Philips 24RF50S 24" Flat Screen TV
Good TV, but universal remote does not work
The universal remote does not work properly on this TV set.<br />The universal remote on this TV has a problem that Philips acknowledges but refuses to fix or compensate for.  Like all TV universal remotes, you can program it to run your VCR.  This one has a handy slider on the side of the remote control, to change it from TV, to VCR, to ACC (cable or satellite box).  But, in VCR mode, the numbers buttons don't work on the VCR.  They change the TV instead.  The manual even states that the numbers should work on the VCR.<br />I called Philips and after a number of calls explaining my problem, Philips finally admitted this was a problem.  The remote does not work like it should as listed in the manual.  They said that they were not going to do anything about it.<br />If you don't care about using your TV remote to control your VCR (so you have one less remote laying around) then this is a very nice TV.<br />I compared it side by side to Sony's top of the line 24 inch TV.  I liked the picture on the Philips better.  The Sony had problems with deep reds bleeding.  The Philips TV also had better sound and a much deeper, booming base, then Sony's top of the line sound system.  The Sony did seem to have a little better stereo separation and surround sound, but the dynamic range wasn't as good as the Philips.<br />Now, maybe if you played with the video settings and listened to to the sound in a house, instead of a store, the Sony might perform better.  I did play with the audio settings on the Sony TV, but no matter how hard I tried, the bass sounded washed out.<br />I almost returned this TV because of the remote control.  But, it was much cheaper than the Sony, and I thought I could live fumbling with two remotes for the...savings.  Anyway, I will probably only keep this TV for a couple of years and will replace it when high definition TV's become reasonably priced.<br />One thing to note is that the 24 inch TV's are the largest TV's that are still managable.  I am ableto lift the TV by myself.  It still fits on a standard bedroom dresser.  Once you get to 27 inch, it takes a lot of effort to pick up the set.  And it is too large except for an entertainment center or TV stand.<br />But, the 24 inch sets come with a lot less features than a 27 inch set.  None of them have picture in picture or variable outputs.<br />This TV does come with component video inputs which are nice if you have a DVD player.  Also, the A/V input is no the  right side of the TV, instead of the front like most TV's.  I like this, because if you want to hook up a camcorder or game system to the TV, the plugs are easy to get to and you don't have wires sticking out of the front of the TV.  This is good as long as you put the component on the right side of the TV.  If it is on the left side, then you have to run the wires across the front of the TV or hook them up in back.<br />I did have one other problem with this set, but it might be caused by my Chinese DVD player.  I plug the audio out into a stereo.  When I plug the DVD player into the TV, I get a hum on the stereo.  It is very light and can only be heard when the stereo is cranked way up.  But, I think it is probably a ground problem with the DVD player.  The VCR does not cause similar problems.<br />One other note about the remote:  it does not have a button for the A/V inputs where you hook up the VCR and DVD.  So, you have to change the TV to channel 2, and then use the channel changer buttons to back through to A/V inputs.  But the remote does have 4 colored buttons that you can set to your favorite channels.  You could use these for the A/V selections.