Philips 42PF9831

[pauld]

Finally, does anyone know where in Perth I can go and see one of these ambilight wonders?

HN City West - saw it there last Sunday.

[BRD]

Heya, This TV has put me in somewhat of an unfortunate position. The Finance Department was looking on one night when I was doing my research into our new TV purchase.

I was browsing through BRD's Sydney Homeshow pics when she spotted this one...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/550591...055055664AdxzLP

"I want THAT one!" she announced.

"er... thats going to be around $6000 and 8" smaller than the 50" models we have been looking at." I informed her.

I am fairly sure the tax return cheques will be here before the new Pioneer 507 Model is released locally That money will be burning a giant hole in our pockets. I never thought it would be me that was going to stall a purchase but if we are going to be spending 6-7k on a screen it would want to be 50" at least as far as I am concerned.

It does sound like this Philips has some seriously good PQ, I may have to sabotage the demo when we actually find a place that has one set up. Maybe bring in my dodgy old vhs taped off ABC Red Dwarf eps for the Philips, and a superbit Fifth Element for the Pioneer. Then stand back and let the 'film like' magic of super long play palsonic vhs point her in the right direction.

Why oh why did Panasonic have to go and change their model like they did?! Could have saved me a bundle.

PQ is king for me. I was happy with their new 50" model.

Her response... "Nup! Dont like the silver".

er.. yeah, so my thanks to BRD for throwing a spanner in the works.

Finally, does anyone know where in Perth I can go and see one of these ambilight wonders?

Hi Daft Evader

Glad to be of assistance! Funny actually, exactly the same thing has happened to me. Damn Panasonic!

But the tide has turned to LCD I believe, the picture quality on this Philips blows everything else away it seems. Yes its a shame its not 50" at this price but the technology is struggling with larger screen sizes.

I also agree with you, PQ is paramount for me. But I cant believe the knockers posting on this thread rubbishing the white border. The case is very classy and unique with high gloss black also a feature. It EATS the panasonics, fujis, nec's, sonys... they just dont seem to realise this is part of the hi-tech of this set - it combines with the piano black surround to give your eyes a high-contrast reference beside the picture. And it does not look cheap. When the TV is on, it is coloured anyway, and let me ask you, how often is the TV off when your sitting in the family room???

The way this set handles SD is amazing also. But make sure you see one set up with a good SD feed, not one split to death between 30 panels.

As for me, Im trying to decide between the SD Pana + Sanyo z4 projector combo, about $5.5K, or this Philips and delay the projector a year. Now that the Philips is dropping from launch price to $5.2K, Im asking myself what is it worth? Im not normally an early adopter, but I want the best PQ and this is the set. I think $4-$4.5K would be excellent value for money but this might take 6 months or so.

The new Toshiba 47WL66 has been due for a while and I have not seen one. I was hoping it might give the Philips a run for the money but Ive just found this disappointing review -

Cnet Toshiba 47WL66 Review

Big screen but poor pics! Its going to be a while before other manufacturers can get near the Philips 9831.

Cheers

[betty boop]

~

As for me, Im trying to decide between the SD Pana + Sanyo z4 projector combo, about $5.5K, or this Philips and delay the projector a year. Now that the Philips is dropping from launch price to $5.2K, Im asking myself what is it worth? Im not normally an early adopter, but I want the best PQ and this is the set. I think $4-$4.5K would be excellent value for money but this might take 6 months or so.

The new Toshiba 47WL66 has been due for a while and I have not seen one. I was hoping it might give the Philips a run for the money but Ive just found this disappointing review -

Cnet Toshiba 47WL66 Review

Big screen but poor pics! Its going to be a while before other manufacturers can get near the Philips 9831.

Cheers

it will have to the $4k rrp of the equivalent plasmas for starters, and then drop to the $3k street prices theyre selling at to be in contention. looks are a personal thing, I think it looks poxy. then theres the screen res it really needs to be 1920x1080 for the price its being pushed at. Keep in mind too the likes of samsung are bring their lcd with a digital tuner built in. And then basically its an lg.philips coming out of its JV lcd plant. that does not leave me particualry with a lot of confidence with two names like with track records in this country getting together to bring somethgin out...you'd want to sit back and wait for prices to drop on this thing a hell of a lot, plus see jsut how it pans out in the useablity and reliability stakes.

[dyates69]

Nobody appears to have taken a really close look at this set. The clear lcd artifacting is appalling. Even the HN drone picked it and wondered what was wrong. turning the feature off fixed the issue but took away any benefit of this screen over the competing Sonys and Samsungs.

I personally like Philips and have no problem with buying their product, but this artifact is a ridiculous flaw.

The colour consistency issue is also a problem for me.

[BRD]

Nobody appears to have taken a really close look at this set. The clear lcd artifacting is appalling. Even the HN drone picked it and wondered what was wrong. turning the feature off fixed the issue but took away any benefit of this screen over the competing Sonys and Samsungs.

I personally like Philips and have no problem with buying their product, but this artifact is a ridiculous flaw.

The colour consistency issue is also a problem for me.

What do you mean, can you be more specific?

Ive just spent 1/2hr looking at this panel on a range of FTA chanels via STB... and the 7HD loop is as good as you'll see it, especially those dark scenes in Thailand I think with the rocks coming out of the water, and the heavy foliage backgrounds that look terrible on the Samsung I noticed. Water movement is resolved sharply.

Solid colour are superb. SD looks great but can see what I would call minor edge jaggies can be just noticed but they look worse on other LCDs from what I can see. The clear LCD does not run on HD feeds.

Can you post all the settings, they could be way off. Ive just viewed 85 contrast, 60 brightness, 57 colour, Cool, and the Ambi dynamic + brightness high. Make sure your sharpness is not boosted, 5 is factory and seems right IMHO.

By the way the Auto Format is fantastic, you can easily see it work when 4:3 ads come on. The transition to full screen takes 5 secs or so and I think its a great feature. Seems to be no distortion yet pic is not cropped? I hate the bars on ads.

Best price so far today HN Penrith: $5100 with std 3 year warranty. +$200 for 5 years.

Cheers

[dyates69]

What do you mean, can you be more specific?

Ive just spent 1/2hr looking at this panel on a range of FTA chanels via STB... and the 7HD loop is as good as you'll see it, especially those dark scenes in Thailand I think with the rocks coming out of the water, and the heavy foliage backgrounds that look terrible on the Samsung I noticed. Water movement is resolved sharply.

Solid colour are superb. SD looks great but can see what I would call minor edge jaggies can be just noticed but they look worse on other LCDs from what I can see. The clear LCD does not run on HD feeds.

Can you post all the settings, they could be way off. Ive just viewed 85 contrast, 60 brightness, 57 colour, Cool, and the Ambi dynamic + brightness high. Make sure your sharpness is not boosted, 5 is factory and seems right IMHO.

By the way the Auto Format is fantastic, you can easily see it work when 4:3 ads come on. The transition to full screen takes 5 secs or so and I think its a great feature. Seems to be no distortion yet pic is not cropped? I hate the bars on ads.

Best price so far today HN Penrith: $5100 with std 3 year warranty. +$200 for 5 years.

Cheers

Here is what I wrote in an earlier post in this thread

"There was a major tearing/strobing type effect with any rapid motion. He was wearing a black suit and it seemed particularly bad with black motion on a light background. This was the most distracting visual artifact I've ever seen on a display device.

I went in to the menus and turned off clear lcd and smooth motion (or whatever it's called). This seemed to cure the artifact which then turned into a normal motion judder type effect, but it also seemed to reduce the percieved contrast ratio somewhat."

Basically, it looked like the jacket arms on the suit coat of Robbie Williams were disconnected from his body, and with about three points of seperation. I don't know the concert, but it was a Robbie Williams one where he wore a dark jacket on a round stage and it was right from the very beginning. There was also a general tearing of the entire picture that looked a lot like a slow pc trying to play FMV without the use of the overlay.

Turning off clear lcd and smoothmotion cured this effect, but as mentioned above this made the image look no better than other LCD's I've seen. This was certainly not my imagination and anyone seriously considering this set should look into it as it's not something I could live with for even the 10 minutes I was in the store. It was shoddy and could be noticed by even a novice.

[optusman]

I saw it with my own eyes this afternoon, run by a toppy 7000..

Great colours, very vibrant, very good blacks, the best i've seen on an lcd. Not bad all round but not that good unfortunately:

- struggled with motion

- minor pixelation on faces

- my wife couldn't get over the white surround, tend to agree

i really wanted this to be da bomb, but it isn't, not much better than bravia v for pq imho.

NEEEEEEEEEXT

[BRD]

I saw it with my own eyes this afternoon, run by a toppy 7000..

Great colours, very vibrant, very good blacks, the best i've seen on an lcd. Not bad all round but not that good unfortunately:

- struggled with motion

- minor pixelation on faces

- my wife couldn't get over the white surround, tend to agree

i really wanted this to be da bomb, but it isn't, not much better than bravia v for pq imho.

NEEEEEEEEEXT

Where?

[BRD]

Here is what I wrote in an earlier post in this thread

"There was a major tearing/strobing type effect with any rapid motion. He was wearing a black suit and it seemed particularly bad with black motion on a light background. This was the most distracting visual artifact I've ever seen on a display device.

I went in to the menus and turned off clear lcd and smooth motion (or whatever it's called). This seemed to cure the artifact which then turned into a normal motion judder type effect, but it also seemed to reduce the percieved contrast ratio somewhat."

Basically, it looked like the jacket arms on the suit coat of Robbie Williams were disconnected from his body, and with about three points of seperation. I don't know the concert, but it was a Robbie Williams one where he wore a dark jacket on a round stage and it was right from the very beginning. There was also a general tearing of the entire picture that looked a lot like a slow pc trying to play FMV without the use of the overlay.

Turning off clear lcd and smoothmotion cured this effect, but as mentioned above this made the image look no better than other LCD's I've seen. This was certainly not my imagination and anyone seriously considering this set should look into it as it's not something I could live with for even the 10 minutes I was in the store. It was shoddy and could be noticed by even a novice.

Thats a shame youve seen such a crappy set up. It has to be set up or source, because none of what you have said has been in anyway apparent to me, and believe me, Im critical! Someone else reports judder LOL. Well guys, sorry but you are missing out.

Actually I'd encourage you not to buy, because slow sales might help the price drop for me.

Really, im surprised but I guess thats obviously a major problem for us trying to make decisions here.

Even the HN guys are saying this is the best PQ they have ever seen in 37+.

Has anyone bought it and can give us their personal review?

[strange_one]

I still haven't seen one of these. HN Nunawading don't seem to know when it's coming. Anyone know if there's one on display at HN Knox, or any other store in Knox for that matter?

[optusman]

Where?

HN Chatswood Sydney, unfortunately the lomg drive was ended in dismay.

[Hussla]

Nobody appears to have taken a really close look at this set. The clear lcd artifacting is appalling. Even the HN drone picked it and wondered what was wrong. turning the feature off fixed the issue but took away any benefit of this screen over the competing Sonys and Samsungs.

I personally like Philips and have no problem with buying their product, but this artifact is a ridiculous flaw.

The colour consistency issue is also a problem for me.

We're definately looking at two different tv's...

Judging by what you've said it appears that either:

1. Faulty unit

or

2. Incorrect Setup

I've never seen this effect at all on any movement.

I saw it with my own eyes this afternoon, run by a toppy 7000..

Great colours, very vibrant, very good blacks, the best i've seen on an lcd. Not bad all round but not that good unfortunately:

- struggled with motion

- minor pixelation on faces

- my wife couldn't get over the white surround, tend to agree

i really wanted this to be da bomb, but it isn't, not much better than bravia v for pq imho.

NEEEEEEEEEXT

Strange the comments on motion, our in store unit handles motion brilliantly no different than any of the plasmas we sell.

Xbox360 is handled flawlessly.

[optusman]

We're definately looking at two different tv's...

Judging by what you've said it appears that either:

1. Faulty unit

or

2. Incorrect Setup

I've never seen this effect at all on any movement.

Strange the comments on motion, our in store unit handles motion brilliantly no different than any of the plasmas we sell.

Xbox360 is handled flawlessly.

Let me qualify. They had a skiing dvd of sorts, it was lined up next to the sammy R. Pixelly face or digital noise around fae and edges and motion wasn't smooth around the ski slopes. Maybe TV settings were off. Guess I'll come back this afternoon and ask for FTA AFL or NRL to see how it goes as previous posters said it upscales poor FTA very well which is the majority of my viewing

[BRD]

Let me qualify. They had a skiing dvd of sorts, it was lined up next to the sammy R. Pixelly face or digital noise around fae and edges and motion wasn't smooth around the ski slopes. Maybe TV settings were off. Guess I'll come back this afternoon and ask for FTA AFL or NRL to see how it goes as previous posters said it upscales poor FTA very well which is the majority of my viewing

Try HN Penrith, nice quick drive today on the motorway... It's set up in the Theatre Room. Importantly it also has the remote with it, so you can play for as long as you want. Has its own STB, and feel free to take your own DVD & DVD player also. As the room can be partially darkened with a dimmer, and door curtains. Go for it.

Domain and Bing Lee are in the same Home complex, so you can spend an hour or 3 there. Bing Lee Penrith have an excellent feed to all panels.

If you dont like it, im getting glasses! By the way, dont expect too much from AFL - some of those feeds are really crap and any big screen will just magnify that. They are the lowest of low budget productions, with the oldest cameras used. Also they suffer from afternoon low light, the cameras need to gain up, etc, often being Melbourne & Winter! There is even a big difference between some camera positions, Im sure you would realise that. I find some comercials I know a good guide as to how the sets handles non HD material.

Cheers

[optusman]

Try HN Penrith, nice quick drive today on the motorway... It's set up in the Theatre Room. Importantly it also has the remote with it, so you can play for as long as you want. Has its own STB, and feel free to take your own DVD & DVD player also. As the room can be partially darkened with a dimmer, and door curtains. Go for it.

Domain and Bing Lee are in the same Home complex, so you can spend an hour or 3 there. Bing Lee Penrith have an excellent feed to all panels.

If you dont like it, im getting glasses! By the way, dont expect too much from AFL - some of those feeds are really crap and any big screen will just magnify that. They are the lowest of low budget productions, with the oldest cameras used. Also they suffer from afternoon low light, the cameras need to gain up, etc, often being Melbourne & Winter! There is even a big difference between some camera positions, Im sure you would realise that. I find some comercials I know a good guide as to how the sets handles non HD material.

Cheers

Thanks heaps, I will do just that. Sounds like a great setup, without staff hovering around you, cheers

[Drizt]

We're definately looking at two different tv's...

Judging by what you've said it appears that either:

1. Faulty unit

or

2. Incorrect Setup

I've never seen this effect at all on any movement.

Strange the comments on motion, our in store unit handles motion brilliantly no different than any of the plasmas we sell.

Xbox360 is handled flawlessly.

hehe thats what i usually think when you bag sony's V.

I'm still yet to see the philips anywhere in melb CBD

[Hussla]

hehe thats what i usually think when you bag sony's V.

I'm still yet to see the philips anywhere in melb CBD

I haven't bagged the Sony in a while

Come down to Geelong one Sat or Sun i'll show you mine...if you show me yours

[Drizt]

I haven't bagged the Sony in a while

Come down to Geelong one Sat or Sun i'll show you mine...if you show me yours

no disrespect but geelong is a bit to far away for a trip

[Hussla]

no disrespect but geelong is a bit to far away for a trip

Aww! diddums....

Which part of Melbourne? I work on the outskirts of Geelong in a quaint suburb called "Corio" it's just as you enter Geelong.

40mins drive or so...you can chill with me for a few minutes and if you want punch me for 'hating on LCD

[BRD]

FOr those of you like me wishing this panel was bigger check this new release...I have found the world's biggest ambilight set but would you believe it, it's TOO big!

Here it is, are you ready?

World's Biggest Ambilight Panel

Now thats impressive!

(Might need to upgrade my amp though...)

[Hussla]

FOr those of you like me wishing this panel was bigger check this new release...I have found the world's biggest ambilight set but would you believe it, it's TOO big!

Here it is, are you ready?

World's Biggest Ambilight Panel

Now thats impressive!

(Might need to upgrade my amp though...)

It's big.

[larry42]

anyone here tried adding a small fluoro light as a backlight behind their lcd tv, to give a similar effect to the ambilight ?

[Drizt]

what i want to know is when they will be bringing in a 1080p version of the 9831D (42")

[matt]

Gotta say i was a bit disappointed as well. Dropped into HN fountain gate on my way home. They had it setup in a well lit area on the floor. Running a DVD trailers disc on a philips dvd player. Didnt have time to play or check the settings but wouldnt hesitate choosing the sony V series or the new plasma pana's based on what i saw. Might go back when i have more time and give it a good going over. Ambilight may work but agree with some of the other posters about the white boarder looking a bit tacky.

[Hussla]

Gotta say i was a bit disappointed as well. Dropped into HN fountain gate on my way home. They had it setup in a well lit area on the floor. Running a DVD trailers disc on a philips dvd player. Didnt have time to play or check the settings but wouldnt hesitate choosing the sony V series or the new plasma pana's based on what i saw. Might go back when i have more time and give it a good going over. Ambilight may work but agree with some of the other posters about the white boarder looking a bit tacky.

What DVD player were they using?

We had ours hooked up to the $199 Philips HDMI and it gave an absolutely S*H*I*T*HOUSE picture, hooked it up to the Panasonic S-52 and it made a massive difference. Currently we've got it hooked to a Philips DVDR7300 which seems to give a very nice picture.

Love to try it with a proper high-end unit though.