Samsung PS42C96HD

Avoid use with a PC

Use with a PC is not ideal: only a res of 1280x720 gives acceptable results without image overscan, but there is a lack of precision and characters lack sharpness. In any case we don’t recommend use of plasmas with PCs as there’s a risk that fixed images will mark the panel permanently.

NB: this television was originally tested in spring 2008, the test published in French. We are now publishing the test in English for the purposes of our summer 2009 plasma challenge in which we expose this screen to a fixed image for, in turn, an hour, a night and a week to determine the extent to which plasma screens still suffer from marking.

Although Samsung has built a reputation with LCD screens, they do nevertheless manufacture a few plasmas, including this PS42C96HD: a 42 inch HD ready screen.

It is now common to see excellent black levels on plasma screens; here you get 0,09 cd/m², which is very good indeed. White levels were measured at 138 cd/m² giving a contrast ratio of 1533:1. These scores augur well for a very good image but the gamma curve is too weak and images seem a little washed out, particularly in dark areas, lowering the contrast in terms of what the viewer experiences.

The brightness curve (in yellow) is a little too far from the ideal (dotted line).

To get the best colour levels you need to put the TV in Cinema mode. Average colour temperature is then between 5500 K and 6500 K and colour results are good. When watching certain films, you’ll notice that skin colour is particularly realistic.

In these same tests, we noted that upscaling of SD sources (DVD, TV,…) is clean but lacks a little sharpness. This can easily be rectified by increasing the sharpness setting. In HD, the image always lacks sharpness because of the fact that this HD Ready panel is limited to 1024 x 768 pixels.

Overall, the PS42C96HD gives a good image with nice colours. Its gamma curve could be more stable however and better quality speakers wouldn’t go amiss. The HD Ready definition also limits it for HD users but gives nice results from SD sources. It is nevertheless very reasonably priced.