Owners' Thread - Samsung ps42a456/a457 discussion, help & experiences (2024)

Yea good to see this Thread up and running!

Ok i had the Samsung 42" ps42q96 tv and i loved it but as my 2 year old son hit it with a toy and put a nasty crack in it i had to get new tv,.

So i went to currys and got the new Samsung PS42A456P 42 | 4 |SERIES for £790

What can i say about this set i have had it for 3 days and i like the fact i can now play games on 1080p where i could not with my last Samsung i have not had much of a play with it yet i think the blacks are not bad but the Q96 to me looked better with the blacks so as i say i will have to get use to this tv and try and find the best settings for it!!

I have Sky HD and an xbox 360 on hdmi and all looks well so there yea go when i get more time to mess about with my New Samsung i will pop back on guys and let you know some more about this tv.

mensy said:

pic not so Hi, have got a Samsung 42" A457 myself and haven't really sat down and played with the picture settings yet sowould be really grateful if someone had some settings. Sky through hdmi looks pretty raw unless it's a high def programme. My ps3, however through hdmi looks fantastic so what's the Bobby Moore?

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mensy said:

pic not so good but will get better ones up shortly

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That radiator sure would scare me that close

radiator is turned off haha i move house in a week so deciding wether to wall mount or get a stand still un sure but hopefully its no where near a radiator when i move

settings i have no clue yet just have them all on 50 ish at the mo until its run in a lil, i no some ppl say u dnt av to run in and some say u do but im being a lil safe with it at the mo as its me 3rd plasma in about a month

Sniper said:

Apart from physically looking better than the Panasonic PX8 & PX80 range - does anyone know how does the A456/A457 range compare to the PX8 & PX80? Does it sit somewhere in the middle ... better than both ... worse? What about specs?

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Anyone care to compare with the Panasonics I mentioned? Cheers!

Sniper said:

Anyone care to compare with the Panasonics I mentioned? Cheers!

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sorry but i cannot compare is ive never owned a panasonic sorry

Saw the tv today (the 50A456) ... it looks (switched off) much much better than the Panasonic 50PX8.

PQ - after playing around a bit with the remote the picture was great - tbh same thing can be said about the 50PX8 ... all in all I think I'll go for the Samsung!

Now: could anyone clarify this ... on the Panasonic site it says that the TV has 3072 levels of gradation (higher end Panasonics have 4096) ... BUT on the Samsung site they say that the A456/7 has 262144 (!) levels of gradation .... now I understand they can infalte the numbers the make the model look good (like a 30000:1 contrast ratio!) ... but what are they talking about there??

LeoWyatt said:

Do you have the football judder that is apparent for the Q96/97 series?

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I have not noticed any of the previously reported judder on my 50" version. Also, as I posted last week to say, the SD football Champs league final on Sky was superb.

Well my new 50" A457 arrived early this afternoon and after a quick check over to ensure all inputs are ok I've just mounted it onto the wall.

First quick check with the settings show it has much more sensible "out of the box" settings compared to the Q96 I owned previously. It did need a few minor tweaks to get it to my liking but so far so good.

I've now got to get my Harmony 895 RF extender programmed as I have moved all my sources to a cupboard so that the wall mounted screen has as clean a look as possible.

I'll be giving it a proper test over the next few days but so far I am very impressed with the picture quality. However the sound is not as good as the Q96, sounds more closed in and more lightweight. Not a major problem for me as I will be hooking it up to a decent 5.1 system soon.

I had the previous model Q97 series 50" model Samsung. It was good value for money at £745 delivered but had a few issues that I felt meant the overall viewing experience was compromised. In the end I ended up returning it.

I also decided that a 50" inch TV for SD sources unless they were pristine doesnt hold up too well.

Now I am looking at either the Panasonic TH42PX80B or Samsung PS42A456/A457.

The Samsung (£590 approx) is about £40 cheaper but the Panasonic has had excellent reviews and doesnt seem to suffer the picture enhancement flaws that the previous Samsung plasmas have had.

1. Large amount of ambient light screen reflection in daytime conditions even when curtains were drawn.

2. Shimmering ('halo effect') on moving objects eg people walking accross screen when DNIe and Movie plus were activated.I found turning off DNIe and Movie Plus solved this but really reduced the overall picture quality.

Could owners of the this latest Samsung comment on this.