Philips 42PFL3603D/27 42" LCD TV

On Superbowl Sunday, I watched the big game in high definition for the first time on the Philips 42PFL3603D.  The LCD television was mounted six foot off the floor with a Wall mount unit in a small guest bedroom.  The large glossy black frame and modern looks made this television a great addition to the room, instantly making the room look bigger.  Soon after the game started I noticed some blocks appearing around the action at the center of pocket protecting "Big Ben" Roethlisberger.  Doubting the fact that my new, economical, television was causing the problem; I checked channel listing to verify that this was the HD version of NBC.  The final straw for me was the touchdown attempt by the Pittsburgh Steelers a few minutes later.  The blocky players were so hard to make out in the live action that I had to wait for the instant replay to see if the football actually crossed the touchdown line.  I only paid $750 for this television, six months ago, and luckily my guests are the only ones who will see this television but I am still upset with its poor performance.  Follow along as I cover the benefits of this product and see if this television will work for you.

The Philips 42PFL3603D is an attractive, modern television that has an all black plastic exterior. In the lower left hand corner a small, low intensity, blue LED lights ups when turned on. The speakers are tucked inside the television's plastic frame behind a 2" high, grill that runs the entire width of the bottom of the TV. The dimensions of this unit are 40.7" x 11.5" x 28.4", note that is not the advertised size of 42" because televisions are measured diagonally. The left side of the frame has the following manual controls: Volume +/-, Menu, Channel +/- and power. Recessed behind the frame on the left side of the television is a USB port, headphone jack, RCA right and left jacks, RCA video in and a SVIDEO port.

The supplied pedestal stand adds another 4" of height to the LCD television. The LCD slides effortlessly into a long metal interlocking key on the tubular, thick, aluminum support in the center of the stand. The base is made of 1/4" thick glass with six 1/4" rubber cubes underneath the glass acting as an anti slide grip for the entire unit.

Video
First, before you exceed any expectations, remember this is a 42" LCD television that supports 1080P. Yes, the video quality is clear as can be expected from any 42" LCD.  The brightness is a nice feature that I am sure will impress most viewers.  Size really does matter when you are working with modern televisions.

I found a good movie to test this display, "The Air I Breathe". The movie alternates between dark and bright scenes which will act as a good stress test for an LCD display. The contrast ratio on this set is very good. The blacks are deep and rich with the switch to this color nearly instant. During the initial casino scene of the movie, the smoke and contrasting halos of the lights are pleasing to see. However, the television could not show the full shading for certain shots in the movie. For example, a scene showing Brandon Frasier's arm in a fixed position for a few seconds had digital artifacts in a patch of skin. I found the defect interrupted my train of thought during the movie, causing me to lose focus.

Sound
You will be amazed at the amount of sound that this television can produce. When watching an analog cable station at an audio level of 30, the bass was resonating so well you can feel it on the frame as a slight vibration. When you adjust the audio level a vertical bar graph appears in the middle left of the video display. The volume has a range of 0-100. The Philips 42PFL3603D has 20 watts worth of sound blasting out to fill my guest bedroom with audio entertainment.  The bass was somewhat lacking but this is to be expected from speakers mounted inside a television.

Remote Control
The remote is a basic all black unit with colored buttons. You can only control the television with it. I was disappointed by this because this means I will have to find a universal remote to control both my Sony DVD player and Philips television. The alternative is having a pile of unsightly remotes lying around.

USB Multimedia Connector
The 42PFL3603D does have one great feature that sets it apart from crowd, USB photo viewing and MP3 playback. You can insert a USB memory stick into the slot on the unit and activate it from the on-screen menu interface.

Compatibility
I tested the HDMI input source of this LCD television with the following DVD Players:  Sony DVP-NS700H and Sony DVP-NS77H DVD Player.  The LCD did work with these players 
The television also works fine with the BOSE GS 321 Series II Home Theater DVD Player in component video mode.

Power Consumption
Using a P4400 Kill-A-Watt power meter, I got the following power figures.

Started at 208 watts, with volume at 20 on non-HD TV signal, and dropped to 198 watts after 15 minutes.  Volume set to 50 only raised power consumption to 199.  However, the tv has a mode called Power Demo which adjusts dramatically the power consumption of the tv.  In the lowest level, Power Saver, the tv only took 96 watts but was hard to see in during the day because of sunlight in the room.  When switched off the LCD pulls 0 watts which is a great feature that most televisions do not have.

Superbowl power statistics:  From 5:00 pm until 9:30 pm, when Superbowl XLIII was over the Philips took a total of .9 kilowatts of power or $.09 of electricity if you pay $.10 per kilowatt hour.

Website
You can visit http://www.p4c.philips.com/ for complete support of this product. The website has a series of reference images of the product for you to examine before purchase. The product website also has troubleshooting manuals.

Specifications
1080P support (1920x1080 resolution)
HD tuning built in
5ms response time
71lbs in box

Summary
I appreciate getting a good deal on a 42" LCD television, but I would rather watch my programming on a Sony instead.  The poor HD capability and basic remote forced me to give a 3 star rating.  You can find better deals in today's market on Sony LCD televisions.