Among the main producers of televisions in the USA, there is certainly Philips, which is present in the shops of the old continent (and not only those) with a very wide range of TVs destined for various price ranges: from TV monitors for less than 30 inches to UltraHD TVs with Smart features and OLED screens. In short, there is really something for all tastes and needs, and it is precisely for this reason that it is very difficult to choose one.
If you have also decided to buy a Philips TV but you are not sure which model to choose, let me help you in the selection and help you find the TVs that are most suitable for you. How? Simple, providing you with all the information you need to correctly evaluate the characteristics of a TV and proposing you a series of Philips models that currently offer the best value for money.
What do you say, then? Do you want to continue? If your answer is yes, take five minutes of free time, take a look at the information I am about to give you and find out which Philips TV model is best suited to your needs. I bet you won’t struggle to find one. Happy reading and have fun!
How to choose a Philips TV
To find the right Philips TV for you, you need to learn to distinguish and evaluate various technical characteristics. Here they are all in detail.
Panel type: LCD, LED, OLED
The first feature to look at on the television is the technology on which it is based. LCD LED televisions use liquid crystal technology ( Liquid Crystal Display ) for the surface that contains the pixel matrix – which determines the color of each portion of the image – and LED ( Light Emitting Diode ) technology, with a diode that emits light. ) for the backlight. Televisions of this type guarantee low consumption, can be very thin, and generally reproduce rather natural colors. Some LED TVs support a technology called local dimming which allows control of the backlighting in zones (instead of in a single block) and therefore allows a better rendering of the contrasts in various points of the same image.
LED televisions are an evolution of LCD-only televisions, which, using fluorescent lamps for the backlight, are generally thicker and with higher energy consumption than those that use LEDs for the backlight. To date, only a few TV monitors and some cheap TVs are based on LCD-only technology; the rest of the TVs are almost all based on LCD LED technology or OLED technology.
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology is the most advanced of all. There is no backlight and, therefore, ensures very deep blacks and a very high contrast ratio. It also guarantees reduced energy consumption compared to LCD / LED technologies. This is because each pixel is able to emit its own light and turn off individually, consequently, the blacks are given by the real turning off of the pixels and not by a limitation of the backlighting of the TV that generates the black color. But it’s not all plain sailing! OLED TVs are indeed superior to LEDs in terms of contrast and consumption, but they lack a bit in the fidelity of colors (which are often too charged) and in the price, which is still exaggeratedly high compared to that of LED TVs.
To summarize: LCD televisions are now outdated (like plasma ones, which by now is also useless to mention); those LCD LEDs represent the best choice in terms of value for money, while the OLED ones are certainly more impact but still cost too much.
Diagonal, resolution and curvature
Once you have identified the type of TV to buy (LCD, LED, or OLED), you need to make two other important choices: those related to the size of the TV and its resolution.
As for the size of the TV, therefore the size of the diagonal of the screen, which is expressed in inches, there is not much to say: you have to choose according to your tastes and the space you have at home. The only thing I can tell you is that televisions over 40 ″ are quite “demanding” and to be fully enjoyed they must be watched from a distance of at least 2-3 meters. Furthermore, a very large TV tends to “degrade” the image quality if the source does not have a very high resolution.
The resolution, on the other hand, is expressed in pixels and is the one that indicates the number of points that make up the image displayed on the screen. Higher-resolution equates to sharper screen images, but only as long as the image source has a high resolution. Buying a television that has a very high resolution and only watching television broadcasts in standard resolution (like most Italian digital terrestrial broadcasts) does not make much sense.
The most popular resolutions are as follows: HD Ready (1280 × 720 pixels or 1366 × 768 pixels), Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels), Ultra HD / 4K (3840 × 2160 pixels), and UltraHD / 8K (7680 × 4320). The TVs that currently offer the best value for money are Full HD and some Ultra HD / 4K models. The HD Ready is now outdated, while the UltraHD / 8K, the most expensive on the market, remains useful only in the future. Currently, in fact, if we exclude the latest generation video game consoles (eg PS5 or Xbox Series X) and some streaming services that offer UltraHD content (eg Netflix ), UltraHD / 8K content is still very few.
In addition to the size and resolution, the curvature of the TV must also be evaluated, which can be flat, therefore flat, or curved. Curved televisions are designed to give the viewer greater involvement, but let me tell you, they only make sense if they are very large and if viewed from the right distance and angle. In fact, they penalize the side view compared to flat televisions. I recommend them only if you plan to buy a nice big TV and you have the possibility to put yourself at the right distance and angle from it.
Quantum Dot e HDR
Among the hottest technologies of the moment, in terms of televisions, there are Quantum Dot and HDR. The Quantum Dot is a type of backlighting of LED televisions that uses microcrystals for a more precise rendering of colors. Its operation provides that the microcrystals are illuminated with a ray of blue light, which allows a greater number of colors to be reproduced on the TV.
HDR (High Dynamic Range), on the other hand, is a technology that ensures the reproduction of a wider range of lights and shadows, a factor that increases the level of detail in both lighter and darker scenes. There are several HDR technologies that can be implemented in televisions, the most popular ones are called HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Then there is the HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) technology which allows televisions to receive HDR and SDR programs (therefore with standard dynamic range) in the same video stream.
Smart TV and operating system
Today everything is Smart, including televisions. Smart TVs differ from traditional televisions in their Internet support and the ability to install apps on them. Thanks to the apps, you can access streaming services such as Netflix, news applications, weather, social networks, and much more. In addition, the network support allows you to easily access files (videos, photos, or music) located on the NAS, network hard disk, or computer connected to the local network.
Philips Smart TVs (as well as any other brand) may have Wi-Fi connectivity or wired network support only. In the latter case, they must be connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable or using a USB Wi-Fi adapter.
The operating system plays a fundamental role in Smart TVs. According to the operating system installed on the TV, in fact, there is a more or less wide range of apps and more or less convenient management of functions. Philips Smart TVs almost all use the Android Smart TV system, which is the living room version of the well-known operating system for smartphones and tablets. This OS guarantees a well-stocked store with all the streaming services of the moment and with 5000 applications. The less expensive televisions, however, are equipped with the Saphi operating system which still offers a smart system but is much smaller and less upgradeable than Android.
The most “important” ports are the HDMI ports, through which it is possible to connect to the television decoder, video game console, TV Box, computer, and other devices, and the USB ones, through which it is possible to connect (and power) flash drives, hard drives, and other peripherals. It should be noted that to use 4K Blu-Ray players and other UltraHD devices, you need to have HDMI 2.0 ports. As for the USB ports, it should be said that the latter can allow the playback of multimedia files and, on some models, even the recording of TV programs on peripherals such as hard drives and flash drives.
Other inputs and outputs that may be useful are the Common interface Plus (CI +) slot, for installing CAM for digital terrestrial pay-TV (eg Xfinity ); the optical audio output, to connect receivers or external audio systems; the classic headphone jack, and SCART socket to connect old devices to the TV.