With picture quality that matches its less expensive brother but not the best of the stiff competition, the main appeal of the Samsung PNB850/860 series is its sleek, ultrathin panel.
Like the company's thicker, less expensive PNB650 series, the PNB850/860 series offers excellent picture quality with accurate color, deep black levels--albeit not as deep as the best plasmas and LCDs--and solid video processing. In fact, we awarded the two Samsung plasmas the same score in Performance, although the PNB850/860 gets the nod in Design. If you can stomach the higher price and like the thin profile, however, the PNB850/860 makes a compelling option.