Philips 23PF4321/01 LCD

This is a review of my 23” LCD television from Philips, a company I have long had faith in for their televisions.  This attractive looking set has silver speakers on either end and a nice black framing around the screen.  On looks alone this set delivers and will compliment any room.

The TV is HD-Ready which means it will be compatible for all forthcoming High Definition technology such as XBOX 360 and Sky HD, and has a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which is more than adequate for HD.  As for its capabilities, it can display up to 1080i resolution broadcasts / pictures although these may be scaled down, but will be able to present the industry preferred resolution of 720p (progressive) faultlessly.

The attractive remote, whilst dinky is a high-tech and stylish looking thing, with nicely laid out buttons and is a joy to use.  The TV comes with a variety of rear connectivity from the basic composite video to S-Video then the popular Scart (RGB enabled for best picture quality) and lastly but most important a DVI-I interface for digital equipment (although I would have preferred the more widely used HDMI interface found on larger sets).  The DVI though can be connected to DVD players via either a DVI-Component cable (for progressive scan pictures) or DVI-HDMI for HD picture.  Note however that DVI is a picture only source, and a separate audio cable will be required, and slots are available for this also.

Overall I have been pleased with my LCD TV.  As said it looks nice, should have no problem with HD signals once extra cabling is purchased (!) and overall this one does exactly what I need it to do.

Picture:  4 /5

Seems to impress most when connected via the DVI connection for higher resolution images.  The lack of noise reduction or pixel-plus is disappointing, though.

Sound:  3 /5

Although the sound is suitably good, it’s a little quiet and lacks punch – which is to be expected from 5 watt speakers.  Better off connected to a good-quality stereo system (no easy task with only an ear-phones socket).

Connectivity:  3 /5

Although all bases are covered, an extra Scart socket or at least one HDMI connection would have been a plus.

Ease of use:  4 /5

A quality remote and easy to navigate set up menus makes this a joy to use.

Verdict:  4 /5

For the price (around £500) this does the business, but some important omissions such as HDMI or Noise-Reduction stop this set from fully reaching its potential.