Philips 44PL9523 44-Inch Cineos Widescreen LCOS Projection TV Monitor
A lemon from which you can't make lemonade
Because of the combination of the Philips name and the gorgeous picture quality of the floor model we saw at Bose, we purchased on of these from Bose. Two and a half weeks after it was installed, it flashed a message saying \\"replace lamp\\" (the lamps are supposed to last for 6,000 hours) and then it popped off, and we couldn't get it to turn on again.  <br /> <br />We first contacted Philips, but their service center is in the Philippines, and the people know NOTHING about the products. On the second call and upon my insistence, they referred us to a customer service center in the US. That service center knew something about the product and thought perhaps the lamp was defective and sent us a new one (free, but only after some pointed comments about the fact that the TV wasn't even a month old). The replacement lamp did absolutely no good. We asked to have the TV replaced, but all Philips would do was to say we should arrange for a local authorized repair service to come to see what they could do.  <br /> <br />At that point, we contacted Bose because we did not trust the long-term viability of whatever fix the repairmen might do, and the TV was too expensive to take the chance that it would break down two days after the warranty lapsed. Bose arranged for Philips to take back the TV and give us a replacement. But it seemed to us that Bose had to strong-arm Philips to stand behind the product.  <br /> <br />The replacement worked for less than 24 hours before going into permanent stand-by mode. Bose agreed immediately to take it back and refund our purchase price. The only good aspect of our experience was the consummate professionalism and customer service of Bose.  <br /> <br />I should add that on the day the second TV failed, Philips announced to the financial markets that it is terminating its rear projection TV line, citing market share considerations. My bet, the real reason is too high a defect rate on the product, based on our zero-for-two experience.