Customer Reviews

Philips 20PF5120 20-Inch Flat LCD TV

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My wife an I love this t.v. We have it in our bedroom and love it's compact size and great picture. It took only minutes to get it from the box to viewing. It is very easy to navigate through the on-screen menus. The only draw back I have seen is the remote. I had to return the first one I bought because the remote quit working. The replacement developed the same thing after two months. I called philips and they were very helpful and sent out a new one. I also bought a universal remote at best buy for 10 dollars (also by philips) since then not a problem three months..

First thing: I bought this tv from Target walk-in after seeing it here. Great picture for SD 4:3. Very good sound (5 watts/channel vs. 2 or 3 w/c for comparables). Near complete input selection (coax, composite, s-video, component, DVI-I). A good tv for this class IF NOT WALL MOUNTED. If you plan to use the included stand exclusively, this seems to be a worthwhile tv.
Backstory: Bought tv as a gift to be wall mounted in a kitchen on an articulating arm. Chose a Peerless SA730P articulating mount for 10-24" flat screens (a quality mount from a respected company). Tv to be mounted about 5' high, with slight tilt down to table. Arm to swivel tv around for cooking/cleanup viewing. Tilt to be locked, arm extension and rotation allowed for viewing.
Problem: The mounting point for an external mount (VESA 100 standard) is on the BOTTOM OF THE INCLUDED STAND! That's right. The stand pictured above is not removed to reveal a mount point in the center of the tv's back, but pivoted back 90° behind the speakers revealing the VESA 100 bolt pattern on the bottom. This moves the tv out from the wall by about 3-4". But, more important, it moves the tv up and out from the mount point MULTIPLYING the weight of the tv. Imagine holding the tv from a handle centered in the back of the screen. Now imagine supporting the same tv from a 4" lever connected to the bottom of the tv.
Result: Failure of the mount to hold the tv with anything over a perceptible tilt down. I returned the tv and bought another brands' 4:3 20" lcd. The stand included with this tv unbolted from the VESA 100 pattern centered on the back of the screen (as I think is the norm). The articulated mount has since functioned well and as planned, with plenty of movement. The bummer is I think the picture was better, and I know the sound was, with the Philips.

This TV is nice, it has almost all the hookups you need.
Regular cable does look a bit... regular but that just may be because I have split the signal to another TV(a flat screen LCD) DVDs look just as great from a regular dvd player on this and my flat screen TV but now I can tell even better what is CGI and what is real. I thought that 20" would be too small but the clarity leaves that thought behind.
My biggest problem is with the remote control and menu functions, they're clumsy, inconvenient, incomplete.

Nutshell: If you've liked the picture on an LCD flat screen, this is not THAAAAaaat much better.

Pros:
+Great picture with unsplit cable connection
+Can change picture format with one button
+Change Color format with one button
+Good sound**
+Change sound format with one button
+Looks good even when off
+PIP when using as PC monitor-to-TV**
+Smooth Sleek remote
+Some nice remote functions


Cons for TV:
-May need color adjustments
-Clock...? Where's the clock?
-TV Menus are awkward and incomplete
-Not HDTV... is EDTV...
-No composite(RCA) audio output
-Must use headphone jack for any type of surround and then the tv speakers are disabled.



Cons for Remote:
-Surf feature on remote??? It's a menu. I just as well enter the channels myself.
-I would rather the input/source select to cycle the input channels than a menu.
-Button placement is a bit awkward.
-User manual Describes functions that this unit doesn't have(Sleep/Wakeup)
-PIP on remote is only for if using as PC monitor

Despite the cons, I would still get this unit for what i does do and for the price.

This product is everything I (Very capital I) needed. Two small complaints; the wall mount IS inconvenient, and the remote control worked for all of 10 minutes. However, if you intend to use this device as a freestanding unit you will be VERY satasfied. Great picture, and sound, with easy access to the many audio and video ports. Its the perfect fit for a smaller apartment or a bedroom.

My husband purchased this TV for me for Christmas. So far, I am very happy with it. Wouldn't have minded a larger screen, but what I do have seems to be a great picture.

I have three other TV's - 27", 21", and a 13". This little TV is in my bedroom and has the best picture of them all. I have replaced all my cables with good RG-6 coax cable and the Philips still has the best picture.

This TV clears up the usual aggravating "grainy" look some of us have to live with on analog cable and so far I'm well pleased. It should be really nice when I go to Digital TV.

We got this TV off craigs list from a couple that upgraded to some enormous thing. For us it was an upgrade from our little 13 inch set. I wanted a bigger set so we didn't have to sit so close to read captioning. We hardly ever watch TV, and when we do, its through the Roku. Its simply a beautiful thing to look at even if it isn't on - but it doesn't dominate the living room. No problems at all, none of the ones mentioned on other reviews here. We don't see why anyone would want anything larger than this. Turn off the TV and go outside!

I bought this tv in March of 2006 from SAMs to use in the kitchen of my vacation home. Shortly after I got it (July of 2006) I had problems. When I turned the set on the green light would come on but almost at once the green light would go out and the red light would come on in it's place. No picture, no sound, nothing. I called customer service and went through a couple of tests and was told to send it back by FedEx - which Phillips didn't pay for. I would think that if the set was under warranty they should pay shipping but they didn't. I got a different set back (different serial #)in a month to 6 weeks and it seemed to work fine but a couple of weeks later I noticed that when I would turn the set on the picture would come on but no sound! However I discovered that if I turned the set off and back on I had sound. I called Phillips and reported this but they didn't know what was causing this. Since it did work I didn't want to pay the freight to send it back again and get another one that might do the exact same thing so I got a case number and made a record of the problem. Then in December of 2008 I had exactly the same problem I had the first time (green light then red light no pic no sound) I called Phillips again and was told that I would have to take it in for repair but the set was out of warranty. When I gave them the two case numbers from before they had no record of those cases. The woman said that they probably cleaned out the database and deleted old cases after some period of time.
I called the phone # of the service center she gave me and was told that it would cost me $89 non refundable to have the problem diagnosed. She also told me that there were very few parts listed for this set and even if they couldn't get the parts to fix it I would still have to pay $89.
My advise is not to buy this set.

I gave this product a review before. I am so happy and pleased with this television. I purchased it for my daughter and she is overwhelmed with it. She loves it. She is an adult and you know how hard it is to please your older children. Well she was taken by the television. I am pleased with the service that amazon always gives me. Amazon is great and mostly everything that I need I can look forward to getting it from amazon. You usually received these things within a timely manner and for that I am happy.

Do not buy this item! Especially at the price listed here. I bought it at Walmart, it crapped out after thirteen months. It had a lousy picture when I had it, and then it died. I wouldn't use this TV anywhere in the house. Trust me, just don't buy it!