Back to the Future

Not too long ago, 4K TVs were once hailed as the new viewing experience for televisions.  And that was really about 8 months ago.  Then during this year’s CES show, the 8K TVs were introduced, making 4K televisions a thing of the very distant past.  With all the new buzz around this latest new viewing experience, there is still one TV technology that will forever be praised as the digital art legacy (at least we love to think so).  We are talking about plasma TVs, which were the first flat panel TV technology of its kind to hit the market about 15 years ago.  The flat plasmas paved the way of what’s to come as far as televisions go and how they should be designed and watched (hanging on a wall).  And now with the plasmas practically all discontinued, we were very lucky to “find” what most say was one of the best all around plasma TVs in the last two years - The Samsung 51F8500.

(Just a hair behind the famous Panasonic ZT60 plasma), the Samsung F8500 forever changed the expectations of a plasma TV.  We admit that we were sold on the 4K TV fad at first, but after some more in-depth research about those TVs and the lack of 4K content, we realized that it might have been a future of the past.  After going through the popular AV forums and reading about the highest rated TVs, with no coincidence, they all happened to be plasmas, and more specifically the Samsung F8500 series.  [For one of us], it’s been over 6 years since we explored the idea of buying a new TV (we were watching a Sony 46XBR4 and 40XBR7; both top of the line TVs 6-10 years ago).  And never previously owned a plasma, getting our hands on one seemed like the best idea at the time; and boy, what an idea it was.  

First off, we would like to say that up until the OLED movement, the picture on the Samsung F8500 was the best we’ve seen to date.  It’s utterly amazing and best of all, this particular TV was design to be watched in well lit rooms (just like LED TVs).  This means the picture really pops out, unlike the traditional plasmas TVs that were made for optimal viewing in dark rooms.  The design and finish of the TV is impeccable.  It comes jammed packed with almost every app, technology and a magic wand remote; it comes with more features than anyone would ever want or use.  

We were told that Amazon was selling 51 inch F8500 for around $1K, but in many cases we’ve seen the same TV sell for about $2K, while its bigger brothers, 60 & 64 are going for about $2.5K to $3.5K, respectively.  About 15 years too late, we are now advocates of plasmas.  And we would highly recommend them if they were still being manufactured… especially the Samsung F8500 series.  If you are lucky to get your hands on a used one, it will move you… Back to the Future!

by ManPossible