Review Philips 42PFL5609 LCD TV

Good

Very bright, contrast also is healthy.

The MOP is reasonable

Bad

Colors might seem oversaturated to some

This is Philips’ popular winning horse from their latest line up of LCD TVs. The 5000 series is their mid range stream of models, and 42 would be the “in-between” size in that.

Design

The design is curvaceous for this series, with rounded corners and glossy black finish, plus there is a plastic rim that accents the bezel around its sides. The power LED is a small simple white one on the right corner, and that’s about it on the bare, shiny bezel. The stand too is similarly attired in gloss and is quite a broad and sturdy built one. There are no issues of wobbliness or dangerous acrobatics performed by the frame when nudged, it’s a heavy duty fit.

The connections include 3 HDMIs, 2 component video, 2 composite Headphone out, and last but not the least a USB, that plays MPEG4 video files like DivX etc., also MPEG1 files like .dat and .mpg files, besides MP3s and JPEGs. The panel is 1920 x 1080, brightness is 500 cd/m2, response time is 5 ms, and finally DCR is 50,000:1.

The included features range from some cool proprietary Philips video processing tech, to generic de-interlacing ones like 3D comb filters and 3:2 motion pulldown. The full list of features is: Pixel Plus 2 HD (Philips’ much reputed, own video engine), 3/2 – 2/2 motion pull down, 3D Combfilter, Active Control  Light sensor, Color Enhancement, Dynamic contrast enhancement, Jagged Line Suppression, Sharpness Adjustment, Dynamic Noise Reduction, 2D/3D noise reduction, 1080p 24/25/30Hz processing and 1080p 50/60Hz processing.

Performance

The TV, once switched on, has something very different from the rest: a setup wizard, which runs a set of images in 2 different settings, and you have to choose which one is suitable. The TV then tries to calibrate according to your preferences. It doesn’t do the best job, but it’s really interesting and amusing.

Now on to our Displaymate and DVE disc tests – we gauged the pure black levels to be quite deep and impressive, plus there is an automatic light sensing preset that adjusts brightness according to ambient light. This actually works very well. The grayscale performance was  good in terms of neutrality, with not much coloration and tinges coming from other colors in every graded shade of grey. Also, there was good detail in low blacks and no clipping or blooming of higher intensities of whites.

The backlight is clearly a notch brighter than the rest, this we could see subjectively itself, before the use of any meter. Colors also are very vibrant and full bodied. I cannot say that it is bang on target in terms of saturation, but it takes on a balance that suits the eye well. It is a bit on the warmer side and skin tones look intense in this model. Motion video was as good as any other LCD TV in this price bracket; with just a little blur coming up once in a while in hard to render scenes. For real world tests, we played Dark Void, which really looked intensely deep in the, well, dark scenes.

Conclusion

The MRP of the 42PFL5609 is Rs. 64,990 and the MOP is Rs.56000. The MOP is really reasonable for this quality, as I do like the quality of the blacks and have good detail in them. The colors are also very pleasant, and even though they are tad oversaturated it works for regular viewing. The setup wizard is fun to use during initial setup. Overall it’s a really great TV.