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

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.

After 3 days comparing LCD to Plasma we decided to go with plasma. We had a dark living room, we wanted to have a great picture for video games and action movies, it seemed plasma was the way to go. We received the new TV with the excitement of seeing our new born child for the first time, only with a 60" screen and no potty training involved. We got it set up and ready and put on Adventure Time! It was dim. We are watching Adventure Time, the brightest damn cartoon out there and the picture was dim. We changed some settings and it got a little better, except for the rhombus shaped reflection from a light in the kitchen around the corner. Turned off all the lights in the house. Still kinda dim, but watchable. My husband turns to me after about 5 minutes of watching Finn and Jake, "Lets see what a BluRay looks like." In goes The 5th Element.This is where things go from "meh" to "OH MY GOD MY BRAIN!". There had been a high pitch hum coming from the TV the whole time. We knew plasmas made a hum. No big deal, right. Our PS3 sounded like a frikkin jet engine half the time. About 10 minutes in I started to feel an ache in my jaw, which traveled to the base of my spine and up my skull. Within 20 minutes I had a splitting headache. I paused the movie and informed my life mate of my pain. He said he also had a head ache. We turned off the TV and discussed our displeasure with our purchase. Shortly after, our headaches subsided.We went through the necessary steps to return the product, which included trouble shooting the device with Samsung. When I told the Samsung rep what the issue was he assured me that their TVs aren't suppose to cause headaches, that it may be a hardware problem and gave me a return # for it. On the up side, I had no trouble with the seller or Samsung returning it and getting a refund, so props to them.We ended up getting a Samsung LCD UN65F6300AF 65" and it is AWESOME!!!! And we all lived happily ever after.The End

I thought I had done my homework before making the decision to purchase this TV, but a couple of things have surprised me.Negatives:- Only the two HDMI and the USB ports open to the side. If you choose to mount this on the wall, which most people seem to do these days, there will be precious little room for cords should you have the need to utilize the component, optical audio, and/or antenna connectors.- I have been in contact with customer support and have not yet gotten a solution, but there is an extremely distracting buzzing coming from this unit. The audio output is completely turned off because we are using an external receiver, so it is definitely coming from the processing unit itself rather than the speakers.- It does not seem to properly display HD. I'm assuming I have either missed something during setup (which means either I cannot properly follow directions or the instructions are lacking) or there is something wrong with my particular unit because the ones in the store I reviewed prior to this purchase had gorgeous displays. This one has very noticeable pixels/noise in the picture.Positives:- Excellent price for the (hopeful) quality.- Customer support has been easily accessible and courteous. This seems to be rare these days.Assuming I am able to get the display and buzzing fixed, this review will easily bump to a four star rating or higher.