Customer Reviews

Philips 42PFL3603D/F7 42-Inch 1920 x 1080p LCD HDTV (Black)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bought this Philips TV as we were looking for a LCD 42" set without breaking the bank. There are those who would want more in a TV I am sure. These are the same folks who want more in anything they buy. But for the cost of this set, we are very happy with the easy of setup, the quality of the picture and the many options of connecting external devices.
We studied for weeks about the different TV's and what they had to offer. Studied so much that we became more confused. Doing some research on this model, we felt very comfortable buying it. It now has been in the house for a couple of weeks with out any problems or disappointments. The only thing we did do was to make some of our own adjustments after using the quick set up guide.

For the price, it is very hard to beat.

After reading reviews about this tv before purchase,
and even though I wasnt sure about going with Philips,
(I'm partial to Toshiba/Samsung)
I got this HDTV, and after owning it for 1 week.
I AM HAPPY AND ITS SUPER CLEAR, COLORS ARE GREAT, HD Content Looks amazing.
I upgraded to this from a 34inch Toshiba CRT HDTV so I'm not new to the HDTV world. I also have my Xbox360 connected to this over component, and its putting out 1080p to the tv, and my cable tv is connected over HDMI.
Everything looks great. I watched Prison Break, Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Lots of HD on HDNet, and I can say without to much settings tweaking that everything looks great.
No motion blur, no ghosting, just visual pleasure. There is a built in setup wizard with some HD pictures to help adjust your picture settings when you first setup the tv, and they help alot. I noticed though I did need to set the contrast down to about 60%
and that was fine.

I'm happy, I love it, I would totally recommend it.
For the price you cant beat it.

Also this week its on sale at Target for roughly 850$ so I am going to wal mart during my lunch break to tell them to credit me back 50$ for price matching. (week of 11/16/08 to 11/22/08)

Philips 42PFL3603D/F7 42-Inch 1920 x 1080p LCD HDTV (Black)
Ive been partial to Philips video products for years. I guess since their Magnavox partnership over 10 years ago. I'm no audio/videophile so this is a real world layman's terms review. The tv is a good size for a living room or large bedroom. I'd like to think of these as the widescreen version of a 32"-35" TV. The picture is crisp and the colors are rich. Veiwing angles are really not a prob w LCDs and this unit is no exception. It was a 20 min. put together from box to movie night. The quick setup option on the TV is nicde but i suggest taking the time and personalizing for a much nicer picture quality. Speakers are ok, but not for movie night(my opinion), surround sound fixes this. There's plenty of inputst(4 HDMI,1 S-Video, 4 sets of RCA inputs for DVD, Blue-Ray, Cable Satalite , VHS, and gamming systems.. *** Biggest problem is that there's only (1) audio output which is digital coax (RCA Jack) so if you've got an older home theater surround system you'll have to run your audio direct from players/game systems instead of through the TV. The bottom line for me was the under $1,000 price. I was able to get my 42" LCD at Target w/1 HDMI cable, 3 DVD and 1 Blue Ray for $965 with openning a Target credit acct.. You can't beat Philips value-to-quality. And because Philips is a division of LG their technology is up to par. I'd recommend this to anyone looking to upgrade their larger tube sets or looking for a 'utility' television in the living room.

Intro
... Because tons of their items are showing poor manufacturing faults. Either the screen, HDMI outlets or even the remote: eventually it seems to fail.

I do not write this lightly as I come from Eindhoven (Holland), the birthplace of Philips and I worked there many summers earning some nice vacation money. I even love their Soccer Team: PSV Eindhoven...

But the days that they were creating high end amplifiers (I still have a Maratz MossFet Class A that is about 27 years old and produces sound quality close to that of moch more expensive manufacturers.

I really used to like Philips and what they stood for... but I found out the hard way that this company is substituting quality for profit margin nowadays.

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I purchased this item as a gift for someone who is not very well off. We thought she'd enjoy a flatpanel in her home and picked one of these up at Target for , what seemed to be, a good price.

Trouble started after about 4 days. I had hung the unit with a wall mount and received a call asking me if a faint humming sound was 'normal'. I dropped by and it was certainly louder than a fain t hum. The smell of oZone was undeniable and the TV was giving so much heat off that the room temperature was unbearable.

So I took it back and got a new one to take back. We hung it and this time the lcd had a black bar on the right hand side, as if the screen was being projected too much to the left. Frustrating... but what are the odds to receive 2 bad ones?

So went back a third time. The store was out and the rep told me that they had tons of people exchange them because of bad screens. He suggested I take another brand. Stubborn as I was, being Pro-Philips and all, I decided to take my money back and go online of Philips Outlet.

I ordered one there that was refurbished, thinking that I'd save some money that way and get one that was physically tested: might not be a bad thing.

It arrived and whaddaya know: bad screen and excessive heat production.


To end the oddyssey we just bought a Toshiba for slightly more here on Amazon. It is a brand that used to have an excellent rep in production quality and the TV did not have any of the problems experienced. Philips has caved in and become nothing more than a cheap electronics manufacturer. Its no longer the Toyota of electronics.

Look online and see how many people are frustrated with Philips equipment and have a look in thier outlet store where they try to recycle the vast amounts of bad products.
Spend 100$ more and buy something with a quality reputation... nothing is worse than having to haul around broken tv's.

I picked this one because the specs are excellent for the low price range and it has 4 HDMI inputs with plenty of other kinds too. The spec that sold it was the depth on stand. It fits nicely on our 11" mantel and allowed us to put off mounting it. The picture is better than I expected for SD from a sat. box. Off the air HD is awesome with regular rabbit ears and I never imagined the local PBS stations would each have 3 or 4 different channels. Incredible! Watched penguins diving in the Antactic tonight and it was crystal-freaking-clear. I can't wait to switch to HD programming through the sat. company. Will need an upgrade of the DVR to an HD one too.

Bottom line. Love it - love it - love it!

I got a Sony 26" 1080i Hi Def TV from where I work a couple months ago, and I got spoiled by it because of the video quality. At Christmas my girlfriend got me a Blu-ray player which got me more spoiled. We moved a few weeks ago, and the Sony was a little too small for the room, and as it is only 1080i I thought about a larger TV with full HD. The prices I had seen for 36" and larger TVs were way out of my current price range. I happened to look at the weekly ad for Target and they had this set on sale for 797USD.
I have always liked Philips products as they are a common brand in Europe and the quality is fairly decent.
We went to Target the next day and looked at the set. From all of the sets of this size that they had on display, this one had the best picture, even better than the more expensive sets, so we got it.
From the time we got it home, to actually using it, was less than 30 minutes. Easy to connect (2 HDMI cables to the set from the HD cable box and the Blu-ray player and the power cord) and following the onscreen menus it was a breeze to configure. HD channels from the HD cable box and movies on the Blu-ray player (even standard DVDs with the 1080p upconversion) look phenomenal.
The only downfall is, as with all HD TVs that I have seen, the SD channels don't always look as good as they did on the old Toshiba 36" CRT I had. I have not seen any HD LCD TVs that do standard channels quite as well as CRTs, but that is due to the higher resolution capabilities of LCD displays.
Great unit at a great price. Highly recommended.

I've had this tv for 2 days now. wow, what a tv set. I'm watching the Margarito vs Mosley fight, and you can see the beads of sweat. the picture is sharp as can be. the only thing that i'm not too crazy about is the remote control. Just seems cheap. I bought mine at wally-world (sorry amazon) and do not regret buying the set.

I went to Walmart looking for a 37 to 40" LCD TV and bought this one for what I was planning to spend on the smaller set. I bought it because of the specs and the great picture, as well as the price. ($799) Looking at several sets side by side it was obvious this was the best looking picture in this size range. I couldn't go any bigger because of the opening in my wall unit.

It was a very easy set up and so far I am loving it. Even my wife commented that it was like being at the theatre as we were watching a movie. I really liked all the HDMI and RCA inputs. We are very pleased with this purchase, especially after looking around online and finding it for quite a bit more at most places.

This TV has a fine picture, but within 10 months the remote quit working. Not convenient to change channels because the controls are on the side. Great looking tv with the controls hidden into the video cabinet, but really stinks with no remote. I called Philips, but since this was a gift for Christmas last year, I have no receipt and they are wanting me to pay over $30 for a new remote. I have read that others have had similar experiences.

After 12 months with out any problems, its been worth every penny! Fantastic picture. Sound is OK for a TV. BIG BIG Issue.... there are no standard audio outputs!!! My $399 Sony surround system is useless. Phillips has a single RCA output port that is incompatable with ANYBODYS audio devices it seems. Living with the disapointment. Sad.