Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips 42PFL7422D/37 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

I've had this TV for nearly two months now. I'm happy with it. Here are the pros and cons that I have discovered:

PROS

1) Great HD picture. I use the HD tuner in it for over the air broadcasts and it works great. I have a powered antenna that is at half power and it picks up all HD content in my area. Pixel Perfect is an amazing feature.

2) Colors are fairly accurate and black levels are excellent. You may want a calibration DVD or look online at a forum for some optimal settings. I changed the tint a bit and lowered the contrast down to 70-75 or and brightness around 50-60. Play with the settings for a few hours to get something you like. I don't use some features like light sensor or mpeg adjustment, but maybe you will.

3) Price. Best bang for your buck.

4) USB input makes it very convenient for JPEG viewing or firmware upgrades. I had to upgrade my firmware to make my new 1080P DVD player work on this TV. It's very easy to install.

CONS

1) It would be nice to have an optical output. Because it only has coaxial outout for digital out, I had to buy a coaxial to optical converter because my receiver only has one coaxial input. My DVD was on there, so I needed the converter box to use an optical input instead.

2) PC VGA input would be nice.

3) The speakers are so-so. A little muddy. Use a nice stereo system if you have one.

4) Another antenna input would be nice too so you could have the option of HD Over the Air or Cable.

5) In standby, there is a slight whine. It only makes noise when the set it off. I use a power surge protector to turn it off when it bothers me.
It's not a deal breaker for me since the TV is in the living room. I would not recommend it in the bedroom.


NOTES:

1) Some people have trouble with cable signals. I've read most of that is a bad cable box. You may need a new cable box to use with this TV to avoid bad incoming tv signals. Your cable provider signal also makes a difference. Some are better than others.

2) Some people have had issues with clouding or flashlighting. This varies from TV to TV as well as from person to person since some people are more picky than others. My set has no flashlights. There is very minor clouding that I only see with no signal in a dark room. Once I have a signal it disappears. Even totally black images of outer space look perfect.

Overall, I'm very happy with it. LCD was the way to go for me since I had a lot of glare issues in my house and there is no glare with LCD. I love the bright picture too.

This TV far exceeded my expectations in every way!

When shopping for a new TV, I did a lot of research (LCD vs Plasma, wholesale club specials vs. high-end electronics retailers, resolution, size, etc.).

LCD vs. Plasma:
Right now, both technologies are so advanced that you can't go wrong with either choice. Plasma tends to have slightly richer colors and deeper blacks, especially at deep viewing angles. On this Philips LCD, blacks are rich until you sit at about 60 degrees off-center (which is not a typical viewing angle for TV viewing -- most people will probably not exceed 45 degrees in a typical living room). Even at 60 degrees off-center, the blacks are only slightly gray (kind of deep charcoal gray).

LCD screens typically have a non-reflective finish, so they tend to be better than plasma if a window is near the screen. In my case, I have a huge picture window on a perpendicular wall, so glare was definitely a concern. This TV's screen does amazingly well at blocking out the glare.

Both technologies have a 50,000 hour half-life expectancy (image will degrade by 50% after 50,000 hours). That's almost 23 years if viewed 6 hours per day! Typical tube TV's have a 25,000 hour half-life.

Size:
I have a 12' x 12' sitting area around the TV. I considered getting the 47" model, but am glad I didn't. This 42" screen is a perfect size for my living room. If I had gone larger, poor video sources would produce a less-desirable image.

Image Quality:
Image quality is outstanding on this TV -- especially from an HD video source. It's like looking out a window or moving poster. Love it!

Image quality is surprisingly good when viewing low-quality video sources. I use a Tivo Series 2 and record at 'Basic' quality (equivalent to a VHS tape in EP mode) -- very poor video source! However, this TV allows a substantial amount of video controls to optimize the image, such as softening the sharpness, noise reduction, etc. A key feature that I love about this TV is that many of the video settings (such as sharpness) can be set per video source. So, I have my Tivo set to use a very soft sharpness, while my HDMI sources have a much greater sharpness.

Image Stretching:
Image stretching is outstanding on this TV! Many of the video sources do not have wide screen. Some have cinema screen (extra-wide). This TV detects the black bars on the sides or on the top and bottom and automatically stretches the image to fit the screen. However, it uses some logrithmic formula to keep distortion down to a minimum. That is, it only stretches the middle pixels a tiny bit and those on the edges a bit more. So, you don't end up with short fat people, etc. I've seen image stretching on many other wide screens before and have always been disappointed. This TV however, does it far better than I'd ever expect! I am extremely pleased with it.

Sound:
A few other reviews said that the sound was not that good on this TV. However, I have to strongly disagree. This TV has some of the best sound I've heard on any TV. Now, don't get me wrong -- I doesn't compete with my home theater receiver and speakers. But, for TV speakers, they are excellent! This TV has a graphic EQ, so you can customize the sound to your liking. It delivers a good amount of bass. It knocks the socks off my previous 32" Sony tube TV.

Setup:
The TV does take a very long time to scan channels when you first set it up (about 20 minutes or so). But this is a one-time setup, unless you change cable companies, etc.

When you turn it on, it will run you through a picture quality setup wizard. For each step, the wizard shows you two images and asks you to choose the one that looks better to you. Each step is for a different setting, such as sharpness, color intensity, contrast, etc. I kept choosing the more 'vivid' looking image and ended up with an image that was way too vivid. But then, I went into the menus and adjusted it exactly to my liking (fine tuned it over a few days). I wasn't extremely pleased with any of the built-in color temperature profiles (Normal, Warm, or Cool), so I specified my own with these settings:
- Red White Point: 95
- Green White Point: 117
- Blue White Point: 93
- Red Black Point: 3
- Green Black Point: 0

Other settings are as follows:
- Contrast: 100
- Brightness: 47
- Color: 65
- Tint: 0
- Sharpness: 0 for Tivo, 7 for HD Cable Box
- Perfect Pixel HD: Off (causes a halo around pixels when on)
- Dynamic Contrast: Medium (causes greenish blacks if set on Max)
- Noise Reduction: Maximum
- MPEG Artifact Reduction: On
- Color Enhancement: Maximum
- Active Control: On
- Light Sensor: On (detects light in the room and adjusts image brightness accordingly)
- Picture Format: Automatic (this is the resizing I mentioned above)

Those are the settings that worked best for me -- you'll have to find your own. But the point is that you should play with these settings before saying that the TV doesn't have a good picture. The wizard might not give you the best settings. TV's on display at wholesellers are probably not at all optimized (that's why some of them look so bad).

My Setup:
- Philips 42" LCD 1080p
- Cable with Scientific Atlanta cable box (I hate this product!) (HDMI out)
- Tivo Series 2 (S-Video out)
- Panasonic DVD player (component out)
- Yamaha 5.1 surround sound receiver & speakers
- Logitech Harmony 676 remote (must have for systems with a lot of components)

I hope this review helps you as much as some of the others on here helped me!

Get it -- you'll enjoy it! =-)

I bought this TV at a major warehouse club for about $200 less than the Amazon price! I have had it for 2 weeks now. It is a great TV for the price.

I do not have digital TV service yet (maybe in the next 2-3 months), however even my analog Comcast service looks better on this TV. Great picture, especially good for rooms with lots of light/glare (most LCD's are). In my bedroom, the TV is mounted on the wall directly opposite a huge row of 12 foot tall windows. I had a Sony tube TV there before, got sick of seeing a reflection of the back yard and neighbors every time I watched TV. This was the main reason for choosing a LCD over plasma or other technologies.

I found the TV easy to setup, but recommend two people to remove it from the box. It is not extremely heavy, but there really is no good place to hold on to it (no handles or grippy areas) when pulling it out of the box and installing the base, moving onto the wall etc.

Pros:
1. Good picture quality for the price (really for any price)
2. Easy to setup, took me about 40 minutes including wall mounting and all connections
3. Plenty of input/output connections and types for most users
4. Headphone output volume independent of main volume (you can mute the TV and still hear on the headphones)
5. Good sound for the price, but not the best out there

Cons:
1. The automatic channel programming function pics up ALL channels, but there is no way to delete channels once auto-setup programs them in.
2. The bas is attached with jsut two screws, seams a little cheap for such a large investment (but the TV is very stable on a flat surface once positioned)
3. Remote seams a little cheap, and feels light. Afraid it will crack on the first drop on my hardwood floor.
4. Remote not ergonomically designed. Always seams to have a sharp edge pocking into my palm or finger as I (like most men) channel surf.

Great TV. This tv is a replacement for my Sharp Aquos 42"/1080p. Don't get me wrong. I liked the picture quality of the Sharp Aquos but I didn't like the problems my Aquos produced (faint blue vertical line in the middle of the screen when watching analog channels & one set of inputs(video/audio) did not work). I still think Sharp Aquos produce great tv's...it's just my Aquos was defective. Actually I was going to get the same Aquos until I decided to do the "Pepsi Challenge" for my replacement. The store where I returned my Aquos had HDTV's aligned side by side so you could make visual comparisons.

Down and dirty... First, the Philips was $200 cheaper, brighter, black was solid/not washed out, lines were clean and colors gave the Aquos a run for it's money. Secondly, the Philips supports HDMI/component/usb/svideo/coax and the frame of the Philips is really clean and shiny :)

The bottom line is both Philips and Sharp are great tv's. I chose the Philips over the Sharp because it was $200 cheaper. The only thing missing is the optical functionality. This really isn't a problem because my PS3 and HD-DVR cable box connect directly to my receiver via optical.

My advice to someone buying a HDTV is look at the tv and form your own opinion. Make sure it's 1080p. See if there's a correlation between price and a "good" tv. Also, keep in mind that the content (dvd's/cable) are VERY LIMITED. WATCHING ANALOG TV ON A HDTV SUCKS!!!! but having a PS3 and good stereo system makes having an HDTV worth while. Don't buy unless you see the tv.

PEACE....

I gravitate to Philips products, because they tend to be feature-rich for the price, and you can tell that the folks that make these products actually *think* about what they're doing (and probably use the prototypes as well).

This is a great set, but with two flaws:

1. The DirecTV HDR issue with HDMI outputs, as others have noted. I bought these two components with the expectation of getting the best quality possible, but had to fall back on a component cable, which is just sad.

2. There are audio outputs that allow you to pipe your TV audio into external speakers. That said, the TV audio output cannot be linked to the volume setting on the TV. So, if you lower the volume on the TV, the audio output to my speakers stays constant (I have to walk to the stereo and manually adjust the volume, since my stereo remote is missing). Every Sony TV I've ever had has adjustible audio output from the TV... what's up Philips?!?!?

Aside from these two details, I'm happy with my purchase. There are a number of cool features, like a USB input where you can plug in your memory stick and play recognized media files (like MPEGs) directly from the TV. Cool.

Philips: Get me a software upgrade to fix the HDMI issue and I'll change my rating to 5 stars!!!!