Philips 40PFL7605H review

The Philips 40PFL7605H is a beautiful looking TV that’s complemented by one of the most stylish remote controls we’ve ever seen – if you’ve spent a bundle on an uber-cool glass coffee table from Heal’s, the Philips remote control will be the proverbial icing on the cake.

The screen is only 42mm thick, and with a bezel that measures only 39mm all round, this TV doesn’t take up any more space than it absolutely has to. And then you have Philips’ Ambilight system which separates the 40PFL7605H from the competition even further.

The 40PFL7605H employs Ambilight Spectra 2, which casts light from both sides of the TV in colours that match the content. Not only does this make the experience more immersive, but it also allows you to turn off all the lights in the room without risking eyestrain.

There’s a pretty full array of connection options, with four HDMI, component, two RGB SCART and VGA inputs. The TV will display a native 1,920×1,080 image from a computer via VGA or HDMI.

Of course there’s Ethernet and USB connectivity like all the TVs here. As Philips has had this technology for a couple of years, it’s no surprise that the 40PFL76005H makes light work of digital media streaming and XviD playback is scaled superbly.

When it comes to picture quality 40PFL7605 is staggeringly good. High definition content is razor sharp, with outstanding levels of detail. Black levels are also incredible and give Panasonic’s latest plasma TVs a run for their money. Motion is handled beautifully and although Philips’ Natural Motion HD still has a tendency to make movies look slightly unreal, it’s far less heavy handed than some systems.

The level of clarity and detail when watching the Dark City Blu-ray was simply class leading, despite the truly dark blacks on display. Likewise, the colours in Coraline were breathtaking, but not in an oversaturated way – they just looked naturally vivid.

Sound quality is also a cut above the norm, thanks to large, rear firing speakers. There’s a depth to the soundstage that most other flat screen TVs can only dream of.

Standard definition performance was first rate, with Philips’ Pixel Precise processing engine working wonders with the low bit–rate channels that haunt Freeview. But if you feed this TV a good SD source, you’ll be treated to wonderfully scaled and rendered images.

Of course you’ll need that excellent standard definition performance, because this is the only TV on test that doesn’t have a built-in Freeview HD tuner. There are a couple of other chinks in the 40PFL760H’s armour too. Remember that super-stylish remote control? Well it’s not the most intuitive we’ve ever picked up.

It’s also worth noting that the menu system is very slow to navigate and can be frustrating. However, it is beautifully laid out and manages to be both easy to understand and feature packed. In fact, as far as TV menus go, Philips is second only to Sony with its XMB interface.

The Philips 40PFL7605H is the most expensive TV, but that isn’t enough to put us off. Put simply, if money was not a consideration and we could walk away with TV, we’d grab this one.