Samsung PS50B550 review

Casino Royale on the PS50B550 looked excellent. We found the usual frustrations with Blu-ray to be present and correct, though. Namely, these high-definition TVs now show so much detail that you can really tell if the camera wasn't correctly focused during the shoot. This is much less of a problem with DVDs, but we're fairly sure that, as HD continues to grow in popularity, film makers will become more aware of such issues. Still, we can't complain about a TV faithfully reproducing what was put on the disc, so the PS50B550 earns our respect.

Gaming was pleasant too. Need for Speed: Pro Street looked as good as we've ever seen it. Gaming on plasma TVs is generally a positive experience these days, because screen burn is much less of an issue now than it once was. Indeed, our favourable feelings towards the PS50B550 were bolstered by its unwillingness to retain an image. This means you can game without worrying about damaging the panel -- just keep the brightness down, and keep sessions short in the first 100 hours of use or so.

Conclusion
The Samsung PS50B550 pleased us greatly and we think it's worthy of your hard-earned cash. It's a shame, though, that Samsung hasn't -- for whatever reason -- jumped on the freesat bandwagon yet. We'd really love to see Samsung TVs offer BBC HD out of the box. Still, it's easy enough to add a separate decoder, so we'd urge you to put this TV on your wishlist.

Both LG and Panasonic have credible alternatives on the market. For once, though, we're in the luxurious position where virtually all of the 50-inch plasma TVs on the market at this price point are worth considering. Even some of Panasonic's smaller, cheaper, 720p TVs have impressed us.

Edited by Charles Kloet