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  • Tour & Design

  • Performance Features

  • Connectivity & Media

  • Controls, Menu & Remote

  • Conclusion

  • Series Comparison

  • Tour & Design
  • Performance Features
  • Connectivity & Media
  • Controls, Menu & Remote
  • Conclusion
  • Series Comparison

Tour & Design


The front of the Samsung PN50B860 is a glossy black affair. Under the Samsung logo is the power LED. In the bottom right corner are some touch controls, which perform basic on-set functions. We weren't able to get a good shot of them, unfortunately, because they're very faint and we're still mystified about the finer points of digital photography.

Back


Since the PN50B860 was mounted on a wall, we have no reason to believe this TV has a back at all.

Sides


Pictured below is the right side of the TV. The TV is quite thin, especially for a plasma. There aren't any features on the sides of the TV that are visible here.

 

Stand/Mount


It would appear that the PN50B860 can, in fact, be mounted. One would assume there's also an off-the-wall option as well. We mean that literally; we're not suggesting the TV has an option to become wacky or possibly irreverent. 

 

Aesthetics


The PN50B860 is simple, understated, and looks like just about every other television. The key difference is the Samsung logo at the bottom. Typically other manufacturers won't have a Samsung logo on their TVs.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology


The Samsung PN50B860 is, as we've mentioned, 65 inches. This is quite large, almost frighteningly so. It's as if they've made this TV as an ironic device that can literally crush technophiles with technology. 

 

Formats & Resolution


The TV is 1080p, which is the best HD format around. This means the PN50B860 can play your Blu-ray discs in all their 1920x1080 glory. 

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio


The PN50B860 features a 3,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Dynamic contrast ratios generally aren't possible to attain during normal viewing. This being said, contrast ratios are what plasmas do best. What they don't do best is display a lot of brightness at once.

The PN50B860 did, in fact, have some impressive blacks, but we weren't too impressed with the brightness of the lighter colors. 

Color


There weren't any specific color features on the PN50B860.

Motion & Refresh Rate


The PN50B860 has quite a few fancy-sounding motion features. First of all, it has a pixel response time of 0.001 milliseconds, which is 1 microsecond. We're pretty sure this is an error, and that it's actually 0.001 seconds, or one millisecond. Regardless, that's pretty fast. The second pillar of the PN50B860's blur reduction strategy is its 600Hz Subfield Motion Technology. This might seem like an unrealistically impressive number, given how much LCDs tout 120 and 240Hz framerates. Plasma displays behave differently, so it's not like this TV is automatically 2.5x better than the fastest LCDs out there. 

Viewing Angle


Plasmas typically have impressive viewing angles, and the PN50B860 didn't seem to ben an exception to this rule. We had no problems with viewing angle. We also noticed that the screen handled reflections very well; though the show floor is full of bright lights pointing everywhere, we only noticed reflections on very dark scenes.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports


While we're pretty sure the PN50B860 has ports, we couldn't see them: the TV was mounted on a wall. According to the spec sheet, you can expect 4 HDMIs, 3 on the back and 1 on the side. THere's also 2 component inputs, 1 composite input, and an S-Video port. There are probably uadio ports too, but they're not mentioned in the spec sheet.

Media & Other Connectivity


The PN50B860 has two USB ports on its side, which will let it play back MPEG4, DivX, MP3, and JPEG files. The spec sheet, here, claims the TV has no LAN port or wireless connectivity, but it's a big fat liar. In fact, you can use either of these methods to gain access to Samsung’s Medi@2.0 Suite. This has some interesting internet content available, such as YouTube and Flickr, but one of the more interesting ones is RallyCast.

That's right, sports fans: RallyCast. This feature lets you do a bunch of cool sports-related things. For example, you can access your Yahoo! fantasy sports team and check out their stats, or check out the stats of actual sports teams.

Since these stats could potentially make some fantasy footballer giddy with excitement or mad with rage, the TV also allows you to send messages to someone's facebook wall or send them an IM via MSN Messenger. Nothing says 'sports' like a lengthy chatlog.

 

**

Placement**


Since we have not seen the PN50B860's ports, we can't speak as to whether or not they have good port placement. According to press photos of the back of the TV, they look like they're placed near the edge, which is a good sign. 

**

Audio**


According to the spec sheet, the TV has SRS TruSurround HD and two 15W speakers. They weren't playing on the show floor, so we can't officially speak about their quality.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote


The PN50B860's remote was a well-guarded secret. What are you hiding, Samsung?

Controls


The on-set controls are touch buttons and cover all the basics. For power, menu, input, channel, or volume controls, just tap the lower right corner of the bezel in the appropriate spot.

Menu


We only saw the rally cast feature on the show floor, not the main menu.

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

B860 Series


The B860 series are 1080p plasma TVs with 4HDMI ports and 120Hz refresh rates. The TVs can connect to the internet either via a LAN or wireless connection. It features a great array of online content, such as the ability to stream sports scores and your Yahoo! Sports fantasy team stats. The TV can also play back media via a USB drive.

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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