Samsung FPT5084 50″ 1080p Plasma HDTV
This time we’ll have a look at a 50 inch Samsung product - FPT6084 Plasma HDTV. It is bigger than the most popular screens, but at the same time the price is not much higher. Suggested is $2,799.99, but as usually one can get this TV cheaper - $1,599 and with free shipping (that’s $1,100 less than in a normal store).
The FPT5084 is 1080p, meaning that it can display resolution up to 1920 x 1080. It does so while maintaining a good contrast ratio of 15,000:1 and a very bright screen. The astonishingly good brightness is achieved by the Ultra FilterBright which blocks the reflection on the screen caused by any source of light (sun, lamp etc). The quality of the picture is better than in some other plasmas, the cause of this is the DNIe technology which uses special algorithms to change and enhance the image before it is displayed on the screen (reduce noise, increase contrast), it results in an overall good image even for the standard TV. Adding more to the screen quality - colors are processed using 18 bits (normally one color needs only 8 bits are used) which makes the colors appear more natural than in HDTVs without this nice feature.
The connectors that Samsung added to FPT5084: 3 HDMIs (on on the side and two on the back), composite video, two S-Video inputs, two A/V inputs and a D-Sub for connecting PC. So, while watching TV one could connect a laptop or a main PC to the screen and do some work, the computer screen will be shown as Picture-in-Picture on the HDTV screen.
The sound is as good as one can expect from just two speakers on the sides of the TV, although one cannot underestimate the SRS TruSurround XT which really makes the sound three dimensional.
A commonly missed feature is the power saving, this 50 inch HDTV has a so called blue eye that controls the brightness of the screen based on the change of ambient light, Samsung boasts that it could reduce the power consumption even by 25%, it is quite possible, because the lighting of the screen takes large portions of the energy.
Summing it all up, it is a good Plasma HDTV with many picture enhancing features and good power saving, adding to it the $1,100 price reduction it should be seriously considered for every one looking for a plasma TV.
