My New Toy

[Tywais]

We just moved to a new house and thought I would upgrade my wide screen TV. Have been using a 42" Panasonic plasma for 8-9+ years. Bought it when large LCD screens were not mainstream nor cheap if they were available. It listed at 299,000 Baht at that time but as it was a end of life cycle model and stock clearance got it for 99,000 Baht. Of course no HDMI nor HD but it had a VGA connector and multi-component video inputs but 800x576 resolution. Even after all this time I still find the display very good.

My new one had these requirements: Full 1080 HD resolution, HDMI inputs, USB input for external drive, WiFi (preferably built in rather than an adapter). After a lot of research into models that satisfied these and at my price point I selected a Samsung Series 5 51" Plasma (Specifically Model PS51E550D). My preference has been Panasonic due to experience but the price for what I wanted was a bit much and the model styling of available models in Thailand didn't suit me. Also wanted a model with much smaller bezel as my previous had about 10+ cm bezel all around.

After 1st turning it on it goes through some initialization questions such as time/date, location, network information, etc. Going to the Smart TV screen where all the apps and network stuff is it then automatically updates the applications via the network. The Smart TV screen has items such as Facebook, Twitter, Browser, Youtube, My Videos, My pictures and a bunch of other items.

Tried the YouTube app, which they called YouTubeTV and streaming full 1080 HD was no problem. Brought up one of my full HD videos and the quality was just remarkable with contrast, color depth, excellent and even you could feel a depth to the picture I never saw on my previous one. You nearly feel you could peek around items.

Last and was no where near a priority for me it is full HD 3D capable. Absolutely amazing when I ran their YouTubeTV full HD 3D clips. It has 'pop' and plenty of it - of course that depends on the video. They opened a bottle of champagne at the end of a road rally and I moved back. Let my wife try it. She said, "nothing scary please". I put a homemade 3D clip from YouTube up and the guy points a machete out of the screen. Looked over at my wife and she is leaning as far back on the bed as she could get.

Anyway, just a mini review of my experience for those who may be considering a new HD TV. Below is my setup - at night I have a back light behind it that gives a theater feel about it.

[g00dgirl]

Do you find the youtube app easy to use? On the Samsung TV I tried it was really frustrating, slow and cumbersome to enter a search word for example, using the remote control. I also found that the youtube app could save my youtube login but it could not access my playlists.

Is this still the case or has this improved?

I ended up connecting my ipad via HDMI to the Samsung TV so I can watch and search youtube videos more easily.

[Tywais]

Do you find the youtube app easy to use? On the Samsung TV I tried it was really frustrating, slow and cumbersome to enter a search word for example, using the remote control. I also found that the youtube app could save my youtube login but it could not access my playlists.

Is this still the case or has this improved?

I ended up connecting my ipad via HDMI to the Samsung TV so I can watch and search youtube videos more easily.

The search function using the remote controller is indeed difficult to use the onscreen keyboard. Ideally it would allow a mouse on the USB port then it would be quite useful. I remember seeing something flash up saying something about 'mouse' and will have to look deeper into it. My main access will be through my media center/hdmi (computer on the right) connection and with that I can use a mouse or the trackball remote control I have for the PC.

[LivinLOS]

Personally I would always go with an internet STB.. Like the boxee box or xtreamer (googleTv, appleTv etc etc)..

That way the display and the network side can be upgraded as better tech comes along without losing the entire package.