Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight Review

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(More customer reviews)I ordered this HDTV from Amazon on October 2, and it was shipped the same day. It was delivered with White Glove service (from a local agent-no Eagle in Lubbock) on Monday a.m. October 8. The local dispatchers, the two delivery men, and Amazon employees were all courteous and efficient. The set was un-boxed, placed in the bedroom, and packing was carried away. You will have to install the stand (a simple process).
I had researched all major brands of HDTV for months before making this purchase, including Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp and others. I looked at models locally at Best Buy, and compared full price with shipping but no taxes from several online vendors. The Amazon white glove deal was the best. I currently own two other smaller HDTV units, by Toshiba and Samsung (2007 models) and had previously owned a 2005 Toshiba that had a smaller screen and cost $1,000K more.
The TV is a hidden gem in the US marketplace. It has all the usual bells and whistles, including 3 HDMI connections, 2 component video, composite connections and a host of other standard AV connections. It is 1080p native, (accepts 24HZ and 60HZ signals) and includes 6 wide screen modes, including my favorite, an Automatic mode which will fill the screen fully as content changes. The remote control is backlit (an unusual feature), and features a really nice user interface for the on screen software adjustments, Regular software updates are made available that can be downloaded to a USB flash drive and installed in the TV. There is a great support thread at AVS Forums, and Philips product support is excellent. There are numerous high tech picture enhancements, such as Perfect Pixel HD engine, Active Control +(motion adaptation), Dynamic Contrast, Color Intensity, Digital Natural Motion, Jagged Line Suppression. and white point adjustments. You can select from 3 preset picture modes, or create a custom one. The audio section includes a graphic EQ, auto loudness control, a unique Delta Volume control which allows for seperate loudness adjustments for each channel and equipment input, and Virtual Dolby Surround. Sound is good for built in speakers, but you will want to run it through an audio system. My set has absolutely no dead or stuck pixels, no flash lighting, no clouds, and no backlight issues. Blacks are black and whites are very white.
Ambilight is the one unique feature that caused me to buy this set over all the competition. Ambilight provides 2 channel backlighting via LEDS that can be fully customizable in 4 modes. There are 3 active adaptive modes which react to the colors on the screen. My favorite mode is Color, which can be customized to any of 100 levels of deep color on the color scale, from orange to green to deep blue to purple to red, with everything in between. Color Mode is fixed.
Philips is very well known in Europe as the number 1 selling electronics brand over all others; it is in the top 5 in sales worldwide. The company, based in the Netherlands, has been in business for over 100 years. Philips is best known for its medical/ hospital tech in the US, along with Norelco shavers and an array of consumer electronics, including its sister subsidiary Magnavox (a value brand made on separate assembly lines.)
This is an excellent HDTV at any price, and a real value with advanced features.
Philips 42PFL7432D 42" 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight

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