Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips 37PFL7603D - 37" Widescreen 1080p Full HD LCD TV - With Ambilight & Freeview
Philips 37PFL7603D - 37" Widescreen 1080p Full HD LCD TV - With Ambilight & Freeview
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £649.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share101 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
Top Banana!
(5 out of 5) by Chandler Lewis on Sep 11, 2008 (UK)When my old Philips Matchline TV finally gave up, I was secretly overjoyed because now I could justify buying a snazzy, new LCD TV.
Although I prefer Philips products, I thought I would shop around this time because we're talking about a difference of at least £400 between the cheaper models and this Philips 37". So I spent days weighing the pro's and con's of this make and that, whether to get HD Ready (cheaper!), Full HD, 32", 37", 42", blah, blah, blah.
After reading endless reviews, I rebelled and just bought what I fancied in the first place - this Philips 37" LCD with Freeview and Ambilight. You can find quite a few technical reviews on the web and ultimately, all they really tell you is that no TV is perfect and all have their flaws. So trust me - just arm yourself with a few simple requirements and then go shopping!
Here's mine:
* Full HD (It's a lot of money so it needs to be a bit future-proof)
* High contrast ratio (At least 20000:1)
* Wide viewing angle (otherwise you have to sit directly in front of it)
* Good quality make (so that you can take some things for granted)
* Stylish (some LCD's are really ugly!)
* Affordable
When the TV arrived, only one side of the Ambilight worked, so I had Amazon send a replacement. They also arranged for pickup of the faulty one - all free of charge. I was just a bit unlucky here. It could happen anywhere to anyone. Full marks to Amazon for making the exchange process easy.
The replacement is however, perfect. The picture and sound are wonderful and the Ambilight gives the whole thing an extra dimension. My TV sits upon a corner floor stand and isn't wall mounted, but the Ambilight is still very effective. I just need to lighten the colour of the wall behind the set to enjoy the more subtle colour changes.
Operating the TV is really simple. There are quite a few settings that you can fiddle with, but there's also a question-based setup utility that will reset the picture if you mess things up. It shows you a series of photo's/movies in a vertically split-screen format, and you just say whether you prefer the left or the right side. Great feature!
One of the features I couldn't initially decide on was whether to buy the 37" or 42" as there's not a lot of money between them. But my lounge isn't really that large (about 20' x 14') and this 37" is more than big enough. It's large without being too intrusive. Personally, I dislike the massive screens that are being pushed by retailers that dominate your room. You'll get a sharper picture from the smaller LCD's. The smaller screen also has a better contrast ratio (44000:1) which is all important on an LCD, otherwise the picture tends to be a bit dark.
The Philips 37" LCD Ambilight more than fulfills my expectations. I love it and can recommend it to anyone.
Although I prefer Philips products, I thought I would shop around this time because we're talking about a difference of at least £400 between the cheaper models and this Philips 37". So I spent days weighing the pro's and con's of this make and that, whether to get HD Ready (cheaper!), Full HD, 32", 37", 42", blah, blah, blah.
After reading endless reviews, I rebelled and just bought what I fancied in the first place - this Philips 37" LCD with Freeview and Ambilight. You can find quite a few technical reviews on the web and ultimately, all they really tell you is that no TV is perfect and all have their flaws. So trust me - just arm yourself with a few simple requirements and then go shopping!
Here's mine:
* Full HD (It's a lot of money so it needs to be a bit future-proof)
* High contrast ratio (At least 20000:1)
* Wide viewing angle (otherwise you have to sit directly in front of it)
* Good quality make (so that you can take some things for granted)
* Stylish (some LCD's are really ugly!)
* Affordable
When the TV arrived, only one side of the Ambilight worked, so I had Amazon send a replacement. They also arranged for pickup of the faulty one - all free of charge. I was just a bit unlucky here. It could happen anywhere to anyone. Full marks to Amazon for making the exchange process easy.
The replacement is however, perfect. The picture and sound are wonderful and the Ambilight gives the whole thing an extra dimension. My TV sits upon a corner floor stand and isn't wall mounted, but the Ambilight is still very effective. I just need to lighten the colour of the wall behind the set to enjoy the more subtle colour changes.
Operating the TV is really simple. There are quite a few settings that you can fiddle with, but there's also a question-based setup utility that will reset the picture if you mess things up. It shows you a series of photo's/movies in a vertically split-screen format, and you just say whether you prefer the left or the right side. Great feature!
One of the features I couldn't initially decide on was whether to buy the 37" or 42" as there's not a lot of money between them. But my lounge isn't really that large (about 20' x 14') and this 37" is more than big enough. It's large without being too intrusive. Personally, I dislike the massive screens that are being pushed by retailers that dominate your room. You'll get a sharper picture from the smaller LCD's. The smaller screen also has a better contrast ratio (44000:1) which is all important on an LCD, otherwise the picture tends to be a bit dark.
The Philips 37" LCD Ambilight more than fulfills my expectations. I love it and can recommend it to anyone.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic LCD TV
(5 out of 5) by John Beaver on Jan 27, 2009 (London, UK)I've had this TV for about 1 month now and I have to say that it is absolutely superb.
I spent a lot of time in Dec '08 and early Jan '09 researching tv's and looking for the best deals. I nearly bought the Sony Bravia 40W4500, which is packed with features and looks great. However, when I calculated the optimum viewing distance in my lounge, I came to realise that a 40' tv was just a bit too big. So, I decided to go for a 37' and for an LCD in this size, this Philips is the pick of the bunch. Its a bit more expensive than many of its rivals, but it just cannot be matched for spec.
The contrast and colours are amazing and with a bit of tweaking the picture looks unbelievably great with my Sky, HDD recorder, and up-scaling DVD player. Even my downloaded avi video files look amazing. Sound quality is also first rate - especially for an LCD tv.
I have really developed a love of the ambilight too. I had never experienced this before, but when you watch a film in the dark with the ambilight on moderate mode its just truly spectacular.
My final point is that the tv design is very classy and sophisticated.
In conclusion I strongly recommend this tv!
I spent a lot of time in Dec '08 and early Jan '09 researching tv's and looking for the best deals. I nearly bought the Sony Bravia 40W4500, which is packed with features and looks great. However, when I calculated the optimum viewing distance in my lounge, I came to realise that a 40' tv was just a bit too big. So, I decided to go for a 37' and for an LCD in this size, this Philips is the pick of the bunch. Its a bit more expensive than many of its rivals, but it just cannot be matched for spec.
The contrast and colours are amazing and with a bit of tweaking the picture looks unbelievably great with my Sky, HDD recorder, and up-scaling DVD player. Even my downloaded avi video files look amazing. Sound quality is also first rate - especially for an LCD tv.
I have really developed a love of the ambilight too. I had never experienced this before, but when you watch a film in the dark with the ambilight on moderate mode its just truly spectacular.
My final point is that the tv design is very classy and sophisticated.
In conclusion I strongly recommend this tv!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Great looking piece of kit!
(5 out of 5) by GRC on Mar 4, 2009 (Portugal)Having researched the alternatives I plumped for this 37" model with Ambilight. It certainly delivers the goods and looks sooo much better than many competitive products, with its rounded corners and glass bezel. And Ambilight is a joy and easier on the eyes than a hard black edge to the picture / set. Well recommended!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Do NOT buy this TV it will cause you problems!
(1 out of 5) by A. Gifford on Apr 16, 2009 (UK)My only advice do not buy this TV!!!
I bought mine in October last year and have had nothing but problems, it has been back to the repair shop THREE times and Philips will not exchange! The problem is the same everytime the TV will not come out of standby - the turnaround from any Philips repair centre is supposed to be 15 working days but this in reality it will be 20 days (a month)!
Buy Sony, Panasonic, Samsung or any other brand but NOT Philips!
I bought mine in October last year and have had nothing but problems, it has been back to the repair shop THREE times and Philips will not exchange! The problem is the same everytime the TV will not come out of standby - the turnaround from any Philips repair centre is supposed to be 15 working days but this in reality it will be 20 days (a month)!
Buy Sony, Panasonic, Samsung or any other brand but NOT Philips!
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
lovely
(5 out of 5) by Marco Rossi on Feb 7, 2009 (uk)the tv is just great.i am really glad i made this choice and i moved the smaller 26' in the bedroom :)the delivery was also spot on.