Electronics Review: Samsung HPT4254 42 Inch Plasma HDTV

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Sharp picture; easy to use

Cons: Minor sound and sourcing issues

The Bottom Line:

Sharp picture, good sound

In a size that fits my room

Glad I bought this one

I'm Hooked on High Definition Thanks to this TV

I have avoided HDTV as long as I possibly could. With as much TV as I watch, I knew I would love the better picture. But the price scared me away, as did the technology. See, I know very little about technology and have a hard time remember what I do learn for very long. So the idea of researching a HDTV purchase scared me. However, once I saw a HDTV in action, I couldn't resist. So I started looking and finally bought Samsung's HP-T4254 TV right before the Super Bowl, timed to take advantage of great sales since I'm not a super sports fanatic or anything. I've had it two months now, and I really love it.

I bought this 42 inch, 16x9 TV because I live in a condo. I wanted something that would be a nice size in my relatively small living room without sacrificing picture size. I'd say I succeeded. At first, the TV seemed to overwhelm the room, but after the first week or two, it felt right at home.

The set up was a snap once I got it home. I had my roommate help me put the 73 pound TV on my new stand. After that, it was just a matter of hooking things up correctly. Thanks to an easy to follow instruction manual and clear labels, I had no problem getting it right the first time.

On the back of the TV, there is a large connection area with multiple connections. There's a connection for cable or antennae, one S-Video, one AV, two HDMI, and one PC connection. On the left side, there are one more input each for HDMI, S-Video, and AV. That brings the total to 3 HDMI, 2 S-Video, and 2 AV inputs. For those interested, the TV does come with picture in picture capability and a V-chip. I have never seen the need for picture in picture and I don't have kids, so those are two features I'm not too concerned about, but I'm pretty sure they are standard on most TVs today.

Once I had everything connected and turned the TV on, I got to start adjusting the settings. If you can imagine it, you can set it, or so it seems. Each component gets its own setting, so if you like having something set one way for your DVD player and another for cable, the TV will remember that for you.

The TV has three basic settings, Dynamic, Standard, and Movie. As you might imagine, Dynamic is the brightest. It actually hurts my eyes if I have it on that one too long, so I don't leave it there. Movie is a dimmer setting, so I find Standard works best for me. From there, I went in and played with the contrast and color levels until I found something that looked amazing to me.

And make no mistake about it, this picture is amazing. It is only 720P. I have read you can't tell the difference between 720P and 1080P in units this small because the screen isn't big enough for the additionally pixels per inch to make a difference. I know it's not a big test, but I couldn't seem much difference in the stores. And since it saved me some money, I decided to go with this one. I haven't been disappointed for a minute. I think one thing that helps is the 15000:1 contrast ratio. I'm telling you, things look sharp. I have had lots of fun in the last two months flipping back and forth between standard and high definition and watching just how much of a better picture I am enjoying now. I'm not saying that the standard definition picture is bad by any stretch of the imagination. It does vary based on the quality of the signal, but it is still fine to watch. And my DVD's look a little better to me, although that's probably just my mind since I am using the same DVD player I was using before.

This is a Plasma TV. I had heard several potential negatives about Plasma in general before I bought this one. The one thing I did know was the Plasma was best as viewed from a wide variety of angles. That was important to me since I have a rectangle shaped living room and often view from off to the side. It's been wonderful for that. You have a sharp picture no matter where you are sitting in the room. Okay, so my room probably isn't big enough to make a huge difference, but I was able to see the slight distortion on the LCD's in the stores, so that sold me on this one.

I have a bright living room, so the potential for glare on the Plasma screen definitely concerned me. Now I knew there was nothing any TV manufacturer could do about the afternoon sun hitting the screen, and I was certainly right about that. But this TV does come with a glare reduction coating, and it seems to make a difference for me. I have two halogen lamps in my living room, and they created quite a glare on my old tube television. I can see a bit of a reflection if the screen in dark (like a night shot), but it is so much better then my old set. And when the screen is bright, I notice absolutely nothing.

The other issue with a Plasma TV is burn-in, an image that stays on the screen as a result of being paused too long. This TV has some technology that will reduce the possibility, but it won't eliminate them completely. Fortunately, they do offer a couple options to help repair the TV if you do get such a "ghost image." I haven't had a problem with it coming up in the two months I have the TV, and I intend to do my part to keep it that way.

I'm not sure if this is a Plasma issue or not, but I believe it ties into the burn-in potential. Either way, there are big warnings on the first page about watching too much TV with the black bars on either the side (for standard TV formats) or top (for widescreen movies). And the TV comes with several picture sizes to help you keep from burning out the edges. Personally, I tend to keep it in the widescreen mode. I know, I know, there were just gasps from the aspect ration purists. Yes, seeing people squashed a little did bother me at first, but I was amazed at how quickly I got used to it.

One nice thing about the variety of the picture sizes is the ability to control your own fate a little. The options are 4x3 (standard TV size), 16 x 9 (widescreen TV size), and zoom 1 and zoom 2. Those zooms make all the difference. Some shows, while not broadcast in HD, are still cropped into widescreen format. I've found by using those zooms, I can get a picture that isn't distorted and fills my entire screen. I love being able to do that.

The TV comes with a remote. The buttons are a little smaller then my old remote, but really it's fine. It took a few days to get used to a new layout, but once I did, I had no problem getting the TV to do exactly what I wanted it to do.

There are really only two flaws I have found so far, and they really qualify more as minor annoyances then true flaws. The first is choosing the source. Not too long after I bought this TV, I finally broke down and got digital cable. My new DVR (can you believe I was still using a VCR?) is hooked to the TV using one of the HDMI settings. My DVD player is set up in the S-Video one slot. Yet to switch between the two, I have to pass through TV (which now just has snow), and AV-1 (which has nothing hooked up to it.) And it takes a couple seconds to find each setting. My old TV actually flipped through settings faster.

The other potential issue is the speakers. They are certainly fine, but they aren't much better then my old TV. True, they are designed to mimic surround sound, but there's only so much you can get from two 10 watt speakers. Power wise, I seem to have to crank it up a bit more then I expected. On the other hand, that means there are plenty of places to stop if you are trying to watch TV while others sleep in another room.

On a related note, I have discovered something odd about the sound. I also have a full surround home theater system hooked up to the TV. Sometimes, they are wonderfully in sync and the added sound is wonderful. Other times, they appear to get just half a second off. I can't tell which one is off since bother appear to match the lips, but there is a noticeable delay that drives me up a wall. Of course, the problem is easy enough to fix by turning down the sound on one or the other (I usually choose the TV so I can truly enjoy the surround sound.)

Having bought this TV Superbowl weekend, I got it for a steal. The prices have since gone back up on it, but this model is still a great value. You get a great TV for one of the lowest prices for the size.

I am truly hooked on high definition TV now. I am pleased with my Samsung HP-T4254 and think I will be enjoying it for some time to come.