Philips 19PFL5422D Review:
Philips 19PFL5422D features Digital Crystal Clear for natural, vivid images and Incredible Surround for superb audio. PRODUCT FEATURES:High-definition LCD WXGA+ display 1440 x 900p; Integrated HDTV to receive digital HDTV and cable signals; Digital Crystal Clear provides vivid cinema-like images; Dynamic contrast enhancer delivering rich black details; Incredible Surround for enhanced audio enjoyment; Compact and slim design that fits in every room; Auto Picture to personalize your viewing;Auto Sound uses pre-defined sound settings for better sound.

The Philips 19PFL5422D HDTV is a great buy. The 1440×900 pixel resolution is superb. The picture quality is sharp; it displays analog 480i NTSC signals pretty well, and HD signals are even better. The casing is slim and elegantly designed.

The QAM tuner picks up digital signals from your cable line very well. NTSC is flawless. I don’t have a pair of ditial rabbit ears, so I haven’t checked out the ATSC tuner.

Televisions below 32″ are mostly found in 8ms response times, and this is no different. While that may be fast, and certainly acceptable, on interlaced signals the line doubling can cause a slight blur. It’s honestly barely noticeable (I’m the only one who seems to notice it), but that’s normal.

When hooked to the PLAYSTATION 3 via HDMI, it’ll support 1080p, and the games looks great. Even the Wii’s 480p looks good. and even though the television has a greater horizontal pixel resolution, the scaling from 16:9 to 16:10 is near perfect.

The 800:1 contrast ratio may not sound great, especially with most 23″ and above sporting >1000:1, but again, that’s pretty normal for 19″. Most of the televesions I compared at this size were either the same ratio or less. 300cd/m2 brightness rating is also low, and in a brightly lit room, it does look a little washed out.

There is some slight backlight leakage along the top and bottom, but this is minor. Mine arrived without any dead pixels. The Philips 19PFL5422D supports VGA pc connection, but does not supply its own cable. I recommend using the HDMI connection and buy a HDMI>DVI adapter.

The sound is better than I was expecting. The speakers are small and located below the television @ 5 watts apiece. The Philips 19PFL5422D’s speakers can get pretty loud without degrading and with decent bass for such a low profile set up. But you’ll probably want to set up external speakers for the full theatre quality sound experience.

The base is made of glass. Yes, glass. I don’t know who thought of that, but it sould seems some sort of solid metallic base would fare better. But it is pretty stable and can withstand a decend amount of force. It also screws into the television’s stem. It just makes the television that much more stylish.

All in all, this is a great television. I gave it 4/5 because of the blur only I can see, slight backlight leak, and lack of second component input. But If I could use half stars, I’d give it 4.5/5 as these are minor and mostly unnoticed.

—– By David T. Vasquez

Philips 19PFL5422D Features

• 19″ HDTV Widescreen LCD
• 1440 x 990p resolution
• Integrated ATSC/Qam digital tuner
• Digital Crystal Clear LCD
• HDMI, CVI and S-Video inputs

Philips 19PFL5422D Specifications

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