Bought home a LG 50PK550 PLASMA

[VSG12777]

Hmm maybe. But Chad B from AVS Forums has done a good comparo between the 50PK550 from LG and the Panasonic G25 unit, as posted earlier on this thread by someone. I read it and he actually concluded that the 50PK550 was excellent.

As for any product, there would be both good and bad reviews. So the final judgment would just have to be done with the buyer's own eyes.

I personally have a 42PQ70 plasma at my parents' place, purchased in July 2009 and we are very happy with it. SD looks good and HD and Full HD content (played through WDTV Gen 1, thru HDMI) look fabulous.

If you could include the links of the sites which point out the problems you have mentioned, it would be useful for others who are considering this model.

Samsung seems to have bigtime service issues when it comes to plasmas - no stock of spares due to low volumes, indifferent service attitude and what not, as posted by a Samsung plasma owner on another thread. This member then got a new LG 50PQ70 plasma since his Samsung C450 failed within a week after purchasing. He had a terrible experience with Samsung service. All this, even though Samsung plasmas seem to be around 10-15% better than the comparable LG plasmas.

The overall experience with LG is far better and the LG plasmas seem to be better all rounders too. Blasto would agree with me I am sure.

Warm regards,
Venkat

 

[Reds4ever]

I remember reading somewhere that the black level of this model isn't as great as some of the better ones. Also, there's some apparent problem with playing Blu Rays at 1024p/24. Go for Samsung 50C550 Plasma. Better to shed a few thousand bucks more ( maybe around 6-7K) if you are getting better quality out of it.

P.S. I also remember reading that model is extremely inefficient in terms of power consumption. I think they were reviewing either this model or one of it's higher end models. Either way, it applies to this model too. If one of it's higher end models has these negative traits, I'm sure it'll be the same with this one, if not worse.

Thanks, Bublu for responding to the query, but to be honest, "i remember reading somewhere" doesn't really answer the question. If you can post links for where you read about the problems with the PK550 or can point us to a site which has a review of the C550 stating it's better than the PK550, please do. Otherwise, this claim that you get better quality with the C550 is nothing more than conjecture, probably based on a bias from past experiences.

Before this turns into allegation/counter-allegation, let me say that I'm glad you are here taking the time and effort to try to help us out. Thanks.

 

[BLASTO]

Just curious, why is it so? Is the Sammy is many times better and in what aspects? Can someone please point to some reviews of the sammy or any comparo between these two models?

I think it is just application of heuristics coming into play here. The above was true for 2009 models but currently IMO is an assumption for 2010 models.

From experience of 2009 plasmas, Samsung uses a 18 bit panel which produces excellent colour accuracy. Black level is better than LGs (by quite a margin), No image rention in samsung (or atleast it is hard to create one) while it is a daily occurance in the LG. Reflection is lesser in the samsung due to non-full screen glass (this could well be placebo).

Assuming both LG and Samsung improved on their models, It is possible LG's 2010 models approach the Samsung 2009 models. No concrete info without demoing.

Samsung is a definite leader in colour accuracy and skin colour depiction. Even panasonics lag in this area.

 

[BLASTO]

Samsung seems to have bigtime service issues when it comes to plasmas - no stock of spares due to low volumes, indifferent service attitude and what not, as posted by a Samsung plasma owner on another thread. This member then got a new LG 50PQ70 plasma since his Samsung C450 failed within a week after purchasing. He had a terrible experience with Samsung service. All this, even though Samsung plasmas seem to be around 10-15% better than the comparable LG plasmas.

Samsung plasma service is an issue (period)
You can enjoy great to fabulous picture until you hit a problem.
Having said that, the TVs don't fail most often and the risk you take pays well in daily basis when you watch the TV.

The member got B450 which was almost being replaced by the C450 at that time. But that is no reason for samsung to deny service!

He got full refund under warrenty. That is a good thing. It would have been done even if the TV failed in the 364th day.

The overall experience with LG is far better and the LG plasmas seem to be better all rounders too. Blasto would agree with me I am sure.

The more I read the LG plasma reviews, The more I begin feeling the problems with LG are non issues to most people. They make good customer pulling TVs.

The night when I saw "Drag me to Hell" is when I decided to replace my LG PQ60. The ambient light from the TV screen in dark scenes was way over what I would like in a black background. Observed the same thing in the "dark knight".

In short, the scenes with more than 70% dark screen in night time viewing woefully expose the lack of black level in the LG plasmas. IR was mostly a non issue when I had the TV. But when I replaced with samsung, I knew I need not worry about it anymore.

If you are not a night time viewer and view TV with ambient light, and mostly DTH contents, LG can be a better choice for you. But be noted that for a little bit more and with some risk, samsung gives much more value in terms of PQ.

 

[venkatcr]

The ambient light from the TV screen in dark scenes was way over what I would like in a black background. Observed the same thing in the "dark knight".

In short, the scenes with more than 70% dark screen in night time viewing woefully expose the lack of black level in the LG plasmas.

Can these not be set to what you want with proper calibration? Very strangely, I have never seen the level of contrast and black levels that I see on my LG 42 inch (LCD though) in any other TV. Even a friend of mine who has a Samsung Plasma was saying that the pictures in LG are better.

I have not yet calibrated my TV. I wonder how it will be after that.

Cheers

 

[BLASTO]

Can these not be set to what you want with proper calibration? Very strangely, I have never seen the level of contrast and black levels that I see on my LG 42 inch (LCD though) in any other TV. Even a friend of mine who has a Samsung Plasma was saying that the pictures in LG are better.

I have not yet calibrated my TV. I wonder how it will be after that.

Cheers

Well, That is the problem with LG PQ sreies plasma atleast.
There is no expert mode in indian version while the international versions come with two expert verions!!!
The caliberation options you get are very limited and does not improve the black level atall.
All international reviews also point to that and provide remedies to solve using expert mode (which is absent in indian version).

One more thing to note is, LG was the leader in the PQ in the days of x-canvas studio (3-4 years back) when samsung was clearly lagging behind with the bordeaux. They improved dramatically in the last fw years and LG adopted the stategy of undercutting in cost rather than moving with time (IMO). So if your friend is using the samsung bordeaux, there is no surprise from his observation.

 

[Srinivas29]

PPL who own this tv, can they confirm whether there are any expert modes in the indian version of PK550. I am interested to buy this tv and these calibration controls are one of the reason why this TV so widely praised.

 

[scarlet]

PPL who own this tv, can they confirm whether there are any expert modes in the indian version of PK550. I am interested to buy this tv and these calibration controls are one of the reason why this TV so widely praised.

yes there is

but only if the input is for TV
the other inputs like AV1 AV2 these features are unavilable to adjust

thats what i have found out so far

great TV

cant wait for 100hrs to be up to increse the contrast adn brightness adn enjoy my viewing

 

[vchounal]

I remember reading somewhere that the black level of this model isn't as great as some of the better ones. Also, there's some apparent problem with playing Blu Rays at 1024p/24. Go for Samsung 50C550 Plasma. Better to shed a few thousand bucks more ( maybe around 6-7K) if you are getting better quality out of it.

P.S. I also remember reading that model is extremely inefficient in terms of power consumption. I think they were reviewing either this model or one of it's higher end models. Either way, it applies to this model too. If one of it's higher end models has these negative traits, I'm sure it'll be the same with this one, if not worse.

I read about LG 50PK590 on CNET's UK site. They have reviewed it very favourably (link - LG PK590 (50PK590) Review on CNET UK). I assume PK590 model of UK is called PK550 here in India.

 

[vchounal]

Apologies - link is missing in my previous post.

Here is the link - LG PK590 (50PK590) Full Review, Television Reviews on CNET UK.

 

[VSG12777]

Just noticed that the UK model PK590 LG plasma has a Freeview HD tuner (DVB-T2) built in, while the US model PK550 does not have this. Higher models do, of course. The PK590 seems to be a THX certified model too. Otherwise the PK590 looks almost the same as the PK550.

 

[VSG12777]

Just thought I'd share an extract from that CNet UK review of the PK590 (for those who haven't read the full review):

We found the Freeview HD performance of this TV to be utterly superb. We loved the sharpness, which got the balance between nasty soft images and hideous over-sharpened nonsense just about right. Standard-def Freeview looked very good too, offering as much detail as the TV could possibly be expected to rescue from the low-quality broadcast images.

Blu-ray movies such as Casino Royale and District 9 looked totally stunning on this TV. We used the THX movie mode for most film viewing, and liked it a great deal. The colours are a little muted, as you generally find with movie modes, but the detail was stunning, and the images still looked wonderfully vivid.

Conclusion

What are you still doing sitting there? If this TV is on your shortlist, and you're here to find out if we think you should buy one, the answer is a resounding yes. This is a terrific piece of hardware, and we've utterly loved our time with it. It's good value, at around 1,000 online, and we think it's one of the best TVs we've seen this year. Top-notch work from LG.

Extract taken from the CNet UK site at LG PK590 (50PK590) Full Review, Page 2 of 2, Television Reviews on CNET UK.

Now Scarlet who's bought the PK550, has to tell us more about his experience with the TV!!

Scarlet, please post some pictures of the menu options if you can. Many of us would be interested in seeing the options and how they have changed / improved compared to last year's PQ series plasmas.

Warm regards,
Venkat

 

[psychotropic]

LG really seems to have upped its game in terms of plasmas and that is great to see. I own a Samsung plasma, and one time when my TV misbehaved (only to correct itself when the Samsung engineer came home....promptly....and didn't charge me anything...post warranty), i did have the apprehension that spares were not easily available. So this is a definite concern with Samsung plasmas. in that regard the best option would be Panasonic as they're the only company still focussing on plasmas as a priority, and offering a 3 year warranty to boot.

But from Chad B's review (his reviews are highly regarded) it looks like LG has matched or exceeded the latest panasonic plasmas, which is no mean achievement, keeping in mind that Panasonic has access to Pioneer's Kuro technologies now. I have no doubt Samsung's plasmas in 2010 will also be excellent, and there is enough choice for teh wise amongst us who choose to go the plasma route.

And 66k/63.5k for a 50" Full HD plasma? crikey! what is everyone waiting for? go out and buy this thing!

 

[prakasse]

But what is the power consumption for this 50 inch unit ? i see LG has not specified this in the website. Though i love plasma their power consumption compared to LCD's worries me.

Thanks, Prakash.

 

[VSG12777]

Power consumption is not all that high to be worried about. Plasmas do consume more though. We've been using a PQ70 42 inch model for the last 1 year almost.

An update:

I just enquired with Croma in Chennai (Anna Nagar) and they have stock of the 50PK550 plasma. The guy on the phone quoted around 69k but said at the time of billing, they might be able to give a better price.

 

[prakasse]

I see Power consumption for the plasmas is not mentioned by manufacturers like samsung and LG, whereas the same manufacturer mention the power consumption of LCD's.

But Panasonic does mention the power consumptions. for eg.
plasma TC-P42S1 consumes 485w[ i would feel an iron box in running in the house for 3 hours when i watch a movie]
whereas the same series LCD TV[37 inch] consumes only 150W.

Thanks,
Prakash.

 

[KonfuSed]

I went to Devi International today to check the price and availability of LG 50PK550. They didn't had the stock with them that time but according to the salesperson they should be getting it soon. They quoted me 65K without any bargaining. The dealer price seems to be around 72k for this TV and MRP is 79k. So anything south of 65k would be a good deal. Now I'm kind of seriously thinking about buying this TV.
I asked about the Samsung C550 also and they didn't had stock at the moment and somehow I felt that they were not that much willing to sell the Samsung. According to the sales person there were some issues with previous gen Samsung plasmas and hence they are worried. But anyway that's their version and there may be other reasons. Price quoted was around 72k+(which can be further negotiated I believe) but he didn't give me the exact pricing for the Samsung.
Panasonic 50V10 was quoted around 1.35L. And 42 inch Pana C10 was quoted 37k. There was a LG PJ series TV there, it looked really good with the frameless design. I forgot how much he has quoted for that(something around 40k+ I think, not sure though).

 

[VSG12777]

Yeah Devi Electronics seems to be well known for their good prices and many of our forum guys (and from Team BHP) have bought Panasonic plasmas from them. When I called up to enquire once, they were even willing to ship to Chennai to my doorstep. They have a special price for Team BHP members. I find many Team BHP members who are also members on this forum and a member on the other forum had posted contact details of the person at Devi for Panasonic plasmas. Those interested can check Team BHP in the gadgets section for these details to get a better price.

 

[KonfuSed]

You don't need to be member of TBHP to get the offer or the discounted. Albeit I came to know about the place from TBHP only, but I got the same price quote without even mentioning about TBHP. So what I think and found(bought many more things after the TV) that they always gives you the best price of the town for almost 99% of the time. Today also I went there to check another TV for a friend and found the following price quotes,
Panasonic 42C10 -37k, 42X10 - 42.5k, 42X20 - 44.5k and 42A20 - 47.5k. And if you can haggle a bit then these prices also will come down.

 

[vchounal]

Finally managed to find LG 50PK550 Plasma with Croma at Greater Noida. Final prie is going to be 65K. I shall book the TV tomorrow and get the delivery on 26 May.