back to article Philips 46PFL9705H Ambilight 46in LED 3D TV

The latest Philips Ambilight TV features the same neat, curved-edged styling as the 32in 32PFL9705 set Reg Hardware reviewed in September 2010. Although a lot of the features are the same, this one has that new feature du jour, 3D. It's considerably bigger, too, but like the 32-incher, the slim bezel means it’s nearly all …

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  1. John Sager
    Thumb Down

    "But if only Philips had included a Freeview HD tuner"

    That kills it stone dead right there for a lot of people - especially at £2100 a pop. There is some controversy about picture quality on Freeview HD, but it's going to look a lot better than SD on a TV this size, so the omission seems perverse. However, when did Philips behave any differently?

  2. Matt Bucknall

    To pairs of active 3D specs are included?

    'To'?

  3. Robert E A Harvey

    ye glods

    You can go to the theatre a fair few time for that much cash. And not have to knock through to the kitchen to fit anything on the wall.

  4. K

    RE: But if only Philips had included a Freeview HD tune

    Thats NOT a big problem, if somebody is spending £2100 on a TV, then they're definitely NOT buying it to watch freeview!

    Saying that, this TV is massively overpriced, I bought the 47" previous model to this a few months ago and it only cost £800.

  5. Mike Bell
    Thumb Down

    Ambilight

    That's a distraction I could do without. The only way that could irritate me more is if it came with a pair of curtains and a cross-dressing ice-cream attendant shouting "Albatross!".

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    no freeviewHD and no composite in?

    on a TV set thats asking for over 2k of my cash?

    sorry, a HD set sold after 2010 really should have a freeviewHD tuner built in if its a freeview set

    (and it its not, then its a freesat set and should have freesatHD). actually, for this price

    I'd want a TV that could do both!

    no composite in? at this price thats shocking. granted, they probably expect people

    at this end of the range to be using a decent HD AV Amp for their setup...in which case,

    why so many HDMI inputs etc? sorry, dont know what their market research came ack with or who their target audience is supposed to be... but I'm out.

  7. BristolBachelor Gold badge
    Coat

    LED TV ??

    I saw the headline and thought great, a nice TV like the 10" Sony LED one, but big enough to watch.

    So this is an LED TV, like my Sony LCD TV is a Plasma TV because the light at the back comes from a gas plasma tube?

    What will the marketers do when actual, real LED TVs become mainstream? Advertise them as REAL LED (not fake LED like we were selling last year)?

    1. Ian Yates

      L[EC]D

      I agree, it's a confusion of terminology, in the same way that current "3D" and "HD" are (what happens when we get 'real' 3D* and resolutions over 1080p?).

      I guess the issue is calling them "LED-lit LCD" isn't so catchy. Consumers like to shorten things down ("I have a plasma TV. No, I don't have a clue what that means, but the guy at the shop told me it was better").

      * "4D" is taken, so will it be "5D"? *shudders*

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Just Wrong!

    "There’s no doubt that local dimming is the way forward for crisp, dynamic images and is increasingly the feature to look for when buying a gogglebox."

    NO NO NO... OLED is the way forward for crisp dynamic images... lets cut the LCD + backlight crap altogether. Individual illuminating pixels is the best solution, and the only way to get close to CRT quality.

  9. The Truth might set you free
    FAIL

    THe Panasonic 50 inch spanks it

    46 inch for £2100 ?

    Or the frankly jaw droppingly lovely Panasonic 50" 3D plasma for £1700... Let me think about that one for a while....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      Bigger Picture

      Plasma or LCD? I know which is worth the premium, its the one that doesn't need its own spur from the fusebox. and wont melt your house in summer.

  10. Stuart Halliday
    Thumb Up

    Big Con

    I'm surprised that manufacturers are still trying to con us by providing a standard resolution Freeview board in these high-end TVs.

    We do know the difference Philips!

    I'd never buy a HD TV with SD Freeview.

  11. Trollslayer
    Flame

    Nope

    I can get a Panasonic 46VT20 plasma for less and it has a better picture + Freeview HD + Freesat.

    Actually I can get a 50VT20 for that price.

  12. handle

    Not an LED TV

    I know it's got more intelligence in its backlighting than a simple LED-backlit TV but this is still an LCD TV - please be careful with your headline description.

    By the way, with a Wii it's well worth investing in a pattern component lead - you really need to clean your glasses if you are happy with composite.

  13. Shane Sturrock
    FAIL

    3D TV doesn't work

    I've tested a few sets in stores and the elephant in the room that no one seems willing to admit to is that there is a very small sweet spot for 3D TV. For a screen this size, you need to sit around 2m away from it - no more and no less. Sit too far away and your brain interprets scale incorrectly. I watched a demo of some stage dancers on a 46" Samsung set and when you were 2m from the screen the effect was very good but as you pulled back to normal domestic viewing distances, the performers appeared to shrink in stature so the looked like puppets.

    The reason 3D in a cinema works at all is because the screen is so large but even in the cinema if you sit too close or too far away the effect is ghastly and gives you a terrible headache. I saw Up in 3D and sat dead centre in the cinema and the effec was very convincing, but for Avatar I was stuck up close and left of the screen and it drove me nuts and ruined the film. Watching it at home on my 100" HD projector from BD is a much better experience. 3D? No thanks, I'll pass.

  14. Tom_

    Ambicrap

    I don't get the Ambilight feature on tese TVs. When people create dedicated home cinema setups, they do everything they can to avoid light leakage from the screen to the walls. It's why people paint a room black and use screen paint for the are they're projecting onto.

    If the director of a film tought it would look better with a large, varying coloured border around it, they'd film it that way.

  15. jason 7
    Stop

    £2100 for something that will pack up after 3 years?

    No thanks.

    Modern TVs are such a rip-off and have "landfill ho!" written all over them.

    I hope the EU bring in compulsory 5 year warranties soon.

    1. handle

      Warranties don't work if prices are continually falling

      ...as they will continue to do for electronic devices as as the technology advances. By the time five years is up, your gizmo will be so horrendously out of date and worthless that it will be pointless to make a warranty claim. Besides which, you can bet that manufacturers will make is as hard as possible to claim successfully, putting off all but the most dedicated.

  16. Steve 13
    Thumb Down

    ambilight

    I've had a look at this at somewhere like richer sounds (where the TV was set up like you might have it at home) and it's actually very effective.

    I'd have one, but philips price their TV's like they're made of gold, ambilight is good, but it's not worth an extra 50% on top of the price of an equivalent Samsung (which is what I got instead).

    Wii should definitely be connected through component, not composite, it's not HD, but it's better than the composite connection.

  17. DRendar
    Joke

    Composite not an issue

    OMG! I would have to go out and pay 90p for a SCART -> RCA connector.

    THOSE BASTARDS!

    How dare they remove an outdated connection type, even if the picture quality it produces is complete shite, and every device that uses it that was ever shipped in this country comes with a SCART adapter.

    They should knock at least £500 off the cost of the unit!

  18. Ball boy Silver badge

    Sum up?

    So, it's broadly the same as the box reviewed in September but bigger. The sound's not outstandingly good - but if you're able to afford 2100 on a display unit, you're more than likely to have a dedicated system for sound anyway. The main difference is the inclusion of 3D tech. but that's not widely supported now, nor will it be for the next three or four years (again, if you're prepared to shell out 2k for this feature now, you'll be back for a 3D 2.0 setup in three years' time regardless).

    So, who's this device aimed at? If they're AV buffs, they'll want 'box that's pure 'V', leaving all the 'A' to other kit. If the intended market is the general buying public then it's overpriced. Perhaps the target buyer is anyone with a very high disposable income? If so, these are (generally) not that interested in knowing if this is technically any good - so I'd question if Reg. is the right place for a review: 'Surrey's Banker Belt Digest' would be a better bet....

    Just saying. Mind you, it does look nice. For the money, I'd expect to be able to change the bezel to blend it better with my decor, especially if it has the Ambipure or whatever it's called that lights up the walls ;-)

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