176° / 176° - 1366 x 768 - Virtual Surround - 2 x HDMI - USB - MPN: 37PF7320A
Strengths: Built in HD-Tuner, digital audio input and output
Weakness: ghosting
This Philips LCD is a decent television. I like that it has a coax digital input that you can assign. I've noticed alot of other companies LCD just have either a coax or optical outputs only no digital sound inputs. There is one thing that I have found extremely annoying with this tv and maybe I just have a defective one is even after I've exited the direct tv on screen guide I can still see the guides impression. At times if there is a weather alert that's been on the top or bottom of the screen I can still see a faint version of it when I change to a completely different channel. Besides these problems I really love it.
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TopStrengths: Picture, SD transmission quality, remote
Weakness: Price, fixed speakers
I purchased the Philips 37PF7320A at Costco, for price and executive member 2% back. In store, the image quality, brightness and black levels from the Philips were really excellent and I only found the new Sony Bravia to be a bit better, but similarly priced for a only a 32" monitor.
This is our first HD capable TV, so I can only compare to my 32" Sharp CRT (dinosaur). I chose the Philips not only for the clear, bright picture but because it seems to have input capabilities that a lot of other cheaper models don't, including 2 HDMI, CableCard and a slew of auxiliary inputs -- hopefully these will allow me to keep from being technologically obsolete for a few years.
Setup was very, very simple and in a few minutes I was watching SportsCenter (OK, well it took almost 20 minutes for the tuner to initially "recognize" channels). The manual is written clearly and I haven't yet found need for customization in the menus.
I have been very impressed with the quality of the SD transmission. I am still waiting for my HD receiver to arrive from the cable company, but have primarily used the "automatic" screen adjustment setting for SD broadcasts and the stretching / distortion are very minimal. I am also looking forward to being able to use the CableCard option in the future.
DVD's through an inexpensive progressive scan / upconverting player are PHENOMENAL. The color settings out of the box are very nice and I haven't needed to make any adjustments to date. We watched Star Wars Episode III as a test run. Colors, brightness, contrast, are simply incredible. Sound from the speakers is much better than I had expected with good high and low tones. The surround sound option worked very well, although I finally got my modest home theater speakers set up, there is no comparison.
I'll update this post when I have HD set up and have checked for dead pixels, but overall I am very, very pleased.
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TopStrengths: excellent pq, bright, vibrant colors, preferable viewing screen
Weakness: pricier than competitors, not compatible with Comcast remote.
I bought this LCD from Costco after mulling over this one and the Sharp 37" they had on sale for $2000. I first bought the Sharp and took it home but the standard definition was very grainy, I was not able to test out HD on the unit because I didn't have the HD box yet. I also saw this Philips at Cosco too but this one was not on display so I couldn't compare it with the Sharp but after looking over other reviewers in a internet forum I decided to return the Sharp and go with this one. I was not disappointed because the pq is much brighter and much clearer for SD than the Sharp. Also what I like about the Philips is that the screen is not very wide like others, it has more height to it which I prefer for those 4:3 programs. But it also displays 16:9 very well too. I am very happy to end up with this product even though it was $500 more.
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TopI am mulling over this product for a while.
I, too, considered sharp aquos, but I was able to compare both philips and sharp in my neighborhood costco. It was apparent that sharp has poorer quality. I can't understand why some of the internet reviewed this product positively.
Right now the price is too high, so I am waiting to go down. I think amazon has same price as cost, with no shipping fee and no tax (unless you are caught)
Hopefully price goes down in christmas time.
Strengths: Picture quality, appearance, HDMI inputs & USB port.
Weakness: TV turns off on it's own sometimes....
Make sure you go to the Philips website, download the latest software update onto a thumb drive & use the USB port on the TV to update the software.
I'm pretty happy with this TV, so far. The picture is great but sometimes the TV outperforms the source material (DVDs) & the picture ends up looking a little weak. With high-def material, the picture is totally amazing.
Weakness? I've had this TV turn off on it's own a few times. I've had to unplug the unit to reset it. I'm not sure how worried I am about this but if it continues I'll start contacting philips.
Overall...this TV is much better than any normal TV & as more high-def programming becomes available, the experience will continue to improve.
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Topi got the same problem even i updated to the latest firmware.
i just find out that the problem is overheat. I tested couple time s when i turned on the Air condition, the tv would stay on and nothing happen. But once the AC was off, or the room temp (over 85 degree). was high, the TV would turn off by itself. So, it must keep the room temp. cool.
Strengths: Great picture in both HD and SD, Manual controls placement, USB port for images and music, Updateable firmware
Weakness: Slow and overcomplicated menu.
Like many others out here I bought my 37PF7320A/37 at Costco with $300 off at the register (thru coupon) + 2% executive member’s cash back. A great deal! The stunning image quality and extra-wide (176 deg) viewing angles caught my attention as I was walking down the isle.
I was looking for the LCD TV to hang on the wall in my family room. Initially, I was considering Sharp's TVs for the overall quality, but some little details were turning me down. Take for example the placement of buttons on Sharp TV's top side, which would be impossible to reach since TV had to be placed over the fireplace. So, in order to turn off the TV or change the channel without the remote I'd have to pull a chair or something. Another little detail for me was the overall look and feel - I was looking for a more contemporary, industrial, sharp-edge design. A not-so-little detail - while performing great in HD, the Standard resolution picture looks not so sharp on Sharp. :) Though my visual requirements could be a little high since I work for the company which develops software for many modern LCD manufacturers and I spend a lot of time in the Lab looking at sharp pictures of the next-generation displays.
Now back to Philips. The 37PF7320A/37 has an easy to reach USB 1.1 (alas not 2.0) port on the left side which allows you to see JPEG pictures right off your camera. Nice feature! You can also connect a USB thumb-drive with some MP3s on it and play them thru the TV, controlling playback with your remote control.
As a software developer I know that no software is perfect, therefore I cannot bypass one feature that everyone is omitting in their reviews - Philips TV’s firmware is UPDATEABLE! This is a great thing, since it allows to fix existing software problems as well as to add new features as technology is evolving. The first thing I did after initial set-up was to check Philips' web site for the update - and there was one, released less than a month ago. The update process is very clean and easy. Just download a file from their website to a USB thumb-drive. Put the thumb-drive in the USB port and turn on your TV. The update process starts automatically, showing its progress on the screen. When it's done just power cycle your TV and that's it. That update fixed one minor but irritating issue when TV would find and store empty (not working) TV channels in the channels list. Updates seems to be coming out on a regular basis, which keeps me at peace knowing that I’m not stuck with some annoying bug for the rest of the TV’s life. Additionally, there’s an external IR receiver in the package which is currently not being used. Looks like Philips has plans to improve the product over time. That’s good to know.
There are a couple more advanced features I'd want to mention. This TV can maintain accurate date/time, setting its clock from the signal received thru TV cable. You just need to set the station transmitting this signal. In my case it was PBS Channel on Comcast. Another remarkable feature is configurable Automatic Volume Leveler which keeps you away from having a heart attack at every commercial break.
The HD picture produced by this TV is clear, deep and bright. When connected to the Windows Media Center PC thru HDMI cable the type appears sharp and legible. Finally, I can read email and browse the web on the TV without having a second smaller LCD monitor connected to the PC.
On the negative side there's a slow on-screen menu (hopefully it would be fixed in the future software updates, though I noticed that it's common to other Philips devices). Hanging on the wall requires a quite large wall mount or a special adapter plate, due to the 800x400mm VESA mounting standard. Many smaller TV mounts would not be wide enough for 800mm between the mounting holes on the back of this unit. Luckily Costco sells compatible mounts from their website for a good price.
Conclusion:
With plenty of connections (including 2 HDMI), great picture (in HD as well as in SD), lots of advanced features and convenient manual controls, native wide-screen HDTV resolution (1366x768), fast 8ms response and built-in SD/HD/QAM tuners with CableCard option, this TV is a great buy for the demanding viewer.
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TopStrengths: Pcture is good, has ATSC, good price.
Weakness: remote is awkward, documentation is poor.
It has built-in tuner which found several public HD channels using just ordinary antenna. The picture is excellent. The sound is not impressive. The remote is bulky and difficult to use. The documentation is poor and not very helpful. Actually a lot of information is in the CD attached.
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TopStrengths: Clear picture, plentiful inputs, tuners, USB interface for updating firmware convenient
Weakness: no on-screen display for volume control (very annoying). I've seen easier to use menu options...
I wasn't super-impressed by the TV, but I wasn't disappointed by any means either. For the price I paid at the time, it was a good TV with lots of inputs and a good crisp picture. Very bright too (I had to lower the brightness a bit). Navigating the menu isn't too difficult once you get used to it, but I've seen better menus. And not having the volume bar display is very annoying. No idea if you've maxed out or where in the middle. Its a guessing game.
I think its a good middle of the line TV. Not the best on the market out there, but comparing picture quality, definitely not the bottom either! I'd buy it again...for the right price.
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TopStrengths: Picture clarity, crisp sound
Weakness: Slow menu response
I bought this tv from Costco. The product is in such high demand that no online store had it in stock. With Costco, I was able to pick it up so I saved on the shipping which makes up for the higher pricetag and tax.
I've done a lot of research over the past several months and I finally decided on the Philips after looking at Sony and Sharp. Sony is overpriced, and the Sharp Aquos model has a lower response (16ms) than the Philips (8ms). That is VERY important to me b/c I play video games a lot.
The television quality so far is excellent. The HD channels come in crystal clear and there's no ghosting. The first thing I noticed with the tv when turned on was the sound. Crystal clear! and surprisingly powerful. I have my surround hooked up to it anyway though.
The only annoying aspect I notice was that the menu selection is slow on the response. Either I'm not point at it at the right angle, or not pressing the buttons perfectly square, but sometimes it takes a second for the menu selection to change. Another thing is I'm about to purchase a universal remote, but I do not know if the specific features on the philips remote can be taught on the universal remote (the favorites button, shortcuts). We'll just have to see.
All in all, I highly recommend the product. I'm very happy and found myself stuck on it since the day I got it.
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TopStrengths: Picture quality is good clearity HD turner
Weakness: No RGB port Only one tuner Remote control too simple
I've been using this TV for more than 2 months now. It is a really good TV, I'll say. I have only basic cable, but the HD turner can find some digital channels from the basic cable. The HD picture looks great. The DVD picture picture also looks fabulous. Computer via DVI-HDMI adapter looks stunning. SD picture actually fairly decent
The weakness of this TV are the Remote control is not powerful, no SAP or Closed Caption (CC) up front. If I want to turn on/off CC, I have to navigate the menu system to do that. Also it has only one tuner which makes PIP means nothing to me. Another weakness is that it doesn't have a RGB port, so I can't hook it up with my laptop, (I didn't try the RDB breakout cable though.) I connected it to a desktop which has a low-end graphic card with DVI. I used DVI-HDMI cable. The best resolution I found is 1280X720, but the problem of it is some of the display is off the screen of the TV. I tried 1024x768, although it fits the screen better, it doesn't look good to me.
Overall, I like this TV.
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TopStrengths: bright colorful picture, HDTV is excellant
Weakness: none so far
I have looked and looked for a "smaller" size TV for the living room - my living room is on the small size but I wanted a pure picture and clarity. Well, I found it with this TV!
Heard that LCD are longer lasting and more reliable than plasma so I specifically wanted LCD.
Philips is a reliable brand and has been around forever so that was another plus.
So far so good - it was worth it!
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TopStrengths: Great quality picture, built-in tuner, easy setup, fair price at Costco.
Weakness: Rediculously slow "bootup", Philips customer service non-existent, took three trys (so far) to get a good one.
I read all the reviews I could find, and this one seemed like it was the way to go.
Picked up one at Costco, and set it up with no problems, although it takes about 12 seconds or so to turn on (can live with it). Some other things were a bit quirky, so I called Philips customer service to try to get answers. For example, sometimes the sound would just stop (completely dead). The only way to get it back was to change channels, then return. So, I upgraded the firmware. Didn't help, but now the preferred channels settings were not accessible any longer. Very odd. A month or so later, a corrected firmware was available that fixed the preferred channels. But the sound still cut out from time to time. Finally, I took it back to Costco and returned for another.
Second one had a fairly loud buzz all the time; even when on mute (The first set did not). Also, the sound still cut out occasionally. This lasted a week or so before I had a chance to return it. At this point, I was getting pretty fed up with Philips.
Crazy me, I got a third one. No buzz! Great! The sound cut out as with the others, but at least no buzz. Went to the Philips web site and asked them what I could do about the sound cutting out, and got a response that said something like "We're sorry your are not happy with our TV. We do not wish to even address the issue and can not help you. You need to write a letter to these people..., although they are not technical, and therefore they probably can not help you either."
Just a few days ago I downloaded the latest firmware, and this one seems to have fixed the sound problem. (Guessing I was not the only one to have the problem with three out of three).
There are things in the menu system I'd like to add or change. For example, sleep timer is buried deep, so it's a joke, OSD is not customizable (It's either on, or off), channels should have the option to add names/descriptions (but they don't have any such feature). In general, the whole menu system seems to be weak for a TV of this class/cost.
Anyway, probably hard to believe, but if I don't have any new problems, I think I will ultimately be happy with the purchase. Just remember: do not expect any help from Philips customer service (I appears that you're on you own with this company).
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TopStrengths: Great picture quality
Weakness: NA
Worhth it for the money, the pic. quality is better than some other high end LCD tv's. For around $2000, your really getting a good deal and good brand as well.
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TopStrengths: Great picture, easy setup, variety of picture and audio controls to tweak your precise desires.
Weakness: A bit pricey, but was able to get it for just a bit over $2K by shopping all of the etailers.
This is our first HD LCD TV. Read lots of reviews of the various makes/models and finally made our decision based solely on those reviews. We're very happy and recommend it highly. Even with an S-Video cable connection (you definitely do not want to stick with the standard RG-59 cable from your cable or satellite box), the picture was good, but not great. Then we upgraded our satellite connection to HD, which came with an HDMI cable. The difference is very noticeable. Bottom line is that after you buy the TV, there will be extra expenses for the upgraded cable or satellite HD receiver, HDMI cable and subscription to the HD channels (there aren't many - yet). Having said that, it's still a great improvement over standard TV and we don't regret buying it.
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TopStrengths: Extremely good picture quality, great sound, very clear, HDTV picture is great
Weakness: No volume indicator on the screen, slow response to remote, no universal remote, Bad customer service from Philips
I bought this TV from Costco when it went on sale with a $300 off coupon. I thought it was a great deal and I am very happy with it till now. I have had this TV for about 1.5 months and I think its a very good TV for the price. The picture quality is excellent and colors are bright and vibrant. The sound is great and this TV is perfect for an apartment. Its not too big or too small.
A couple of things that I would like to see improved include having a universal remote and of having an indicator on the screen when the volume button is pressed on the remote. Also the response of the TV to the remote is a little slow.
However based on all aspects of the TV, I am very happy with this TV and I would wholeheartedly recommend this product to everyone.
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TopStrengths: Reasonable price, excellent picture and color
Weakness: Picture format changes, long time warm up, slow response to remote
This is Day 4 using this TV and I bought this at Costco. The overall comments for this TV is excellent as far as the quality of the picture and sound, it's just great. However, there is only one draw back for this as it has the picture format to automatic, you will find the TV switching to different sizes in order to find the best picture format. You could only stop it from re-sizing if there is no HD Sources in use. So, there should still be a lot to explore for me with this TV.
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TopProduct sometimes makes random clicking noises while off, and on the first day turned off and on a few times, but have not seen any problems since then. Picture quality is excellent, a great buy.
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Top
Awesome at first now just RIP (rest in peace)
Strengths: Excellent picture quality, beautiful colors, great image on fast movement
Weakness: It died after 7 months!
Hi, I just wanted to warn you about this TV. when I first bought it I thought it was the best TV I ever bought even though it cost me 1799 at Costco. It worked without a glitch for 7 months, used it to watch the World Cup Soccer, and it was really an awesome TV until last Thursday when it would not start. The only thing i could see was the front panel green light blinking twice and then the red light blinked 3 times, an and it would repeat but no image. I called Phillips but they said the would have to send a technician to look at it. No ETA on repair. So I started searching the web and I found out several websites with nightmare stories of Phillips having all motherboards on back order. So THANK GOD I had bought it in Costco and per their policy they would take it back. So I took it to Costco and bought a Sony Bravia 40" :-)
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