stahc Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 My wife is quite taken by her parents philips lcd with the ambilight and is quite keen for us to go that way. i have been leaning more toward the panasonic plasmas. i haven't heard much about the philips gear good or bad although i do like the picture on their lcd. what is the news about philips................good or bad
angelus512 Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 Philips is definitely a good brand. Unfortunately when compared to Panasonic (and they are of similar pricing) well...they don't compare. Most reviews you will read about Philips say the idea is great, looks tops but the actualy performance is somewhat lacking. Which is a shame because Philips used to be so innovative but now they are a bit showy/flashy and less innovative. I would pick the Panasonic for sure, I myself had this discussion with myself in regards to Philips because I owned a Philips CRT and it had treated me well. Ultimately though the Philips looks great, ambilight is a top idea as is the HD pixel plus stuff but its all add-ons to hide the unfortunate fact that its otherwise an underperforming unit when compared to a Pana. Especially for similar pricing.
sanitarium Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 ...I myself had this discussion with myself LOL! that gave me a good chuckle, i'm wondering how exactly that conversation went!! back on topic, to the OP if you are comparing the 2 then the Panasonic wins hands down, especially given they are the same price point. Out of curiosity, what model/size were you looking at?
Doug1503559538 Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 My wife is quite taken by her parents philips lcd with the ambilight and is quite keen for us to go that way. i have been leaning more toward the panasonic plasmas.i haven't heard much about the philips gear good or bad although i do like the picture on their lcd. what is the news about philips................good or bad I'm on my second Philips Plasma (put the 37" in the spare room and bought an ambilight 50"). In the shops I have never seen a Philips Plasma set up correctly. The one at Harvey Norman in Fountain Gate is unbelievably bad (compared to the Panasonics and Pioneers next to it). At my house the PQ of the Philips is just amazing - even FOXTEL looks great (sorry, couldn't resist that comment !). It says in the Philips manual that the Philips Plasma's are all setup in the factory to look their best in stores using flouro lighting and for home the settings need to be adjusted. Don't know what marketing idiot came up with this idea - but when I changed the settings to normal the PQ was just amazing (minor tweaking with DVE worked a little bit but wasn't really necessary). I think the bad view of Philips Plasma's just comes from people who see them in stores. Most people who own them have no complaints. BTW - if I turn off the ambilight I get heaps of complaints form the family, it really is easy on the eyes. Doug
stahc Posted April 20, 2007 Author Posted April 20, 2007 LOL! that gave me a good chuckle, i'm wondering how exactly that conversation went!!back on topic, to the OP if you are comparing the 2 then the Panasonic wins hands down, especially given they are the same price point. Out of curiosity, what model/size were you looking at? most likely 42"
stahc Posted April 20, 2007 Author Posted April 20, 2007 I'm on my second Philips Plasma (put the 37" in the spare room and bought an ambilight 50"). In the shops I have never seen a Philips Plasma set up correctly. The one at Harvey Norman in Fountain Gate is unbelievably bad (compared to the Panasonics and Pioneers next to it). At my house the PQ of the Philips is just amazing - even FOXTEL looks great (sorry, couldn't resist that comment !). It says in the Philips manual that the Philips Plasma's are all setup in the factory to look their best in stores using flouro lighting and for home the settings need to be adjusted. Don't know what marketing idiot came up with this idea - but when I changed the settings to normal the PQ was just amazing (minor tweaking with DVE worked a little bit but wasn't really necessary). I think the bad view of Philips Plasma's just comes from people who see them in stores. Most people who own them have no complaints. BTW - if I turn off the ambilight I get heaps of complaints form the family, it really is easy on the eyes. Doug thanks doug.............from watching at the inlaws place we're impressed with the ambilight....not just a gimmick in my opinion..........but that's just my opinion.
Rick_In_Tas Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 Hi, This is my first post. I've been looking for an HD TV since Christmas, and started out by not knowing what I really wanted nor what was the latest technology available. In the end it came down to a few questions: LCD or Plasma, Resolution, Size. In the end, the answers were LCD, 1080 and about 42 to 46 inch. Living in Northern Tasmania, the choices are quite limited: Myer, Harvey Norman or a few local retailers (Retravision etc.) I was very impressed with the Philips TVs...they seemed to consistently have the best pictures despite only having a resolution of 768....very nice blacks despite being an LCD and the Ambilight was, for me, a definite plus. Second choice was a Sony X, but the "cloudiness" issue has put me off somwhat! The big problem with Philips as far as I'm concerned, is that they are very close to what I want, but not quite! If you want full surround Ambilight with a 42" screen, you can only get it with Pixel Plus 2 and no integrated HD tuner. If you want a resolution of 1080 (but only "i", not "p"), you have to go to 37 inches. Then, according to the Philips brochure, the 37 inch TV system is only PAL and SECAM....I have quite a few NTSC DVDs!!! What I want is a 42 inch set with an integrated HD tuner, 1080 resolution Pixel Plus 3 and that will play NTSC DVDs with full surround Ambilight!!! I wonder what the chances of that model being in the 2007/2008 line up? Can anyone tell me if there is a "new season" release date for Philips? Otherwise, I might just have to have a look at the new Sonys when they get here!! I fell that if I am patient for just a little while longer, something must turn up...the new set specs are getting very close to what I want.....Philips seem to make good kit, but only if you live in Europe! I'd like to get their wireless digital headphones too, but they're not available in Australia.
Cooksta59 Posted April 22, 2007 Posted April 22, 2007 I'm on my second Philips Plasma (put the 37" in the spare room and bought an ambilight 50"). In the shops I have never seen a Philips Plasma set up correctly. The one at Harvey Norman in Fountain Gate is unbelievably bad (compared to the Panasonics and Pioneers next to it). Doug I wonder how many shops set up the Panasonic plasma properly....indeed any display? The ambilight looks like a nice feature but it should not be the main reason to buy the display.Is it not easy enough to place a low wattage shaded? lamp alongside or behind the display to give a similiar effect?
wilsact Posted April 22, 2007 Posted April 22, 2007 Also on my second Philips Plasma, this one a 42" ambilight. I didn't just choose the plasma for the ambilight feature (though have grown to love it), but for its outstanding picture quality and performance, not to mention the standard 3 year warranty over most companies 12 months!!! I compared many many plasma when buying, spending a great deal of time using different sources, and tinkering with settings. Basically it came down to Pioneer, Panasonic, and Philips. All were good, and the Pioneer's standard 5 year warranty attractive, but for me the the Philips was just the better performer, though I'm sure owners of other brands all have their opinions. Philips Plasma and Lcd's get excellent reviews in the states and Europe, so don't just go off what you read here. Reviewers in Australia from what I have read tend to favour Pioneer and Panasonic units. Internationally I would say that Philips showed up just as well as these two in reviews I read. In the end buy what appeals to you, thats what I did and I am very very happy.
stahc Posted April 24, 2007 Author Posted April 24, 2007 doug, witnessed more or less what you were talking about at my local good guys today..........they had a 42" philips lcd on top of a 42" panasonic plasma and beside the plasma was the philips 42"plasma........the pana was showing a 4:3 program in 4:3 and both philips panels had the same signal strectched to widescreen . wife was very unimpressed until i described what was going on.......she's a bigfan of the ambilight as well, although i was thinking that ambilght 3 is a bit of overkill. the only thing i didnt like was the glossy black surround compared to the pana's matt finish. however my opinion didn't count as i was quickly over ruled i'm just happy to find an lcd in 42" and not to have to drop back to 40"
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