Philips 2010 range -No freeview HD?

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-APOLOGIES I ORIGINALLY POSTED THIS IN THE HOME CINEMA FORUM IN ERROR

Hello All,

Been watching closely at the Phillips tv range and been looking forward to getting an 32" Ambilight set to be wall mounted in the Kitchen as a second tv.

Lots of conflicting information about on the net but it does appear that none of the 2010 will carry an onboard freeview HD tuner- Would anybody be able to offer any solutions to my problem?

I assume the Ambilight feature is best used when wall mounted on a white wall which I have set up- but if no range carries a Freeview HD tuner how do they intend people to wall mount a neat solution and then include a bulky external Freeview HD box- I am happy to chase all power cables and Aerial up through the wall to create a simple wall mount option just involving the tv. I also liek the idea of the single original philips remote controlling the whole set up (two remotes in a kitchen is a bit much)

Maybe its just me but I can not see the logic on a lack of Freeview HD when every manufacturer seems to be onboard and then bringing out bulky rebranded Pace set-top boxes to try and install near your neat wall mounted TV?

Does anybody have a workaround solutiuon to get an Philips Ambilight tv wall mounted that can display Freeview HD. Money is not a major issue as long as the solution is neat and works.

Apologies for the rant but I have spoken to Philips and viewed lots of sites but can not see how Philips intend people to use their high end sets on the wall?

Many Thanks

Matt

 

[Andy Clough]

Philips made no mention of Freeview HD when we went to the European launch in February, as you can read in our Blog, but I'll need to check with the UK press office if the situation has changed since then.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the Blog- I contacted Philips yesterday but they confirmed no 2010 will carry onboard HD tuners- I know there are articles out there stating the 9000 definitely has it but i guess its a case of wait and see.

It would seem strange to me if the entire range was without Freeview HD as i'd imagine some people would class that as essential when buying a new tv?

Regards

Matt

 

[Anonymous]

it dosnt come with a dvd player, blu ray player, sky box , virgin box, good media player, games console etc.

most tv's that are wall mounted have stuff conected to them..............

 

[Anonymous]

Not all markets make use of the freeview tuners... I think it's only the UK in fact.

Philips has made it pretty clear from the stock shortages of their sets in the UK that they are not particularly interested in this market segment, hence I don't find this particularly surprising. I preffer they put the money into making a top end TV.

Here in Holland almost every retailer worth their salt stocks Philips, it being a dutch company afterall... You can still get the whole 8 an 9 series in every available size here without any problem, as far as I have seen anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

all these stock shortages , in a recession . ? strange..

 

[Anonymous]

i think becuase Philips down sized as a company this year in the UK they didnt know what stock levels would be like. plus most of the population wont be able to recieve freeview hd this year anyway

 

[Anonymous]

Sosages,

Thanks for that fantastic input- as the original thread said- this is a second tv for the kitchen. It is not the primary tv for the house so will be a standalone wall mounted tv purely for tv viewing.

 

[matthewpiano]

I can't believe Philips won't do something with Freeview HD built in. To me this is a much more important development than 3D in terms of the mass market.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree, if they are producing high quality tv's and introducing external freeview HD boxes seperately I guess its only a matter of time before the two are combined- it looks like they have missed the boat with the 2010 range so i guess the 2011 range will have built in HD Tuners. Think I will still go for the Philips coz of the Ambilight and buy a sepaerate HD set-top box.

The two remote thing does annoy me! and the univeral remote solution never quite works well.

 

[Miker]

Any info yet on Freeview HD?

 

[Anonymous]

There's an interesting comment about Freeview HD on the Philips website - http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/faqview.pl?ctn=37PFL9604H%2F12&dct=QAC&new_tmpl=1&refdisplay=FEEDB_UK_79395&refnr=0079395&scy=GB&slg=ENG - with regards to last years 37PFL9604.

 

[Dave_]

RickShaw:There's an interesting comment about Freeview HD on the Philips website - http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/faqview.pl?ctn=37PFL9604H%2F12&dct=QAC&new_tmpl=1&refdisplay=FEEDB_UK_79395&refnr=0079395&scy=GB&slg=ENG - with regards to last years 37PFL9604.
It's also incorrect!

It may be capable of receiving mpeg4 broadcasts, but it's tuner isn't compliant with the necessary DVB-T2 specs (those specs were only finalised late last year) used in the UK/required for Freeview HD.

 

[Anonymous]

Still no confirmed info on wether any Philips 2010 will have Freeview HD but I have found small bits of info that say Philips will bring out a seperate Freeview HD adapter that will bolt on the back.

This could provide a workaround for people who wish to get a Philips tv without an seperate external HD Tuner but im sure this will not be cheap and push the price up even more.

I contacted Philips who did not give out much info on Freeview HD so i guess we will have to keep waiting until its confirmed. If anybody has seen any definite on this then please let us know.

 

[Andy Clough]

I've emailed Philips's UK PR again to try and get clarification on this. Will let you know as soon as I get an answer.

 

[Anonymous]

I am a bit gutted to find this forum. I have a Philips 8 series Ambilight TV and was under the impression that the tv could handle Freeview HD. I quote from the Philips website in the overview section of the TV I have:

MPEG4 HDTV reception via DVB-T and DVB-C tuner with CI+*

HDTV allows you to watch TV in the best possible picture and sound quality, without an additional set-top box. Thanks to the built-in tuner that supports DVB-Terrestrial and DVB-Cable signals for both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, you receive high definition TV programmes in exceptional quality. Moreover, with Common Interface Plus (CI+) you benefit from premium high definition content directly on your TV.

This is very misleading to suggest that you can receive terrestrial HD but not Freeview HD (which is terrestrial). So basically the UK is exempt. So why would the Freeview consortium choose a format that is only available on a limited selection of more expensive TVs. That's not very fair on the public.

 

[Andy Clough]

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you folks, but I now have an official statement from Philips UK:

"We've considered all the options for 2010, and given that it's early days for Freeview HD, we have now decided not to launch integrated Freeview HD in our TVs until our 2011 range. Instead, we will have a competitive bundle with a Philips Pace HD box. This will provide a versatile and affordable solution that gives consumers a choice."

 

[Anonymous]

I feel utter disgust at Philips stance on this matter, Half the UK will have Freeview HD by the end of the summer but Philips feels you should not expect there £1800+ (9000 series) TV's to give you all the terrestrial channels available.

They may look into including it in there 2011 range ? So that means you may be able to find a Philips set by the end of 2011 / start of 2012. Given the VERY VERY poor service they seem to have decided to offer the British public since pulling out of the large electrical retail market a year or two back, and given that almost every corner shop in Holland has the complete range available we British should vote with our wallets and boycott Philips TV products.

 

[Anonymous]

Dont feel too bad Stephen - here in Canada you can't even find Philips TV's - the last time i checked Philips Canada website they showed one tv and it was a low end model - Philips used to be a house hold name over here 15 years back and now most people here dont even know they still make tv's - I really believe they have no idea how to market products - as far as im concerned they may as well pull out of Consumer Products all together.

Wazy

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to here of your lack of availability, and Sorry for my soap box rant yesterday, its just that I've been holding of buying my new Philips TV for 8 months until the 2010 Freeview HD sets are out so Im very disappointed, but come on Philips if your sets are the top of the range LED LCD's money can buy how come every maker of TV's worth there salt has Freeview HD tuners installed this year e.g. LG, Sony, Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung and the cost of the new tuners must not be much more as you can even get a Sony TV for £499 with it installed = Sony Bravia KDL32EX403U LCD HD 1080p Television, 32 inch with Built-in Freeview HD.Could it be that as the only European country broadcasting the new HD format they just couldn't be bothered as the UK is only a very small percentage of there overall sales of TV's, maybe if they were more widely available they might sell a few more ?

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Andy Clough:

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you folks, but I now have an official statement from Philips UK:

"We've considered all the options for 2010, and given that it's early days for Freeview HD, we have now decided not to launch integrated Freeview HD in our TVs until our 2011 range. Instead, we will have a competitive bundle with a Philips Pace HD box. This will provide a versatile and affordable solution that gives consumers a choice."

Good work Andy

 

[Retne]

Well, that's a disappointment. I was waiting for price and date details, then a decent review from What HiFi - thinking these thinks hopefully just a formality.

No, no matter how the review comes out, I won't buy a Philips TV, and am now going to look elsewhere, having previously decided I would buy a Philips, unless the reviews were terrible (partly for Ambilight - I would even have still gone with Philips as long as no _major_ issues were found with picture quality)

I also wonder if they'll have a slight backlash with consumers that don't read AV magazines assuming the TV would simply have HD Freeview, and feeling a bit let down to find it doesn't, but that's speculations, I'll admit.

What isn't speculation is my disappointment - the last few reviews + Ambilight had really got me all decided on a Philips TV.

Ah well.

R

 

[Anonymous]

Andy,

Many Thanks for clearing this issue up, at least it allows the people that have been hanging on for the Phillips 2010 range to make an informed decision if they do require Freeview HD to be built in.

Like previously stated it does seem strange for Philips to aim for top end of the market but then leave out a very important feature (for UK market) that all other brands are including. I am curious about the "bundle" you mentioned- do you think this is just a price discount if you purchase a Philips TV and a Philips Freeview HD set top box together?

I personally will probably still go for the philips set as I like the look of ambilight, I ve just got to think of a neat solution to wall mount the TV and find a place for the ugly set top box- I just hope that the Philips tv and Freeview HD box can use the same remote!

Regards

MD

 

[Anonymous]

I'm quite sure they will be able to use the same remote. My current 9664 allows me to control the TV. my humax box and sony bluray player without a problem, just had to set it up. I know what you mean by ambilight ahhhh <3

 

[Andy Clough]

Mattdon, I've asked Philips for more details about the Freeview HD box "bundle" but they're not prepared to say anything more at this stage until they've finalised the deal.

As soon as we know more, we'll let you know.