Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips 37PFL5603D - 37" Widescreen 1080p Full HD LCD TV - With Freeview

I'm unfortunately not happy with this set at all. I purchased mine (from a trusted and well respected high street retailer) some 11 months ago and as time has gone by I have noticed a number of irritating problems.

Firstly, when replaying saved programmes from my Sky+HD box the screen image reacts very, very sensitively and over aggressively to changes in lighting within the replayed image. To put it simply, the set appears to overcompensate for changes in light and shade and adjusts the lighting within the image up and down almost constantly. It is extremely off-putting and can ruin the experience entirely. The TV has a settings function that allows you to minimise its responsiveness to lighting changes, but we have found that you have to turn it off completely in order to prevent it affecting your enjoyment. A similar phenomenon is also experienced when replaying DVDs, but in this case the set appears to struggle with coping with blue/green shades.

Secondly, the set does not cope with fast moving images too well. Sports programming and action movies inparticular (anything with fast moving action sequences and imagery really) expose this floor in its performance. The most notable example is again, via Sky+HD programming, when the set can not cope at all well with the "news ticker tape bar" at the bottom of the screen. In all cases the image appears juddery and disjointed. In summary, a pixellated effect occurs and if again, you try to compensate by applying the correct setting function, the localised image blurs by trying to smoothen the image to a greater degree. The whole thing is again very off putting.

Finally, whilst I appreciate that this fault is more than likely a random occurence in the case of my TV, it is still a critical fault nonetheless: the ambilight function on the right hand side of the set decided to stop working after only 10 months. I reported it to the retailer who promptly advised me that they are not allowed to repair ambilight technology under warranty and that Philips would have to arrange repair themselves. Not a problem you might think, but Philips have an appalling customer service set up in the UK. To cut a long story short, they sub-contract repairs to local dealers and repair companies across the UK. We had the misfortune to be assigned a repair company from Dorking in Surrey. The gentlemen turned up without any apparent product knowledge and packed the TV away for shipping back to their facility. We were left without a replacement for two weeks and when, after finding a genuine ambilight fault, they repaired it and returned the set to us the TV was returned with numerous and deep scratches around the dark, shiny black fascia where there had been none before. It appears that in order to repair the ambilight unit on the rear of the unit they had either laid the TVv on its front or placed it in some sort of clamp. Like most self respecting techno geeks I noticed the damage immediately and contacted Philips. After days of deliberation their sub contractor denied all knowledge of the damage (why wouldn't they?) and offered to take the TV back again for another two weeks in order to "repair the scratches". Not good enough is it? Why should I accept that my possession should come back any less beautiful or functional than when it went to be repaired? I shouldn't. In short, Philips refused to replace it like-for-like and in the end the retailer offered to replace it with another model and at the same time re-commence the five year warranty they had given me. We are waiting for the replacement to be delivered as I write this.

Unfortunately, the 7603D is still, along with its bigger siblings, the best looking large screen LCD telly on the market and its PixelPlus HD enhanced picture quality is at its best when playing a Blu Ray disc. I will miss seeing it the corner of our lounge. I also used to think that it was easy to judge a television's quality by the quality and design of its remote control. If this were true, the 7603 would be a winner. As it is, this television has been nothing short of a disaster and I look forward to receiving my 40 inch Sony W Series Bravia replacement. I guess I'll have to live without ambilight and so could you! If you value good customer service steer well clear of Philips.

Got this TV in Jan this year and am very happy with it. It is great to look at and the blue ray dvd that i play look great on the TV. I also have a Sony 32 LCD and this is a much better TV to watch HD movies in. My advice would be to get a surround sound system to go with it to get the best effect.

I have always had a Philips TV so thought I might try a different make for a change. With this in mind when the time came to purchase an lcd tv I started looking at Panasonic, Toshiba etc. and spent a lot of time browsing the web and reading reviews. I went to check out the possibilities in my local currys and saw this tv and was immediately impressed.I compared prices on the web and found that currys price was very competetive(cheaper than here at amazon)and bought from them as it was in stock. Set up was easy.(There are great features to help you set up picture and sound to suit your own living room) It is has great design and looks superb. The picture is fantastic and knocks most of the competition into a cocked hat! The sound is excellent but true home cinema enthusiasts will want to add a surround sound system. Dvd pictures are superb through my upscaling Pioneer. (I intend to get a bluray player soon to take full advantage of the 1080p full hd.) I dont have sky so cant comment. However, the freeview picture is excellent. Colour is natural and movement precise.
All in all then, this is a great tv and I can thoroughly recommend it.

This TV is fantastic; it's crammed with features and very easy to use. The initial set up is automatic and only takes a few minutes to install all the digital channels. It's a very nice looking TV, a lot nicer to look at in my opinion than the equivalent Sony or Panasonic. The remote control is very straight forward and easy to use. The only thing that I think could be better is the free view EPG. Although quite straight forward when you get used to it, I guess I'm just used to the sky TV guide. Picture quality is superb and with my 1080p upscaling DVD player connected to it the picture on even my old DVD's are outstanding.
I really can't recommend this television enough; it's everything you could possibly want from a full HD TV. If you buy this TV you will not be disappointed!

This is a great buy I have had this TV for two weeks now. First rate
picture good contast and deep colours, true blacks and gives your DVDs a good display.
I do not yet have Blu-ray player (coming soon) but your standard DVDs look
great and better than on a standard TV very good detail and great on fast
moving action. The sound is fair but you really need an A/V amplifier to get the best effects.
The freeview looks fine, but you do need a good outdoor aerial.
Also the price is best I have seen on the net.