FEATURED Samsung PN51D8000 51-inch 1080p 3D Ready Plasma HDTV [2011 MODEL]
- It has 600Hz refresh rate
- It exceeds ENERGY STAR standards
- 600Hz Subfield Full HD Motion performance
- Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio 25,000,000:1
- Ultra Slim Touch of Color Design
3D Technology Checklist This product is 3D-related. To help you get a great 3D experience, use the checklist below to ensure you have everything you need. 3D viewing requires: A Display
First, you’ll need a 3D-ready display–whether it’s a 3D HDTV, 3D projector, or 3D computer monitor. These displays have more processing power than standard 2D models for displaying 3D images in rapid succession. A Source
Your display may be ready for 3D playback, but you’ll still need a device to read 3D content. This can be a cable box with a subscription to a 3D channel, a 3D Blu-ray Disc player, or a PlayStation 3 system. 3D Content
3D content–the actual entertainment, in other words–will be played back using the source mentioned above, whether it’s a 3D broadcast from your cable provider, a 3D Blu-ray Disc, or a 3D video game. 3D Glasses
For now, the vast majority of 3D HDTVs require glasses for 3D viewing. Many use powered “active shutter” glasses, others polar
Comments
3 comments
TheBigB
May 6, 2013
Near Perfection,
I’ve had this beast of a plasma for about a month now and I am truly still being blown away. Like other reviewers, I was on the fence about Panasonic versus Samsung. I also wanted something OVER 60 inches, and plasma was the way to go to keep costs reasonable. It was either a Panasonic VT65 or GT65 or the Samsung D8000 or D7000. I read countless point and counterpoint discussions on the AVForum site for months…And when I saw a great deal on this 64D8000 I jumped on it and am totally pleased with my choice.
PICTURE: Unbelievable.. Out of the box, it was amazing. Midnight blacks and bright clean whites.. I mean watching the Boston Bruins play in the Stanley Cup was the first thing I saw when I had this on…the black shirts contrasted against the white ice was amazing. Close ups of the Bruins uniforms looked like the TV was powered off on that part of the screen. Really great. Blu-rays of course looked even better. Again the blacks stood out and colors really popped…TRON: Legacy looked UN-believable!!! Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I went into advanced options in the menu and entered a professional calibration result from a tester on AVForum. It took awhile entering in all those R G B settings, but it was totally worth it. (Saved me a couple hundred I’m sure) After my “calibration”, I saw the true power of this Samsung. The colors came alive. And the contrast and flesh tones became more realistic. Blacks were inky (definitely a popular but very true word to describe these blacks) and even darker than before! So, before I thought the picture was amazing, but now it was near perfection! I honestly can’t see how even the wildly popular, overpriced Panasonic VT series can beat this…(according to CNet reviews, they BARELY edge out this tv in picture quality). But you won’t be disappointed with this Samsung. I’m no TV expert but I’ve had lots of HDTVs the last decade, and keep up with the latest. Plasmas aren’t going away anytime soon… This is a big, bright, beautiful beast. Even more beautiful if you calibrate it, or “calibrate” it on your own.
DESIGN: Very nice looking, when turned off. The dark titanium bezel is attractive (darker than the picture shown here on Amazon) with a nice glass edge to give it that classy look. The stand, I agree, is kind of ugly with it’s chrome spider legs..but you gotta hang this thing anyway. This thing is meant to hang on the wall. Its surprisingly thin for a 64-inch plasma. The screen is a bit reflective so it looks nice when it’s off, but plan accordingly if you want this in a room with lots of windows. The reflections will be noticeable. The remote has a nice Qwerty keypad for entering text, and I actually like it’s flip design…although that keypad should light up! It’s useless in the dark. There is an app to use on a smartphone that I have yet to try.
3D: I’ve only watched Directv 3D channels, so I haven’t gotten a lot of 3D experience yet (no Blu-ray 3D yet either even though I’m ready for it). What I have watched is nice. I got two free pairs of battery powered glasses and one rechargeable pair that I paid for extra. The 3D is fun to watch and clear in HD. It is still a gimmick in my book, and I can only watch so much of it before I get annoyed. Bottom line, 3D on this tv looks good (dimmer, but still clear and nice) but I bought this for its 2D picture… 3D is nice to have though, and I’m looking forward to trying out a 3D Blu-ray sometime soon..
SMART TV: Like the 3D feature this is nice. But not necessary in my book. I still use a computer for Internet features and YouTube videos, not my TV. That being said, I think the layout of this Internet connectivity is nice and smooth. Not as smooth as a computer or iPad but it works well enough. And it has built in wifi, so I had to try it out. I was impressed, and I have occasionally gone back to this for sports scores or a YouTube video once in awhile. Samsung has done better than I would have guessed with this “Smart TV” thing…I imagine some people, not myself really, will get a lot of use out of this..
NEGATIVES: okay, so this not perfect. There are a couple things I will point out that people will surely notice. First is the reflective screen. I notice it even in my window-less downstairs room when lights are on and the scene on TV is dark… This TV is meant to be viewed in a darkened room with minimal light. Second, if you’ve read up on plasmas then you’ve heard about “buzzing”. Apparently, Samsung has had buzzing issues before. I tried to notice this right away but couldn’t. Then during a quiet scene of a movie, I sat dead center in front of this tv and happened to turn my head away from the screen and heard it. Now, to be clear, this is not a loud “buzzing” sound and I’m not even complaining about it, but if you are dead center in front of the TV in a quiet scene and you turn your head (directing your ear…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|coselect
May 6, 2013
Could not be happier,
My wife and I just purchased the pn51d8ooo about a week ago from Paul’s TV. I would have bet that we were going to walk out of the store with a led/lcd model. The salesman was extremely helpful with explaining the attributes of the models we were considering. He eventually steered us towards this model for consideration. It seemed strange to me that since they work on commission at this store he would try to sell us on the plasma (less expensive than the comparable led/lcd), it soon became clear that this salesman (Nick)not only knew what he was talking about but wanted us to get the best product for the money. This model is more full featured than anything else out there. It has full web browsing capabilities (yes, that’s right – you can actually surf the net, buy from ebay or Amazon, google anything etc., etc.) There is a built in wireless card unlike all of the others we saw which required you to buy a dongle or other accessory. The picture in the showroom was awesome. Although not as brightly lit as the led models, the colors seemed more natural to me. the blacks were richer (when viewing from an angle the led blacks turned more gray than black). We paid $2,069.00 which included the starter 3D kit (two pair of glasses and five 3D movies). The remote is awesome, a standard tv remote on one side but flip it over and you have a full qwerty keyboard and other keys which make internet surfing so much easier. I do have to say that my wife was concerned that we would not like the plasma as much as we would have liked the intense brightness of the led model.
After getting the TV home we took a few days to set it up because we were waiting on a new console stand. I took that time to run a network ethernet cable to the tv location (wired is always faster and more reliable than wireless, but I’m sure that the wireless signal would have worked fine). Set-up was a breeze, stand mounts to tv easily, switching between apps, tv, and internet was very intuitive. We were concerned that we might need to have the tv picture calibrated (as recommended by other stores for $199.00 additional), but were thrilled with the picture right out of the box. There are four picture modes (Dynamic, standard, movie and relax), we are using dynamic which is extremely close to the brightness of the led models. The sound is more than adequate for us. With the wired internet, the set took literally 30 seconds to connect successfully. The netflix problems that I have read in one or two other reviews must have been resolved because I have not had even one glitch. The apps are great but there is a bit of a quirky apps account registration you have to get through. All in all we are extremely happy with our purchase. I haven’t tried the 3D yet but it has full 3D and I’m sure we will love it when more 3D titles are available. Hope this long winded review helps. p.s. We purchased the five year service agreement just to have the peace of mind that it offers, we had a smaller lcd previously that we had to have repaired and it was a bit expensive.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Nathaniel Allen
May 6, 2013
After years of dragging feet, this TV made me JUMP to HD…,
…although I should thank Amazon Warehouse for first sending me a busted-up 50″ version of last year’s C8000 or I may never have experienced the awesomeness of the 59″ D8000!
The great (and exhaustive) information at AVSFourm lead me to this beauty, which I purchased from BuyDig due to Amazon Warehouse hanging me up on a C8000 replacement, and then Amazon taking forever to get the new 2011 Samsungs into inventory and listed for sale. I’ve got mine paired up with a Samsung BD-D6700 3D Blu-ray Player using AmazonBasics High Speed HDMI Cable. I wall mounted the set with a Sanus Vlt14-B1 Super-Slim Tilt Mount bracket. I’m using Samsung’s SSG-3100GB 3D Glasses that came as part of the Shrek/Megamind 3D Starter Kit, which was included as a promotional item with this set.
Regarding picture quality:
– Simply outstanding. Crisp definition. True colors that aren’t overly bright or artificial. Inky black blacks.
– No ghosting or shadows. Great with fast action and camera panning. Haven’t tried video games.
– No sign of jutter or film effect; the high refresh rate makes any motion smooth and realistic, especially noticeable in-store when comparing this side-by-side with a lower refresh TV.
– Not so hot as a PC monitor with respect to reading tiny text.
If you’re worried about the size possibly being too big:
– I thought I was pushing my luck after my wife commented that the broken 50″ C8000 that showed up at our front door (but was never mounted) looked “too big.” And I’ll admit, this 59″ TV is huge, but once we sat back to enjoy it, I don’t know how we suffered (*cough, cough*) with out 32″ Trinitron tube for the past 14 years.
– With whatever up-convert happens between our DVD player and the TV itself, standard definition movies still look fine on this set. No, they’re not as amazingly crystal clear as high-def Blu-ray content, but they’re not at all blocky as I had expected.
– You will want to take advantage of any HD cable, satellite or over-the-air broadcasts you might have available. Standard definition television picture quality will make you crazy after knowing the cleanliness of HD. (In our case, we’re sticking with Comcast’s most basic service but added their converter box, and are paying them about $28 per month.)
– The VESA mounting pattern on the back is 800mm x 600mm, the largest size the Sanus mount I linked to supports. It’s probably worth checking that whatever mount you select is compatible with this pattern.
3D movies on this set are simply outstanding. So far, I’ve only got the Shrek discs that came with Samsung’s starter kit to view, though I’ve got a couple more on the way. The big screen gives a really perceptible depth effect when viewed from my normal sitting position approximately 10 feet away. But we have a wide room and even from viewing angles of 45° the effect is still present with only very minor drop-offs in color and brightness (the picture noticeably dims once the 3D glasses are powered on, especially when the room is bright).
3D setup and playback is a cinch — the sync signal is bluetooth, so each pair of glasses needs to be paired the first time used. Pairing involves nothing more than turning the glasses on, and since the bluetooth signal is bi-directional, the television recognizes when the glasses are activated and provides a brief pop-up indication in the lower left corner saying so.
After that initial setup, inserting a 3D disk and pressing play is all that’s required to get the show going. The TV even automatically powers on and switches to the correct input when I power up my Samsung player and insert a disk.
During the day I’ve watched my movies with the bright overhead lights on, and daylight lighting the room through two large windows. The anti-reflective coating on the screen is excellent! There’s no apparent glare, and the brightness of the screen even at the factory setting (if I recall correctly, it’s initially set at brightness level 48) is more than enough overcome this ambient light, without washing out the deep, dark black levels. (The 3D glasses reflect lighted surfaces located directly…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Write a Reply or Comment: