Great value HD Ready TV

I was looking to buy my first LCD TV, and after a lot of research I initially wanted a Sony Bravia as they are undoubtedly the leaders in terms of picture and build quality. Unfortunately Sony only make one considerably expensive 37" model (in a toe-curling mid-1990's silver colour), so I gave it a miss.

However my second choice - the Toshiba - delivers great quality HD-ready pictures at an extremely attractive price point. Not quite as good as the Sony Bravia, but for well under £500 with free delivery who's arguing?


PROS:

Unbeatable price. Probably the best value-for-money vs. screen size TV out there at the moment. Just don't tell anyone!

Great SD picture quality, very little pixellation unless the channel is broadcasting an old programme like repeats of Bargain Hunt. But why the hell are you watching repeats of Bargain Hunt anyway? There's even a feature that smooths out jagged lines when playing regular DVDs. Jazz club. Nice.

Excellent HD-ready picture, crystal clear. Not full HD, but who gives a monkeys? When Blu-Ray technology becomes more widespread (i.e. doesn't cost £50000000 for a player and £20 for a single bloody disc) I might consider full HD.

Automatic backlight adjust that turns down the backlight when the screen is mostly dark (e.g. night scenes, credits, entire Evil Dead movies). I personally have this feature turned off, but it might be of interest to some people. Vampires, for example.

The screen is clearly visible from just about any angle, no"muting" of the picture when you view it from the side.


CONS:

The remote is appalling. And I mean, absolutely Milli Vanilli awful. You have to be directly in front of the TV with the remote pointing exactly at the receiver for it to work. And there is a 1-second delay before the channel changes or a menu screen comes up. Really annoying, although when I get Sky+ hooked up I won't have to use the bloody thing ever again.

Inbuilt Freeview browser is also really slow, annoying but again won't be an issue once I have Sky+ installed and I can watch repeats of Bargain Hunt instantly.

The gloss black finish is a dust magnet. I'd prefer a matte black finish like Batman's nipples, but that's only a minor gripe (or fantasy, depending on how you see it).

The factory picture and sound settings are laughable - pretty much everything is set to 100%. Ideally you should sit down for 30 mins and adjust everything to a normal level so everyone's faces aren't glowing bright red. I swore Jeremy Clarkson was about to have a heart attack, but then I realised it was just my factory settings. And the"bass boost" feature only needs to be on 5-15% otherwise your speakers will get raped by bearded guys shouting"THIS IS SPARTA!" if you turn the volume up beyond halfway.


SUMMARY:

This TV takes a little bit of fiddling with to get right, but once you've figured out your optimum settings it's a fantastic TV at a bargain price. Yeah!!

excellent tv cant fault

I have had the tv for 2 weeks now and i am still amazed how much better it is than my last 32"lcd tv.My last tv was a cheap lcd and the philips puts it to shame.I use the philips mostly for my xbox360 through hdmi and the picture is amazing even the freeview gets an excellent picture with very little distortion.The photos above dont do it justice it is a very nice high gloss black surround sleek and elegant.All i can say is for the price i would recommend the philips 42PFL5603D, but thats just my opinion.

great tv for a great price despite a few minor niggles

This TV is great, no question about that. The price and specs that you get, not to mention the awesome screen size all amount to a fantastic deal that is really unchallengeable if your budget is limited. The connections are unsurpassed, inc. 3 HDMI ports, one HD component input, a PC VGA socket and multiple SCART sockets to support older equipment you may well still need. I bought this TV purely for HD gaming, and on the xbox 360 it will not disappoint ( NB If you intend to hook your xbox 360 via VGA it will not work on this TV ) This is not a problem, as you can buy a very good LINX HDMI cable for under a tenner on amazon anyway, and HDMI is the way you want to go if your xbox is under a year old, as it enables full 1080p gaming and, if you hook up the ludicrously cheap HD DVD player add-on you will achieve 1080p video resolution, which is NOT possible via component. The sound is good and crisp and the speakers are neatly tucked away at the back of the TV. They are Onkyo speakers, a respected brand. The colours through HD DVD playback are incredible on this TV. You must buy Terminator 2 just to see how vivid and powerful the image can be. But be aware that if you go for older HD DVDs you may well be disappointed. The ones I bought were little more than the standard version, showing up appalling film grain. I blame the dvd conversion and not the TV regarding this. So overall a great TV- the minor annoyances are the black levels- let's face it, they are quite poor, but the rest of the colour spectrum largely makes up for this flaw. Also, the remote control is strangely unresponsive- something I have noticed on all Toshibas I have owned. You have to point the remote rather too accurately to get it to respond. Apart from that the specs on this TV are limitless - 24fps 5:5 pulldown with HD feeds, active vision, which ensures that the image quality will almost never blur, no matter how fast the camera may be moving. For example, Wimbledon looked great and really showed what this tv is capable of demonstrating - a smooth, stablised image with vivid colours. The integrated freeview is great, and works amazingly well with an internal aerial, and to this day has only lost a signal for a fraction of a second only once or twice ( helped by the internal antenna amplifier) Buy this TV and you will not be disappointed. It is future-proof and excellent value for money. It took me almost 3 years and 3 returned lcd tvs until I finally found the right one, and it is the Toshiba 47Z!

Great LCD, perfect for your PS3 and PC

This LCD screen is truly fantastic displaying rich vibrant images and perfect for your PS3 and Blu-ray movies. It displays my PS3 at 1080p no problems which to be honest I wasn't expecting, and I have my PC input displaying at 1400x900. The speaker could be better but I have my powerful Logitech X-230 Multimedia Speaker System - 32 Watt (Total) (2.1) linked up to the headphone output so its perfect. Looks great and is incredibly quiet, which is great as this is situated in my room! Haven't tried the Freeview or TV but I'm sure judging by my experience with this LCD it will be great.
Over all a great LCD and I'd highly recommend.

great value

i bought this tv after serching for best price and no one offers it as cheap as amazon it was bought for my bedroom and looks good and sounds good too great for the price

Top Banana!

When my old Philips Matchline TV finally gave up, I was secretly overjoyed because now I could justify buying a snazzy, new LCD TV.

Although I prefer Philips products, I thought I would shop around this time because we're talking about a difference of at least £400 between the cheaper models and this Philips 37". So I spent days weighing the pro's and con's of this make and that, whether to get HD Ready (cheaper!), Full HD, 32", 37", 42", blah, blah, blah.

After reading endless reviews, I rebelled and just bought what I fancied in the first place - this Philips 37" LCD with Freeview and Ambilight. You can find quite a few technical reviews on the web and ultimately, all they really tell you is that no TV is perfect and all have their flaws. So trust me - just arm yourself with a few simple requirements and then go shopping!

Here's mine:

* Full HD (It's a lot of money so it needs to be a bit future-proof)
* High contrast ratio (At least 20000:1)
* Wide viewing angle (otherwise you have to sit directly in front of it)
* Good quality make (so that you can take some things for granted)
* Stylish (some LCD's are really ugly!)
* Affordable

When the TV arrived, only one side of the Ambilight worked, so I had Amazon send a replacement. They also arranged for pickup of the faulty one - all free of charge. I was just a bit unlucky here. It could happen anywhere to anyone. Full marks to Amazon for making the exchange process easy.

The replacement is however, perfect. The picture and sound are wonderful and the Ambilight gives the whole thing an extra dimension. My TV sits upon a corner floor stand and isn't wall mounted, but the Ambilight is still very effective. I just need to lighten the colour of the wall behind the set to enjoy the more subtle colour changes.

Operating the TV is really simple. There are quite a few settings that you can fiddle with, but there's also a question-based setup utility that will reset the picture if you mess things up. It shows you a series of photo's/movies in a vertically split-screen format, and you just say whether you prefer the left or the right side. Great feature!

One of the features I couldn't initially decide on was whether to buy the 37" or 42" as there's not a lot of money between them. But my lounge isn't really that large (about 20' x 14') and this 37" is more than big enough. It's large without being too intrusive. Personally, I dislike the massive screens that are being pushed by retailers that dominate your room. You'll get a sharper picture from the smaller LCD's. The smaller screen also has a better contrast ratio (44000:1) which is all important on an LCD, otherwise the picture tends to be a bit dark.

The Philips 37" LCD Ambilight more than fulfills my expectations. I love it and can recommend it to anyone.

PHILLIPS 37pfl5522

This set offers a lovely clean image free from blurring and digital artefacts, especially from DVD'S via HDMI (720p setting is best) and is a doddle to set up and use. I tweaked the screen using a THX test signal (contained on a lot of DVDS) to get the optimium settings for contrast etc - there are lots of settings to tweak the image although I have tried various combinations and found the best results were achieved through the above method).
SD broadcasts definately benefit from a decent arial feed and freeview digital TV images are far better than those of analogue broadcasts, with a sharper, more vibrant picture (although not quite as good as DVD images in my experience). The pixel plus 2 HD is permanently on so I am unable to offer any suggestion as to whether it is a bonus or hinderance to the image displayed. The set is easily wall mounted as well as having a robust, removable stand and build quality is excellent.
For anyone who has an ariel socket on the wall or who needs to connect an external device i would recommend upgrading the arial leads/scarts etc, using something like QED's ttv ariel lead, P21 scart, HDMI-P Lead - These kind of things make a substantial difference to the quality of the image, surprisingly so.

This is an excellent TV, outstanding value and heartily recommended.

Searched and Searched found"The One"

After much online searching, visiting electrical stores, comparing 37 inch 1080, 50 inch 720p, Sony, LG, Samsung etc etc I finally ordered this Philips 47PFL9632 47".

This TV replaces my 32 inch traditional CRT Sony widescreen, which is still sat in the corner of the room looking like an old portable T.V so this is my first"Flat Panel".

Having had the Tv for a number of weeks I can tell you I am more than completely happy with every aspect of the set.

I had no idea how much all those special background processes -"super duper make my picture better" type in built gadgets made. I'm a tad anal about making sure the picture inputs are unspoiled and not messed around so I was surprised at how well this philips cleans up the picture making normal standard definition pictures from SKy or freeview upscaled better than any other 42inch+screen I have seen.

I have yet to plug up a bluray player or Sky HD/or equivalent. But I have no doubt that will be incredible viewing.

As much of TV output at the moment is non HD this TV, (however it does it) ensures that even on a tv this big and sitting up close (8ft??) does not have the same issues of going"blocky" as many others I have seen. (although, as ever, it does depend on the channel and programme)

And of course the Ambi light is just a gimmick to make you go"ooooh ahhhhhh" in the shops.....isn't it?
Nope! It really does something special (particularly watching films) . I can't describe what, but I've tried during watching a film switching it on and off and scrolling through the different modes (1 button touch on the remote...nice) and it's just more pleasing on the eye with it on (the bumf describes it as eye fatigue or something)

My favorite thing........right in the centre of the remote at the top just below the on/off button is the All important INPUT button. So no lighting up your remote in a darkened room with your mobile phone looking for the holy grail of remote buttons.

I'm still griining from ear to ear with this tv which is makes people look at me strange but hey there's always a price to pay..

dont buy

if you are hoping to buy this for your ps3 or xbox, dont!
it wont hold up to the consoles power, leaving text unsharp (and i have changed setting) it cant handle black and goes all fuzzy, the built in freeview can pick up a single channel (i have freeview in diffent room).

the only good thing to say is there is lots of colour in the picture which is nice. This is my second model of this tv and has same problems.

dont expect anything from this tv, all looks no power.

high quality product

Ordered was placed on Friday afternoon (with express delivery)and it arrived at 7.30am Saturday, now thats what I call fast. After reading the other reviews I decided to take a chance on a tv that I hadn`t been able to locate in any store and I am not disappointed. The tv was easy to set up, picture and sound are excellent. Smart styling, good looks with plenty of features. Super service from start to finish. A satisfying all-round pleasing purchase.

great value for money

Yes, Its good value for money. Excellent picture quality and definitely competes with any other top brands in the market.
however I found couple of minor issues.
1)I have Sky TV and noticed that I cannot use Sky Remote control to change volume with Mirai TV. I think some coordination is needed between SKY and MIRAI.
2) Aspect ratio - I think there is no much difference between Zoom1 and Zoom2, also should have been more Zoom options so can have perfect view.

Brilliant and at an excellent price

We had originally ordered a Samsung from Dixons for my son to use with his XBox because I couldnt get it on Amazon - which wasnt in stock although they took my cash and waited 10 days before telling me and giving me my refund. Still that meant we went looking again and found this little beauty. Amazon's service was awsome - ordered on 12 Jan in the evening and was in the house by 1pm on the 14 Jan - and that wasnt with the superfast delivery. The telly is wonderful - the picture is very clear and with fab colours even on the appalling interal arial we are using at the moment and the colours are so clear. My son is using on the games and is very impressed. The sound isnt tinny in any way at all - its so much better than our other TVs but I will say that these are all over 5 years old and I am not a HiFi freak - but its miles better than any other TV I have used. We are thinking of getting another this one is so good. As for getting it for a £5 like the review below - there is a very useful site called gimme4free which explains what these referral sites are all about. Put very simply, its a form of advertising where you have to get friends, family and others to sign up to an offer and get this as a reward when you have so many signed up. I havent tried it and I havent signed up but thought you might be interested.

Misleading tech specs

Before buying this TV on Amazon, I checked it out in my local electricals superstore where one was on display in the middle of a selection of its main competitors in the same price range, all showing the same (non-HD) demo. This had the clearest picture, the richest colours and, to my eyes, looked best as a box. It was difficult to guage the sound quality in those circumstances, though.

The TV was well packed in its easy-to-open box (a couple of easy-release catches on each end meant that the box just slipped over the top, leaving the TV itself easy to lift out and carry to its position.

Two items of the technical specs disappointed me a little, but not enough to warrant a major complaint: this model is stated to include a PC input, but this is meant to be via one of its two HDMI sockets - not what I was expecting (especially as this PC does not have an HDMI or DVI output).

I was also a little surprised to find that unlike the 18 year-old Toshiba this TV is replacing, it does not feature proper audio out connectors - I would imagine that most potential purchasers would want to feed the audio through a dedicated sound system (as I do) and the headphone jack simply isn't up to the job. Along with a couple more HDMI inputs, this is perhaps something Toshiba needs to address in any future upgrade of this otherwise excellent series of TVs!

HDMI Nirvana

Having read the other reviews here on Amazon, i decided first on buyinhg the Sony KDL26S3000 as the best bet for a wall mounted TV in our kitchen.
The plan was to run it on the HDMI output of our SKY HD box from the lounge via a HDMI distribution system in the loft (consisting of a HDMI splitter and 4 HDMI cable runs to different rooms).

Unfortunately, the Sony could not hold down a proper picture from the HDMI cable at all.. it seemed to be continually scanning but only occasionally locking onto a picture, before losing it again.

Because i have a few other TVs (Pioneer 43" plasma, and Toshiba 32" LCD) to test with, i was able to isolate the problem to the Sony implementation of HDMI interface on this TV. It may well be fine on a much shorter run HDMI cable, but is definitely more fussy than some other manufacturers' technology.

It was sent straight back and i bought the Toshiba 26" lcd instead (Toshiba 26AV505D), which works perfectly on the same cable setup.

It has a very glossy black fascia, in the style of the more common Samsungs you see everywhere. It has a nice straightforward setup procedure. The Digital freeview implementation seems solid enough.
I had to adjust the standard settings quite a bit (to tone down the default colour and brightness settings).

But the main reason i bought this TV is because i have an earlier 32" Toshiba which i knew to be fine on a long HDMI cable which goes via a HDMI splitter in the loft (it is 20m + 15m : 35M total). And the new 26" toshiba is equally at home with this long HDMI cable setup.

This means we get Sky HD in another room in the house which is a far more important issue for us than the relatively minor comparative differences that distinguish LCD TVs from different manufacturers these days.

I thought i would add this review for any buyers who are also interested in the HDMI input, possibly on a long cable run, or via a splitter or coupler like me.