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"I've had it for almost a year and it's still perfect" on by mikesmtx
Pros: picture quality is great ; really does use a lot less power ; very easy to setup ; continues t look amazing no matter what I'm inputting to it
Cons: really the only thing I can think of is that it doesn't have a split screen mode (not that I would use it all the much)
Summary: I did some research before I bought this tv and for the most part people had good things to say about it. I think most of the problems you'll hear are isolated issues, ya get a warranty, but don't expect to need it.
I used to have comcast and their hd feed really sucks, they use a 3:1 compression (trust me I know I used to work for them), so I was always seeing issues with that. And the SD feed was absolutely awful, again thinking the tv couldn't do any better. When I quit working for them I switched to verizon fios, holly crap. Talk about a difference, I quickly realized it wasn't the tv at all. The HD feed with fios is breathtaking, and the nicest part is SD shows are at least 3 times clearer. I never thought I would watch SD TV again until I got FIOS.
I also have PS3, games and Blue-Ray are nothing short of ridiculous. The color, contrast, refresh rate, everything is great. Ya it does take some tweaking to get it right and I still change settings depending on what exactly I'm watching.
Four of my friends also have 42" LCD TVs. One has a VIZIO, two have 2 different models of samsung, and the other has a nice sharp (sorry don't know model #'s). And as well all have PS3, so I've seen all in 1080p. Bottom line the vizio and samsungs don't come close, the sharp is very nice. It looks about the same, but slightly better, it has 120 refresh rate and slightly higher contrast ratio. But not enough difference to make me feel bad about buying this one. The design is better than any lcd that I've seen, it uses less than half of the power (even when not in power save mode), the sound is good for watching tv (still have sound system for games and movies). All of my friends spent more (except VIZIO) and ended up with lesser products that are still costing them more every month.
This set rocks, plain and simple and lastly. If you have comcast or a dish and can get Verizon FIOS, switch.......right now. Take it from someone who was in the business, it is much better......and I'm not even going to get into the internet side of things. So ya do some research, but if you want an affordable lcd that looks outstanding and will save you money in the long run take a look at this set -
"Don't get me wrong it's good..." on by truthseeker6636
Pros: Great color representation with tweaking of the color, brightness, contrast and automated settigns. renders analog video nicely compared to others. Little to no screen reflection
Cons: I had to update the software to fix a few issues, which were fixed by the update. Dont use any automated settings they lend a strange effect to the picture...barely noticeable, but there.
Summary: Overall I really like this TV. I've had a few qualms with it though in regards to the picture quality when watching things move very quickly and abruptly against a background or another object on screen, but I've also noticed it on other name brand panels as well, which must be inherent to the LCD technology at this point. I don't really care for BLACK blacks because I've noticed a loss in detail in dark scenes with really high black. SO this TV is perfect in that regard. Howevert the black levels are sufficient. It took alot of tweaking, though, to get the colors and brightness/contrast right. All the presets stink and all but the color enhancement feature need be turned on since the sampling rate for the others cause a slight, but noticeable flutter effect on screen when viewing programs that change brightness and colors alot and especielly when playing video games. It is great for the money and comming from philips, who I'm partial to anyway. One major thing I found when I recieved the TV is that it didn't work...upon further inspection there was a connector half off the signal board going to the panel causing it to power up and display a blank screen. My point is, is that I fixed it being a field service engineer I knew what to look for, but anyone could have done it. The back panel is held on securely by torx screws and comes off easily. Once inside the parts are straightforward and easily accessible. This thing can be serviced quite easily, which is a plus. 4 HDMI inputs are great with USB and two component inputs, S-video and an output, down firing speakers and two small woofers firing to the rear make a decent sounding TV out of the box. It is attractive and doesn't have 1080P stickers all over the place. It can be wall mounted easily and comes with a sturdy stand that can swivel about 45deg in either direction. Unfortunately picture settings are only programmable in the memory for the HDMI spread and the component video spread...in other words each output is not individually saveable, what works for one works for all.
I was reading my review and I noticed that all the automated enhancements need to be turned OFF except for the color enhancement...sorry
Updated on Sep 2, 2008 -
"One nice TV" on by drifterz28
Pros: nice options for naming inputs, usb port and 4 hdmi ports, speakers are on the back and looks slick
Cons: nothing so far. would have liked ambiantlight
Summary: 2 months and still love it. had some small issues with the auto screen sizing so i just set it to wide screen and that that, it is nice with the PS3 and Blu-ray movies and looks sharp with upscaled dvd too. i would tell any one to buy it
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"This TV will save you money!" on by ameren1
Pros: This TV consums less power (same amount of power as a 75watt light buld) than any new LCD/Plasma TV on the market today. I bought mine from Dell (2 weeks ago)for $855 and did not pay any shipping. Must get an HDMI cable.
Cons: Some of the non-HD channels have burry sequences. I don't blame the TV but this is the only thing I could think of.
Summary: If you are upgrading you old TV to a flat panel, you must get this TV. This is the only TV that can save you money each month on your electric bill. I would get the extended waranty (3 years for $120).
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"Nice display, but no power savings in PC mode." on by coprohead
Pros: Excellent picture; Fine power savings in some modes.
Cons: Zero power savings features in PC mode.
Summary: I waited for this HDTV to come out because it has some nice power saving features. I initially hooked it up through s-video and the TV f-connector. The picture quality wasn't great, but I really didn't mess with it much since I was waiting for a new video card with HDMI and 1080p resolution so I could hook it up to my PC. I want it hooked up to my PC so I can run DVD's and TV through the PC and it will up convert everything to the right screen resolution.
The picture looks fantastic with DVDs and TV. I don't have anything to run in high definition so I can’t say anything about that. Of course some movies look better than others, but that depends on the quality of the transfer and not the TV. Standard TV looks excellent after it runs through my PC and it is up converted to the correct display resolution.
My biggest, and only, complaint about this HDTV is its power saving features. This was a major selling scheme for this TV, but I never saw any mention that it doesn't work in PC mode. When it was hooked up to s-video the power savings were great. It was drawing around 90W. I was very happy with that. As soon as I hooked it up to the PC through HDMI and set it to the proper PC mode all the power savings went away and it started drawing >190W. Even more distressing is it doesn't understand a sleep request from a PC. Instead of blanking the screen and going to a low power mode it displays a blue screen with a small "no signal" box and draws over 100W.
My complaints with this TV are all in its PC mode power saving features. It has none. I always thought that a monitor need a sleep feature to get and Energy Star compliance rating, but I guess I was wrong about that. Or maybe there is a loop hole since it is technically a TV that can be used as a PC monitor. I have contacted Philips and they told me that there is nothing I can do about the PC operation since they leave it all up to the PC video card. I have tried to get the nice power savings the TV has in low power mode, but my video card can't do it since it must be something internal to the TV like dimming the backlight. I requested they look into adding the monitor sleep function to a future firmware update. I have no idea if that will happen though. If you’re looking to buy this TV to hook it up to a PC and want the power saving features I would hold out until the update is released; if it ever is released.
I have had trouble rating this TV. It probably is perfect if all you want is HDTV from over-the-air or cable and Blu-Ray, but if it's hooked up to a PC then it's not worth it just for the power savings. Since I waited a long time to get this TV I am giving it a mediocre rating; specifically for this reason.
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