Customer Reviews

Philips 42PFL7403D/27 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

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

 

 

Very happy with this TV I have only had it now for 2 days. It is a the best LCD TV I have watched. Even 480i SD looks stunning thanks to the perfect pixel HD engine in this beast. The only con I can say so far is when an Ipod is hooked up it is very hard to pick out the songs. and I havent figured out playlists. But its a small objection compared to the tons of pluses of this TV. I have gotten tons of compliments on it from every friend that has seen it which is cool. I really am impressed in this TV.

I purchased this TV at Sam's last week, it compared very well in features to other TVs for a lot less $$, I paid $997. With 2 ms response time, pixel perfect engine, and 120hz you can't ask more for your money. The remote is super intuitive, I got bonus points from the wife for that :) It takes you through a neat setup the first time you plug it in to find your contrast brightness preferences and creates a "personal" setting for you. The thin glass frame around the set gives it a perfect frame against any wall.
One very important feature we were looking for was an anti reflective screen. Our living room has a wall of windows so we needed something with low glare, this TV is perfect for that! We looked kind of funny going down the aisle with a flash light but you would be surpised at how many LCD's have a lot of reflection.
Overall this is an awesome TV, with all the right features. I only had to turn one off call "Digital Natural Motion", which makes everything look like a home movie (30FPS vs 24 FPS). This feature might do well for nature programs or something, but for movies I prefer the movie "look" with the slower framerate.
Amazon advertises a "newer" version of this TV, but I did some research on Philip's website and I can't find any difference between this one (/27) and the newer one (/F7) besides that it will work in USA and Europe.

Update 11/6/2010
I've had this TV for about 2 years now, and it still works well. The only complaint I have is that sometimes when watching movies (never TV) the audio just goes berserk. Its very loud static, I have to turn off the TV for a few seconds and turn it back on for it to return to normal. It doesn't happen often, about 1 time every 3-4 months, but it startles the heck out of me when it happens. I called Phillips to ask if they would be releasing a firmware update for this, but because I was out of warranty they wouldn't do anything. I told them this is a defect in the TV that I've heard others have too, but no dice... guess I'll have to live with it.

Pros:
Great picture and sound with the speakers that are with the TV. I use my own surround sound system right now though. It has enough input ports for all of my Gaming systems, (Xbox 360, PS2, Wii.) I get full 1080P with just my Component Cable with my Xbox 360 and the picture is great no problems with the action looking jumpy.
Cons:
Only con that I have so far is that it does not come with a normal analog stereo out connection. My surround sound system only uses analog stereo connection and this TV only has 1 coax Digital out.

I bought my Philips 42PFL7403D/27 fifty-four weeks ago. I was happy with this TV until yesterday when it failed. As the disgusting, but telltale, smell of failed electronics permeated my family room, the TV started up with an unusable dim and blotchy picture. My fallback TV is a 15-20 year old Sony with a vacuum tube display that still works. Having a TV fail after 1 year and 2 weeks is just unacceptable.

This is both the first and last Philips for me. And after reading on line about Philip's repair services, I certainly wish I had never brought this thing. I am not looking forward to trying to get it fixed. Oh yes, when it worked the picture was very nice. As I said I was happy.

Philips 42PFL7403D/27 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

I've purchased this TV in early August and the picture quality can't be beat in my opinion. On the other hand, the on screen controls don't measure up. For example, type in a channel number and you'll see a number that can't be much larger than one inch square show up on the screen camouflaged among the current TV picture, then once the channel changes, huge bars cover a large potion of the screen displaying all the program info; looking like a huge horizontal bar chart. The remote while complete and intuitive is not laid out well nor is it ergonomically shaped.

Since it is a TV the picture quality is my highest priority and I'm very happy about that, but I would have thought Philips/Magnovox would have had a better handle on the design of the on screen documentation and remote layout.

I purchased this TV and was very pleased until a volume problem started. When watching a show the sound went to full volume and static. I contacted Philips and it turns out to be a design flaw with the TV. They refused to fix it and suggested I return the TV. Unless you plan to use a separate sound system I would suggest not buying this TV.

Bought this TV a couple years ago and now all 4 HDMI ports dont work. Contacted tech support and of course I got the run around and conveniently out of warranty. Of course they were more than happy to refer me to several service centers at my own expense. I will not be buying another Philips and would recommend you dont either.

When I am watching this beautiful display it is hard to stop. That is what sold me on it when I first saw it in Sam's Club after 3 days of shopping all of the local sources where I could view operating TV's. It was among about 15 or 20 TV's in Sam's and when I saw it I just stopped and stared. I told my wife that it has to be very expensive. It wasn't. It was better than any other display in the store by far, nothing was even close. Plus the 120 HZ refresh is a big improvement in smoothing video. We raced home to look up reviews and was so impressed with them that I raced back to the store hoping that it was still there. It was. I bought it. I'm still happy and it has been about a year now. The menu system and setup is very intuitive and automated. I am an experienced photographer of 42 years and have the latest HP HDX 18.5" hi-def laptop to edit my work. I love doing so on this TV because the picture is so incredible. Heck of a job Philips!
Bud Logan

I purchased this at Sam's Club on sale. The saleswoman there seemed really knowlegable about the T.V.'s and recommended this one for us. It was easy to hook up and select the type of picture you wanted but the picture is coarse and not as good a quality as I had hoped from it. It is really bad when I compare it with my old RCA that it replaced. Has lots of neat features but picture is not one of them. I wouldn't buy this tv again without comparing picture quality to other tv's.

I am updating my original rating because, after spending over $600 dollars to fix the TV which broke after two years, the TV has had another major breakdown (picture is orange, lines thru it, etc). At the time of the first breakdown, Philips referred me to an "authorized service center" who fixed the TV. Now Philips has changed its policy and in effect says too bad you are on your own. So, I called the independent local TV repair main. The Repair man said they have over a dozen Philips/Magnavox (same product it turns out) in the shop because their product "breaks all the time". To those looking for TVs, all I can say is the quality of the Philips products is POOR - but don;t just read the review. Call a local TV repair guy and ask about the Pilips quality - I suspect you will hear the same thing I have.