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Philips 36PW9527 television
You asked for it... NZ's first Pixel Plus review
By Michael Jones
November 2002
Philips 36PW9527 television. $7499
In the sixteen year history of AudioEnz, no product has garnered more requests from readers for a review than the new Pixel Plus TVs from Philips. Always willing to have our editorial arms twisted by readers, AudioEnz contacted Philips. And here you have it: New Zealand’s first review of a Pixel Plus TV.
Philips have been one of the major driving forces behind widescreen TVs here in New Zealand, with their 32” and 36” TVs being good sellers (the 36” was previously reviewed by AudioEnz). The new Pixel Plus range has two widescreen TVs (36” and 32”) along with a conventional 4:3 29” TV.
There’s one big change in connections between old and new. The older 36” TV was European sourced, and so had scart connections. The Pixel Plus 36” is an Asia-Pacific model. This means that on the back are RCA connections for component video. This means that the 36” Philips will match in better with the majority of DVD players available. (The 32” widescreen still has scart inputs).
S-video and composite connection are available, along with an RGB input via a DB15 connector. This is used overseas for some digital reception devices. No word yet as to whether the RGB (via scart) output of our digital Sky boxes can be routed through this connector for optimum picture quality
I won’t go into too much into the details about Pixel Plus. Philips have a web site dedicated to Pixel Plus which can be accessed here.
Pixels
The default (out of the box) settings looked pretty good, except for sharpness
of course, which is always up too high, and brightness, which in this
case was a little low. Despite what you may expect from the name, brightness
affects the darker areas. Turning up the brightness control helped bring
out that shadow detail (a good subjective test is the forest scene in
Gladiator) without losing quality in the rest of the picture.
Both the geometry and convergence of the Philips was very good for a
widescreen TV. What geometrical distortion that was viewable was confined
to the left and right, with only a minor convergence problem noted at
top right.
But other than using test patterns, what did the TV look like on conventional material such as DVD and TV broadcasts? My TV reception isn’t the world’s best and, like the previous Philips 36” TV reviewed by AudioEnz, the picture was noticeably worse (grainier and more snow) than I’m used to from my Loewe Acarda or my previous Sony. I suspect that Philips’ digital processing doesn’t react well to less than optimum pictures.
On DVD is was a different and much better story. Philips claim that Pixel Plus results in much more detail on the screen. And the picture from the 36” Pixel plus TV sure was detailed and, even with the sharpness control turned down, very sharp and clear. One of my test DVDs is Das Boot, a superb movie about a German U-boat during WW2 (it makes the more recent U-571 look like the corny Hollywood story that it is).
Unlike the Panasonic TX-76PW10A (since replaced with a new model), whose mediocre digital processing made the flat concrete bunker walls in this movie crawl with movement, the Philips TV reproduced this – and other – DVDs well. Colours were excellent and shadow detail (in a submarine there are lots of shadows) was well handled after the brightness adjustment.
With most viewing it really does appear as if there is more detail on screen, which certainly appealed to those who saw this TV. One area where the Philips Pixel Plus pulls ahead of most other TVs is in depth perception. Most TVs have a flat perspective; with the Philips there was a noticeable sense of depth to the picture.
But you can see the TV working, which suggests that Pixel Plus isn’t the last word in TV technology. For example, pans have some jerkiness to them and the picture has a “digital” look to it. The best big TV I’ve seen (the ultra-expensive Loewe 40” Aconda) is better at panned shots and has a sense of fluidity – a more natural analog look - about the picture that the Pixel Plus TV can’t achieve.
But still there’s no doubt that the 36” Philips is a worthwhile television. The picture is very good, connectivity option superb and the price is competitive. Philips are going to sell a truckloads of these.
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