Philips 42PF9630A HD Plasma - Page 15

EDh72
Oldrtyfrg,

I have been waiting for this kind of feedback on wall mounts. Since the 9630a bolt holes are spaced 32 inches apart can you tell me if the wall plate it attaches to accommodates that width. Meaning is it over 32 inches . Also how much space is left between the panel when mounted and the wall? Do you find it adequate for your hands when making connections.

Thanks for the assist
Casey

Casey Jones,
If you buy the Omnimount wall mount. you will need the extension unless you do what I did (see my earlier thread), or if you buy the Sanus (see oldrtyfrog's thread.) The space between the wall mount and the set is adequate enough to make the necessary connections. I suggest you make the connections first, mount the set to the wall mount, and pull the cables neatly (to hide them, etc..). I mounted mine to an entertainment center display panel and fed the cables through a hole on the display panel. Looks great!

Casey,
Once mounted, there is about an extra inch of space on each side of the bracket. The TV sticks out a little over an inch from the wall, but I have mine mounted over a TV nook, so I just nailed some trim around the nook to make it look a little better (before the trim was up, you could see behind the tv and into the nook, which looked like crap). I had to plug in my cables before I mounted it because a mantle is directly underneath the tv, but it seems like a tight fit even without a mantle.

bhang
Oldrtyfrog,

Thanks alot for the feedback. I guess what I was told at CC was wrong about the omnimount. They said the extensions were included in the box with the mount. It seems they are actually special order.

Casey

The kit came with bolts and nuts to mount the extension. I agree on adding the 2"'s to the depth. The TV still looks great, but being my first plasma, I was a little shocked at how far it sticks out from the wall. I'll keep my eyes open for a more flush mounting option down the road.

well folks i think i'm ready to take the plunge & get me a 9630! ... i would love to hear from all of you owners as to WHERE you bought your unit from (not necessarily the store) but whether it was at a local store or online. i created a thread & poll to measure the responses.. please check it out!!!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=581350

Can anyone tell me for sure if the omnimount includes the extensions?

casey,
i noticed you left a message on the poll, but doesnt appear that you voted? if not, then CAST your vote dude!

along with all other plasma owners on here! so far it appears that half of the owners have bought online. so come on in & join the vote party!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=581350

kahlil

Phew.. I just got my replacement TV from CC, because the old one had a pretty loud buzzing..

I'm pleased to say the new set is MUCH quieter, no obnoxious buzzing when the tv gets brighter or if I turn the ambilights on. There IS a VERY slight buzz from the TV but I have to get within 6 inches or so of the top of the set (with ambilight and a pure white screen displayed) to hear it and then it's pretty faint, so I assume that's normal.

Oddly the new tv smells different.. like a new piece of electronics does when you first switch it on.. the old set never had any smell, and judging from the screwmounts in the back, we think it may have been a display model. BAD CircuitCity

No dead pixels I can detect on this set either...

I'm So much happier today!

alas I have to go through another 100 hour burn in period now Grr

Craiglester,

Glad to hear the good news,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the extension bolts are only to give the plasma some more space to make connections on AV1-AV3. If you are using HDMI I don't think you would need to use them. Also, you may want to check out something like this if you think the TV is sticking out too far, it may allow you to remove the spacer bolts:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...t%5Fid=274-915

The spec sheet on Philips website also lists the VESA pattern as 800mm x 400mm I checked the spacing screw at Home Depot and it is a metric M8.

It DOES NOT include the extensions.

Is there anyone here using the internal tuner to pick up HD content over cable... CBS NBC etc.. We do, but for some reason we only ever get a Dolby Prologic signal, not Proper Dolby Digital...

I have the Digital output fed to my Home theater and it passes through Dolby Digital, Dts etc from the DVD player no problem, but I Can't seem to get Dolby Digital from the tuner.

I guess it COULD be comcast not sending the signal through unmoleseted, but it seems it would be a lot more difficult for them to change it than leave it alone.

Is it a setting on the TV I have it set for Virtual dolby in the sound options...should it be plain old stereo ?

I wanna watch my CSI in 5.1!


Edit:spelling

I have a Ambilight question ...

I would be putting the TV in a corner diagonally on a stand ~ 1 foot or so away from the walls. Would the Ambilight be effective there ... or do you think that the Ambilight works best against a wall?

Craiglester,

I had the same problem and was able to resolve it today. My setup might be a little different then yours but heres what I noticed. I am using the set top box (HD version) The audio was connected to my home theater via composite audio cables. Whenever a show that was supposed to be in 5.1 came on my home theater (just like yours) picked it up in Dolby pro logic!!! So heres what I did to get 5.1 using my STB I went into the setup menu and changed the digital audio output jack to "dolby digital". You also need to go into the sound menu and make sure you have selected 'Normal" or you will get a echo effect. I was then able to get 5.1 sound but only on those channels that broacast or make available the show in 5.1. All the others remain dolby pro logic but the home theater selects each mode automatically now. So you need to connect a separate cable to the external digital audio output of the STB to the digital input on your theater.
Yup Ill be watching CSI in 5.1

Does anyone know where you can get the extensions for the omnimount? Does CC have them or do you need to order from Omnimount?

The BigWookie,

IMHO against the wall for sure!

well folks, the poll results after 106 votes thus far:

seems there is an approximately even split between those buying in-store vs cyber ~40% each.... interesting fact about purchase protection plan is that they are obtained almost 3 times as often with in-store purchase (17%) vs over the internet (6%)

see for yourself at (& vote too!):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=581350


thanks to all on here who have voted like casey, et.al.,,

Just so I've got this right, your using a cable card to get the HD signal from Comcast right? There are only 3 ways to get an HD signal. One is using an over-the-air antenna (like rabbit ears or a HD antenna), the second is using a cable card to get the HD signals through comcast cable (the cablecard decodes the HD signal), and the third is having a comcast (or other cable provider) set top box that decodes the cable signal, then outputs it to the TV via component input (can't do it through the cable)

If your doing over the air, then it shouldn't have anything to do with comcast and everything to do with the network your trying to watch since comcast doesn't broadcast over the air, the network does. I tried watching CSI last night in HD, but for some reason I can't get the HD signal for that channel. I'm only using standard rabbit ears as an antenna though, I'm sure I could get it if I used a better antenna. I do get a couple of HD stations with the rabbit ears, surprisingly. I haven't checked the audio quality yet though.

An update on my mounting situation:

After 4 attempts and contacting Peerless, yesterday I finally said "I just want to know if I can drill out the existing holes in the adapter plate to make it fit"

The response was:

"Yes, it will work if you drill out the holes and it will support the TV. However, it will void your warranty if you do it. If you want to send us your TV, we'll pay for the freight, we will make you a mount specifically for that model Philips."

I then went into "So I can drill out the holes on my $100 piece of steel and void my warranty, or I can send in my $2500 TV for 2 weeks, possibly have it damaged, so that I can get a new $100 piece of steel with a warranty. I think I'll void the warranty and take the risk that the steel doesn't need a warranty"

So I'm voiding my adapter plates warranty, but I'm not voiding the wall mounts warranty because that part isn't being altered.

I guess the risk is that the plate could bend over time with the weight. I'll keep an eye on it over the months and if it starts to bend I'll take it off and have a local steelsmith cut me a new plate for a lot less money.

Just thought others might find this helpful. Since they haven't gotten anyone to send in their TV yet, I don't think they are going to have a suitable adapter plate anytime soon. I should have mine drilled and mounted in the next day or two and I'll be sure to post pictures of it.

Actually, None of the above...

I'm using the QAM tuner in the philips to pick up the unencrypted HD channels through my cable provider (comcast). By FCC law they're supposed to feed through the local channels through untouched on every service tier.

However, last night there was some horrible noise on the local WB HD feed (not on SD) and so I called comcast to report the problem. Unfortunately they deny it's even possible for me to get my local Channels in HD without a set top box (i didn't want to confuse them by mentioning Cable Cards!)...

I explained I have a Digital Cable Ready HDTV with a QAM tuner that lets me pick up HD over cable without a set top box. Comcast said that was impossible.. They asked what channel I was watching on and got VERY confused when I said 81.7. They were like.. but HD is on Channel 650 and up.. I tried to explain about how they set arbitrary channel numbers but my TV picks it up on a frequency based number and I lost them completely..

The Supervisor said there is NO WAY whatsoever I could be getting HDTV without the Set top box... sigh...


looks like I'll have to get the STB eventually just to get DD and ESPN HD... grr

Oh and they charge more for the STB if you're on analog than if you're on digital.. and you don't get ESPN HD or Discovery HD either... I Smell a Scam.


Oh Well, looks like i'll need to add ANOTHER remote to the collection...

I've called Philips to see what they have to say about mounting this TV and i found out that Omnimount is the company they work with. after going to their site and looking at the mounting PDF file it seams that this tv can be mounted with the Omnimount UCL with has both the mount and adapter. I plan on getting this soon to mount my 42PF9730A the LCD equlivent. I post when it's set up. the only down side is that it come 5" off the wall.

Are you able to get a cablecard to get the HD signals instead? I've heard a lot of people going that route because you don't have another receiver and remote, and they only cost $5 or so a month.

With a Cablecard (of which I have heard many many horror stories) there's no access to on demand programming and I'm still reliant on the TV to provide a Dolby Digital Signal, which is one of the Issues I Have, - I just Cant seem to get A 5.1 signal from HD cable.

Looks like this mount has an arm?

I've been looking at the Sanus VMPL2S on line. It specifically states that it is compatible with this TV and the LCD version, though that may not be true. It also is supposed mount the TV very close to the wall (only about 1 1/4" away from wall). Does anybody have any experience with this mount? Any thoughts?

i have the 42PF9730/37A LCD TV and i can pick up HD channels also without having a cable card or a set top box... i have all the local channels, espn2, espn1, klru-hd and a few others... very strange because some of the hd channels match up to time warners channels and otheres don't

Hey guys, we just won a Philips 42" HDTV from ESPN in the 100 yard blitz promotion on Mike and Mike in the Morning. Don't know what model it is (any other winners here that do know?). My biggest problem now is what to do about the DirectTV package. We currently have Comcast digital cable (non-HD) and Comcast internet service. It will be a real hassle to change internet providers (DSL?) and Comcast charges an extra $15 for the internet if you are not a TV subscriber (nice, huh?) plus I own the cable modem and don't want it to become useless hardware. Any one want to compare DirectTV and Cable on this set and give me some idea which direction I should go?

Jes1955,

That Sanus VMPL2S cant fit the 9630a the unit is only 32 inches wide. The plasma would be literally hanging at the ends. The holes on the Philips are spaced 32 inches apart horizontally and 16 inches apart vertically. I think the VMPL3S is the one. That mount also allows you to catch 3 studs.

For the record, I live in Southern Maryland, and all I have is basic cable (from MetroCast, formerly GMP), with the coax going right from the wall into the TV. I get the Baltimore ABC, NBC, and CBS, as well as the D.C. CBS in HD, assigned to channel numbers like 83.2, 84.1 and 84.4. Some times they're pretty noisy, but hey, free HD!

After months of research, I have decided to purhcase a 42PF9630A. I can get it with 3 yr warranty at Circuit City for $3,100. Anybody know where I can get a better deal (not just cost, but quality of warranty/service)?