Philips 32PFL9632D v Panasonic TX32LXD700

[damian_28]

Hi,

Right...here we go...

He likes the Philips, she likes the Panasonic!

Had a price match offer from John Lewis to get the Philips for £649 plus the 5 year warranty. Might be able to get a Panasonic for £799 ish (although stocks appear limited in most places) with just the standard guarantee.

From what I have read, there is probably not too much in the higher end of the 32" market. I have to agree with the missus that the Panasonic has the looks and from reading the many postings/reviews possibly an edge, particularly in terms of reliability, viewing angles, etc.

To be an honest, the entire decision is starting to do my head in and the bottom line is whether the Panasonic is worth paying a £100 - £150 premium over the Philips?

Who wins, you help decide...

Thanks and best wishes,

Damian

 

[nellynel]

Well if you can put with the annoying buzzing from the Philips when its on and when its in standby i would go for that. I tried 2 of the Philips both had an annoying buzzing sound which i could even hear at 8ft away when the volume was low and it really put me off. Had it checked out by an engineer who said that was normal but i was still able to get it swapped.

In the end i got the Panasonic model and lets just say its quality blew me away. I wouldn't swap if for anything else.Unless of course it was the Philips (without the buzz)

 

[damian_28]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Are you saying without the buzzing you preferred the Philips or was there not much in it?

Thanks,

Damian

 

[nellynel]

Yep without the buzzing i did prefer the Philips. The ambilight looked fab at night and the motion handling on it was just as good as the panasonic i think.

 

[bongouk]

Hi Damian

I've been looking into getting the phillips you mentioned, can I ask which john lewis you've got your price match with and which store they matched?? Was £800 in our local one so £150 off would be S-WEET!

Cheers dude

James

 

[icihande]

Hi,

Right...here we go...

He likes the Philips, she likes the Panasonic!

Had a price match offer from John Lewis to get the Philips for £649 plus the 5 year warranty. Might be able to get a Panasonic for £799 ish (although stocks appear limited in most places) with just the standard guarantee.

From what I have read, there is probably not too much in the higher end of the 32" market. I have to agree with the missus that the Panasonic has the looks and from reading the many postings/reviews possibly an edge, particularly in terms of reliability, viewing angles, etc.

To be an honest, the entire decision is starting to do my head in and the bottom line is whether the Panasonic is worth paying a £100 - £150 premium over the Philips?

Who wins, you help decide...

Thanks and best wishes,

Damian

Are you specifically looking at the LXD700 because of the better sound? Otherwise there isn't any difference in the picture quality between the LXD70 and 700. I was looking at these sets before, until I heard reports of artifacts appearing with the 100hz technology (unfortunately you don't have the option to turn this off). The black levels also are not as deep as other sets. Be aware though that is not from personal experience, just from what I've read by others, as these seem to be most common problems mentioned by owners of the Panasonic Viera 32LXD70. Its motion handling is allegedly the best around though.

 

[damian_28]

Hi All,

John Lewis Solihull matched with Empire Direct (there are branches all over the place but I mentioned the one at Merry Hill).

I was all set to buy the Philips but when we went into the store, my wife took a liking to the Panasonic, who was backed up by the seemingly knowledgable shop assistant who said it was better than Philips, refered to What HiFi reviews, etc.

Now we don't know what to do - certainly the Panasonic is moer expensive than the Philips with the price match and there are limited stocks at most places but everyone seems to rave about the Pani.

Thanks,

Damian

 

[ahmed_uk]

To be honest if it was me i'd pcik the philips over the panny any day! I have had the sony 32d3000, then the 32panny lxd70 and now own the 32pfl9632 and for me i think the philips is better than the lot!!

The sony had issues with my 360, the panny was a good set in all aspects but it was so annoying that you couldnt turn of 100hz which left discuting artifacts on the screen making viewing unwatchaable and gaming not good fun. The philips has good colours, just like the other two and i found this tv to be the best with fast paced motion and it has the added benefit of turning of 100hz.

PS: My set doesnt suffer from the dreaded buzzing and its in my bedroom, mainly switch it off from the mains but sometimes its on standby and i cant here a thing, i do think i've got good ears lol

 

[nellynel]

PS: My set doesnt suffer from the dreaded buzzing and its in my bedroom, mainly switch it off from the mains but sometimes its on standby and i cant here a thing, i do think i've got good ears lol

Well you are very lucky indeed then because im not the only one who seems to have had a buzzing Philips.

http://www.testeo.org/produkt_opinions/philips-32pfl9632d-npkkem.html

thats a link to a german site that has had lots of people complaining about the buzzing translate with google and it will reveal the real extent of this problem to you.

I know mine was not a one off fault as i stated before i even had it replaced but the replacement was still doing the same.
Philips customer service wasn't very helpful either. I rang the helpline only to be told by someone the buzzing will go if i update the software which i know is a load of crap. I tried that anyway updated the software but the problem remained. I also emailed Philips about the problem and guess what they didn't even bother to reply.

The panasonic will eat the Philips for breakfast anyday and its doesn't buzz either

 

[damian_28]

Some comments regarding the Philips suggest that it has a narrow viewing angle.

If it was to go in the corner of a room and the viewing positions were slightly off-centre, would this have an impact on picture quality?

Thanks,

Damian

 

[mbilejo]

Well you are very lucky indeed then because im not the only one who seems to have had a buzzing Philips.

http://www.testeo.org/produkt_opinions/philips-32pfl9632d-npkkem.html

thats a link to a german site that has had lots of people complaining about the buzzing translate with google and it will reveal the real extent of this problem to you.

I know mine was not a one off fault as i stated before i even had it replaced but the replacement was still doing the same.
Philips customer service wasn't very helpful either. I rang the helpline only to be told by someone the buzzing will go if i update the software which i know is a load of crap. I tried that anyway updated the software but the problem remained. I also emailed Philips about the problem and guess what they didn't even bother to reply.

The panasonic will eat the Philips for breakfast anyday and its doesn't buzz either

A firmware update fixes the buzzing. I don't get it, some people do. If you do just update the firmware! And then you have a Panasonic beater. To be fair, I don't think there is any question that the Philips has the best SD picture.

 

[nellynel]

A firmware update fixes the buzzing. I don't get it, some people do. If you do just update the firmware! And then you have a Panasonic beater. To be fair, I don't think there is any question that the Philips has the best SD picture.

Did the firmware update fix the buzzing on yours? May i ask where you purchased yours from and in which country it was made?

thanks

 

[monkeynoises]

Some comments regarding the Philips suggest that it has a narrow viewing angle.

If it was to go in the corner of a room and the viewing positions were slightly off-centre, would this have an impact on picture quality?

Thanks,

Damian

Was watching Predator 2 tonight on the Philips..(i.e. dark scenes)....the black levels do suffer when you are off-centre (i.e. more of the backlight leaks through...albeit uniformly).....but when you are head on, the black levels are superb. Colours dont shift when off centre...just when you have scenes with lots of black, you lose the contrast of the black.

Footy, and snooker are VERY watchable on this set (previously had the 9731...and football movement just looked weird on that!)

Ambientlight is a bonus....helps with reducing eyestrain.

I nearly went for the Sony D3000, but the SD on this is so much better....yes there are flaws still...but hopefully these will be fixed by further firmware updates....this is the best stopgap tv.....so that when the "perfect" laser tv is made in the next few years...this can be relegated to a bedroom tv.