Hi Spiff ... I am in the market for an lcd ... deciding between the Philips 32PF7321 and the Sony S200A. How much and where did you purchase it from? Since they don't usually have demos showing cable TV reception, I am still confused as to which one I should get. If you don't midn, what was your basis for choosing the Philips?
i got ours at automatic center ... for 79,999, i think. (the receipt is already in my files, i'll need to verify this.) expensive, yes. but at 0% interest for 24 months, that's only 3.3k a month.... and not too heavy on the budget. PLUS, it came with a divx ultra ready HTIB. HUUUGE discounts if you pay cash.
i went around to several stores, ambassador, abenson's, sm appliance and had them show me "functional" demo units... i know, it's a pain since some stores would only have a few demo units for testing. plus, you really have to be extra nice to the sales people because it isn't easy lugging around bulky 32" LCD TVs. my advice is to go to the biggest store... like avant or SM appliance. they have the most stocks on display and you can see the difference side by side.
the philips tuner was strong enough to deliver a decent picture even via a makeshift "aerial" antenna. other brands couldn't even manage to get a channel with this setup. the colors were richer and deeper compared to the others when watching TV. samsung's tuner in particular tended to deliver a "pale" picture when viewing with a TV signal. while sony's tended to look "blurred" (i was never really impressed with sony's "hyperband" tuner.) ... but both were impressive when connected to a video playback device. unfortunately, the TV feature was more important to us. that's why we went with the philips.
another thing i noticed.. try running your finger on the LCD screens and check the trail... on other brands, the trail was noticable and stayed for quite a while... the philips did not display such a behavior. it makes we wonder if the LCD screen has a thicker plexi overcoat. not unlike the ones sold for PC use.
i think the big dfference is philips' "contrast+" and noise reduction feature... which it uses for analog composite and TV signals.
hahaha you are so right spaceman! besides you also have to configure the sound, coz if you don't all you have will be muted sound. but once you are over these minor setup, cable broadcast viewing is sooooooo way ahead better than samsung or sony! i watch dvd's once a day, while cable viewing is almost 6 hours a day, so it is very important to me the pq in cable viewing.
sabi ng iba the lcdtv is the worst medium to watch cable broadcast. they haven't tried the philips!
yeah. i actually find that weird... that you have to set the tuner to "mono" because "stereo" was an empty audio signal... very strange. another reason it took me a while is because i also programmed the channel names in. LOL.
similar viewing habit here... my time on TV is waaaaaay longer than my time watching DVDs.
i find that watching at least 5-6 feet away from the screen is ideal for watching TV on our new LCD... any closer and you'll be disappointed. i suppose that's true for ANY brand.