Samsung PN43E450: Full Review – Part 1

When you think of a Samsung TV, you first think of an LED TV, right? The Korean company invented the misleading terminology, and has built its reputation on LED televisions over the last few years. But what may come as surprise is that the company’s plasma TVs are actually its strongest products, and have been for several years.

The Samsung E450 is the best entry-level plasma you can buy. At around the $500 mark for 50-51 inches, and $400 for 42-43, it competes against the Panasonic’s X5-series and LG’s PA4500.

No entry-level telly has any features to speak of, but that also means you’re not paying for fripperies you don’t need like 3D or  Smart TV. Concerned with plasma’s reputation as an energy hog? The E450 is actually quite efficient for a plasma — a direct result of its lower resolution.

As much as I liked the E450’s bargain proposition, if you can bring yourself to spend a couple hundred dollars more, the Panasonic TC-U50 is a much better TV. But if you can’t stretch beyond this price range, or you want something in a 42-43-inch size, then the Samsung E450 makes an excellent choice.

I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 51-inch Samsung PN51E450, but this review also applies to the 43-inch size in the series. All sizes have identical specs and according to the manufacturer should provide very similar picture quality.

This particular Samsung is quite a plain Shane — it doesn’t have a funky, cephalopodic stand or any brushed metal in its design. The bezel features a piano-black finish and it’s a standard inch or so thick. The stand is also a rectangular slab of the same material, and at this low price I won’t complain about the lack of swivel.

If you’re paying about $500 for a television, you can’t expect much in the way of features, and in some ways this is a blessing; too many midlevel and high-end TVs suffer from “feature bloat.” It’s actually easier to talk about what the Samsung doesn’t do than what it does. For instance, it doesn’t have any connected features like Smart TV or apps, but it does offer movie, photo, and music playback via the USB port.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Sep 20 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.