Phillips 30PW85OH Questions (1 Viewer)

[Dan DRC]

I was looking for a good deal on a 16:9 HDTV ready unit.
I can pick up this set at my local Sam's club and with a few gift cards that I have I would spend a total of $839 including tax.

My current room for my set up is small 14' x 12'. Within the next 2 years I will be in a larger house with plans for a dedicated home theater room and I will go with a larger display. I understand that the best values in a HDTV can be found in a RPTV but I really do not have the room at this time and I was thinking I could enjoy DVD now and possibly HDTV later on with this set and use in the new home as a bedroom set or alternate family room set.

Does anyone have any experience with this set? For $839 and out the door the price seems right to me. I guess I could always return if I did not like it.

Any thoughts ?

 

[John S]

Seems failry good....
Electronicsalley.com shows it for $623.75 + $80 shipping.

The more I look at Philips HDTV's the more I seem to like the bang they give for the buck. Aside from the one I ended up getting, I never gave the entire product line much thought. Now since I own one, I tend to take more notice whenever I see a Philips set of any size / type.

They really have the best picture quality of any of the "bargain" brands. IMHO anyways.

 

[Dan DRC]

Thanks for the reply John, I think I would rather stick with my local Sam's club eventhough it will cost more than the site that you mentioned just because it would be easy to return the set if I did not like it.

Any other thoughts on the pros or cons of this set
from anybody else?

Thanks

 

[John S]

Well, I can surely see your point.
I only included it as a price comparison.

In other words, I think it is a dang good price on it.

I tried, but did not come up with any reveiws of the model number though. But, I think it will be a good set for you, giving Philips a benefit of the doubt here.

 

[Clayton_T]

I bought the Philips 32pt830h from Sam's in November and love it. I decided to go ahead and get a HD tuner as my Christmas gift and was glad I did (I, like yourself, was going to wait a while). It will absolutely blow you away!

I would go to Sam's and spend a good bit of time playing with the stretch modes. There is still an awful lot of 4:3 stuff out there. I'd guess that I am still watching well over 70% of 4:3 material. Maybe someone with a 16:9 set can chime in on this.

My only complaint is the lack of a second HD component imput (I think the set I have and the one you are looking at are very similar).

The only thing better than watching the Titans win Saturday was watching it in HD! I give a thumbs up to Philips, as I always had great luck with their products.

 

[Robert Lovejoy]

I returned my 34PW850H. It looked decent with HD or DVD signals, but SD looked awful! Some of its inputs were plagued by vertical bars, and the edge enhancement made people's teeth look like dice. And it was overscanning too much. (I used Avia for set up). At first I tried to get the store to send someone over to tweak it through the service menu, but looking at other HT forums, I found others who'd had the same problems I was having.

I upgraded to a Mitsubishi RPTV (WT-42413) for a few hundred more and the difference was astonishing! Much better picture all the way around.

Just my two cents...

 

[Dan DRC]

Thanks for the answers, this set seems to be hit or miss with people. Maybe I should look a little harder a good deal on a Samsung or a Toshiba for a few hundred more, or I could always buy the Phillips and return it if I had the issues that were mentioned.

Thoughts on Samsung in the 900 to 1200 price range ?

 

[Kevin G.]

Hey Dan,
Funny you should post this, I'm going to order mine from sears tonite, they have it for 899.00, they also pricematch guarantee and It's on sale at BB for 853.00 so I get the BB price and 10 percent of the difference. (also have sears gift cards and some cash to lay down) & with the zero parcent till 05 this works for me.
I posted on this model about 3 wks ago & got about the same responses, I'm gonna check it out and let you know.

 

[Kevin G.]

As an aside; I was under the impression that this was an HDTV is this not the case? Will I still need a de-coder of some sort to get HDTV broadcast? My dvd palyer has progressive scan, will I be able to take advantage of this?

 

[Dan DRC]

Kevin

I am sure this is an HDTV ready set it does not have an HDTV tuner built in. You will need an HDTV tuner
or HD sat. Your Progressive Scan DVD should be fine though.

 

[John S]

You want an OTA Tuner in it?

You should look around some, on closeout deals I have seen lately, on close out stuff the tuner included sets were only about $70 more than comparable models without them.

External ATSC OTA Tuners are available for under $300 now many places.

 

[Kevin_S]

I just purchased a Philips 34' Widescreen. Like someone posted above the picture is fine for DVD's (I don't have HDTV)but the picture quailty of cable is awful. I'm thinking of returning it tonight. It is my understanding from reading through this site that I can’t expect a good cable picture on a 16:9 tv. The majority of my viewing is cable and of that sport, will a RPTV be the better choice for me? I’m new to all of this, thanks for the help.

 

[John S]

Basic cable looks pretty good on my 60" Philips...

But, they do say, on some sets that sort of NTSC just looks poor for sure.

 

[Kevin_S]

Thanks for the reply. I’m unhappy with the tv so I’m going to take it back. Considering that the majority of my viewing is NSTC, am I best off getting an HDTV ready RPTV that is of some size so that when watching in 4:3 I would still get somewhat of a large picture.

 

[John S]

Well Kevin_S, I bought a 60" 4:3 set, with a native 16:9 HDTV mode.

4:3 big screens are getting tough to find, anybody that thinks they are for them, better get one soon.

 

[Kevin_S]

Sorry I'm even confusing myself….. I just want a big screen that has a good picture for NTSC.

 

[Kevin G.]

Okay, I just looked up NTSC, and am still confused.
I did go ahead and order the very TV in this thread wed. night, and am now worried about regular viewing,(thanks guys)
I dont have cable, I have DISH network, let me know if this will be a problem for regular viewing. I don't have an HDTV
reciever for the dish and the recent post by Kevin S makes me a little nervous.

 

[John S]

Kevin_S, you will be hard pressed to find a better/bigger screen for regular 4:3 NTSC stuff period than the Philips 60PP9202 at any price.

And you get awesome 16:9 HDTV too to boot!!

 

[John S]

Kevin G.

Now is the time. An HDTV is upon you... Upgrade your service to HD period. This should solve any issues from that source.

 

[Dan DRC]

Well oddly enough I started this thread and now I think I will back out of this purchase now. I took measurements of the ent center that this unit would need to go into and it is going to be too big.

So now I think my best option would be a 30' 16:9 HDTV ready Toshiba, since it is about 6 inches narrower because of factory speaker locations. So I guess I will try to venture out this weekend and find a Toshiba dealer and see what I think. I know it will cost more but from what I have read so far the Toshiba will perform better with standard T.V. signals and 4:3 material. I will take a look and let you know.