Samsung PN60F8500AF Pro Reviews

The Samsung PN60F8500 plasma, with its combination of stellar picture quality and overflowing features, ranks right at the top of 2013 HDTVs and earns our Highly Recommended award. It might be more TV than some may need and as always, I wish it were a little less expensive, but if you are in the market for a no compromise HDTV, then start by looking at the F8500 series of Samsung plasmas.

The Samsung PNF8500 series is a top-shelf plasma HDTV line that delivers outstanding color quality, solid 2D and 3D imagery, and very dark blacks. You'll shell out some big bucks for this model though, and you may want to pick up a universal remote while you're at it.

I had some issues with the Samsung’s 3D performance, though it’s likely to satisfy all but the most rabid 3D purist. But 2D on the set was a joy to watch, with rich color, superb resolution, and subjectively fine black levels and overall image saturation on all but the most torturously challenging, dark, low-contrast scenes. If the PN60F8500’s overall black levels are not as killer as from our reference, they’re still among the best we’ve seen from today’s sets and contribute dramatically to the Samsung’s superb overall 2D performance.

Until we’ve thoroughly tested the Panasonic VT60, we can’t declare any winners in the battle for this year’s best TV, but we can say that Samsung’s F8500 is going to give the Panny a serious run for its money. Though the F8500 is a little rich on novelty features for our taste (we could do without voice commands and gesture control entirely) it’s Smart Hub TV interface is one of the best platforms available. And, if you’re willing to endure the learning curve, its ability to control cable and satellite boxes and integrate its content guide into a more pleasant interface can be a nice bonus. But if we brush all that stuff aside, what we’re left with is a TV that is stunning to behold, on or off. While videophiles will understandably want to dicker over measurement minutiae in an effort to objectively declare a winner of the ultimate TV prize, the fact is that anyone who chooses to buy the F8500 is going to come out a winner. It is one of those TVs that you don’t want to miss out on purchasing now, or you’ll be regretting it for years as you read five years from now about how it was a landmark product for Samsung and how sad it is that plasma isn’t around anymore. It’s just that good.