Philips 37PFL5322D

Summary: I have had this TV for two weeks. I have been researching tons of different HDTV's over the past few months. I wanted one, but didn't really want to spend the money. My 61 year old father finally bought one, so the pressure was on. I kept telling myself I didn't need one, but researched anyway. I was looking through the ads on Sunday and saw this bad boy on sale at office depot for $649! I did a double take! I could only buy 37inch since my wife will not give up her oak TV chest. At 37inches there is no need to spend the extra money on 1080p since any normal human eye won't be able to tell the difference at this size.

I had never heard of this TV in all my research so I hit the web. There wasn't much out there, hence why I am writing this review. I did find the specs sheet and was satisfied. My current SDTV is a Philips and has worked fine for years. My brother in law also happened to be in town. He works for office depot and could buy the TV for another 10 percent off! It was a no brainier.

On to performance. With the digital tuner the TV found all the HD channels Cablevision has to offer for free! Can I say amazing! It looks awesome. The Sony's or Toshiba's might look better in the store, but be realistic. This TV is going in your living room, so it doesn't much matter what it looks like compared to others. I have since went and checked them out and my eyes can't tell much if any difference at all on the showroom floors. I also have digital cable which the TV handles very well, especially the true digital channels. I will say SDTV is not good. If you don't have HD or Digital Cable you don't want this TV, of course all HDTV have this problem, but this one is really bad. For me, it doesn't matter since I don't use SD.

At $650 I couldn't be more pleased! This was bargain. The picture is great and the blacks look good to, not washed out at all. I hooked up my Wii and even though it is not HDMI it looks great. What surprised me the most is how great my normal DVD's look on this TV? They are hooked up through composite cables from a Samsung VR330. It is not an upconverting, just a normal dual player. Very impressed overall.

The only cons I have found are the following. When viewing HD channels I have bars along the sides depending upon what program is showing. Movies expand out, but local news and such does not. My father's TV allows him to change the viewing mode and this TV has the option, but for some reason will not work in HD mode on certain channels.
Sometimes the TV will automatically zoom in or out trying to find the best resolution for a digital program. Not that big of deal, and once I have the actually HD converter box this all may be a non issue.

Buy this TV, you won't be disappointed.

Summary: Got a great deal on this TV after buy the inferior store brand which failed on me the moment I took it out of the box. With that ordeal, I decided to try this TV out and I was impressed. Great resolution, great clarity, great price. A little on the heavy side though.