One of the TVs in my house has just been replaced, we was lucky enough to get a deal on the Samsung PS50b451 instead of it costing around the £700 asking price a friend of ours used her staff discount and along with some vouchers, the TV cost us around £350 which is brilliant for what it is. bit of a bargain actually.

I thought I would review it to see if it is actually worth the £700 asking price to those who aren’t as lucky as us to have a friend who works in a shop that sells them.

Why choose this one?

The reason that we choose this particular TV is that we wanted one in the 50 inch size range to replace the old one, and when we had a look at the range available we found that this one was not only the cheapest for what it is, but also we found that this one was the better looking of the three we narrowed our choice down to.

Good Looking?

This TV looks exactly how I want my TVs to look, very plain, simple and stylish; I do not believe that the Samsung PS50b451 comes in other colours as I haven’t seen them; however the version we have (which is probably the standard version) is in glossy stylish black, like piano black.

The design is simple and I love the fact that the border on the TV is very thin making the size of the TV look really impressive.

This Samsung TV is Plasma and therefore it is very thin, but when we were handling it I did not feel like it was flimsy, I have had TVs in the past which I have screamed at people for going near but this one is very sturdy and I really do trust the design.

Samsung offer the best looking TVs on the market in my opinion and most of the models have a deep black gloss finish which makes them smart and elegant and fit into any room.

The design of the TV, I think, makes it look like a top of the range expensive version, when actually even at the full price of £700 it is quite cheap for a plasma 50 inch.

The TV comes on a little stand, although we have purchased a separate stand because the stand it comes on is not that adjustable and I do not trust it to hold my TV!

Does Size Matter?

Size is irrelevant if you have a poor quality or cheap TV, Which is why TVs like this Samsung model are worth the money if you can afford it and need the size. Do not buy a large TV just because it’s cheap, always check it out first, because believe me you can get a bad television!

I did not need something quite as big, but as the television before was large we looked at this size straight away and we got a good deal so it was worth it for us.

Picture

The picture on this TV is amazing in quality and I have no complaints, I have had a Samsung before and I was also impressed with that so I think that the brand in general produces excellent quality televisions.

This TV has the added benefit of updated features, like its Wide Colour Enhancer 2, which is there to increase brightness and colour; I have to say that it is noticeable against all of my other TVs which are also nearly new.

Samsung also has a patented technology called Filterbright which improves the contrast of pictures by using a two way filter to absorb external light. This also prevents reflection. Apparently.

Both of these features honestly do give the TV brilliant contrast and imagery, however the technology does not, I think set it apart from most new televisions on the market and this model which only middle of the range when we was viewing others. Even though the TV does not use all of the technology of some of the best TVs out there, I cannot fault the picture and I am totally happy with the quality of it.

Sound

The quality of the sound on this television is superb, although did require a lot of fiddling with to get it to the best for the room. I live a loud life and I often find that the louder the sound the more quality which is lost so I was very impressed with the quality of the output from this television.

The TV has a SRS TruSurround XT which is high quality surround sound that can be found on other TVs including some of the more expensive range, the system is paired with some great speakers which I have found to go up really high without becoming blurred or losing quality and also to be really clear at a lower level.

We tried to set this TV up with our own home cinema system, and have so far been unsuccessful, this may because my boyfriend is useless at reading instructions, and also because we haven’t taken the time to sit down and try properly, I end up getting too wound up.

The instructions on this are clear but I think we may be missing a lead or two! Also I understand that the TV can be connected to a HD TV box and a Blu Ray player, both of which I am looking to purchase in the next 6 months, so it’ll be good to get it all set up together.

Free view

The free view is built into this television; this is common in most TVs now but the idea still really impresses me. I don’t have Sky or Cable, and I actually think that free view is an excellent invention because I wouldn’t want any more channels than the ones offered.

I think that the Sky and Cable packages are a waste of money as over three quarters of the channels you end up with, you don’t end up watching.

This is why I would recommend that if you are looking to buy a new TV whether it be for your family or for yourself, you definitely need to look out for one with inbuilt free view, they don’t cost much more than TVs without it and its worth the savings you make on subscription and monthly fees on Sky or Cable.

High Definition Ready

High definition ready doesn’t actually mean that much to me. The quality on this TV and the others in my house are outstanding and therefore even though I will look to upgrade to High definition it is not a prime concern at the moment.

For those who are interested in the specifications of this TV they are to follow -

• Screen Size – 50’’

• Resolution – 1365 x 768

• Pix

• Dynamic Contrast Ratio - 2,000,000:1

• Contrast Ratio - 40,000:1

• Wide Colour Enhancer - WCE 2

• Film Mode (Cinema Progressive) - Yes

• Digital Comb Filter - 3D

• Digital Noise Reduction - Yes

• Sound Effect System - SRS TruSurround HD

• Dolby - Dolby Digital Plus

• Speaker Type - Down Firing

• Sound Output(RMS) - 20W (10Wx2)

• Sleep Timer - Yes

• Auto Channel Search: Yes

• Auto Power Off - Yes

• Power Saving - Yes

Dimension

• Set Size without Stand - 1220.8x748.8x74

• Set weight without stand - 31.3

Set up

The setting up of this TV was not a complicated nor special event, we simply got home, followed a few simple instructions to show us what to plug into where, then we was ready to go. I was watching the TV around 20 minutes after I had brought it home.

The only thing that we did find complicated was working with the new remote control to get all of the channels set up and installed onto the TV, but after the channels were all put onto the TV it was fine and we then going the DVD and everything connected in no time.

Instructions

The instructions were simple to follow for the setting up, however, I hate it that all new pieces of equipment come with about 4 books which aren’t all really relevant, and they come in lots of different languages. I do tend to just ignore the instructions as most things now days are easy and simple to set up. But the manuals were quite helpful in explaining all of the functions which our new TV has.

Any disadvantages

For what I wanted from a TV this Samsung is perfect and I am totally happy with it, there are no disadvantages which really affect my purchase, there is just the small things which I have to get used to like I find the remote fiddly compared to my last remote which means I keep pressing buttons and doing things I don’t know how to reverse yet.

Who is this TV for?

Because of the size of the TV it looks great in a big room, however, the room that I have it in is not huge, but the TV being so neat and plain styled means that I do not lose a lot of space. Therefore the Samsung television is perfect for family rooms and bedrooms.

Because of the inbuilt free view, the Samsung PS50b451is suitable for all aged viewers as the channels include children’s channels and a film channel. However, I would think that the TV may be too complicated and have a few too many functions for the younger child, and therefore is probably most suited to a family room.

Is it worth the money?

I definitely think that this model is worth the price they have asked. There are similar TVs going for a lot more and I think that this is priced perfectly for a mid range Plasma TV. The quality of sound and picture is flawless and I would recommend this to any interested buyer.

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