Don't Buy the Samsung HPT 5-54

Without a wordy review, bottom line is don't cheap out and buy this plasma TV. The 720p resolution doesn't look anywhere near as good as the 1080p. The plasma screens DO have screen-burn. After only a few days, my new Samsung had screen burn from the "envelope" format. The black bars on the left and right had burned the image into the screen, which were clearly visible for a very long time. The picture quality is a huge improvement over my non-HD TV, but no where near the quality of 1080p LCD models. Besides the burn-in, solid colors like black or during commercials look pixelated or blocky. DVD's, especially kid's cartoons and videos, look like they are painted in water color, and are not even as vivid as my old TV. It looks terrible. The contract ratio of 15000:1 sounded good, but if you put it to 100%, you'll burn your screen. So you reduce it and the picture gets even worse. It's a no-win situation. I contacted PC Richards and advised them of my disappointment, and I even suggested I upgrade to a better TV for more cost, but they advised they could not return the TV once purchased. They would only replace it with the same model if found defective. Samsung and PC Richards will never have my business again.