We Had just seen three very good full HD LCD TVs.Now its time to compare them side by side, and see which emerges as a winner. We will test Philips 32PFL5609, Sony KLV 32V550A and Samsung LA32B530P7R.

Philips 32PFL5609
MRP – Rs. 47,990
MOP – Rs. 38,000

Philips is another one of those brands that contribute to the development of a technology on the whole, and series like their Ambilight range had gained immense popularity years back when it launched. This model we have is a new 32-incher by them, called the 32PFL5609. It’s from their 5000 series, and this one too is Full HD. The design is curvaceous, with rounded corners and glossy black finish. The power LED is a small simple white one on the left corner, and that’s about it on the bare bezel.

The connections include 3 HDMIs (only TV on this list that has 3), 2 component video, 2 composite Headphone out, and last but not the least a USB, that plays MPEG4 video files like DivX etc., also MPEG1 files like .dat and .mpg files, besides MP3s and JPEGs. The panel is 1920 x 1080, brightness is 500 cd/m2, response time is 5 ms, and finally DCR is 50,000:1.

The TV, once switched on, has something very different from the rest: a setup wizard, which runs a set of images in 2 different settings, and you have to choose which one is suitable. The TV then tries to calibrate according to your preferences. It doesn’t do the best job, but it’s really interesting. The pure black levels are quite deep and impressive, plus there is an automatic light sensing preset that adjust brightness according to ambient light. This works very well. The Grayscale performance was very good, with good detail in low blacks and no clipping of higher whites. The backlight is clearly a notch brighter than the rest, this we could see subjectively itself, before the use of any meter. Colors also are very vibrant and full bodied. I cannot say that it is bang on target in terms of saturation, but it takes on a balance that suits the eye well. It is a bit on the warmer side and skin tones look intense in this model. Motion video was as good as any other LCD TV in this price bracket; with just a little blur coming up once in a while in hard to render scenes.

FOR: Full HD panel, very good contrast, Nicely saturated colors, especially warmer hues, reasonable price
AGAINST: UI can be gimmicky

Sony KLV 32V550A
MRP Rs.49900
MOP Rs.46,900

Sony’s V series always has the speaker grille clinging on to the bottom edge, under a plastic strip, transparent in the middle. This strip has touch sensitive buttons on it, etched in white. The rest of the bezel is a glossy black, a solid rectangular affair with no fancy contours or grooves.
Overall we have a healthy buffet of connectors: 4 HDMIs, 2 component, 3 composite in, one headphone out and last but not least a USB 2.0 slot (plays .mp3,. jpeg and .mpg files). This TV has the latest Bravia Engine 3 doing the video processing, and also comes with Sony’s acclaimed XMB, or the Cross media bar user interface like they have in the PS3. Thus now, to change brightness we have to press 4 buttons instead of one.There are other nice features like Ambient Light Sensor, 24p True cinema, and Live color, which enhances colors.

As for rated specs the main USP is still the Full HD panel, a 1920 x 1080 resolution makes up this LCD. The Brightness and contrast ratings are not given. This model does not have 100 Hz Motionflow feature – that one is for the higher W series 32-incher.

This TV does have a healthy brightness, and hardly any clipping and blooming at high whites.
Blacks, are decent for LCD standards, as in it doesn’t look like a faded T shirt at medium backlight and 50% brightness. It’s not deep and spectacular though. Speaking of luminance curve, or simply speaking, we saw a bit of reddish saturation at higher whites. Colors are vibrant, but as mentioned, clearly a bit amped on the red channel, this we could gauge in our RGB pluge pattern, where high intensity red bars were merging together. Thus the overall image has a warm saturated feel to it, which does not look bad really, just intense skin tones and the like.

Motion and detail are very good. The sharpness setting should not be raised above midpoint (15) because that is when haloing starts occurring. We watched Valkyrie Blu-ray, and played Killzone (on PS3). The details in both different types of video, were very impressive: sharp edges with hardly any blur, even in the game.

FOR : Full HD panel, good features, good brightness
AGAINST : More expensive than the rest, heavy reds.

Samsung LA32B530P7R
MRP Rs.44,000/-
MOP Rs.38000/-

Aesthetics-wise the TV is simple yet classy – a clean design with a glossy black exoskeleton. There is also a thick glass sleeve running along the bottom border to add effect. Connections are usual with 2 HDMIs, 2 component, 1 composite and a headphone out. The panel is Full HD 1920 x 1080, with a contrast ratio of 60,000:1 (dynamic), brightness rating is not given.

The best thing about this TV is the parameters the menu offers to dial in a good image: there is white balance, gamma, black level adjust, dynamic contrast, variable backlight etc. And of course the images look very sharp and crisp due to a higher definition of the panel itself. Grayscale wise, the TV is not so hunky dory and spectacular, rather it is a sober, decent performer, with black levels being its Achilles’ heel – they are not so deep. Whites are still better with accurate color temp at pure 100 IRE white, no tinges and coloration.

FOR : Full HD panel, Very good parameters in the UI to calibrate, Quite pure whites even at high contrasts, Reasonable
AGAINST : Weak blacks

The winner will have to be Philips here, as the price is quite decent, but moreover we have no real compromise in the image performance department. Besides a UI that has too many bells and whistles, one can actually dial in a great image if patient enough. The panel is bright and motion has respectable accuracy.