ML- 42FD9954 42-inch Multimedia Widescreen Plasma FlatTV HDTV Display

CNET editors' review

• Reviewed by:
  Kevin Miller
• Reviewed on: 03/16/2004
• Updated on: 05/02/2009

When it comes to plasma TVs (and every other type of high-definition television), the number of pixels isn't everything. Philips's 42-inch 42FD9954 has a native resolution of 1,024x1,024--as high as any like-size plasma on the market. That number looks great on paper, and this plasma's smooth silver frame looks even better in person, but when we fired up the screen for testing, its shortcomings quickly became apparent. You can find this panel for as little as $3,800 online, which is still pricey compared to better performers such as the Panasonic TH-42PA20U. The Philips's superior resolution could serve well for computer-intensive operations, and its bright picture looks fine in well-lit rooms, but it just doesn't make the grade as a home-theater display.We found the curvaceous exterior of the Philips 42FD9954 extremely attractive. The finish is entirely silver, and the swept-back, smoothly integrated speakers flank the screen, making the panel seem wider than most 42-inchers. The best part is the arched, George Jetson-esque stand (available separately for $300 list), which lends a '60s-era future factor to table-mount installations. Of course, you can also hang this 3.7-inch-deep TV on the wall with an optional mounting bracket.

Unfortunately, the remote control is quite weak for a product this expensive. It's small, not backlit, and awkward to use--all the buttons are of similar size and shape, making them difficult to distinguish from one another. On the upside, the internal menu system is simple and intuitive to navigate.The principal feature of any fixed-pixel display is its native resolution, a number that describes the horizontal and vertical pixels available to create the image. The Philips 42FD9954 boasts 1,024x1,024 pixels, which is significantly higher than the 852x480 resolution of EDTV plasmas. It's still not enough to show every pixel of 720p or 1080i HDTV, but it will deliver better detail with high-def TV and high-resolution computer sources. (The panel accepts up to 1,280x1,024 computer signals.) With DVD and standard TV sources, the high resolution won't improve the picture.

Aside from all those pixels, features are not a real strong suit of the 42FD9954. We counted three selectable color temperatures (labeled 10,000K, 7,500K, and 6,500K), as well as the obligatory aspect-ratio choices, including 4:3, Movie Expand (letterbox), and Wide-screen (anamorphic). The set's stereo speakers are driven by a 15-watt-per-channel internal amplifier.

The 42FD9954 lacks separate picture memory slots for each input, so you can't easily optimize the picture for more than one source. We consider this a major drawback, especially since most other plasmas have this feature.

This plasma's connectivity options are fewer than those of most of the competition. We found only one component-video input with stereo audio (it can also accept RGB+HV signals); most plasmas now have two. The DVI input has HDCP copy protection, and two 15-pin VGA inputs are provided for computer hookup--one of which will work with HDTV set-top boxes. One composite and one S-Video input round out the bunch. All inputs are equipped with stereo audio jacks.

For an additional $799, you can buy the outboard control box (model FTR9965), which adds connectivity, a new remote, and some useful convenience features such as TV tuners and picture-in-picture.The 42FD9954 uses Fujitsu/Hitachi's ALiS plasma technology for its display element. ALiS stands for alternate lighting of surfaces, which uses a method similar to interlaced scanning to achieve very high resolution without increasing the cost too much. As with all the ALiS-based based plasmas we've seen (the exception being Hitachi's 42HDT50), its black-level performance was pretty poor.

Prior to calibration, the color of gray was either too blue in the 7,500K setting (ranging from 8,000K to 8,700K) or too red in the 6,500K setting (from 5,650K to 5,750K). This effect taints the entire range of color, so, for example, somebody's white dress shirt looks slightly blue. Using the limited controls in the service menu, we were able to get it much closer to the neutral broadcast standard of 6,500K. The end result was 6,150K at the bottom end of the grayscale, and dead-on 6,500K at the top. The color decoder in the panel is excellent, with no dreaded red push whatsoever, which results in good color saturation.

We were shocked to discover that the Philips 42FD9954 lacks the all-important 2:3 pull-down circuitry in the video processing to eliminate motion artifacts with film-based sources. We saw the results in the opening sequence of Star Trek: Insurrection, which was plagued by artifacts such as moving lines on the bottom of the upturned boats. Of course, with a good progressive-scan DVD player, this won't be an issue, but it will make a difference with TV content since 75 to 80 percent of all prime-time TV is still shot on film.

After calibration, we looked at a variety of material on DVD. Both the shuttle launch and the restaurant scene in Digital Video Essentials looked pretty good, with strong color saturation and natural-looking skin tones. Dark scenes, such as the opening pan across deep space from Alien, are where the 42FD9954 falls from grace. Blacks really looked like dark gray, and false contouring artifacts abounded when the material even approached black.

HDTV from our DirecTV HD channel looked mostly good. Again, dark scenes in some of the movies on the HDNET Movie channel suffered from the same dancing artifacts and lack of depth.

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