Customer Reviews

Philips 32PFL6704D/F7 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Buying this Philips makes me feel like a bit of a pioneer; there are no reviews of this fairly new set ... at least any I could find.

Compared to other 32-inchers, the specs on the 32PFL6704D/F7 (who names these things?) are pretty impressive given its price-point: 1080p, 120hz and a 2ms response time. Costco prices it at $599 -- about $200 below the MSRP, and about $100 below Dell and Amazon. (Put these specs on a Sony or Samsung and you'll pay about $900, even at the online discounters.)

Setup was breezy, and the side-by-side picture quality tool that confronts you on the first boot-up seems pretty handy. You're asked to pick a side of the TV that looks the best, and through a series of 5 or 6 screens the TV determines your preferences. It could be a gimmick, though, because there's the usual array of color, sharpness, tint and other tweaks in the options menu.

It took about two minutes for the internal tuner to snap up all the HD-broadcasting stations in the Kansas City area using a simple set of rabbit ears. It was pretty astounding to see a decidedly low-tech antenna deliver HD content and end-run all the hype about needing an HD-capable digital-tier from your cable monopoly. I'm only getting the local affiliates, mind you, but still. (Of course, most HDTVs do this these days, so it's not really something that makes this model stand out.)

The picture is fantastic. Colors are crisp, fast-motion sports and gaming are smooth, and I notice the difference between the 120hz refresh rate and the 60hz on other sets. I think I understand why 1080p is lost on a TV this small, but for the price I did well to get it, and I suspect I'll notice a difference when I load up a Blu-ray disc.

Standard-def: I was pleasantly surprised that the set did a reasonable job with my SD Tivo. I mean, yeah, it's a comparatively bad picture, but it's watchable. I think many reviewers who hate on their HDTV's ability to process SD content go a little overboard. (Or, maybe I'm just good at managing my expectations.)

Gaming: The Xbox 360 looks stunning. No discernable lag. It's that simple.

Sound: Read any review of Samsung, Sony, LG or other brands and you'll get complaint after complaint about speaker quality. Flat-panel sets just aren't big enough to house quality speakers. And out of the box, the Philips defaults to the worst of two sound settings. I forget what it's called, but I changed it to the better setting, and it sure was a lot closer to the overcooked "incredible surround" promoted by Philips. It's not incredible, and they know it, and you shouldn't expect 5.1 or even 2.1 -- but the on-board sound is no slouch. I can even pick up a bit of faux-surround, and the settings include an equalizer that you can use to tweak the highs and lows. Overall, I'm pleased.

I'll try to update this in the coming weeks. But these are my initial impressions, and I hope it helps others who've been waiting for a review on this one.

I don't normally write reviews for any of the products I purchase but felt the need to say something about this TV which thus far has been one of my most satisfying $500+ purchases. For starters, there are not too many 1080p 32" TVs out there. Most are 720p and yet cost just as much as this Philips, if not more. I am simply amazed with the quality of the picture and even the sound from the rear facing speakers. My PS3 games look fantastic on this 120Hz screen. There are 4 HDMI inputs which is plenty for many. All settings are a breeze to adjust. Cant go wrong with this TV and thus far, Philips has not disappointed me as my DVD player and several other components are from them also. No need to pay the premium for Sony or Samsung.

First, I'm not much of a TV guy, so I can't really rate the picture quality. To me it looks great, but I don't have much to compare it to.

I am however, an engineer who does embedded software development for a living. And that means that I recognize a firmware bug when I see one. And I've seen three after only about two weeks of usage. And that's with the latest available firmware as of 02/2010, version 1.08

We use this TV for two purposes:

1.) To connect our family computer to it (via HDMI) and enjoy the nice 1920x1080 resolution
2.) To watch some HDTV content which we receive via an outdoor antenna - using the built-in ATSC tuner.

Here are the problems so far:

1.) Whenever we switch to the PC (via HDMI) we can still hear sound from the TV channel. It's very faint, but it's audible - especially since we sit directly in front of the TV when using the PC. This is reproducable - not just a one-time event.

2.) Once, when watching ATSC TV, reception was poor and the TV went into a "loop" always repeating the last 3-5 seconds of video and sound - similar to an old vinyl record that skips... This stopped only when we changed the channel and then went back to the original channel. So far this only happened once, but it looks like the internal error handling for ATSC TV is not foolproof.

3.) When switching from HDMI (PC mode) to TV, we had no sound. Volume was turned on, but we heard nothing. Eventually we increased the volume to what would have been quite loud, and finally the sound came back - suddenly and loudly. We were than able to decrease the sound back to the regular range without it disappearing.

None of these are real serious problems, but they leave the impression that the firmware is still a bit immature...

I would have still rated it 4 stars, had it not been for Philips customer support who so far has sent me nothing but meaningless pre-canned replies when I alerted them to these problems....

At the end of the day though - we don't regret the purchase.

Purchased my Philips HDTV at my local Costo store in Anchorage , Alaska yesterday for $599 with a extended three year warrantee because we used our AX credit card . Set it up yesterday and it pretty much went as the other two reviews said . Other friends who purchased HDTVs lately suggested that we allow for a couple week burn - in period before fine tuning our set . And the set this morning is still running fine . What was curious when we paid for it at the checkout stand was the clerk said to save the original box for a month or so because their local Costco store had been getting a lot of Vizio's back lately .

Am now looking at Philips DVD VHS combo players to hook up to this set later . Prices seem to be right on those too plus there shouldn't be a compatibility issue .

Really appreciate the other two excellent reviews . Reading those and Costco's usual excellent warrantee service on any other products I've taken back to them made the difference in my purchase . I was looking at Sony / Samsung models too , but the prices were still just a little too much and the specs on this Philips were excellent for the money so I decided to bite the bullet and join the world of HDTV sooner rather than later .

As a satisfied 12-month-owner of a Philips 42-inch HDTV (the Philips 42PFL7403D/F7 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV), I purchased the Philips 32PFL6704D/F7 to replace an old tube TV in the bedroom. I'm very pleased with the styling, picture and sound of this set - it fits the room just right.

I had noticed a few customer reviews of this model complaining about difficulty in getting proper color settings for flesh-tones, but based upon a greater number of exemplary reviews and my own experience with this Philips product line, I bought it unseen via Amazon. Sure enough, when the TV was setup, I wasn't pleased with the tint of people's faces... I tweaked the color settings for a bit, and figured I could get it right eventually before deciding to call Philips.

Before calling, I went online to Philips' support site and found that a firmware update, v1.08, had just been released about two weeks earlier. The TV came from Amazon with v1.06 loaded, so I updated the firmware and found the default picture color much improved (although the release notes didn't refer to any such issue being fixed). Could be I was imagining the color issues, could be some screwed-up factory settings were nicely reset by the firmware upgrade process, but as of now I'm quite happy with this product.

I thought of buying Samsung 32" 120Hz TV. But considering the price, I decided to try this one. I thought, in the worst case, I could have returned it (With my past experience, I have full faith on Amazon).

My only complain with this TV is, I could not figure it out, using it as a computer monitor. I tried with a VGA to HDMI cable but it didn't work. My computer doesn't have any DVI or HDMI port, only VGA output.

I am impressed with the picture quality. It is so sharp and vivid that there is no doubt that buying this TV was a very good decision. Sound quality is ok.

Pros:
*Amazing picture quality, extremely sharp and smooth, Vivid color.
*4 HDMI Inputs
*USB input.

Cons:
*It has 4 HDMI inputs but doesn't have any VGA/PC input. Though I had a VGA to VGA cable but I had to buy a VGA to HDMI cable, but it didn't work.

* It doesn't have any optical digital audio output. It has coaxial digital audio out.

I purchased this tv as a first HD tv for my wife and I. Taking it out of the box and setting it on its swivel base was very lightweight and I love the thin trim around the screen. It has a setup assistant to help choose which picture type looks the best with whatever cable/satalite signal you recieve at home. When I first set up the tv (which was very easy by the way), I noticed right away the comment someone else had made about faces looking "shiny" or glowing. That is due to the 48000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio on a smaller set. Once I turned the Dynamic Contrast and Active Control (automatic room lighting control) functions off and set the regular contrast(85) and brightness(60) way up, the picture was very bright and colorful without the glow (I found out that is due to stage and camera lighting) and the dark color and black didnt looked washed out. The 120Hz makes the movement so fluid and smooth its almost like your watching through the cameramans lense live! The sound isnt bad either! It has rear firing speakers to reduce that tinny flat panel sound, a five band EQ and an Incredible Sound function that makes lows low and highs high!(not just bass boost) This has been a great tv so far and I plan on getting a bigger one next tax season! What a great upgrade from a box set!!

I purchased this set at costco for $[...] because the spec sheet looked just amazing. Its got full hd resolution as well as 120hz, and the set is by far the best looking flat screen tv. There's minimal plastic around the screen, it's thin, and overall it's just a looker. So very much better looking than the Panasonic and Samsungs of the same size.

Looks aside, the tv picture is simply not as good as other 32 inch tv's (and [...] agrees, they've reviewed the same model at 40in I believe). For one thing, there's significant patches of flashlighting all over the screen, most of which is on the upper left side. I suppose this could have been just my unit, but it was so annoying that it had to be returned. Flashlighting is basically patches of light when you're viewing a black screen. Of course, this might not bother you if you just watch regular tv, but if you're buying the set to watch movies or play video games, you're going to see light patches when the scene is dark. This drove me absolutely nuts.

Aside from the flashlighting issue, I have to agree with what other reviewers wrote. It looks like there is too much light on people's faces. I couldn't get rid of this even after going through the set up and choosing darker resolutions etc. It looks like faces are glossy whiteish, which also drove me nuts.

It's really not all bad though. First off, the tv has full HD, and the colors, other than black, are absolutely vivid and beautifully rendered. Also, at that price point, where else are you going to get a 1080p 120hz 32 inch with 2ms response time? I mean dollar for dollar, this set is quite good. So, if you're not a gamer, and can live with some of its flaws, the price is excellent and the set will fit your needs. But if you're planning on hooking up the Ps3 to play games and watch movies, etc. I think you'll be disappointed. I was. Hope this helps!

I have this TV connected to a PS3 (HDMI), DirecTV R22 with HD (HDMI), Dreamcast (S-VIDEO), Creative Zen Vision M(Composite), and media on USB FLash Drives. The picture quality is on par with reality. It is just that good. As far as setup goes, the TV will show you a series of pictures split down the middle and ask you which looks better. This results in a picture that looks best to you.

The one and only thing that I do not like of this TV is that full digital audio cannot be forwarded from HDMI though the coax digital out. Due to 'copyright' nonsense the audio from HDMI is down mixed to stereo. So for the PS3 and DTV I have to run a separate cable directly to the audio receiver for full digital audio. Which defeats the purpose of HDMI. However the TV will put all analog sources though the coax out so you can limit the number of wires that way.

Pros
* Plenty of Inputs
* Forwards all analog audio though a single output . Digital or analog
* Amazing picture quality
* Improves picture quality of non HD feeds
* Standard VESA mount for wall or stand mounting

Cons
* Does not forward full Digital Audio From HDMI through COAX out
* Picture looks almost too real

I bought this TV because it was the biggest that would fit in
my Dad's entertainment center. I had already bought a Samsung that only
worked for an hour.
My only complaint is that this TV has such a realistic picture
that you have to get used to how much different it looks, it is almost
as if you were there filming. My dad only has standard definition cable, but
I could tell a huge difference in quality of picture, and have not had any of the complaints of other people buying this TV. As far as I have seen this TV has had the best picture of any I have used, being enclosed in the TV cabinet the volume is usually needed to be higher than normal to hear as the speakers are behind the TV, but no problems. My dad loves this new TV and I wish my phillips 32" (720p) would have fit in his cabinet, so that I could have keep it for myself, oh well, sadly I paid the same thing for my 720p Phillips two years ago, As I turned them on side by side, and the 120 hz 1080p blew it away even with standard cable. Wow, 120hz is AWESOME!!!
I shopped around, and amazon had the lowest price, and shipping was as expected. Thanks Amazon, you did me good on this one!