Samsung HP-S4253 42" HDTV Plasma TV

Samsung is one of the leaders in Plasma HDTVs. But as with all brands, they make varying qualities of product for different markets and budgets. As a result, the Samsung HP-S4253 42 in. HDTV Plasma Television comes in a few hundred dollars below comparable LCD models. Is it worth the extra savings? Is the TV good enough for enthusiasts?

Read on, dear reader....

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Hardware
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The TV is a standard Samsung design, with piano black frame and minimalist stylings. It isn't quite as rounded as other Samsung models, but it isn't ugly by any means. The frame surrounding the screen is a little thicker than some, and as a result adds to the overall size of the unit.

A black stand is included, but it doesn't swivel. Not a really a big deal since a TV of this size isn't really meant to be rotated. Set it and leave it.

The remote is a little different than typical Samsung remotes. The remote is a little more ergonomic due to it's stretched length and the keys are arranged differently, albeit better. The remote isn't backlit for some reason, but this is less impactful due to the intuitive layout of the buttons.

Of interesting note are the speakers. I'm generally not a huge fan of speakers on HDTVs and I'll get to the sonic quality later. But to eliminate some of the bulk of mounting speaker on the sides or bottom that point out, Samsung has mounted the speakers on the bottom of the TV pointing down. How does that work? Because while they point down, there is flat strip of plastic the length of the the TV at a 45 degree angle that bounces the sound out. Very cool design in my book.

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Features
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The TV has a native resolution of 1024x768 which means that it won't display true HD content, not even 720p. It will scale the image to fit the supported resolution. Keep in mind that this is typical of plasmas this size. If you want the full HD experience in a TV of this size, you might want to look in the LCD line of TVs or higher-end plasmas from Sony.

Complying with federal law, the unit includes an ATSC tuner to tune into any HD or digital signals coming over the air. The lack of any Cablecard might turn some off, but it isn't a huge problem since cable boxes with Digital Video Recording and Video on Demand are so commonplace and inexpensive from most cable companies and satellite providers. However, if you prefer the Cablecard route so you don't have any extra boxes cluttering the place up, you've been warned.

Independent input memories is a sought after feature that retains color, brightness, saturation and other settings from one input to another, So if you like your video games saturated, but not your movies, the feature will remember your setting and adjust the TV accordingly. Unfortunately, this TV does not include such a feature, but instead gives 4 presets including a Game mode which merely amps up the vibrancy and saturation. While you can't set custom settings for each input, the mode is remembered from input to input resulting in a pseudo memory for 4 inputs. Should be fine for most casual users, but enthusiasts won't be impressed.

The inputs are pretty good for a unit in this price range. They include:

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2 HDMI (this is exceptional)

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2 component-video

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2 RCA with S-video

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2 RFs

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1 VGA PC (maximum resolution of 1024x768)

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Picture
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Equipment used:
Toshiba SD3109 DVD player
Denon AVR-1400 Dolby Digital Receiver
Sylvania DVC-840E DVD/VCR combo player
Insignia IS-PDVD10 Portable DVD Player
Motorola DCT6412 Dual tuner set-top Box and DVR
Xbox 360 Console

When it comes down to it, the picture quality is the single most important factor when trying to choose an HDTV. The Samsung HP-S4253 42 in. HDTV Plasma Television performs fairly well in that category but not as well as units in a higher price bracket. The black levels were good on this TV, producing blacks that were indeed black. However, I did notice a fair amount of video noise in darker scenes. The Matrix DVD, for example, showed noticeable noise in the opening scenes. As well, there is a slight green tinge to places with sharp contrast and areas of deep black. I was able to eliminate it with some fiddling of the saturation, but at the cost of reduced saturation.

As well, I also noticed a fair amount of red push, which is red color usually added in larger amounts to compensate for lack of other colors. A bit of tuning reduced the push, but it still appeared in some places. Not a huge problem overall, but noticeable. This is in sharp contrast to the slightly bluish tint the greens have. Probably not noticeable to the average user, but videophiles probably will.

As well, skin tones generated a noticeable amount of posterization or solarization. This is the stair stepping that can occur in gradient areas and is most prevalent in skin tones due to the subtle variations in gradients natural in skin. Bad posterization can make people look like they have blotches of color in their face instead of smooth subtle changes in color. While this TV was not as bad that description, I've seen less of this effect in other TVs.

Hooking up the Xbox 360 console and popping in Kameo gave me a chance to check out the Game mode that is touted as a feature by Samsung. Kameo is a tremendously vibrant game with lost of fine detail. And since it runs at 720p, it is always an excellent test bed. Indeed, the colors were vibrant and the detail stunning. The problems I noticed with other types of media were nearly gone when playing games of this nature and I wasn't disappointed. Other games that go for realism over super-vibrancy such as Call of Duty 2 were just as enjoyable.

HD content looked fine as long as the scenes were bright. But darker shows such as CSI displayed the same artifacting and gradient problems as DVDs. The said, the detail and sharpness of this unit is very good and able to display fine detail and subtlety. Sports fans will be duly impressed with the picture mainly because sports games are brightly lit, day-time events. The colors are fairly accurate (except for the red push) and the detail is sharp.

One downside was the reproduction of non-HD sources (standard definition). For some reason, the picture looked softer and less detailed than other HDTVs of similar size. Adjusting the sharpness helped a little, but did not completely correct the situation. Not a huge deal since SD content is. by nature, lesser quality.

Let's talk about Burn-in. This phenomenon should be obvious to anyone who has seen an ancient video game monitor or a TV in an airport, where the image of static objects on screen are burned into the phosphor. Plasmas are notorious for this problem, though strides have been taken in newer models to avoid it. Though this TV is recommended for gamers and sports fans, it should be noted that both of these types of usage have static elements which may contribute to burn-in. However, it has been shown that burn-in usually occurs within the first 100-200 hours of use, so low contrast should be used during that time period as well as avoidance of stationary objects such as scoreboards and game UI elements. That said, the manual for this TV includes tips and tricks for avoiding burn-in. As well, the TV itself has a feature called pixel-shift which shifts the picture a pixel or two after a certain time interval. This allows each pixel to change the color or intensity of what it displays, even on stationary screen elements. This should help combat the risk of burn-in during those first few critical hours, but care should still be taken to avoid the problem.

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Sound
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The sound on this TV was fairly good, with little distortion even at high volumes. Since the TV only has 2 speakers, there is no true surround except for the always artificial Virtual surround. If you have no home theater system to plug this in to, you'll find the sound to be good, but not great. Don't expect much thumping bass, but fairly good reproduction of mids and highs without distortion.

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Conclusion
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This is a fairly good plasma at a lower price than many LCDs. While it doesn't excel at movies, gamers and sports fans should be perfectly happy with it as long as they know the risks of burn-in and are prepared to take the appropriate action to combat it.