Philips 32PF9996

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Design : 8.0
  Features : 7.0
  Performance : 7.0
  Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Philip Ryan
• Edited by:
  David Katzmaier
• Reviewed on: 03/31/2005
• Released on: 12/01/2004

Philips helped to start the flat-panel TV craze years ago with its plasma commercials, and the company has always tried to position its sets as leaders in design. The 32PF9996, a 32-inch LCD, is no exception. While it is a matter of taste, it's arguably as stylish as models such as the Samsung LT-P326W, and its built-in Ambilight backlighting will definitely turn heads when you turn it on. In terms of performance, this Philips's black level and color temperature are clearly better than those of many panels we've tested. However, the real question is whether you're willing to fork over the extra dough for this Philips over a budget model such as Syntax's Olevia LT32HV.

It's official: clear Plexiglas is the new silver. In this case, it forms the base of the stand and surrounds the 32PF9996's frame. Moving in from the Plexiglas border, you'll find the artfully concealed speakers, then a silver plastic frame, then a black bezel, then the screen. Thanks to the panel's lack of 720p scaling, you get another black box around the picture when you watch 720p material (more about this later). Buttons for power, volume, and channel control; menu access; and input selection are on top of the panel.

Like its big brother, the 42PF9996, this 32-inch LCD boasts a pair of fluorescent lights on its backside. You can adjust the intensity and color of the light, choose to have the color reflect the onscreen content, or select from a few preset colors, including intense blue and red. You can even turn on the backlight while the TV itself is turned off. If you care about seeing accurate color, however, you'll probably want to leave the backlight off for serious viewing. Even on the Soft White setting, the light appeared too orange, which adversely affected how we perceived onscreen colors.

The pretty silver remote isn't backlit and doesn't have direct input access. Instead, switching inputs requires one of three actions: holding down the AV+ button for a couple of seconds, then pressing repeatedly to scroll through the inputs; using the channel rocker switch to select channels lower than 1; or pressing the Info button, then navigating through that menu. There's no reason changing sources should be this complicated.

The 32PF9996's native resolution of 1,366x768 is enough to display full 720p HDTV. Unlike most panels, this Philips displays 720p sources without any scaling at all. The upside is that it's a rock-solid, full-resolution picture. The downside is that black bars surround all sides of the picture. We appreciated the lack of scaling artifacts and the sharper picture, but most folks won't want to look at those bars. All other incoming signals are scaled to match the available pixels. The built-in NTSC tuner serves up regular TV, but if you want HDTV, you'll have to add an external ATSC tuner or an HD satellite or cable box.

Single tuner picture-in-picture and independent input memories top the list of convenience features. Philips also includes a slew of automatic picture adjustments. It's best to turn off Color Enhancement, DNR (which stands for Dynamic Noise Reduction), and Dynamic Contrast for high-quality sources, as they'll only cause garish colors, softness, and fluctuations in black and white levels, respectively. We preferred to set the Digital Processing option to Standard instead of Pixel Plus 2.

The numerous aspect-ratio selections include Automatic, which fills the screen with all sources except 720p; Super Zoom, which stretches the sides of 4:3 sources to fill the screen; 4:3, which displays 4:3 sources with black bars to either side; Movie Expand 14:9, which zooms 14:9 letterboxed content to fit screen height; Movie Expand 16:9, which zooms letterboxed content to fill the screen; 16:9 Subtitle, which shifts Movie Expand 16:9 upward so that subtitles are visible; and Wide-screen, which displays 16:9 sources properly. Unfortunately, you can't change aspects with HDTV sources, and only two options (4:3 and Wide-screen) are available for 480p sources--a real bummer if you want to fill the screen with a nonanamorphic letterboxed DVD.

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