Televisions.com Reviews the Philips 42 PFL 7404

Edgware, United Kingdom, February 20, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Adept at testing Television equipment and accessories leveraging state-of-the-art techniques has been an inherent skill attribute of the test team at Televisions.com, allowing them to review the Philips 42 PFL 7404 through a blend of subjective analysis and objective laboratory measurements. The 42 inch Flat screen Philips LCD TV scores 6.7 out of 10 points when tested by the extensively experienced team at Televisions.com. The review expounds the gorgeous design of the television along with its accurate reproduction of 24p material and crisp motion picture depiction. The combination of stunning looks and clear reproduction of moving pictures earn the Philips 42 PFL 7404 an average rating, but what really is a major let down are the genuinely weak contrast and the awkward channel navigation. Florian Friedrich, Televisions.com’s editor-in-chief said: “The elegant curves of the Philips Flat Panel 42 incher might be fascinating but that it is not suitable for dark environments is a major disappointment.”

The subsequent part of the review describes other features of the Philips 42 PFL 7404 such as the multimedia capabilities and the sound. All the 42 incher has to offer in terms of multimedia is a USB port capable of playing music, video and images. With the economical price tag, the television is also devoid of the popular Philips Ambilight technology. The review states that the presence of a 3-way tuner with support for HDTC and CI+, and also color temperature fine tuning, image enhancement settings and a backlight with manual adjustment & automatic light sensor controls tilt the scales a bit in the television’s favour. The review praises the design of the remote control and its clear button placement, but the sluggish response time of the menu interface and the absence of sort functionality for the digital cable channel list earn a “thumbs down”. The connection of a Blu-ray player had the reviewers in a tizzy with the television selecting the wrong HDMI input due to the “EasyLink” option. The review states that enabling the “HD Natural Motion” option eliminates film judder; gets rid of double edges and smoothes the picture in general. The reviewers found that for the 576i (PAL) signals, HDMI delivered decent picture quality with passable de-interlacing. The review then provides a list of ideal settings derived by reviewers for realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray in a darkened environment.

The HDTV video processing is of good quality with the only and most prominent weakness being low contrast and residual illumination especially noticeable in dark home viewing conditions. The sound from the internal speakers is of good quality and substantially powerful with only the music being slightly off-colour. The weak contrast left Friedrich unimpressed: “All the pluses in favour of the Philips 42 PFL 7404 are undone if you are looking for a high quality dark home viewing experience.”

Televisions.com possesses a test lab in Munich, Germany that is a source of in-depth reviews for TVs, Blu-ray players and projectors that are attained through advanced measurement techniques and caters to the UK and European markets. An in-house team of skilled consumer electronics experts and technicians test all aspects of a device to provide candid reviews. These findings are then published on the homepage www.televisions.com to help potential users make informed buying decisions.

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