Product Description

Philips 42PFL7403D 42-inch 1080p LCD HDTV with 4 HDMI inputs, combines a full HD display, a powerful Perfect Pixel HD engine, HD Natural Motion and incredible, invisible sound. With EasyLink, only one remote control is needed to operate main functionalities on this TV and connected devices. Experience briliant performance for years to come.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43167 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Philips
• Model: 42PFL7403D/F7
• Dimensions: 28.20" h x 41.20" w x 10.32" l, 60.32 pounds
• Display size: 42

Features

• Full HD 42-inch LCD with 1920 x 1080 resolution
• ATSC and QAM tuner receives over the air and unscrambled cable
• HD Natural Motion for ultra smooth motion in Full HD movies
• 30 Watts with BBE for powerful sound and great voice clarity
• 4 HDMI inputs for full digital HD connection in one cable

From the Manufacturer
Experience brilliant performance with a breathtaking full HD 1080p, 120Hz display. Combined with a powerful Perfect Pixel HD engine, HD Natural Motion and exciting invisible sound, this Flat TV ensures you’re always part of the action.

Picture

Perfect Pixel HD Engine for unrivalled sharpness and clarity

Perfect Pixel HD Engine offers the unique combination of ultimate sharpness, natural detail, vivid colors and smooth natural motion on all qualities of HD, standard TV signals and multimedia content, for high definition displays. Each pixel of the incoming picture is enhanced to better match the surrounding pixels, resulting in a more natural picture. Artifacts and noise in all sources from multimedia to standard TV and also in highly compressed HD content are detected and reduced ensuring that the picture is clean and razor sharp.

Full HD LCD display, with a 1920x1080p resolution

The Full HD screen has the widescreen resolution of 1920 x 1080p. This is the highest resolution of HD sources for the best possible picture quality. It is fully future proof as it supports 1080p signals from all sources, including the most recent like Blu-ray and advanced HD game consoles. The signal processing is extensively upgraded to support this much higher signal quality and resolution. It produces brilliant flicker-free progressive scan pictures with superb brightness and colors.

HD Natural Motion for ultra smooth motion in Full HD movies

Philips invented HD Natural Motion to eliminate juddering effects that are visible with movie based picture content. HD Natural Motion estimates motion in the picture and corrects juddering movements in both broadcast and recorded movie material (such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc). The resulting smooth motion reproduction and excellent sharpness take the viewing experience to a higher level. HD Natural Motion removes judder from SD and HD pictures, including 1080p, for a motion performance that surpasses the cinema!

120Hz Clear LCD, 2ms performance for superb motion sharpness

120Hz Clear LCD creates extreme motion sharpness for clear and vibrant images even with fast on-screen motion. The Double Frame Rate Insertion works with a high 120Hz refresh rate. It increases the sharpness of motion reproduction to more than twice that of conventional LCD, resulting in a response time of 2 milliseconds (measured in Perceived Blur-Edge-Width; BEW). This unique Philips technology brings motion sharpness of LCD displays to an unprecedented level.

Sound

Invisible speakers with incredible surround
An invisible sound system that blends perfectly with the design of the cabinet. The Incredible Surround allows you to experience total surround with greater depth and width of sound. It gives a clear and spacious sound stage complementary to the rich viewing experience.

30 watt with BBE for powerful sound and great voice clarity
BBE high definition sound is the core sound enhancement technology (licensed by BBE Sound) that will enable you to experience real natural music, speech intelligibility with rich and clear audible vocals.

Dolby Digital output for connection to a home theatre syst
Dolby Digital output for connection to a home theatre system.

Connectivity

4 HDMI inputs for full digital HD connection in one cable

HDMI makes an uncompressed digital RGB connection from the source to the screen for the ultimate picture quality. HDMI intelligently communicates the highest output resolution with the source device. The HDMI input is fully backward compatible with DVI sources and includes digital audio. HDMI uses HDCP copy protection. With 3 HDMI inputs on the back and 1 HDMI on the side of the TV you can connect multiple HD sources, for instance an HD settop box, a Blu-ray player, and game console or digital Camcorder. Your TV is fully prepared for the HD future.

Settings assistant for effortless personalized TV settings

Settings assistant for effortless personalized TV settings. The new settings assistant personalisation wizard guides you to personalised settings with unparalleled ease. It includes not only picture, but the complete viewing experience, including sound and Ambilight settings. The wizard shows a few screens with easy to choose options to select the essential settings. The TV performance is set to the your personal preference without difficult terms or settings, and this very quickly.

Ready for digital

ATSC & QAM tuner receives over the air and unscrambled cable
Built-in ATSC & QAM tuner for reception of over-the-air and unscrambled HD cable programs

Technical Specifications

Picture/Display
Aspect ratio	Widescreen
Brightness	500 cd/m²
Dynamic screen contrast	29000:1
Response time (typical)	2 ms
Viewing angle	178º (H) / 178º (V)
Diagonal screen size (inch)	42 inch
Diagonal screen size (metric)	107 cm
Visible screen diagonal (inch)	42.02 inch
Panel resolution	1920x1080p
Picture enhancement	Pixel Plus 3 HD, 3/2 - 2/2 motion pull down, 3D Combfilter, Active Control + Light sensor, Dynamic contrast enhancement, Progressive Scan, 120Hz LCD, HD Natural Motion
Supported Display Resolution
Computer formats	640 x 480, 60Hz, 800 x 600, 60Hz, 1024 x 768, 60Hz, 1280 x 768, 60Hz, 1280 x 1024, 60Hz, 1360 x 768, 60Hz, 1920 x 1080i, 60Hz, 1920 x 1080p, 60Hz
Video formats	480i, 60Hz, 480p, 60Hz, 720p, 60Hz, 1080i, 60Hz, 1080p, 60Hz
Sound
Equalizer	5-bands
Output power (RMS)	30W
Sound Enhancement	Incredible Surround
Sound System	Dolby Digital (AC-3), BBE
Loudspeakers
Built-in speakers	4
Convenience
Child Protection	Child Lock+Parental Control
Clock	On main display, Sleep Timer
Ease of Installation	Autostore
Ease of Use	4 favorite lists, Auto Volume Leveller (AVL), Channel list, Settings assistant Wizard
Remote Control	TV
Screen Format Adjustments	4:3, Auto Format, Movie expand 14:9, Movie expand 16:9, Super Zoom, Widescreen, unscaled (1080p dot by dot)
Multimedia Applications
Multimedia connections	USB memory class device
Playback Formats	MP3, Slideshow files (.alb), JPEG Still pictures
Tuner/Reception/Transmission
Aerial Input	75 ohm F-type
TV system	ATSC, NTSC
Video Playback	NTSC
Cable	Unscrambled Digital Cable -QAM
Tuner bands	Hyperband, S-Channel, UHF, VHF
Connectivity
AV 1	Audio L/R in, YPbPr
AV 2	Audio L/R in, YPbPr
AV 3	CVBS in, S-Video in
HDMI 1	HDMI v1.3
HDMI 2	HDMI v1.3
HDMI 3	Analog audio L/R in, HDMI v1.3
EasyLink (HDMI-CEC)	One touch play, Power status, System info (menu language), System standby
Front / Side connections	HDMI v1.3, S-video in, CVBS in, Audio L/R in, Headphone out, USB
Audio Output - Digital	Coaxial (cinch)
Power
Ambient temperature	5 °C to 40 °C
Mains power	110-240V, 50-60Hz
Power consumption	270 W
Standby power consumption	< 1 W
Dimensions
Set Width (inch)	41.19 inch
Set Height (inch)	25.39 inch
Set Depth (inch)	3.48 inch
Set width (with stand) (inch)	41.19 inch
Set height (with stand) (inch)	28.19 inch
Set depth (with stand) (inch)	10.31 inch
Weight incl. Packaging (lb)	68.34
Product weight (lb)	56.22 (with stand), 44.09 (without stand)
Box width (inch)	45.31 inch
Box height (inch)	31.22 inch
Box depth (inch)	13.11 inch
VESA wall mount compatible	400 x 400 mm
Accessories
Included Accessories	Tabletop swivel stand, Power cord, Quick start guide, User Manual, Registration card, Remote Control

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Customer Reviews

Excellent picture & styling...
After a good deal of online research and close looks at competing HDTV models, I concluded that the 42PFL7403D compares favorably to competing models costing 50-75% more and purchased one.

The Philips 42PFL7403D/F7 gets 5 stars because the picture is truly superb. When up-close and viewing Blu-ray content at 1080p/24, the picture on this 120Hz LCD is about as good as HDTV gets at any price range.

Furthermore, when viewing standard (480i/p) TV sources, this set's video processing engine does a respectable job of smoothly interpolating the standard 480 lines of source to fill the 1080 lines of HD picture screen (for those who don't realize it, this takes some serious mathematics and processing power to cleanly scale the viewing area of a video stream by 500% :-). Since most 1080p HDTVs do a respectable job of simply displaying a clean 1080i/p signal as seen in electronics stores, I view this capability as a key differentiator between high-end and low-end HDTVs (although perhaps of diminishing value as HD broadcasts are becoming the norm). In fact, the upsampled 480p picture on this set is comparable if not superior to the picture on my old trusty 32" Sony Trinitron XBR tube TV.

Other positives for me include the 42PFL7403's construction, styling, and audio. The clear Plexiglas around the perimeter directs rather substantial sound to the front to complement two rear-facing woofers. Thus, the 42PFL7403's 30W audio, when properly-adjusted, should be strong and clear enough to satisfy those who haven't decked out their viewing area with a home theater setup and positioned speakers all about the place...

In the US we don't often see Philips' better HDTVs next to the more expensive Sonys, Samsungs and Panasonics outside of Costco or Sam's Club. This "7000 series" model is Philips' top-of-the-line 42-inch TV sans their "Ambilight" feature (I couldn't find a 42PFL7603D in the US other than direct from Philips).

Summary: an excellent TV with top picture quality and styling at a surprisingly good price point.

The remainder of this review gets still more geeky and also lists some gripes about the 42PFL7403D/F7 for those who care...

First, this class of larger 1080p TVs make the quality - or lack of quality - of digital content very clear to the viewer. It's important to know whether you're judging the quality of the HDTV set or the content being viewed. I've read many user reviews of HDTVs that slam the subject HDTV for what amounts to poor-quality content - their "older conventional TV looked better". These claims aren't surprising, because their old sets didn't magnify content encoding flaws by spreading them over five times the original viewing area. The old adage of GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) certainly applies to modern home entertainment.

I get DirecTV and have their HD DVR (HR22-700) plugged into the Philips 42PFL7403D via HDMI. Like all digital satellite and cable providers, DirecTV compresses the digital signals they deliver to conserve bandwidth. The results of their overly-aggressive compression are clearly visible up close, but the Philips' "digital noise reduction" function appears to do a pretty good job of compensating at all resolutions - things really look pretty good from a comfortable viewing distance.

I do have a few arguably minor gripes about the 42PFL7403...

Gripe one: I currently use only two HDMI inputs to the TV, but there is no way to remove the numerous unused inputs from the rotation of a remote control. So, my DirecTV remote has a "TV Input" button that normally selects the next TV input in a rotation. The first press of this button pops up the Philips TV's list of all 10 inputs, while subsequent presses selects the next input. Unfortunately, the TV takes time with each press to switch to the temporarily-selected input and conclude that there's no signal coming in... With the TV's own remote, one can use the up/down arrows before selecting the desired input. The DirecTV remote can control the TV pretty well, but it's a pain to switch it into full TV mode to change sources, then switch back to controlling the DVR...

Gripe two: The standard setting options like "Movie", "Sports" etc, combine BOTH picture and audio settings, so the relative volume and audio processing emphasis is quite different in each mode. The set maintains a single "personal" settings memory that one can switch back to, but only if there's been no attempt to modify the audio or video settings in "Sports" or "Movie" or whatever... Any such mode modification immediately becomes your new "Personal" settings config. That said, after growing bored with trying out these options, one can certainly adjust the audio to sound good and stay that way. Of course, those with a home theater receiver for audio control won't notice...

Overall, so-far-so good. I cheerfully recommend this TV to my friends.

I own it. It is awesome!
Excellent TV. Very nice HD images. I've viewed HD DVD on this TV via X-Box 360 and it is stunning. I found no need to turn the Natural Motion on for this as the image was so very nice.

As for gaming: this TV is excellent. Presents a wonderful image that appears clean and free of artifacts (this using an earlier model X-Box 360 operating at 1080i output [later models can handle a true 1080p, and then of course there is the PS3 which is 1080p all the time]).

Do you need 1080p? Most people don't as most people do not have a Blu-Ray player or a Play Station 3 (which are currently the only things that output a 1080p signal). If you plan to use your TV as a computer monitor, then 1080p is what you want as all newer computers can output at 1080p. Keep in mind that cable and over the air broadcasts at 720p or 1080i maximum because they compress a signal to save bandwidth. So you're not going to get a 1080p signal from just anywhere (at least not right now). A 1080p image on a TV of this size is probably not going to make much of a difference anyway (unless you're running your computer on this, and even then it's more so going to be a matter of scaling the image cleanly). It's not really until you get into the 50" and above area that 1080p becomes truly appreciable. In any event, this is a 1080p TV and it is a nice one that boasts an incredible refresh rate of 2ms. Anything under 6ms refresh is considered good. 4ms is very good. 2ms is incredible.

The Natural Motion does indeed give films shown on television the appearance of video, so it is something to either get used to or simply turn off (turning it off works just fine). I prefer the movie look myself, but the power of the Natural Motion is quite impressive in its ability to dejudder a moving image so quickly. There's a fast set of innards in this TV!

There are a number of contrast and color temp settings to play with to get images to your liking. There are several forums around the Internet that can suggest some settings for this TV. So if you're at a loss as to what to go with, do some surfing and see what others recommend.

You can easily update firmware on this TV via the USB port with a simple jump drive. This is a nice feature in the event there are manufacturer feature updates or if you encounter any buggy behavior (as some of the first batches of 2008 [which I believe were actually the model: PFL7403D-27] encountered things like the TV turning itself off or on, or picture auto-resizing). I've encountered no problems after a few days of near non-stop use, but will eventually check to see that the firmware is up to date for the heck of it.

You really cannot beat this TV for price and I'd dare say the quality as well. This is a 120hz television and is the top of the line for Philips and I think stands up well against the competition. They did a great job on this TV. It is tragic that we are seeing less of a Philips presence in stores here in the US. The Samsung's and the Sony's of the world are nice, but they do tend to cost more. Picture-wise, I'm very impressed with the Philips and am not sorry I did not go with a slightly smaller 40" bigger named brand.

While I did not purchase my 7403 from Amazon, I have found that Amazon has a better price on this set than most others (though there really aren't very many places selling this in the US). Costco gives an automatic 2 year extended manufacturer's warranty which is free and the return policy is amazing if you happen to have a Costco in your neck of the woods. That's hard to pass up, especially when dealing with electronics of this size that are not returnable in most online instances. A brick and mortar store is always nice to have for returns if you need it. That being said, you'll probably only find two other places online that can beat the Amazon price, and those are membership only big box places (Sam's Club and Costco).

I've seen some grumblings on some other TV purchases when they were serviced by an Amazon third party seller. I have, however, heard great things about Amazon's White Glove service. Amazon really can't be beat in the free shipping service they offer and I've usually chosen to purchase directly from Amazon even if it did cost a few dollars over an Amazon seller. I have long trusted Amazon to give a great price and will continue to look to them for incredible deals like this one.

Best advice: If you're shopping for a TV, then do some research. There isn't much out there on the Philips 7403 as Philips has been lessening its presence in the US because it's such a tough market to compete in and the fact that Philips also manufactures the cheaper rebranded names specifically for the Best Buy's and Circuit City's out there (essentially the big box stores didn't want Philips pulling people away from their store brands [Insignia, Dynex, etc...], so it seems they wound up putting the squeeze on Philips which was one of the better quality televisions that were actually also affordable). Philips is still pretty much king of the television world in Europe. If you're comparing TV's, there are a number of choices on the level of this 42" 7403. Vizio is supposed to have an affordable new 120Hz 42" that is also supposed to be good. There are of course the 40" Samsungs and Sony's as well. Toshiba and Sharp and LG offer some 42" models that are supposed to be quite nice. Best thing to do is to see what others say about the TV as well as the professional reviewers out there. Look closely at the nuanced differences between model numbers from a manufacturer. Often times a company will have two models that appear to be the same, but may have slightly different components or some different feature that may appeal to you (and often times one of the models may simply be an older model, but with no discernable differences). Seeing the TV in a store in person is recommended, but don't believe everything you see. In most cases a store will have several TV's running on the same signal. When it is split so many ways, the image will often lose integrity. I've seen some places with a standard DVD player hooked up to an HDTV. The image is never going to look as good as when you have a single dedicated HD source for each TV. So, ask them to hook up Blu-Ray players for each of the TV's you're looking at so you can see what the TV's are truly capable of handling. Also play with the remote and the TV's settings. Many places like to put a showroom TV's Dynamic Settings on because it makes the image brighter or more vibrant. Sometimes these automatic settings are not properly corrected for color saturation or contrast and you could be missing what the image is supposed to look like (or what it would look like if you were driving it). You'll get a better sense of the image and the bells and whistles when you can get control over the HD image. Also keep in mind that a 42" TV can look pretty small in a warehouse sized store compared to your home!

While the prices of TV's are coming down, they're still pretty much a big ticket purchase (especially at the bigger screened size). So get as much TV as you can for your dollar!

AppleTV and the Philips 42PFL7403D/F7 -Amazing
IF you value your productivity, do not purchase the Philips 42PFL7403D/F7 42 in LCD with an aPpleTV- the combination is like 'crack' for videophiles and will keep you glued to the set without recourse!

I bought this lovely Philips through tigerdirect.com, the EXACT company who you will buy this through via Amazon. I have dealt with them for years and their product values are solid. The Yellow truck shipping was $99, the nice manager (rare in urban areas) called to set up a delivery time convenient to me, and the nice driver (even better) helped me move the unit and unpack it properly.

OPEN YOUR BOX IMMEDIATELY upon receiving it before signing the slip. The driver noted a few big screen LCD's with gashes on the screen that could only be noted upon careful inspection. Pluggin the unit in isn't as important as you can deal with the company later (tigerdirect's phone support has been mediocre-average in my past experience).

The Philips 42 LCD with 120Hz refresh, HD at 1080p, and a 2mS (very fast) response time with 3 adjustable picture settings (color, contrast for dark vs. light blacktones, and sharpness) ROCKS. Very sharp, colors are warm without bleeding. Dynamic range is very good.

My upconverting toshiba xde dvd player produced wonderfully rendered imax movies (ie, galapagos) which made me sigh "aaaah" like the first time i turned on my larger LG 50 plasma.

Unlike the philips MRI units and computers i have worked with, The remote IS intuitive, color coded buttons appear on the screen matching the remote 'function key like' and my mom might even be able to operate this!

The sound is fine - the 'surround' option sort of works, and importantly does not distort sound like other surround receivers if there is not a 5:1 or 6:1 speaker arrangement. don't expect subwoofer lows, or wall shattering power output.

AppleTV has recently been upgrade with 720p HD content, the movie rentals last 30 days for $3, and the content is amazing between itunes / podcasts/ tv episodes (notably the movie selection remains subpar for purchase titles).

AppleTV did produce a few odd loud "clicks" on the LCD when the hdmi input was selected from another...can't figure out why, but only happened 2-3 times. Oh, and you would be crazy to not use HDMI - just buy cheap cables on amazon.