SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Cnet.com, a major U.S. technology review site, selected Samsung Electronics Co.'s plasma display panel (PDP) TVs as the best TV of the year, industry sources said Sunday.

Cnet said the D8000 series, which consists of a string of Samsung's PDP TV models, outperformed rivals' products released in the U.S. market this year, according to a Samsung official.

Judges of the U.S. review site evaluated designs, picture quality and features of TVs that hit shelves in the U.S. market since January. Samsung scored nine out of 10 in all three categories, the official said.

They gave big credit for Samsung TV's representation of colors and the quality of its 3-D pictures, he added. 

Samsung, the world's largest supplier of TVs, competes with Japan-based Panasonic Corp. and home rival LG Electronics Inc. for the PDP TV market.

It claimed 45.2 percent of the U.S. market for PDP TVs in the January-April period, according to NPD Group, a market researcher.

Panasonic was the runner-up with a 36.8 percent share, followed by LG with a 9.5 percent share.