputs to support almost any type of user.

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