Philips Pixel Plus or Slim, young and much to learn or older reliable and overweight

[Worldlife]

Many years ago we paid an arm and a leg for our current 28" Sony television set. When new the Sony provided an outstanding picture of far superior quality to anything then on the market. The set is now half way through it's second decade and has only seen a repair agent twice and one of these was for a manufacturers free upgrade.

Although we feed the sound through our audio system we would prefer a set with a better on board sound system but we had not been impressed with picture quality of new sets.

Today whilst browsing in Comet one set pulled my attention as being well above the competition - a Philips 100Hz flat 32" widescreen. I noticed it was the only set on display that had an "A" for picture quality. To me it was outstandingly sharp - particularly on text. Sometimes labels are put on things that are meaningless but I've looked up the "Pixel Plus" technology and came across a neat article comparing a new plasma screen with a Philips using this technology.

Gateway Plasma LCD v Philips Pixel Plus

Philips Consumer Electronics News Centre

October "Which?" did not consider any of the new Plasma, LCD or DLP screens offered value in terms of picture quality.

A Loewe (that was given poor service support in one review) and a Philips were the only sets to achieve best picture quality stars.

If anyone else has browsed new set recently wonder if they agree or disagree with my impressions.

Would you hold fire on going for a mature top quality plump model and hope that the slimline models become cheaper and more attractive?

[seaviewuk]

I currently have a 36 inch Philips (Widescreen) which cost me around £900 about 15 months ago. Can't fault it. It's not a 100HZ model though.

I am currently waiting for the price of "expensive" plasma TV's circa £6,000 to sink to around the £2,000 mark. My guess a year or so.

[Worldlife]

Obviously you aim for quality seaview.

I'm thinking the weight of these current 32"- "36" conventional sets is of serious consideration. It's suggested it is a two or three person job to move them around!!!!

Are Plasma and LCD screens considerably lighter?

If we are going to keep our replacement for many years we have to balance reliability of known technology with the new and if the "fatty" will look an antique as the LCD and Plasma technology gains hold.

Do you see the quality of LCD and Plasma improving in the next year or so? I see a price war to get rid of conventional TV's if this happens.

[Behemoth]

Those Pixel Plus sets are amazing They certainly do give your no rather run of the mill Sony's a run for their money. I work for Curry's and we have a 32 Inhc Philips Pixel Plus Wide Screen TV on offer at £699 including an integrated Free View box plus, a FREE DVD Player.

If we had the room here, and I had the money I'd be getting one of these.

[seaviewuk]

You are correct W/L, I prefer to spend a bit more to get a quality item because at the end of the day you get what you pay for.

This 36" monster was a two man job!

The Plasma screens are considerably lighter, although by no means featherweight!

From what I have been researching the current "cheap" end of the market for Plasma's will give you a satisfactory picture if the input is clean ie. a DVD.

The quality will in my opinion improve considerably at the "top" end of the market and the current batch of "cheap" plasmas will probably drift down to around the £1000 mark for the "lesser" brand names.

The Sony's , Toshiba's, Samsung's will always have a premium price.

If my £1000 prediction comes true then that will put considerable pressure on the CRT market and their will be some good bargains to be had.

I recommend you having a read up. What TV and Video (I think that title is correct!) might be worth purchasing to get the experts view.

[Worldlife]

@Behemoth

The one that caught my attention was the Philips Model 32PW9538 100Hz Pure Flat Widescreen in Comet but allegedly it included for free a DVD/Dolby Digital 5.1 Home Cinema System that I don't really need - the total package cost was £1199 . That seems the price for the set alone on the net. How does the 32PW9538 differ from your £699 set? - We can't get Freeview in this area and have to rely on Sky satellite so the integrated box would not be of interest right now.

An alternative option was to include a Philips DVD and recordable CD player but Comet wanted to increase the package price by £50. The DVD would be useful but I would have to move up to their DVD recordable model as the one they would include only records video on CD.

Do you agree that Philips tend to confuse the consumer by placing many models of similar specification on the market and making price comparisons for the consumer very difficult?

Thanks for the info. seaview- will do some reading up!

Hi,

Never mind Phillips. All the manufacturers seem to flood the market with multiples of their products. It's a bloomin nightmare out there for the mass majority of prospective buyers because the choice is simply overwhelming. Couple that with the fact that most "sales people" will simply offload the bull and try and get the % up for themselves.

And yes they are heavy...... Ours is a 32" LG Flatron and it was the worst thing we had to shift when we moved recently. Scary business.

STS