Philips 42PF9630A HD Plasma - Page 9

Alek, I just went to the philipsusa.com site, and browsed to my model set, went to the support site and downloaded the latest firmware. I copied the 12MB file over to my 16MB USB flash drive. Plugged it in, turned the set on and it updated on its own. I think there is a way to do it if you don't have a flash drive, but you'll have to read the manual. You'll want to update to the latest, because it has all the fixes from prior updates.

Thanks mlandau and Serus!

To mlandau and Serus:

Can you tell me what kind of USB cards did you use? I checked what we have at home, and they are not those from the manual (on cd-rom). I should probaly buy a new one anyway.

This is an example of what you need. You don't need one thats 512MB in size of course, but this is pretty cheap:

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...10409&pfp=cat3


Question, I've got this cable that came with the set. It's got what looks like a headphone jack on one end, and two sensors on the other end, they kind of look like LED lights. What is this used for? I think it's an IR blaster/extention, but not sure how it would be used..

As my CC is out of stock i did think last night that I would wait until the Panasonic price reduction at the end of the month. Then I read the last few posts and particularly Serus - that was my experience - i couldnt get the set in CC to give me a decent picture - it was soft and gray. But as you have all mentioned once you get it home it is looking great and so far no issues - except for possible altitude problems. I might buy online or give CC a chance next week if they get more stock. price at CC is the same this week - 18 months interest free - i will let you know if i manage to get the gift card this week.

I am curious about this Panasonic issue.

On the one hand, so many people like it, but on the other hand, it is not very often that professional reviews would put Panasonic products (I recently was researching for a plasma and before - a dvd-player, though most reviewers say that Panasonic's LCD projector 700U is one of the best) on the first place in a comparison test. By professional I mean published well-recognized in masses journals like Sound&Vision, Home Theater, HTGuide, Home theater Choice, PCWorld, or similar ... which are available (to me) as ``hard copies.'' I can be mistaken, though. I did not search for the reviews specifically.

At the same time many web reviewers really like it and regularly place Panasonic products as #1.

What is going on?

I recently read in the Home Theater magazine about an interesting observation comparing HD plasma (LG?) and the most recent Panasonic ED plasma. Except for two professionals (one may think they knew where to look) all other walk-in people preferred ED Panasonic as the sharpest one from a distance of 17'. However, at 10' everyone chose an HD set as a better one.

The reviewer belives that a human eye perceives contrast as sharpness. So, if you dial more contrast (or have some edge enhancement) on a lower resolution set, some people may think it is a better set.

But I am not professional myself, so I am rather trying to relay what I read and don't have a professional opinion here.

Casey, I feel the same way about cnet. They have definitely been partial to the pannys. They don't even talk about the philips.

I am happy to report that i am up and running. After researching and waiting for 10 months, i couldn't be happier with my decision to buy the 9630. I haven't hung on the wall yet. Its going to be quite a project and my brother wasnt up for it yesterday. You see, I'm going to go straight through the wall with all of the cables and place my receiver, dvd, etc on the other side which is in my guest room closet. Then I have to get an RF extender so my remotes work through the wall. Anyone have any experience with this? I really just wanted the cleanest look possible with no cables, equipment, or anything...Just like a picture on the wall. I went ahead and lowered all my settings below 50 and i still think the picture is incredible. Return of the King looks AMAZING!! Well, I hope everyone is enjoying as much as I am, and thanks again for all your help.

If you have to get 20' away to come to the conclusion that one model is better than the other, that says a lot to me about which tv is better.

Really, how many people are viewing a 42" tv from 17' away?

That brings up a good questino. How far away SHOULD we be viewing a 42 inch plasma from? I'm currently at about 6' from mine and loving it!

i have the rf ...it can lag

you could drill 2 holes and snake them dwn the wall..instead of putting your stuff in the closet

Serus,

When you updated the software with the USB drive did you get any messages? I havent tried it yet, my set has a manufacturers date of June 05, how about yours?

Oh. I will tell you guys something that was great. I recently came back from a cruise and was able to stick my memory sticks into the panel and it displayed a great slide show complete with transitions. It was really nice to watch. I guess I need to read a little more and find out how to turn on the musical backgrounds.

Heres some info on the Dynamic contrast control:

Dynamic Contrast



Dynamic Contrast stretches dark portions of the picture towards even darker shades, without hiding any fine details, and the light parts of the picture are made whiter, resulting in a more brilliant image with up to 30% more contrast.

STI-What kind of RF do you have?

I would like to know what that is too. I haven't been able to find anything in the manuals about it. Anyone know?

By the way, it did fit in our 2005 CRV- barely. It looks great in the living room!

Anybody else have any dead pixels on their display.. I noticed one last night, but only when I was about a foot away from the TV when it was in Menu Mode. Its completely dead, not stuck at a certain colour, just black.

Is this normal to get a dead pixel or two? Or should I be asking for a replacement?

I'm a little concerned as it is over the buzzing issue. Should this set be making that noise. I'm around 1000 ft below the altitude level philips lists for the set, so should the set NOT be making this noise?

Anyone else around 5000 ft or so got one of these sets?

for my upcoming 30th B'day (yippeeeeeee), I was very much set on a panny 42px50.
However, the new Hitachi's and this philips has me singing a different tune.
I know the panny thread has tons of pics but didn't see any in-home pics from the proud philips owners.
We would all appreciate if some pics were posted with some HD action in progress....

Also, would it be fair to expect philips and hitachi to drop their MSRP also after Aug 28th?
less $$$ is always great!!!
Thanks

There are a number of charts around on this subject. Here's one.

The most common rule of thumb (which that chart uses) is 1.5 to 3X the diagonal screen size, or about 5-1/4 to 10-1/2 feet for a 42" set. I didn't look it up, but as I recall, the THX recommendation is roughly at the low end of that range.

Sounds like you are just right.

I have tried to seach for some feedback on this Philips plasma with not much luck. This seems to be only on the B&M stores like CC and BB. I do not even see this on the Philips site. It this an older model (it does not seem to be with all the specs I have read on it)? or are the sku numbers specific for the B&M stores? Any feedback would be much appreciated. I have seen this at my local BB for under the price of the Panny 50px50u. Thanks.

It's a nice TV, though the ambilight feature is kind of worthless in my opinion so I wouldn't base my decision on that. We have that TV displayed directly next to the Panasonic TH50PX50U and I think the Panasonic wins in PQ. However, the Philips is cheaper and we haven't had a single one returned so custoemrs appear to be happy with it.

Macfan424, thanks for the info on the correct viewing distance.

Craiglester, I've personally never heard of a dead pixel on a plasma screen. Usually it's only dead on LCD screens as plasmas work differently. Cells in the screen filled with gas that changes color based on the electrical charge applied to that cell. Are you sure it's dead and not just part of the menu? Try looking for it somewhere other than the menu.

As for the buzzing, do the TV's in store have the same problem? I would ask the store if it's something they run into often.

Casey Jones, if you have the USB flash drive plugged into the set with the software update file on it, it will update itself automaticaly. An update screen with progress bars will pop up. When it's done it will tell you to turn off your TV and to remove the flash drive. My set was made in Belgium in July 2005. I just updated mine because I figured updating can't hurt it, can only help and prevent problems that I may run into.

I just picked up the 42" model (42PF9630A) of the same screen. I can't imaging that it would be much different, just a better picture because of the higher resolution. I've only have mine for a couple of days and I'm loving it so far. I like the ambilight though. It adds to the picture just enough to be enjoyable. If it turns out you don't like it, you can always turn it off. Check out the 42" philips thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2&page=1&pp=30

The 50" is listed on the Philips Website.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/cons...gType=CONSUMER

It is right there on the main Flat TV page.

Thanks, this seems to have everything I am looking for and I cannot really argue with the price at my local BB.

Might want to get it online. Free shipping, and a free home theater system if purchased online. Might be worth a day or two wait..

http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage...&type=category

For those who need cables, I'm going to be purchasing from monoprice.com. 15' HDMI cable and a 15' DVI-HDMI cable for under $30 shipped. From what I've read, there isn't a PQ difference with cheap vs high end cabling.

To put the price into perspective, BB and CC sell HDMI cables, 3' for $120.

I'll check the dead pixel later if I can find my avia disc..

Updating is easy peasy, I used a Memory Stick and it worked perfectly, although for some reason, on my set the power button on the set didnt work until I had powered off/on with the remote. Perhaps to stop you accidentally powering it off when it's programming?

And another nice thing, It doesn't clear all your setting when it does it.

And a small warning.. be careful plugging in your hdmi cables. thanks to the somewhat tricky position of the socket/label I managed to bend a pin on my hdmi cable from my dvd player. Ended up paying an outrageous $50 at radio shack for a new one. Wha's the deal with hdmi cables being SO darned expensive?

Threads Merged!

Dave

What does this mean? What threads have merged?

Someone must have posted a thread dealing with similar info contained in this original thread so it was merged. Happens all the time....but I admit I wasn't watching.