Discover your moment on Lufthansa.Philips 42PFL7432D
Manufacturer: Philips Consumer Electronics Part number: 42PFL7432D
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- Bottom Line:
- Although its black-level performance hampers its picture quality against similarly priced flat-panel LCDs, the Philips 42PFL7432D has its share of strong points.
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CNET editors' review
Philips 42PFL7432D
price range: $1,566.32
- Reviewed by: David Katzmaier
- Reviewed on: 12/13/2007
The good: Relatively accurate color after calibration; user-menu fine color temperature controls; Ambilight backlight can approach the color temperature standard; handsome styling with swivel stand; ample connectivity with three HDMI inputs.
The bad: Produces a lighter color of black; subpar off-angle viewing characteristics; awkward menu system; most Ambilight modes are distracting.
The bottom line: Although its black-level performance hampers its picture quality against similarly priced flat-panel LCDs, the Philips 42PFL7432D has its share of strong points.
The choice between plasma and LCD becomes increasingly difficult at the 42-inch screen size, where both offer similar features for around the same price. Philips' 42PFL7432D, a 42-inch flat-panel LCD, tries to compete against similarly priced 42-inch plasmas by bringing the company's trademark Ambilight system to the table. While we're not the biggest fans of Ambilight, you can always turn it off, and when you do so, the 42PFL74D's picture has a few items to recommend it, notably relatively accurate color, especially after proper adjustment. Its black-level performance, on the flipside, has plenty of room for improvement, making those plasmas and even better LCDs seem much more attractive at this price. But if the idea of colored lights playing on the wall behind the TV appeals to you, the 42PFL7432D becomes a lot more attractive.
Design
For a company known for striking designs, Philips took a relatively conservative tack with the 42PFL9732D. Its handsome exterior is entirely black, with a somewhat thick, glossy-black bezel around the screen. The bezel in turn is set forward from the matte-black cabinet, for a double-frame look. A thin strip below the bezel consists of perforated speaker grille, which bends back subtly. The panel itself rests atop a stand with a silver pedestal and black glass base. Including stand, the set measures 41.2 inches wide by 29.5 inches tall by 10.4 inches deep and weighs 76.3 pounds; sans stand it measures 41.2 by 27 by 4.6 inches and weighs 60.8 pounds.
Though Philips has had some cool-looking but painful-to-use remotes in the past, this clicker is a bit better. Its angled lines and silver finish will look great on your glass-top coffee table, and it does include partial backlighting. Sure, there's no Exit key to back out of menus, and the color-coded soft keys are too close together for easy use, but otherwise its spacing and button choice is perfectly acceptable. We can't accept Philips' menu design though. It takes seemingly forever to get to the picture menu, and in general we found navigation confusing and counterintuitive. The menus obscure the entire screen most of the time, and when you finally do get to an adjustment, the menu parameter still obscures half of the screen--we'd prefer a discreet, smaller overlay.
Features
Philips' trademark flat-panel extra is the Ambilight system, which, on the 42PFL3742D, consists of a set of colored fluorescent lights arranged vertically to either side of the back of the TV. Depending on the backdrop--a lighter wall produces brighter reflections--the lights create a colorful accompaniment to the onscreen image. A comprehensive set of controls handles the color and brightness of the lights, and you can choose whether to have the color and brightness mimic the onscreen image, display a constant color, or turn off completely (our preferred setting).
The 42PFL7432D is a 1080p HDTV, which means it has a native resolution of 1,920x1,080, enough pixels to fully resolve the detail of 1080i and 1080p sources. All other incoming resolutions, such as 720p and 480p, are scaled to fit the available pixels.
Philips' set offers three nonadjustable picture presets, and when you make adjustments it reverts to a "current" picture setting. Unfortunately, changing back to one of the presets erases your settings, so there's no way to use one preset for one kind of material or lighting condition and still save your settings. We did appreciate that, unlike previous Philips TVs, any changes are saved independently per input.
We definitely missed having a backlight control, which controls the intensity of the light emanating from the screen and can really improve black-level performance if adjusted properly (that is, turned down). Among the advanced controls the Philips does offer, we left most turned off. According to the manual, Pixel Perfect HD performs a host of enhancements designed to "make every single pixel the best it can be," although in our testing we couldn't tell much difference. Dynamic contrast, Active control, and the light sensor all automatically adjust the picture on the fly in response to content or room lighting, so we left them turned off. Color enhancement didn't seem to do anything, so we left it off. We did appreciate the noise reduction controls, however, and used the adjustable color temperature controls to good effect during calibration.
Philips also includes a Settings Assistant, which is a step-by-step tutorial designed to help you adjust the 42PFL7432D's picture. When you start the Settings Assistant, it splits the screen down the middle and shows you a series of images, then you determine whether you like the left or right side better. It's a decent idea in concept, but in reality it didn't work that well. For example, the first choice we had to make was between an image with full shadow detail and poor black levels and another image with crushed black and good black levels--we didn't want to pick either of those choices. The results of the settings assistant were poor--it looked more like the "torch" mode used by retailers on the showroom floor rather than a properly calibrated set.
Aspect-ratio control is a mixed bag, with the 42PFL7432D offering five modes for standard-def sources but only two for high-def sources. The two high-def choices are Unscaled, which is a "dot-by-dot" mode displaying every pixel of 1080i and 1080p sources with no overscan, and Widescreen, which produces some overscan if you want to eliminate interference on the outer edges of the picture. There are no zoom or stretch modes for high-def sources, which will disappoint anyone looking to eliminate black bars on 4:3 aspect ratio program material.
Connectivity is solid on the 42PFL7432D, beginning with the trio of HDMI inputs on the back panel. There's also a bank of analog AV inputs; the first offers a choice of component-video, S-Video, or composite video; the second only composite-video; and the third only component-video. Additional rear-panel connections include a coaxial optical digital output (most TVs use optical) and an unusual matching input for getting digital audio from source devices to play through the TV's sound system. Unlike most flat-panel LCDs, this Philips lacks an RGB-style PC input. A set of AV jacks on the left side of the panel, with composite and S-Video, offers easy access. The same-side panel bay also includes a headphone jack and a USB port, the latter for displaying digital photos on the screen and playing digital music files though the TVs speakers.
Performance
As we mentioned at the top of this review, the Philips' accurate post-calibration color was its major strength, but it didn't deliver the depth of black we've come to expect from late-model LCD HDTVs in its price range.
Prior to our comparison evaluation, we calibrated the 42PFL7432D for optimal picture quality in our completely darkened room, first by attenuating its torch-mode light output to a more comfortable 40 footlamberts (FTL). The lack of a backlight control probably contributed to the set's less than stellar black-level performance, but we did appreciate the full color temperature detail controls, which allowed us to improve quite a bit on the Warm preset's measurements. After calibration, the Philips' grayscale was excellent and quite linear, especially for an LCD. For details, check out the Geek box below, and for our full user-menu settings scroll down to the tips section or just click here.
For our comparison, we set the 42PFL7432D up next to a few other HDTVs we had on hand, including the similarly priced 40-inch Toshiba 40RF350U LCD and a couple of more expensive sets, namely the 46-inch Samsung LN-T4671F and the Sony KDS-55A3000 (our new color reference). We spun up the beautiful-looking Apocalypto on Blu-ray courtesy of the Samsung BD-P1200.
In more difficult darker scenes, such as the campfire gathering in chapter 4, we noticed that the Philips didn't produce quite as deep of a shade of black as the other sets in the room. The shadows along the ground and the dark sky behind the tribe appeared more washed out than we'd like to see. We also noticed that details in shadows, such as the shaded side of one of the tribeswomen's bodies as she faced the fire, looked a bit more distinct on the Sony and the Samsung, while on the Philips we couldn't really discern the deepest parts of the shadow as well.
In its favor, the Philips showed very good color accuracy in both light and dark scenes. The shadows and darker areas stayed neutral instead of shifting into blue/green as they did on the Toshiba. The prominent green of the jungle plants stood up well against the superb Sony, looking lush and realistic. We also appreciated the accurate tone of the tribesmen's skin, which looked entirely too bluish and strange on the Toshiba. Our main issue with the Philips' color has to do with saturation as opposed to accuracy; its less deep black levels made colors look less rich than those of any of the other sets and robbed those deep forest scenes of a little punch.
According to test patterns, the Philips, as we expect from any 1080p HDTV nowadays, had no trouble resolving all of the details of 1080i and 1080p sources. Apocalypto looked sharp and well-resolved, although we didn't detect any difference in detail on any of the HDTVs we compared; they're all 1080p models. Performing the 1080i deinterlacing tests from HQV on Blu-ray, the 42PF7432D handled film-based sources well--as evinced by the clean grille of the RV in Ghost Rider, our most-dependable real-world test--but failed with video-based sources. We don't consider this failure a major issue, however, since it will be difficult to spot in real-world situations. We watched some hockey on HDNet, for example, and couldn't spot any issues caused by the deinterlacing failure.
We also kept a close eye out for blurring, comparing the Philips to the 120Hz Samsung, and it was only really noticeable--and then only in a minor way--on a fast-moving ticker from ESPNHD. Finally, we checked out Philips Pixel Perfect HD mode and really couldn't discern any difference between leaving it on or off.
Uniformity across the Philips' screen was quite impressive for an LCD. With a dark field, such as the sky behind the storytelling elder near the campfire, we did notice that the upper-right quadrant was a bit brighter than the rest, but this brighter area wasn't as obvious as we've seen on many other LCDs. Compared with most other LCDs we've tested, the Philips' off-angle performance was below average, washing out in dark scenes when seen from one spot over on the couch, and was especially poor when seen from above or below.
We also spent some time with the Ambilight function, although to properly test it, we moved the TV in front of a white projection screen (the matte-black walls of our theater rendered the light basically invisible). As in the past, we found most of the modes that mimic the onscreen action with the colors of the lights--called Relaxed, Moderate, and Dynamic and offering progressively more saturation and quicker color change--relatively distracting. During the hunt of the tapir at the beginning of Apocalypto for example, the light would start as primarily green as the beast ran through the jungle, then shift to off-white when the screen became mostly dark (that was quite disconcerting), then brownish or reddish as the beast and the hunters careened across the screen. Of these three, Relaxed was the least distracting, and occasionally we appreciated how it seemed to open up the expanse of the screen, such as the shots of the morning sky and the sunset at the beginning of chapters 3 and 4, respectively. More often, however, the colors seemed incorrect, such as the strange fade to purple when the elder appears during the campfire scene; when this happened, we had a hard time maintaining focus on the film itself.
Vastly more preferable to our eyes was the Color option, which keeps the lights at a constant color. We determined that none of the three presets came close to the ideal backlight color temperature of 6,500K, although with a bit of tweaking we were able to calibrate the light to about 7,200K (see the picture settings tip below). This light is still a bit blue, however, so if you're interested in a correct backlight, which can help reduce eyestrain in a dark room, we'd recommend a separate one made specifically for home theater and attuned to 6,500K.
Standard-def video processing on the 42PFL7432D was superb, although if your cable or satellite box performs the upconverting to HD resolutions itself, you won't get the benefits of this aspect of the Philips' picture quality. If you feed it 480i sources, however, it may well outperform your box's converter. The set resolved every detail of the DVD according to HQV's color bars pattern, and details in the bricks on the bridge and the grass appeared relatively sharp. The set did a superb job of smoothing out jagged diagonal lines, such as the stripes of the waving American flag. We were also very impressed by the ability of the four noise-reduction settings to clean up the worst areas of moving motes and video "snow" in the skies and sunsets on the disc. Our only complaint--and it's minor--regarding the Philips' standard-def processing is that it takes a long second or so for the set to engage 2:3 pull-down detection.
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 9,495/7,434 | Poor |
| After color temp | 6,489/6,460 | Good |
| Before grayscale variation | 2,042K | Poor |
| After grayscale variation | 104K | Average |
| Color of red (x/y) | 0.631/0.335 | Good |
| Color of green | 0.279/0.609 | Average |
| Color of blue | 0.146/0.066 | Good |
| Overscan | 0 percent | Good |
| Black-level retention | All patterns stable | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | Yes | Good |
| 480i 2:3 pull-down, 24 fps | Yes | Good |
| 1080i video resolution | Fail | Poor |
| 1080i film resolution | Pass | Good |
| Philips 42PFL7432D | Picture settings | ||
| Default | Calibrated | Power Save | |
| Picture on (watts) | 134.04 | 97.46 | N/A |
| Picture on (watts/sq. inch) | 0.18 | 0.13 | N/A |
| Standby (watts) | 2.07 | 2.07 | N/A |
| Cost per year | $41.96 | $30.85 | N/A |
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| Score (considering size) | Good | ||
| Score (overall) | Good | ||
User reviews
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Corrections to Editors review
by 1080i720p on December 17, 2007
Pros: Sharp detail / Colorful images / Blackbar formatting
Cons: Audio needs a "boost"
Summary: Just a few clarifications to the editors review.
I own this set. Like most of you, I researched this extensively online and in-store before purchasing.
So having lived with it ...Summary: Just a few clarifications to the editors review.
I own this set. Like most of you, I researched this extensively online and in-store before purchasing.
So having lived with it for about 4 months, let me correct many of the inaccuracies stated in this review by Mr. Katzmaier.
I will try to make my comments in the order of the review as you read it.
1. The weights of the TV (stand / sans stand) listed are backwards.
2. The 42PFL7432D uses multiple LED lights for its Ambilight technology NOT cold cathode fluorescent bulbs as stated by the reviewer.
3. The Philips LCD TV being reviewed is a 42PFL7432D NOT a 42PFL9732D, that set does not exist.
4. Pressing the MENU key with any menu screen up on the Philips removes or "exits" the current on screen menu. It's on page 9 of the manual for reference.
5. My guess would be that less than 1% of the CNET readers watch an ISF "calibrated" picture.
6. If you think about it (CNET readers; please ask your friends), I'd guess that over 90% of all people do not adjust the picture on their TV; typically they just take it out of the box, connect it and watch it. With that knowledge, two reviews should be done...one in "out of the box" and one for the "tweeks"...of which the majority of CNET readers are not. Not looking to get flamed here...just stating obvious facts.
7. 480i and 480p input signals offer 6 picture format settings; Automatic, Superzoom, 4:3, Movie Expand 14:9, Movie Expand 16:9 and Widescreen. Unscaled is not available with 480i and 480p signals.
8. From what I have experienced, Philips uses an "active backlight control" to adjust black levels. Seeing how most consumers don't know what Backlighting does for a TV, it seems like a smart way to approach the setting. Personally, Philips should offer both. Ship the set in Automatic Backlighting, but offer a manual override. That'd at least make the reviewers happy.
9. Perfect Pixel HD Engine in the menu makes a big difference when turned ON/OFF. Pause the picture and turn it ON/OFF, the difference is pretty big. David I know you wear glasses from watching your videos, did you have them on when you were testing this set?
10. Color Enhancement DOES affect the picture, pause the picture and look at it.
11. Dynamic Contrast; turn it off and you get the poor black levels he is referring to. Leave it on and the black levels are very strong.
COMMENT / EDITORIAL: I find it odd that some reviews (depending on the brand being reviewed) turn OFF the manufactures picture processing during the review and then complain about the results. I thought these processing tools were designed to make the incoming picture better? So wouldn't turning everything off be counter-intuitive and provide a negative result? I am glad Mr. Katzmaier doesn't write for the auto industry. If he did you might read things like..."after removing the engine, we found the pickup on the vehicle to be sluggish when compared to others with engines...OR...after de-activating the vehicles on board computer this caused erratic behavior while driving...OR...when the front tire was removed, we found it performed very poorly in the slaloms..." Sorry, had to get that out.
12. Settings Assistant from what I can tell is a "consumer" adjustment setting. It appears to me that the images you are looking at are "over emphasized" to make you chose. If they were just slightly different, people couldn't see the differences.
13. TV has 3 format modes in HD: Automatic which REMOVES black bars in 4x3 up-converted content contrary to what the reviewer says. The other 2 modes are Widescreen & Unscaled. NOTE: When viewing true HD content (CSI in HD, Heroes in HD..etc.) and using the Automatic format mode, the picture performs exactly like the Widescreen format mode EXCEPT it stretches out the Black Bars on 4x3 up-scaled content. The only time the 4x3 up-converted picture will not format and remove the bars is if there is a logo in the black bar area.
14. Connectivity: I found out reading at the AVS Forum when I was researching this set that the 3 HDMI inputs and 2 Component Video inputs support 1080p @ 24, 30 and 60Hz. From what I read, this means the set is ready for pretty much any set top box present or future. I have an older X-Box without HDMI and can connect it via Component Video with the X Box set to 1080p?love it!
15. PC Connectivity: Yes, this TV is missing a VGA or RGBHV input. However, you can connect your PC or Laptop with a DVI or HDMI output to the set via one of its HDMI inputs. I have a PC with DVI out and a MAC that display computer information beautifully on it.
16. Performance: The reviewer complains about the picture performance here and quite a few times through the whole review. Once again I have to remind the readers that he has turned OFF all the picture processing. What does he expect? For the record, my black levels are fantastic.
17. Ambilight: David Katzmaier does not like Ambilight. David Katzmaier does not like Ambilight. David Katzmaier does not like Ambilight. If you don't like it, have somebody else "neutral" review this part of the TV for you. In researching this TV, I came across other reviews by this editor. With regards to Ambilight, his comments stand true for each Philips model he has reviewed?it?s almost a ?cut and paste? from one review to the next. By the way, I am a photographer and utilize a light meter where necessary. In one of the Ambilight menu settings Philips offers 10,000 independent settings for Ambilight. Using that menu, I metered my Ambilight set out to 6,550K...so I don't know what they were doing unless the screen they were reflecting it off of was not really "white". Bottom line, if you use Ambilight, then take it away...you'll want it back. The picture just looks better with Ambilight on.
18. Juice Box: The 42PFL7432D I have uses between 0.4 and 0.6 watts in the standby mode. I have one of those "Watts Up?" power analyzer meters and when I hooked it up to the set, I found his standby number to be incorrect, also.
So what don't I like about the set. It's audio performance as a stand alone unit. Philips needs to ?pump up the volume? on this TV. To overcome that, I use the Digital Coaxial output into my Dolby Digital Stereo system and the problem is solved. A nice thing about the Philips Digital Coaxial output is that all audio sources are converted to the digital output...even the Analog input (I have a Wii connected via the side input) comes out of the Digital Coaxial output.
Well, I hope my comments are helpful for you folks wanting to read the rest of the "correct" story.
Enjoy35 out of 35 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great 1080P LCD
by rsbruner on August 22, 2007
Pros: Number of inputs, autosizing picture
Cons: Sound, Only 1 RF/Coaxial input, some pixelation
Summary: My intention this weekend was to purchase a Panasonic 42" Plasma TV, but after a great amount of searching and reviewing LCD and Plasma TVs I finally settled on the ...
Summary: My intention this weekend was to purchase a Panasonic 42" Plasma TV, but after a great amount of searching and reviewing LCD and Plasma TVs I finally settled on the Philips 42PFL7432D 42" LCD TV as Best Buy had this TV on sale over the weekend for $1,499.99.
Being the father of 4 kids who can not turn off the lights let alone the TV when they are finished watching, the thought of purchasing a Plasma TV bothered me as I was concerned about the "burning" of images if the picture remains static for too long. I also did not want a DLP or LcoS rear projection TV as we were looking for something to mount on the wall. This TV met all of my criteria, LCD and 1080p, perfect!
When I went to BestBuy to purchase this set, I meandered around the displays and I can honestly say that this TV did not garner any excitement. In fact there was a 47" Westinghouse display that did look really good. After checking the spec and what the Philips offered, it did seem like a no brainer. Also, BestBuy does have a 30 day return policy, so I felt as though that would be some insurance if I was disappointed in the quality of the picture. Ultimately, I purchased this "on a wing and a prayer", hoping the reviews I had read on other forums were true. I have always had a great respect for Philips brand name, so that did have an impact on my decision.
My son and I opened the packaging and were quite impressed. The TV was well packed and included the display, remote control, a Quick Start Guide, User Manual, and much to my surprise a very nice and very well made swivel stand - I may have rethink the wall mounting...
The stand required some assembly, but Philips included all of the necessary tools, basically a hex wrench. It was easy to assemble the stand, though getting the stand into the display took a little bit of effort.
The TV at 77 lbs. was a bit heavier than I expected. With two of us it was easy to place on a table where we had our 20" tube TV. The dimensions of the TV are 41.2" wide x 27" high and only 4.6" deep.
Finally, it's time to plug it in. I hooked up a very basic antenna, my sons XBOX and Ninentdo Game Cube. After starting up the TV you are asked to answer 8 questions about the picture you are viewing, much like going to the eye doctor. 6 "Better or Worse" questions about the picture you are viewing and 2 "Better or Worse" questions regarding the sound you are hearing. The TV sets up the picture based on your answers and automatically adapts to your personal preferences. Very cool, though I do believe there are some tweaks we could make to improve the picture. It is important to note that this TV does allow some fine adjustments to picture. As far as the sound goes, the bass is just OK and the rest of the sound is fairly middling, bordering on tinny. I believe hooking up a sound system is in order here.
One aspect of this TV that really caught the attention of my wife is the Ambilight 2. This consists of LED displays on either side of the TV that change as you watch the picture. It makes for a thoroughly engrossing experience as the lights around the TV match those of the screen while you watch. This truly enhances watching TV while in a dark room, and it does reduce eye strain.
The next step was to dial in the local over-the-air channels through the antenna. We receive 12 analog channels and 18 digital channels. The pictures on the analog channels are terrible. They are like looking at an old TV where you have to move rabbit ears all around the room just to make them palatable. The standard definition and high definition pictures are enchanting. They truly are phenominal, very crisp, very clear, and very rich in color. Professional TV connosieurs say that a drawback to LCD TV's is that they do not show true blacks, but on this TV, I find that the blacks are black. They do not look grey at all.
Our next effort was in playing the Microsoft XBOX. Again very good colors through the component cables. The picture was great. In playing the Nintendo GameCube with the S-video input I was again impressed with the color. One thing this TV does if left in automatic sizing mode is that it will adjust the picture the fit the TV. Really neat in watching this happen though there are times when you do have to set the picture size manually as people can become bloated if the screen is stretched to wide, or short and fat if compressed narrowly.
The Philips has 3 the following inputs:
3 HDMI
2 S Video
2 Component, though on one of the settings you must choose between S- Video or component.
1 Composite Video
1 RF/Coaxial
1 USB port for software upgrade and USB devices
There are side inputs that include S-Video and USB hook ups.
The only disappointment with this TV is the 1 RF/Coaxial input. I have the Dish Network 2-Box to 4 TV set-up. Because we use an internal cable to attach this TV, I have to choose to hook-up the DISH or use the antenna. I would have liked to use both. It is my personal recommendation to Philips to include 2 RF/Coaxial inputs.
In my final analysis, would I say this is a great TV? I think it is a very good TV. The only comparison I can make is to the Sony KDS-R50XBR1 that we own. It has some flaws, but it is a great TV. On this TV, I can see some pixelation and jaggedness of the images on the screen, as for the Sony, I can not. However, that TV was twice the price of this one, and it is a different technology. Is this picture amazing? Yes, when compared to the CRT TV we still own it is amazing, and I am sure to a first time buyer of HDTV it will amaze and astonish them just as mine did. In the end, I am very happy to own this TV, the picture is very good, it will serve my family well, and hopefully we are future-proofed for some time. I do whole heartedly recommend this TV for TVs in this price range as it offers a great number of inputs, and a great ability to adjust colors, tint, fine-tuning as well as other options.13 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I did my homework and bought the Philips Ambilight 2 42PFL432D
by Poppadster on July 3, 2007
Pros: Great picture. Great looking. Great price. Easy setup. What are you waiting for? This is a no-brainer.
Cons: Sound is only okay.
Summary: just bought the Philips 42PFL7432D Ambilight 2 LCD TV for my master bedroom. I must have looked at, and read the reviews of, at least 100 TVs. My research included ...
Summary: just bought the Philips 42PFL7432D Ambilight 2 LCD TV for my master bedroom. I must have looked at, and read the reviews of, at least 100 TVs. My research included TVs measuring 40-47 inches and technologies ranging from DLP, LCD, plasma and projection (front and rear). With this being the only boy-toy purchase my wife will allow me to make for the year, I wanted to get it right the first time. Okay?
The set up is extremely user friendly and dummy proof! The fine-tune adjustments are also easy to tweak. The picture quality and field of view on this TV are as good as any other LCD TV I've seen; period!
The picture looks awesome, especially when viewing HD signals from my recently installed Verizon FIOS broadband service. While watching a local network channel that was showing a golf tournament in HD, I think I saw an ant giving me the finger as it was walking across the putting green (kidding).
Aesthetically, the black-framed beauty is matter-of-factly handsome in my bedroom. And, the price is ridiculously low for a TV that has 1080 resolution, 3 HDMI ports, antiglare screen with 176-degree viewing angles, auto volume leveler, built-in speakers, Ambilight 2 technology, and much more. I bought mine on sale at Best Buy.
Typically, I'll shop around for at least a month before I buy something that costs over 1,000 bucks. This was definitely worth the wait and research. My wife loves it. In fact, she watches it more than me. She went out and rented a bunch of chick flicks to watch; the ones with subtitles, frilly dresses, horse-drawn carriages . . . you know what I mean. I/we love the Ambilight feature. We watch TV a lot in a darkened room. I noticed that Ambilight really reduces eyestrain.
My only complaint: The only thing this TV needs is a better set of built-in speakers. Actually, now I get to go out and buy an appropriate sound system for the master bedroom!! Hey, punkin?8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Really good LCD TV
by Perception Is Reality on December 18, 2007
Pros: Very nice HD picture
Cons: can't really think of any...guess that's why I don't review TV's
Summary: I found this review looking for something else at CNET and seeing how I own this TV for 2 months now, I find the comments by the editor confusing.
I'...Summary: I found this review looking for something else at CNET and seeing how I own this TV for 2 months now, I find the comments by the editor confusing.
I'm not as technical as most so I don't know all the numbers people talk about but this Phillips set has a really good picture in HD. I use comcast with a HD box and like the picture I watch.
I'd say go look at it and compare the price. For a lot less money than the competitive sets by it, you'll get a really nice LCD TV.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Very satisfied with purchase.
by dglanzer on June 19, 2007
Pros: HD picture, sound and viewing angle.
Cons: None so far after looking at competitors.
Summary: New on market. Bought at Sears on 0% credit for 18 months. Picture quality to me as good as Samsung or Sony or anything they had in the store. About $...
Summary: New on market. Bought at Sears on 0% credit for 18 months. Picture quality to me as good as Samsung or Sony or anything they had in the store. About $1000 under other 1080p sets in the store. Hooked it up to my surround sound and very compatible and better than old JVC. 180 degree viewing angle seems correct. May be the best 42" 1080 out there. Check it out before committing to other more expensive models. Have been comparing to other big sreens I encounter and quality of picture as good or better than all other, no matter price. But, may be personal.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This one's a "sleeper" its an AWESOME TV with little publicity
by phatnogin5877 on December 20, 2007
Pros: Price, Picture Quality, Black Levels, Good Fast Motion Response, Updateable Firmware Via USB. Lots of connections. great viewing angles.
Cons: A few "known issues" in earlier builds. (Most have all been fixed on current productions, the others are few and far between). Speakers are not the greatest
Summary: I have owned this set for about 2 months now and have absolutely NO regrets. I did my homework, read all the reviews, and all of the feed back from ...
Summary: I have owned this set for about 2 months now and have absolutely NO regrets. I did my homework, read all the reviews, and all of the feed back from end users on many different forums. It seems as if many of the so called "professional" reviewers throw some weird ass tests at this set and then give it mixed reviews. All I can say is "garbage in = garbage out". If you feed this TV a clean HD signal it is flawless! Are ther other sets out there that will crush this one? Of course, but not for less than $1500 thats a fact! I could have spent a little more, but why? This set performs better than MANY sets costing $2000 or more. I would highly recommend this set. Side note: I have worked as a professional AV installer for several years and have seen and used a lot of equipment.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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philips, ya done good!
by choqokat on August 24, 2008
Pros: bonus!: reduced glare when opposite windows [only position available]
Cons: piano black casing scratches easily and it's not pretty
Summary: just read all the other comments. not a true negative one in the bunch, is there?
i think my son wet himself the first time he played GTA on his ...Summary: just read all the other comments. not a true negative one in the bunch, is there?
i think my son wet himself the first time he played GTA on his PS trip-oh!.
[cnet has some nerve questioning my rating.] -
Most bang for buck
by brizzam on June 10, 2008
Pros: Amazing design/aesthetics, great features, beautiful picture, mood lighting/ambience
Cons: Speaker quality
Summary: This CNET review makes me question whether they really do their job or just take specs and mail it in. The scathing review was a joke. Nothing made any sense....
Summary: This CNET review makes me question whether they really do their job or just take specs and mail it in. The scathing review was a joke. Nothing made any sense.
Here's the deal: This TV provides something other TVs don't - AMBIENCE. You seriously get engrossed into movies because of the lighting which effectively spills the picture out of the screen and into your living room. Seriously, try watching "Pushing Daisies" without and then with the ambilight feature on. It makes such a beautiful difference.
The screen also can detect lighting in the room and adjust . . . NO MORE GLARE!!!! We have a window behind us and a massive sliding glass door facing south so we have plenty of light spill on the screen . . . this would kill the picture on almost every other screens I have encountered, but this one killed the glare. Awesome.
Plenty of inputs.
Speakers blow . . . but I have a solution: get the Philips SOUNDBAR HTS8100. This awesome device is a 2.1 surround sound system that was designed to complement and supplement the Ambilight TV beautifully. THe unit is 2.1, so while it is not "True Surround" it feature "AMBISOUND" technology which simulates surround sound. My brother is an audiophile/musician and he couldn't believe the sound that came from this unit. Amazing. And it plays DVDs, upconverting them to "near HD" quality. SO we can really enjoy watching DVDs on this TV.
I have fallen in love with this TV. I thought it was a gimmick, but did the research because my designer wife loved the design aspect. This thing was on par or better with all of the top HD LCDs, but it featured so much more. SO we got it and haven't looked back. Now I have to try and make sure my wife doesn't catch wind of Philips new Ambilight TVs with clear borders . . . damn that thing looks sweet.
Perfect TV with no real gripes (sound quality doesn't count because there is only one Flat Screen TV with speakers that are good and that TV costs like $5k . . . forget it). -
Beyond Expectations ( 10 + )
by peterwhite on February 8, 2008
Pros: Ambilight Effect and Tremendous Sound
Cons: Split Screen VG and TV would be nice.
Summary: My employee purchase plan extends to Philips product and I put this into my home for $1100 (delivered). WOW. I also have a SoundBar that is great but was still ...
Summary: My employee purchase plan extends to Philips product and I put this into my home for $1100 (delivered). WOW. I also have a SoundBar that is great but was still hooking it up and didn't realize the deep bass was coming from the hdtv itself. 360 games are amazing on this set and you'll become addicted to the Ambilight effect - especially nice as a smooth morning wake-up timer. I love this TV and really appreciate the connection hook-ups - 3 HDMI - now I need Comcast to broadcast at full 1080P and my system will be complete.
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A Great Must Have TV
by Kasirkin29 on January 27, 2008
Pros: Easy to set up, Great picture, Easy to use Functions
Cons: The remote can be a little difficult at first
Summary: I got this tv as a Christmas present from my father and it is by far one of the best tv's on the market. The tv has an amazing ...
Summary: I got this tv as a Christmas present from my father and it is by far one of the best tv's on the market. The tv has an amazing picture especially when watching movies and playing games. If your a gamer like me you will apreciate your xbox 360 ten time more. The sound is great and the ambient light feature is great and if you dont like it, just turn it off. Also the menus are very easy to use and the picture settings give you a side by side choice of what you think is better. The remote is a little tricky at first but simple once you learn it. A must have for anyone in the market for a new tv.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Philips Consumer Electronics
- Part number: 42PFL7432D
- Description: Boasting the highest resolution available for consumers, advanced picture processing and unrivaled style, Philips' Ambilight FlatTVs deliver powerful performance that will impress today's most demanding consumers. Philips' new Ambilight LCD FlatTVs boast 1080p resolution, Perfect Pixel HD Engine to maximize 1080p content for the best picture, Pixel Plus 3 HD, Digital Natural Motion and ClearLCD, the peak of high-definition (HD) for today's demanding consumer. Ambilight Full Surround emits light from the left, right, top and bottom of the screen. This "surround-sight" effect allows consumers to enjoy a visual extension from all sides of the screen while creating a more relaxing entertainment experience. In addition, the entire display is surrounded by an integrated canvas that makes the screen appear to be floating when hung on the wall, producing a dramatic, saturated color effect. The canvas also frees consumers to place the set wherever they desire, regardless of the color or surface of the wall.
General
- Product Type 42 in LCD TV
- Series FlatTV
- Digital Television Certification HDTV
- Video Interface HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite
- USB Port Yes
- Dimensions Without stand
- Width 41.2 in
- Depth 4.6 in
- Height 27 in
- Weight 76.3 lbs
- Enclosure Color High-gloss black
- Country Kits United States
Display
- Diagonal Size 42 in - Widescreen
- Technology TFT active matrix
- Resolution 1920 x 1080
- Display Format 1080p (FullHD)
- Image Aspect Ratio 16:9
- Image Contrast Ratio 1100:1
- Dynamic Contrast Ratio 8000:1
- Brightness (cd/m2) 500 cd/m2
- Progressive Scan Progressive scanning (line doubling)
- Widescreen Modes Conventional 4:3, Zoom 16:9, Zoom 14:9, Full, WideScreen, Super Zoom
- Viewing Angle 176 degrees
- Viewing Angle (Vertical) 176 degrees
- Pixel Response Time 5 ms
- Comb Filter 3D digital
- V-Chip Control Yes
- Additional Features 2:2 pull down compensation, Ambilight 2 Channel, Parental control, On-screen menu, 3:2 pull down compensation, JPEG photo playback, Perfect Pixel HD, Anti-reflection coating
TV Tuner
- Analog TV Tuner NTSC
Digital TV Tuner
- Digital TV Tuner QAM, ATSC
Video Features
- HDTV Ready Yes
- Input Video Formats 1080/50i, 1080/60i, 1080/24p,