Philips 42PF9631D HD Plasma - Page 15

Already ?? What's replaced it ??

From what I can tell... nothing. Philips didn't announce any new 42" PDPs this year. My guess is because the < 50" market is going LCD. They are listed as discontinued at several online sites and I was told the same by 2 B&Ms. A quick Google search seems to confirm.

http://www.google.com/search?q=42pf9...e7&rlz=1I7GGLG

Oh, so just the 42" has been discontinued (I still see it at stores)? The 9631 is still being made in 50" and 63" (brand new).

I have had my 50pf9631 for a week now...AND IT"S AWSOME!!! I can't even stand it. HD and SD all look fantastic. I can't believe I waited so long.

Bummer. I hope that doesn't mean they are discontinuing support for it as well. When I bought it (October last year??) they released 2 firmwares, each newer than the firmware that was loaded from the factory. I haven't seen one since.
Hopefully that means all the bugs have been worked out!

On another note, I was just talking with my wife the other night as we watched TV. We both absolutely love the Ambilight, and both mentioned that we would again consider Philips if we had to purchase another TV in the future. I would find it hard to go back to a "normal" TV without Ambilight, or something like it (if another brand copied it). My only 2 "regrets" on this TV are that I didn't push for the 50" (couldn't justify the nearly $1000 difference), and that it doesn't support 1080p - not that that matters at this point in time.

We love this TV, in both SD and HD!

Congrats and welcome...and make sure the contrast/brightness are both below 50.

The 9630 continues to get firmware upgrades and it was discountinued. I suspect the 9631 will, too, at least for a while. Frankly, now that BSOD and few problems with PQ have been solved, I think most of our sets are near optimal. Not to say that improvements or refinements aren't welcome, but quite frankly, if the TV's are working at 99.5%, I would just as soon NOT upgrade and risk screwing up something. In fact, I haven't uploaded the most recent one (though it's on my PC and/or USB) becuase it was only a minor PQ improvement to HDMI and I don't use HDMI right now (I will eventually).


Agree 100%. In fact, I'm a bit bothered and confused as to why the 63" does not have Ambilight -- could it have been a weight/size thing? I can't see myself not getting Ambilight either, and down the line would certainly consider the biggest Philips model size.

1080p would be nice, agreed, but not necessary now. Maybe on the larger model -- if I get it and IF it has the Ambilight. The TV does a great job on both SD and HD, agreed. Hopefully, the new models are refinements of the 9631 like the 9631 was a refinement of the 9630. Philips has now got PQ and reliability down pretty good at this point with the 9631 (and 9731, the successor?), hate to 'start over' with a whole new model and electronics and innards, etc.

sorry i dont have time to catch up on all the recent posts since i last visited/read/posted here.

I have heard Philips isn't selling in the U.S. anymore and sure enough next thing i check Magnolia Home theatre in Best Buy they are sold out of all ambilight models as they were discontinued and marked down and i they didn't have many or whatever.

I'm trying to find one for shore house. Wanted 46" 4 side ambilight lcd model but seems they go from 42 to 50 in Philips and 42 is the largest lcd and no 4 sided ambilight on any 50 inch models so looks like i have to get 50" plasma ambilight. is there one with 3 sided ambilight? i know there is one but not sure if its plasma.

so just a matter of which 50" model to get and from where for best price. I"m thinking i like the 50PF9731D as it has speaker on bottom instead of the side like the pf9830 and all black instead of having bottom speaker silver like the 9631D. which is newest the 9830 i would think but being it has speakes on side seems to be older then 9731D

where do you think will have best price but reliable delivery etc.? any brick and mortars that might have some left for good price? i'm sure it will be no prob to find for some time. plenty of merchants have.

Then i may look for a 4 sided ambilight lcd 42" i guess to replace my pf9630a. i wanted to go bigger but seems that is only 50, so i'll settle for getting 4 sided ambilight and lcd stead of plasma as an upgrade to the 9630.

i am sad that Philips wont be selling tvs in the US anymore and confused as to why. There isn't anyone else that has an ambilight or similiar technology either so it sucks.

Has anybody ever seen this? Just in my upper right hand corner, I am seeing (not always) a patch of blue pixels. It seems to only be on darker scenes when a white or lighter colored part comes across it.

It does it on my cable box, Replay TV and XBOX 360 so I'm pretty sure it's the TV.

Any thoughts?

Here's are two pictures of it.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...ingCamp034.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...ingCamp035.jpg

Anyone?

Hi all,

I've been trying to upgrade the firmware on my set from BJ24U-1.6.0.0_02821 to BJ24U-1.9.0.0_03161. The process starts ok when the USB drive is plugged in and I turn on the TV from the side panel. The TV recognizes the drive, finds the upgrade file and begins. The first step, "Loading" works fine but when the TV moves to the second step, "Validating," it stops and displays the message "Invalid firmware! Bad checksum or bad signature." I've tried re-downloading the firmware, copying from a different USB drive and the manual upgrade described in the firmware PDF file.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

You have to narrow the 'not always.' If it was the TV is should be always.

Cable connections? Cable/satellite delivery?

Is it there ALL the time or no? What do you see when the TV screen 'blanks out' when you change channels using the STB?

My B&M retailer cannot get any more of the 42pf9631d model, so I am replacing it with a Panny TH42PX60U. The stuck red pixel was driving me nuts.

What I will miss:

• Lack of PIP in the 60U. Insight has crippled my 6416 STB so PIP is not available.

• My wife really liked the Ambilight feature. To the point of being giddy.

• Styling. We remodeled our living room using the TV as our focal point and bought furniture to complement the wide black frame of the Philips.

What I won't miss:

Flakey picture quality. The 9631d looked fantastic on MOST content, HD or SD. That said, when watching darkly filmed shows (sci fi, crime dramas, greys anatomy, heros, etc), visual quality goes in the tank.

• Backgrounds, walls, etc tend to have the "moss effect".

• Facial closeups look HORRIBLE in dark scenes. Skin tones blend into a miss-mash of colors and there was no definition at all.

I tried all the various presets and then adjusted the best I could. I found that if I used the ECO setting, changed the temp to Warm, upped contrast to 75 and brightness to 55, the problem would be minimized, but not eliminated. The obvious drawback to this was it made everything else look washed out.

Thanks for all the help and tips. I'll be over in the Panny threads.

dmtaylor, why didn't you try some of the online vendors at AVS who are GOOD and REPUTABLE ???

hello everyone,

I finally had the chance to view the set in HD last night (American Idol) and the picture was incredible, even at the settings below 50. I was a little worried about the picture because I've been watching my mit 65732 dlp in the greatroom and it will blow your socks off in HD. I'm completely satisfied and love the ambi lighting, don't think the wife will be seeing much of me anymore! lol

The info and members on this site are great and I look forward to interacting with you all in the future.

Thanks

PhilipsPhanatic , the retailer is not really the issue. The unit was discontinued and no longer available through their distribution partners. I don't blame the B&M for that, as I knew that was coming when I bought the unit.

I'm not sure if any of the onlines would have replaced the unit for a single pixel.

I called Philips and they said they would not replace unless there were 8 or more pixels outside the 4:3 area.

Not always - sometimes it's there on my cable box, sometimes it's there on my Replay TV, sometimes it's there on my Xbox 360.

When I change channels, it is not there.

It seems to only really show up on skin color and some lighter colors. When I open the menu, it's not there, when I have it on a white page, it's not there. But, when I was watching Medium last night, it was there in the top right hand corner again, just like in the picture.

Please understand, it doesn't stay there no matter what is on the TV, it's all about what is going across that portion of the screen.

Did you see the pictures?

Obvoiusly, no one else has noticed this anomaly?

Here's a larger picture

<"http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/pilotgeg/January2007CheerleadingCamp035-1.jpg">

Upgrade to the latest firmware and try new (good) cables. It could be the signal board but I don't think so.

Can someone email me the tips sheet for the 9631D? Thanks!

justin@durrantfamily.com

I picked up a 42" 9631 at BB yesterday.
I am learning a lot in this thread. Thanks to all who have contributed.

Unfortuantely this set is a downgrade for me. I sold my Sammy HL-S5687W 56" DLP 1080p to free up some space. The screen smaller screen does not bother me as much.. but I will miss HD-DVD via 1080p with my Xbox 360.

I have already updated the firmware to the newest and this is still happening. To make matters worse, it is now starting to occur in the bottom right hand corner as well. Very annoying.

I have a repair person coming out on Thursday to take a look. Hopefully, it is something that can be repaired quickly and easily at home.

For the price and value, the 9631's, if you can find them -- and they might be easier to find than the 9731 !! -- are an awesome deal.

Keep us posted...this type of 'random' problem is a PITA and seems to happen to all the flat-panel TV's. Like you said, it might be simple to fix.

Could be electromagnetic or electrical interference or disruption...some 9630/9631 owners have experienced this...could also be the shielding from the cables.

Some of us got fast-moving 'vacuum cleaner' lines (you know, in the old days when your mom running the vacuum cleaner would disrupt the picture on the TV) and it's caused by switching SOURCE in the wrong way -- you can't turn off the accessory BEFORE you switch SOURCES, i.e., if using the DVD or VCR, switch to another source that you will be using once done with those items, and THEN turn off the DVD or VCR.

Not doing that can lead to electrostatic -- got it a few times a month the first few months, haven't seen it in '07 yet.

Same thing is is happening to my tv now. Did you get an explanation on why it was happening? I called my local repair people and was told they never heard of the issue.

Could also be because of poor design and build quality. Why do you think they are giving those panels away?

Umm....maybe for the same reason everybody else is, intense price competition ??

A problem like above could be some problem sets that got recirculated or it could be a bad batch from the fabs who put the circuitry together. Lots of possibilities.

As for poor design and build quality, most of us are extremely happy with our 9630/31's, and our complain rate seems to be LOWER than that for Panny and even Pioneer users. Not saying that's scientific or anything, but design and quality problems are not endemic here, even if you want it to be so.

Does anyone have their plasma on a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)?
If so, what size UPS do you have? The TV is only rated for 372 watts, so it wouldn't have to be huge...
I was considering it when we bought, but decided to go with a relatively decent power bar with surge suppressor only. It's not a great one, but should be fine (APC Surge Arrest Home/Office).

With how cheap UPS's have become, especially when on sale, I'm starting to reconsider. Problem is, I have all my other AV stuff plugged in as well, and the UPS would have to be rather large to accommodate it all, which is really the main reason we went with a power bar/surge protection instead.

Hey guys - I still need the tip sheet for the 9631D. Can someone please send to justin@durrantfamily.com ASAP! Thanks!

-
Hey everyone,

I just replaced a Philips LCD (37pf9431 37") at costco with the 42" plasma -9431

To make a short story boring - LCD just up and died, had the red LED of death (only 6 months old). Had to get another Philips because costco will only take back a tv if you have everything the original came with ... including stand, cables, etc. Oh! FYI= the 37" LCD's and the 42" plasma's share the same stand. I had to buy the 42 plasma, to get the stand, so that I could then walk right back into the store to return the 37" LCD, to get my refund for the 37", which was more than what the 42" plasma cost. So I got a bigger tv and money back at the same time But...

The picture on the plasma is so much different than the LCD. While the plasma is not as "harsh" it does make black areas of a picture look kinda water-colored-pixelated-not_sure_if_it_wants_ to_be_gray_or_black blochiness to it.

I lowered the contrast and brighness so they both are in the 60's range, lowered the color levels too. There is a thread on this site talking about "bl red, bl blue, bl green" and "white point" level adjustments when in the "service mode" menu but I have no idea what that means and what effect they would have on the tv. I went into the service menu and seen the alignment sub-menus, but, again, I don't know what the effect is so I can make whatever adjustments may help..PS, Philips service support will not tell you anything of the internal workings of the tv.

So I guess my questions are: Can some one list some links that explain what white point and "bl red-green-blue" mean to a Philips plasma. Also, becuase this is a bedroom tv, and generally the lights are medium to low level, what would be a good "baseline settings" for contrast-bright-color-temperature [with all the variables, I sure could use a settings reference point to start from.]

Thanks