Great TV. I looked for ages for a replacement to my old Sony KDL32MRX1 - I couldn't find a better telly than the 9664 considering the picture, sound and features for the price.
Mine is wall-mounted, but as four of the HDMI ports on the rear face the wall it is tricky to mount and connect using HDMI cables even using 90 degree heads. As a result it is not quite an Essence-like slimline look, but then being a couple of inches off the wall appears to assist in throwing the ambilight across the wall, and that feature works beautifully.
Philips' NetTV portal is fun but the system seems a little slow to respond to me, despite using wired ethernet and 8mb ADSL. Maybe they are wary of encouraging the increased load the system would receive if they were to make a keyboard available..
I still don't understand why anyone would buy a telly now when they could wait to get one with a Freeview HD tuner next year (esp high-end TVs like this). Are tv sales stalling at the moment or do the great british public neither understand or care?
@timple: I think the vast majority of people don't realise. It's a very valid point you raise but I'd argue it's more like two or three years before Freeview HD really starts to arrive at sensible prices. Also, you can always buy a seperate tuner - not ideal but acceptable.
I regularly read how labour intensive Philips TV's can be to make sure you are getting the best out of them.. Does this set or any of the Philips line allow you to save presets?
Excellent review, John. Philips really are making some great TVs these days. Any chance of you getting your mitts on the Philips Pro-LCD 46PFL9704 (it's user-friendly, trip-off-the-tongue name here in Germany)? That appears to offer even more awesomeness, at a suitably much, much higher price, of course.
Or you could just buy a TV with integrated Freesat HD now. Although I do think there are more important features to consider with a TV than the tuners. External tuners can be easily added but if the display is a dud you can't exactly upgrade it.
@ cxs: I couldn't agree more about the problem of wall-mounting TVs and maintaining access to the various connections, including HDMI. Why don't manufacturers simply angle connections at 90 or 45 degrees in the first place? It wouldn't be a huge inconvenience to users who stand-mount their sets, surely? My Panasonic plasma has three HDMI sockets, but even with right angle adapters, I can only access two of them.
@Stu: I agree, presets with distinct remote codes would be ideal. One for the BluRay, one for Sky, one for your games console, etc. I imagine that the individual settings for each input would be saved at least.
@timple: I've never really cared what kind of tuner my TV incorporates since for the last 10 years I've always used some kind of STB, be it Sky, TiVo or a Freeview PVR. I would think that anyone spending this kind of cash on a TV would be the same.
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