Philips 42PF5331 Plasma... am I a snob?

Zenderquai

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Hi guys -

I'm somethin of a newbie here, and have searched for threads regarding some info, but couldn't find.. - hopefully i'm not breaching too many protocols!


In 2005 I bought a Hitachi 42" Plasma panel (42PD4200) from Richersounds - a non-HD ready plasma panel, with VGA, DVI, a couple of Component inputs, a scart... RF.. - it was very complete connectivity-wise.. However, it broke - and they couldn't repair it. - the Panel they offered me as a free replacement was the afore mentioned Philips 42pf5331.

I looked at the spec, and it greatly out-specced my old hitachi: 1024X1080, 2XHDMI's .. however no VGA - not a great loss.. but I've got it now, and it's on the wall - I can't get over
A - how simple and content-less the manual is, and
B - how attrocious the darker scenes are displayed..

I've tried a multitude of diagnostics to escape this poor performance - but I just can't ditch it. Whenever a dark scene is playing out, the panel panics, and colours revert to this ghastly "Emergency-Grey"..

I was wondering if there was some kind of engineering menu that I can use to tweak the real settings, of if it's just a really awful panel, that is right now filling Julian Richer's Warehouses..

y'reckon it's worth taking the panel back.. or I should stop looking my gift-horse in the mouth.. ?

thanks everyone!



Nick
 
Hi Again guys,

so I was watching that classic, Doom, This morning (as a test, obviously) and took some piccies of the colour reproduction for someone to peruse..

Admitedly this was a standard DVD, but it was played at 480progressive through my X360 (Component cable).

am I being an utter muppet and just not performing simple calibration tasks?
I've tried a lot of the available settings, and got nowhere - nothing even in the engineering menu presented itself..

i't had thought the TV would be capable of producing better quality colour - as it has all this crystal pixel or whatever.. -
the auto-brightness/contrast setting is annoying too, because I can't switch it off in component input...


any thoughts?


Many thanks!






Nick
 

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That looks about typical of a Philips plasma to me, (runs off for asbestos pants) I hate the damn things, I've never seen a decent picture on one, and they are the most complained of plasma on the forum for picture quality. That doesn't make them the worst, just that Philips is an aspirational brand, you expect it to be good, whereas some of the other budget brands maybe folks don't expect the world. That picture says it all for me, unwatchable.
 
well i have the phillips 42pf 9631d and the pq is stunning in fact better than any panasonic ive ever seen so dont be put off all phillips
 
All in the eye of the beholder, but there you go. You can always find someone to stick up for their own purchase. In my job, I don't get a company car, I get a company plasma. I could have anything, I would sooner eat dog doo than have a philips.
 
i dont have to stick up for my plasma it sticks up for it self with the superb pq , i veiwed many plasmas for 2 months before i decided as i was looking to buy a panasonic myself after reading threads in this forum but the .9631d seemed alot better pq . go with your own research and veiw as many plasmas as you can as on forums their are many biased opinions but its up you the buyer to decide.
 
Thanks for the input guys,

as I said in the first post, though, do you think I should return it to richers and ask for something else? even though it was a free-replacement.. -

in an unusual move for me, i've kept the box, so it could conceivably go back..
#

thanks everyone!



Nick
 
Yep they are its a sad fact but the philips a bad implementation of an ALIS panel (hitachi) with a horrid user interface and poor perfromance "pixel plus" more like "Pants Pixels" Philips have never made a PDP the just rebrand or re engineer Hitachi or NEC panels some Samsungs too, and almost always make them worse. If you want something to produce a black level go back and ask for a panasonic
 
if your not happy with it i would return it as you might regret it few months down the line , it will be playing on you mind till your happy with the right plasma that suits your need
 
Not that Panasonic are entirely issue free of course, the well known purple artefacts don't affect every panel though, and otherwise even their PX range are pretty good. Obviously not up to the standard of Billy's Philips, but probably a whole lot better than the Philips you have. I hope your picture does not resemble that picture, Billy? That's pretty typical of the ones I've seen, and that's more than a few. BTW Nick, where do you keep the box, Philips 42" boxes are just a few scant inches smaller than the Pnasonic 65 box. Simply massive!
 
.. I keep the top large part folded flat, and the bottom rigid part i kleep all the polystyrene pieces and other bits in..
i've only had the panel since last tuesday, but day's passage into night has occured every afternoon since, and when the lights go out, the panel's flaws always jar me out of whatever I'm watching/playing...

lol - I keep saying that it's a good panel, and I'll get over it, but as soon as I approach that happy place, it cracks me over the head with it's shoddy bitdepth..



don't think i'm gonna get over it..




Nick
 
In my experience, a lot of the problems on Philips plasmas are down to the truley awful noise reduction that they inflict. There is no getting around the fact that these panels just simply dissapoint.

Sorry Philips owners...

Neil
 
Judeging from your picture, that panel is absolutely awful :thumbsdow

In your position, I'd go along and have a chat with the manager at Richer Sounds. Tell him or her that you're very disappointed in what they've supplied you with and ask if they'll exchange it for something else - perhaps a Panasonic or an LG.

In the very unlikely event that the manager won't oblige you, you could write directly to Julian Richer via their website.

David :)
 
Hi David, -

That picture was taken this morning with a dependable camera... lol - it's just really poor image quality.. I'll take another shot right now.. I have Ridge Racer on the X360 running now.. and on the sunset ltracks, the image reproduction is "less than idea", shall we say..

I managed to catch some random shots from the Channels now too..
admitedly, these are the pick of the poor.. Torchwood on HD looks lovely, and anything else that is on average brighter than it is dark, looks as you'd expect from SD broadcasts.

These are all taken with the same camera, on the same brightness/contrast/color setting.. - no NR, Contrast+ can't be turned off (!?) and shapness is up.. - sharpness actually helps here.. grainy grey looks a tad better than blobby smooth grey..

...less than ideal..
 

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definitely take it back! Sounds like they are trying to shift a poor panel. Won't they swap it for a Panasonic or Pioneer panel? Even if you had to pay more it would be worth it!
 
now.. - this is the thing..

I called Richers and they kindly agreed to a return, that'll probably be today.

I was originally going to go for the PX60 - simply because the userbase is so large, I could find info on most of the issues..

but on Richer's plasma page, there are a few models I could conceivably pick from.. the philips cost them £1100,

http://www.richersounds.com/productlist.php?cda=productlist&sgroup=PLASMA&sort=price

I could pay a couple of hundred towards a higher-tier model..


what d'you guys think?




Nick
 
now.. - this is the thing..

I called Richers and they kindly agreed to a return, that'll probably be today.

I was originally going to go for the PX60 - simply because the userbase is so large, I could find info on most of the issues..

but on Richer's plasma page, there are a few models I could conceivably pick from.. the philips cost them £1100,

http://www.richersounds.com/productlist.php?cda=productlist&sgroup=PLASMA&sort=price

I could pay a couple of hundred towards a higher-tier model..


what d'you guys think?




Nick


Just have a quick read of the posts on here..You cant go wrong with a panasonic. Dont buy anything philips,lg,samsung or hitachi! Simple really.
 

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