Plasma televisions produce darker-black picture details with truer, more accurate colors than any LCD display can. They also offer superior consistency in picture, even at wide viewing angles. And for action movies and sporting events, the latest 120-Hz LCDs are still no match for the picture clarity delivered by plasma technology. Samsung's new PN50A650 HDTV ($2,499.99 list) 1080p plasma television showcases the superb detail of plasma technology, provided you make some minor adjustments to the TV's settings.

This 6-series plasma features the company's "Touch of Color" bezel that adds a subtle hint of translucent reddish amber to the set's 2.5-inch-wide gloss-finished bezel. The TV's glossy black base stand provides about 25 degrees of swivel on both the right and left (50 degrees of total travel). Like the on-display controls of the Samsung LN52A750 LCD, this TV's touch-sensitive buttons, while located on the lower-right face of the bezel and easy to access, are also a magnet for fingerprints. Resting upon its base stand, the PN50A650 measures 32.8 by 48.8 by 12.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 95.5 pounds. Without its base, the TV's height and depth are 30.1 and 3.8 inches, respectively.

This set also features the company's newly redesigned baton-style remote control (similar to the remote included with the LN52A750), which offers large, easy-to-read, fully backlit buttons. The remote's directional pad for menu navigation is a jog-style control, but its menu-scrolling performance was often clunky, and I found myself avoiding the scroll function in favor of its more precise (and traditional) directional-style navigation.

You get a robust selection of HD-compatible ports, including four HDMI ports (one side-mounted) and two component video inputs. The set also features a VGA port and an RF input that feeds the TV's combo analog/digital/cable tuner. An Ethernet port on the back provides data for the TV's "Infolink" feature, which displays basic RSS-style information such as local weather, stock tickers, and news headlines. A USB 2.0 port on the left-hand side of the TV supports the playback of JPEG images or MP3s stored on a flash drive.

The 50-inch screen features full 1080p resolution (1,920 by 1,080 pixels progressively scanned), and the HDMI, VGA, and component video inputs are compatible with 1080p60 input. The TV's HDMI ports are also compatible with 1080p24 video signals that some Blu-ray disc players can provide. The default picture settings produce a picture that is overscanned (stretched) by 6 percent beyond the outermost edge of the active screen. This can be avoided when using the TV's HDMI ports via a menu option, but component video input with standard definition and 720p video sources lacked a similar fix--an all-too-common characteristic in today's HDTVs.

The PN50A650's Movie picture mode preset came closest to correct reproduction of the color and detail standards used in HD video production. The HD color range was undersaturated for blue, but the remaining primary and secondary colors were well-targeted. By comparison, the Panasonic TH-46PZ85U plasma produced a more accurate, properly saturated blue, but its other primary colors were slightly oversaturated, making images a bit too colorful. Both plasmas exhibited a similarly consistent grayscale that tracked evenly from light to dark levels, minimizing unwanted color shifts that, unlike with LCDs, often exhibit an increase in blue when displaying dark scenes. Video calibrators will find in Samsung's latest HDTVs feature an excellent set of advanced picture controls, which even permit tuning white balance and color management.

Using the Movie mode preset, the set's contrast ratio averaged a respectable 1035:1. The TV's black-level measurement of 0.07 cd/m2 matched the results I obtained from the Panasonic TH-46PZ85U, but the Panasonic's light output using a similar picture preset was 35 percent higher, resulting in a contrast ratio of 1408:1. In a well-lit room both TVs provided similar levels of screen glare and reflection reduction; good, but not nearly as effective as the screen material used on the pricey Pioneer KURO PRO-150FD, our current Editor's Choice plasma. The PN50A650's screen material was also very dark, resulting in increased contrast, which made the Samsung's picture appear richer and more colorful than the Panasonic's.

The set's performance with standard-definition video (480i) was very good once I enabled its film mode processing feature, which minimizes jagged edges, flicker, and other distracting artifacts when displaying video sourced from 24-fps material (most films and digital cinema). As I expect from any decent plasma display, picture detail with fast-motion video was superb, and dimly lit scenes were naturally colored—both challenging scenarios for LCD technology.

1080i is the most common HD broadcast format in use today, and the challenging HD HQV Benchmark test DVD revealed that the PN50A650 delivers a perfect performance with this type of video. The amazing Pioneer PRO-150FD is the only other plasma that I've tested that has produced a perfect result on this test. As with the set's standard-definition results, I found various artifacts with 1080i video material until its film mode processing feature was enabled. Fine color gradients exhibited no signs of banding (posterization), and console gamers will appreciate this TV's lack of audio/video delay that can introduce control timing issues.

Plasma televisions consume more electricity than similarly sized LCDs—enough so that I doubt we'll see an Energy Star 3.0 certified plasma set anytime soon. Using the PN50A650's default picture settings, its estimated operating cost was $7.47 per month—based on 5 hours of daily operation at $0.13 kWh (a local average). Switching to the TV's movie picture preset lowered this result slightly to $7 per month. The estimated monthly operating cost of a similar-size LCD such as the 52-inch Mitsubishi LT-52148 was $7.02 under its relatively bright default picture configuration and $4.03 when the TV was configured for dark-room viewing (reduced backlight level).

Plasma televisions such as the Samsung PN50A650 are best suited for darkened viewing environments where the human eye can more easily perceive fine dark picture details. The PN50A650's dark-screen material also improves picture quality when room lighting is uncontrollable. It is tough, however, to beat the brightness of an LCD when trying to create a well-contrasted picture in a sunny or otherwise brightly lit room. Still, the PN50A650 is a solid value for a 50-inch 1080p plasma HDTV, but be aware that for a perfect picture, you'll need to make some minor adjustments to the TV's settings.

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Benchmark Test Results:
Factory default display settings
HDMI video input @ 1080p24

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