January 1, 2005

By JIM ROSSMAN / The Dallas Morning News

The Philips Ambilight line of plasma and LCD backlit televisions has created a lot of buzz — largely over some unusual colored lights that are projected behind them to enhance detail, color and contrast.

Philips The Philips Ambilight Pixel Plus 2 LCD projects colored lights on the wall to enhance detail, color and contrast on the screen.

Whenever I told a relative or friend that I was reviewing an Ambilight set, someone asked about the backlight. The viewer can set the color or the TV can change it automatically to match what's on the screen.

It seems gimmicky. But after a few weeks of viewing an Ambilight set, with the lights turned both on and off, the debate was over. The lights stayed on. Ambilight is a quite worthy feature.

The set I reviewed was the 42-inch Pixel Plus 2 LCD (42PF9996).

In my first experience with an LCD panel larger than 30 inches, the TV far surpassed my expectations. The set features Pixel Plus 2 and a 3-D comb filter to enhance sharpness, contrast, color and picture quality.

Color, contrast and sharpness of the TV were outstanding. This was most evident during our family's annual viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown has never looked so good.

A weakness of LCD televisions is the so-called screen-door effect of pixilation during fast-moving action. The pixels momentarily become visible with a fast-moving object on the screen.

Philips introduced a feature called Digital NaturalMotion to correct this problem. Although I could still see a bit of pixilation, it was evident only when I was sitting closer than six feet from the set.

The set also features ActiveControl Plus to constantly optimize the picture for the changing lighting conditions in a room.

Connections are abundant, with two inputs for S-video or component signals and one HDMI to connect a high-definition receiver.

There are also easy-to-reach S-video and component inputs on the side of the set, as well as a center channel input and subwoofer output.

Sound is handled quite well through NXT SurfaceSound speakers built into the bezel surrounding the screen. Dolby processing circuitry creates a virtual surround-sound system without rear speakers.

The onscreen menus are concise and easy to figure out without reading the manual, which is one of my litmus tests.

My old lust was for a plasma television, but personal research and first-hand experience have swayed me to the LCD camp of flat-screen TVs.

LCDs have a lifespan twice as long as plasma TVs and don't suffer from image burn-in. The color quality, brightness and 170-degree viewing angle can't be beat.

Philips Ambilight 42-inch Pixel Plus 2 LCD has all the features I could want in a television, but it doesn't come cheap. The street price is around $6,000.