A Step Up from the Blown Boob Tube
Written: Dec 15 '02
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Pros: sleek design, space efficiency, hot keys, side AV jacks, gaming quality
Cons: cumbersome, some questionably useful menu features
The Bottom Line: It's a great, all-purpose television set with quality features for a sensible price.
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| deeblackthorne's Full Review: Philips 25PS40S 25 inch TV |
I had had my previous television set for a few years before the purchase of my new Philips 25-inch set. I had done without a working remote for a while, and that wasn't so bad. But having acquired a friend's Dreamcast system with a malfunctioning connector through the back outlet, I needed a set with AV jacks. My friend suggested taking a trip to Best Buy.
Remember, I only needed with the AV jacks. I only shopped conscious of what I would pay for the unit. Seeing that the Philips unit had been marked down a bit, I thought I would splurge and pick it up.
As much as I wanted to get my new set plugged in, I wasn't prepared for how cumbersome the unit would prove as I manuevered it through the store, into the car, and took it home. Unlike traditional set whose designs indicate a good weight distribution, the Philips' design puts way more weight on the front than the back. A 25" set isn't too bulky to render you helpless in carrying it, but an imbalanced set of this size is still difficult to carry and move about on your own.
For what it's worth, while a bit awkward to move around the room, when finally set in place, its spacious design enabled me to stash neatly away the Dreamcast I hooked up to it. The narrowing back gave just enough room atop my dorm's dresser to tuck the Dreamcast there and to keep the wires and cords draped behind, improving appearance and set placement. Although I have since moved and have taken advantage of my roommate's entertainment center setup, the television fills out the space and gives an overall positive aesthetic to the living room.
Enough Trading Spaces stuff, I guess. After setting it all up, I kicked back to watch some television. Perhaps I don't have as critical a viewing eye as I should, but for your run-of-the-mill cable television experience, you don't get anything spectacular. Not to downplay the picture quality -- it's fine as it is -- but I didn't really marvel at anything.
I experimented with the remote and explored the Philips' menus for customization and controls. In addition to your basic channel up-down and volume up-down and remote keypad, you get several "instant function" keys such as closed captioning, mute, timing, sleep commands, and switching from cable to AV jack input device (i.e. Dreamcast). Also, you can use the smiley face button to program the four included channel hotkeys. Flip to your desired channel, press the smiley, then the red, yellow, blue, or green button -- and BAM! -- you can instantly switch, ideal for viewers like me who faithfully watch the same few networks throughout the week.
Unfortunately, that's about as intriguing as the menu selections get. I have little to no use for much of the other functions, and even as you explore the comprehensive (almost exhaustibly so) menus to customize your TV's picture, sound, etc., you don't get anything particularly innovative or interesting. Truth be told, you could press the remote's Auto Picture feature to tweak your screen enough -- and unless you have to have your television picture to an enhanced degree of precision, you don't need to do much else to it. It's fine.
One last quick note: This review seems satisfied but rather unenthused about the Philips' TV capabilities, I understand. And for all intended viewing purposes, the product works fine, is an improvement above my old and outdated set, but nothing intensely spectacular... until you gamers out there get a taste of how well it does with your consoles. The game graphics appear sharp, crisp, and incredibly colorful; even if you don't use the Auto Picture's "Game" setting, the AV connections really liven up the player's experience. If I feel all the more compelled to play a video game, by all means, that says something about the product.
With the plasma high-definition flat-screen fad in full effect, the everyday sensible folk could use a quality, affordable set. Philips delivers -- even though we should have asked Best Buy to do that in my case.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 225
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Epinions.com ID:
deeblackthorne
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Member: Dee Hill Zuganelli
Location: Tucson, AZ, USA
Reviews written: 133
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
yo! :D
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