Advice Please - Samsung UE40B7020W or Philips 42PES0001D

[steve_]

Hello all,

I have done alot of review and forum reading and I think I have it down to these final 2, the Samsung UE40B7020W and the Philips 42PES0001D. I have also looked at the Panasonic P42G10 but dismissed on the basis it would be like hanging my car on the wall its so deep!


The reason I ask for help is that I have now read so many reviews on these two LCD's that I now have seen equally positive and negative comments on for both so am completely confused. My other half is also repeating the words "just buy one" on a regular basis. My requirements are:

• budget of £1500-£1750 ish
• nicely wall mountable
• Sky HD
• BluRay
• No consoles
• not all sofas are square on so viewing angle should be considered
• Not bothered about audio quality

Buzzwords I have found for lots of LCDs are; issues with movement, backlight bleeding, clouding. Should I be worried, will I notice these items?

So my question is... have I missed the point and are there other things I should be considering for the budget? And, if I am right with the two I have got down to which one is the one worth the cash?

Any help, advice & comment welcome.

Cheers

Steve

[ziffius]

I would go for the Samsung. Simply because it has the connections built in rather than needing an external box like the Philips.

[y2mash]

Whats the cheapest you've seen them both for? Have you considered the sony z4500, thats delivers some great hd pictures. I've been looking at all three of these tv's and still cant pick one. I'm gearing towards the samsung as its cheaper than the philips, although you can pick the z4500 up for around the same price as the samsung, so its certainly worth the consideration. When you choose, let me know and how much you paid for it. John Lewis in the trafford centre had the philips on for £1499, obviously priced to clear.

Mash

[YellowSphere]

Originally Posted by ziffius

I would go for the Samsung. Simply because it has the connections built in rather than needing an external box like the Philips.

I'd be inclined to go for the Philips for precisely the opposite reason! The Philips also provides power to the display via its cable which is a nice feature. Cable is a bit hefty though. Two inches bigger and slimmer bezel, even if it's a bit deeper. Comes supplied with a clever bracket too.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the picture quality of the Philips, but generally their high end sets do pretty well. I would try to buy from a retailer with a good guarantee if possible, though, as they can be unreliable.

[samfpt]

Hey Steve,

I just purchased that very Samsung yesterday, so I will give you my first impresssions based on the things you specified:

budget of £1500-£1750 ish
Picked it up from Richer Sounds for £1229.95 (web price)
nicely wall mountable
It is extremely thin, so would be great for wall
Sky HD
can't see any issues...
BluRay
looks fantastic (using PS3 for blueray)
No consoles
fair enough, but just fyi, xbox360 and PS3 are brilliant
not all sofas are square on so viewing angle should be considered
Not bothered about audio quality
as I'm typing this, I'm watching TV from the kitchen on a fair angle and it looks fine


My own personal notes:
- Built in speakers are decent enough, although I'm sure most people will use surround sound
- was quite easy to set up (did it by myself)
- box is relatively small
- USB media playback is awesome. Have used it to play many 1080p .MKV files
- the unit is very aesthetically pleasing

My only complaint would be the design of the inputs on the rear. They are a little too close to the edge of the TV, so if you have a thick or stiff cable, it might protrude past the edge of the TV and be visible from the front. If you use the included cable management fixtures (little plastic stick-on clips) then this can be taken care of in most cases. But that is just me being picky.

Overall, I am really happy with it. My girlfriend loves it as "it looks good". Very technical. But I am mainly a gamer and the performance is amazing.

Good luck with your decision.

[steve_]

Thanks for the advice - almost made my mind up.

mash - I will let you know which one I get and how much it was. It looks like the fun really starts when you start talking £££'s with the retailers... can't wait (cough!). I have been warned off the Sony's quite a number of times due to clouding issues etc. but I'll check out that model number. Cheers.

YellowSphere - I agree with you about the break out box, I would prefer to have only one cable if poss and I have plenty of room for the box. I also means fewer, shorter and cheaper HDMI cables! Bonus!

samfpt - great insight, cheers for the detail especially as I now know if girlfriend friendly ;-)

Couple more questions if you don't mind..

• What are SD broadcasts like through sky on both Samsung and Philips? Samfpt, how do you find it on the Samsung you have?
• Am I right in thinking that the Philips is an older model than the Samsung - especially seeing as it was reduced to clear in JL?
• Is there a Philips owner who can detail their experiences with that model?

Thanks agian the help so far!

[YellowSphere]

Samsung is pretty damn good with SD. Philips have always been very strong in this area, I see no reason why the Essence would be any different. It's not old by the way, probably just JL having problems shifting it?

[jayoc2k]

how far do you sit from the screen in order to get a good SD picture with the Samsung?


cheers

[steve_]

Right, its going to be the Philips! The reasons are..

• 1080p
• wide veiwing angle
• only a few disapointing reviews (unlike some)
• small surrounding frame
• nice and thin for wall mounting
• bracket included so save a few quid
• breakout box so save on only having to buy short HDMI cables
• anti reflective screen (unlike some) as I have a window at 90' to the TV
• Most importantly... the other half has given the go ahead!!

Can anybody recommend any retailers as this TV seems to be thin on the ground at the moment?? Even JL have it out of stock...

Final hurdle... any recommendations welcome

Cheers!

[y2mash]

You wont go wrong with that tv! I'm considering pushing the boat out and getting the lx5090 insead. I think i could pick it up for less than £1900 including stand and centre speaker. Although if i dont get it, it might end up being a 46b7020 and save a few hundred pounds.

Steve, let me knw where you get the philips from and how much you paid....i might yet consider it.

Cheers

Mash

[coccy]

Originally Posted by steve_

Right, its going to be the Philips! The reasons are..

Final hurdle... any recommendations welcome

Cheers!

Well I've got the same doubts about pes0001d and other tvs, i.e the 40z4500.
Most of the people have recommended me to go for the Sony.. I saw both sets with my eyes and .. well, the 40z4500 played very smooth images during sport scenes. I cannot find the pes0001d as smooth as the sony, also on scenes with a lot of camera panning.
Dunno, maybe the philips wasn't set correctly (I could not check whether or not the 100hz were enabled), but Sony impressed me.
My advice is to compare them looking at both sets with your eyes.

PS: I haven't decided yet, probably I'll wait a bit for a review of philips 42pfl9664

[YellowSphere]

Originally Posted by steve_

Can anybody recommend any retailers as this TV seems to be thin on the ground at the moment??

Usually Tottenham Court Road retailers are the best place to look for Philips.

[stevegeek]

Hi, just a correction, this TV is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) not an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)...technically there's a big difference. LED is the newer technology, allowing much thinner screens, lower energy consumption and (importantly) higher contrast ratio, so blacks look blacker.
I'll probably wait until they become a bit more mainstream and prices come down but I'm sure I will get one of these...if my bank account allows!!
Should go nicely with my Sky HD...if it actually arrives in 12 weeks as promised!

[YellowSphere]

Originally Posted by stevegeek

Hi, just a correction, this TV is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) not an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)...technically there's a big difference. LED is the newer technology, allowing much thinner screens, lower energy consumption and (importantly) higher contrast ratio, so blacks look blacker.
I'll probably wait until they become a bit more mainstream and prices come down but I'm sure I will get one of these...if my bank account allows!!
Should go nicely with my Sky HD...if it actually arrives in 12 weeks as promised!

If you're going to make a first post with such self assurance, you should make sure the information contained within it is correct.

It is an LCD TV, lit by an LED backlight, as opposed to a cathode lamp. There are two kinds of LED backlights, edge (as on the thin models, which don't really pose any plus points for picture quality) and local dimming (as on the models with better blacks, which don't have much better power consumption).

You should read the review of the B6000 on this website. You may find it rather enlightening.

[stevegeek]

OK - so it's an LED LCD to be exact...thanks for putting me straight!