Rivals Plasmas in Black and Color Reproduction
Written: Jan 31 '09
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Pros: Picture, price/performance ratio. Ease of use.
Cons: Cheap remote, no provision for computer monitor hookup.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for those who are on a beer budget but want champagne quality.
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| slbenz's Full Review: Philips 42PFL3603D/F7 TV |
Background:
With all the recent discussions on the airwaves of broadcasts going digital and flat panel televisions with 1080p resolution. I decided it was time to upgrade from my 1080i DLP Mitsubishi rear projector to one of those sleek and slim LCD flat panel televisions. I didn't want to go with a plasma TV due to the energy used by them but they have the advantage of having blacker blacks, richer colors and smoother motion than the first generation LCD flat panels. If the Energy Star 3 sticker located on the Philips 42PFL3603D/F7 is an indicator, this Philips flat panel is a third generation LCD flat panel. A correction for Epinions, the link for this TV is under standard televisions and shows it as discontinued. In reality it is a LCD flat panel that is currently sold on the Philips website and your local retailer. My review is based on one month's worth of experience so unfortunately I cannot comment on the durability of the TV as of yet. As I mentioned before, I was looking for a replacement LCD TV and started shopping around at my local retailers in the area. My criteria included a great picture quality (at least in the showroom), low price and mulitiple HDMI inputs to handle both my DVR and DVD players.
Here are my findings:
Picture Quality:
As we all know this is a very subjective area. When I went shopping for this TV, I compared its picture quality to several other 42" LCD TVs that were next to and were available with the Philips. These included offerings from Sony (Bravia), Samsung, Toshiba and Vizio. Looking at these LCD TVs, using the same signal, it was easy to see and compare initially if the Philips would pass. Luckily, in the showroom test, the color saturation and blacks plus the sharpness of the picture actually bested all competitors in the showroom. I was taken by the deep rich colors and deep blacks by this TV. The richness of the colors and blackness reminded me of a high quality plasma TV picture. At the showroom, I went to the plasma TV displays and compared their picture to the Philips. Yes, it looked like the Philips was right up their with the best plasma displays. So with this initial test, I decided to purchase the TV (of course with a 30 day return policy) and put this TV to the test in my home.
Connecting my reference quality Marantz universal DVD player reviewed here: Marantz DV9600 Universal DVD Player, I am able to compare the various resolutions from 480i to 1080p. I will share most of my findings on DVD using 1080p while everyday viewing with my DVR at 1080i or with the built-in digital tuner of the Philips using a rabbit ears antenna.
First, I used my reference standard DVD, "The Matrix", and looked for the greenish black hue found on the opening scenes. The Philips rendered it accurately and even was able to show the blinking of the Warner Bros. logo without the jaggies seen on lesser screens. Various scenes throughout the movies, there are closeups of Neo's face which at 1080p resolution, you can see the facial hairs on his face. Same holds true with the "Pirates of the Carribbean" series of movies. Captain Jack Sparrow's facial closeups also reveal this same level of detail that is lost even when upscaled to 1080i. Colors in both movies were rich and vibrate. The downfall for this TV, like many LCDs is when it tries to show fast action. Even with a fast 5ms refresh time, it still is not fast enough to maintain a smooth motion like those are seen on a good plasma TV. The jaggies seen is much better than earlier generation LCD TVs but still not on par with a good plasma or rear projector LCD TV. If you are person that doesn't want any compromise in video quality with fast action content, you probably won't want to consider an LCD TV in the first place. But for everyone else, I believe this TV will more than satisfy most people's needs. I think the key to the success of this TV's picture quality, especially with blacks is its high dynamic contrast ratio of 29,000:1. This contrast ratio spec even bests many plasma TVs and is significantly higher than many of its LCD competitors, some as low as 1,600:1.
Watching through my DVR at 1080i, the Philips again did not disappoint. Colors and blacks are rich with a sharp picture. This Philips has a whole hosts of adjustments to maximize the picture and sharpness. One nice thing I liked as a feature is that this TV has preset modes for Personal, Sports, Movie, Game, Standard and Power Saver to quickly adjust the TV's picture to the media you are watching. Also, viewing angle on the Philips is quite wide. I do not doubt the manufacturer's spec for the viewing angle. Sharpness and color did not change even viewing from the side.
Looking at jpegs using the USB input, the pictures are very sharp, rich in color with very deep blacks. Unfortunately, the Philips will not play videos or PDF files off your USB drive but can play MP3 files of your music. Jpegs can be displayed in a slideshow format and can be zoomed into up to 4X normal.
There are various modes to format the screen. From automatic, widescreen, 4:3, 16:9 and 14:9. I would suggest selecting one of the modes except automatic. In automatic, the Philips will select the mode that provides the best screen size based on the picture. It can become annoying because as you are watching a movie, the picture will change size or format in order to give you what it thinks is the best picture quality on its screen. So be forewarned if you use this TV in automatic. Please use one of the other modes to avoid this potential format changing annoyance.
Programming the Philips for local stations is quite easy. There is an on-screen menu that walks you through the process which takes only a couple of minutes to lock onto both analog and digital stations in your area. The built-in tuner's reception seems on par with other TVs I have seen and used. The screen on this TV is unprotected so make sure than your little ones can't reach the screen. Unlike my Mitsubishi, the Philips doesn't have glare problems with sunlight coming from behind you. Now I understand way if you have a brightly lite room, an LCD TV makes for a great choice. Now glare is a thing of the past with the Philips.
Sound:
This is probably the Philips weakest point. If left for the TV to chose its default or Standard mode, it seems that the actor's voices sound muted and distant and the background music is more prominent. This is due to the Philips surround sound mode that is the default mode. I would suggest turning it off, then the actor's voices will be the prominent sound. It seems that the surround sound mode leans towards the background sounds and mutes the dialog in order to give you the sense of surround sound via two built-in speakers that are located at the bottom of the TV. In the other modes like Movie or Sports, the dialog by people can clearly be heard but possibly at the expense of picture quality. There is an automatic level control and the built-in twenty watt amp powering the speakers is more than ample to overcome my kitchen fan's noise only 15 feet away. But the Philips can play very quietly and if you are still worried about disturbing your significant other, there is a headphone jack that you can use. Unusal at this price point, the Philips has a 5-band equalizer so that you can custom-tailor the sound to your liking. But don't expect high-fidelity, think low to mid-fidelity. If the sound coming from this TV is not to your liking, you will need to support it with a home theater system.
Remote:
It is a basic plastic non-learning remote. There are no backlight or glow-in-the-dark buttons. The buttons are easy to operate, even with large fingers and is easy to operate and locate the most used features due to its large center cursor button. Also, this remote uses two AAA batteries but seems to have a relatively narrow operating range in width. So don't try to change channels way off to the side of the TV.
Quality:
Hard for me to say since I have owned the Philips for a month so far. I will update this section when I have more time with it.
Highlighted Features:
As I mentioned earlier this Philips has many features to adjust the picture and sound to your liking. It has three HDMI inputs, inputs for one coaxial, one S-video, one composite, two component in the back. So if you plan to install this TV on the wall, remember not to put it too close or you will have problems accessing the inputs. There are an additional one each of HDMI, S-video, composite, USB and headphone jack on the left side of the TV to quickly connect your digital camera, etc. to the TV. On the right side of the TV you will find the volume, on/off, and menu buttons. There is a nice black glass stand that the Philips rests on but is the non-swivel type.
Wattage Use:
Using a Kill-A-Watt meter, I wanted to find out how energy efficient the Philips is, especially being Energy Star Compliant 3. In Standard mode, the Philips consumed between 150-175 watts of power. About half as much as a plasma TV. But in power saver mode, I was shocked to see that the Philips only consumed from 60-65 watts. A tremendous difference. Of course, be prepared in power saver mode to have the picture darker than you may be used to but still very viewable.
Areas for Improvement:
It would be nice to have a lighted universal remote come with the TV. Another area is to put the inputs either on the side or bottom of the TV so that if you mount it on the wall, the inputs are easily accessible. One glaring omission is not having a video input (RS-232) for your computer. It would be great to have full video, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint capabilities when you use your USB flash drive.
Manufacturer's Specs Taken From Their Website:
Aspect ratio Widescreen Brightness 500 cd/m²
Dynamic screen contrast 29000:1 Response time (typical) 5 ms
Viewing angle 178º (H) / 178º (V) Diagonal screen size (inch) 42 inch
Diagonal screen size (metric) 107 cm
Visible screen diagonal (inch) 42.02 inch
Panel resolution 1920x1080p
Picture enhancementPixel Plus HD, 3/2 - 2/2 motion pull down, 3D Combfilter, Active Control, Digital Noise Reduction, Dynamic contrast enhancement, Progressive Scan Computer formats640 x 480, 60Hz, 800 x 600, 60Hz, 1024 x 768, 60Hz, 1280 x 768, 60Hz, 1280 x 1024, 60Hz, 1360 x 768, 60Hz, 1920 x 1080i, 60Hz, 1920 x 1080p, 60Hz Video formats480i, 60Hz, 480p, 60Hz, 720p, 60Hz, 1080i, 60Hz, 1080p, 60Hz
Equalizer 5-bands Output power (RMS)20W Sound
Enhancement Incredible Surround Sound SystemDolby Digital (AC-3), BBE Built-in speakers2
Child Protection Child Lock+Parental Control
Clock On main display, Sleep Timer
Ease of Installation Autostore Ease of Use 4 favorite lists, Auto Volume Leveller (AVL), Channel list, Settings assistant Wizard, Side Control Remote Control
TV Screen Format Adjustments 4:3, Auto Format, Movie expand 14:9, Movie expand 16:9, Super Zoom, Widescreen, unscaled (1080p dot by dot)
Multimedia connections USB memory class device
Playback Formats MP3, Slideshow files (.alb), JPEG Still pictures
Aerial Input 75 ohm F-type TV system ATSC, NTSC Video Playback NTSC CableUnscrambled Digital Cable -QAM Tuner bandsHyperband, S-Channel, UHF, VHF
AV 1Audio L/R in, YPbPr AV 2Audio L/R in, YPbPr AV 3Audio L/R in, CVBS in, S-Video in HDMI 1HDMI v1.3 HDMI 2HDMI v1.3 HDMI 3Analog audio L/R in, HDMI v1.3 EasyLink (HDMI-CEC)One touch play,
Power status, System info (menu language), System standby Front / Side connections HDMI v1.3, S-video in, CVBS in, Audio L/R in, Headphone out, USB Audio Output - DigitalCoaxial (cinch)
Ambient temperature 5 °C to 40 °C
Mains power 110-240V, 50-60Hz Power consumption 260 W Standby power consumption< 1 W
Set Width (inch) 40.67 inch Set Height (inch) 26.24 inch Set Depth (inch) 3.48 inch Set width (with stand) (inch) 40.67 inch Set height (with stand) (inch) 28.41 inch Set depth (with stand) (inch) 9.92 inch
Weight incl. Packaging (lb) 64.15 Product weight (lb) 52.36 (with stand), 42.44 (without stand) Box width (inch) 45.67 inch Box height (inch) 29.88 inch Box depth (inch) 13.11 inch
VESA wall mount compatible 400 x 400 mm
Included Accessories Table top stand, Power cord, Quick start guide, User Manual, Registration card, Remote Control
Warranty:
One year from date of purchase.
Conclusions:
Overall, I have been quite happy with my Philips LCD TV. It definitely scores high on the price/performance ratio and has a picture quality that can rival or beat many of its competitors selling for twice as much. Unless you are an uncompromising sports fan that wants the ultimate in fast action picture quality, then the Philips will be a great choice for those looking for a great picture with great value.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
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Epinions.com ID:
slbenz
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Location: Fremont, CA, USA
Reviews written: 102
Trusted by: 41 members
About Me:
Business consultant and volunteer mountain bike patrol officer.
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