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Philips 37PF7320A

101K views 684 replies 183 participants last post by  calixguy18 
#1 ·
Anyone currently have this model? How long have you had it? Any problems? How does the picture look with a direct HD feed? Any ghosting with the claimed 8ms refresh time while watching sports? How have u found the black levels to be?


I had the Sony KD-34xbr960 Crt and it broke down in less than a year. Picture was absolutely stunning, however, it was extremely heavy and bulky. Anyways, the repairman came out several times over a 5 week period and could not solve the problem. He wanted to come out again but I had enough and Circuity City agreed to replace.


Since I am moving across country in a couple months I thought it would be a good idea to use the opportunity to get something lighter/more portable. Started doing a lot of research over the weekend. Went to CC and BB several times and kept coming back to the Philips model. It seems to have everything including an excellent picture for an LCD. Ofcourse, it is hard to really tell how good it is with out having a direct HD feed unlike the crap they have at the stores.


Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had it that frequents this board. Thanks.
 
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#2 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rxtasy /forum/post/0


Anyone currently have this model? How long have you had it? Any problems? How does the picture look with a direct HD feed? Any ghosting with the claimed 8ms refresh time while watching sports? How have u found the black levels to be?


... Went to CC and BB several times and kept coming back to the Philips model. It seems to have everything including an excellent picture for an LCD. Ofcourse, it is hard to really tell how good it is with out having a direct HD feed unlike the crap they have at the stores.


Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had it that frequents this board. Thanks.

Just bought this set a few days ago at Costco (along with a Westinghouse 37" LCD from BB). I've posted my impressions of the Westy on this board several other places (very positive as a combo monitor for my 17" Powerbook with Comcast cable inset using PIP), but as yet haven't even opened the box for the Philips.


I must confess however that I went to Costco for the Vizio 50" plasma and even with it's substantial size advantage, simply couldn't get over the image quality of the Philips LCD. In fact every person that walked by to look at all the sets (from Pioneer to Vizio, to Maxtent, to Philips...) virtually without exception ended up glued to the Philips for the same reasons. It simply looked amazing and even demonstrated decent black levels for an LCD as well.


Bottom line was that even while I wanted the 50" Vizio (about the same price), ended up taking the Philips. Indeed it has a VERY complete feature set including even a HD tuner, cablecard slot and even USB...


I'll probably be setting up in the next day or two and I'll try and post my reactions once I do. Nice thing about Costco is that if for some unexpected reason it doesn't perform as expected in my home, returning it won't be a hassle.


Sorry I couldn't offer more insight just yet, but I agree this set looks like a real winner!


Cheers
 
#4 ·
Good show on the swap! I think you'll be quite pleased with this set. Personally, while I do understand that plasma offers better contrast in black levels, I prefer LCD for a number of reasons and this set seems like a real winner from what I saw of it.


As for price, AVS doesn't allow listing of prices (except for MSRP), so check your mailbox for the actual price I paid. Costco charges a fair price for this set (but not super low like they do on some other sets) which is only a bit cheaper than some other b&m stores sell it for, but their return policy basically means the warranty is unlimited, so it's my first choice to buy something like this.


Good luck with your purchase and do post your review once it's up and running. I have to install my wall mount before I can use it as there isn't any other way to use it in the bedroom. That's what's taking me so long, finding the time to do a proper install of the mount.


I'm a bit surprised that there hasn't been more talk on this set considering the picture quality and feature set. Perhaps that will change now that the word is getting out...


Cheers mate!
 
#5 ·
I would have to drive 2 hrs to the nearest costco, but the return policy has me thinking about it. How much do they charge for membership? Also, I can't find this model on the costco website, anyone have a link to it?
 
#7 ·
Also, be sure to call the store first before driving there! My closest Costco didn't even carry this model, but another one a little further out did. Membership isn't expensive (I think it starts around $35 depending on the type of membership you get).


The price at your local retail b&m store (CC or BB) probably won't be all that different (maybe a hundred or so more than Costco).


Good luck mate...
 
#10 ·
Ive seen bad reviews of the 30" costco one, but hardly any reviews of this 37. It is available at circuit city and best buy online, but not here locally yet. I am really looking over the net for some opinions on this baby!
 
#11 ·
I've had this set for about three weeks now - overall very pleased and I'm planning on keeping it (only one week left to decide before my 30-day return period runs out).


High points - DVD picture (progressive component from a Kenwood DV-5900m changer with Faroudja) looks fabulous. HD picture from the internal tuner or from Dish 6000 via component also looks great. SD picture from Dish 6000 component or Dish 510 DVR s-video (converted to SD component in the receiver) also looks very satisfactory - a little bit soft, but much better than SD on my 57" Toshiba RP HDTV. Computer via DVI-HDMI adapter looks stunning, the set makes a great display for a MCE PC. Black levels are good enough that I've not found them distracting.


Drawbacks - only one user preset for brightness, contrast, color; this preset applies to all inputs. Doesn't bother me that much since the user, natural, and eco presets look pretty good with HD and PC sources (I set up the user settings for DVD using DVE and AVIA). The remote doesn't have direct source buttons, but last weekend I found an entry in the manual for the new 42" Phillips LCD that tells you how to set the remote in "expert mode" which will then allow you to directly access the inputs, and I was then able to teach those commands to my universal remote.


When used as a PC monitor there don't seem to be quite as many increments of color available as you get with DVD over component - this may be a limitation of the DVI output from the PC. The effect is that you see a little bit of contouring on things like the MCE background, and when running DVE via the MCE player I didn't get any below-black information. Not sure that this is the Phillip's fault, as I have not tried doing this from this PC with any other DVI-equipped monitor. All that said, HDTV, DVDs, and games from the MCE looked great when displayed on the Phillips set. I had to play with the nvidia TV wizard settings a little bit to get a 720p desktop without excessive overscan, but found a setting that worked after a few tries. The set doesn't seem to have any adjustments for image size, but does allow you to adjust image position up/down/left/right using the navigation ring. Note that the set doesn't have a standard VGA connector, but the manual indicates you can connect a PC to one of the inputs using a VGA-RGBHV breakout cable - I did not try this (all my PC use was via either component or DVI-to-HDMI).


No other real gripes - the picture looks great and the set is very simple to operate. The only thing that had me having second thoughts was that my wife thinks the set is too small when viewed from the kitchen (yet another reminder of why I married her)!


Hope this helps,


Mike
 
#12 ·
Well I finally opened the box and mounted the Philips in the bedroom (about 9-10 feet viewing distance).


First impressions were generally positive but I quickly discovered some issues which I'll highlight here:


POSITIVES:


1. DVD picture (using progressive scan) was excellent.


2. Cable HD picture (no way to test at present), but 480p Xbox looks simply amazing on this set (using component input and optical audio)!


3. SD picture actually fairly decent (and better than my Westinghouse 37" LCD) by a good bit.


4. Style is clean and the system is dead quite with no fans, (but it would be nice if the speakers were removable as I'll never use them).


5. Audio quality from built in speakers is fairly decent (although not important to me).


6. Rather cool looking remote (but with issues, see below).


NEGATIVES:


1. No discrete codes for sleep and other functions on remote (this will likely be a killer for this set). As I was unable to even program many functions (like sleep) into my Harmony 880, this set will likely be returned. I simply don't wish to have multiple remotes anymore.


2. Won't allow for PBP using AV1 and AV2 inputs (probably must use HDMI or perhaps s-video for PBP (split screen) to work.


3. Seems to take an abnormally long time to turn on once the power button is pushed (upwards of 12 seconds). While that seems like a small time to wait, I've never seen a set take anywhere near that long to actually "light up" and can be a bit annoying when looking to grab some news or weather checks before running out the door.



While the set has some solid features and built in ATSC tuner and cablecard options (nice pluses), along with a marginally acceptable SD picture for a set of this type, I would otherwise keep it. HOWEVER, as it's a bedroom set, I do REQUIRE discrete access to functions such as SLEEP, SCREEN BRIGHTNESS/PRESETS... and this set does not apparently have them. If someone knows of a solution (or that I'm simply wrong on this matter), please let me know!


I'll probably continue to try it out for a little while longer, but if no solutions are found, will definitely be returning it. Perhaps I'll try the Costco Syntax 37" that goes on sale next Monday (I'm pretty much an LCD vs. Plasma guy). I'm actually a bit disappointed as I've had a Philips/Magnavox 65" rear projection set in my living room for many years and it's been reliable and provided a solid image.


Sorry about the brief details but since it's not a keeper for me (and likely means I won't be getting other Philips sets unless the lack of decreet code issue isn't the same across the line), I haven't given it that much of a test run as yet.


If however my issues aren't that important to you, I'd have to say at first glance this set is pretty decent.


Good luck all... my search continues!


Cheers
 
#15 ·
Just got the set today. The picture is excellent but I do have a few problems that i was hoping someone could help me out with.


First, there is about and inch of the screen that is blank on the right(viewers right) side during HD programming. Also, during standard programming the pictures sits off to the left so the bars one each side are noticeably a different width.


Next, I use comcast HD cable. IT has a DVI out. I use the DVI to HDMI adapter. However, using this method once I switch channels to a SD channel and try to change back to a HD channel everything locks up. If, however, I use the component cables this does not happen. Any thoughts...I'd like to use the HDMI.


Thanks alot. Picture is outstanding.
 
#16 ·
Hey rxtasy, congratulation with your purchase. I have it for 6 days.

Try to move the picture horizontally by using the ring around OK button on the remote pressing left-right. Or, even better, set to autoformat through the menu or format button. I tried the TV with cablevision SA4200HD DVI/HDMI. Works fine.

I have set my cable box to "pass-through" mode.
 
#18 ·
Thanks for the great reviews! I saw this set at CostCo today, and it looked great. Although the picture was shifted to the left - it took me 2 minutes to convince the salesguy, and he had no clue why that was happening. Now I know.



rxtasy - Have you had a chance to evaluate watching sports or fast moving images on this set? The 8ms response time sounds good, but I've heard of some companies playing games with that stat ("8ms" = 8ms up + 8ms down, or something like that).
 
#21 ·
RotRoe,


I watched a bit of the Saints-Patriots game last night on Fox in 720p through the set's on-board tuner. I looked for motion blur - everything looked pretty sharp (ball, players, lines) even during plays and pans across the field. From where I sit, motion blur isn't a problem with this set.


DammitJim,


I did not try to force 1366x768 resolution - I just used 720P and 1024x768. The manual does not indicate that the set supports 1366x768. I don't have the set hooked up to a computer at the moment or I'd try it for you.


Cheers,


Mike
 
#22 ·
Thank you so much for the info. I guess I don't need to be so picky about 1366 pixels - 1280 pixels = 86 pixels... but I wanted to know how good this tv could work as when I use it as a pc monitor. What connection did you use? I'll probably end up getting a DVI to HDMI adapter...


Thanks again!
 
#24 ·
DammitJim,


I tried PC via component out and DVI (with a DVI-HDMI adapter). PC was an HP z555 Media Center with a GeForce 6600 card. Component looks good but is a little soft - DVI looked great. Gaming on the set was a treat, and the image is quite sharp enough over DVI to web-surf or read text documents.


Cheers,


Mike
 
#26 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernLag /forum/post/0


Any more info about this sale? haven't heard about it...thanks

There's actually a thread about this set (the Sceptre 37") on here. Just go to Costco.com and you'll see the deal. It was scheduled to begin on monday but they opened it up almost a week ahead of time (wednesday of this week I think).


Cheers



Here's the link for the thread here on AVS:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...28#post6061628



___________________________________________

CORRECTION:


My bad, mea culpa... I incorrectly mentioned the "Syntax" when I intended to write "Sceptre". Just looking back I noticed the mistake and subsequent confusion I may have introduced. Again my apologies!


___________________________________________
 
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