Samsung PN59D8000 Plasma 3D HDTV Review

Formats

The Samsung PN59D8000 has a native resolution of 1080p (1920 × 1080) and supports all standard NTSC formats as well as FAT16 and FAT32.

Viewing Angle

Viewing angle was a bit of a disappointment for the Samsung PN59D8000. One of the selling points for plasma screen televisions in the debate between LCD and plasma screen technology is that they have a great viewing angle compared to their LCD counterparts. The Samsung PN59D8000 wasn’t the worst of our comparison bunch, but it has one of the worst viewing angles for a plasma screen television that we have seen. Worse still, Samsung’s lower end plasma model of this same year (2011) the Samsung PN51D6500 had a fantastic viewing angle, beating out the Samsung PN59D8000 by about 115º of unaffected picture.

Contrast was the problem. As we moved from side to side, the Samsung PN59D8000 showed a noticeable amount of loss of light and dark values, and our test results confirmed this perception. We test viewing angle by finding at which angle the contrast ratio drops below 50% of the same same ratio measured from straight on. To our surprise, this test was over rather quickly as the contrast dropped significantly with each 5º movement from center. There was less of a problem with color shift when looking at the screen off-center. Colors stayed consistent with changes in angle even if the light and dark values did not.

Reflectance

Plasma screens tend to have a hard time with lights because the outermost panel is made of glass and highly reflective but the Samsung PN59D8000 diffuses lights shined directly at the screen well. The Samsung PN59D8000 reflected bright LED lights as softer glows with streaking patterns extending outwards that diminish quickly. Any added angle to the lights greatly reduced reflectivity. Most lights will not be shined directly at the screen while you are watching so reflected glare should not be problem for the Samsung PN59D8000. We did notice that, though the lights were well diffused, the diffusion cast a light haze over the entire picture when the screen was mostly dark. Pair this information with the TV’s low peak brightness and you will want to keep the lights off while watching this set.

Video Processing

There are a heap of video processing modes for the Samsung PN59D8000, try them out because you may like one or two especially fllm mode for watching 24fps content.