Philips 40 PFL 9705 What Hi-fi review ???

[hifianorak]

Hey what happened to the review of the Philips PFL 9705 TV as promised in last month's issue? Anyone aware of any release dates for the TV?

Philips seem to have a marmite effect on reviewers - although saying that, What Hi-fi are usually fans.

Regards,

Hi-fi anorak

 

[Clare Newsome]

We promised it as we were promised the product from Philips - but it didn't arrive, due to delays with the 3D pack. Review is still pending as we have yet to receive a full production sample to test.

We'll keep you updated.....

PS We have reviewed one new-season Philips set - the Philips 40PFL7605; featured in the Supertest in our current, October issue.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

The UK sets have just been released so you should find them in store now. Ours arrived yesterday but we havent had a chance to get them out and tested yet.

 

[Anonymous]

Saw the 9705 (and other models) today

pretty impressive sets, couldnt see / hear any of the reported problems with them on the units on display but was in a very busy room.

One bit of info i just read on twitter was the 9000 series will have bbc iPlayer "coming soon" finally some UK based web content

 

[hifianorak]

Thanks Clare and Nick for the speedy response.

I'm waiting for the Philips, as it's the last of the manufacturer's ranges to consider before I go 3D.

The PFL 9705 is on a shortlist of 3, with the Sammy C8000 and new Panny 42VT20 making up the other two.

Solid SD is important to me, so the one which performs on SD will probably shade it for me.

Nick - looking forward to hearing your feedback on the 40 PFL 9705 model. Where do you stand on the processing abilities of the Philips? Do you find them beneficial on low settings or are dead against them? As certain pro - Philips reviewers seem to think they really enhance movement and detail, whilst others can't seem to really hate them.

Thanks,

Rod

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

I am not too keen on the processing but with the right combination of settings the end results can be excellent. I am pretty sure we are using a mild setting on the 32PFL9705 whereas last year we used none. I will double check when we get the 46 on the wall later this week.

 

[hifianorak]

Thanks Nick - appreciate your findings.

 

[Anonymous]

a few more retailers joined the "its a known issue" band wagon about the buzzing from the units

 

[hifianorak]

Well at last the 9000 series has finally appeared in the shops and the 40 inch PFL 9705 is indeed a sight for sore eyes, looking swish in a light grey metallic finish. The picture was set up for 3D but I did not get a chance to don the glasses as I had to hurry back to work.

As for the dreaded buzz gate - was there a noise evident? - the answer was yes, but fortunately that was just a bluebottle merely buzzing around my head.

Talking of dreadful though, was the price, a massive three flipping hundred pounds over what I had believed to be the RRP. So it was not £1899 as expected, but a wallet destroying £2199. With no freeview HD or bundled deals to include half price HD PVRS evident and add on 3D packs costing another £200 pounds or so, Philips will have to reduce the price of this or only the most fervent of Philips fanatics will be prepared to pay this. That said the dealer did seem prepared to offer me a discount.

Appreciate this is a prestige product and I'm sure picture and sound quality will be superb, but £2199 ???.

So what with the Samsung C8000 coming in at some bargain prices and the problems with 50hz 3D Pannys at the moment, I may be forced to make a decision on cost effective grounds.

 

[Andrew Everard]

SOSAGES:a few more retailers joined the "its a known issue" band wagon about the buzzing from the units

???

 

[Anonymous]

It was supposed to be exiting with this years 9000 series, especially the 21:9, but after seeing it with reflective front screen, I find it very dissapointing, and a review is not very interesting - the usual theoretical picture quality testing in a dark cave, not testing in the user environment.

WHY may we ask ? Philips removed the major advantage it had on this years 8000 and 9000 models - performance both day and night.

Check the picture of this 8605, can such TV set be considered to have a good picture performance ?:

With a reflective screen you see lamps and candle lighths in the picture in the evening, during daytime you see your self, the furniture, the garden, the dog, in the picture.

Better to pay less than half the price for a nice plasma ( if you can find one with out buzz ) plus a bettter picture quality ( in the dark ). They will both perform equal badly under ambient light. Or the 7000 model which seems to be the top Philips models this year - best all-round performer.

Further dissapointment is the lag of full Internet support, you still cant watch Internet TV, the set misses the media players. Watching TV via the internet is hot. We are in 2010, not in 2007 !

Especially the new 21:9 is a dissapointment as to above - I can live with the bad menu system and software, slow boot and channel shift, bad remote - but adding reflective screen and no full internet support, is just too many problems for 3.000 Euro , 4.000 for the 21:9.

Dont get me wrong - I have been waiting 12 months for the 21:9, but reflective screen is unacceptable. We have three Philips TV sets in the family. So what to do ? Wait for 3. generation 21:9, wait for Sony or other manufacturer to produce a propper 21:9 - or give up and buy a PFL7605 - the last option seems to be the solution ?

 

[Anonymous]

I have not seen any reflective glare on the 9000 series (40 and 46") but the 8000 model was reflective when i saw one but any TV with a glass front is.

Saying that it was not as reflective as some of the other glass fronted models i have seen from other makers.

 

[Anonymous]

Glass fronted is just silly... Part of the reason that I bought the 9664 and hardly considered plasma was because I live in a corner appartment with lots of windows. I like to have the curtains open during the day, as its just well... nicer. Even at night the street lights and lights inside would reflect off a reflective screen.

Dumb design choice in my opinion, it was a pretty positive factor LCD had going for it in my opinion, that they were generally less reflective than glass fronted plasmas...

Was in a local dealer the other day in the Phillips corner and low and behold the 9000 series were buzzing. And it was bad enough to hear over the sound coming from a TV not two meteres away being demoed by someone...

Glad I bought mine last year.

 

[Anonymous]

Duol:

Was in a local dealer the other day in the Phillips corner and low and behold the 9000 series were buzzing. And it was bad enough to hear over the sound coming from a TV not two meteres away being demoed by someone...

Wheres the dealer?

 

[Clare Newsome]

Official statement on the buzzing issue now in from Philips - read full details here

 

[Andy Clough]

Yes, fix available and it appears to have affected a few early sets which can be rectified with a hardware upgrade.

 

[Anonymous]

Also look forward to your opinion of this years attempt from Philips to improve picture quality by setting a reflective sheet of glass in front of the screen ......

 

[AEJim]

PeterHerz:Also look forward to your opinion of this years attempt from Philips to improve picture quality by setting a reflective sheet of glass in front of the screen ......

Think that debate's been going on a while - Apple have the same problem on their new LED screens as customers are 50/50 on matte or gloss, some claiming gloss improves colour punch and black depth, others argue the opposite plus the reflectivity point. I think both are open to debate really but we aren't likely to change the manufacturers opinion unless sales swing things strongly one way or the other.

 

[Anonymous]

I havnt heard customers complain about the screen is not glossy - but plenty of complaints about the screen is glossy and not matte.

I think many chooses ( or perhaps rather choosed ) Philips to get the matte screen - like me.

 

[jcshutts]

there are a number of threads now about the Philips- not sure where to ask the question! Does it upscale normal 2D in the same way that the Sonh HX903 does????

 

[jcshutts]

Sorry all to start another topic but not sure where to ask this question!

Does the 9705 'up-scale' 2D into 3D does anyone know?

How much is the internet dongle?

I hope this TV is good after all the hype and discussion!

thanks

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

The 9705 will not convert 2d to 3d. The set has wi-fi built in or you can hook it up to an ethernet cable.

 

[Anonymous]

This is great news that philips are taking the customers side on this!!!! This should be a lesson to all the others

 

[bigboss]

jcshutts:there are a number of threads now about the Philips- not sure where to ask the question! Does it upscale normal 2D in the same way that the Sonh HX903 does????

I'm assuming you're asking if the Philips TV converts 2D to 3D picture....then the answer is no. There is no scaling involved here.

 

[bigboss]

PeterHerz:

I havnt heard customers complain about the screen is not glossy - but plenty of complaints about the screen is glossy and not matte.

I think many chooses ( or perhaps rather choosed ) Philips to get the matte screen - like me.

If you look at all TVs in the shop, glossy screen ones display richer colours & brighter images than non-glossy ones....so it's easy to impress customers with a glossy screen.