Samsung Plasma TV Problems, Issues, Defects C-Series

by Jack Burden, reviewer

Samsung Plasma TVs have had a unusually high number of problems lately according to an extended warranty company.

Samsung and Panasonic have the best selling plasma TVs in the U.S. And that trend should continue this year. Both have outstanding picture quality and the value offering from plasma TVs still cannot be touched by anything LED/LCDs have to throw at them.

Samsung PN51F8500 Plasma TV
This is the Samsung F8500. The top notch picture quality is a given, but what about a fews years down the road?

Lately, though we have had reports that Samsung's plasma TVs may be having above trend problems. We checked in with leading TV extended warranty company DTVExpress XpresServ to find out whether there is any truth to these complaints and what we found is a verification that there may be an issue.

According to president Sam Dewitt there has been a notable up tick in the percentage of complaints, issues, and defects in Samsung's plasma TV offerings compared to other TV manufacture models. Notes Dewitt, “We've seen an increase to around the 8-10% level of issues with Samsung plasma TVs. It's about our highest area of problem issue claims.”

Dewitt noted that there have been particular problems with the C-series plasma TVs from 2010-2011 and particularly in the 58 inch size. “There is a non-critical issue with some C-series and B-series Samsung plasma TVs displaying a shaded pink, purple or various other colors when there is a white or very light background on the screen. It seems there is a robust percentage of C-series plasma especially in 58 inches that have this issue. When you see the same problem over and over in the same model, there is cause for concern.”

Samsung PN51F5500 Plasma TV
Even the mid-level plasmas from Samsung boast great picture quality

He went on to state that this issue may be resolved fairly easily through some adjustments in the service menu to the voltage settings, but that, "that may not do it." But nevertheless, it's a pain for consumers to have to tackle especially if they did not purchase an extended warranty.