Calling Philips LCD 30PF9975 owners

[Anjou]

Need some help.

Having weighed up the pros and cons of the progressive only component inputs I'm on the verge of buying one of these babies. Annoyingly, I haven't seen one with a decent TV input - all of the shops seem to share the same dodgy Sky feed through about 25 sets!

So, can anyone tell me what PQ is like with a standard analogue aerial input? I'll be replacing an ageing Sony 28in widescreen I've had for about 5 years.

Will also be using it with a Pioneer 737 DVD (finally get to use the prog scan!), UK Xbox and possibly freeview in the future.

Chris.

 

[cmo]

Hi Anjou,

I was actually very impressed with this one - much better than the Sharp IMHO.

Picture for normal transmissions is good (remember LCD is very revealing) although the picture did have very good depth to it.

Running a good setup disc (DVE or the like) is worthwhile and turning a lot of those annoying digital options off that Philips are obsessed with helps.

Black levels for an LCD are good (once the picture is setup) and movement is generally ok (natural motion is not to everyones liking).
Pixel plus works well in its latest guise.

One word of warning though,

I have tried a couple of these sets at home and the first ones viewing angle was definitely better than the second so inconsistency may be an issue (this is actually common with several sets).

Overall, although not perfect it is definitely much better than their previous 32" plasma and if you need a 30" TV with no depth then I can't think of anything better at this stage.

Good luck.

 

[richard plumb]

Analogue picture is fabulous. I get some ghosting on mine, but thats what I had on my old TV, so its my reception. but the quality of presentation is very impressive.

Just wait till you get freeview!

 

[Anjou]

Thanks guys.

I know there are going to be differences between the type of picture on an LCD and what we get on our existing CRTs, and my biggest hurdle will probably be convincing my wife that different doesn't mean ten times worse. Both of us were initially put off flat screens by horrible plasmas with very blurry and patchy pictures but I've seen some good 15in LCD units.

The only annoying thing will be this lack of interlaced component video - it will presumably mean switching inputs when I watch a PAL disc on my 737.

 

[Anjou]

Oh, another quick and possibly daft question.

I'm not likely to wall mount the panel straightaway, and was aiming to have it standing on a cabinet for a bit. However, I've notice that some ads say optional stand - does the screen not even come with the little feet as standard?

 

[nrmsmith]

Anjou

The TV comes standard with the "little feet" and a wall mounting bracket. The optional stand (sometimes known as a boomerang stand) is about £150 extra, but some internet suppliers include it as std. in the price they quote, so make sure you check this when comparing prices.

I have posted a picture in the classifieds forum (do a search for "30PF9975").

It is a brilliant TV set. It took me a few weeks to "adapt" to viewing a large LCD screen but now I love it; PQ varies from Ok to simply breath-taking depending on what you feed it.

By the way, Philips are about to launch a replacement for the 30PF9975 which will probably be even better technically and is a 32" inch screen. As a result the prices of the existing 30" will likely drop again.

Cheers
Nigel

 

[Anjou]

Thanks Nigel - even the official PDF flyer on the Philips web site says wall-mounting bracket and then 'optional' stand. The boomerang one does look nice but I'm not sure it's worth £150 notes (I think the official price is actually £199!).

I saw the announcement about the 32in but I don't think it comes out until July and I wanted to make a move before then - I've seen the 30 for £17XX plus delivery and that seems like a fair price to me.

I was originally going to trade up to a Panny PD30 TV but its bum is as big as my existing Sony and I've heard of so many people with problems that I thought 'sod it, let's make the leap to LCD'.

Just bought the Awards issue of HCC which will no doubt confuse me even more....

Oh yes, one more thing! Can the components take 480i NTSC or are they completely non-interlace apart from 1080i?

 

[nrmsmith]

Sorry, I'm not a component video expert. I only use RGB Scart. I know there are some issues with this set, that it will only do progressive PAL not interlaced - I'm sure someone else will be along to help on this - Richard are you there ????

Nigel

 

[KarlD]

Hi

jerkyboy started a thread on this board about component input into the 30pf9975 (thread title "Philips 30PF9975 & Component ???")

To summarise, 480p, 576p and 1080i are OK, 480i, 576i (and 720p) aren't.

Karl

 

[Anjou]

D'oh. There's always something.

 

[richard plumb]

don't worry yourself. Either buy a cheap progressive PAL + NTSC player, or just connect it via SCART. The picture processing in the screen is good enough that I'm not sure you need a progressive player (at least until you get a 1080i one)

Or connect the same player with two outputs, and have them both permanently plugged in. eg, I have a philips 963SA, with component outs to a projector and an svideo out to the LCD screen.

 

[Anjou]

Annoyingly I don't think the Pioneer 737 lets you use both RGB scart and component at the same time. You select either/or in the setup menu.

But, just to recap Richard, are you saying the component inputs *can* take progressive NTSC as well as PAL?

The other thing is, what happened to all this not true 16:9 and stretch Eastenders. Did you resolve this issue?

 

[KarlD]

Anjou


In the thread "Philips 30PF9975 & Component ???" there's a screen capture posted by chris081271 showing his x-box inputting 480p via component into this screen.

There were some reviews that said the screen wouldn't take 480p (NTSC progressive) but this doesn't seem to be the case

Karl

I also read all the 15:9/16:10 stuff. As I watch a lot of music videos (where the automatic switching can be a real pain) I just leave the set in 16:9 mode. Gives me black bars top & bottom but I don't mind them and there's no risk of screen burn with the lcd.

 

[Anjou]

Thanks Karl, and everyone else who's chipped in.

I'm still in two minds about the Philips but am going to explore John Lewis and Tottenham Court Road up in London today so I'll try to see what this looks like.

 

[Stackers]

Bit of a late reply but though i'd chip in about the "Boomerang stand". If you can buy the set with the stand (I did) then go for it! It really does make a difference to the look of the whole thing once in place! The "little feet" it comes with are ok but the Boomerang stand is the business!!

I really rate my Philips! Superb picture quality on SKY and terrestial although you may find some of the SKY channels better than others but the main ones are great!