Inputs and more inputs …
I’ve gone over this so many times, I should know it by heart … in fact, I should just cut and paste the features listings from the DNM and DNM Pro reviews, with a few modifications! I can’t; besides, the on-screen display for the Pixel Plus has undergone a revamp from previous models, so although the controls on the provided remote handset are generally unchanged, the interface is slightly different.
First, let’s look at the rear array of inputs. The RF antenna is a given; AV1 comes with S-Video and composite; AV1 with composite only; AV3 and AV4 are component digital high definition video inputs (the former has an additional RGB receptacle), meaning they’ll only work with DVD players or other sources with Progressive Scan; finally, at the side, there’s one more set of inputs, with S-Video. Naturally, all channels come with a pair of RCA audio inputs.
Additionally, you get a set of monitor (AV) outputs, stereo audio outputs and surround speaker connectors, the last two, to avail yourself of the TV’s onboard Dolby Pro-Logic Surround feature (this has various modes too, depending on your set-up).
The main pitch here is the picture setting – you have a choice of flicker-free 100Hz digital scan, Pixel Plus and Double Line. Pixel Plus claims to provide almost high-definition performance; it increases the number of lines, doubles the pixels and works in conjunction with Philips’ Digital Natural Motion to enhance broadcast and DVD input signals in the areas of sharpness, depth, definition and detail. Double Line – as the name implies – multiplies twice the vertical and horizontal resolution.
Then, of course, there are the numerous other goodies – dual-screen and multi Picture-In-Picture, active controls, picture format, teletext (who uses this nowadays?), sound and picture settings to suit your personal tastes, 60 watts of audio power from the three onboard speakers and single subwoofer, and a remote that allows you to control other Philips products.
The styling of the Pixel Plus, although not wholly original, is another departure from recent models – the curved top edge of the tube frame is softer on the eye. Before even getting to performance, I would say that the features, cosmetics and on-screen menus are the best Philips has turned out thus far, marking perhaps the apex of the CRT RealFlat TV’s evolution.
So natural
If it seems as though you’ve heard the spiel below in the past, perhaps it’s because you have – every generation of flat-screen direct-view TV has promised to be the last word in cutting-edge image resolution. The Pixel Plus, however, has been getting me more calls about its performance than any other TV – friends and relatives have, in the past few months, been calling up to ask me what I thought of it, because it blew them away when they saw it at a shop, alongside A.N. Other brand TV … hmm, interesting.
Anyway, a few weeks of viewing allowed me to get familiar with the menus and picture, using a regular diet of satellite, terrestrial TV and DVD. From the start, the Pixel Plus, like its predecessors, produced smooth and well-balanced images. There’s a Pixel Plus button on the remote that splits the image vertically, allowing you to sample the improvements of this tweak. When this feature is in operation, the differences are more than subtle – smoother edge definition and detail, increased background resolution and unforced contrast … all this comes with the minimum of fuss.
An evening with Joe Kane’s Video Essentials allowed me to tweak the “Personal” picture option to as close as I could to optimum settings for Contrast, Brightness, Colour, Tint and Sharpness … done with low ambient light and no artificial lighting. Once I’d got the settings worked out and so long as the rooms lights were off, viewing was an untiring experience – no saturation of colour, no bleeding, lovely highlight detail, and one of the most competent renderings of moving objects I’ve seen on a 29-inch TV.
A DVD copy of Mars Attacks! (original, I must stress) was put into play – now, this is one movie in which the lighting can be absolutely garish and kaleidoscopic in many places, and breathtakingly scenic at others. Staying with ideal lighting conditions, the effect was less intrusive to the senses – in fact, I began to casually (and this is true with other material I used) pick up nuances I would have normally passed by, because they’re subtly pervasive on the Pixel Plus.
Switch on the lights, and one realises why Philips (and other TV manufacturers) set most of the picture tuning parameters very high – the Personal mode became almost dull in these conditions, making me opt for Natural or Rich, the latter allowing for more striking colours and increasing clarity of images. In fact, with the fluorescent lights on, I suspect most of us would set the Smart Picture switch to Rich … sure, the colours especially will seem more than they should be, but at least, they’re even and not over-saturated.
In fact, even in such conditions, you can’t help but notice how immensely detailed the picture is, with an increase sense of depth of field. You have to look for this to notice how efficient the Pixel Plus is – otherwise, the effect is so much part of the whole picture that you need to do a comparison using the switch to notice how much more detail you’re getting.
Oh, yes, picture apart, this TV’s great on sound too … lots of punch and clarity, although I thought a bit more power would have been nice.
There is more?
Well, what more can I say, other than observing that it gets better with each step. This, as popular opinion would have it, is the best 29-inch flat in the market currently and, despite the asking price, has earned itself an enviable reputation.
If the 29-inch size appears puny to you, Mind-blowing, and I want to get my hands on one of those.
Ironically, during the final stages of this review, news arrived that there will be a Pixel Plus 2 range coming out next year. It never ends. Well, maybe I’m still game for sitting through another Star Trek movie!