Philips 37/42PF9830 or Sony KDLV40A12

[MLC]

Have been waiting forever for the PF9830 range to appear in the shops. Now I have seen the 37 and 42 side by side I noticed that the 37 seemed much sharper on a Sky+ RGB feed. Even the setup menus were much sharper on the 37. HD was only hooked up to the 42. I was going to buy the 42 until I'd seen this and now am thinking of the 37 as I don't want to compromise on image quality. Also the new Sony KDLV range has been getting good reviews but I can not compare them in the same shop.

Has anyone else checked these sets out together or compared them with the Sony KDLV40A12 side by side?

I'm looking to buy the best LCD currently available in this size with the best HD future proof. My requirements are sports and movies so no motion artifacts and trails and good blacks. The 1920 x 1080i and 8ms of the Philips 42" seemed to be the best bet and I liked the Ethernet/wifi but not if its not got the best panel.

 

[andrewfee]

I say go with the 37" Personally; you'll save some money, and it'll definitely be sharper. (the smaller you go with the same pixel count, the sharper it'll be)

The 37" is a 6ms set as well, so it should cope with motion that little bit better. I'd pick the Philips over the Sony, as it has some other interesting technologies like the Ambilight, and the motorized stand.

I wouldn't pick the Sony, as they don't even have a VGA input on the V series, and when you're spending that sort of money, I'd say it's essential. The Sony sets are 720p native, not 1080p. (note: the philips will only take a 1080i input max, it won't do 1080p)

 

[MLC]

Thanks for your comments.

I think you're right. I was all set on the 42" until I saw the image quality difference on the 37" next to it and the fact that my viewing area is 14ft away I think 37" is fine.

I'll miss out on the Ethernet/wifi connection but I was unclear how that was managed (via the menus?) and how useful it would have been to interface with my networked MP3s and photos.

 

[Trumper1]

Hi,

Where did you see the 37 and 42 together? I have a 42in on order but now may change it to a 37in.

 

[MLC]

It was in a TV specialist shop in Guernsey - so that will not help you unfortunately.

The other thing I'm grappling with is that I am purchasing this in preperation for Sky HD in Feb and HD DVD and SD DVD upscaling. The 42" looked great on HD but I could not compare this with the 37" as it was not hooked up to the HD feed (which was the Philips demo)

If the 42" and 37" are closer in quality in HD then its less important as I will be using HD in 5 months or so.

I wonder if anyone else has a view on whether the image quality difference I observed will be less noticeable on HD material?

Also has anyone else observed the 37" and 42" side by side - it could presumably have been a bad cable / bad set? I made sure they both had the same picture settings.