Review LED backlighting is all the rage at the moment; it can dramatically improve the contrast ratio of LCD panels, helping them towards the deep blacks seen on plasma displays. But many of the sets available at the moment, including the LG we recently reviewed, use LEDs that aren’t individually addressable – so it’s still really all or nothing.
philips’ 9704 offers ‘Pro LED’ backlighting, the better to distinguish it from the presumably amateur type on other sets. That means that the backlighting is split into 274 individual segments, each of which is independently controlled. Other selling points include the latest version of the Ambilight system, wireless connectivity, built in web browsing and DLNA support.
Users outside the UK may be able to take advantage of the MPEG4 decoding, and the CI+ slot too, but for those of us in Blighty, an external source of some sort will be needed if you want to watch HD programming. SD Freeview and analogue tuners are, of course, included. Compared to some recent TVs from the competition, the philips is positively chunky, with the rear panel curving round to the front, and providing sufficient depth for both the Ambilight system and decent size speakers. Read the rest of this entry »
Review philips‘ media player range has been undergoing something of a renaissance of late. Both its Spark and Opus players struck us as a thoroughly respectable little devices that sounded good, worked well and represented decent value. Now philips has released the Muse and, even from a cursory glance at the spec sheet, it is clear that philips has raised its game.
In the hand, the Muse looks more like a thin mobile phone than a media player. The lettering on the fascia clearly indicates that the device is supposed to be held landscape-style, with the controls to the right of the 3in screen. Yet, even after a week of use we still tended to pick it up and hold it so the controls were at the bottom.
Physically, the Muse is a solid device, and a smart one too, with its brushed metal back and sides and glossy black fascia housing a flush screen. It won’t take up too much pocket space either, measuring up at 110 x 8.9 x 55mm and weighing 95g, which is on a par with Samsung’s P3. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Many people enjoying Blu-ray movies do so using a Sony PlayStation 3, while the rest of us will opt for a dedicated Blu-ray player. For the latter, philips is touting its BDP3000 as a budget player and, while certainly not the cheapest, it does offer 1080p playback, the optimal Blu-ray format.
philips‘ BDP3000: the shiny black fascia affords the minimum of buttons and distracting lights.
Presented in a 6cm-high box with a tastefully unfussy, shiny black fascia, the philips BDP3000 is a straight replacement for a DVD player. That is, it plays all your DVD Region 2 discs as well as high definition Blu-ray Region B titles, along with DivX movies saved to CD and DVD media, including home-recorded discs.
Additionally, the device has been designed to play media on CDaudio discs, MP3 and WMA CDs, and just about any disc that contains JPG images. Apart from a simple status window, the front of the unit is as featureless as you can get, providing just four buttons: Power, Eject, Play and Pause. It uses a tray-loading mechanism that is quiet and feels strong enough to resist clumsy treatment. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Think of a widescreen TV. The widest one you’ve seen, you know, one with big, garish speakers stuck on the side. Well, whatever it is, it’ll be nowhere near as wide as this new, premium-priced LCD TV from philips.
Current widescreens have an aspect ratio of 16:9, so when viewing a movie on them, there are black bars along the top and bottom of the screen. Why? Because movies aren’t actually produced in the 16:9 format. Most DVDs have movie aspect ratios of 2.35:1, or 21.15:9. Even this isn’t the full picture, which is 2.39:1 (or 21.51:9) and viewable from the latest Blu-ray discs. It’s this measurement which is matched perfectly by the philipscinema 21:9 56PFL9954H TV. Purists please note, it’s the product name, not the shape of this 2560 x 1080 screen, that has been approximated to 21:9, for simplicity. Read the rest of this entry »
Review When we reviewed the diminutive philips GoGear Spark MP3 player back in March, we were quietly impressed. Now that philips has introduced the larger Opus, it’s time to see if the Spark was just a flash in the pan.
philips has clearly followed the old axiom of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ because the Opus has similar design traits to its previous PMPs. Still, if the Opus looks a little old fashioned, it remains smart and solid in its gloss black and brushed aluminium case. At 107×11x57mm and weighing 95g, it’s very similar to Samsung’s P3, although that has a 3in touch screen, while the Opus sports a non-touch 2.8in 320×240 affair. Read the rest of this entry »
