Customer Reviews

Philips 52PFL5704D/F7 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After owning this set for over a month, and spending a lot of time researching the best bang for the buck in the 50 inch and larger category, here are my impressions:

The only real compromise you will make in purchasing this TV versus the more expensive models is the contrast ratio, it just doesn't get as truly black as other far more expensive models. There are a few occasions when you will notice this: on letterboxed super wide screen Bluray content, and on some graphics on broadcasts and playing some parts of video games. But that's it...the dynamic contrast of this 52" Philips/Funai is certainly adequate for 98.3% of all other content.

Also note that the picture right out of the box is in no way representative of what this set can achieve. Out of the box settings are way too bright, the color is hyped, and the resolution was set to a mode that created scaling artifacts on a 1080i input. As soon as these were adjusted to more realistic levels, and the picture set to "unscaled", the screen quality came to life.

There are many controls for how the image is displayed, play with them to get close to what pleases your eye, and then write them down when you are happy. From there you can tweak up and down to achieve close to perfection.

I like my picture somewhat on the dark side (akin to the movie theatre experience) which also lowers power consumption. Here are some settings you can use as a starting point (Firmware version 13). Try these before calling in the expensive home theatre guy to calibrate your set:

Contrast 38
Brightness 67
Color 33
Tint 0
Sharpness 3
Temperature - Warm
Dynamic Contrast - On
Digital Natural Motion - On
Noise reduction - Off
MPEG noise reduction - On
Color enhancement - On
Picture Format - Unscaled
Vertical and Horizontal - Adjust to fit your source material so that the image fits perfectly into the screen.

Something no one has mentioned here is the ability to display your digital photos from a USB flash drive...the quality is phenomenal, the ultimate slide show!! You can also play music files from a flash drive.

Also, please note that this set has upgradable firmware. There is information on the Philips site for the latest version (correcting many of the issues that have been brought up in previous reviews) and the instructions for upgrading the firmware are in the manual. The set I purchased was already up to date as it was unboxed.

I was able to find this HDTV, under a 1000 buck, and for the price this is truly a bang for your buck. It have 4 HDMI slots which is quite adequate, plus it got the standard audio and video slots. The Picture quality is quite amazing. The 120 Hz of video processing gives a very sharp and clear picture, and personally, its hard to discern the difference between the 240Hz HDTVs and this one, so its a smart buy. It was quite easy to install, and make sure you got an adequate stand for this, cause the Tv is huge. The speakers are pretty good, but don't expect surround sound from it.
The Remote control is alright, not really a great fan of it, but it gets the job done. Otherwise this TV is a great purchase.

We received this television for Christmas. We haven't even purchased an upconverting DVD player yet and we are blown away by the picture quality from a component connection. Playing Wii games and now with our newly installed HD satellite, we couldn't be more pleased with this television. Contrast and response time seem great.

Purchased this from a wholesale club two weeks ago. I was disappointed with several things. First, standard definition programming looked noticeably worse on the Philips than it did on our other LCD TVs, including a 2 year old Sony 50" LCD. Additionally, High Def programming was not on par either. Watching several football games, I noticed that the field texture was patchy and moved as the picture panned across the screen. It's almost like when you take a youtube video and it looks good in the small window on your monitor but when you try to display it full screen it gets blurry and patchy. Well, that's what it's like with this Philips. I attribute this to being an inferior panel being used in the TV.

Additonally, colors were way off on this machine. While I don't have fancy software to try to calibrate the TV, I was unable to get accurate color representation on the TV. When the wife notices and comments, you know that it has to be bad.

There are very few reviews on this TV on the web, and while most have been very favorable, I cannot say the same. I bought this at a wholesale club at a substantially less price than Amazon is selling it for, and all I can say is that I got what I paid for. Philips is not a major player in the LCD TV business and is owned by Funai and they now have the naming rights to Philips. These are not the same Philips TVs you may have bought even several years ago. Ultimately, we returned the TV and purchased a different brand and are much happier with the picture. I cannot recommend this TV.

We got this at a club store for under $1k.

Also got a blu-ray player and the latest Star Trek Blu-ray.

It's really incredible how awesome the picture quality is on this. It takes a little getting used to the individual whiskers/pores showing on actor's faces. There is a very distinct awareness of depth. It's not 3d, but just a simple awareness of depth.

I also tried my old Firefly DVDs. And again I was blown away by the detail and clarity.

My last TV was a 42" LG plasma. So it shouldn't be that much difference, but it is.

Then I turned on regular programming. Pixelation all over the place...Took me until the end of the first quarter of the big game to find the OUTPUT RESOLUTION setting on the HD cable box. Once I had that set to 1080i, the quality of picture was near perfect. Cable doesn't come in 1080p around here.

The blacks are as black as the TV's case. I've noticed an occasional digital blur, but for the most part the movement is not blurred at all.

I'm not a sound guru, but the TV sounds good to me.

I bought this LCD TV five months ago, to upgrade from a my previous Philips 42PFL5332D/37 42" 720p LCD. I wanted to go bigger and 1080p and 120hz were too cool to resist. I was not disappointed, Watching a Blu-Ray movie is so phenomenal on this set, it feels like you are watching the studio's master copy. 120hz makes Video Games, Sports and Live broadcasts so lifelike and fluid, just dont use it for movies, it creates a "soap opera effect", this can be disabled by turning off the "Digital Natural Motion" in the OSD Menu. The chassis is handsome, with rounded edges reminds me of a giant I-phone. The clear plastic trim adds a sleek sophistication and looks nice compared to other dull square all-black sets. There are two mini-woofer drivers on the back of the TV as well as "invisible" tweeters, this TV is supposed to have improved audio over other HDTV's, I wouldnt know because I use a 7.1 Channel Surround system instead. 4x HDMI ports, its future-proof. Only drawback is its plain-jane remote, pick up a logitech harmony and youre all set. Let me put it to you this way.. I went to see my San Diego Chargers play the Tennessee Titans on Christmas Day, 8 rows from the field, but I actually still missed watching it on this Philips! its that good.

I also bought this at my local wholesale club (you know, the one next to the largest big box store in the world) for less than a grand. I have 3 inputs connected to it - the cable box, an upconverting DVD player, and the PS3 - all using HDMI. And there's still one free HDMI port on the side. The audio output (S/PDIF only, so I needed a coax/optical adapter) is connected to my 5.1 surround sound system.

The video looks amazing. This replaced an older 50" Toshiba LCD (1080i max, 1 DVI input, about $2,500 and it was a deal!), and the difference is astounding. It's mounted on a stand we got for it, in the middle of a custom wall unit, so it's a bit recessed.

The initial setup uses a wizard to guide you through your preferred settings - you see two pictures next to each other, and pick the one that looks better to you. So you don't need any special calibration software, just follow the wizard.

Using HDMI cables made a big difference. I originally connected it to the PS3 using component cables because the HDMI cables I had ordered hadn't arrived yet. When they came, I switched cables, and the difference was huge.

The remote is only for the TV - it's not an all-in-one. But what would you expect? The remote is perfectly adequate for controlling the TV.

The only thing I can complain about is the sound. The speakers are in the back of the TV, so the sound projects at the back wall, and as a result, it sounds muffled. I have no idea what they were thinking with this design. However, it doesn't matter if you hook this up to your surround sound system - we just always use the surround sound now.

We liked this TV so much we bought a second one for the game/exercise room. That one is mounted over the fireplace and is open on the sides, and the sound on that one is fine.

Great TV. Amazing value.

My husband & I have been in the market for a larger TV for about 6 months, reading reviews, comparing picture quality, etc. This TV was displayed next to a Samsung of the same caliber; the picture quality was undoubtedly better, AND the Philips was $500 cheaper. We obviously went for the Philips and it was a breeze to set up (I did it myself). I have never been too satisfied with the sound quality of previous LCD sets, and have usually used them with home theater systems, but the sound on this TV is actually quite good! We are amazed at the picture quality & the visual preference guide when you are doing the set-up really helps to get everything just as you like it (side by side options, like at the optometrist). The 4 HDMI inputs, and countless other inputs make setting up any sound/dvd/blu-ray/gaming systems a breeze. I was also able to easily program our universal remote to control the tv (a necessity for me). We watched Lord of the Rings last night, and the visuals are stunning. I recommend this TV 110% and am actually talking my parents into replacing their 47" with this one. Excellent purchase for the price.

Found this TV for under $1000. Very happy with the picture quality and amazed by the picture clarity from blu-ray.

Purchased this HDTV for under $1K early 2010 and I of course have been doing shopping for a LCDTv for quite some time then.
When I ran across this TV being displayed next to Sony,Sharp,Samsung and a few other brands I was simply amazed how the quility on the Philips not only looked as good as the Sharp but looked better than other displays there Sony included.
Normally i'm a Panasonic fan but when I compared them I had to go with tyhe Philips.

What you get 120hz processing,480i,480p,520p,720p,1080i & 1080p.
4 HDMI connectors,1 USB for firmware upgardes and Picture & MP3 playback,2 component,2x-composite,2x-s-video Plus2 more audio options. Unfortunately no optical.

Have tested Blu-ray playback with the Sony Playstation 3.
And the colors are rich & deep and the resolution is very sharp. The black levels are excellent on Blu-ray play back. Alos should mention that the tv handles 24hz playback excellently just as the director intended.
Standard TV depending on what service you use I have tested with Bright House and Verizon Fios cable.
Bright house standard picture was acceptable but you could plainly see digitization during some shows depending on the channel you are watching.
Bright house HD content was very nice at 1080i and again this depended on what HD channels you were watching.
Verizon Fios cable standard is above acceptable the standard picture quality is a bit moresoft than sharp but there is no digitization that can be seen good detail and excellent motion.
Verizon Fios cable HD programming: I dare say it's close to Blu-ray quality on most HD channels of course not quite as sharp or deep as a BR movie but very impressive.

The sound on this TV again depends on service Brighthouse the sound is loud and acceptable through TV speakers.
Fios The sound is very very low requires me to turn on home theater system to hear it properly.
On a note the speakers are placed behind the casing so this also muffles the sound and they do sound decent not excellent this is where Sony's TV came ahead thier sound was more crisp and louder.

From edge to edge the Tv stays bright in all corners and also stays sharp in the corners as well.
I have tested PC hookup and was pleased Surfing the net at 1920x1080 was sharp and easily able to read it was as sharp as my Computer monitor.
Also tested Crysis,Gears Of War and a few other games on the Tv they looked incredible on the Philips and there was almost no tearing presnt when I had Vsync off in game my PC monitor tears terribly the Philips TV surpassed my 23" LCD monitor that I use daily on my PC.

Xbox 360,Wii and of Course Playstation 3 playback same discovery it looks sharp and plays well.
The Playstation 3 games do sound much better through my Surround system since thier games support DTS sound.something Nintendo and M$ do not offer in thier games.

All in all this product is awesome and I hihly recommend this set to anyone that does not wanna spend Sony or Samsung prices but want the same quality.
Just make sure to do your home work before purchasing any TV this is an investment and should be something that fits your price range and needs.