Philips 42PF9631D 42-Inch Plasma HDTV with Ambilight
Outstanding 1st HDTV Choice
The Philips 42PF9631 is the latest evolution of the 42\\" plasma TV that Philips has had for 8 years.  Over that time, the price has declined from $10,000 to under $2,000.  But the best thing has been that Philips has continually refined the product, worked out the bugs, and produced a solid HDTV that also shows standard definition (SD) very well.  <br /> <br />Picture quality on the Philips 9631 is outstanding.  Blacks are very good and colors are razor-sharp.  I compared the picture to several other HDTV's receiving the same cable TV signal in my area (a Samsung DLP and and a Sony RPTV) and the Philips plasma had sharper and more vibrant colors (the Sony was admittedly an older LCD RPTV model from 2001-02).  Still, hi-def viewing on the Philips Plasma is outstanding.  SD viewing is also outstanding:  I would say that most if not all of the channels are as good or better than they looked on my 27\\" Sony that the Philips replaced.  I had thought that alot of the SD channels would be unwatcheable from what I had heard about plasmas and other HDTV's -- not so with the Philips !!  You can easily tell the difference between HD and SD but SD is very watcheable.  If your SD reception mode is prone to more artifacts or ghosting, Pixel Plus will probably help improve the picture.   <br /> <br />The Philips 9631 plasma has lots of useful features.  The Automatic Format setting stretches most channels to eliminate black bars which are annoying to look at and which can (eventually) lead to burn-in.  The Menu and User interfaces are pretty easy to understand.  Best of all, firmware upgrades are available over the internet; all you do is download the file into a USB memory stick and insert it into the USB hub on the TV.  It's really easy to use, and alot of technical glitches that ALL top-end HDTV's get from time to time are easily solved by quick dowloads instead of having to bring in a service technician or worse, having to transport the TV for service. <br /> <br />Pixel Plus 3Dis supposed to create a more smooth and fluid picture motion, but truth be told the HD and SD pictures are so good I hardly noticed the improvement. Amblight is another matter:  it's a nice feature when you watch TV in a dark room to be able to have the backlighting adjust to the picture you are watching.  After a while, it grows on you.  I think this is a really nice feature to have and I wouldn't be surprised to see more manufacturers try and offer something similar.  There are different settings for Ambilight depending on if you're watching sports or movies; the Color setting set to a cool Blue is noted in the manual as a popular default choice. <br /> <br />The remote is a bit 'glass-like' and dense but pretty useful.  Channel set-up is not that difficult.  The stand has been improved from earlier versions and has a nice glass base.  2 HDMI inputs and multiple component inputs make the Philips 9631 a hi-def TV that will allow you to grow your accessories without a problem.  The TV tuner is excellent, though most people will probably input channels through a cable or satellite box. <br /> <br />All in all, this is an outstanding plasma TV that will do credit as your main HDTV or an excellent choice as a smaller TV to your larger unit.  It will fit nicely in a small bedroom should you decide down the line you want a bigger size than the 42\\" model.  If you want a model that's been continually refined, is not super-complicated, and can be up and running in about 45 minutes out of the box, this is the hi-def set for you. <br /> <br />Bottom Line:  A great TV at a great price, reliable, and not difficult to learn to utilize all the great features.  Get it and enjoy it ! <br /> <br />FEATURES: <br /> <br />Picture/Display: <br /> <br />Aspect ratio : 16:9  <br />Brightness : 1,500  <br />Contrast ratio (typical) : 10,000:1  <br />Diagonal screen size (inch) : 42  <br />Diagonal screen size (metric) : 107 cm  <br />Display screen type : HD Plasma panel  <br />Picture enhancement : Pixel Plus 3 HD, 3/2-2/2 Motion Pulldown, 3D Combfilter, Active Control + Light sensor, Jagged Line Suppression, Progressive Scan, Widescreen Plus, Pixel Plus 3 HD Screen enhancements : Anti ageing circuit, Anti-Reflection coated screen  <br />Viewing angle (horizontal) : 160  <br />Viewing angle (vertical) : 160  <br />Panel resolution : 1024 x 768p  <br /> <br />Ambilight:  <br /> <br />Ambilight Features : Auto adaptive to video content, 2 Channel Left/Right control  <br />Color Settings : Full Multi Colour  <br />Dimming Function : Manual and via Light Sensor  <br />Preset modes : 4 Active Adaptive modes <br /> <br />Supported Display Resolution: <br />  <br />Computer formats : 640 x 480, 60Hz, 800 x 600, 60Hz, 1024 x 768, 60Hz, 1366 x 768, 60Hz  <br />Video Formats : 640 x 480i - 1Fh, 640 x 480p - 2Fh, 720 x 576i - 1Fh, 720 x 576p - 2Fh, 1280 x 720p - 3Fh, 1920 x 1080i - 2Fh  <br /> <br />Sound: <br /> <br />Sound Enhancement : Digital Signal Processing, Dynamic Bass Enhancement, Graphic Equalizer <br />Sound System : Virtual Dolby Digital  <br />Output power (RMS) : 2x12W  <br /> <br />Convenience: <br /> <br />Ease of Installation: Autostore, PLL Digital Tuning, Plug & Play, Automatic Tuning System (ATS), Auto Program Naming <br />Ease of Use: On Screen Display, Side Control, Smart Picture Control, Channel list, Smart Sound Control, Delta Volume per preset, Auto Volume Leveller (AVL), Graphical User Interface <br />Screen Format Adjustments: Subtitle and Heading Shift, 6 Widescreen Modes, 4:3, Auto Format, Movie expand 14:9, Movie expand 16:9, Subtitle Zoom, Super Zoom, Widescreen <br />Child Protection: Child Lock+Parental Control <br />Picture in Picture: HDMI-Component PIP <br />Clock: Smart Clock <br />Teletext: Closed Captioning Full Text <br />VESA Mount: Vesa compliant <br /> <br />Multimedia Applications: <br /> <br />Digital Content Management: Digital Media Reader <br />Multimedia connections: USB <br />Playback Formats: JPEG Still pictures, MP3, Slideshow files (.alb) <br /> <br />Tuner/Reception/Transmission <br />TV system: ATSC, NTSC <br />Video Playback: NTSC <br />Aerial Input: 75 ohm F-type <br />Cable: Unscrambled Digital Cable -QAM Connectivity <br />Other connections: Monitor out, CVBS, L/R (cinch), S/PDIF in (coaxial), S/PDIF out (coaxial) <br />AV 1: Audio L/R in, CVBS in, RGB+H/V, YPbPr, Component Video in, (1, 2, 3Fh autoranging), Y/C <br />AV 2: Audio L/R in, CVBS, Y/C <br />AV 3: S/PDIF digital coaxial, YPbPr, (1, 2, 3Fh autoranging) <br />AV 4: HDMI <br />AV 5: HDMI <br />Front / Side connections: Audio L/R in, CVBS in, Headphone out, S-video in, USB  <br />