Sections
- Page 1 : Philips 48PFT5509 Review
- Page 2 : Sound and Conclusions Review
- Page 3 : Picture Quality Review
The 48PFT5509 is one of the best mass market TVs we’ve seen this year, and as such is exactly the sort of model that should help re-establish Philips as a major player on the UK TV scene.
Next, check out our pick of the Best Budget TVs
Philips 48PFT5509: Sound Quality
With its skinny frame and slightly plasticky build quality, we’d expected little from the 48PFT5509’s audio. But actually it’s not bad at all – especially when considered against the horribly thin, flimsy sonic efforts common at the 48PFT5509’s kind of price point.
For starters there’s a surprising amount of bass in evidence during action scenes, thanks to the impressive (for such a cheap TV) inclusion of quite a large woofer speaker on the TV’s rear. What’s more, this woofer doesn’t easily succumb to phutting or excessive distortion, and it also integrates quite nicely with the midrange rather than sitting too far below it.
Part of this is down to the fact that the mid-range is also wide and dynamic for a budget set, managing to retain a natural, open feel and deliver dialogue cleanly and believably even when the bass is rumbling away.
The 48PFT5509 doesn’t deliver a great deal of treble detail, but at least what treble information there is doesn’t sound excessively harsh, even at significant volumes.
Other things to consider
The 48PFT5509’s operating system is a little sluggish. It can take almost three seconds for the EPG to appear when you request it, for instance, and scrolling around the listings feels sluggish.
On the subject of the EPG, it’s a shame that while you’re using it it retains neither the picture nor the audio from the programme you were watching.
With its affordable price and excellent contrast and sharpness, the 48PFT5509 is a potentially excellent gaming monitor. So it’s great to find that once you’ve set the TV to its Game or PC ‘Activity’ mode and turned off as much picture processing as you can find (and made sure your gaming device is outputting a progressive signal!), the set measures just 33ms of input lag. This shouldn’t be enough to badly impact your gaming abilities.

Should I buy a Philips 48PFT5509?
Really good budget TVs have been rather thin on the ground this year, so the 48PFT5509 stands out from the crowd in all the right ways.
There is strong competition at a slightly higher price level from the £700 Sony 50W829 and Samsung UE48H6400, but for its money the 48PFT5509 is hard to beat.
How we test televisions
We test every TV we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
- Used as the main TV for the review period
- Tested for more than a week
- Tested using industry calibrated tools, discs and with real world use
- Tested with broadcast content (HD/SD), video streams and demo discs
Trusted Score
Score in detail
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Value 10
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Smart TV 6
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Image Quality 9
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Design 8
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Sound Quality 8