Televisions.com Reviews the Philips 42 PFL 9803 H

Edgware, United Kingdom, March 28, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Philips 42 PFL 9803 H Full HD LCD TV was tested by the expert test team at Televisions.com through the ingenious combination of objective laboratory instruments and comprehensive subjective analysis. The Philips 42 incher scored 6.8 points on a scale of 10 in the “Editor’s Rating” category. The test team was impressed with the high contrast ratio, low power consumption, hybrid tuner for DVB-C/DVB-T and powerful speakers. The aspects where the 42 PFL 9803 H let the test team down were introduction of artifacts due to automatic LED adjustment, judder in 24p signals, no facility for the user to change picture format and the lack of separate backlight setting. Televisions.com editor-in-chief, Florian Friedrich was visibly impressed when he said: “The Philips 42 PFL 9803 H showcases the new “Local Dimming” LED backlight technology but consequently produces artifacts which are hard to ignore. Also home theatre fans would find the TV set a major let down due to the inaccurate reproduction of 24p material.”

The review subsequently describes the features of the Philips TV set in detail. The Philips TV utilizes LEDs instead of CCFLs for backlighting which dramatically improves the deeper blacks of the picture imparting better contrast. But in the case of this TV set it was found to produce unnecessary artifacts which are detrimental to the overall picture. The “Ambilight” technology exclusive to Philips impressed the test team as it created an astute impression of a larger image by illuminating the wall behind the TV with colours matching the current displayed content. The on-screen menu of the Philips TV was found to be clear and the Level 2.5 Teletext was fine. The test team found that the remote was sleek and handy with convenient access to features like “Ambilight” and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) while also incorporating a quick view list and a back button for easy switching during daily viewing. In terms of multimedia the review states that the Philips TV is abundantly rich with a USB socket allowing the playback of music and images while the Ethernet connectivity allowing access to multimedia content via a PC network. The test team found that the DLNA certification that the TV set has also allows supports sharing servers like TwonkyMedia and latest Windows Media Player versions. The review states satisfaction at the universal tuner’s reception of DVB-C, DVB-T and analog TV signals. The test team recommends the “Movie” preset and switching off all the other filters for a detail rich picture with convincing skin tones. The review states that the “HD Natural Motion” technology even when not activated, displays fast motion objects accurately. Motion Clarity is highly dependant on the “Contrast” setting which adjusts contrast and backlight intensity. The signal arriving from Scart-RGB was found to exact the best performance from the Philips 42 incher. The two sets of speakers mounted in the rear feature diffusers which distribute the sound in all directions provide good sound overall. The review then provides a set of ideal settings for the TV that were derived by the test team at the in-house test theatre for displaying HDTV/Blu-ray signal via an HDMI interface in darkened environments. Florian Friedrich said: “The Philips 42 PFL 9803 H does not impress due to its numerous defects in terms of judder for 24p signals and the artifacts produced due to backlighting. Even the high contrast doesn’t save its case.”

###