Philips 42PFP5532D - 42" Widescreen HD Ready Plasma TV - With Freeview

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

42PFP5532D

Wow !

I looked and compared the market for budget plasma TVs over the last couple of weeks, wanted to buy a different model (hitachi), went into
the local Comet, and right in front of me, when I walked in... there it was ! This beautiful Philips 42PFP5532D ! What a stunning picture, I thought... but I reckon its gonna be too expensive, what a pity...

Still I wanted to take my chances and looked at the price... Wooooot ?! Under 700 Quid ??? Right ! This is it ! Got it home and connected PVR, Nintendo Wii, XBox360, and a Philips 5980 HDMI Player to it. And there is still load of space for more (2xHDMI, 2 COMPONENT , 2 Scart (of which one is RGB) and PC input as well ) .

Switched it on and fell in love with the beauty of the brilliant picture ! Crystal clear , Gigasharp, Ultadeep ... just unreal for "just" a HD Ready TV. Whats the point in buying FULL HD anyway ? It is physically impossible to broadcast more than 768 mode !!! And if you do not want to watch HD DVDs all the time, this is your solution !

Sound is excellent as well, I watch telly using my Dts/5.1 system, so the incredible surround is not needed, but who hasnt got Dolby or anything like that, wil appreciate the different possibilities that this TV offers (soundwise).

The TV always adjusts automatically to the highest possible solution, so that there is no fiddling with the remote. It also switches automatically to the channel that delivers a signal ( switch telly on, and any of the devices you have got , and the picture comes right up !)

The design of the telly is simple but classic.The remote is simple, not 258 buttons that can cause confusion, but just good .

All in all, I would buy this TV again !!! I love it !!!

(5 out of 5)

Philips 42PFP5532D

I've been considering buying a flat screen digital tv for a few months now and finally took the plunge last weekend. I didn't want to spend more than £700 and I looked at both LCD and Plasma models that were available - mostly LG and Samsung for this price and also mostly 37" screens. However I came across the Philips 42pfp5532d 42" Plasma from Amazon Uk for £649, so I ordered it and it arrived today.

Picture quality is great, in fact it seems to be getting even better the longer the tv is on. The integrated Freeview digital tuner is a real plus as the quality is definitely better via this than the analogue channels. Also the image quality via virgin cable is also very good. Watched a bit of football and tennis and it looked great - no blurring at all during fast movement on screen.

I played 10 minutes of Terminator 2 to see how it coped with a dvd and I have to say that this was just superb. Sound and imagery were spot on.

For those of you who are not techies don't get caught up in resolutions and pixels number crunching - go with what YOU feel is best once you've checked it out at a local store.

I really don't think this model can be beaten for it's combination of quality and price.

Get yourself a bargain NOW!!

UPDATE:
Had the TV for about 3 weeks now and the image quality seems to gets better day by day. I have settled on the following settings for the tv:-

Brightness:55
Colour:55
Contrast:75
Sharpness - 3
Colour Temp - Normal
Contrast+ - Off
NR - Off

FURTHER UPDATE: Oct 08

I've been messing with the settings again!! and settled on the following which give a much more natural image and has improved the overall image quality considerably.

Brightness:50
Colour:40
Contrast:75
Sharpness - 2
Colour Temp - Normal
Contrast+ - Off
NR - Off

(4 out of 5)

Great picture; freeview interface could be better...

Low-end plasma screens aren't plentiful and when my 32" Sharp CRT packed in I had to do some quick research to determine that for less than £700 for a plasma I had two choices: this Philips or the Hitachi P42H01.

For best comparison clearly viewing the set in action used to be the way to go, but since the shops tend not to know how to calibrate these things or use dodgy aerial connections, I don't see value in that any more. Instead I decided to review feature sets like screen brightness and resolution and inputs. Usability is also important to me so I checked out the owners manuals which you can download from manufacturer websites -- also helps to double-check features because not all online resellers get the facts right.

I went for the Philips because the screen is brighter level and vertical resolution are better, but the tradeoff is that the remote isn't as nicely laid out, there aren't as many outputs and the freeview tuner isn't as user friendly.

I bought it as a monitor focusing on DVD viewing and it really excels. Invest in DVD Video Essentials to help calibrate it with a progressive scan DVD player (Philips has one for under £40) and you won't see the need for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, it really is a nice picture with a quality source.

The video modes for switching screen resolution are plentiful, so if you want to watch 4:3 material like old tv programmes but don't want big grey bars there's a 14:9 setting and a 16:9 zoomed setting in addition to anamorphic 16:9 and the generic WIDESCREEN -- not really sure of the difference between the last two -- in addition to yet another zoom mode that allows the picture to be moved around.

Audio is not super with the built-in speakers. Unfortunately the only audio output options are via Headphone socket or the second SCART port (not very well documented except via pictures showing a maze of lines connecting various kit to the tv every which way. I had to write Philips tech support to confirm this) which automatically sends audio out. I use a SCART to dual-phono plug to connect the telly to my receiver and I have a multi-RGB SCART switchbox from Maplin to address the limitations of only having one RGB SCART for input.

Component/RGB connections are available for connecting a progressive scan DVD player and there's also separate S-Video and composite video and phono connectors for ad hoc connection of camcorders. Outside of these four connection methods you have two HDMI inputs which are HDCP-enabled so you can connect a PS3 or HD-DVD or whatever. You can also attach a computer equipped with a digital DVI output using a DVI-HDMI cable. The tv supports up to 1024x768 resolution at 60Hz when used as a computer display. Any computer issued in the last few years should have a DVI output that will automatically switch from analogue to digital out -- at least Macs do...older computer users or those only equipped with a VGA output are out of luck -- the Hitachi has a VGA connector, so check out that set if you require this.

So, no separate audio out (again the Hitachi has audio output, in fact I think it has analogue and digital via Co-ax), but the real letdown was the freeview tuner; not because it's bad, but because the interface isn't as good as the Goodmans freeview box I already had. Setup is easy and I could find all the channels nicely. Signal strength to my lower-ground flat isn't great so I use a powered signal amplifier (Maplins again) which compensates very well and ensures I can pick up all the channels. The problem comes with the programme guide. The Goodmans DB6 freeview box I have does a picture in picture on the programme guide so I can see the current channel as well as a description of the programmes in the list as I scroll through them. The Philips programme guide is static: no video and no audio, so if you want to see what's on next you need to stop watching your current programme and go into a menu with a bunch of programme names. To see a description requires pressing an additional button. A real downgrade so guess what, RGB switchbox port 1 has the Goodmans freeview box attached and I don't use the built-in freeview tuner at all. It means four remotes instead of three, but for ease-of-use it's the choice I made.

Why four stars? It's a great picture and I got it for that. I already had the other freeview box, so I'm not out any extra dosh, but had I not had the freeview experience already I probably wouldn't know the difference or let it affect my purchase.

(3 out of 5)

Headphone Socket does not work

I have purchased this TV (Not from Amazon) the headphone socket does not work and as the TV is out of stock I will have to wait for some weeks for an exchange. The TV gets very hot when it is on. The picture is very good. The sound is o.k but not brilliant.

(5 out of 5)

Suprised at how good it is

I bought this tv for my family as a present for christmas, and was suprised to find how good this tv is for the price.

I looked at it in the shops first to ensure that the quality is good, and its better than some of the much more expensive 42" plasmas made by other companies. Overall, the picture quality is excellent, especially with the new upscaling dvd player I also bought from amazon.

I would agree with the other reviews that the only down fall is the freeview, its not that bad, but I have seen better. This doesnt really affect us though as we have sky and rarely use the built in freeview.

Looks very good, has great picture, is HD ready and the sound is also very good. I would definatley reccomend this tv to others for its quality for price.