Phillips 42PFL740H LCD or Sony KDL40W5500?

[admin_exported]

After some searching, i've narrowed my choice down to the two listed. I would like a 40 or 42" screen, 1080p HD, 100Hz TV and I have no more than £700 max to spend.

I'll be using it in my front room, with an Xbox 360 and for SD pictures at first, with a view to upgrade to a Blu Ray player and HDTV in the soon-ish future.

I think the two I've picked out are pretty good choices, although i'm concerned that the Sony appears to have pretty bad clouding problems on about 50% of everyone who buys one. I've only heard good things about the Phillips so far.

Does anyone who owns either, or looked at both have some advice. It's a lot of cash for me, so I want to make sure I'm happy with it

Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[Anonymous]

Did by Sony KW40W550 you actually meant KDL40W5500? If yes then probably it will be usefull for you to edit the header.

 

[stonehound]

I just looked at both in Richer Sounds and thought the Philips was the better of the two

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to both - changed the heading now. Anyone else?

 

[tvspecv]

whats the price difference?

 

[Anonymous]

Now you are talking. Actually beside the price the choice is a bit tricky. Sony can have some issues with the screen uniformity ( so-called bleeding), limited viewing angle, but is does have quite good black and contrast ratios. Conversely Philips screens have much better viewing angles, virtually no bleeding, but have much inferior blacks and contrast. One more thing going for Philips is their supreme sharpness and a bit better audio. That in a nutshell their plus and minuses. As they say pick your poison. But make no mistake there is no such a thing as a perfect TV, so you just have to make your mind what is important for you and what is not and check those TV is reality, even better make side-by-side comparison with the same settings.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I have to disagree re Philips sets having worse blacks/contrast than Sonys - absolutely not the case in our testing.

If there's one thing the Sony sets have in their favour over the Philips it's slightly better motion-handling.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

what are the prices ?

 

[Anonymous]

Both can be found online for just under £700. ÿThe Phillips is £699 @ Richer Sounds, the Sony £649

 

[Anonymous]

Theyre both fantastic tv sets, i would be more inclined to say that the 7404 is the better tv.You can get the 7404 from M&S for £649.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank for the M&S spot - it's £629 now with a 5 year store guarantee there. ÿThink that sways itÿ

 

[Anonymous]

No problems, Enjoy your tv.