Anyone have a Philips tv with Ambilight?

[Citadel535]

I am looking into getting a hdtv lcd tv and I get a discount with Philips due to where I work. I was wondering if anyone has Ambilight and how they like it. It is almost $200 more for the Ambilight models so I wonder if its worth it. Any feedback if you have an ambilight tv would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MX2]

gimmicky and lame from what I saw. It was actually distracting...to me anyway.

 

[Slick5150]

A friend of mine has one. I wouldn't pay $200 extra for it, but it does serve its intended purpose of giving a sense of a bigger screen in a way.

 

[kalrith]

Here's a thread at avsforum on bias lighting or backlighting, which is what Phillips ambilight is. You can add backlighting to any plasma, and it's not that expensive. Here's the one I'm planning to get for my future plasma purchase, and it's only $50.

And to those stating it's a gimmick, it is not. Some people don't care for it, but for those who do not like to watch TV in total darkness, backlighting is a much better alternative than having a lamp on that will reflect off the screen and/or wash out the picture. I plan on getting one, because it strains my wife's eyes to watch TV in the dark.

 

[iRONic]

The Ideal Lume I put behind my 50" DLP is excellent.

Read the thread at AVS that kalrith linked.

 

[nboy22]

I have a 37" Philips Ambilight, I pulled it from craigslist for 900 bucks, immaculate condition, only owned for about 3 months.


I LOVE it.. Ambilight is very cool. Everyone that says it is a gimmick has only seen it in stores, but when you bring it home, place it near or attach it to the wall with a wall mount, Ambilight is one of the best features I have seen in a TV.. Not to mention this particular model is an LCD and has 6000:1 contrast ratio, which is very good for the black levels. The blacks are about as black as the trim itself.

I always go over to my aunt's house or my friends house who have Vizios or Olevias and I laugh at how washed out the screen looks at 1000:1 contrast ratio.

I'm willing to bet that 90% of the people that say it's a gimmick have never owned an ambilight tv, and have only seen it in stores.

PROS:

- When your room is completely dark and you have the tv positioned correctly against the wall, the ambilight is amazing and you learn to focus on the screen instead of the ambilight. At first your eyes are going to want to check out the ambilights, but that's only normal. Once you grow used to it you'll think it's cool.

- Black levels on my particular model are outstanding, much better than that of cheaper makes/models.

- Screen is nice and sharp

- My make/model actually has a triple tuner.. I believe it's NTSC/ATSC/QAM, and it can receive unencrypted HDTV channels (this detail is very minor, most of the HDTV channels are only on a digital subscriber box.

- Very Sleek looking, Philips tvs actually have a sleek looking design that can be comparable to that of Samsung.

- You can actually switch off the ambilight or select different display modes for the ambilight using the remote


CONS:

- Mine is only 720p/1080i, but they do make 1080p models. I can only imagine the 1080p model, that would be a complete eyegasm.

- Also, the inputs on the back seem to be lacking a lot.. I don't think mine has Vga/Dvi, and only has 1 HDMI. That can be easily solved by dropping another 60-100 bucks on a HDMI switch.

- Another huge con about my particular model (and most likely the rest) is that the sound is lacking horribly. It probably has some of the most dry sounds I've ever heard on a tv. This is where my Logitech Z-5500 comes into play and I'm very happy how that turned out.



Overall, it is a pretty amazing tv and I don't regret purchasing it at all. The main things you will need to most likely get once purchasing a Philips TV is a surround sound system, and possibly a few converter cables and an HDMI switch if you plan to hook up your computer to the tv as well as another HDMI source.