Review: Philips 40PFL8605H

It's been months now since Panasonic, LG and Samsung first launched TVs compatible with the new full HD 3D format.

So it seems rather odd, initially, that Philips, a brand so often associated with the cutting edge of TV technology, should only now be joining the 3D revolution with the 40-inch 40PFL8605.

Philips claims its prolonged 3D abstinence was due to its reluctance to launch a premature 3D product, the implication being that perhaps some of the quicker 3D brands may have rushed things a bit.

Whether this turns out to be true or just marketing spin, of course, will depend entirely on how the 40PFL8605H performs with the Sky 3D broadcasts, 3D Blu-rays and 3D games we're about to throw at it.

The 40PFL8605H has actually been out for quite a while, but crucially only in 2D form.

The necessary 3D bits have been added via the just-released PTA02 3D upgrade kit, which contains a transmitter that connects to the TV, two pairs of active shutter glasses with enough bridges to fit a variety of nose sizes.

This kit will cost you £250, which is not an unreasonable sum when you bear in mind that most brands charge £100 or so just for a pair of active shutter glasses. It does, however, bump an already high price up to £1,750.

The only TVs in Philips' new range that have 3D built in as standard are the upcoming Cinema 21:9 Platinum models; the 8000 and standard 9000 series models all need the external kit.

Philips' lower level 7000 and 5000 TV series aren't 3D capable, though intriguingly they all use LED rather than direct CCFL backlighting technology.

The 5000 series use direct LED lighting with no local dimming; the 7000 series uses edge LED, as does the 8000 series we're looking at here, while the top-level 9000 series use direct LED with local dimming.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first here: the 40PFL8605H does not have a Freeview HD tuner. This is a startling omission on an otherwise feature-packed set.

Philips openly admits that it underestimated the interest in Freeview HD when putting together its 2010 TV range, and has reduced the prices of all its TVs to compensate for its error of judgment.

There's a good chance too, it seems to us, that many potential buyers of the 40PFL8605H will have an external HD source, either a digital recorder with Freeview HD built in, or a Sky HD box.

But it's still a shame that we're going to have to talk about this missing feature every time we review one of Philips' new sets. Just as well, then, that there's enough going on elsewhere for the 40PFL8605H to score top marks for features.

Excellent contrast

The edge LED lighting system driving the 40PFL8605H delivers a very promising claimed contrast ratio of 500,000:1 with the assistance of a dynamic backlight and various contrast processing tools.
The edge LED system also enables a profile that's just 50mm deep at its thickest point.

Its completely flat fascia also sports a tasteful, slender black bezel, with further flourishes coming courtesy of a transparent shroud sitting around the TV's extremities and a smart little silvery metallic protrusion from the centre of the bottom edge containing recessed buttons for manual operation.

Ambilight

Philips has also boosted the 40PFL8605H's aesthetic flare by integrating Ambilight into its slender form, so you can enjoy pools of light from the TV's sides coloured to match, with startling accuracy, the image content.

As well as its aesthetic value, Ambilight is scientifically proven to make long-term viewing less tiring, especially when you're watching a screen capable of such extreme brightness as the 40PFL8605H.

In typical Philips style, the 40PFL8605H is extremely well stocked with connections. Four HDMIs should be enough to satisfy pretty much any digital source list, even one that will have to include a digital HD receiver thanks to the lack of a built-in Freeview HD tuner.

But where the 40PFL8605H really makes its mark is with its multimedia capabilities. These begin with an Ethernet port through which you can either access Philips' NetTV online platform or content stored on a DLNA PC. What's more, Philips goes considerably further than many rivals with both of these Ethernet options.

Its DLNA potential, for instance, is bolstered by compatibility with a really strikingly long list of multimedia file codecs. And its online platform is currently unique (though Sharp and Loewe are going to follow suit) in offering a built-in Opera browser for accessing the internet at large.

Rival brands have so far limited you to online content from service providers with who they've done deals, accessible via operating systems streamlined for TV.

Internet video access

Philips also has a passably well-stocked, ring-fenced online area for anyone who can't be bothered with the inevitably fiddly web address input system. Highlights include Picasa, myalbum.com, YouTube, and a number of subscription content providers, including Box Office 365 and the Cartoon Network.

Two further points need to be made about the Ethernet. First, it can be replaced by Wi-Fi if you add Philips' optional PTA01 USB dongle. Second, rather less happily, it can't be used to access future Freeview HD interactive features for the simple reason that, as mentioned earlier, the 40PFL8605H doesn't have a Freeview HD tuner.

The 40PFL8605H's USB port hinted at back there isn't only used for adding the optional Wi-Fi adaptor; it can also play back lots of multimedia file formats from USB storage devices. And one final very nifty connection is an SD card slot offering storage for video downloaded from NetTV.

The 40PFL8605's other big feature draw is its Perfect Pixel HD Engine video processing. Boasting 500 megapixels of processing power versus, there's not really any part of the picture that this image engine doesn't go to town on. Its most striking results can be seen with motion clarity, general sharpness and colours, but there's plenty more going on.

Some people, of course, are wary of complex processing systems, so Philips has provided a plethora of options through for turning off, on or even adjusting the power of most fine-tuning tools.
It is worth learning your way round these features and revisiting them regularly to ensure you're always getting the best out of the TV, though.

Yet more processing for the 40PFL8605's pictures comes from a 200Hz engine, while other features of note include a light sensor that can adjust the picture settings in response to your ambient light levels, and an 'invisible' speaker system including two woofers on the TV's rear.

Top-end Philips sets usually cake-walk the picture quality section, but the 40PFL8605 is undermined by its hugely disappointing 3D performance.

At first glance it looks really promising. Colours are superbly vibrant and richly saturated once you've got Philips plasticky – but acceptably comfortable – 3D glasses perched on your nose and there's nothing like the extreme reduction in brightness and vibrancy you get with Panasonic's 3D plasmas.

High definition 3D pictures are sharp and detailed, while the combination of 200Hz and Perfect Natural Motion keeps movement smooth.

Poor 3D performance

The main problem is that old 3D LCD chestnut of crosstalk. This materialises when watching alternate frame 3D sources (as opposed to the lower resolution side-by-side format) in the form of secondary 'ghost' images around certain objects in the picture.

All full HD 3D TVs we've seen to date have suffered with this phenomenon to some extent, but the 40PFL8605H displays markedly more than one or two rivals, most particularly Panasonic's 3D TVs.

Its appearance is very common on content with the 40PFL8605H, and appears aggressively enough to make it impossible to ignore. In fact, it frequently leaves the picture looking blurry and indistinct, damaging the very HD-ness of the 3D image that alternate frame technology was designed to preserve.

All of the above concerns seem especially acute for the first hour or two after you turn the TV on - after it's warmed up a little it's slghtly less noticeable.

If you look for crosstalk issues you'll soon find plenty of them; 3D viewing will become frustrating and tiring as your eyes try to resolve the artefacts.

There are a few lesser issues with 3D viewing. The most troubling concerns the reflective nature of the glassy panel that sits across the screen. This means that if you have a bit of ambient light in your room, you can see reflections of objects in your room sitting flat across the front of the 3D pictures, creating a rather confusing viewing experience.

You'll really need to make your room as dark as possible when watching 3D.

We'd extend this recommendation to 2D viewing, as reflections can also have a negative effect if you have any light shining directly onto the screen (although this isn't nearly as distracting as it can be with 3D).

Our other small 3D issues are that the depth of field feels rather limited on the 40PFL8605H, possibly in part because of the crosstalk; that the picture reduces in brightness considerably if you tilt your head to an angle and that for us, a 40in screen just doesn't feel big enough to create a truly immersive three-dimensional experience.

This latter issue, of course, isn't really the 40PFL8605H's fault, and there will be plenty of people out there who just can't countenance a bigger screen in their home.

2D performance

Frustratingly, the 40PFL8605H's 2D performance is exceptional. Black level response is particularly outstanding for edge LED, with dark scenes getting rendered with startlingly little evidence of the grey clouding that troubles so many rival edge LED and CCFL LCD TVs.

Also impressive is how consistent the 40PFL8605H's brightness is across the screen, with none of the extra-bright 'hot spots' we have so often seen with edge LED technology.

Making this black level depth and consistency all the more impressive is the set's high brightness level. In other words, the TV is not having to damp down its light output as far as might be expected to produce its excellent black colours.

The 40PFL8605H's colours are terrific too; exceptionally vibrant, yet also totally credible in tone and replete with the sort of blend subtleties and tonal range that sometimes eludes such aggressive pictures.

Philips' heavy-duty processing systems have long been renowned for their ability to make standard and hi-def pictures look remarkably sharp and detailed and the 40PFL8605H continues this fine tradition. Crucially, though, the Perfect Pixel HD system does so without generating nearly as many of the grain and edge over-emphasis issues that have plagued earlier, less powerful processing systems.

Motion handling

More controversial is the powerful motion processing that's also part of the Perfect Pixel HD engine. This reduces both judder and motion blur to an unmatched degree, but in doing so can generate some distracting other side effects if you leave the processing set too high.

Plus, some people just don't like having the judder taken out of their pictures, especially when watching films.

The good news here is that the motion processing system delivers its benefits while generating precious few side effects, provided that you don't use the highest settings. Or, of course, you can turn the motion processing off totally if you just can't get along with it.

The only complaints we can raise about the 40PFL8605H's 2D pictures are that you need to use some of the many adjustments contained within its extensive onscreen menus with care if you don't want to introduce artefacts, softness or noise and that you can see a slightly offset double image if you have to watch from a wide angle.

This reminds us of a similar phenomenon noted with Panasonic plasmas, and we suspect it's caused by the addition of the extra glass panel that sits across the TV's fascia.

The 40PFL8605H's sound is unusually good for a very slim TV. And the reasons for this are visible as soon as you look at the TV's rear and spot a pair of cheeky, rear-facing woofers. These work in tandem with angled tweeters in the TV's frame to produce a soundstage that combines harshness-free treble detail with a credible, distortion-free and open mid-range. There's even a bit of genuine bass rumble too, which works wonders with action movies.

Philips makes no bones about the fact that it's more focused on the premium end of the TV market these days. We have no problem with this so long as the brand continues to make TVs that look better, perform better and offer more features than the vast majority of other TVs out there.

However, in today's market it's hard to shake the feeling that £1,500 is pushing it a little for a 2010 TV with no Freeview HD tuner and where you have to spend another £250 to enjoy its 3D capabilities, especially when those 3D capabilities are pretty underwhelming.

Ease of use

It's nearly impossible for a TV as packed with features and adjustments as the 40PFL8605H to bag a perfect score for ease of use. We also found ourselves wishing Philips at least did an optional keyboard to make surfing the Internet less fiddly.

However, considering how much it's got going on, the 40PFL8605H's onscreen menus are clear and quite well organised. It also has an ace up its sleeve in the form of its remote control.

This is a radical departure from anything Philips has employed before, combining a gorgeous and comfortable elliptical, metallic-finished design with a startling dearth of buttons. It's hard to believe that so few buttons can possibly work, but it feels completely natural and never leaves you wanting for anything.

The only thing we might have liked to find on the remote that isn't there is a dedicated 3D button to take you straight to the option where you have to manually set the TV's 3D mode to side by side for viewing Sky's 3D channel. But then the TV is only 2D capable straight out of its box.

Even without the high expectations, Philips' 40PFL8605H is a bit of a disappointment. The amount of crosstalk interference its 3D images suffer is evident and distracting, especially until the TV has properly warmed up. And so once again we're left turning to Panasonic's 3D plasma TVs - for all their reduced brightness.

The good news is that if you're not interested in 3D, the 40PFL8605H is an excellent 2D performer, with terrific contrast, colours and sharpness. It's a little complicated to get the best out of the TV, and the glassy screen Philips has put across the fascia causes a couple of minor issues. But if you can afford it, the 40PFL8605H is arguably the best 2D edge LED TV we've seen to date.

We liked:

The 40PFL8605H is a very pretty TV indeed, with its slim profile and glossy presentation. It's also superbly well connected, catering for an exemplary amount of potential multimedia needs as well as the more prosaic video stuff.

Ambilight is always useful, the sheer picture processing power at your disposal is amazing and the lengths to which Philips has gone to make the fine-tuning options accessible is admirable.

The 40PFL8605H's contrast and black level performance is exceptional by edge LED standards, too. In fact, its whole 2D performance, with HD and standard def, is frequently a joy to behold.

The set even manages to sound respectable, which is really rare for such a self-consciously slender TV.

We disliked:

The £1,500 price tag is intimidating for a 40in TV, especially one that doesn't have a Freeview HD tuner.

The slight reflectivity and double imaging caused by the glass screen plate is marginally annoying too, but really in performance terms the only thing that really troubles us is the crosstalk noise with 3D.

Verdict:

The 40PFL8605Hs is another 3D TV that's proving difficult to reach a satisfying conclusion about. The thing is, in its standard state it's only a 2D TV, and as such it's largely beyond reproach aside from, inevitably, having to say it's a bit expensive.

Add its 3D features - for an extra £250 - though, and its appeal diminishes considerably thanks to its inability to deal satisfyingly with crosstalk noise.

If you're not in the least bothered by 3D, then the crosstalk issue will be of zero significance to you and you can just happily buy a 40PFL8605H safe in the knowledge that you've potentially bought the current state of the picture quality art where edge LED is concerned. But if you hold even the slightest thought of 'going 3D' at some point, then the 40PFL8605H's shortcomings in that area just can't be ignored.