Philips 40PFL7605 LED TV : Good Picture and Sound Quality
Great image and sound, but no Freeview HD…
Philips thinks differently. The brand includes a long history of going its personal way in client electronics and its individualistic vision is all evident in the functions and tech with the 40PFL7605. The brand’s trademark Ambilight mood lighting (here in its Spectra 2 iteration) actually helps the screen standout from the crowd.
Philips online proposition is equally unique. Rather than just offer a walled garden, it sports activities an embedded browser for unfettered web accessibility. Given the levels of incompatibilities you will experience online (lack of Flash for instance), it is debatable if this provides a better user experience than optimised portal websites, but it is again a stage of distinction. Heck, even the adorable oval remote is uncommon.
For short-listers, however, the greatest stage of distinction will probably be the lack of Freeview HD. An oversight which we’ve come to expect now.
The screen is very thin, just 41.5mm, thanks towards the use of Edge-LED backlighting. This downsizing is quite an achievement given the cabinet also accommodates a pair of Ambilights.
The set’s consumer interface is distinctive. A large Home button around the remote requires you to a graphical menu to select inputs and tweak settings. It’s extremely intuitive. Once the Tv is online, you can browse your network for media. File playback across the network is unpredictable. Test AVIs recognized by other screens on this group test wouldn’t play, while other people co-operated and all MKVs had been good. When study from USB, all check files played as anticipated.
The screen provides a pleasant wizard to optimize picture settings from the box, but it is really worth digging deeper and experimenting using the brand’s Pixel Plus HD bouquet (house of 100Hz Distinct LCD, HD Natural Movement, Dynamic backlight and contrast control).
HD Natural Movement might remove cinema judder, however it also adds a slight smudgy halo about moving objects. The very best setting to negate this is Minimal. Needless to say, not all the image processing is sledgehammer tough. Enhanced Sharpness, for example, is extremely subtle, pulling out texture and nuance within the picture with out any excessive edge enhancement or ringing. Subjective movement image clarity is comparable to the Samsung set, at about 800 lines.
Regardless of the set’s thinness, audio is surprisingly good. Proprietary Smart Sound post processing has a number of filters which enable a great balance between speech clarity and mid-bass. For general viewing it is the very best audio performer in the group.
The Philips 40PFL7605 has all of the makings of the great mid-range Tv, with remarkable sound and picture high quality and excellent on-line accessibility. The lack of the Freeview HD tuner does hole it below the waterline somewhat, though.
Philips 40PFL7605 start date: Out now, Philips 40PFL7605 Price : About £850
Great image and sound, but no Freeview HD…
Philips thinks differently. The brand includes a long history of going its personal way in client electronics and its individualistic vision is all evident in the functions and tech with the 40PFL7605. The brand’s trademark Ambilight mood lighting (here in its Spectra 2 iteration) actually helps the screen standout from the crowd.
Philips online proposition is equally unique. Rather than just offer a walled garden, it sports activities an embedded browser for unfettered web accessibility. Given the levels of incompatibilities you will experience online (lack of Flash for instance), it is debatable if this provides a better user experience than optimised portal websites, but it is again a stage of distinction. Heck, even the adorable oval remote is uncommon.
For short-listers, however, the greatest stage of distinction will probably be the lack of Freeview HD. An oversight which we’ve come to expect now.
The screen is very thin, just 41.5mm, thanks towards the use of Edge-LED backlighting. This downsizing is quite an achievement given the cabinet also accommodates a pair of Ambilights.
The set’s consumer interface is distinctive. A large Home button around the remote requires you to a graphical menu to select inputs and tweak settings. It’s extremely intuitive. Once the Tv is online, you can browse your network for media. File playback across the network is unpredictable. Test AVIs recognized by other screens on this group test wouldn’t play, while other people co-operated and all MKVs had been good. When study from USB, all check files played as anticipated.
The screen provides a pleasant wizard to optimize picture settings from the box, but it is really worth digging deeper and experimenting using the brand’s Pixel Plus HD bouquet (house of 100Hz Distinct LCD, HD Natural Movement, Dynamic backlight and contrast control).
HD Natural Movement might remove cinema judder, however it also adds a slight smudgy halo about moving objects. The very best setting to negate this is Minimal. Needless to say, not all the image processing is sledgehammer tough. Enhanced Sharpness, for example, is extremely subtle, pulling out texture and nuance within the picture with out any excessive edge enhancement or ringing. Subjective movement image clarity is comparable to the Samsung set, at about 800 lines.
Regardless of the set’s thinness, audio is surprisingly good. Proprietary Smart Sound post processing has a number of filters which enable a great balance between speech clarity and mid-bass. For general viewing it is the very best audio performer in the group.
The Philips 40PFL7605 has all of the makings of the great mid-range Tv, with remarkable sound and picture high quality and excellent on-line accessibility. The lack of the Freeview HD tuner does hole it below the waterline somewhat, though.
Philips 40PFL7605 start date: Out now, Philips 40PFL7605 Price : About £850
