Philips 42PFL9664

I bought this TV a few days ago and Im still in awe of it!

I went from an old'ish LG 32" Tv which was 'HD Ready' but didnt have an HDMI socket.

I read a lot of reviews about the 42PFL9664 and was expecting something impressive and I wasn't dissapointed.

The picture quality on standard definition is miles better than on HD on my old LG Tv.

It almost feels like Im watching a 3D Tv at times as the depth of objects is so defined and so crisp. Its an absolute pleasure to watch.

I was expecting at TV that was quite technical and hard to set up - but out of the box the picture quality was excellent, the menus for customising it very easy to use and functions such as WiFi were amazingly simple to set up (WiFi for example took under a minute to set up and get running - incredible).

If you want to get technical then there's a massive array of tweaks you can make to the picture and sound, but to be honest for me Im very happy at this stage with the pre-defined settings.

The design of the TV is also great - a major selling point for me - as its not that horrible 'piano black' (yuk!). It looks like a quality TV and then you switch it on and realise it is indeed quality...

Ambilight is a revelation too - it basically lights up the wall behind the TV with the same colours/tones as the picture you're watching (sounds gimicky? thats what I thought....) - the results are excllent. It makes the already rather large 42" Tv feel much bigger as it extends the picture in essence to the wall - it also reduces eye strain and makes for a real cinematic experience.

The only small little gripe I could make thus far is that Philips are continuing the trend of most manufacturers these days by not including a user manual with the product. Instead, you access the manual via the TV. I guess this is all about saving money (but on a TV that retails for £1300-£1500, is a manual really going to eat into the profit margin that much?!).

I would much prefer to have a printed manual that I can thumb through at my leisure, but the only way of doing this would be to download the c. 300 page document from Philips' website - I dont think my printer would be too keen on that.

That said, its only a minor gripe, over all this TV is absolutely excellent. Its expensive, there's no doubt about it, but if you want to invest in a top rate TV I couldn't recommend it more.