[Lugger]

Hi all, just bought myself a Philips 42PFL9664 LCD TV and watched a standard def DVD on Sunday evening*.....eyes felt like they were straining and I still have the headache I woke up with on Monday morning

Looking for some advice really, some other info that might be useful:

• Sitting around 8-9 feet away
• Room was low-lit
• Used the built-in settings assistant to setup the screen but have not adjusted the brightness/contrast/backlight at all beyond that
• My DVD player does not upscale at all
• Watching standard TV, anytime the camera pans around I feel a bit sick
• Experienced some "wobbling", not sure how else to describe it, on the DVD (Fellowship of the Ring) where objects moved a bit onscreen, such as a tree of to the side and slightly behind the character in main view
• I will not be using it for gaming, apart from my wife on Wii Fit....

Do I need to sit further away, swap for a smaller TV, adjust the settings to xx% each?

I used to have a Panasonic 42" standard def plasma and had no such problems.

Any help welcomed as I currently can't watch my £1500 telly

Thanks everyone!

*Blu-Ray player coming soon.

[BamBamMickey]

Turn off all picture processing, particularly...HDNM natural motion/perfect pixel, these create a video style look on movies by interpolation and removing judder.
But these can make people nausious and cause headaches.

[Lugger]

Have made some changes to disable those settings and will see how it goes!

[Lugger]

Originally Posted by Trey4Life

Turn off all picture processing, particularly...HDNM natural motion/perfect pixel, these create a video style look on movies by interpolation and removing judder.
But these can make people nausious and cause headaches.

Have disabled ALL features and set it to "Cinema" mode which seems to suit the room lighting well and looks much better.

Will continue to watch and see how I get on.

Would welcome any other suggestions, particularly on my considering downsizing to 37" or swapping to a plasma, worth thinking about?

[BamBamMickey]

Originally Posted by Lugger

Have disabled ALL features and set it to "Cinema" mode which seems to suit the room lighting well and looks much better.

Will continue to watch and see how I get on.

Would welcome any other suggestions, particularly on my considering downsizing to 37" or swapping to a plasma, worth thinking about?

Well there are a lot of things to consider mate.
DO you suffer these symptoms after a few hours of watching?

Maybe you are straining your eyes, i have heard it happen before.

[Lugger]

I generally find that when the camera pans around I feel a bit of motion sickness, I was watching the England match last night and still suffered.

This evening I am going to plug in my old 42" plasma and see how that looks and whether I get the same problem.

[BamBamMickey]

Oh, that sounds like a severe case you have there mate.

Do you ever suffer this in vehicles/at heights etc?

Have you spoken to your GP/optician about this?

I couldn't live with that.

[Lugger]

Originally Posted by Trey4Life

Oh, that sounds like a severe case you have there mate.

Do you ever suffer this in vehicles/at heights etc?

Have you spoken to your GP/optician about this?

I couldn't live with that.

At the doc's tomorrow as I can't shift the headache, though it is slowly getting better.

I reckon watching the DVD (some 3.5hours long) on Sunday has done it due to overly-tired eyes strained by an un-calibrated new TV, though my wife is fine and does/did not suffer the same problems as me. But then I wear glasses and have knackered eyes whereas she is "normal"!

Driving is ok, this is purely a visual thing on the TV, though I can get tired eyes generally as I use a PC a lot.

Hence reverting back to my plasma to see if I experience same thing and whether I am allergic to LCDs . This is also what is prompting me to consider dropping to a smaller set, that way the camera motion is reduced I hope.

[BamBamMickey]

Well yes, that's what i was hinting at.
That if you don't suffer this all the time then the Philips LCD is really affecting you.

[Lugger]

Well I don't seem to suffer the same problems with my plasma, so I will be taking the LCD back and start looking around for a new plasma. Hopefully Richer Sounds will take it back without too much fuss!

The Panny 42" G10 seems favourite so I shall pop into Currys to take a look over the weekend.

[jamct]

Originally Posted by Lugger

I generally find that when the camera pans around I feel a bit of motion sickness, I was watching the England match last night and still suffered.

This evening I am going to plug in my old 42" plasma and see how that looks and whether I get the same problem.

Migraine can cause those symptoms. 6 years ago I had my first ever migraine(but did not know it was so) at the age of 56, whilst at a computer screen..saw doctor that evening, given a course of tablets..never a problem since. It was just one of those unexplained happenings.

The demo of 9664 at the Trafford Centre last week was bril, loved the blu-ray pic but did not see SD TV.

Will bear your experience in mind if I decide to buy.

[kezstone]

easy...you're sitting far too close for a 42inch tv. the recommended distance is at least 3 times the screen size...so at 8-9 feet away you need a 32 or 37 inch at the most!

did you have the ambilight running because that is supposed to soften the over bright philips screen?

or maybe your just giddy from spending far too much money on an over hyped tv!

[jamct]

Originally Posted by kezstone

easy...you're sitting far too close for a 42inch tv. the recommended distance is at least 3 times the screen size...so at 8-9 feet away you need a 32 or 37 inch at the most!

did you have the ambilight running because that is supposed to soften the over bright philips screen?

or maybe your just giddy from spending far too much money on an over hyped tv!

..over hyped?. It has just won the 2009 What HiFi Sound & Vision's best higher-end 40"-42" LCD award. Must have something going for it i.e. it hasn't got a horrible glossy 'piano-black' bezel, the bezel is slim so the overall width is less than alot of 40" TVs, spec is great but... the price was excessive to start with. Introduced at £1,700 then reduced by £200 and now being offered in some sales at £1,350. I will be tempted in the New Year sales if it gets down to £1,100 ish unless I go for a slim Samsung LED, they look stunning, shame about the glossy bezel though

[BamBamMickey]

Originally Posted by kezstone

easy...you're sitting far too close for a 42inch tv. the recommended distance is at least 3 times the screen size...so at 8-9 feet away you need a 32 or 37 inch at the most!

did you have the ambilight running because that is supposed to soften the over bright philips screen?

or maybe your just giddy from spending far too much money on an over hyped tv!

What a load of old cobblers.
At 9ft, HD on a 37" is at a point where some people can see no difference over SD.
Anyone that sits closer than 9ft on anything bigger than 37" must be in a vortex.?

[kezstone]

Originally Posted by Trey4Life

What a load of old cobblers.
At 9ft, HD on a 37" is at a point where some people can see no difference over SD.
Anyone that sits closer than 9ft on anything bigger than 37" must be in a vortex.?

these figures where taken from and recommended by the philips website...so if you have a problem with it take it up with them!

[BamBamMickey]

Originally Posted by kezstone

these figures where taken from and recommended by the philips website...so if you have a problem with it take it up with them!

My issue is not with what Philips recommend as proper viewing distances (even though they probably tell you to sit further away so you can't see the HALO effect , even then that guide is MAX distance not MIN.), but rather that you can make a diagnosis on a condition someone is suffering from by saying they are sitting close to their TV.
As i said , in that case we must be all spinning.

[Lugger]

I understand the concern over the what-distance-for-my-size-TV debate, I read lots of articles that all say slightly different things, suggesting I need a TV screen size between 32" and 50", so no-one seems to really know let’s face it.

I have considered moving to a 37” screen in the hope it helps, trouble is, how will I know until its too late and I have opened the box etc. And if I do go to sub-40" it will have to be a LCD screen and I may get the same problem if I really do have a severe case of LCDitis.

Richer Sounds only refund 85% if you return an item in its packaging but “used”, so I can’t do that too many times before running out of cash!

Ambilight is on, and with all “features” disabled and screen set to “Cinema” things were better but still an issue for me, my wife remains unaffected and still thinks the picture is great.


As a test, I have moved the Philips out of the way and put my Panasonic TH42PWD6 plasma in its place and watched the F1 Grand Prix for 3 hours yesterday without problem. 42” screen, same seating position.

So the interesting question now is, did the TV cause my migraine or did the migraine cause the sickness? I think the former as I have never had a migraine before, but we shall see!

This eve I shall "calibrate" using a THX DVD and watch that movie on the new Philips and see how I get on. I shall also watch some of the Grand Prix again (recorded on Sky+ in standard def) to see if it causes me problems.

[Lugger]

Good news!

The THX calibration has worked extremely well for me. I used the one on the Phantom Menace DVD and it has partly solved the problem.

Well worth doing as an initial and easy setup task.

I also had my eyes checked out and got new glasses and although I was wobbly on my feet for a few days, that has passed and all is well.

Finally, I am using a different DVD player (also a Philips) which although only a £30 machine displays a clearer picture with less "wobble".

Appeared to be a combination of setup and my poor eyes.

On another positive note, I would certainly recommend this TV for anyone with only standard definition inputs. It displays them very well indeed, I know other sets have been less successful in this area, according to reviews anyway.