Customer Reviews

Philips 42PFL5704D/F7 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Amazing picture, but only if you setup certain things:
turn off "Active control"
turn off "Dynamic contrast" and you will have a perfect picture.

The picture is beautiful. Bright, vibrant, crisp, good at viewing from a angle and everything I had hoped for in LCD HD. The TV also has a black that really seperate the colors to leap off the scree. The inputs are adequate and the remote design is good but would prefer back-lighting. My first review with Amazon and I could not have picked a better product to have written about.

Had this tv for about a week, and kept trying to give it the benefit of the doubt, but from what I have read Philips just cannot make good tv's. The picture was not up to par with other tv's in the same price/size range.

More importantly, there seems to be a major issue with their HDMI inputs. When hooked up to my cable box via HDMI, the tv took around 45 seconds to display the picture after powering on, and the sound would never come on; the only solution was to unplug the HDMI and plug it back in. Now, most people would say "it must be a problem with your cable box", but the same box worked fine on my 2006 Dell brand LCD tv, and works perfectly fine on the new Sony LCD that I purchased to replace this pile. Furthermore, a friend of mine purchased this tv at the same time as me. Using a different cable box had the same problem, and he ended up returning his as well.

Avoid this tv, and don't be taken in by the price point. Purchase a better brand for slightly more, or if money is the deciding factor, go with a Vizio instead. You'll save even more, and maybe it will work. The only upside to buying this tv for me was that I had no hassles in returning it.

3 months later:
Did not regret a bit on my purchase. Excellent HD LCD TV! More I use it, the more I love it.
**************************************************************************************************************************
1 week after delivery:
Watch the Olympic opening ceremony on a Phillip 47" wall-mounted LCD @ a local restaurant and was amazed by the sharp and beautiful picture of it. When a 1-day special of $699 from amazon.com listed on "[...]" comes up, jumped @ the opportunity to get one myself. Also, purchased an extended 2-yr warranty w/ it for $99 just in case. So far, no problem, and very happy w/ it.
Ordered it on a Thurs, got it delivered the following Friday (from Dallas, TX to S.F., CA). Very easy to setup. Took me less than 10 mins. Pictures is as beautiful & sharp as ever. No disappointment or surprises there. Sound-wise, a little disappointing at first. Based on some of the older dvd movie soundtrack, at times I've to turn the volume way up to get decent sound. But when I go out and bought a brand new "Madonna Italy concert" dvd, the sound was excellent. So, I guessed, it all depends on the soundtrack that comes w/ the dvd. TV reception is good and clear. I used an external antenna. No cable, at least not yet. Remote work well. All controls easy to follow. Haven't read the user guide yet. 4 HDMI ports are plenty. So far, using 1 hdmi port for my vcd+dvd recorder/player combo deck, and AV port for my karoake deck. USB port works well w/ my digital video camera. Still got plenty ports left for other hookups.
With average sound, plan on getting a Bose 5.1 surround sound home theater system in the near future to go w/ it. With Bose sound and Phillip excellent picture, that should complete my new home entertainment center.
Wrap up:
1. Great price. 2. Easy setup. 3. Excellent picture. 4. Easy to use. 5. So-so sound...but w/ getting a Bose theater surrond sound system in the near future, it should be fantastic.
I'm very happy and it's a great buy.

Pros
1. Awesome picture quality
2. Easy to setup - walks you through a series of pictures with different brightness and contrast and asks you to select between two pics (left | right) - Also different default picture modes are useful at times.
3. Awesome Sound - one of my friend actually asked me if I had some additional speakers / woofer connected while watching a movie.
4. 120Hz and 2ms response at this cost is unbeatable
5. Looks beautiful
6. Easy to setup with HD antenna

Cons:
Does not have a VGA input but I knew this before purchasing it. I use S-video on my laptop to connect to the TV

Although the price was reasonable, this is an awful LCD TV and Phillips approved Technician confirmed and stated that themselves. Upon arrival, the sounds didn't work properly. When you power on the unit, you get no sounds until you raised the level to 52-55 and would explode out and you have to lower it quickly. That was the only way to get the sounds to work. Contacted Phillips immediately (within 2 weeks), after 3 service trips by their local technician (Tops Electronics) horrible service by the way, Phillips decided to replace my BRAND NEW LCD TV with a Refurbished TV. I have argued with them and they refused to replace it with a new unit. That's bad customer service on their part. I can't see myself or friends and family purchasing a Phillips product again.

The Tops Electronic Technician said this is a very common issue with this TV model. Please avoid this LCD, and don't be fooled by the price point.

first off i love the look of this tv, the glassy look to the frame is a plus, also the sound quality is awesome, i dont need to use speaker system to make it sound good as it has plenty of power, the pic quality is also amazing, i have digital cable and i took out the cable box because it ruined my pic quality, i plug right into the wall and i go extra HD channels from Comcast which i dont have to pay for, i dont know how but it happened and only certain HDTVs can do this, the remote is also very nice and easy to use and not too bulky, i used to own a samsung which are great tvs but the remote was massive, this one has a remote the size of a wii remote which is good if u have small hands. there are too many features to list and connections are plenty with 4 hdmi, for more info check their site as i did before choosing this HDTV

This is my 2nd HD tv and I have to say this is the best deal your going to get for this size of tv and its specs as compared to other name brands like Sony or Samsung which happens to have awful sound on those brands. It's so easy to hook up and my movies and games look gorgeous. I definitely recommend this tv for first time buyers and gamers. LOVE IT!

Amazon has to take this TV down!!! It is a TV that WILL I repeat WILL Malfunction after a year!!! How ironic since the warranty ends in a year. I refused to write a review until I spoke with the people at Phillips and heard it from their mouths. NO REFUND (even though there are several complaints) I read the reviews (which of course were not so abundant over a year ago when I bought the TV ) and they are true. Anyone who has this TV and does not have the power supply problem is one LUCKY MF! I wasted money, HARD EARNED money on this TV that I will not get back. But I will do my best to prevent other people from doing the same!!! Good Luck Everyone. It is a good deal at first but a sad story in the end!!!!!

I LOVE THE T.V. THANK YOU FOR HAVING IT FOR THE PRICE I GOT IT FOR WITH THE FREE DELIVERY.