Review: Samsung PS50Q7HD
The propaganda
Samsung's engineers did an amazing job on the design of its range of High Definition televisions - there's something about the minimalist feel and that little circle at the bottom that really defines HD for me. Maybe I'm just strange like that. Regardless, the Samsung PS50Q7HD ticks all the right boxes in terms of specs too. The image resolution of 1377 x 768 makes it HD Ready, the contrast ratio is right up there at 10,000:1 and the13-bit video processing delivers a whopping 549 billion colours.
And there's more: an integrated digital tuner with 7-day EPG and enhanced by a CI slot, digital audio output and Samsung's DNIe picture processing system. This is designed to improve colour tones and vibrancy, with finer detailing and deeper black levels. The Smooth Motion Driver, which integrates something like 10 extra frames per second into the source picture, reduces the motion judder and false contouring.
The good
The real strength is the price tag. You can now pick these up for under £1,300 - a good couple of hundred quid less than some the closest other big brand name alternatives. In fact if you shop carefully, you probably won't be paying much more than a grand, which seems like an absolute steal to us.
Best of all, the performance doesn't feel at like a budget set either; black levels are impressively deep whilst still offering a subtle greyscale and skin tones look beautifully natural, although there is occasional hint of glow around them - but it is still a cut above what Smasung's own LCDs can manage. The DNIe system shows its merits here as we were able to make out a healthy range of colours and definitely more than we would have expected for the price. Finally, the picture is surprisingly bright given the size of the screen and with little sign of pixel noise or grain.
The bad
There are a couple of costs incurred as a result of the budget price tag. The minimalist design means the speakers have been hidden away along the bottom edge, and the sound they produce is distinctly underwhelming. They lack the power or punch to really support a room the size of which you'd need to comfortably watch such a large set. And, even if they did, the poor frequency range lets them down yet further. However, if you have a home cinema sound system in place already, you're going to be largely unaffected by this shortcoming so don't let this put you off too much!
We were also a little disappointed with somewhat scanty input connections. There's just one lonesome HDMI socket to use along with only two SCART connections. This is supported by one component input, a PC input, and composite and S-Video inputs.
The integrated digital tuner is enhanced by a 7-day EPG. You can set recording timer events with it, but the weakness here is that you can only scroll through it in a maximum of two-hour steps, which renders setting the timer for something a week in advance nearly impossible.
Geek Sheet
HD Ready, 1366 x 768 resolution
Progressive scan
Digital TV tuner, plus Top Up TV slot and 7-day EPG
Composite video
S-Video input
Scart x 2 (one RGB)
Component video input
HDMI input
PC input
Sound: Nicam stereo
Brightness: 1300cd/m2
Contrast ratio: 10,000:1
Dimensions: 1277 x 860.7 x 341mm; Weight: 49.3kg
Overview
The shortage of inputs is definitely the main Achilles heel in this plasma, especially if you already have an existing sound system. But it is easier to overlook this shortcoming when faced with the extremely generous price tag. Where it really counts - i.e. picture quality - the Samsung PS50Q7HD does not disappoint and gives this set an excellent value for money.
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