Any opinions on Ambilight?

oxygen

Hey, anyone have an opinion on Philips Ambilight? I think the idea seems like it would be a good idea, but a few online things said its just distracting?

Its not promising that philips seemed to have ditched it as well. I was looking at the Philips series 7000 37 inch in the shop. It looks cool, but Id hate to buy it and just end up turning off ambilight after a couple of weeks

Rob2D

Just another gimmick if you ask me. I mean, how could it possibly be useful?

Idleater

I have a pfl9 series for over 2 years now, and yes, I thought the ambilight was a gimmick. The OH certainly thought it was a gimmick.

However, after the two years, I find it a great addition and notice tv's that don't have it. It's one of those things that while you most certainly can do without, once you have it, you actually see what it does.

The image borders are more fluid if you get me. I have it flat against a wall so the colour is around the screen for a good 20-30 cm. If it is tucked in a corner or away from the wall it may not work as well.

Would I specifically use it as a must have feature? no, but the screen itself is pretty excellent so it is a nice side benefit.

The next panel I get will be the 2.35:1 one

oxygen

Yea,thats the other thing,my tv's not against the wall,its in a corner,dont know will that loose effectiveness.
Do you think its worth the price difference for the series with 3 strips with one on the top rather than 2 at the side?

Idleater

Mine has the two at the sides, and I think its fine. Wouldn't know the difference between 2 and 3, but the full ambilight is amazing.

If its any use, I really like the Philips screens. Granted, I run everything bar upc through an avp, but 1080p is excellent.

What model no. are you looking at?

mcwhirter

I recently bought philips 8664, first impressions are great.

oxygen

Idleater wrote: »

Mine has the two at the sides, and I think its fine. Wouldn't know the difference between 2 and 3, but the full ambilight is amazing.

If its any use, I really like the Philips screens. Granted, I run everything bar upc through an avp, but 1080p is excellent.

What model no. are you looking at?

I was looking the a 37inch series 7000. Its not cheap, at nearly 950 in store
http://www.philips.ie/c/televisions/7000-series-philips-37-inch-full-hd-1080p-digital-tv-37pfl7605h_05/prd/

Idleater

oxygen_temp wrote: »

I was looking the a 37inch series 7000. Its not cheap, at nearly 950 in store

Looks like the LED and newer version of mine (9603). IMO the quality of the picture and the screen is worth it. But I'm definitely a sucker for form over function and the screen looks fantastic with the simple outline amongst my other equipment such as speakers etc. When I was buying the Sony's k and Samsung 5 series were top of the feature spec tables, but I'm glad I stuck with the Philips as the other designs were either bulkier, had unnecessary lines or that red coloured glass that just wouldn't look right in my room. The features I actually use like Network DLNA, raw 1080p "unscaled" images (i.e. no image processing) were most important to me. The service from the Philips Store in Dublin was excellent too.

Having said all that, it is your money so at the end of the day, yes you can probably get a 1080p screen that does basically the same for a less, and I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. All I can say is I'm happy with the screen, the ambilight, the features, the overall quality and experience.