In our juried subjective image quality tests, the Series 6500 earned the highest average scores (by a small margin) in its test group of four HDTVs for brightness/contrast, detail/sharpness, and overall image quality. Judges particularly noted its good off-axis image quality. But the tests also demonstrated that the days when plasmas routinely trounced LCD TVs at handling motion are long gone: The three LED-backlit LCDs in the test group significantly outperformed the Samsung plasma set on our motion tests, especially on a diagonal panning shot of a city. This may not be the plasma TV to buy if you want to watch fast sports on it.

The Series 6500 PN50C6500TF may not appeal to people who are watching their energy bill, either. Like most other plasma sets, it is guilty of voracious energy consumption: 172.8 watts per hour on average in our tests, though the set registered no visible consumption when turned off.

Samsung does keep the set thin (it's only 1.4 inches thick) and sleek, with a metallic finish to the black bezel. To achieve its thin profile, Samsung lined up the television's ports in a slightly recessed right angle on the back left of the set.

Our test unit's input/output configuration was a bit skimpy: On the side-facing array, you get four HDMI and two USB ports--along with PC audio in, analog and optical digital audio outputs, and an Ex-Link (RS-232C) port for control of motorized mounts--but the bottom-facing edge provides only one combined set of composite/component video and analog stereo inputs, a PC (RGB) input, and ethernet and coaxial ports. As shipped, the set doesn't support Wi-Fi, but Samsung will sell you an adapter that you can use in one of the USB ports. There's no headphone jack.

The setup routine is fairly typical, asking for language choice, home or store demo presets, and date/time info before launching the channel scan (assuming that you use a direct cable or antenna connection, rather than an HDMI hookup to a digital cable or satellite box).