Philips 42PF9630A 42-Inch HD Integrated Flat Panel Plasma TV with Pixel Plus 2HD and Ambilight
CLARIFICATION...  Major issues
IN CLARIFICATION TO WHAT I WROTE BEFORE: I have Time Warner Cable with the HD DVR box. Philips said it was a problem with Time Warner. I believed it until I was watching a DVD and the tv did the same flicker thing (screen went black, sound went off and ambilights blinked off). I walked across the street to my neighbor who has the same cable setup but owned a Pioneer and he's had no such problem. Let me mention that he's retired and watches about 10 hours of tv a day. That's when I decided to return the Philips and get the Toshiba. This, as other reviews, isn't a personal attack on Philips or people that own Philips tv's. Maybe I just happened to get the only two lemons out of the bunch. I can say that I haven't had even a little flicker or pause before the screen comes on with my Toshiba.    I read the reviews and bought this TV from Best Buy because I couldn't wait to get it delivered. I brought the TV home, mounted it on the wall and enjoyed it for about 4 days. Then, while watching Sesame Street with my 2-year-old, the screen went black and the ambilights turned off. After messing with the DVR and nothing happening, I turned the TV off and back on. Everything was fine. I ended up going to Philips web site and downloading the firmware update, put it on a USB stick and plugged it into the tv. After I did the update, the HDMI ports stopped working. I called Philips (Very Friendly) and they said it may have I'd need a repairman to come out and fix it. The repairman said some card must of burned out and he'd have to order it- it'd take a week to get the card in. I ended up taking the TV off of the wall and carting it back downstairs and to Best Buy for a replacement. I get home, put the new tv up and plug in the HDMI cable from my digital cable box. Turns out it blew the $120 HDMI cable I bought also. Back to Best Buy to get the cable.   The TV worked well for about 5 days. Yesterday, I noticed it went black and the lights turned off while I was watching it. I turnedthe tv off and back on- everything was fine. Then it happened again this morning- twice. I love the amblight but I figure if you're going to spend $2500 on a tv, you shouldn't have to worry about it turning off in the middle of a show and you definately shouldn't have to explain to a two-year-old what happened to Baby Bear and Telly Monster because the screen goes black.  I ended up making yet another trip to Best Buy to return the tv. I dropped another $300 and bought a Toshiba.     The Good:    1. Nice HDTV picture    2. Two HDMI ports and lots of other inputs    3. An awesome looking remote    4. Ambilight is a nice effect        The Bad:    1. Horrible standard picture    2. The flicker problem (do a search, you'll find more problems like mine)    3. No paper manual. You have to put the disk in your computer and hunt through the pdf.    4. No volume display on the TV    5. Ambilights get very warm- not sure how you'd replace them (never got that far in the pdf manual)    6. The inputs were almost impossible to get to while it's mounted on the wall     7. Mounting it is a pain. It says it's made for something called a \\"versa-mount\\". Had to pop the Stand mounts off and use the screw holes to make it fit the universal wall mount I bought with the TV.    In a nutshell: The \\"Geek\\" at Best Buy said Philips had problems with their first generation of Ambilight TV's. Sounds like they still need to iron some out. Spend the extra money and check out the Panasonics and Toshibas. You won't miss the ambilight. Hell, it's worth it just for a paper manual.