Customer Reviews

Philips 32PF9630A 32-Inch Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV

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

 

 

I compared lots of 37" and 32" LCD TV's over the past months and I decided on the Philips 32PF7320A because:

**The picture is comparable to Sharp. Many on the AVSForum will debate this for hours/days/months and may favor the Sharp in the end, but for us plebeians that want to just watch great TV, this set for the price is it...IMHO Sharp is the only competitor that even compares (I ruled out Magnavox, Polaroid, Syntax, Maxent almost immediately, and then Sony, LG, and Panasonic IMHO didn't measure up in picture quality after more detailed scrutiny)

**The feature set beats everything out there, even Sharp. Namely, 2 HDMI ports, CableCard slot, USB, just these two options give this set a leg up.

**It looks great (i thought better thanthe long and narrow Sharp) in its silver/black two-tone look.

**After using for a month the picture is fantastic. The USB port allowed for easy firmware upgrade (a plus!!!, and with anupconverting DVD like the winderful OPPO heer on Amazon you can see your current DVD selection in HD...WOW!

Hope this was helpful, and happy watching.

I've had this set for about a week now. Got a great deal on a refurbished unit direct from Philips. This set has tons of connection options, including 2 HDMI inputs. I bought a new Sony DVD player with upconverting and HDMI output, and DVD images look stunning. I have Time Warner cable with a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR and connect it using the other HDMI input. The HD channels are outstanding. I can't really tell much difference between the 720p and 1080i output settings from the cable box - everyone says its a personal preference and can vary depending on the program. I do notice that not all programming on some of the HD channels is actually in HD format, especially noticable with various commercials changing format one after the other. HBO HD and Discovery HD have spectactular picture quailty. As with nearly all big screen HDTV models, the analog and digital (non-HD) channels vary from fair to good depending on channel signal quality and programming. I've done lots of fiddling (experimenting) with the picture settings and find that quality often varies from channel to channel and from setting to setting. Most review sites mention this is common with all HDTV sets and the viewer will find which settings work best over time. The remote control is nicely laid out and easy to use. The TV Menu and settings controls are easy to follow and most setting options include a summary of function at the bottom of the screen. There are many possible adjustments to picture and sound, so you can experiment a lot to find what looks best to you. The TV has USB input for pictures and firmware updates. It was easy to update to the latest firmware. Philips support website has lots of FAQs and helpful instructions for various functions and connection options. (One reviewer on another site complained about a green line on the right side of the screen when playing DVD's using the HDMI connection. Both the manaul and an online FAQ explained how to easily adjust the picture (right/left or up/down) using the cursor key on the remote.) I've also connected a VCR using the coaxial input; a GameCube using the RCA Inputs; and an XBox using the Component AV inputs with an HD converter (games look really awesome from the XBox - note that you can find instructions on xbox.com on how to change the Xbox's settings for HDTV output). The built in speakers on this TV sound great. I haven't hooked up a surround sound system yet, and may not need to. Great thing about LCD's versus Plasma (and even CRTs) is there's practically no glare/reflections on the screen from lights, etc. This model has an automatic format setting that will adjust the screen dimensions based on the channel and program format (ie: widescreen, 4:3, zoom, stetch, etc.) Sometimes the auto changes are annoying, like during commercials when the format changes every 30 seconds, but mostly its no big deal. You can choose to set the format manually if the auto changes bother you. Overall, I'm very impressed with this set. It has a lot of the latest tech features most people are looking for. It's certainly not the cheapest 32" model around, but I think you pay for quality. I thought I'd wait a while longer to get a bigger model later when the prices come down further, but I figured that this one had the features I was looking for and had come down enough to be affordable today to finally let me get my HDTV feet wet. Great picture, great features, great price. Jump on in, the waters just fine.

Purchased this tv from Amazon about 5 months ago and it continues to impress me. HD is spectacular and the HDMI imputs make my DVD's look like your viewing the scenes live. The HD channels are superb both from the Direct TV satellite and even using my HD indoor antenna. It's a terriffic set and I highly recommend it.

I really like this product in almost every aspect even though this is a cheap TV set. Almost everything about this TV is exceptional, the picture quality is great, the audio quality is very good and the ease of usage is exceptionally good. The only flaw I can find is that sometimes the picture outsourced from a DVD player gets distorted on the HD input, but usually it's enough to switch between inputsources on the tv and then reselect the HD input.

I could have bought a cheaper 32 LCD but I am glad I took the advice of a "Techie" friend and bought this one. Easy set up out of the box and a great picture that amazes everyone. Bought a 5yr in house fix or replace warranty for it too.

For me, the title of this piece sums my review up nicely. Philips did alot of things right with this television set. The aestethics are great and were very pleasing to my eyes. The connectivity of this set compared to anything else in the market today is unbelievable. Being my first flat tv, I was excited about regaining the extra space of not having a large traditional crt tv. However, in this case, smaller did not turn out to be better. Out of the box, I felt the NTSC (Cable Television) picture was horrible. The background was pixelated and faces were muddy and unnatural. The set does have great color, but with the bad imaging it greatly spoiled my excitment. After fiddling with the settings I was able to obtain a decent picture. The ATSC (High-Definition) picture was a little better. While the picture was clear, it did not have the same realism as other HDTV (Sony and Panasonic). I also was not thrilled with the remote. It really can't be operated with one hand. The length of the remote makes this difficult. One final comment, I could not get a univeral remote to control the set. It seems, and this is just my experience, Philips is using a private coding. Overall, for the price, it was a hard deal to pass up.

I purchased the Philips 32" flat panel LCD-TV expecting the latest in technology. One of the features highlighted in the ad is the use of a new backlighting unit using HCFL (hot cathode fluorscent lamps) instead of the old style CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps). I am a technical kind of guy and a tinkerer. Little did I know that my curiosity would reveal some false advertising. The Philips set did not have the HCFL system, but had the old CCFLs. I have pictures to prove this.

I intend to take this up with Amazon and see what they say about it. This makes me suspect of other Philips products. Hopefully, they will pull this and the rest of the Philips stuff off their website.