I’m very happy to report back this morning on not one but two TV’s! In the freezing cold I upgraded my own LNB to SATCR+ 2xLegacy and also a family member's standard LNB to SATCR. Basically the D450 was purchase for family and the D490 for myself. Since I had to get a new LNB my old SATCR one went to the family.
The D450 was first up on test. A stunning looking TV! The thinner bezel really adds to the style (Samsung's "Plasma Plus One Design"). I noticed right away that the infamous Samsung Plasma buzz was still not cured and pretty loud to my ears. The older family members will never hear it though.
The bezel and back of the TV are very strong with no flex – it almost felt like the bezel was metal itself (the back is made of metal). Picture performance out of the box was fine but I switched to “Movie” from “Standard” and took the brightness and contrast right down while the TV runs in. The remote and OSD are very familiar and almost identical to my own PS50C6500, so navigating was a breeze. I found the “Movie” sound preset to be the most pleasing but there are other nice settings like “Clear Voice”, “Music” and “Amplify”. The family don’t have a receiver so will be using the TV sound. The “Movie” sound has some nice bass so quite pleasing. SD picture is excellent and the HD picture is grand! Colours are good, no motion blur...everything comparable to my much more expensive PS50C6500. One small niggle which was very disappointing is a non-swivelling stand...why the heck would they take this away? It is a critical feature! That aside, the family are 200% happy with their gift...
Next up was the D490 back home. First thing I noticed was a different stand – a glass one with some simple styling and not black plastic like the D450. It can also swivel! This feature alone bears careful consideration when choosing between the D450 and D490. With that said, and seeing as though we will be mounting our D490 and won’t need the stand, I am in the process of enquiring if I can use the D490 stand on the D450 (for the ifamily). The PQ out the box was good once again and I settled on the “Movie” preset. Interestingly the values are quite different to the D450! I’ll explore this more as time goes by. Sound was also set to “Movie” until I install the the new ceiling speakers and AV Receiver. One thing that blew me away was the TV’s seeming ability to boost a picture over standard RF i.e. the picture being duplicated from my HD PVR in the lounge, over RF, to the bedroom. On a 51cm CRT Samsung it is snowy and generally poor quality. The HD channels over RF put a lot of strain on the old CRT. On the new D490 the picture over RF is amazing!! The HD channel over RF almost looks like...720p! Really, really surprising but I’m not sure if it’s the TV or all flat screens that boost a picture over RF. Also note I had to extend the RF cable to reach the D490, since it is on a small table until I wall mount it. Even with the additional noise of a joined connection, the PQ over RF is "grand". Buzzing is the same as the D450 but I have learned to live with it on my PS50C6500 so will do the same in this case. If have read of people swapping their sets to try and reduce buzz, don't waste your time. This is a Plasma artifact and something you cannot get rid of. (Maybe more accurate is a "Samsung Plasma artifact" because people have reported that Panasonic Plasmas do not buzz)
One thing common to BOTH units is that they run stone cold...unlike my PS50C6500 which heats up like an oven, the D450 and D490 do not get hot, or even warm!!
Another commonality is the all-new 43" size spec. This is achieved by reducing the bezel size to good effect. For the price I don't think 43" can be scoffed at. What an awesome buy.
In the future I will rate the 3D on the D490, if and when I use it. I also see that it upscales regular content to 3D which should also be interesting.
Have a good weekend, folks.
The D450 was first up on test. A stunning looking TV! The thinner bezel really adds to the style (Samsung's "Plasma Plus One Design"). I noticed right away that the infamous Samsung Plasma buzz was still not cured and pretty loud to my ears. The older family members will never hear it though.
The bezel and back of the TV are very strong with no flex – it almost felt like the bezel was metal itself (the back is made of metal). Picture performance out of the box was fine but I switched to “Movie” from “Standard” and took the brightness and contrast right down while the TV runs in. The remote and OSD are very familiar and almost identical to my own PS50C6500, so navigating was a breeze. I found the “Movie” sound preset to be the most pleasing but there are other nice settings like “Clear Voice”, “Music” and “Amplify”. The family don’t have a receiver so will be using the TV sound. The “Movie” sound has some nice bass so quite pleasing. SD picture is excellent and the HD picture is grand! Colours are good, no motion blur...everything comparable to my much more expensive PS50C6500. One small niggle which was very disappointing is a non-swivelling stand...why the heck would they take this away? It is a critical feature! That aside, the family are 200% happy with their gift...Next up was the D490 back home. First thing I noticed was a different stand – a glass one with some simple styling and not black plastic like the D450. It can also swivel! This feature alone bears careful consideration when choosing between the D450 and D490. With that said, and seeing as though we will be mounting our D490 and won’t need the stand, I am in the process of enquiring if I can use the D490 stand on the D450 (for the ifamily). The PQ out the box was good once again and I settled on the “Movie” preset. Interestingly the values are quite different to the D450! I’ll explore this more as time goes by. Sound was also set to “Movie” until I install the the new ceiling speakers and AV Receiver. One thing that blew me away was the TV’s seeming ability to boost a picture over standard RF i.e. the picture being duplicated from my HD PVR in the lounge, over RF, to the bedroom. On a 51cm CRT Samsung it is snowy and generally poor quality. The HD channels over RF put a lot of strain on the old CRT. On the new D490 the picture over RF is amazing!! The HD channel over RF almost looks like...720p! Really, really surprising but I’m not sure if it’s the TV or all flat screens that boost a picture over RF. Also note I had to extend the RF cable to reach the D490, since it is on a small table until I wall mount it. Even with the additional noise of a joined connection, the PQ over RF is "grand". Buzzing is the same as the D450 but I have learned to live with it on my PS50C6500 so will do the same in this case. If have read of people swapping their sets to try and reduce buzz, don't waste your time. This is a Plasma artifact and something you cannot get rid of. (Maybe more accurate is a "Samsung Plasma artifact" because people have reported that Panasonic Plasmas do not buzz)
One thing common to BOTH units is that they run stone cold...unlike my PS50C6500 which heats up like an oven, the D450 and D490 do not get hot, or even warm!!
Another commonality is the all-new 43" size spec. This is achieved by reducing the bezel size to good effect. For the price I don't think 43" can be scoffed at. What an awesome buy.
In the future I will rate the 3D on the D490, if and when I use it. I also see that it upscales regular content to 3D which should also be interesting.
Have a good weekend, folks.
