1. HD 32-inch LCD with 1366 x 768 resolution
2. ATSC and QAM tuner receives over the air and unscrambled cable
3. Up to 8ms response time for clear, fast moving action
4. 25 Watts with BBE for powerful sound and great voice clarity
5. 4 HDMI inputs for full digital HD connection in one cable

Editorial Review :

Philips 32PFL5403D 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV with 4 HDMI inputs, combines a HD Ready display, Pixel Plus 3HD engine and fantastic invisible sound. With EasyLink, only one remote control is needed to operate main functionalities on this TV and connected devices. Experience brilliant design and powerful performance for years to come.

Customer Review :

Nice Set

I purchased this set for $499 at Sam's Club and it appears that I got a good deal. The picture is ultra crisp and the set itself looks great. My only complaint is there are no front mount speakers. The speakers run along the top. Because we were replacing an old television set, this will go into a cabinet. Because of the way the sound is, it gives a slight muffled sound, like its in a tunnel. We have mostly resolved it my moving the set all the way to the front. It's not perfect, but improved.

I also don't like the way the menu stays on for 3 seconds or so when you change the channel. It is useful the 1 time out of 100 that you want to know what is on that channel, but if you are channel surfing it is annoying.

My negative comments aside, I was very happy with the set. It is such a huge improvement from my old television I feel like I've gone from the stone age to the space age.

Rating :

A Very "Hawt" HDTV

I really like this TV. I got this Model instead of the 32PFL5403D/27. But this one has 4 HDMI inputs, the models i wanted has 2 HDMI inputs. Also it has 8ms response time, the other model had 4ms. But i really like this TV. Its an extremely attracting TV. Everyone complements on it's style. It's picture quality is great too, I use this TV for my PS3. The TV is very light weight, which is good. The remote is also light weight lol. The Tv can swirl left to right,which is good but not up and down. The surround is very loud on sound effects when turned on. But the speaking volume stays the same. The only thing i don't like, is that i have to clean the bezel around the screen, because it attracts dust very fast, i don't know why. But don't get me wrong i just clean it will cloth and it reflects so well as the picture, very clean and shiny.

Overall i wouldn't of preferred any other Tv.
EDIT: After 3months and 1 week, the tv screen scrambled and after so many tries it was concluded that the panel was faulty, and was advised to buy a new tv rather than spend $800 to fix it. My best advice is get extra warranty or buy in store, do no rely on the default 3 month warranty like i did. i actually ordered the 32pfl5403d/27 but was given this; 32pfl5403d/F7, whatever.

Rating :

1. 1920 x 1080p Resolution
2. Pixel Plus
3. 29,000:1 Contrast Ratio and 8ms Response Time
4. 3 HDMI, 2 Component, 1 S-Video Inputs
5. Anti-Reflection Coated Screen

Editorial Review :

Designed for ease of use, this Flat TV features modern design, 3 HDMI connections, a powerful 1080p display and brilliant Pixel Plus HD engine. Making the smart choice in total picture quality has never been easier.

Customer Review :

Barely worth $300

I am extremely happy with this TV.
it says on a lot of sites that this TV has an 8ms response time, but when you look in the owners manual it says its 5ms.

I think watching SDTV on this TV is great. I work for the cable company, and that being said, I have seen A LOT of pricey/cheap whatever price range of TV, look like crap when it comes to standard def programing. its not really something you want to see after spending X amount of dollars on a new TV. this one pulls it off very well.
honestly its not spectacular, but it pulls it off very well.(and I have it in my bedroom sitting 5ft or less away from it)

I also have an upscalling DVD player(samsung) works great with it. but not ALL movies I watch get put into 1080P. like, I put in AC/DC Live at the Donington today, and it looks a little worse than my cable SD. but that's ok with me. I put in Batman: the Dark Knight. it looks F-ing amazing. I also checked out a couple other movies like Kung-Fu Panda and The Simpsons movie: they look great too.

as for games, I really have only played GTA:IV on it once and I was playing it with the AV cables rather than the HDMI/component(whatever 360 uses) and it looked ok. looked better on my SD tube tv than it does on this TV, but I am hoping to get the HD cables for my 360 soon.
if I am able to update this later, I will.

and for the HDTV: its great. picture looks better than it does in the store.
its too bad I only get 1080i off of cable, but it still looks amazing.
this TV is just flat out amazing for the price. this is worth more than I payed for sure.

now as for the title "be carefull what they give you in the store"
the model I asked for at the store (which was the TV I REALLY wanted was the 42pfl7403d) that one had the computer connection that I wanted on the back, 120Hz, 2ms response time, and 30W audio output. which is what I really wanted for the sports, action movies, and high speed games.
but honestly the 42pfl3603d is just perfect already, other than the computer connection I wanted.

there is no blurring when it comes to fast picture.
I love this TV. its great.

**UPDATE**
I picked up component cables for my 360 yesterday after I wrote this review.
after I plugged it in and checked it out, looked a little better, but still a little crappy. but after a few setting changes on the 360 and TV itself, it looked great. just as good as I thought it was going to be.
(I tested out GTA4 at full 1080p)
**UPDATE**
I have only had this TV for about a month at this point.
several white (large) dots have shown up randomly. I counted about 39 messed up pixels. they come and go, seems to show up more when I am watching HD. after about 20 minutes they may go back to normal and come back 20 minutes later. very annoying, I am returning this TV and getting a Samsung.

Rating :

It was good for about 5 days

Maybe I got a bad tv, but I don't know. All I've heard about these things is good things, but mine has been anything but. Right away I noticed this horrible fuzz sound, it would just happen, with no rhyme or reason, and I'd have to turn the tv off and back on to fix it. After a month or so of haggling I finally got that fixed. After getting the new board put in and turning the tv on the picture was very dim, and there has been nothing we can do to fix it, and like usual Philips is taking their sweet time doing anything about it. Oh well, maybe sometime this year it'll be fixed, but so far the problem has spanned 2 years, since it started right after I got it in November, and it's January and it's still not fixed. My warranty is only good for a year, so hopefully it's fixed before that anyway. All I can say is be cautious about what you buy, and keep all the boxes and packaging, cause you may have to return it. And don't trust the company when they say they'll make it right, cause they don't care, it's not their tv afterall, they just work there.

Rating :

Great TV!!

This TV far surpassed my expectations!! I scoured the market for the best features vs. price, and this TV could not be beat. Has HDMI, AV, Componant, coax, 1080p...everything you could ask for. Bright, vivid picture and color, no ghosting, HD looks great, SD looks as good as it can. This TV has autoscaling and Dynamic Contrast, but both can be disabled if you wish. I don't like my TV changing my settings on me.

It does NOT have VGA, however. That can easily be worked around though, seeing as how most computers today have HDMI out. Even if they don't, there are DVI to HDMI adapters..I have one and it works fine. Another thing thats missing is PIP, but who uses PIP??

The picture is great, brightness and contrast are easily adjustable and can be perfected with time and patience.

One thing I noticed was a slightly brighter spot in the top left corner, but only noticeable on dark screens. It's easy to ignore and you will probably only notice it if you nitpick like i do. Most won't even see it.

Bottom line: Unbeatable TV unless you want to double your price for improvements so small you probably won't even notice (which makes you wonder if they are even improvements in the first place).

Rating :

Bang for the buck

I spent a lot of time shopping for a quality HDTV and a reasonable price and finally settled on this one. Great contrast, brightness, sound, and design. Works well with directv. This is one of those purchases that leaves a lasting good feeling.

Rating :

Broken after 6-month and Philips refures the service. Do NOT touch !!!

We bought this 42" LCD Philips TV at Target 6-month ago. The model number is 42PFL3603D/27. The TV was working fine. It delivers good HD pictures and sound, but it broke down after 6-month of usage. The TV could not display the picture, but sound is still available. When TV is on, all we can see on the screen is the vertical stripes. The catalog calls out that this model is warranted for 1-year from the date of purchase at page EN41 of TV catalog.

Then we called to complain to Philips Consumer Lifestyle. Philips sent the contract service to our place to physically look at the TV. The final decision was "crack screen by damage and it is not covered under warrantee". This is actual false statement since we did NOT do anything related to the damage of our 6-month old TV.

The cause of this issue is NOT from impact damage. If there were an impact from outside (by us), the screen surface could have shown scratch, dent or impression. The outside surface is now pristine, smooth and showing no impact from outside whatsoever.

Bottom line: Philips is failure to honor service under the terms of warrantees to avoid replacement cost for defective TV. If you plan to use this LCD TV for more than 6 months, my advice is "DO NOT TOUCH THIS PRODUCT"


Rating :

More reviews...

1. Full HD 42-inch LCD with 1920 x 1080 resolution
2. ATSC and QAM tuner receives over the air and unscrambled cable
3. Up to 5ms Typical Response Time for clear, fast moving action
4. 20 Watts with BBE for powerful sound and great voice clarity
5. 3 HDMI inputs for full digital HD connection in one cable

Editorial Review :

Designed for ease of use, Philips 42PFL3603D 42-inch 1080p LCD HDTV features modern design, 3 HDMI connections, Incredible Surround sound, a powerful 1080p display and brilliant Pixel Plus HD engine. Making the smart choice in total picture quality has never been easier.

Customer Review :

YES YES and NO

After 12 months with out any problems, its been worth every penny! Fantastic picture. Sound is OK for a TV. BIG BIG Issue.... there are no standard audio outputs!!! My $399 Sony surround system is useless. Phillips has a single RCA output port that is incompatable with ANYBODYS audio devices it seems. Living with the disapointment. Sad.

Rating :

Ever wonder why Philips has its own Refurb Outlet?...

Intro
... Because tons of their items are showing poor manufacturing faults. Either the screen, HDMI outlets or even the remote: eventually it seems to fail.

I do not write this lightly as I come from Eindhoven (Holland), the birthplace of Philips and I worked there many summers earning some nice vacation money. I even love their Soccer Team: PSV Eindhoven...

But the days that they were creating high end amplifiers (I still have a Maratz MossFet Class A that is about 27 years old and produces sound quality close to that of moch more expensive manufacturers.

I really used to like Philips and what they stood for... but I found out the hard way that this company is substituting quality for profit margin nowadays.

========
I purchased this item as a gift for someone who is not very well off. We thought she'd enjoy a flatpanel in her home and picked one of these up at Target for , what seemed to be, a good price.

Trouble started after about 4 days. I had hung the unit with a wall mount and received a call asking me if a faint humming sound was 'normal'. I dropped by and it was certainly louder than a fain t hum. The smell of oZone was undeniable and the TV was giving so much heat off that the room temperature was unbearable.

So I took it back and got a new one to take back. We hung it and this time the lcd had a black bar on the right hand side, as if the screen was being projected too much to the left. Frustrating... but what are the odds to receive 2 bad ones?

So went back a third time. The store was out and the rep told me that they had tons of people exchange them because of bad screens. He suggested I take another brand. Stubborn as I was, being Pro-Philips and all, I decided to take my money back and go online of Philips Outlet.

I ordered one there that was refurbished, thinking that I'd save some money that way and get one that was physically tested: might not be a bad thing.

It arrived and whaddaya know: bad screen and excessive heat production.


To end the oddyssey we just bought a Toshiba for slightly more here on Amazon. It is a brand that used to have an excellent rep in production quality and the TV did not have any of the problems experienced. Philips has caved in and become nothing more than a cheap electronics manufacturer. Its no longer the Toyota of electronics.

Look online and see how many people are frustrated with Philips equipment and have a look in thier outlet store where they try to recycle the vast amounts of bad products.
Spend 100$ more and buy something with a quality reputation... nothing is worse than having to haul around broken tv's.

Rating :

OK TV

It had decent pq but I didnt think it quite lived up to its 30000:1 5ms stated facts. It didnt handle motion too well and I eventually returned it to Walmart.

Rating :

Owner for a month...not a proud one though

I owned this philips 3603 for about a month. After watching dvds/playin xbox360 it becomes very evident that I didn't get what I paid for. Here are +/-.

PROS
-Sound quality is very good.
-Size of TV for the price
-Good PQ with good sources(i.e. blu-ray)

CONS
-People's faces had a tint of yellow and very bright scenes looked washed out which ruined the HD experience for me(I may have got a lemon).
-No VGA to hook-up laptop
-SD is decent but not very good
-any fast motion and the picture is blurry.

Overall, I highly recommend not getting this tv just because it fits the budget. Save a bit more and get something of higher quality(i.e. samsung ln40a550)

Rating :

excellent picture

Picture quality is excellent. I had the tv for a little over a month now. Thus far I am totally satisfied.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. 1366 x 1768p pixel resolution
2. 4000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
3. 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
4. 400cd/m brightness
5. Built-in analog/digital tuner (NTSC/ATSC/QAM)

Editorial Review :

This WXGA display with state-of-the-art LCD screen technology gives you widescreen HD resolution of 1366 x 768p pixels. It produces brilliant flicker-free progressive scan pictures with optimum brightness and superb colors. This vibrant and sharp image will provide you with an enhanced viewing experience. Digital Crystal Clear is a package of picture innovations that digitally adjusts and optimizes picture quality to optimal contrast, color and sharpness levels. It is like watching vivid cinema-like images.

Customer Review :

Good Choice For Basic-Use Entry-Level Television

I've been through a few different televisions in the search for a satisfactory 32" HDTV, and after exchanging a Vizio or two, finally ended up sticking with this one. The television is attractive without drawing attention to it, and the only time any notification lights are active is when the television is turned on, when a very small white LED in the bottom-right corner of the unit glows. There is an abundance of ports for its size (including 3 HDMI), and it is pretty lightweight for transport - it can easily be moved by one person, and feels pretty solid.

The picture quality is good (what you'd expect from a 720p), and it's easy enough to set it up. It has a built-in digital tuner, so if you still are getting television from the air, all you'll need is an antenna and you're golden. The stand is easy enough to set up - just slide it in and screw it in with the four included bolts. The speakers are alright, but it's probably worth it in the long run to plug it into a set of external speakers.

The menus are a easy enough to navigate, but aren't anything particularly special. The ease of use is probably about a 3.5 out of 5 as far as that goes, and the remote doesn't help with that - it has far too many buttons for a television remote. However, it does use AAA batteries and is rather lightweight, which is nice.

All in all, I'd highly recommend this television to anyone searching for a 32" flatscreen HDTV. It's nice looking, puts out a nice picture, and is generally speaking a good TV.

Rating :

Great TV

I bought this tv along with a PS3 and Philips 1000watt surround sound. When I was buying I was looking for a tv that handled movement well and this was the one that caught my eye. HD/BluRay looks amazing on it and it looks in my opionion much better then a friends LG, which he paid a few hundred more for.

The remote is plain and simple. As with most remotes I wish it had some back lighting.

The one problem I had with the tv was when I tried hooking up the surround, PS3, and tv together; the surround didn't want to play the ps3 sound. I was running all HDMI cables. The sound would play but cut out. I talked to Philips about this and they suggested a digital coaxial cable which fixed the problem.

Overall I'm extremely happy with this tv and Philips. Philips customer service has been great.

Rating :

Good for the size/price

In all honesty I can't really complain as I got this as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law. We took a ride out to a big box retailer since he had some gift cards he wanted to use towards the purchase. I already own a Panasonic 50" plasma which I love in the living room and this model is now in my bedroom.

I always preferred plasma over LCD's mainly because of the deeper blacks. The store we went to didnt have much of a selection which I'm guessing is because they sold most of their stock during the Holidays. We went on the 28th when there seemed to only be left overs in stock. Being that I had no idea how much he wanted to spend I kind of just followed him to see which model/price range he was looking at.

I personally would have preferred a cheap Vizio 42" plasma, but I was more than grateful for this LCD. We paid 550 but I see theres places online selling them for 500 which is great for a 32" LCD. My 24" computer monitor was 500 bucks just 8 months ago! On the same token I seen the 42" Vizio plasma for $700 but I didn't want to push my luck with my brother in law. :P

The TV itself has 3 HDMI inputs, an S-video input on the side, and I believe two component inputs. Right now I have it hooked up via component cables as the HDMI cable is in the mail and on its way. The stand is glossy and looks nice but its not adjustable at all. The sound is more on the tiny side and the built in surround sound mode didn't do much to add any oomph to the sound at all.

I never cared too much about sound as you can always buy a cheap 5.1 setup, and inputs never concerned me as you can always buy a cheap receiver to add tons of extra inputs. The bread and butter has to be the picture quality and I wasn't very impressed with this set. There is very noticeable pixalation and a good amount of ghosting in fast moving objects. SD channels don't look very good at all even when upconverted through my cable box. HD content looked good but not nearly as clear as my plasma. Color reproduction was decent when tweaked, and even using one of the preset color modes were OK.

The set offers Sports, Movie, Game, Custom, and Power Saver modes to quickly adjust color. Just be aware that they also effect audio levels! It's the first TV I noticed that when changing color modes the audio level also changed. One feature I always appreciated with Philips sets is the audio level feature that keeps commercials and other sources from blasting the audio volume up on its own. With this feature enabled all sources will be kept the same. Thats one feature I never realized how great it was until I didn't have it and some commercials would nearly blow my eardrums out!

The zoom features seem to work very well and they offer a few options (I believe 5 or 6 options) on how to stretch 4:3 images. I found the best option to be the super zoom option as it only cuts a very small piece off the bottom of the screen and doesn't stretch the image to make everyone look fat. They also have an Automatic mode which lets the TV pick the best option depending on the souce coming in. I noticed once I switched from using an S-video cable to component cables I no longer could pick between zoom modes on the TV. All the options were greyed out except for the wide-screen option. This was fine since my cable box also gives the option to leave HD content in its native widescreen and it stretches 4:3 content to fit the screen. It does a good job but SD content stretched makes everyone look short and stumpy. I really liked the TV's stretch options better so it's unfortunate you lose those options when using component or HDMI.

The remote control is very basic in feel and function. It's not very comfortable to hold and the buttons are awkwardly laid out. It also has 3 buttons on the top that are just labeled with colors which is hard to see at night. Luckily I was able to program my cable boxes remote to control the TV's basic functionality.

All in all I'm happy to have upgraded to a larger set for the bedroom, I just wish the picture was better at displaying SD content. The pixelation and ghosting is really amplified on SD channels. I also would have liked for the stand to at the least be able to be adjusted up and down. If it were up to me I would spend the extra $150 and get a nice 42" plasma but if money or size constraints is an issue this should do ya fine.





Rating :

Satisfied Customer

I must say that I do like this tv very much for my bedroom.It looks classy and the picture and sound are very good.I do agree with the review about the sound changing with the factory picture presets.I wished they would have just left the sound the same for all presets.I do love using the personal picture settings option.With this setting I can get the picture I want plus the sound I want at the same time.As soon as you switch to one of the factory picture presets however,the sound is changed.Except for this one thing,I do love watching tv on this set.There is some light in dark scenes that seems to shine through the four corners of the screen but I was told that this was nothing to worry about.It's really not that noticable unless you are looking for it.Anyway, hurray for Philips.They are one of my top choices for LCD tv's.Philips 32PFL3403D/27 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

Rating :

1. 1366 x 768p Resolution
2. 4,000:1 Contrast Ratio
3. 4ms Response Time
4. 2 HDMI, 2 Component Video Inputs, 1 S-Video Input
5. ATSC NTSC & QAM Tuner

Editorial Review :

Style and performance meet in one complete experience. Combining a HD ready display, Pixel Plus HD engine and fantastic invisible sound, this Flat TV provides brilliant design and powerful performance for years to come. come.

Customer Review :

Digital is overrated.

This TV looks very nice but has terrible sound quality. We have tried to change the settings without success. It can be incredibly loud, yet we have difficulty hearing words. This is frustrating. We do not receive cable at our house but have a roof antenna that is very effective. We have noticed however that the image becomes pixelated and will freeze occasionally in severe weather.

Rating :

Great TV

I am very happy with the Phillips 32" HDTV. Bought mine at Wal-Mart and the most important factor to me was picture quality. The Phillips picture was sharper than the Samsung, Sony, or Vizio 720p HDTV's. People have complained about the sound and I don't think it is all that bad. Setup and controls are very easy to use. I think it's a great HDTV for the price (I paid $469.00)!

Rating :

Very good TV for the money

I purchased this tv from a club for $488 after reading reviews on Amazon.com and Consumer reports. I set the TV up in my bedroom, and it actually may be a little large for that room as the picture looks better if you are at least 6 feet away.
I have only regular cable in this room, no HD box. Some of our local channels are full-time HD now, and those channels have a much better picture. I hooked up our HD cable box just to see if there was a difference in picture and it was GREATLY improved over just straight cable connection. Still, the picture is clear and the sound, while coming from the back, is very clear...just be sure to keep away from the wall at least 6 inches so you have the bounce of sound.
I am very happy with this TV and would NOT be happier if I had spent $200 more on a Sony or Samsung. This TV won't "blow you away", but if you want a great picture with no "frills" in a small room, this is the one to buy.

Rating :

Absolutely the best HDTV for the price

I did a tremendous amount of research before I bought this HD, including scouring amazon customer feedback, CNet, and Consumer Reports, and so far, after three weeks, the Philips has lived up to the great reviews. The picture is terrific, it's easily customizable without being a brain-teaser and set-up was a breeze. It also glossy and sleek, while the screen is thankfully glare-free. I do really, really, really wish it came in white, though. Overall, you can't find a better HDTV for the price.

Unlike other reviewers, I find the sound fine despite the speakers being in the back but then, I've kept mine on the stand about 18 inches from the wall and not tucked in a media cabinet. I agree that the remote should have some sort of backlighting b/c until you memorize the buttons you'll need a flashlight to adjust format, sound, etc...

A couple of general buying tips: despite what manufacturers and reviewers may tell you, 32" is a perfectly sized TV for the living room. My general viewing range is about 10-12 feet and I wouldn't want a TV any larger. Also, don't waste your money on 1040p for TV's less than 40"--the higher resolution doesn't register at the smaller sizes. Reputable reviewers say that 720p ( like the Philips) is exactly as good for 32" and I agree.

Oh and one other thing: To take advantage of HD I hiked over to my local cable provider's payment center and replaced my two year old digital cable box with an HD digital box. It's free and totally worth the trouble. You'll get better HD features, channels, and flexibility of resolution.

Rating :

Sweet TV

We purchased this TV as a backup for our 46" Samsung DLP. The color wheel and lamp in that TV are constantly going bad on us and we are so happy to have purchased this one. The LCD is so much more reliable! This TV has a great picture and looks really sharp in our bedroom when it's not standing in for the other in our living room. We have not had a single problem with it in two years. Video games look great on it, as do DVDs. The remote could be a little better. Sometimes it seems like the TV is not very responsive when you press a button on the remote, but it's something I can live with. The sound quality isn't the best. I have to turn it up pretty loud to hear it over our elliptical machine when I'm using it. Overall, I'm very satisfied and I would definitely buy both a Phillips TV and an LCD TV again.

Rating :

More reviews...