Superb value LCD television, the Philips 17PF9946 (Philips 17PF9946)

Member Name: bowdeni

Product:	Philips 17PF9946
Date:	02/04/05 (1039 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good picture quality, good looks, easy to set up

Disadvantages: lacks integrated freeview, picture could be better, not NDTV ready

I chose this television in November 2004 as my 18th birthday present. It has now been around 3 or 4 months now and I have had no technical problems. I must note that prior to buying this television, s. I did look at a lot of LCD televisions, so my compliments and criticisms of this television are both on its own merit and relative to competitor product

Included in the box is the television itself, the stand to place it on a cabinet, the remote and instructures, along with all the wires required.

First impressions out of the box are good, with packaging thorough and well designed. Set up of the television is easy, however I felt that there was a lack of manuals enclosed, and more detail could have been submitted.

The main two features that I was looking for when buying a LCD television was the picture quality and sound quality. I feel the 17PF9946 perfoms very well in these two catagories. Picture quality , while not as good as conventional CRT, is very good. I was very impressed with the picture quality of the 17PF9946 and still am. There is pixellation usually but from a good distance back, it is not noticable. The colours of the television are natural and I have experienced no ghost images to date. Some competiting products have very poor picture.

The other feature that helped me choose to buy this product was the sound quality. With the television build naturally being flat, sound with LCD televisions can be light, lacking bass. The sound quality of the 17PF9946 is good for a television, but I still perfer to connect it to my hifi for top range audio. For use in a bedroom, or small living room, the audio is very acceptable. The other factor to be discussed regarding the audio performance of the 17PF9946 is how loud it can go. Some televisions lose clarity when going loud, and become unpleasurable to listen to, in my opinion the 17PF9946 performs very well loud.

Connection to other products to the 17PF9946 is excellant. It features "S-video" which allows connection to dvd players, game consoles, video recorders, and video camcorders. The television also features two scarts which allow better performance to the same products already discussed. A very useful connection of the 17PF9946 is that it has an input for use with the computer. This simply means that you can connect any computer and use the 17PF9946 as a monitor. While I have not done this myself, the resolution would be high, and i presume general performance high. The television also features audio out, for connection to hifis.

Finally, the general build of the television is excellant. The remote is possibly my favourite aspect of the television because it is so different to normal television remotes. The 17PF9946 remote is VERY slim, using I believe watch batteries. The middle of the remote is see through and very attractive. In fact, the whole presentation of the product is very attractive. The television is very aethestically pleasing.

In conclusion, I would most definatly recommend the 17PF9946. Picture quality is excellant compared to rival products, including the Toshiba and Sony. Sound and product design is impressive too. I bought this television for just £427, offering fantastic value too. Definatly look into buying this product.

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