Samsung HP-S4253 42-Inch Plasma HDTV

Product Description

Samsung HPS4253 42" Plasma HDTV

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32267 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: HPS-4253
• Dimensions: 88.20 pounds
• Display size: 42

Features

• 42-inch plasma TV with integrated high-def ATSC tuner; measures 41.5 x 30.1 x 13.4 inches (WxHxD) with stand
• Samsung Digital Natural Image engine improves contrast, white level, picture detail and incorporates digital noise reduction
• 1024 x 768-pixel resoltuion, 1300 cd/m2 brightness, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 175-degree viewing angle
• Connections: 2 HDMI, 2 component, 2 composite, 2 S-Video, 1 digital coaxial, 1 digital optical
• Two stereo speakers, 10 watts apiece (20 watts total); SRS TruSurround XT virtual surround sound

Customer Reviews

Best plasma at this price right now
I was an early adopter of Plasma technology and have owned a Pioneer 50" Plasma as my main display for a few years now. I love Plasma in general, so decided, now that prices are coming down from the stratosphere, to get a second plasma set for a bedroom TV. All I can say is things have really come a long way! Early plasmas had problems displaying detail in dark scenes, but new models such as this Samsung have come much closer to solving this problem.

I auditioned dozens of sets at multiple dealerships and did a lot of side-by-side comparisons and adjustments, and determined that these newest Samsung sets represent the best blend of performance, quality, and cost. My requirements were to have at least 2 HDMI slots, since this is the future for high-definition connectivity, be 37" or 42" in size, and have the best quality picture I could afford.

A lot of on-line advice pointed to the Panasonic as the one to get so I went into this fully expecting to end up with a Panny, but after much side-by-side between the Samsung 4253 and the newest Panasonics, there was no contest - the Samsung has more natural looking color gradiations, the Panasonic looked odd and banded in appearance. I verified this at multiple vendors and side-by-side.

Be careful however not to get re-directed to the previous generation Samsung models, many of which are still on the market and sold as new. Samsung seems to be replacing their lined up with these newer sets in a graudal manner. At least two other 42" models ending in "2" instead of "3" can be found at various retailers. To me, these older sets did not measure up to the visual fidelity in the "3" series. Over time I'm sure Samsung will make "3" versions of their other sets, so if you need one with a CableCard tuner or something, I'd wait a while. Also I wish this set had more stretch options for dealing with 4:3 inputs. The only options for HD signals are 16:9 or 4:3 with bars, neither of which helps deal with HD signals that are letterboxed AND 4:3 (common for cable boxes that up-convert letterbox SDTV material). I'm not sure which sets do have these stretch modes, but I beleive some do.

Also, Plasmas are moving very fast right now, with Pioneer due to release new models any day, among others. Waiting a bit longer if you're in no hurry may turn up a set even better than this at the same price. But as of Spring 2006, I am very confident this is the best 42" plasma in the ~$2k range.

Nice TV but has glitches
After spending 6 months researching HDTVs I got this Tv over Memorial Day weekend from Amazon for a great deal, $1899.99. No shipping and no tax can't beat the price for one of the better plasmas on the market.
But there are a couple of issues with this tv. Don't buy it over the panasonic because of its PIP option. The PIP can only be used when a HDMI tv feed is on or another hookup besides componenet for television viewing. This leads to the other problem.
There is a glitch with the HDMI. So if you are utilizing the AV ports for a playstation or DVD player the tv can't understand which source to pick. So if you are watching tv, But then want to watch a DVD you can change the source to the DVD player (the AV input) but when the movie is done you can't switch back to the HDMI input. The tv no longer recognizes the connection. This was a great pain for me. I purchased a HDMI/DVI wire for my cable box. And the first time a changed the source to the AV for my playstation and I was able to play it but when I was done the HDMI feed was no longer an option. So I spent the next day and a half going through my connections and calling the cable company which told me to contact my tv manufacturer. Samsung said that the tv has a glitch and the tv must be reset (there is no mention of how to reset the tv in the owner manual). So now everytime a change the source to the av port I must reset the tv whcih consists of unplugging the tv waiting 30 seconds, hitting the power button on the tv itself 10 times, plugging the tv back in, turning the tv on and switching the source.
This problem doesn't occur if your cable is hooked up via component and the picture is basically as good as the HDMI feed(I will proably switch it back to component once a get over that a spent $100 on a Monster DVI to HDMI cable and won't use it.
Other than that te tv is great. It has a much better appearance over the panasonic. HDTV is awesome. SD is ok; comes in better for some some stations than oters. Speakers are above average. Overall this is a very impressive tv if you can get beyond the glitch. Sports are amazing feels like you are there, nature shows are extremely impressive. The TV has great colors and true blacks.