[Olly C]

Originally Posted by John Pickles

Hi Olly,
I'm sure you're getting fed up with people like me badgering you when all you want to do is enjoy your new tv.
I was just wondering if you had had the chance to check out sky movies to see if you notice any obvious fade to grey, as I have with my current 46pfl7605.
Thanks
John.

Sorry for the delay in testing, I've tried it out on a few Sky Movies HD intros and theres no noticeable fading, none at all I'd say, as mentioned I have all filtering and processing turned off.

Hope that helps

[John Pickles]

Originally Posted by John Pickles

Hi Olly,
I'm sure you're getting fed up with people like me badgering you when all you want to do is enjoy your new tv.
I was just wondering if you had had the chance to check out sky movies to see if you notice any obvious fade to grey, as I have with my current 46pfl7605.
Thanks
John.

Olly, you're a gent. Thanks for your time. I think I'll be placing my order on Monday. Once I get it, I'll be back here to contribute more
Thanks,
John

[leighprice23]

Hi there olly c
Im thinking of hitting the buy button on the 55PFL7606T
I take it from philips website apart from a slightly different model No its the same tv/spec?
I had a samsung 55c8000 previously and didn't really rate that due to clouding and banding and the crack in the screen where i fell of a ladder
Do you still think after a few days use its as good as first impressions ?

Im the same as you in terms of wanting to go the passive 3d route , and the thought of having ambilight doesn't hurt either

Many thanks

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by leighprice23

Hi there olly c
Im thinking of hitting the buy button on the 55PFL7606T
I take it from philips website apart from a slightly different model No its the same tv/spec?
I had a samsung 55c8000 previously and didn't really rate that due to clouding and banding and the crack in the screen where i fell of a ladder
Do you still think after a few days use its as good as first impressions ?

Im the same as you in terms of wanting to go the passive 3d route , and the thought of having ambilight doesn't hurt either

Many thanks

Well I've been playing lots of MW3 the past few days and I'm loving the TV its so crisp and responsive like it should be, I love the Ambilight going red when your hurt and stuff like that and it just makes the feel good factor for the TV just that much higher.

I also watched a very dark film yesterday "Super 8" on Bluray via my PS3 and really enjoyed that too, it actually makes you jump a little more when its all dark on screen and in your room and then a massive explosion or something goes off and not only the screen but your wall and room lights up too!

No dark patchy problems either like I was experiencing with the Sharp LE831.

I've been watching football this afternoon too and didn't notice any banding problems either so I was happy with that.

I think there might be a little bit of light bleed in the bottom left of my current set, when the screen is all black it seems slightly lighter there, I don't think I could take a photo of it its that faint but it you push the corner surround of the TV in that area then it goes darker so may something is just done up a little tight and causing pressure on it? Either way its very minor and nothing like I've seen on other sets on this forum.

So yea I've been viewing alot of stuff on Sky+HD, loads of Xbox 360 gameplay on MW3 and Fifa 12 and a couple of DVD/Blurays on my PS3 and all is great.

One thing I've not had time to delve into as much as I'd like is some 3D stuff, I know its not as impressive as the Sharp's Active 3D but I'd like to still try out some football, a film or two and a documentary program and see how it fairs.

All in all yup, still very happy with my choice personally

Also just to note I've read a few reviews that say 42" is the optimum size for Passive 3D so this thread is mostly about that size, although alot of the info is universal still.

Hope I've helped a few people so far anyways..

[leighprice23]

Thanks and I'm glad your still enjoying it !

Surely any clouding must be harder to see or be masked by the ambilight .

I saw the top of the line 9000 series with the moth eye filter today and that is just jaw dropping , i was looking down on the screen and the black film borders could not have been darker

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by leighprice23

Thanks and I'm glad your still enjoying it !

Surely any clouding must be harder to see or be masked by the ambilight .

I saw the top of the line 9000 series with the moth eye filter today and that is just jaw dropping , i was looking down on the screen and the black film borders could not have been darker

Yes the Ambilight does mask any sort of clouding/bleeding but I also checked with the Ambilight off too.

I bet the 9000 series is amazing, the 8000 reviewed very well from what I read too.

[sinistro]

Originally Posted by leighprice23

Thanks and I'm glad your still enjoying it !

Surely any clouding must be harder to see or be masked by the ambilight .

I saw the top of the line 9000 series with the moth eye filter today and that is just jaw dropping , i was looking down on the screen and the black film borders could not have been darker

The 46pfl9706h is here on sale for 1400 pounds (1685 euro )

[leighprice23]

Where is here?
Thats a amazing price considering the price of it in the uk

[rupert81]

How are the black levels in a dark room? I was considering the Panny et5 until i read the review which said blacks were awful. The Philips looks like a bargin at £999 for the 47 at John Lewis, but if the blacks are as bad i may even go for a philips 6606.

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by rupert81

How are the black levels in a dark room? I was considering the Panny et5 until i read the review which said blacks were awful. The Philips looks like a bargin at £999 for the 47 at John Lewis, but if the blacks are as bad i may even go for a philips 6606.

The blacks are aparently slightly better than the Panasonic ET5 but not as good as the LG LW650T, if your looking for the deepest blacks specifically then Plasma certainly appears to be the way to go, I'm happy enough with the darkness of the picture on my set though.

Live 3D Football Viewing Experience:

I had a chance to watch this afternoons Live Sky 3D Broadcast of the Newcastle vs Liverpool game and really enjoyed it, very comfortable viewing throughout, no crosstalk and a bright and crisp enough picture to boot.

My brother popped in during the second half and threw on a pair of Cinema 3D glasses and though it looked great, he said the picture popped right out and he much preffered it to the Sharp 3D experience (which we breifly tried but he didn't like the glasses and he said they made his eyes go a little funny)

I'll hopefully get the chance the view a film or two in 3D soon (have some recorded on Sky 3D) and take a look at Safari Park Adventure 3D (also recorded on Sky) I'll be sure to report back here with opinions when I do

[rupert81]

Thanks for your quick reply, you had a Sharp Le 831 before are the blacks on a par with that?

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by rupert81

Thanks for your quick reply, you had a Sharp Le 831 before are the blacks on a par with that?

I'd say the Sharp had better black levels probably, one of the problems I was having with the Sharp LE831 was that the picture was always too dark for my liking, whites usually looked grey/yellow when the TV was calibrated using many reviewers picture settings.

I prefer brighter whites and colours rather than the deepest blacks possible.

FlatPanelsHD give the following black levels in reviews:

Before Calibration / After Calibration

Philips 7000:

Black level 0.23 cd/m2 / 0.13 cd/m2
Brightness 336 cd/m2 / 125 cd/m2
Contrast ratio 1460:1 / 962:1

Panasonic ET5:

Black level 0.16 cd/m2 / 0.14 cd/m2
Brightness 160 cd/m2 / 133 cd/m2
Contrast ratio 1000:1 / 950:1


Sharp LE831:

Black level 0.09 cd/m2 / 0.04 cd/m2
Brightness 263 cd/m2 / 120 cd/m2
Contrast ratio 2922:1 / 4000:1

[rupert81]

I'll have a bit of time to think, my brother is buying my panny at the end of the month. I'm selling that because of the bad performance during the day.
Brightness is a big plus, i just don't want those horrid blue blacks i had with my v3000 from a while back.

Is there any chance you can post some more photos please?

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by rupert81

Is there any chance you can post some more photos please?

I can try, what kind of things do you want photos of?

3D Viewing Experience - Safari Park Adventures 3D - Sky 3D:

Just watched an episode of this in 3D, again very comfortable and pleasing viewing experience, I'd still say from memory that on the Sharp this program had more 'pop' in the intro but for longer viewing it was a little straining on the eyes, where as watching this in 3D Passively on the Philips is very easy on the eyes.

Because the Sharp had distinctly different picture setting once in 3D mode than in standard 2D it would mean even if you had the TV setup perfect to view football in 2D once you watched a game in 3D the colour of the pitch etc was off and lots of settings were different and hard to get as nice as in 2D what ever you did.

On the Philips simply load up the 3D program, select 3D on the TV and pop your glasses on and all your settings and colours are the same so you can view the 3D content with the same settings as 2D, I find this makes it so much easier than fiddling around with a 3D mode trying to get it simular to your 2D one.

I found watching Safari Park Adventures 3D great, some of the scenes pop really well while others are more subtle, the addition of Ambilight in my opinion only adds to the effect and draws you into the 3D experience that bit more.

Next up I'll be finding some time to view a 3D film start to finish, hopefully with my brother too so I can see how he feels the experience is on this TV(He's watched quite a few 3D films in the cinema as he had a Cineworld Card so it should be a good indicator)

[guygamps]

Firstly I could even have been pursuaded to buy a 9706, so budget isn't the issue. But judging by the demo in Hi Spek St Albans, the 9706 is truly awful in standard def live TV (studio programmes) and although I have Sky HD, the overly soft and detail lacking image in SD made me look elsewhere and a 7666 caught me eye. Alot cheaper and still very very impressive, I felt a bit better in SD.

Following good demos of various 3D sets, I certainly prefer passive 3D, our family is fairly large, and having lots of cheap glasses as opposed to 2 just 2 pairs appeals (I don;t loads come with the philips unlike LG who provide 7 sets, but they are cheap to buy).

I really really want an antireflective screen, so impressive though some of the new Pannys and Samsungs are, there are a lot of windows around in living room, and a reflective screen would be difficult.

LG, Samsung, and Panny (both new LCDs and the GT/VT plasmas) are all highly glossy pieces of glass.

So why did I not buy one at the weekend? Hi Spek could not demo much, they had no Blu Rays to chose (I should have taken my own) and they could not demo the Smart TV features since the sets weren't connected to the net. They couldn't even demo Freeview HD on the 9706 (the signal quality at |RF input wasn't strong enough)

So I went to John Lewis in Watford. The store was heaving, and they had a 7666 on display, but I was put off by the fact that the blacks were very milky whenever there was a credits screen (credits on black background), perhaps the set was badly configured, there was no one to ask it was so busy.

Then I found the 7606 on Pixmania at £789, quite a bit cheaper than John Lewis, so...

whats the thinking? is the 7606 same as 7666, using the "compare" facility on Philips own site, I can't see a difference apart from Wifi (which I don't need because I have wired Ethernet to my broadband from TV position)

Are the blacks better when properly set up than I saw? what I saw was no better than my 6 year old CFL backlit Samsung LE40R74

Considering I want a anti reflective screen is there anything else (including Active 3D) I should look at?

Thanks forum

[sinistro]

Originally Posted by leighprice23

Where is here?
Thats a amazing price considering the price of it in the uk

electroprecio, they are in the north of spain

[leighprice23]

Well sod it i just ordered the 55pfl7606 after much looking on this thread and the net !
I know what you mean guygamps as i was in hiway hifi on saturday and the philips area was a bit sparse.
Although i thought the 9706 looked amazing in terms of the contrast etc but pic quality on all within that are wasn't great .

Olly c thanks for your posts as that helped my decision and look forward to some more pics , but no detailing of any issues you see now I've ordered mine

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by guygamps

Then I found the 7606 on Pixmania at £789, quite a bit cheaper than John Lewis, so...

whats the thinking? is the 7606 same as 7666, using the "compare" facility on Philips own site, I can't see a difference apart from Wifi (which I don't need because I have wired Ethernet to my broadband from TV position)

Are the blacks better when properly set up than I saw? what I saw was no better than my 6 year old CFL backlit Samsung LE40R74

I'm not actually sure what the full differences are between the 7606 and the 7666t to be honest, they are both 7000 series TV's and the specs looks pretty much the same.

You will be able to configure the blacks better when properly set up yes, but I'm not going to tell you they are the best blacks you can get on any TV or even any LED LCD TV, Plamsa will always have deeper blacks and very good Active 3D because of the Plasma panels speeds over LED LCD ones.

If you prefer Passive 3D however then you will have to look into LED LCD sets, its definately more family friendly as well as having cheaper more comfortable and less breakable glasses its universally easier on the eyes to the every day viewer as well.

Best to try out the TV in your own home and way up the positives and negatives for yourself, if you order from somewhere like John Lewis and find the TV isn't for you then refund it or try a different model TV

[guygamps]

There is no doubt that the best pictures I have seen whilst shopping around are likely either the high end Samsung (7000 / 8000) series LCDs, or the Panasonic GT/VT Plasmas, But in both cases the screen is highly reflective and would not suit the application I have in mind. So the 76x6 appeals

Good point about John Lewis though (returns policy), and they incclude 5 year warranty, if I can get them to price match a few other cheaper resellers than that will swing it.

I think I will go down there on a quiet weekday morning and try again, maybe adjust some settings to try to improve the blacks

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by leighprice23

Olly c thanks for your posts as that helped my decision and look forward to some more pics , but no detailing of any issues you see now I've ordered mine

No problems, I hope you end up enjoying your set 55" is going to be huuuuge!!

Here's some more photos I took, these are only taken with my phone and are actually of an advert on Sky 3D but converted back to 2D with the TV so I could take the pics without them looking all blurry

Lion licking its lips:

Frog on a red flower:

Colourful flower:

Another flower:

Very pink flowers:

I have to add that the Ambilight looks way better in real life than my phone can seem to capture as I'm sure sinistro will be able to confirm

[rupert81]

Wow thanks, they look stunning

[rupert81]

I hope posting the photos didn't put you to too much trouble. The pictures look sharp and detailed and that just a picture taken with your phone. It must be a real treat watching Planet Earth or something like that with the Ambilight. I'm not that bothred about the 3d that's why i'm going the passive route. No point in paying loads for glasses that need charging when i mainly watch stuff like come dine with me.

[leighprice23]

very nice

Ive always liked the idea of ambilight and I'm bored of looking at constant reviews thinking I've found the perfect tv to find out its got banding which as you said ruins football viewing , and other annoying issues.

Have always been a plasma follower but now where we live its a bright room that i don't want to be in constant darkness just to watch tv, plus as yourself i wanted to go passive this time

As far as the difference between the 7000 model goes , yours has built in wifi the others with the 0 in the model No are wifi ready i believe

[Olly C]

Live Football on ESPN HD:

[missi12]

Great pics there Olly!

I had a look at the set in John Lewis Friday and luckily was quiet so plenty of sales people around.

Luckily they had 3 different size sets on display and one was in the darkened room (with all the luxury tv's ) and which was the 42".

When I stood close to it I could see some slight blurriness on faces but the sales man told me to stand back as he could see it too and it did look clear then. Maybe it was just a bad connection as I don't remember seeing that on other Tv's I have looked at.

Also, John Lewis have confirmed they will price match at £799 on the 42" against Face Electrical although they said they refund the difference after delivery.

Does anyone know why this is or is it just company policy?

[Olly C]

Originally Posted by missi12

Great pics there Olly!

I had a look at the set in John Lewis Friday and luckily was quiet so plenty of sales people around.

Luckily they had 3 different size sets on display and one was in the darkened room (with all the luxury tv's ) and which was the 42".

When I stood close to it I could see some slight blurriness on faces but the sales man told me to stand back as he could see it too and it did look clear then. Maybe it was just a bad connection as I don't remember seeing that on other Tv's I have looked at.

Also, John Lewis have confirmed they will price match at £799 on the 42" against Face Electrical although they said they refund the difference after delivery.

Does anyone know why this is or is it just company policy?

Thanks!

Haven't noticed any blurryness myself so I'd say it was either the connection like the guy said or maybe the picture settings on the unit had something to do with it..

Yea John Lewis will price match FACE Electrical as I mentioned earlier as long as they have the TV instock, the standard way of them doing it is to refund you the difference after you have bought the item like they say.

Thats their usual policy.

I'll maybe look to upload a video on here of me playing MW3 so people can see the TV and Ambilight in action, hopefully it'll come across looking good through my phones camera

[Ninjafoot]

Originally Posted by missi12

Great pics there Olly!

I had a look at the set in John Lewis Friday and luckily was quiet so plenty of sales people around.

Luckily they had 3 different size sets on display and one was in the darkened room (with all the luxury tv's ) and which was the 42".

When I stood close to it I could see some slight blurriness on faces but the sales man told me to stand back as he could see it too and it did look clear then. Maybe it was just a bad connection as I don't remember seeing that on other Tv's I have looked at.

Also, John Lewis have confirmed they will price match at £799 on the 42" against Face Electrical although they said they refund the difference after delivery.

Does anyone know why this is or is it just company policy?

I've had a few philips tvs and belive me some shops aren't the best place to demo they usually whip it out the box and leave all the default settings on which doesn't represent the quality picture which these tvs can produce.

My last tv was the philips 47pfl7404 which i brought from john lewis and i loved it the only reason why i got rid of it was due to it being faulty and the engineers JL used failed to recitfy the problem they also scratched up the tvs bezel something rotten which resulted in me getting a refund.

The last time i was in JL they had the 7666 in a 47" which i was able to get a very decent picture from plus the design is as slick as hell... i also like the fact that it isn't skinny to the point that it requires break out cables.

The only thing which runs in my head is the possible risk of clouding or led flashlighting which would drive me crazy if i noticed it.

On the previous philips i had it never suffered with any issues like that although it wasn't led backlit.

[guygamps]

I am going to go back to JL hopefully when it will be quiet, and try to adjust the settings in store, I reckon it is "out of box" and not optimised.

I dont watch footie, natural history documentaries, well lit high def studio programs (such as Graham Norton / Jonathan Ross, movies too (lots of standard def DVDs and a fair few Blur Rays)

So, can anyone point me to a list of "best settings" which I can quickly input to an instore unit before making a re-evalution?

thanks

Guy

[Smith2004]

Originally Posted by sinistro

The 46pfl9706h is here on sale for 1400 pounds (1685 euro )

I know we generally get ripped off in the UK, but £1400 compared to the £2200-2300 you have pay for this set from UK retailers is shocking.

[Ninjafoot]

Originally Posted by guygamps

I am going to go back to JL hopefully when it will be quiet, and try to adjust the settings in store, I reckon it is "out of box" and not optimised.

I dont watch footie, natural history documentaries, well lit high def studio programs (such as Graham Norton / Jonathan Ross, movies too (lots of standard def DVDs and a fair few Blur Rays)

So, can anyone point me to a list of "best settings" which I can quickly input to an instore unit before making a re-evalution?

thanks

Guy

Theres quite a few settings and some people find access to the menu quite daunting but if you have the patient then heres a few tips try reducing the contrast to around 90 brightness 60 colour 50 sharpness to 1 or 0, noise reduction off.

If viewing an hd source set the format to unscaled. When checking sd content then set the screen format to widescreen noise reduction on sharpness around 2 or 3.

In the pixel precise menu theres the hd natural motion which i'm a fan of you can set it to min med max, if you don't like the effect then off.

Depending on the light conditions in the store the light sensor will be on by default you can turn it off and also super resolution off.

Hope this helps you.