Philips 42PFL7603D LCD TV

This new LCD screen from Ambilight advocate Philips boasts the sort of design flourishes you’d expect from a top-of-the-range HDTV: the 42in screen is surrounded by a narrow gloss black frame and transparent plastic lip; the glass tabletop stand is slightly angled forward to give it a sense of poise; and push the power switch and two LED backlights kick into life, bathing the wall behind the TV in dynamic colours that instantly shift to replicate the tone of whatever’s on screen at the time. So it might surprise you to learn that this is merely a mid-range model in Philips’ new television range – one that’s available for well under £1,000.

Delve below the alluring exterior and things remain impressive, at least on paper. The screen sports Full 1920 x 1080 resolution, plus the ability to display Blu-ray content at 24 frames-per-second. Spec-wise Philips claims a sky-high Dynamic Contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and a speedy response time of 5ms.

The features list is as long as a elephant’s memory pro’s arm, so I’ll pick out a few highlights. While Philips’ Perfect Pixel HD Engine is reserved for models further up the range, the set includes Pixel Plus 3 HD image processing, plus HD Natural Motion to cut the judder out of movie content. There’s also a completely new ‘invisible’ speaker system in place.

When it comes to connections there are no less than four HDMI v1.3a inputs on offer (three at the back, one on the left side panel), as well as component video and two RGB-capable Scarts (there’s no dedicated PC input, however). A USB port offers quick playback of JPEG photos and MP3 fi les from a digital storage device. This is quite a well-connected TV.

The suite of image processing on offer ensures that Philips’ 42PFL7603D always gives good pictures, regardless of what you’ve got hooked up. Showing off high-definition content is, naturally where it’s at its most effective, as evidenced when I sat down and watched the slightly silly Native Americans-versus-Vikings action flick Pathfinder on Sky HD. Brainless the movie may be, but its abundance of dark, misty forest scenes look undeniably gorgeous on this TV. The foliage itself is crisp and detailed, remaining so even during horizontal camera pans, while the screen’s noise reduction echnology keeps the foggy backdrops clear and free of ugly digital speckles and blocks.

A TV is often judged by its ability to show dark scenes, and while the blacks don’t look totally bottomless when viewied in a dimly lit room (there’s a slight touch of grey about them at times) they’re impressive for an LCD screen. In my opinion the two-channel Ambilight system helps out here by adding a backdrop of soft light, which takes the edge off the gulf in brightness between the backlit screen and the wall behind it; basically, it tricks your eye into seeing the blacks as blacker. And, if you’re not a fan, you can always turn the function off.

Great with SD too

The 42PFL7630D also delivers some mouth-watering eye candy with DVDs. My old test favourite The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers reiterates the screen’s abilities to render deep, detailed blacks and silky smooth motion with movie content. The night-time Battle of Helm’s Deep never becomes murky or indistinct, and as the camera pans along a row of spears it moves smoothly, without judder – a result of the set’s HD Natural Motion technology, which creates and adds extra, completely new frames between the originals.

Our Tech Labs measured the Philips real world contrast on the at 192:1, but the TV’s Dynamic Contrast mode will improve its performance by dimming the screen’s backlight during darker scenes. According to Philips it can be dipped to a mere five per cent of its full power, as opposed to 25 per cent on its previous generation of TVs.

Results with standard-defi nition content from the built-in Freeviewtuner or a connected Sky box are a little more varied, but that’s to be expected given the state of broadcast television. The Philips does its damnedest to negate MPEG blocking and noise, but the worst
quality content remains a dog’s dinner regardless. Better quality broadcasts look fine, however.

This LCD TV is great for gaming, thanks to a rapid response time that keeps smearing and ghosting to an almost undetectable level, even with fast-moving titles like PES 2008 on the Xbox 360. HD Natural Motion should be switched off here, however: the higher frame rates of games make it unnecessary, and it can actually introduce some lag to the image, which makes accuracy-based games like Guitar Hero 3 harder to play!

Overall, I’d rate this as a fine midrange LCD TV and an excellent buy for the price. It suffers a little from a limited contrast ratio, but overall clarity is good and the audio performance is excellent. I’ve yet to cast my eye over Philips’ new bevy of high-end models, but if this example is anything to go by, they’re going to be worthy of close examination

HCC Verdict 4/5

To read What Video & Hi-Def TV's review of the same set on Tech Radar click here.