Samsung PNE550 review: Samsung PNE550

Panasonic and Samsung plasma TVs have run very close in our comparisons this year, with a slight advantage in picture quality going to team Panasonic, and a slight features advantage to camp Samsung. That's again the case in the midrange category, where the 3D- and Smart TV-equipped Samsung PNE550 series faces off directly against the similarly specced and priced Panasonic TC-PUT50 series.

7.7

Samsung PNE550

The Good

The <b>Samsung PNE550 plasma TV</b> is an excellent value for this level of performance and features. Its picture quality is anchored by solid black levels, accurate color, and perfect off-angle viewing and uniformity. It boasts the industry's most capable Smart TV platform featuring exclusive access to HBO Go. Samsung includes two pairs of 3D glasses.

The Bad

The image of the Samsung PNE550 washes out significantly in normal room lighting. It can't match the black-level performance of the best like-priced plasmas. Its 3D performance is mediocre and the glasses feel cheap. The PNE550 also uses significantly more power than a like-sized LCD or LED TV.

The Bottom Line

While not quite the best in its class, the Samsung PNE550 plasma still merits a look with its very good picture quality, sophisticated Smart TV platform, and attractive price.

I give the nod to the Panasonic by virtue of its deeper black levels and slightly better bright-room picture, but the Samsung PNE550 has its advantages. It gains an edge in the sophistication of its Smart TV platform -- especially if you don't mind sacrificing Amazon video for HBO Go -- and its inclusion of two pairs of 3D glasses. If you're like me you'll value the UT50's merits a bit more, but the Samsung E550 is still a very good television that should please plenty of plasma fans.

Series information: I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 51-inch Samsung PN51E551, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have identical specs and should provide similar picture quality.

Design
Not much separates the unadorned PNE550 from the ranks of me-too black-clad TVs out there, but the accents it offers are tasteful enough to place it in the same league as the Panasonic UT50, if a notch below Samsung's higher-end plasmas like the PNE6500.

Samsung PNE550 series [pictures]

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Compared with the latter's thinner textured charcoal bezel, the glossy frame around the E550's screen seems plain and slightly chunky, although the strip of transparent edging, echoed by the glass top of the stand, lends minor panache. The most notable dash of flavor is another familiar Samsung touch: a clear cylindrical pillar supporting the panel and allowing it to swivel.

If you're keeping track, the PNE550 and PNE6500 share the same panel depth (2.2 inches) and both are slightly thicker than the step-up PNE7000 and PNE8000 models (1.9 inches) in Samsung's lineup.

Samsung's remote is not among my favorites. The tight grid of buttons lacks sufficient visual differentiation, less important keys like "search" and "MTS" are too prominent, and the central Smart Hub button is annoyingly just a logo. On the plus side there's full backlighting, and the cursor pad's curved directional keys make finding and using it by feel a cinch.

Features
The E550 is Samsung's least-expensive plasma for 2012 to offer Smart TV and 3D, putting it on a features par with the Panasonic UT50, for example. Those extras, and the option of a 64-inch size, are the main things separating the E550 from the less-expensive Samsung E530 series. The more expensive E6500 series, meanwhile, touts an improved panel: "Real Black Pro" on the E6500 versus "Real Black" on the E550. The 6500 also has a few extra picture settings over the E550, although it too lacks a 64-inch size.

Like all Samsung 3D models, and unlike other major-brand TVs that use active 3D technology, the PNE550 actually comes with 3D glasses. Two pairs are packed into every box. They're the SSG-3050GBs from 2011, not the newer Samsung SSG-4100GBs from 2012. Both retail for a scant $20 and they look exactly the same -- the main difference is that the 2012 glasses support the universal standard, so they work with universal-certified 3D TVs like 2012 Panasonics. Check out my 2012 3D glasses comparison for more information.

Smart TV: With the exception of Google TV, Samsung's Smart TV platform is the most content-rich and capable on the market. Its big Achilles' heel, aside from its cluttered interface, is lack of Amazon Instant, a service found on Panasonic, Sony, and Vizio TVs, but not LG's this year.

Otherwise the available content is superb. The big standout is HBO Go, available on no other brand of TV so far. It launched in early August for 2012 models, so this is the first chance I've had to test it. In short, it's great. The video quality was excellent over my Wi-Fi connection in the lab, with sharp details and very few compression artifacts visible in the shadowy areas and gradations from an episode of "Game of Thrones," for example. As with all video-streaming apps, Samsung allows full picture adjustment.

Samsung's HBO Go interface improves upon Roku's. It's designed around persistent vertical menus to the left of "pages" as you delve into the content. The search function is appropriately prominent, and browsing long lists is easier since the layout relies less on big thumbnails and clicking through. I'm not as familiar with the HBO Go app on the Xbox 360, but my CNET colleague Jeff Balakar's quick impression was that he liked Samsung's app better than Xbox's, lauding its improved speed and intuitive navigation.

Another unique addition is the Fios TV app, which allows Verizon Fios subscribers to access a few live TV channels and select on-demand content with no attached box required. It's cool in concept, but the sparse selection (no local channels, and ESPN News instead of regular ESPN, for example) means it's no substitute for an actual Fios box attached to the TV. I didn't test this service since live TV requires the TV to be connected to a Fios router, and that service is still unavailable at CNET's offices.

Samsung offers just about every other mainstream non-Amazon video service, as well as numerous niche video options like TMZ, The Daily, AOL On, Digital Theatre, Demand the Outdoors, Samsung's MediaHub, and a 3D-specific app (the latter two with little worthwhile content compared with mainstream options). We're also happy to see the newly added vTuner Internet radio app join Pandora and subscription music via Mog. Other offerings include a 3D photos app, images from National Geographic, MTV Music Meter, and ESPN ScoreCenter, as well as umpteen less-impressive paid and free games, educational apps, screensavers, and so on. The E550 lacks the cloud gaming app (currently in closed beta) found on higher-end Samsungs.

Samsung also has a few relatively rich proprietary apps, like Family Story, which is a way to "share photos, memos, and family events stored in the cloud," Fitness and Kids (both with custom VOD), and a Social TV app combining Facebook, Twitter, and Google Talk in a bar alongside live TV. There's also an AllShare Play app that manages DLNA and USB media files and can also grab files from the cloud.

Samsung still boasts the best browser I've tested on any TV, although it's slower and more frustrating to use than the browser on a laptop, tablet, or phone. That's partly because it depends on the TV's standard remote control; when I tried it with Samsung's Bluetooth keyboard the experience improved immensely. If you're thinking of getting the keyboard, be aware that its alphanumeric keys didn't work with the apps I tried (HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube) so it won't help ease searches much there.

Our favorite proprietary app is Your Video (pictured above), because it features a cross-app search that can now hit Netflix in addition to Vudu and CinemaNow. It also works with the keyboard, unlike the native Netflix app. HBO Go and Hulu Plus don't show up in its results, however, and neither do your own TV listings. It shows other information, too, like biographical and production notes, acting as a sort of IMDb Lite. There's a separate "search all" option that hits local files (DLNA/AllShare), Your Video, YouTube, Facebook, Samsung Apps, history, and the Web browser -- and happily you can disable any of those search targets.

Samsung's Smart Hub interface tends toward crowded and overwhelming. You can only customize the bottom half, and even then many of the icons can't be deleted. While response time could be speedy, I occasionally encountered hitches and balkiness (in my experience the dual-core Samsung sets aren't much better). I prefer the simpler look and customization of Panasonic's interface, for example, but there's no denying that Samsung's is more advanced.

Picture settings: Still with me? OK, this will be brief. Samsung offers a good selection of picture settings but the E550 is bereft of more-advanced options found on the PNE6500, namely a color management system and 10-point grayscale. You do get a 2-point system as well as gamma presets, though. Just three picture modes are on hand, but that's plenty in my opinion and they're all adjustable.

Connectivity: The E550's backside is par for the course. It includes three HDMI ports, a single component/composite-video input, and a pair of USB ports. There's no VGA-style PC input, however.

Picture settings:
Samsung PN51E550

Picture quality
Although very good overall, especially compared with just about every 2012 LED TV, the images produced by the PNE550 can't quite beat those of its closest plasma competition, Panasonic's UT50 and U50 televisions. Its black levels are solid but not in the same league as the Panasonics. Color is its strongest suit while bright-room picture is weakest, and its mediocre 3D picture won't distinguish it much in this category.

Update September 5, 2012: The original version of this review indicated that the PNE550 didn't pass our test for 1080p/24 playback. In fact it can, so the relevant sections have been updated.

Click the image at the right to see the picture settings used in the review and to read more about how this TV's picture controls worked during calibration.

Black level: While lower-end Panasonic plasmas like the U50 and UT50 deliver black levels as deep as the company's flagships, that's not the case with the E550. I set it up directly next to the PNE6500 and the difference in depth of black was obvious. The spacescapes from chapter 4 of Tree of Life provided one of many examples, where the void between the stars and nebulas didn't look nearly as deep. Compared with the other TVs in our lineup the E550 split the difference: darker than the Toshiba and the LG, but lighter still than the Vizio and the Panasonic UT50. That's not a bad performance by any means, just not on the same level as the tough competition.

Details in shadows looked good on the PNE550, although the UT50 held a slight advantage in this area. The face of Mrs. O'Brien kissing young Jack in bed (48:23) looked a bit less realistic than on the UT50 for example, although equal to the very good PNE6500. The LEDs obscured these areas somewhat while they appeared too bright on the LG.

Color accuracy: Here's where the PNE550 held a slight advantage over the Panasonic UT50, although it couldn't quite reach the accuracy of the PNE6500. The skin tone of Mrs. O'brien (3:11) looked appropriately pale and natural, without the slight flush of the LG and Toshiba or the slightly pale cast of the UT50. The Samsung E550 also looked a bit more saturated and rich than the Panasonic, for example in the red of her lips or the green of the ubiquitous grass. Saturation wasn't quite as impressive as the PNE6500, but the two Samsungs were the best in the lineup still, followed by the Vizio and then the UT50.

As I've come to expect from plasma, the E550's near-black areas also looked accurate and neutral without the greenish or reddish cast seen on some other sets, namely the LG and the LEDs in this lineup.

Video processing: I have no complaints in this area. The biggest improvement from last year is the fact that engaging CinemaSmooth, which worked well to impart correct film cadence with 1080p/24 sources in our tests, didn't cause any appreciable loss in black-level performance.

As with previous Samsungs, the default Auto2 Film Mode setting for 1080i sources didn't result in proper deinterlacing; I had to switch to Auto 1 to get the PNE550 to pass that test.

Bright lighting: Like the U50 I reviewed previously, the PNE550's Achilles heel is its relatively poor handling of bright room lighting. Both TVs were about equal in their failure to maintain deep black levels and hence good contrast with the lights turned up, although I'd give the E550 a slight advantage because its image was slightly brighter. Both screens looked gray under moderate lighting, and as a result the image washes out to an even larger extent than on the UT50. It doesn't help that the U50 and E550 can't be "turned up" bright enough to really compensate, nor that both created bright reflections of in-room objects.

Every other TV in our lineup, including the PNE6500, was clearly superior to the PNE550 at maintaining black levels and contrast in a bright room.

3D: The E550 is an average 3D performer at best. Once I substituted the Samsung UN55ES8000, my reference active 3D TV, into the lineup for the 2D-only Toshiba, the Samsung E550 rated second-worst overall at delivering 3D images, besting only the LG.

Its biggest issue was crosstalk, which I consider the most annoying artifact associated with 3D. During "Hugo," my favorite crosstalk torture test with Hugo's hand reaching toward the mouse (5:01) showed the ghostly outline of crosstalk more prominently on the E550 than on any set save the LG. The next-best were the UT50 and PNE6500, which both showed less crosstalk in this and other scenes, like those showing the tuning pegs on the guitar (7:49), the struts, railings, and the pendulum inside the shaft (11:47) and the word "Films" from the GK Films logo before the movie starts. The passive Vizio and the Samsung UNES8000 showed the least crosstalk in the lineup.

Note that I engaged CinemaSmooth on the Samsungs and 48Hz mode on the Panasonic, both of which helped reduce crosstalk compared with Off and 60Hz, respectively. Otherwise I tested all of the TVs in their default Movie/Cinema/THX 3D modes since I didn't calibrate the sets for 3D.

In that mode the E550's main strength was shadow detail, which looked better than on the UT50, the LG, and the Vizio in areas like the darkened doorway under the station (9:53). On the other hand its black levels were lighter than the UT50's and the 6500's, although still plenty deep. In terms of color the E550 looked good, with saturation among the flowers (25:43) that surpassed that of the UT50. It did have a too-warm, reddish cast overall, however, which was visible for example in the face of Lisette (25:51).

As we mentioned in the review of the SSG-4100BG glasses, which are basically identical to the SSG-3050GBs included with this TV, Samsung's fit is pretty bad. The glasses didn't grip my head firmly when used with my prescription lenses, and even when I removed my regular glasses I found they admitted more ambient light than any of the others. Yes, they are among the lightest active glasses I've tried, but that's about all I can say that's positive. At least they're free. Check out my comparison of active 3D glasses for alternatives.

Power consumption: Note: The following information, as well as the juice box and annual power cost comparison, only apply to the 51-inch version of the Samsung PNE550 series, not the 60- or 64-inch versions.

No surprises here: the PN51E550 is a power hog and uses about as much juice as comparable 50-inch plasmas, which far outstrips the energy consumption of any similar LED TV. As usual its Standard picture mode is vanishingly dim, which accounts for the relatively low default power usage. That low default power use is also the reason this TV qualifies for Energy Star 5.3, while larger plasmas do not.

Juice box
Samsung PN51E550	Picture settings
	Default	Calibrated	Power save
Picture on (watts)	106.76	220.46	96.417
Picture on (watts/sq. inch)	0.1	0.2	0.09
Standby (watts)	0.09	0.09	0.09
Cost per year	$23.47	$48.40	$21.21
Score (considering size)	Poor
Score (overall)	Poor

Samsung PN51E550 CNET review calibration results