I am an unabashedly loyal Philips customer. Wanted to buy the Philips 32PFL5609 model LCD TV. Imagine my surprise when all the stores I visited(E-Zone, Girias, Pai) did not have one Philips LCD TV on display. Each one of them told me that Philips TVs are no longer available in the market.
I bought the Samsung 32 inch 5 Series television last week from Pai Electronics, RT Nagar, Bangalore. Did quite a bit of research on which LCD TV to buy for the past 2-3 weeks. Scouted a couple of shops and finally hone in on 2 choices. LG 32LG80FR and Samsung 5 Series(530 and 550).
The LG model(Jazz series) comes with more features like USB with DivX support, higher Sound output(500W v/s 200W of Samsung) and more free stuff like Free DVD player and 50 free movies. Almost had decided on LG but then did one final comparison test of the visuals b/w LG and Samsung. Asked the saleman to set Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness on both sets to same values(50, 50, 75 respectively) and saw that the Samsung set showed much better picture than LG. LG has a weird glaze on the screen which kind of put me off. Samsung had much vibrant colors and was able to show moving fast action scenes better.
The final nail was the price. Samsung was available at total cost(including tax) of Rs. 32000 whereas LG was priced at Rs. 34700. This was the exchange price for a 4 yr old Philips 29 inch flat screen tv. Got only Rs 2500 for that. Its been only a week or so but I am satisfied with the performance of the TV. Yet to test Laptop to TV connectivity because that is how I used to watch DVDs and movies with my earlier TV. Note that the new TVs(at least the LCD models) no longer come with S-Video connectivity so I have to get new cables to connect from Laptop to TV.
Why I did not chose Samsung LA32B550K1R: Not much difference between the two. Higher contrast ratio(70000:1 in the 550 model v/s 60000:1 in the 530 model). 550 has got some thing called Crystal Display, more HDMI connections(4 in 550 v/s 3 in 530). Exchange Price was about Rs. 4000 more.
A note about the dealers: Most responsive was the Pai Electronics salesman called Prasad. He explained differences between LG/Samsung models. He also demonstrated each TV features. I made multiple visits to the shop and each time he did a decent job. Next was a guy in E-Zone, Hebbal. Not sure about his name. He patiently explained features of all TVs I was interested in and seemed knowledgable about different features. But, they were charging Rs. 36000 for the Samsung 530 TV. Girias saleman was ok but price was an issue. Unilet Outlet in Sahakaranagar and Viveks in RT Nagar were just not interested in selling while Next in RT Nagar was ok but not much choice.
All things considered, I think Samsung was a good buy. Hopefully, Philips will be back some day. Well, some things in life should not change.
Update on Oct 24th, 2009: Changed Picture Quality and Value for Money ratings to 4 stars from 3 stars.
ks18: Did look at the Philips Website but assumed that these big name Retailers would have Philips in stock.
hellomodak: My Cable Service provider(local fellow and not Tata Sky, Airtel, Big etc) gives me a Digital TV connection. I have compared picture quality b/w Branded providers and local providers and do not see much difference. Yet to connect my DVD player(which I got free with the TV) to see DVD quality. Will see if I can do it this week and update the review.
Update on Nov 16th, 2009: Managed to connect laptop to TV using 15-pin VGA to VGA port cable. I have a Ubuntu(Linux variant) laptop so was worried about setup challenges. But it worked like a charm. The TV did something called "Auto-Adjustment" and recognized the external Video input. Haven’t tried the DVD playing yet. Will get to it soon and update this review.
sensan44: I think deals are run by companies in different regions. You might have missed out on a DVD player and paid Rs. 1000 more but I still think you got a decent price.