Philips 42PF9831D Reviews: 42" Screen LCD HD Ready TV

16 Real Customer Reviews - In Summary

+ This television scores high on image quality. - It has no outstanding negative points. “Vibrant colours, truly breathtaking picture quality. after connecting the high…” Graeme, Edinburgh View all 16 real customer reviews

Product Details

2 HDMI ports, 2 Scarts More »

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Real customer reviews

16 verified purchasers have reviewed this product.
86% of people recommend it.

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All purchasers (16)

Design	9.1
Ease of use	9.1
Image quality	9.5
Sound quality	8.7
Value for money (at time of purchase)	8.3
Overall rating	9.3

*not all purchasers provided a score or review

Graeme, Edinburgh

Score 10.0/10

+ Vibrant colours, truly breathtaking picture quality. After connecting the high def cable, the pictures are quite simply phenomenal

- The remote interacted with my separate digi box, changing it's channel when I was simply going into a menu option or changing the volumne on the tv. not a major thing - simply changed my digi box to a different model and the problem was solved.

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73 of 73 people found this review helpful

purchased 23 Jul 2006

Anonymous verified purchaser

Score 9.0/10

+ One of the best LCD television you can purchase at the time of writing. Images and ambilight are stunning.

- Relatively expensive.

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32 of 32 people found this review helpful

purchased 30 Jul 2006

David, Cardiff

Score 10.0/10

+ Digital Picture and sound are excellent. Cannot wait until high definition is available.

- Reviewer left no comment

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26 of 26 people found this review helpful

purchased 13 Jul 2006

Ian, Kendal

Score 9.0/10

+ Picture quality. Features. Build quality. Connectivity. Ambilight Full Surround.

- Wide border around the screen.

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19 of 19 people found this review helpful

purchased 07 Dec 2006

terry, verwood

Score 9.0/10

+ best lcd picture available

- back board for the ambilight makes it a very large tv for a 42" screen

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12 of 12 people found this review helpful

purchased 05 Apr 2007

Ross, Swindon

Score 9.0/10

+ Fantastic HD picture, and the ambilight really does enhance the image

- not 1080p

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6 of 6 people found this review helpful

purchased 27 Mar 2007

Jim, Argyll

Score 9.0/10

+ plenty of connections.sound is great.

- dissappointed that the EPG did not allow channel viewing while browsing what other programmes to watch.

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 03 May 2007

donna, south london

Score 10.0/10

+ hd ready with source, stunning picture and design

- what happens if amberlight bulb blows,you cannot fix youself

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 06 Jul 2007

Kal, Birmingham

Score 9.0/10

+ Good Build Quality, Fantastic Picture - I love HD, Brilliant Sound, Amazing cinematic experience with the Home Theatre System, Ambilight is unique in itself

- Pricey but you get what you pay for. Would have prefered a better wall mounting system.

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful

purchased 25 Jun 2007

tony, northants

Score 8.0/10

+ conectivity is very good with 2 hdmi, svga and ethernet straight to your router.
very good sound never have it over 20 on the volume.
picture is good even through scart on sky +
ambylight is good on viewing though have to get used to it

- very big tv didnt fit in the place i intended it to
also to heavy for wall mount
to many settings to turn on and off which means to many variations
the motion detector setting makes films look like there on a budget

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 09 Jul 2007

KEN, STOCKPORT

Score 10.0/10

+ 42" GIVES A NEW MEANING TO WATCHING TELEVISON AND OUR DVD'S

- 37" AMBLIGHT NOT AS GOOD AS THE 42"

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purchased 16 Jul 2007

Anonymous verified purchaser

Score 10.0/10

+ Outstanding HD Picture for Games. Slight Smear on fast moving Digital Broadcasts

- None worth mentioning

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purchased 14 Aug 2007

Andrew, Chelmsford

Score 9.0/10

+ Excellent non HD picture in normal use

- Can't think of any

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purchased 13 Jun 2007

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Expert reviews for Philips 42PF9831D

TechRadar expert review

Once in a while a flat-panel set comes along that defies the laws of TV design, boasting an appearance so original and extravagant that it makes grown men drop to their knees and cry. Philips' 42PF9831D is one such TV. To start it comes with Ambilight Surround, the latest version of the company's acclaimed system which casts coloured light around all four sides of the TV. Despite Philips' claims about its picture quality benefits and how it creates a more relaxing viewing experience, there's only one reason why people love Ambilight - because it looks damn cool. To make the most of…

This Philips 42PF9831D review continued on TechRadar

reviewed 19 Apr 2007

Product Features

Screen Size in Inches	42
Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner.
Type of Screen	LCD
Most small flatscreen TVs have LCD screens. Some larger TVs have plasma screens. Some very new TVs have LED screens. Traditional TVs are called Standard or CRT.
HD TV	HD Ready
‘HD Ready’ is a Europe-wide standard designed to made HD technology less confusing. HD Ready TVs must have • Minimum vertical resolution of 750 pixels (in widescreen format) • Ability to display 720p and 1080i formats • An HDMI or Digital Video Interface (DVI interface) Full HD is a higher standard. Full HD TVs have screen resolutions of 1080p and can output at least 24 frames per second. Full HD is becoming common, but you won’t see Full HD on normal TV channels for a long time, so it remains optional for many people.
Built-in Disc Player	No
Some products come with built-in DVD players or Blu Ray players.
HDMI Interface	2
Like a scart interface but capable of carrying HD signals from or to other devices. You’ll need these to link your Playstation 3 or your Blu-ray player to your HD-ready TV.
Number of Scart Interfaces	2
Scart sockets are places where you can connect other devices to your TV. If you already have a DVD player, a VCR and a Playstation you might want to make sure your new TV has enough Scart interfaces so you don’t have to keep crawling round the back of the TV.
Frequency (Hz)	50
A TV’s frequency is how often the picture is updated per second, and is measured in Hertz (Hz). A higher frequency, such as 100 Hz, means that a TV is more likely to show fast-moving images with high detail.
Contrast Ratio (X:1)	4000
This figure is designed to tell you how much difference there is between dark and light colours on the TV. It is quoted as a ratio, between the brightest white and the darkest black. 500:1 means the brightest white is 500 times more bright than the darkest black. Plasma screens have historically boasted better contrast ratios than LCD screens.
Screen Resolution (pixels)	768i
The number of pixels the screen has. The more you have, the more detail the screen can display, given a high quality source. A breakdown of resolutions can be found on Wikipedia here
Response Time in ms	3
Reflection Angle	176
Also known as the viewing angle, it’s a measure of how good the picture looks when you are not face on to the screen. Higher is better.
Screen Format	16:9
This is a ratio of the horizontal to the vertical size of the screen. 16:9 is standard widescreen format for TVs, replacing the older 4:3 format.
Brightness in Candela per square metre	550
Brighter TVs, such as LCDs, tend to provide a better experience in lighter rooms, whereas TVs with a lower brightness, such as many plasma TVs, are often better suited to darker rooms.
PC Interface	Yes
If you’d like to use your TV as a PC monitor you’ll need to make sure it has a port to allow you to connect it. This is usually a VGA port, but some TVs include a newer DVI port. Adaptors are availible to allow VGA to DVI and vice versa.
USB Port	Yes
Socket for connecting devices such as a computers and other components
Electronic Program Guide (EPG)	Yes
TVs with this feature have an on-screen guide to all the programmes that are currently showing or coming up, so you can find your way around all the extra digital channels easily.
Picture in Picture (PIP)	2 Tuner PIP
TVs with this feature are able to display a preview of another channel while you are watching your current channel.
Energy Savings Trust Feature	Yes
A Yes means this this product has been rated as being energy-efficient by the Energy Savings Trust. Good for the environment and good for your electricity bill!
Weight (kg)	38

Freeview	Yes
Freeview is free digital terrestrial TV. Many newer TVs have Freeview built in. For other TVs you will need a separate Freeview set-top box.
FreeSat Tuner	No
FreeSat is a free digital satellite TV service. The main benefit is that you can get HD programming from people like the BBC without having to pay for a subscription to a service like Sky. You’ll need a dish to recieve the signals though.