A Philips 50 Inch Projection Television / Big Screen TV for less than $1,000???
Written: Jan 05 '04 (Updated Mar 17 '04)
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Pros: lots of features, clear picture, awesome sound, easy to hookup
Cons: only gives a 30 day warranty for the Projection Television
The Bottom Line: This Philips Projection 50P8341 Television offers a great picture, awesome sound, dual remote for less than $1,000. Philips is a name you can trust.
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| wifeofvolsfan's Full Review: Philips 50P8341 50 in. TV |
We saved our money for about a year for a big screen TV. I think a lot of men think this is a requirement now for watching football games and NASCAR. My husband is no different. We had a friend refer the Philips Projection 50P8341 Big Screen Television to us and after shopping around we decided to purchase the same television that he has. We have been very happy with our purchase.
The television comes packaged in one box. Since the television is connected to the base it would not be able to be packaged in two boxes. It weighs 170 pounds so it is much easier if you have two people to unload it.
Features:
Audio/Video Jack Panel - allows you to hook up your VCRs, DVDs or other accessory items.
Audio Volume Leveler (AVL) control - keeps your sound at an even level. It helps to keep the commercials or program changes at a more even level.
AutoChron - sets the time for you and keeps it even during power outages and changes it with Daylight Savings Time
AutoLock- block your children from watching certain stations
Auto Program - scans for available channels from regular antenna or cable signals and stores only active stations in the TV memory
AutoPicture - is where you can push a button to make your TV picture adapt to various types of programming such as sports or movies
AutoSound - is where you can pick from three factory-set controls and a personal control that you can set according to your own preferences through an onscreen sound menu. The three factory-set controls are Voice, Music and Theatre.
Bass Boost - increases your bass sound
Channel Edit - makes it where you can add or delete channels from the list stored in the TV’s memory.
Closed Captioning - allows the viewer to read what is said across the TV (great for the deaf or those trying to learn English)
Dynamic Noise Reduction (DNR) – helps eliminate broadcast signal noise, which are specks in the picture
Image Max - sharpens the picture for you by making the dark areas darker and the light areas lighter
Incredible Sound - boosts the TV’s sound, making it broader and fuller
Infrared Remote Control works on your TV as well other items such as VCR, DVD, cable converters or satellite receivers
On-screen menu - shows instructions for adjusting your TV (can be seen in English, French or Spanish)
Sleep Timer - turns off the TV after a certain amount of time that you program in
Standard Broadcast (VHF/UHF) or Cable TV (CATV) - where you can use an antenna or cable
Stereo - built in amplifier and twin speaker system
Surf Button - where you can program in channels of interest to you and then find them quicker
Timer - you can program the TV to turn itself on and off once a day like an alarm clock
Two Tuners (A & B) - where you can connect two different broadcast signals to your TV at the same time (picture in picture)
This Philips Projection TV can by connected to the current analog television as well as the upcoming digital source products. It included multiple signal connectors (Component Video, S-Video, and Composite Video) which you can use for digital set-top boxes, satellite receivers, cable boxes and other digital items. There may be some digital devices that won’t connect with this television it should be able to handle the biggest part of the products to come.
What’s included with this television?
~ Directions for use
~ Safety Tip Information
~ Factory Service Center Locations
~ Warranty Registration Card
~ Remote Control
~ Batteries for Remote Control
Remote Control:
The remote is much bigger than what I am used to. It measures 9 inches in length and 2 inches across. The remote can be used for other accessory devices such as: VCRs, cable TV converter boxes, satellite receivers, DVD players and laser disc players. It gives you a whole list of VCR brand remote codes and Cable Converter brand remote codes. It gives you simple instructions for adding these items to your remote.
The remote control has the following buttons: TV, VCR, ACC, PIP, Power, Sound, Cursor Ring, Status/Exit, Volume Buttons, Number Buttons, A/CH (previous channel), Clear, A/V Button, Timer, Picture, Menu, Channel Scan, Mute, Surf, Sleep, Program List, Closed Captioning, Incredible Surround and Back Light.
Measurements:
The television itself is 34 ¾” tall. The base is 23 ½” tall for a total of 58” tall with the television including the wheels. The base measures 42 ½” across. The television is attached to the base, which houses the speakers. From the back of our wall to the front of the television there is 2 feet. There is plenty of room on top of the television for the VCR/DVD combo to sit on.
Warranty:
The television comes with a 30-day warranty. This is a 30-day warranty for free labor, free service on parts and on cathode ray tube parts. For the other models that aren't Projection televisions the warranty is for one year. The product can be repaired in-home.
Questions for Philips?
1-800-661-6162 (French)
1-800-363-7278 (English)
My thoughts:
We are very happy with our television. The instruction manual that came with the television is very easy to use and understand. It gives step-by-step instructions with diagrams showing you how. All through the book are "Smart Help” tips that give you a little extra information.
If you want to use the picture-in-picture you will need to buy a two-way signal splitter. Those run $20 so we decided to wait on that because I doubt we will ever use the picture in picture. Personally I think they should include the two-way splitter when you buy the television.
The television was easy to set up. It took maybe 5 minutes to get it where we could watch it. All my husband had to do was hook up the cable, plug in the television and get the VCR/DVD hooked up. It was a cinch.
You set up everything else such as the color, brightness, sharpness, etc. through the remote. When you get everything hooked up you need to use the remote to change the setting to cable instead of antenna if you are using cable. This took us a few minutes to figure out because we hadn’t read the book all the way through. So for a little while we only had channels 2-11. We knew we had to get it figured out because we have so many more channels than that. When we were switching the setting to cable everything came through fine. I especially love the step-by-step instructions in the instruction manual. You can’t get any easier than this. They tell you how to do things and make it so simple that even my 9 year old could do it without problems.
The picture is great. It is very clear and the colors and bright and vivid. Some of the big screen televisions I’ve seen appear blurry. This one does not. I really like the feature where you can make the dark colors darker and the light colors lighter. I set that up through the remote and it automatically does that. When you are used to watching a 22” television it is hard to get used to watching a 50" screen. When I first started watching it I felt almost like I was seasick. I felt sick to my stomach. After watching it for awhile I got used to it and it doesn’t bother me now. I love watching it now. It’s amazing how much more detail you can see than on a small TV.
The sound is incredible. When you are going from not having stereo to having this you can really notice a huge difference. We have ours set on the Incredible Surround. My husband thinks this television is awesome for watching football and the races. The television will go loud. You can turn it up far louder than my ears can take. My husband thinks that it is a must when watching sports or racing to have it turned up very loud. Playing music on this television is awesome also. You can turn it up where you can hear it all through the house.
The sleep option is nice also. If you are one of these people who fall asleep in front of the TV you will love this feature. You can set it for a certain amount of time and it will automatically shut off. This is a really neat feature. This is a parent friendly TV also. If there are things you don’t want your children watching you can block them from doing so. You can block a channel, movie rating or TV rating.
Want a big screen TV with an awesome picture and incredible sound and not have to spend thousands? This Philips Projection Television 50P8341 is for you.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 992.00
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