Also available in 40- and 55in, the
46in 7007 is two steps down from Philip’s flagship 9707 Smart 3DTV. It’s a
beauty to behold, with a thin 5mm metal bezel and a smart wedge stand that
doubles as a wall mount.
This active-shutter 3DTV Is LED edge-lit,
with a Freeview HD tuner and Wi-Fi. Philips’ signature Ambilight technology
lights up your wall with colours to match the onscreen action. A healthy array
of ports includes five HDMI inputs.
The Smart TV button presents a thumbnail of
the video source and icons for a currently limited selection of online
services, including BBC iPlayer, YouTube, TED Talks, eBay and MeteoGroup.
Philips
7000 Series 46PFL7007
There’s Twitter and Facebook integration, a
web browser and Skype, which requires a $150 PTA317 webcam. The camera combines
noise-cancelling mics with a decent wide-angle view.
The bundled remote doesn’t need to be in
the line of sight to be effective. Flip it over and you’ll find a split Qwerty
keyboard that’s comfortable enough to use with your thumbs.
The Philips MyRemote mobile app for iOS and
Android adds other nifty features. Simply Share displays photos, music and
videos from your phone or tablet on the TV, although it didn’t work with our
iPad. There’s also a programme guide, which is arguably easier to browse than
the version found on the TV itself. Cleverly, you simply tap on a show to
switch to that channel on the TV.
The 7007 supports a variety of video-,
photo- and music formats, both via its three USB ports and across your network.
The menus for playing media are nippy and
easy to navigate. Connect a flash drive or hard disk and the media player will
automatically fire up, allowing you to select the type of media you’re after at
the top of the screen. It’s then a case of navigating to a particular folder
and playing the contents.
The
menus for playing media are nippy and easy to navigate.
It’s great to see MKV support, along with
AVI, MP4, Mpeg and WMV.
With a 32GB-plus flash drive inserted you
can pause live TV; recording requires a 250GB-plus disk. The system is
unwieldy, though: you can’t pause or rewind while recording, nor can you watch
another source.
The 46PFL7007 has a 200Hz panel, but its
semi-gloss finish is reflective. The detail levels are incredible. From
Blu-ray, you can see blades of grass on a football pitch, individual hairs in
cat fur and every last blemish on a model’s face. The picture is so sharp, it
feels as though the action is happening right in front of you. Motion
resolution is another strength, with moving images remaining in sharp focus.
The
use of this tech enables the 3D specs (of which there is sadly only one pair in
the box) to enter two-player full screen gaming mode.
The contrast is excellent, provided that
you’re sitting directly in front of the screen. Blacks are deep and convincing,
but affected as you move your head. Narrow viewing angles mean colour
saturation drops off, even at 45 degrees; blacks look bluish and faces go
corpse-like. Colours also appear to invert.
The backlight is even, although tiny dark
patches were evident in the bottom corners of our sample.
You get one pair of 3D specs in the box.
The 3D quality is good, with little perceptible crosstalk, but active-shutter
glasses make other light sources in sight flicker.
The EPG consumes almost the entire screen,
and cuts the picture and sound. The rest of the time, the speakers built into
the base deliver loud, decent-quality audio.
The
rare good looks continue on the hardware itself. Its slender design achieves a
depth of 29.8mm (1.2 inches) and the slinky brushed aluminum bezel is a mere
5mm (0.2 inches)
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Details
·
Price: $2,250 inc VAT
·
Contact:www. philips.com
Specification
·
1920x1080
·
450cd/m2
·
Stereo speakers with 2x 20W amplifier
·
Freeview HD
·
802.11n
·
Ethernet
·
3x USB 2/0
·
5x HDM
·
Scartl
·
1,042x599x30mm
·
14kg
Verdict
·
Viewing angles are restrictive and the screen
is reflective, but the Philips’ image is searingly sharp and its 3D is
impressive.
·
Build: 3.5/5
·
Features: 4.5/5
·
Performance: 4/5
·
Value: 4/5
·
Overall: 4/5
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