Samsung PN43E450: Full Review – Part 2

The E450 has only 720p resolution, which actually breaks down to 1,024×768 pixels. This pixel count is common for entry-level plasmas, and naturally the TV has an onboard scaler that processes any input up to 1080p to the screen’s native resolution. The TV, like most plasmas these days, features a 600Hz subframe processor, which is the rate at which the TV sends the picture to the screen, and not actually related to 120Hz-type engines found on LCD TVs.

While its competitors seemed to struggle with reproducing black and accurate color with any sense of fidelity, Samsung’s E450 performs like a TV hundreds of dollars more expensive. The Samsung had the deepest black of all the plasma TVs at its price, and shadow detail was very good as well. The two-point system meant I could tweak the TV’s black-and-gray response from the greenish tinge of the Panasonic X5 to something more natural. Colors were vibrant even if they weren’t the most natural-looking. A lack of a color management system meant I couldn’t tweak colors to get them to reference standard.

The competition also showed some problems with solarization and false contouring but the Samsung was able to mostly avoid these artifacts. Of course, it is only 720p (1,024×768 pixels), so you may see some vertical interlacing on an all-white screen, but this wasn’t an issue for most program material. There were some problems with 24p and 1080i sources, however.

For this price, the Samsung E450 offers the best black levels you’ll see. While we’re not talking levels of darkness akin to a funhouse Ghost Train, the Samsung is able to serve up a solid-looking picture with excellent depth. In dark scenes like those with the “spiky pinecone” alien ship in “Star Trek” or the tricky brickwork in the jail cell scene at the start of “Batman Begins,” the Samsung was able to dig up details that most of its competition at the price wasn’t able to deliver. There is a small amount of crushing in the very, very dark stuff, but this isn’t particularly noticeable if you aren’t watching it side-by-side with another TV.

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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.