Thought I would create a new thread, seeing as there are bits and pieces of info all over the place in various threads relating to this TV.

So any setup tips, info, problems, lcd rebate stuff etc. could go in here. Hope thats cool.

Well after having mine going for a few days its starting to buzz a bit and also, its starting to "crackle" a little bit every few minutes, it seems to be coming from where the heat comes out the back of tv. Just noticed it while I am watching Iceage on it. Will keep monitoring it and see how it gos. Anyone else having such things happen? I am reluctant to send it back in case I get worse buzzing or pixel problems. Seems buying a perfect plasma without issues is not that easy.

Cheers and merry xmas everyone,

Justin

I have yet to install my P9 plasma. Looking for good stand with enclosed spaces for my foxtel decoder, AVR receiver, DVD/Blu-ray player etc...otherwise it just collects too much dust.

Will update this thread if I run into any problems...

As far as the 'crackling' sound is concerned, it just could be the aluminium heat shields expanding/contracting. This unit generates a lot of heat and thus needs good heat shields. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless the sounds gets worse.

In the same boat as Vinex i've been looking in ikea pretty reasonable prices but i dont want it to over hang even if it is just the side spreakers. The P9 should be coming monday fingers crossed, i'll post up first impressions and hopefully a few installation tips and tricks will be in this thread by then.

I have read of a few plasma's with the buzz problem if mine has this but is perfect otherwise i'll hang a cloth behind or something no one will see it.

When connecting a PC to the plasma do i have to use the VGA plug or can i use the a DVI to HDMI cable? my video card is 8800GT

Well, I have only had my 50" P9 for about 24 hours so far and while it lasted, I was very impressed.

An hour or so ago though, while watching a DTV channel the display went black all of a sudden and it will not come back on now. I still get sound and can flip through the inputs like usual (sound source changes), but I dont get a display for any of them...completely blank screen. I pulled the power cable and left it for an hour but that didnt help.

I am guessing it will qualify as a DOA considering its only 24 hours old but the problem is being so close to xmas and the Myer stores in Adelaide getting all their stock from a Melbourne warehouse, I cant see myself getting a replacement anytime soon

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Is it best to call Samsung support or the store I bought it from (Myer)?

Hi Guys,

I have purchased a PS50P91FDX and have a question about audio setup.

I have my Playstation3 using HDMI to the PS50P91FDX which then passes the Audio to my Logi 5500D.

My issue is that if I use the above method for sound setup I do not get Digital sound when playing DVD's.
If I change to output sound from the Playstation directly the the Logi 5500D I get Digital correctly. But using this method I cannot use the TV as well since the Logi 5500D only has one optical input.


Is there a setting on the PS50P91FDX to just pass bitstream audio ?
I have not found it in the audio setup area and am hoping someone could point me to the correct area.\


Cheers
Wally

As far as I know, the digital audio output will only send a 5.1 signal from a DTV channel. It does not pass through 5.1 when it is being input from other sources (HDMI, etc).

I think most TVs with a digital audio output behave the same way.

i dont think that it even passes the inbuilt hd tuner in 5.1, ive watched numerous 10hd and 7hd shows and none have come thru in any format other than digital 2.0. very dissappointing so far.

The sound output by the TV is 2 channel , it says so in the documentation , the advise to connect directly to your amp if you want surround ( which sux I think)

Im new to this HT stuff and I just got our new P91 50" going last night . Now Foxtel looks decent enough , but I just got the DVD set up and its way to bright for me , all light colours appear bright very white and alot of pale detail is lost or washed out eg sky is bright white desert scene shows all sand as bright white , areas of skin tone are also bright white . I have tried altering every setting available but it does not help . I can make the picture darker but then it doesnt bring out the detail , it just looks dark and crap , so Im back to default . Has anyone else had this problem ? I havent researched it yet as I thought you guys would know .

Also does plasma picture inheritantly lack depth ? Or is this part of my setup woes ?

On a seperate note - boy this thing pumps out some heat .

Any input on this would be great.

Hey

There are some in depth setup guides on another thread here, let me find them and paste them here, I'm sure the guys wont mind. Try those settings and see how you go. For me, I put it on dynamic/movie, then reduce the brightness, reduce the colour, change the colour to the white one (no bluish stuff) and put on the edge setting, and a couple other things. I advise tinkering with it a bit, especially the advanced settings. Yeh its a hot beast for sure, I can hear my heat sinks crackiling (think thats what it is!). The thing that amazes me is how the quality is so diverse according to what you play. SD digital = crap, then HD channels some are good, some are crappy, and then LOST was on HD the other night and it looked like Blu Ray, unreal picture. Some of my old dvds look awesome, some look crappy, it just depends. So its a premium tv, put premium media into it, thats what I plan on doing, ie Blu Ray player.
Will look for those setups and post here,
regards

Justin

Setup for P9 from Rhodesy - copied from another thread

QUOTE(rhodesy101 @ Dec 10 2007, 11:58 AM) *
Ok i have finally setup my Ps50p91hdx.

I have to say this has been one of the most difficult screens for me to setup only for the fact that I have tried just about everything in movie mode with warm and warm2 settings to get the picture right. But for some reason shadow detail is lost to the point it is like night and day when I tuned it in standard mode. it reminded me of the settings on the sony bravia x that sony tried to make people use when they had the clouding issues.

Standard mode tuning took me about 1-2 hour to do properly, not days on end like movie mode.

The settings I liked the best were those calibrated through DVD Essentials pal HDDVD in standard mode.

I borrowed my friends syder2 colour calibrater but I couldn't get it to look right no matter what setting.
All my devices are run though a denon avr 3808 from the hdmi output to hdmi 1 input of the samsung P9
Denon is set to all analogue devices to upconvert to 1080p and hdmi inputs to bypass internal video decoding.

These are my settings I use for all devices.

Mode standard

Contrast 77

Brightness 59

Sharpness 0 (around 30-40 for digital tv)

Colour 53

Tint g47 / r53 or g50 / r 50

Colour tone normal

Size just scan

Digital NR auto

DNie off
(detailed settings)

Black adjust medium

dynamic contrast off

Gamma 0 or -1

Colour Space auto

White balance default for now

Colour Control default for now

Edge enhancement off
Comparing this screen to my 52"m81 I use as a main tv.

digital tv especially hd content no difference

dvd's look better on the P9 (using a denon dvd3900 for both screens)

HD material (hd dvd blu ray, mg350hd files) looks the same on both, but no judder noticed on P9 for same source material

Foxtel no difference except when 3808 does upconversion and some material looks better

Divx material through MG350HD (set @1080p pal) especailly 640 x 352 material (low res compressed material) looks way better on P9. On the M81 it looks crap (pixelated and blurry). The P9 looks great no pixelation or blurry.

For the those wondering about 24hz playback on the P9, yes it does it according to the Ps3, denon 3808, P9 info screen.

For those wondering about black levels.

P9 is superior to M81

Im sorry but the black is black on P9 I don't consider a bluer shade of black of the m81 to be black.
P9 does have some humming noise when 1080 matrial is being presented, but I can only hear it if the volume of what I am watching set to 0 and I am closer than 0.5 meter to the screen.

A giant box is waiting at home.....


(yes, at work today )



P

YAY!

Mine delivered about 20mins ago thought i should give my first impressions and ask a few questions then i'm back to playing with it.

It says to use two people to carry it but have three when unboxing its a scary moment when you lift the tv and the padding comes out with it, the extra person should hold them down plus its one heavy tv.

Setup was incredibly easy found it found all the digital channels by itself and one of the first things i saw was the 7HD loop of the the great outdoors and its looked fantastic!

What have people done with their ferrite cores? i didnt loop the power cable through twice i only clamped it.

The tv itself is a fingerprint and dust magnet what are you all using to clean it? the supplied cloth?

Should i be messing around with all of the picture setting within the first 100 hours of use?

It is definitely putting out some heat and i can see my energy bill going up, but if i cared about that i would have gone lcd.

Overall the tv is better than i could have ever expected, now all i need is an upscaling dvd player until the format wars are over, or a nice combo drive comes along.

Hi Guys

Have any of you wall mounted the plasma or thinking of doing it? How much did you pay for the entire install? Did you supply the wall brackets (if yes, how much did you pay)? How much should I expect to pay for it?

Cheers

I mounted mine using a Selby bracket I got off Ebay. I paid $26 plus postage (about$40 total) and installed it myself. It's pretty easy most people with modest skills should manage it.
I think JD71 is installing his as we speak so he'll report back how he found it.
I think they look even better when wall mounted.

Yes, looking forward to putting mine up, have the bracket here fast700c , dont know about modest skills though, will see if I can miss the studs and make a mess!. Your bracket was a steal, that would have to be cost price. Its stupid but kind of in limbo now, waiting to put it on the wall and get a cabinet to put the amp and stuff in and then off to get something to play on it, already have a upscaling dvd but its not the greatest, would like a blu ray really, thats my tip for the one that will take over. How ridiculous is it that there are two HD formats at the moment, its unreal! One of them will probably be the beta tape recorder of the future you know.
merry xmas everyone

regards

Justin

Yeh its pretty heavy alright. I just put the ferrite core on the power cable, it said the other one was for the headphone lead or something. I read on here that they dont do much or something but I put mine on anyway.

The digital tuner is cool isnt it? Although I dont know why they always pick up multiple channels of the same kind, like 4 channel 7's. I dont think it matters if you tune the tv now, just watch out for static images on there. Its a hot tv for sure, will only be used at night mainly here though so shouldnt see much diff in power usage. Have fun with it, just in time for xmas hey )
regards
Justin

Can anyone else confirm they have cracking noises coming from the top? Sounds like heat sinks hotting up or something.

I would very much like to be an Owner of this TV, but a few things are putting me off at the moment.

I want to use it as a PC screen and also use it as a HTPC, I want it to my Main and onyl PC an dTV, Movies screen, but the Plasma burn in bit is putting me off. I have a PC CRT I am using now and Don't get any burn in, but not sure if a Plasma would be worse for burn in or not ?

Also I have heard that LCDs and Plasmas are noisy, thats one thing I don't want, I want it DEAD quiet or I would be very very angry. I pent a bit of time getting mY HTPC quiet and I don't want that to be for nothing. I would also get a HD DVD player and play me some HD movies as well.


Any feedback on my points would be nice, I want to give myself a nice Crissy pressie

Thanks.

Hi guys,

Merry Christmas! Some comments of mine for what it is worth!

I have found the default settings pretty good, but I will run my DVD calibration disc and have a fiddle with that today.

I find DYNAMIC picture setting too intense. I was watching Lord of the Rings the other night and the grass was fluro green with DYNAMIC, but on STANDARD all was well.

Speaking to some other sales reps, the bulk of them have said that the upscaling in the TV is as good as any upscaling DVD player. My DVD player doesn't upscale so I was thinking of buying one that does..... they said save your money and buy a PS3 for Bluray instead! I am happy to be told otherwise if others have found different.

I have found sound output depends on what you are watching on the HD/SD channels. I currently have VIDEO HITS on 10HD and my receiver is picking it up as a DD5.1 signal. I have connected the optical out from the TV to the receiver.

Flick to a SD channel and the DD5.1 light on my amp goes out. However, I assume on a HD channel it doesn't necessarily mean the source material is in DD5.1 even if my amp shows a DD5.1 stream present?

I agree picture quality varies greatly depending on the quality of the source material.

i have my tv setup the same. the paperwork does say that it outputs in 2ch mode only. seems pointless having it to me. but at least being dd2.0 my amp can us pl2 to mix it 2 5.1 or 6.1. not tru surround, but still sounds fuller. is it possible ur amp is just processing the 2ch signal.

The screen outputs DD5.1 from it's digital tuner via the optical out. It just wont pass 5.1 through from another digital source.
Check page 68 of the owners manual under the section "listening through a Home Theater".
Works just fine on my receiver.

OMG, I nearly died on the spot.

I went out from 3pm Christmas Eve until 5pm Christmad Day, to arrive home to find my beautilful new P9 turned on with No Signal and the component message in the top left hand corner burning itself into the screen.

I turned on my amp and sure enough it was burned it badly.

I could only assume the cat has rubbed against the on/off button and turned it on.

After madly browsing the web for a fix and flicking through the manual, I ran the White Wash screen from 6.30pm till 7am this morning.

Thankfully all traces of the burnt image has GONE.

One downfall I see with this TV (and I guess many others) is it doesnt have a physical proper on/off switch, just the "standby" button on the front of the unit.

I will now either make a hat out of the cat (joking) or turn the entire theatre system off at the wall before going out.

I hope this helps you all if you find yourself in the same situation. Rest assured the white wash feature works a treat.

Cheers
Scott

On another quick note, I notice people stating the number of hours their panel has been used for.

Is there a counter somewhere in the menu, or is this purely an estimate of its use?

Cheers
Scott

Copied from another thread:

Yes in the service menu.

To access the service menu

Turn off the power from the remote

Then press Info->Menu->Mute->Power


Accessing the service menu also resets all your saved settings !

Wow thats bizarre, I agree it should have a proper off button, will have to remember that white wash thing if the need arises. Does yours make any buzzing or crackling noises from the back of set?
regards
Justin

Hi Justin, as you know mine has a slight buzz (new one is quiter than the first one) but definately no crackling noises. The first one I had didn't make any crackling noises either. How loud and how often does it occur? Does it sound like expansion noises?
May be worth swapping the screen before you wall mount, or is it already up.

Mine has a slight buzz but it can only be heard when your basically right above the vents and it still happens when the tv is on in standby mode. The tv going into standby when you press the off button is my only real complaint about the tv as I was once told by a technician that it is bad to leave any electrical appliances on standby mode is this true?

Its nice to know the anti-burn technology works, I would have gone nuts if i saw a burnt image in the first week of a 5 year extended warranty which doesnt actually cover burn in.

Mine's on it's third day now - great set overall, that's caused some excitement and frustration all at once!

Best thing of all is I've reduced the cable clutter from the Pana 500a 42" that it replaced (and is currently an imposing beast in the bedroom!). Using the onboard tuner, and a PS3 with a single HDMI for all dvd/bd/game viewing/playing, and the occasional DivX that actually works (about a 70% success rate). With the trusty old pana xr25 digital amp.

Been stuffing around with all sorts of settings - the ones posted above produced a somewhat soft picture for my liking and some fluffy white crush (did I make that up?). Also played around with the CNET settings and wasn't overly impressed either (100 contrast?). Then I tried numerous little fiddles posted on AVS - and finally gave up.

So back to default everything went, I stopped stuffing around with all of the advanced settings and used my own judgment. Just about all 'enhancements' are switched off, contrast in the mid 80s, brightness/colour both in the mid 40s and sharpness in the 30-40 range. All else on default. Might give it a few more hours (about 20 so far) and give it another go in a few weeks. If anyone wants to post some calibrated settings with an external source, they would be most welcome.

But picture is absolutely stunning and further adjustment probably unneeded (without expert calibration). Can't believe I'm going to say this, but Dynamic (with severely reduced settings as above) on Cool1 provides the most vibrant colours, especially for daytime viewing - I have floor-to-ceiling windows for 2 out of 4 walls. Standard was a bit soft and I've settled on Movie (set on Warm2) for the best balanced picture.

Blu Ray via PS3 looks great as expected, managed to get rid of some substantial dot crawl by adjusting down a few things and getting rid of some of the enhancements - not sure if I'm 100% satisfied just yet, but certainly looks great. DVDs are quite good - a bit undecided if the 1080 upscaling of the PS3 is completely up to scratch. Some limited testing suggested a minimal difference between outputting 1080 as opposed to the standard 576 - in fact I think I preferred 576, but needs a bit more testing. The TV scaler certainly seems up to par and I'm not sure that I'd bother too much with an upscaling DVD player (unless it's some expensive reference).

EDIT: I think I'm noticing a slight 'pink' tint to the picture when compared to the pana - not sure if i'm just seeing things. Overall the quality is way better than the 500a (which is about 3 yrs old now?), blacks are miles ahead and I specifically bought the pana at the time because it was a recognized leader.

Otherwise all seems good. Justin, definitely haven't noticed any crackling either. The buzz seemed very noticeable at first, and seems a touch louder at switching on - then it subsides to s very soft humm, fan-type noise once getting to its nominal furnace-operating temperature (you can almost feel the heat by holding your hand a few cm from the set). The buzz is definitely NOT noticeable unless you have your head right up against it, specifically near the top right corner. Definitely unnoticeable from the couch (about 2.5 - 2.8m) even at low volume (the PS3 is louder).

Overall pretty impressed - now thinking the 58" might not have been a bad choice . It's a great size for my bviewing distance, but it is in a pretty big open living area and not all that imposing - plus the more than 2x price difference .

P

Hi Jared

Not wall mounted yet. I guess I want to make sure its fine before I do so. Its occasional crackling sound, sounds like a heat sink or something, just a little crack noise every now and then, I suppose its ok, but I will call Samsung to ask if its normal I guess. It pisses me off a bit as it would be nice to get a perfect product for something with a retail of just under 4 grand.

I cant hear the slightest buzz, but did hear crackling for a small period early on.

Other that that and the cat incident all is good.

From page 2 of the manual:

The product is making a ‘cracking’ noise.
A ‘cracking’ noise may occur when the product contracts or expands due to a change of surrounding environment such as temperature or humidity. This is normal and not a defect of the unit.

Wow, thanks Nathan, I read the inside of the manual, obviously not very well. Funny how no one else comments on cracking. Cheers for pointing this out, makes me feel better I spose, I am just hanging out to blow the crap out of the house with some nice surround setup, then I wont hear any crackling )

I had a careful read through the manual after a crack / popping sound on mine resulted in no picture any more Thats the only reason I found it.

With the weekend and public holidays as well I have now been 5 days with an essentially DOA TV in my living room...very depressing. Hopefully I can organise a replacement tomorrow.

bing lee was totally sold out when we purchased ours on the 23rd dec... they said they have 5 sets coming in on the 28th so we have secured one

cant wait to see this baby up and running

any thoughts on what I should be able to pick one of these up for at the moment ?

That sucks and I know exactly how you feel, I had a smashed one here for nearly two weeks waiting for a replacement,

Shoot for 2.5K with no extended warranty, that is the lowest on here and that would be a GREAT price, definitely gettable.

I was just wondering what the time length is before your buzzig turns into a hum? The buzzing is starting to annoy me and can be heard @ 2.5-3m away on a moderate low vollume, it changes intensity when you change channels, when ads come on etc. but it does seem to settle a bit now and then. I really dont want to return it as its russian roullette if I will get another buzzy one or a bad pixel or something, annoying to say the least.

Hmm, perhaps about 5-10 mins? It is definitely more apparent in that time and gets louder when there is more white, or a single dominant bright colour on screen, I've noticed.

It's definitely not what I would call a buzz afterwards though, seems like something that's there until it gets to operating temperature (my extremely unscientific observation). Very slight fan-like hum afterwards.

I've just noticed how much louder the old pana buzzes now that it is watched at extremely low volume at a 2m distance... and that's constant.


P

Just spoke to Myer and they are now completely sold out, so I cant get a replacement until mid January at the earliest. This is fantastic...you pay $3k for something that lasts less than 24 hours, then I have to wait nearly a month to get a new one

Depending on how long you have had it, maybe you should ask for a refund. Definitely should get refund if DOA. I have heard the price is going down, sometime in January. Not sure if price is going down when the free LCD offer is over on the 15th, or sooner, but definitely a very nice price decrease.

Is it normal for this plasma to produce a fair bit of heat? i mean the screen is quick warm to touch and the back is hot after a couple of hours watching??

Hi all,

I posted this somewhere else in the forum earlier today but I think this thread is more appropriate. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

This is my first post and I think I have a problem. I went into the service menu of my Sammy P9 wanting to check the total hours of usage. I was really careful and made sure that I did not change any settings. However, I was not able to find the usage information. Anyway, to be sure I did not stuff anything up, I reset all settings in the service menu. Now I am regretting doing that as I am unsure whether resetting the settings actually changes the settings that were originally there. I had to re-tune the channels after doing that and everything seems to work fine. I also managed to find the usage information now but it is now displayed at 0hr. This is probably due to my reset.

Can someone please post the original settings in the service menu (all items) so that I can compare them against my "reset" settings to make sure everything is as expected? If not, is there somewhere on the net I can access these default settings? Please be careful not to change anything on yours. Your help is much appreciated. BTW, I am in NSW if that helps. Thanks again.

Think of the heating savings over winter...

It does run very hot....


P

Ive got the same problem as a previous post about the htpc I realise burn in issues are far lower than in the past but is LCD still going to be better if im hooking up a PC everynow and then. It will mainly be used for a TV but I cant go past the 1080p res for some occasional gaming.

Also where abouts did anyone get one for $2500 the cheapest ive seen is $3100

I think Samsung is a bit over ambitous by not putting fans behind the P9,

Both Pana. PZ and Pio. LX 1080p plasma has 3 fans behind the unit.

Perfectly normal. A 500W device naturally produces a fair bit of heat.

Im glad it normal thanks for the confirm

No fan = less noise as long the plasma doesn't melt im happy. Well aircond will be running when it hot any way and when it cold like some 1 above mention u get a free heater lol.