Philips 7603 vs 9603

[admin_exported]

I know mentioning Philips at the moment is a sore subject with all the talk of these screens not being full HD etc, but fingers crossed assuming they are (and the fact that the reviews are still saying the quality is excellent) are the 9603 series worth the extra money?

Here are a few sample prices that I can get the sets for:

Philips 47PFL7603D - £1148.95
Philips 42PFL7603D - £859.00

Philips 47PFL9603D - £1647.00
Philips 42PFL9603D - £1499.00

The price differences are quite big and its obvious that the 9603 must be superior but by how much? basically I can get the 47" 7603 and the stand with integrated speakers I want for the same money as the 9603. I want to get the best I can afford but I can't seem to find any information about what the extra £500 buys me, the recent what hifi review of the 7603 gives it 5 stars so how much better is the 9603 (of which reviews seem hard to find)

I've read through the specs on the Philips site and they don't help as all as there sems almost no difference.

Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

paulinskip:

I've read through the specs on the Philips site and they don't help as all as there sems almost no difference.

Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated. Have a look at the Panasonic 46" plasmas.

 

[ear]

id go for the 42...allot cheaper...and not such big difference in size.and a smaller allways offer better quality picture.just read the reviews of both.

 

[Anonymous]

The 7603 42" review is obviously VERY good which wa smy first choice, I keep thinking about the 46" wondering whether i'll regret not going large in a few years time.

I can't seem to find any reviews of the 9603 series, and inparticular none that explain the difference and what the extra cost gets you.

I've considered the Panasonics as well as the Sonys (almost went for the Sony w4000 a day ago but suddenly decided not too) the great looks, 5 star WHF review have swung me towards the Philips.

 

[ear]

curiously, in my mind, were only samsung and sony...but the philips review made me think again..

 

[Anonymous]

yea the Philips was no where in my mind until the latest review, in just stood out particularly as the panasonic and Sony have done so well in previous reviews the fact that the Philips stood ot from these two made me sit up and pay attention. I particularly like the line in the review where they say if it was their money they'd go for the Philips, thats key to me, I always do as much research as possible and depend on reviews and user experience. I spent half an hour putting the Sony W4000 through its paces and it looked greta but it just din't grab me (if that makes sense)

 

[ear]

somehow sony tv's never caught my full attention.really dont know why.guess to my eye collors dont seem "natural".with the w4000.image is good,no smearing.but it seems to be something missing...something i find in the 656 samsung series.

 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately there is limited (almost no) scope for me to see most of the TV avaikable on display so I have to rely heaving on the reviews and customer fedback, this hasn't led me to the Samsungs , I've already been struggling choosing between the Sony/Philips/Panasonic

 

[Anonymous]

Having owned the Philips 42PFL7603 i can honestly say that all the reviews are correct and this really is an awsome TV for the price. The combination of Pixel Plus 3 HD and DNM really do produce some stunning pictures via blue ray and especially freeview. The only issue i had with this TV and the reason for returning it was that it uses the same chipset as the older 9632 model which had the well documented 1080i - 1080p issues and imput lag making it unsuitable for games like guitar hero.

The 9603/9703 Philips models have the better Perfect Pixel HD (as apposed to Pixel +3HD) and a newer chipset which has repotedly solved the 1080i - 1080p issues along with minimum imput lag.

I currenly own a Samsung A656 lcd and i can honestly say that the Philips 7603 produced vastly supeior picures from every source, hence the reason for my decision to revert back to the Philips (and stop playing games like gutar hero).

If gaming is not essential and your want one of the finest LCD TV's currently availble on the market for freeview/blu ray picture quality then i would highly recommend the 7603.

I'm sure the 9603/9703 are superior, however in my opinion i would save some cash and buy the 7603.

You won't regret it.

 

[ear]

very nice info there.are u getting the 9603?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Spooky

great info. So does the 1080i issue only affect (along with the lag) games?

I'm so tempted to go for the 9603 but I just can't find anything that justifies the huge jump in cost.

Although the PS3 will be my main bluray/dvd player for now I've never been a gamer (which is obvious by the fact I already own a wii! )

If only someone would do a direct comparison laying out what the 9603 does better I would be SOO much happier.

Have you seen the 9603 in action? for DH/SD content is it alot better?

 

[ear]

nice point from our last reply.your ps3 and 7603 with movies worked fine?

 

[Anonymous]

Blu ray and upscaled dvd pictures from the PS3 on the 7603 were faultless especially blu ray which has a sharpness and clarity i've yet to see on any other LCD. Also blu ray displayed at 24fps was judder free, unlike the Samsung 656.

I cannot recommend the 7603 highly enough, especially as it can be bought for between 800.00 - 900.00 for the 42" version. Great colour, great sharpness/detail, ambilight, good blacks and a stunning design make this a very good buy.

Don't get me wrong if i had 1600.00 to spend i would definately get the 9603/9703 due to the utterly amazing perfect pixel HD, however for 1/2 the price the 7603 is a no brainer for anyone looking to buy a 42" LCD which dazzels with freeview and HD material.

 

[ear]

very nice then I've seen the 5603 7603 and 9603 showing astra chanel and i really didn't notice much diferrence..wich made me think of the 5603 instead of the 7603.there's a big difference in price.some years ago i bought a 28 inch crt philips almost top of the range,and then regreted it when i saw the entry model ( also 28 inch) gave better picture.

 

[Anonymous]

paulinskip:

Hi Spooky

great info. So does the 1080i issue only affect (along with the lag) games?

I'm so tempted to go for the 9603 but I just can't find anything that justifies the huge jump in cost.

Although the PS3 will be my main bluray/dvd player for now I've never been a gamer (which is obvious by the fact I already own a wii! )

If only someone would do a direct comparison laying out what the 9603 does better I would be SOO much happier.

Have you seen the 9603 in action? for DH/SD content is it alot better?

Don't worry about the 1080i - 1080p issue if you don't plan to connect a pc to the display (causes tearing & flickering). Believe me this is certainly not an issue when watching blu ray films & dvd as this set produces some of the best, sharpest and detailled blu ray pictures i have yet to see on an lcd tv. Freeview is simply stunning (on good channels).

I have not doubt the 9603/9703 is better (due to the superior perfect pixel engine), however the the improvements will be minimal and not enough to justify double the price.

The only dissapointment i found with the 7603 was a poor quality remote control, which is very unlike Philips.

I must stress again that i cannot recommend the 7603 highly enough and out preforms the Samsung 656 in every way.

Oh, also i forgot to mention that the sound quality of this TV puts all other flat panel display to shame.

 

[Anonymous]

spooky you ae slowly convincing me that the series will be the one for me

One last question, that you may be able to answer is the 47" just as good as the 42"? because even the 47" 7 series is still £350 cheaper than the 42" 9 series

 

[Anonymous]

paulinskip:

spooky you ae slowly convincing me that the series will be the one for me

One last question, that you may be able to answer is the 47" just as good as the 42"? because even the 47" 7 series is still £350 cheaper than the 42" 9 series

IMO, always go for the larger screen or you'll regret it afterwards.

I had the 42" 7603 and wish i had got the 47" version, however i now have the opportunity to do so as i have arranged the return of the samsung due to some backlight bleed.

As far as i am aware the 5603 has the older pixel plus 1 HD and not version 3, the 5603 does not have ambilight and the 7603 has a nice little light under the screen which can been turned on/off if desired (Its not important but a nice little touch).

I also liked the white back on the 7603 which i haven't seen on any other TV.

The 7603 is definately better than the 5603 and not much more expensive so i wouldn't consider the 5603.

I suppose it really depend on your viewing distance as to which size you go for, however to make the most of blu ray you have to go for the 47" version.

Hope i have been of help to you.

 

[ear]

that backlight bleed...new problem?

 

[Anonymous]

ear:that backlight bleed...new problem?

The Samsung had the backlight bleed from day one but i thought it would go................it hasn't.

I also cannot put up with the 24fps jerking so its going back for the Philips.

 

[Anonymous]

great help spooky!!!

Doing research for a new TV has almost driven me insane lol

My only concern with the 47" is whether the scaling of the SD programming will be a step too far and show up how bad it is? The cncern here is the wife! lol I will watch very, very little SD programming where as she will watch a lot more and i'm worried about the "this picture is horrible on my programs! "

According to teh prescribed viewing distances i'd be stuck with quite a small Tv but the one peice of testing I have managed to do is to stand infron of 37/40/42/47/50/52 " screens at approximately my viewing distance and don't have a problem.

 

[ear]

strange.the reviews mencioned the 656 didn't have 24 fps judder.can u explain better the backlight bleed?is it colour bleed? banding with black scenes? (sorry i really dont understand what u mean )

 

[Anonymous]

ear:strange.the reviews mencioned the 656 didn't have 24 fps judder.can u explain better the backlight bleed?is it colour bleed? banding with black scenes? (sorry i really dont understand what u mean )

I'm not sure if backlight bleed is the correct term but the back light is brighter in the top right hand corner of the screen and is very noticable when watching darl scenes. Very distracting.

 

[ear]

hum...now i really lost my interest in the 656...
[*]Mild input lag (except in "Game" mode or over VGA) may affect sensitive gamers
[*]Some clouding and backlight unevenness (though reduced to unobtrusive levels after calibration)*
[*]Slight low-pitched hum from back of TV unless the screen is very bright*

* Denotes problems which may be specific to our review sample




but they rated the samsung judder free on 24 fps..

WHY can't they be all perfect?

 

[Anonymous]

ear:hum...now i really lost my interest in the 656...
[*]Mild input lag (except in "Game" mode or over VGA) may affect sensitive gamers
[*]Some clouding and backlight unevenness (though reduced to unobtrusive levels after calibration)*
[*]Slight low-pitched hum from back of TV unless the screen is very bright*

* Denotes problems which may be specific to our review sample

but they rated the samsung judder free on 24 fps..

WHY can't they be all perfect?

Mine definately has some serious 24fps judder.

Bezel scratches very, very easily.

Awful sound quality (not an issue if u own a home cinema system).

Reflective screen causes problems if opposite a window.

Constant firmware updates to fix errors.

unresponsive remote takes ages when changing input.

IMO soft freeview images can't match the Philips 7603.

 

[ear]

yep that screen is like a mirror..the 616 as almost the same specs but a lot less reflective.now im really put away from it.there's nothing like owner experience.it sux when we buy something and don't get happy with it.I really go mad. it leaves me feeling so free when i can return it..and then i stay for some month or years without buying anything lol