Philips 42PFL3704D-F7 LCD HDTV Review |
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Published on October 05, 2009 Comment on this |
Front The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 has a glossy black bezel with branding on the bottoms center. Towards the right is the indicator light and remote sensor. Get used to this corner, because if you're not pointing the remote directly at it, the TV will ignore you.
Back The back of the TV is bland. There's a cluster of ports towards the right side, below which are two HDMI ports. For information about the ports on the back of the Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 see our Connectivity section.
Sides The left side of the TV has a handful of ports and the right side has the on-set controls. For information about the ports on the back of the Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 see our Connectivity section.
Stand/Mount The stand comes attached to the TV, so there's no assembly required and no option to mount the thing. It has a thick neck and is made of the same glossy black plastic as the bezel.
Controls The controls on the TV can perform basic functionality. The top two toggle volume, the next one down is the menu button, then the channel buttons, and finally the power.
Remote Control The remote is pretty basic. It has large buttons, rounded sides, and takes AA batteries.
In The Box (6.0) The 42PFL3704D/F7 ships with its remote and a plastic bag ful of manuals. Batteries aren't included, and although this might have been a common ommittance for some RC car from 1987, it's a bit strange on a modern TV. The TV comes attached to its stand, meaning the only required setup is finding batteries for the remote. Aesthetics (3.0) There's not a lot to say about the Philips 42PFL3704D/F7's aesthetics. It's thicker than the average LCD, and uses cheap-looking, glossy black plastic. It's not exactly an eyesore, because it doesn't attempt any design flourishes. The TV takes a humdrum design and fails to make it modern.
[page title="Blacks & Whites"]
Black Level (7.43) One of the more coveted aspects of picture quality is a low black level. A high black level will give dark scenes a bright look. This also means the TV won't be able to protray much detail in dark areas. To give our measurements some scale, a measurement of 0.1 cd/m2 is good. If it's lower than this, it's a great black level; if the level creeps towards 0.2 dc/m2, you start getting bright blacks. The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 was capable of a decent 0.13 cd/m2. Your blacks shouldn't look too bright, but they won't be nearly as dark as what you'd see on a plasma. One issue to keep in mind: the 42PFL3704D/F7 has a dynamic backlight that can't be turned off. This means the backlights will turn down when a majority of the screen is black. This not only means you'll rarely encounter such a low black level during normal viewing, it means that, if a scene triggers the dynamic backlight, you'll lose details in the bright areas. While we understand why such a feature is often included on HDTVs, we don't understand why so few TVs allow users to switch it off.
Peak Brightness (8.67) For our peak brightness test, we put an all white screen up on the TV, then measure its luminescence. You want a bright TV for a few reasons. First of all, a high peak brightness allows for better detailing during bright scenes. Secondly, it helps the TV achieve a higher overall contrast ratio. A high peak white can also help lessen wash-out from an external light shining on the screen. The 42PFL3704D/F7 performed pretty well on this test, with a total peak brightness of 332.27 canellas per square meter (cd/m2). Typically all you'll need is something above 200 cd/m2. Once you get towards the 400s, your TV starts becoming very resiliant to external light. While light shining on the screen will still pose a problem (as you can read here), it shouldn't be much of an issue. The 42PFL3704D/F7 also shouldn't have any trouble with bright scenes.
Contrast (7.69) As alluded to in the black level section above, TVs sometimes cheat to get better contrast ratios. Some have dynamic backlights that only kick in under certain situations, some measure their whites and blacks at differrent settings. Regardless, those estimated contrast ratios you read, like 6,000,000:1 aren't achievable during normal viewing conditions. The contrast ratio we measure is the maximum you'll see under normal viewing conditions. The 42PFL3704D/F7's bright white and decently dark black add up to an above average contrast ratio. We measured the TV's actual contrast ratio at about 2556:1. This is pretty good for an LCD. It isn't amazing, but typically LCDs don't have amazing contrast ratios. For the average viewer, the 42PFL3704D/F7's contrast ratio will be fine.
Tunnel Contrast (9.01) Tunnel contrast checks to make sure black levels remain consistent, regardless of how much black is onscreen. TVs can sometimes have dynamic backlights, or allow adjacent bright light to wash out the blacks. In the 42PFL3704D/F7's case, it has a dynamic backlight. Fortunately, it won't kick on very often. Even at 90% black the backlights didn't dim. While we'd prefer a dynamic backlight that could be turned off, it's at least sensitive enough that it won't crop up much during normal viewing.
White Falloff (9.25) Our white falloff test checks for consistency in brightness. It's essentially the inverse of our tunnel contrast test. Some of the pitfalls are also the same as said test. A dynamic backlight can kill the bright parts of a dark scene. Also, due to their display technology, plasmas aren't very good at maintaining brightness over large areas. While the 42PFL3704D/F7 didn't have a huge issue, it appears it'll automatically dim an all white screen. We're guessing this is to prevent a movie from blinding you every time the director decides the best scene transition is panning up to the sun, or when some ghost character finally comes to terms with their death and decides to move on. All white screens are more common than you'd think, and while we appreciate the gesture, we would've preferred if this feature could be switched off.
Uniformity (7.25) The 42PFL3704D/F7's screen was pretty uniform on an all white screen, but we saw some issues when it was all dark. On a white screen, there was some dimming around the corners and in the edges, but the middle portion was a solid white. There wasn't any cloudiness or shadowing at all. Dark screens are cloudy with flashlighting in the corners. Even though it has some uneven lighting during dark scenes, it's the kind of picture quality issue the average consumer wouldn't notice.
Greyscale Gamma (1.42) Greyscale gamma refers to the slope along which greys fade to black or brighten to white. Due to the ways our eyes perceive contrast, the greyscale has to be logarythmic. Ideally, if this curve was plotted on a logarythmic graph, it would be a straight line with a slope in between 2.1 and 2.2. We measured the 42PFL3704D/F7's gamma at 3.63, which is significantly higher than it should be. The graph should look like a hyperbola, incrementing slowly in the dark end of the spectrum, then quickly as it becomes more intense. This looks more like a stretched "S." This shape means there's virtually no differentiation towards the deep blacks and a lack of granularity towards the bright end.
Resolution Scaling (6.63) Unless you're very particular with your viewing habits, your TV will often play content that isn't its native format. Standard definition runs at 480p, DVDs use 720p, and 1080i is broadcast HD. Unless you're watching Blu-rays all day, the 42PFL3704D/F7 will have to upscale content to 1080p, so it can play it back. This change requires additional processing, which can cause artifacting and other quality issues. 480p 720p 1080i
[page title="Color Accuracy"]
Color Temperature (6.11) This test measures how the TV's color temperature changes throughout the greyscale. In our calibration setup, we try to get the TV's color temperature as close as we can to the ideal white, which is 6500K. Even if the TV runs a little warm or cool, as long as that temperature remains consistent, you won't have any problems. The 42PFL3704D/F7 started out running really hot, about 9381K. Since higher temperatures are more blue, the TV will look "cooler" than it should. This isn't ideal to begin with, but it's made terrible by the erratic temperature changes throughout the greyscale. Towards the middle of the spectrum, the greys start looking much, much cooler than they should. This is made all the more obvious by the sudden temperature drop towards the darker blacks. Overall, the 42PFL3704D/F7 will have cool-looking middle shades, then suddenly switching to a warm hue for darker shades.
RGB Curves (7.07) Since red, green, and blue make up every other color the TV displays, we test them separately. In general, the 42PFL3704D/F7 had good enough performance, but it had some significant issues. In the below graph, you can see how each of the three colors is emphasized, from its darkest shade to its brightest.
There are a few isues with these curves. First of all, note the jagged-looking lines. These indicate areas where nearby colors aren't differentiated enough, or at all. The TV is being told to produce different shades, but doesn't. This is especially obvious towards the higher intensities, where the TV peaks out and is incapable of producing brighter colors. This poor differentiation between colors means fine details are being lost. These fine details are often what provides depth to an image; images on the 42PFL3704D/F7 will look a bit flatter than they should.
Color Gamut (4.16) The colors a TV should display are actually dictated by an international standard, called rec. 709. This standard, in our experience, is followed a bit more loosely than it should be. In this test, we measure the color gamut ourselves, then compare it to rec. 709. The result of this comparison is graphed below.
As you can see, the red is spot on, but the green, blue, and white points are pretty far off. The greens are oversaturated and pushed a bit towards blue. The blues are oversaturated and ever-so-slightly pushed towards red. The white is very blue, as we discussed in the color temperature section above.
[page title="Motion"]
Motion Smoothness (6.25) The 42PFL3704D/F7 has some issues with motion blur, with both 1080i and 1080p content. Fine details blended into monocolored blobs. Solid blocks of color left a short, dark shadow behind them when they moved. We didn't notice much of a difference in the severity of these issues between interlaced and progressive; both were equally bad.
Motion Artifacting (7.38) While it did suffer from some artifacting, the 42PFL3704D/F7 wasn't bad. We did notice a shuddering effect passed over fine patterns as they moved, but this effect is mostly obfuscated by the motion blur. We didn't see any color patterns forming in places they shouldn't, or any other artifacting issues. If you can deal with shudder, you can deal with the 42PFL3704D/F7.
3:2 Pulldown & 24fps (7.00) The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 performed well on our 3:2 pulldown test, but it did have some issues. Some of our test patterns flashed as they moved across the screen. This means you'll likely see some artifacting any time there's sudden movement onscreen. Some patterns also had moire interference, meaning some patterns were being distorted into other patterns. In this case, horizontal stripes came out looking like a choppy gradient of greys. One test clip is a slow pan over an empty stadium. Since the empty seats form a fine pattern, they're a good place to see moire interference. If you see a crawling effect on the seats, as we did with the 42PFL3704D/F7, then it means the TV is having problems with 3:2 pulldown.
[page title="Viewing Effects"]
Viewing Angle (4.87) A TV's contrast ratio hinges, to varying degrees, on where you are in relation to the screen. As you get further away from dead center, the contrast ratio drops. Plasmas typically have much better viewing angles than LCDs, due to how the different display technologies work. The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 did very poorly on this test. Once you're 25° off center, you'll be seeing less than 50% of the TV's contrast ratio. Typically LCDs have contrast ratios under 30°, so the 42PFL3704D/F7 is just about average for its display technology. Plasmas, on the other hand, have virtually no issues with viewing angle. You could be standing 80° off center and still have 50% contrast ratio.
Reflectance (7.50) In this test, we shine an LED array at the TV, to see how the screen handles external light. If the light is shining straight at the TV, you'll end up with a large diffuse glow. If the light is at an off angle, it'll be far less distracting. Under normal conditions, the 42PFL3704D/F7 should hold up to external light well.
Video Processing (0.0) The 42PFL3704D/F7 didn't have any video processing features.
[page title="Calibration"]
Calibration
Below we've listed the various settings we changed for our testing. You can use these settings on your own 42PFL3704D/F7 and probably be fine. If you really want your TV to be accurate for your viewing environment, however, you'll have to pay a professional to come in and calibrate the TV for you.
Video Modes There are a handful of preset video modes, which the TV files under Auto Picture. These modes are simply settings presets, however; anything you change will bump you into Personal mode. We also barely noticed a difference between these presets.
[page title="Remote Control"]
The 42PFL3704D/F7's remote is simple in its design and layout. It has curved edges and fits well in hand. The remote is well balanced in the neutral position, but not as well towards the bottom of the remote. While the remote honestly looks a bit cheap, we couldn't identify any obvious design flaws; it's just the kind of plastic used.
Button Layout & Use (6.75) The remote has a very basic button layout. Neutral position puts the user's thumb on the ok button. While the buttons are spaced proportionately for their size, their largenThe volume and channel buttons are a bit of a stretch away due to the buttons' large size. The main issue we had with this remote is it's ridiculously finicky. If you aren't pointing it at the bottom right corner of the screen, it won't register an input.
Programming & Flexibility (0.0) The remote isn't universal.
SENTENCE [page title="Connectivity"]
Input Ports (6.50) The TV has an odd selection of input ports. It only has one set of component video inputs, but it has two S-Video ports. It also has two composite video inputs and four analog audio inputs.
The ports are clustered on the back and on the side of the TV.
Output Ports (2.00) The TV has the standard number of output ports: one analog and one digital audio output.
Other Connections (0.0) There aren't any other connections, like a LAN port or wireless connectivity.
Media (1.0) The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 has a USB port on its side, which allows users to play back photos and music.
Placement (5.0) The TV's ports are located a bit far away from the TV's edge. Since the TV's stand doesn't swivel, it's a bit hard to reach the ports. Also, the two HDMI ports are located a bit far away from other ports. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but if you're reaching around the back of the TV and blindly fumbling for the HDMI port, the spaced-out placement certainly won't be working in your favor.
Audio Quality (6.50) The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7's built-in speakers had relatively good audio quality. The bass was decently powerful but not blown out, the highs weren't left out or overly emphasized, and the surround sound mode did a much better job than the average TV.
Menu Interface (7.50) There isn't much to the 42PFL3704D/F7's menu structure. You hit the menu button and a little baby menu will pop up with a handful of options. Each option only has one screen worth of items.
Manual (4.62) The manual wasn't very speical. It had a table of contents and some tabs along the bottom of the picture. The font size was a bit small and the pictures didn't add much value.
Formats (10.00) The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 is a 1080p TV. It'll play back standard definition, DVDs, broadcast HD, and Blu-ray discs without any problems.
Photo Playback (3.50) The TV does have a basic photo playback feature, just pop your thumb drive into the TV's side.
Music & Video Playback (0.0) As mentioned above,
Streaming Playback (0.0) The TV has no LAN port and doesn't support wireless connetion.
Other Media (0.0) The TV isn't capable of playing any other forms of media.
[page title="Power Consumption"]
Power Consumption (7.89) Televisions require a lot of electricirty to run, which can add up over the course of a year. Typically when we test a TV's power consumption, we run the test at different backlight settings. The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 doesn't have any backlight controls, however, so we just ran the test on the one setting. We measured the 42PFL3704D/F7's average draw at about 216 watts. This is a bit higher than the average LCD. Assuming you watch the current average of about 5 hours per day, the TV will cost you a bit over $42 per year. This won't likely bankrupt anyone, but other LCDs will save you a few bucks each year. Below is a chart comparing the 42PFL3704D/F7's power consumption to a few other TVs.
Value Comparison Summary The Philips manages to do as well or slightly better than the RCA, and has significantly better speakers. The downside is the RCA is significantly cheaper. If you're willing to scale down a few inches, the RCA makes a better deal.
Blacks & Whites The RCA had a deeper black, but wasn't as bright. The Philips had the better overall contrast ratio.
Color Accuracy Both TVs had similar color performances: very inconsistent color temperatures, average color representation, and equally off color gamuts.
Motion The Philips bests the RCA on both our motion tests. It had significantly less artifacting.
Viewing Effects Neither TV had an impressive viewing angle, but the Phillips was slightly larger than the RCA.
Connectivity The Philips only has one component video input, which is a bit limiting. It does have a USB port though, for music and photo playback.
[page title="Vs Panasonic TC P42S1"]
Value Comparison Summary These two TVs have similar price points and sizes, but use different display technologies and had very different test scores. The Philips matched the Panasonic's scores in many places, but the Panasonic tended to out-perform the Philips.
Blacks & Whites The Panasonic has a much deeper black than the Philips. Although the Philips is brighter, the Panasonic still manages a better overall contrast ratio.
Color Accuracy The Panasonic out-performed the Philips on our color temperature test. The two had similar color representation and gamuts.
Motion The Panasonic had some serious issues with blurring and artifacting. The Philips had its own problems, but they weren't as bad.
Viewing Effects This isn't really a contest. As a plasma, the Panasonic has a very wide viewing angle; as an LCD, the Philips does not.
Connectivity The Panasonic has another component input, but lacks the Philips' composite and S-Video inputs. The Philips also has a USB port for photo and music playback.
[page title="Vs Sony KDL 40S5100"]
Value Comparison Summary As you'll see in our comparison charts and table below, the Sony manages to do a better job than the Philips in many different categories. The main area where the Philips manages to do well are on our motion tests. It also has a USB port for media playback.
Blacks & Whites While both models showed good performances on these tests, the Sony's deeper black level led to a higher overall contrast ratio.
Color Accuracy While the Sony had a much more even kiel to its color temperature, both TVs had otherwise similar color performances.
Motion The Sony had some significant issues with blurring and artifacting. The Philips had less of both.
Viewing Effects The Sony manages to lose this match-up by having a very narrow viewing angle. The Philips isn't really impressive, but it was decent for an LCD.
Connectivity The Sony has more port options than the Philips, but the Philips has a USB for media playback.
[page title="Conclusion"]
[page title="Series Comparison"]
3000 Series The 3000 series is comprised of a bunch of different TVs with different serial numbers. Read the chart below to find out how they differ.
[page title="Ratings & Specs"]
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The Philips 42PFL3704D/F7 is an entry-level TV with a mid-range price. At almost $1000, we weren't very impressed with the TV. It seemed to have a hard time dealing with color. The gamut was off, the color temperature fluctuated wildly, and color representation isn't great.
• Bezel is made of glossy, black plastic.
Ergonomics & Durability (7.0) 
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