Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight

Review by T. Wheeler for Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight
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I ordered this HDTV from Amazon on October 2, and it was shipped the same day. It was delivered with White Glove service (from a local agent-no Eagle in Lubbock) on Monday a.m. October 8. The local dispatchers, the two delivery men, and Amazon employees were all courteous and efficient. The set was un-boxed, placed in the bedroom, and packing was carried away. You will have to install the stand (a simple process).

I had researched all major brands of HDTV for months before making this purchase, including Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp and others. I looked at models locally at Best Buy, and compared full price with shipping but no taxes from several online vendors. The Amazon white glove deal was the best. I currently own two other smaller HDTV units, by Toshiba and Samsung (2007 models) and had previously owned a 2005 Toshiba that had a smaller screen and cost $1,000K more.

The TV is a hidden gem in the US marketplace. It has all the usual bells and whistles, including 3 HDMI connections, 2 component video, composite connections and a host of other standard AV connections. It is 1080p native, (accepts 24HZ and 60HZ signals) and includes 6 wide screen modes, including my favorite, an Automatic mode which will fill the screen fully as content changes. The remote control is backlit (an unusual feature), and features a really nice user interface for the on screen software adjustments, Regular software updates are made available that can be downloaded to a USB flash drive and installed in the TV. There is a great support thread at AVS Forums, and Philips product support is excellent. There are numerous high tech picture enhancements, such as Perfect Pixel HD engine, Active Control +(motion adaptation), Dynamic Contrast, Color Intensity, Digital Natural Motion, Jagged Line Suppression. and white point adjustments. You can select from 3 preset picture modes, or create a custom one. The audio section includes a graphic EQ, auto loudness control, a unique Delta Volume control which allows for seperate loudness adjustments for each channel and equipment input, and Virtual Dolby Surround. Sound is good for built in speakers, but you will want to run it through an audio system. My set has absolutely no dead or stuck pixels, no flash lighting, no clouds, and no backlight issues. Blacks are black and whites are very white.

Ambilight is the one unique feature that caused me to buy this set over all the competition. Ambilight provides 2 channel backlighting via LEDS that can be fully customizable in 4 modes. There are 3 active adaptive modes which react to the colors on the screen. My favorite mode is Color, which can be customized to any of 100 levels of deep color on the color scale, from orange to green to deep blue to purple to red, with everything in between. Color Mode is fixed.

Philips is very well known in Europe as the number 1 selling electronics brand over all others; it is in the top 5 in sales worldwide. The company, based in the Netherlands, has been in business for over 100 years. Philips is best known for its medical/ hospital tech in the US, along with Norelco shavers and an array of consumer electronics, including its sister subsidiary Magnavox (a value brand made on separate assembly lines.)

This is an excellent HDTV at any price, and a real value with advanced features.

Philips 42PFL7432D 42″ 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight

Review by Italy05 for Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight
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We received our item in the time frame that was given to us. Each day we were notified as to how the purchase was proceeding. We were called the day before delivery and delivery arrived the following day within the time we were told. Installation of the TV was simple. We have been enjoying our new TV very much. The ambilight is great as it seem to make TV viewing easy on your eyes. Gaming on the LCD is great and we particularly enjoy the fact that there is no glare on the TV screen. I believe that anyone purchasing this TV would not only be happy with the TV, but also the service we received from Amazon as well as from the people delivering our TV.

Review by Adam Imbruglio for Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight
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Two weeks after having bought this TV, I have to say it’s easily the best image I’ve ever seen. The colors are bright and accurate, and the TV has no trouble showing off the most convincing blacks of any LCD I’ve seen. The Ambilight turns out to be more than just a gimmick, too; it really does make movies and games more immersive, and easier on the eyes. The only flaw is one dead pixel, right near the center of the screen, but it’s invisible even if I try to look for it from a few feet away from the screen. I’m enough of a perfectionist that it bothered me just knowing it was there at first, but after getting it out of my head, I have to admit it isn’t really a problem at all.

I’d easily recommend this TV to anyone looking for a high-end HDTV at a good price.

Review by David M. Reed for Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight
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This turned out to be even better than I had hoped for. Rich colors, great definition, lots of inputs for various devices. Easy to use. The only flaw is my cable company (Time-Warner) which doesn’t have a clue about installations, service, etc.

But the TV is nearly perfect. Just the right size for our bedroom, The Ambalight feature adds to the thrill of seeing television totally new again. I didn’t realize what we were missing on our old 36-inch tube set. This is dazzling.

Review by Elizabeth Pannese for Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Ambilight
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This TV turned out to be even better than expected. We needed to get a new TV because our 4 yr old Toshiba rear projection just died on us. Went to Best Buy looking for the Samsung plasma but ended up getting this instead. We are very happy with it. The picture is amazing and we get more HD channels than we did with our Toshiba for some reason. The sound quality isn’t great but then most Tv’s are hooked up to a sound system anyway so that’t not an issue. The picture quality and ambilight feature makes up for it. We are very pleased and hope to get a better run with this one than we did with our Toshiba.