Click NOW to build your FREE WEBSITE
Entered CNET Catalog: 10/26/2002
SKU: S2306958
Manufacturer: Philips Consumer Electronics
Manufacturer description
Philips Flat TVs have incredible advantages. The biggest one is that they are super slim and offer installation in places that conventional TVs can't go. Two technologies make these thin TVs possible. They are Plasma and LCD. Philips is using both of these exciting technologies in its award-winning Flat TV line. Philips Flat TV 42FD9954 offers advanced plasma display technology in the form of the world's first television built to hang on your wall. At just 3.6" deep, the Philips Flat TV projects a bright, uniform image, over a viewing angle of up to 160 degrees. Since the Flat TV without the e-box acts as a monitor, Philips made sure it offers advanced connectivity to support data and video inputs. 42FD9954 features two high-quality stereo speakers with ample wattage to fill the room with sound. To further enhance the audio, it has a seven-band graphic equalizer that allows the user to customize his listening experience.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/16/2004
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 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 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.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
User Rating: 
1/10
Typical Philips... plasma just died!!
Pros: looks nice when turned off
Cons: won't turn on!
User Rating: 
2/10
history of Problems
Pros: none compared to what else is out there.
Cons: poor customer service, repeated problems and repairs.
User Rating: 
9/10
High Tech, Stylish and A Great Picture!
Pros: Best picture in non-high def mode, Sleek Design.
Cons: No picture in picture without add on box.
User Rating: 1/10
Very disapoited about the longevity of this TV
Pros: It looks good on the wall and makes a fine paper weight.
Cons: Bad Power Supply In shop 1 year. This says it all!
DaTVGuy
User Rating: 
8/10
I have had this TV for almost 2yrs and it has provided excellent picture quality.
Pros: Current Price
Cons: Need more inputs
User Rating: 
3/10
My Plasma Screen died 18 Months after Purchase!
Pros: Nice looking set
Cons: Poor reliability; abysmal Philips Customer Service
Philips is slow to respond to e-mails and customer service personnel answering the phone are clueless.
I made a hefty investment in this set in 12/03 when plasma prices were still in the stratosphere. The quality of the set and the aftercare from Philips is very disproportionate to my investment.
User Rating: 
7/10
beautiful design, but toss the remote
Pros: properly configured out of the box
Cons: poor black level, c|net review is absolutely correct
And that was my only real disapointment - the poor black level. Due to the ALiS technique I was expecting black level a little below average, but even so was somewhat disappointed with the actual performance. On the plus side, ALiS is supposed to provide a display longevity almost twice that of standard, fully-driven plasmas. So I'm willing to live with a somewhat poor black level if it means that the white levels remain bright for twice as long as most other plasmas. Time will tell if this is true or just marketing spin.
Also, somewhat contradictory to the c|net review, the on-screen menus allow the second VGA input port to be configured to be used as a second component input. But Philips doesn't provide a pinout for this configuration & when I tried to use it that way with a cable that is somewhat a "standard" for many projection displays, it didn't work. And Philips never responded to my email requests for more information about using that port for component input.
If any of you ever figure out how to actually use that second VGA port for component input, please post your information for the rest of us!
User Rating: 8/10
Terrific Plasma
Pros: The best resolution of any plasma in this price class.
Cons: Some difficulty setting up due to scarce directions. Best to figure it out on your own. Not difficult to do. Directions weren't very good though.
User Rating: 7/10
Beautiful picture, Vivid full frame color, with a lot of great features
Pros: Great for movies, high defintion tv, and video games
Cons: built in speakers do not sound very good at high volumes, suggest using a home theatre system with surround sound.
User Rating: 7/10
Good, inexpensive plasma
Pros: Bought the Plasma 4 months ago during a sale at Fry's for $2999. I then got the stand at 50% discount from the MSRP and the E-Box (Philips HDTV Tuner) for $299. The plasma has very good picture quality. The colors are very rich. I didn't notice any po
Cons: My gripe would be that of the DVI-D connection. I found out that the DVI-D is only for computer input, not from HD tuners, etc. My E-Box connects to the VGA connection on the TV and all my components go through the E-Box. My other gripe about this TV i
User Rating: 7/10
Modern Design, Great picture
Pros: The sleek design and best picture in non-high definition mode (most stations are not in H.D.)Comes will wall mount and table stand! Has 1024x1024 resolution that most all others do NOT! This is a great plasma for picture quality/resolution and price!
Cons: Separate TV ebox that enhances features-could be viewed as a plus or minus.
User Rating: 7/10
Great value for an HD plasma
Pros: 1024 x 1024 resolution; wall mount is included and mounts right on wall, not 3-4 inches away - paid for delivery but mounted myself to save $500 - it was cake...hangs like a big picture, but it is a two man job for sure; optional e-box is a must, but now
Cons: Manual is rather poor, it fails to address some basic issues regarding operation; built in speakers are good, but have distorted occasionally, most often when viewing very old TV shows;
User Rating: 8/10
Philips and it's technologies
Pros: Has many different features that other manufacturers don't offer, example.. PixelPlus which multiplies the lines and makes the picture look much better. It's stylish and differs from other Plasmas with its speakers on the sides.
Cons: Price compared to some other tvs.
User Rating: 9/10
Incredible HDTV!
Pros: Looked at Pioneer, Sony and Philips 42", the Pioneer blew the others away. Got at CompUSA so had their home theatre guys install and connect everything, they were themselves very impressed with the brighness and sharpness of this TV. I would greatly recom
Cons: Can't really think of any, the compaints about the remote are moot in my case, as I use my Cox digital set top remote for everything.
User Rating: 9/10
A great TV
Pros: I found the picture is outstanding. Very easy to set up. Well worth the money!
Cons: The number of possible settins is confusing, but spending 5+ hours to work through it all was well worth the effort.
User Rating: 9/10
Awesomoe Picture
Pros: Best picture that I could find based on comparison with similar models.
Cons: Little bit difficult to reach the input jacks.
User Rating: 9/10
Doesnt get much better
Pros: Came w/ wall & table top mount not an accessory like some others, can be hooked up to you pc as a monitor, picture quality stunning. Best of both worlds High definition & built in speakers.
Cons: Product gets a little warm @ the top of the monitor when left on for a while. But after my research this seems to be an apparent trait of most plasmas, just some more so than others.
