Philips 32PFL6704D

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Philips PFL6704D series

Having the option to input the correct settings can go a long way toward improving the picture on an HDTV. Some TVs, such as the Philips PFL6704D series, have fewer settings than others, and despite relatively accurate picture quality after choosing the right presets, this TV could really use more manual settings. Meanwhile, automatic settings on the Philips abound, and while they don't improve picture quality--quite the opposite--they do have a major impact on energy consumption, and are largely responsible for its energy efficiency in default mode. But regardless of how much power it consumes, the PFL6704D's middling overall picture quality makes many other LCDs look more appealing in comparison.

Series note: We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 42-inch Philips 42PFL6704D, but this review also applies to the 32-inch 32PFL6704D and the 47-inch 47PFL6704D. The three members of the PFL6704D series offer identical specs and should have very similar picture quality.

Design
Maybe it's the European heritage of Dutch Philips, but for whatever reason, the company's HDTV designs usually outclass your average flat-panel. The sleek lines of the PFL6704D series provide an understated but no less stylish example. We appreciated the relatively thin bezel around the screen and the elegant curves of the frame, marred only by a grouping of logos on the lower left corner. The matching swivel stand supports the panel with a simple bent metal arm.

The Philips achieves a sleek, attractive look thanks to rounded corners and a slim frame around the screen.

The matching stand allows some swivel action.

In the past we've chided Philips for concentrating too much on the style of its remotes and too little on the ergonomics, but the clicker included with this TV is easier to use. The buttons around the central cursor are arranged logically, and placement is used well to allow you to find keys without having to look, once you get used to it. We also liked the feel of the rubberized buttons and the smooth underside of the wand.

The menu system is also simple and functional. We liked the presence of text explanations along the bottom of the screen and found navigation mostly intuitive. A quick-access menu allows access to a few items like closed captions and aspect ratio.

Features
The biggest item on the Philips' spec sheet is 120Hz processing, which is designed to reduce blurring and, at the same time, smooth out judder in motion. Unlike Samsung's so-equipped models, the Philips doesn't allow you to separate the two functions; if you want to reduce blurring, you also have to engage dejudder. Check out performance for details.

Two dejudder settings are on-tap in the Digital Natural Motion menu, but there's no way to separate the antiblur and dejudder functions.

Philips also touts its Settings Assistant as an easy way to adjust picture settings to your liking. It consists of a few pairs of images that you choose between, each of which affects the picture in a rather drastic way. As usual we preferred (and got much better results from) the manual controls.

A Settings Assistant lets you choose between a series of test picture pairs to adjust the image.

Said controls are fairly light compared with those of other HDTVs. First off, five of the PFL6704D's six picture modes cannot be adjusted. In fact, changing any item in the picture settings menu automatically forces the TV into the sixth (and only adjustable) mode, called Preference, and annoyingly resets all of the items to their default positions--so be sure to write down your settings if you want to preserve them against accidental erasure. One of the five preset modes is called Energy Saving, and it reduces the backlight to save power.

The actual picture settings available in the menu system are overly basic.

The PFL6704D is one of the only LCDs we've tested recently without a dedicated backlight control, which really hurts its black-level performance after calibration. It also lacks detailed settings for color temperature, making do with just the three presets. Two kinds of noise reduction are on hand, but two of the other advanced picture settings--Dynamic Contrast and Active Control--change the picture automatically according to picture content and, in the latter case, ambient room lighting. We left both turned off for critical viewing since the changes were relatively drastic and distracting.

With 1080i and 1080p HD sources you get four aspect ratio modes, including an "Unscaled" option that we recommend using for 1080i and 1080p HD sources. That mode is designed to display those sources sans scaling, which eliminates overscan and takes full advantage of the TV's 1080p resolution. Other resolutions allow a choice between five aspect ratio modes.

The Philips is missing picture-in-picture as well as a mode that can freeze the image. It also lacks any kind of Web-based interactive capability, found on many newer HDTVs sets. It does have a USB port that allows playback of music, photos, and video files, including DivX.

Philips' back panel includes three HDMI and two component video inputs, along with a coaxial (not optical) digital audio output. There's no analog PC input, however.

On the side nestles another HDMI input, an AV input, a headphone jack, and a USB port for digital photos, music, and videos.

A healthy total of four HDMI inputs grace Philips' connectivity suite, including three on the back panel and one on the side. The back also sprouts a pair of component-video inputs, one AV input with composite and S-Video, an RF input for antenna or cable, a coaxial (not optical) digital audio output, and a stereo analog audio output. The side is well-equipped with that fourth HDMI port, another AV output with composite and S-Video, the USB port, and even a headphone jack--a convenience missing from too many HDTVs today. We'd like to see an analog PC input, however.

Performance
All things considered the Philips PFL6704D series delivered below-average picture quality, beginning with its light black levels and poor off-angle viewing. Color accuracy was pretty good, but lack of controls prevented it from being better, especially in dark scenes.

Our calibration of the Philips consisted mainly of adjusting light output, tweaking the color control, selecting the Warm color temperature preset, and turning off the Philips' many automatic picture controls. The Warm picture preset actually came fairly close to the standard color temperature, but it was still too bluish and we wished it was adjustable. The lack of a backlight control was also a hindrance, and without it we were unable to achieve the best balance between black level and shadow detail.

We disabled Active Control because its automatic adjustments of picture parameters were too heavy-handed and ended up being less accurate than our normal calibration. In some scenes it increased contrast too high, clipping detail in bright areas, and in other scenes that changed in intensity from bright to dark or vice-versa, the fluctuation of the backlight was noticeable and distracting. Disabling the function did hurt black levels in dark scenes, but that was better than the alternative.

For comparison's sake, we lined the Philips up next to a few other entry-level LCDs, including the Sony KDL-52V5100, the JVC LT-46P300, and the Panasonic TC-32LX1. We also included our Pioneer PRO-111FD for reference. For this review we used the Blu-ray of "I Am Legend" for most of our image quality tests.

Black level: In dark scenes it was obvious that the Philips produced the brightest and least realistic shade of black among the LCDs in our lineup. As Will Smith dreams of the race to get his family out of the city, for example, the shadows inside the car, the black of his jacket, and the letterbox bars, for example, all appeared brighter and lower-contrast, with less pop, than they did on the other displays. Compared with the Sony and the JVC, the difference was visible even in brighter scenes.

Shadow detail was as good as can be expected on a set with lighter black levels, and we could make out about as many details in the darkened lab, for example, on the Philips as we could on the Sony. Details appeared more obscured on the JVC, but of course the latter's superior blacks made dark areas it displayed much more realistic overall.

Color accuracy: In brighter scenes the PFL6704D acquitted itself relatively well. During Smith's initial drive through Manhattan, for example, the red of the Dodge and the green of the trees in Madison Square Park looked quite realistic, if lacking the saturation and punch of the other displays (aside from the Panasonic). Smith's skin tone didn't appear quite as natural as on our reference display, but it was still OK--about the same as the JVC and better than the Panasonic, but not as good as the Sony. In darker scenes we couldn't help but notice that the Philips tinged shadows and black areas bluer than any of the other sets in our comparison.

Video processing: Digital Natural Motion is the company's name for its dejudder processing, and overall it didn't perform quite as well as the Sony we tested. As we've mentioned before, we prefer to leave all such processing turned off when watching film-based material since they tend to make film look more like video, and both strengths of DNM on the Philips were no exception. If forced to choose between the two we'd take Minimum as opposed to, naturally, Maximum, because the latter is particularly artificial-looking and much more prone to artifacts. Sony's equivalent to Minimum, dubbed Standard, did a superior job of maintaining a more film-like look and reducing artifacts.

We checked out Smith's race through Manhattan to compare between the two, as on the Philips we noticed a slight halo around the speeding car at times, particularly when it passed in front of a complex backdrop like a building, whereas the Sony's halo was much less noticeable and frequent. Bits of fast-moving objects, like the car's rear end, would occasionally detach slightly and reattach on the Philips, but that artifact didn't occur as often as on some sets we've seen.

We appreciated that, when we deactivated Digital Natural Motion, the Philips handled 1080p/24 sources properly. During the flyover of the Intrepid, for example, the planes on the deck were rendered smoothly and film-like, without the stuttering motion characteristic of 2:3 pull-down, as we saw on the 60Hz JVC.

During the motion resolution test the Philips performed about as well as most 120Hz LCDs we've evaluated. It delivered between 500 and 600 lines of resolution with Digital Natural Motion engaged, and between 300 and 400 with the processing turned off. The set correctly de-interlaced 1080i film and video sources, and as expected resolved every line of 1080i and 1080p still resolutions when in the Unscaled aspect ratio. As usual, it was difficult to discern any of these resolution characteristics in program material as opposed to test patterns.

Uniformity: When seen from straight on, the Philips maintained relatively even brightness and color across the screen. The left and right edges were just a bit dimmer than the middle, but not to a significant degree in program material. From off-angle, however, it performed worse than the other LCDs in our lineup. Dark areas washed out and lost contrast more quickly and colors shifted more noticeably, toward red and blue, to an extent we haven't seen on many LCDs we've tested recently.

Bright lighting: The matte screen of the PFL6704D performed well in bright light. It didn't reflect as much ambient light as our glass-screened reference plasma display, and fared as well as the other matte LCDs in our lineup.

Standard-definition: The Philips processed standard-def sources better than many TVs we've tested. It resolved every line of the DVD format and the grass and stone bridge looked well-detailed. It also removed jaggies from moving diagonal lines and the edges of a waving American flag. The Philips' noise reduction, on the other hand, wasn't very effective at all at removing moving motes and noise from lower quality images. Finally, it successfully engaged 2:3 pull-down detection.

PC: Via HDMI from a PC, the PFL6704D performed well, delivering every line of a 1,920x1,080 source with no overscan when we selected the PC mode and Unscaled aspect ratio. We did see some slight edge enhancement, however, which prevented it from matching the picture quality of most 1080p LCDs with digital PC sources.

Power consumption: We did not test the power consumption of this size in the Philips PFL6704D series, but we did test the 42-inch model. For more information, refer to the review of the Philips 42PFL6704D. How we test TVs.

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