The Achilles' heel of LCD TVs has, for a long time, been the backlight. In an LCD TV the image is created by a panel that is illuminated from behind. For most uses this is fine, but when you are trying to reproduce black, or something dark, it has an impact on the depth and reality. Mostly, truly deep and rich blacks will come off looking washed-out.
The answer to this, according to Philips, is to use an array of more than 1,000 LEDs behind the LCD panel to illuminate the picture. We've seen this done before on a Samsung and even a gargantuan 72-inch Sony TV, and the results have always impressed us. So will the Philips 42PFL9803 manage to win our approval? With a retail price over £2,000, we should hope so.
Design
The first thing you'll spot when you look at the 42PFL9803 is the remarkable styling. Rather than a boring black case, Philips has chosen a brushed aluminium one. We applaud this because it's different to every other piano-black TV on the market. The result is a wonderful-looking TV.
As you would expect with a stylish TV like this, the front is unspoilt by any hideous buttons -- there's a large Philips logo and a thin LED strip beneath the screen that reminds you the TV is on.
The remote control matches the basic colour of the TV, but it's a slightly disappointing silver-coloured plastic. Pioneer makes its remotes with real metal and we think Philips should too. As with other Philips models, the remote has a rotating wheel that can be used to select menu items. We aren't a huge fan of these devices usually, but we will say Philips has done a decent job with it.
Connectivity is well thought-out. There are four HDMI inputs -- three on the back, one on the side. You also get component video in, a VGA connection for your media centre PC or Xbox 360, and there are a pair of Scart sockets to hook up that older, standard-definition equipment.
On the side panel you'll find an S-video input and composite video in, both of which are handy for hooking up a camcorder or digital camera.
Features
As you would expect with a premium Philips TV, the screen features Ambilight. We weren't that impressed to see the more basic two-sided Ambilight Spectra 2, rather than the three-sided Spectra 3 system included on the 9703 range. It might not sound like it makes a difference, but the top strip on Spectra 3 really adds to the involvement you feel when you watch a movie.
Philips does include its Perfect Pixel HD engine, which is designed to process the massive amount of picture information in video signals and present it on-screen in the best possible way. We've always been very impressed by this system -- it works very well and Philips TVs always seem to do a very good job with Freeview pictures.
You can view your images in this TV via the USB or Ethernet connections. It's also possible to listen to music -- in the MP3 format -- and even watch MPEG-2 video using either format. The PFL9803 is also DLNA certified, which assures a certain level of support for third-party devices that also carry the logo.
Performance
Our first impression when we turned the TV on was how amazing the black levels were and how brilliant the colour reproduction looked. Even if you don't have a problem with existing LCD TVs, you will be impressed by how much better the Philips handles shadows and darkness.
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Peterppp 16 March 2009
Good: The LED Lux system
Bad: Price and picture settings
Comment: I bought this TV after reading the review on FlatpanelsHD here: http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1236858201
The TV is not perfect but the LED Lux system is very good in my opinion. Contributes to very deep blacks.
duncanc 18 December 2008
Good: PQ when camera isn't moving
Bad: Image Judder in 1080p when camera moves
Comment: Have to update my previous review. The Image Judder in 1080p hasn't been fixed by firmware as of yet. It is caused by turning off 'Natural Motion' and make all 1080p material un-watchable.
So turn 'Natuarl Motion' ON i hear you all cry... Sadly this makes things even more un-watchable - 70mm film suddenly looks like HDV (Imagine The Shining looking like an episode of Neighbors!) Worse still, the processing somehow make movement seem speeded-up, like a Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin movie.
I'm hoping that enough complaints (there are an awful lot over at the AV Forum) will make Philips do something about this - fix it, or other full refunds). Otherwise, steer well clear until i let you know in another update that it's fixed.
duncanc 5 December 2008
Good: PQ (for the most part); amazing blacks; styling
Bad: Connectivity issues and complex image processing that leads to jerky-motion and an odd 'Handy-Cam' look
Comment: I've owned a 9803 for about 2 weeks now. I'm generally enjoying the freeview picture on this, as well as the dvd image very much. But Cnet are dead right about the 'video' effect that some of the processing creates - it makes everything too smooth, clear and sharp (if that's possible). Whatever you're watching, freeview or blu-ray, it looks 'too crisp and real' ,as though it were shot on an HD handy-cam (Bladerunner looks like the best home-movie i've ever seen. It also seems to screw around with the frame rate, giving movement a slightly speeded up feel.
The smart-settings are ok-ish - i can't watch 'STANDARD' as this employs the above mentioned 'handy-cam' processing and I'm having trouble getting the 'PERSONAL' settings right. So I'm watching everything in 'MOVIE' setting, which probably doesn't get the best from the set, but at least turns off whatever process creates the 'handy-cam' effect.
When watching some material, such as the fifth season of The Wire on DVD, there's trouble when the image cuts from light-to-dark, or visa-versa. Going from, say dark-to-light there's several second in which the picture brightens up, as though trying to get the luminosity correct... Then it cuts back to dark and again, there's several seconds of luminosity adjustment. It's very distracting and definitely isn't the source material, as it's happened on freeview as well.
Another image problem is a jerkiness to movement when watching 1080p blu-ray (from a Sony BDPS350 BLU-RAY player). A big disappointment, since the picture is so good - so long as it doesn't move. On my old Sony CRT the spaceships in '2001: A Space Odyssey' gently glide across the screen to The Blue Danube. On the 9803 the stutter across in tiny increments. Perhaps this can be solved by tweaking the settings, but it's proving tricky (and i'm usually quite good at this stuff). Perhaps Philips can publish advice on the complex tweaking of the 9803, or preferably fix this in a firmware update.
Regarding the Halo effect - i've barely noticed it and when i do it's a small price for the 'OH MY GOD' i'm muttering about the amazing blacks.
Connectivity... Personally i find that the 'nanny' video-codec limitations of the USB and Ethernet inputs - Mpeg1 & 2 only - very, very disappointing. Who on Earth still watches anything in these archaic codecs!
The point of codecs is high compression, with minimal image degradation and Mpeg1&2 no longer cuts the mustard. People around the world are now crushing their dvds, home movie etc. into Mpeg4, Quicktime, Avi, Divx. Mpeg1&2 is a redundant codec that make the 9803's USB and DNLA inputs pointless.
Maybe Philips will get with the times, like Samsung has and include more up-to-date codecs on the next firmware update, but until then, do not buy this set if you want good connectivity for your Video files.
Ultimately i'm enjoying watching this set very much and have even come to like the silver frame. But after reading the Cnet review I'm questioning my decision to spend £2200. However, I'm sure these niggles can be corrected via firmaware - the question is, will Philips bother?
If they do get their act together on the firmware front, then for me this TV is a must-buy, even at the premium price - i'll let you know. But in the meantime it might be worth looking elsewhere...
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