Samsung PN64D7000 64-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Plasma HDTV
February 29th 2012 Posted at Uncategorized
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I labored over online TV reviews for over a year, doing the research needed to make sure I was happy with my purchase. *My reviewer of choice is cnet* I had originally been leaning towards a LED LCD, since they supposedly had better bright room performance. I saw that the 7000 & 8000 had special filters to reduce reflections, and my interest was piqued.
I finally got the green light from my wife to make the purchase for my birthday (back in June)and immediately started looking at the reviews of the latest models. The Panasonic TC-PVT30 series and the Vizio XVT3SV series were both highly reviewed and I had been looking at those for awhile. The PN59D8000 review came out shortly after I started looking, and they mentioned that the high marks on the quality of that model would also apply to the PN59D7000. I decided this would be the best of both worlds: the higher quality of plasma with the increased brightroom performance. The price was right in the middle of both as well.
I decided to purchase on Amazon without viewing the TV in the store since I’ve always heard that the calibration is very different, PN64D7000 and store performance is not a good indicator of in-home performance. *There is a store setting, during setup.
The glare is noticable while the TV is off, but goes away for the most part once you turn it on. I did have an issue when my wife wanted to re-arrange the living room to where our 3 large living room windows were directly across from the TV instead of to the side. At that point, the glare was VERY bad during the day, even with the blinds closed. We ended up using it as an excuse to finally get curtains and the problem was solved. The remaining light was easily taken care of by the TV’s filter.
I fully calibrated the TV to the 8000 settings originally & the TV color looked a little off (7000 calibration wasn’t out yet). After digging a little more, I read a suggestion to wait to calibrate until the TV had broken in. I returned it to the default setings and waited a month. By then, the 7000 calibrations were out and cnet had reviewed the 7000 claiming it was the best value available. I had liked the default settings, but could tell they weren’t perfect. Once I used the cnet calibration, the TV was exactly on the money.