Customer Reviews

Philips 19PFL5422D 19-Inch LCD HDTV

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I picked this TV up at Best Buy a few days back. It was the only one that didn't have a box with damage. Paid $450 plus taxes. I spent a good hour or two fiddling with all the TVs in the same shelf that were from 19" to 26" HD sets. There were 26" of unknown brand that were the same price, slightly more or less, but all had either terrible sound or video, and the majority were of a lesser resolution than this TV.
It does have slight leakage from the backlights but only videophiles like myself will notice, and honestly its hardly noticeable.
I really like the automatic picture sizing feature, it does a great job resizing the screen with different video sources automatically and stretching them in ways that don't make the picture look bad or way off-scale. Some of the time I still resort to setting the mode manually but for the most part I live it alone.
The ATSC tuner works really good, switching between channels doesn't take very long compared to other sets. This thing really shines with true HD channels, even with the lousy cable system I have available to me, I was watching some mindblowing video about the birth of the solar system and it was absolutely amazing.
The TV is stylish and looks great. I used to have a 32" flat CRT TV which blew up after a voltage spike, and with the difference in picture quality and availability of digital stations I don't miss that big heavy bulky piece of furniture at all.
If you're looking for a TV thats great to watch and doesn't dominate your living area, or a TV for a bedroom/kitchen, this is a great choice.

Rather Then bogging you down with conversational points I'll try and list the facts of this HDTV.

Video: The Video is excellent, Although with a 8ms you can see a slight blur while gaming. I noticed this while playing on a low def PS2 game. The only other complaint is the slight white hue around the screen. It's a bit distracting but nothing too serious.

Audio: The speakers with the set are generally good, for the size they're a bit above average. I hooked up some external speakers and that problem was easily solved.

Design: The TV looks great, hands down. But i did have some trouble with the Connection Ports facing downward, it can be a hassle to plug in your DVD player for the first time. But this is nothing too terrible.

Overall:

In retrospect I'm very happy with this purchase, It's worth the price. And overall an amazing HDTV.

Pros: Great video,Decent Sound,Good Design,Easy Install.
Cons: White backlight Hue, Awkward placement of connections, Slight Blur.

I had purchased several different HDTV's and wasn't too impressed with the other brands in this price range. But this one impressed me. The 1080p with HDMI was a pleasant surprise since the in-store display didn't mention it. Blu-ray movies look amazing on this set. I couldn't be happier with it. My only complaint is that even at maximum volume, it doesn't seem that loud. This may not be a problem for you, as I enjoy my TV at a higher level of volume. Apart from this issue, the sound is very nice on this set. It does have a headphone jack for private listening, which is a nice extra. The simulated surround sound is quite good as well. I bought two of these and both are working quite well without issue. It's very easy to set up and navigate menu's as well. A very well made product overall. You cannot go wrong with this set. Buy it.

For those of you that have problems with this turning itself off and screaching a dozen times during warm up, here's the fix:

Take the back panel off, remove heat panel around the motherboard and the cable attached to it. Up by where the cable comes in from the power panel, you'll see 3-4 blown capacitors. They look like little black & gold beer cans, and you'll see how the top is domed, and/or the bottom is blown out. Any that look like this need to be replaced.

I needed three 1000uf 10V, and one 470uf 16V. Got them from STSI.com for $8 shipped, and three days later with 15 minutes work with a soldering iron and it was fixed. Make sure you don't put them in backwards!! The stripe down the side is the negative (-) side--the board is marked for pos & neg.

Yeah, it's still junk, but for $8 it was worth fixing.

This TV was to replace a little under-the-cabinet model in our kitchen, and the counter space size was perfect for a 19" LCD. I reviewed many newspaper ads featuring lesser priced models; then thought I'd check on-line for price comparison. It was there that I got caught up into the product reviews, and glad I did. This model was the highest rated of any 19" LCD with a little higher retail price as well. The Amazon.com price was over $40 less than our BestBuy store including shipping. (BestBuy indicated they were sold-out on-line). The Amazon delivery was on-time, set-up was incredibly simple (even for a non-techie), and the picture/sound is fantastic. The cosmetic design is very sharp too. Definately would buy another one and highly recommend it to anyone.

I shopped for a small set for the kitchen at Walmart and found this to have the best picture of the bunch in the size range. The first unit I brought home had a menu glitch where it would go haywire and even block out access to the action of the physical buttons along the top of the TV. This may have been due to a software glitch, or in retrospect, it might have been due to me laying the TV down along the control panel surface to install the cabling (which awkwardly direct downward). This problem also took a few days to pop up and may have coincided with me programming my DirecTV remote to control the TV. I'm still not sure. In any event, there was no way to address this myself (resetting the unit and calling Philips did not result in a solution), so I returned it. The replacement has given me no issues.

As of now I'm not running an HD signal into the unit, but it does a nice job with the standard DirecTV signal. My impression from the HD signal in Walmart was that this TV looked exceptional, and I have a very discerning eye for artifacts, hues, etc. In fact, it looked as good as many of the better HDTV sets in larger sizes.

Overall the unit looks great. It has a nice glossy black border reminiscent of Samsung models and has a sturdy glass base that is very sharp.

I have noticed the slight "haze" or backlight leakage that a few have noted, but to me it's not a deal breaker or really all that noticable. I do notice it because I notice most defects in even the best HDTVs, but it's hardly worth knocking the set down significantly, and most won't even notice.

The sound is about what you'd expect from a small TV. It's serviceable, but not great. I presume that most people don't buy a TV to have wonderful internal speakers, so I don't think this is all that noteworthy. If you want superior, rich sound, simply buy a set of amplified speakers. Since this sits in my kitchen, I think the speakers are more than sufficient.

As to input connectivity, there is basically one of everything: HDMI, component, S-video, VGA, and composite. Yes, it could be better, but I can't imagine this is anyone's primary set running numerous HD inputs, so I found it to be sufficient for running an HD satellite signal.

I think many reviews have too high of expectations, so in this case I look at the set in terms of value and function. For a smaller set that will function as a gaming/bedroom/kitchen unit, it's ideal. Sure it has minor faults, but I don't believe there is an HD option at 19" that doesn't.

Nice small 720p tv for bedroom in small cabinet. Wife can watch from bed (~10') distant. Easy setup. TV has solid feel/look. Remote has nice feel to it also.

After 1 1/2 months, I can say the picture is very clear, high quality. The audio is clear. Like the nice glass base. Very slim, trim and good looking. I believe this is a great tv purchase and a good size for my kitchen. I would recommend this.

I love this tv. The sound is great and the picture is beautiful. It was easy to set up. Make sure to purchase an HDMI cable to hook it up to your hdtv cable box.

I purchased this LCD for my wife for Christmas (07) to replace the old TV in our kitchen. This was one of the only small TVs' to get a favorable feedback (for the most part). Having it hooked up for a few days I have to say I am impressed on all accounts. Picture quality is great (I use Component Video inputs from a cable box. Set up was ok. Typicall Philips on screen display (if you have any other philips you know what I mean.) I always felt philips was cheesey on the on screen display. I have used/tested all inputs including the PC one and was impressed.
I am now using the provided stand for this TV as I am waithing on a wall braket that seems to be "coming". The stand is a frosted glass stand and I say very nice one at that. All in all I am very pleased w/my descion to purchase this TV and from Amazon. I would and will recomend this set up.

It died Sept. of 09. Not sure that is sufficient time for a tv. Had to replace it.. very annoying