Samsung PN51F5300 51-Inch 1080p 600Hz Plasma HDTV (2013 Model)

The power board in this set just straight up failed in the middle of watching a show. I had it surge protected to no avail. The power board now just blows its main fuse whenever it is powered up. The repair is evidently between $300 and $400. This is ridiculous. That's effectively like spending $100 a year to keep a TV operating. Just poor electronics design from a lame manufacturer. The electronics in American TVs used to last decades so it's clearly possible to design and build these devices right.

I absolutely love this display!!!! I'm a serious videophile and can notice and be driven mad by any even tiny imperfections in the display - I can see nothing but jaw-dropping rendering of colors and edges. And, OH MAN those black levels. Deep and beautiful and uniform bezel to bezel - far and away the best I've ever seen.There is a buzzing as some have mentioned, but it's only noticeable when the room is silent with no speakers on, and even then I only really hear it on extremely bright scenes. For instance, I ran it for 100 hrs with break out slides and can only hear it on the 3 brightest red, blue, and green. No buzz on whites and no buzz on regular TV watching unless it's a bright and color rich scene for instance some parts of Life of Pi will produce this. The real truth though is, if you have any sound at all, even very low, you don't hear a thing.Unit is light, and I can't believe how thin plasma's have become in the past few years. Think the thickness of the previous iMacs.I'm not a huge fan of the compressed x base, but I like that it swivels easily.This screen was perfect for me because:1) Value! The price for this display is a scandal. Beautiful and cheap!2) I HATE current smart-tv offerings, and prefer using my appleTV/PS3 for those services. That's why this unit is so cheap - it has none of those.3) I don't watch, nor do I have any desire to watch 3d TV. Does nothing for me in the theatre, and does less for me at home.So, if you need smart TV features, or if you need more than 2 hdmi inputs you may want to look elsewhere. I get around both drawbacks by using Apple TV/PS3 and an A/V receiver. You save $1000 on this display, so use that money on an Apple TV ($100) and a receiver ($250) and pocket the rest whilst having one of the best looking displays these discerning eyes have ever seen.

Plasma cannot be beat. Period. Buy them while you can still get them.Nice television at a very good price ($549) If I did not have a 6 year old Samsung FT-5084 ($1500 at time of purchase) to compare this against I would have given it 5 stars.Use the color balance settings posted by another reviewer they are very nice. At first I was ready to send this set back until I set it up with those settings.I experience NO hum or buzzing.Glare is not an issue for me, there is some but that is the nature of a plasma screen and is easily dismissed. I use this and my older set in very bright rooms.Samsung packages their products excellent for shipping.Samsung is hard to beat in my opinion.

I've had the PN60F5300 (60-Inch) for a month now. I absolutely love this TV. I haven't purchased a television since 1990. I told myself that I get to splurge every quarter century and buy a nice one!I read and read and read and researched and read. I listened to the people who love the color of plasma, and I read enough reviews, in enough places, from enough professionals and regular users to convince me to make this particular Samsung my first television purchase in 24 years. My research convinced me that this TV would have great color, would come at a very good price, for a 60" and would not be best in a bright room. So far, that has all been true.As others have stated, this is not a smart TV - that is, it doesn't connect to the internet and provide streaming video and other online services, browsing or firmware updates (there's a USB connection for that.) But, I get my network services elsewhere (from my Blu-ray player) so it's not necessary.The menus are basic and not elegant. I haven't spent a night to figure out how to tweak colors and more advanced settings either. There's very little though, at this point that I think needs attention. The detail, brightness, and pretty much every element that my eye and brain are concerned about are very, very good. The picture is even from edge-to-edge. There is no annoying sound. New streaming 1080 cartoons, Blu-ray disc movies and Netflix Super HD movies are breathtaking.I have seen "banding" with gradients, and I'm not sure if that's how you say it, and it's the only thing currently that seems odd. It's trivial, and I wonder if it's a result of low-bandwidth streaming content versus a shortcoming or bad setting of the TV. I guess I can research it further. My guess is that it's a click or two in the right place and it's solved. (What I'm describing is seeing distinct lines or bands when there should be an even transition from light to dark images, for instance, on a dark sunset, where the grays should progressively become black, without any visible steps or edges.)My last TV lasted 24 years, and we'll see if this one holds up that long. (I'm giggling as I type that, as I don't think we build electronics to last that long anymore, but hey, maybe it's possible?)I have pretty much loved this purchase right out of the box, and for the money, I'm absolutely delighted with the new picture in front of me.Oh, and by the way, I threw a compact RCA antenna in the attic this summer and stopped paying for cable TV, and I run it to this TV. Some of the broadcasts are 1080 and 5.1 audio. I was concerned about getting the audio return from this TV. I purchased an $8, 10ft long Toslink cable (digital audio / fiber optic) here on Amazon, and it did the trick without any additional setup on my part. So, the surround sound from free, over-the-air digital television broadcasts makes it to my television via the antenna ($35 here on Amazon too - RCA ANT751) and coaxial cable. Then the audio makes it to my audio/video receiver via the cheap digital audio cable. I am truly looking forward to 5.1 surround sound NFL Sundays this fall, 100% free, looking and sounding the very best I've ever had it.I'm hoping this 60" Samsung gives me years of exquisite quality for the money. Why spend $2500 on a TV!?I'll report back if there are any significant changes or updates.

This TV is great. I love the size, and the colors are quite nice. It may not have the smarts, but I don't need that, since I have other devices that do a better job at that anyway, so why pay $300 more for something I don't need. Delivery was great, the people did a nice job. The only problem I ran in to was hooking up my PC to it. It is a little picky about the resolution you have to set your computer to. I had to bump up my resolution from what I had. The manual lists some resolutions, but I was able to find one that was not quite as high as what they wanted, and still worked. It just takes a little testing to find the best one for you and the TV. The computer looks great on it.The other thing of note is that for a plasma, this one runs real cool. I was expecting a ton of heat off of it, but you hardly feel any heat, even on the top and back side. I am very impress.

Awesome TV