Samsung PS50C6970

If you believe what Samsung has to say on its website, then the C6970 is the TV that everybody has to have. And, to be fair, it looks pretty slick, with a titanium effect finish and a slim frame measuring just 3.6 cm from front to back. It also has all of the latest technology, including Full HD in 3D, Internet@TV online services, DLNA support and Motion Judder Canceller to smooth out the jerkiness in films.

We've asked several times, but Samsung still hasn't managed to lend us a plasma TV from its 2010 collection. We ended up asking if anybody else had one, and Nephrite, one of the forum members from our French site, offered to lend us his--and we're very grateful. We went to his place and spent half a day with his Samsung PS50C6970 3D plasma TV.

Because we weren't testing it in our lab, we couldn't perform all of our usual procedures, meaning we don't have results for energy consumption, input lag or viewing angles (but this last one is never a problem for plasma TVs).

Build Quality and Design

As we mentioned above, this TV represents something of a departure for Samsung. Instead of the usual glossy black, the screen sits inside a matte grey frame which has a brushed metal look, with a clear plastic trim around the outside.

Despite the manufacturer's best efforts, the glossy panel in front of the screen still picks up reflections. You need to be careful to keep the TV somewhere out of the way of direct light sources.

At the back, the connections are similar to what you get from a Samsung LED TV: four HDMI ports, Ethernet, an aerial input, VGA, headphone jack and an optical audio output. Analogue video outputs (SCART and composite) need a special adaptor.

Other features include a backlit remote control, a Motion Judder Canceller filter to smooth out the movements in films and 2D-to-3D conversion. For multimedia fans, there's support for DLNA home networks, Internet@TV, PVR-Ready and a decent media player. You can connect an external storage device like a USB key or a hard drive) formatted using either NTFS or FAT32 to the USB port. When we tried it out, most of the HD video files we had worked fine, but there's still no support for M2TS, MTS or subtitle files.

Image Quality: 2D

Unsurprisingly, with its factory settings, the PS50C6970 produces greys that are indistinguishable from black and over-exposed whites, while a very strong blue tinge affects the colours. Fortunately, though, it's very easy to fix these problems by switching to 'Cinema' mode. Our equipment indicated a just about acceptable contrast ratio of 2000:1 and a deltaE of 2.6, which this time is excellent. Once that figure falls below 3.0, we can confirm that the discrepancy between the ideal colours and those actually seen is invisible to the naked eye.


The C6970 doesn't seem particularly affected by screen burn, but we still can't recommend you use it with a PC. Then again, if you take the time to wear it in you might be able to get away with it.

As ever with plasmas, the evenness across the whole surface of the panel and the viewing angles are both excellent.

Upscaling SD films looked good and HD is quite simply perfect, with the Motion Judder Canceller doing a great job of keeping jerkiness under control. That said, we don't advise you to set it any higher than 'Standard', as beyond that it adds visual artefacts to the image.

Ghosting

Responsiveness
Light Background	Dark Background	Average

The ghosting time of Samsung's plasma display is only 9 ms. That's much faster than the average for flatscreen TVs, which is closer to 12 ms. Only Panasonic's plasmas can do better, reaching an average of 8.5 ms.

Image Quality: 3D

Like most 3D TVs, the PS50C6970 can convert 2D to 3D video on the fly, but it's far from perfect. The 3D effects it creates are generally quite limited, but occasionally some objects seem to be sticking right out of the screen in the wrong place which can leave some viewers with a headache or even nausea.

If you use a Blu-ray 3D disc, though, the effects are very striking. Objects leap out of the screen and there's a real sense of depth of field. And because plasma screens are so fast, crosstalk, the interference between the video streams designed to be viewed by each eye, is almost imperceptible. The PS50C6970 even manages to do as well as the Panasonic VT20 and GT20, keeping plasma screens right out in front ahead of LCDs for 3D.

Here's what we could see looking through the 3D glasses-Samsung are above, Panasonic below:



As with Samsung's LCD TVs, you don't get the 3D glasses with the TV, so you'll have to spend around £65 for a battery-powered model or £80 for a more comfortable rechargeable pair.

Audio Quality

Unlike most thin TVs, the C6970 is capable of producing bass, but it rapidly becomes saturated. The treble and mid-range are both reproduced accurately and allow you to hear ordinary TV programmes without any problems. On the other hand, we recommend you use some Home Cinema speakers if you really want to get stuck into your favourite movie.