Philips 7000 series Smart LED TV (42PFL7666T/12) review

The TV’s image quality was mixed – many low-bandwidth Freeview channels were seriously lacking in detail, with lots of visible compression artefacts and almost no facial definition, even once we’d enabled the PixelPrecise HD image adjustment settings. However, it was a different story once we’d switched over to a test Blu-ray. Images were incredibly crisp and fluid – with motion smoothing set to its lowest setting, Casino Royale’s chase scenes were smooth and showed very few motion artefacts.

Colours were reasonably vibrant at the default settings, and unfortunately there’s not a huge amount of colour control available in the options menu. However, after some tweaks, we managed to get a vivid picture. With AmbiLight working in the background, bright scenes had punchy colours which really added to the immersion of watching films.

Philips is one of only a few manufacturers to use passive rather than active shutter 3D, so you only get 1080i rather than 1080p resolution. However, it also means the polarised 3D glasses are completely flicker free, which made it possible to watch 3D content with the lights on – active shutter systems tend to flicker more under fluorescent lighting. Colours were much more vibrant than on active 3D systems we’ve seen, and depth effects were impressive, especially with the added AmbiLight lighting.

The 7000 series is a very well-equipped TV that benefits greatly from the addition of AmbiLight. Its high definition performance is fantastic and 3D video looks great, but standard definition footage isn’t particularly impressive. If Freeview image quality matters more than HD, the Sony Bravia KDL-46NX723 might be a better choice, but fans of passive 3D will appreciate everything this set has to offer.