Philips brings colourful sophistication to the life of couch potatoes

By PETER GRIFFIN


I can imagine how the Philips Ambilight probably came about. A bunch of Dutch lightbulb engineers were sitting around on their lunch break watching TV and suddenly thought it would be a fun idea to embed light bulbs into the back of the set.

Next researchers found that, indeed, lighting up the wall behind the TV makes for easier viewing, as the eye doesn't have to work so hard adjusting from dark to light.

The result is Philips current top-of-the-line TV - a high-end liquid crystal display (LCD) panel with lightbulbs built into the back of it that display changing colours based on the images on the screen. Watch the rugby and the wall behind the TV will glow green most of the time. As the atmosphere of a movie changes, so too will the TV's background lighting. It's very intelligent stuff and relies on a computer reading the signals coming from your DVD player, VCR or TV aerial input.

On rapid action shots or quick-cutting commercials, the flickering light can be a little distracting, but for the most part the colour transitions are smooth.

But is it easier on the eye? Well, I watched the epic Once upon a Time in the West, Finding Nemo, The Human Stain and Freddy Vs Jason back to back and didn't get sore eyes.

Finding Nemo, the animated blockbuster from Pixar, makes for fantastic viewing on the plasma, the wall behind bathed in blue and green most of the time.

Maybe you'd end up in the same place watching a good-quality plasma screen with no back-lighting, but the Ambilight made for pleasant, atmospheric viewing. It certainly beats watching a regular TV.

With the TV on standby you can set the Ambilight bulbs to any colour and brightness you want for background room lighting.

You'll need a clean, white wall for best effect and the lighting will only really be most impressive in a dark room although the set will sense the light in the room and adjust the brightness of the bulbs to suit.

While the price of the range is high, it's worth remembering that the LCD screen itself is impressive.

The 42-inch version I watched displayed movies nicely in true widescreen format.

Philips' Pixel Plus 2 technology appears to do good job of adding depth and resolution.

How can you tell? A built-in demo allows you to split the screen, displaying half of it with Pixel Plus activated - there is a clear difference. Imaging processing technology also eliminates "motion judder".

The screen includes decent flat- panel speakers, but you'll probably want to hook up to your own stereo system.

The TV menu system is easy to navigate and intelligent. Switch aspect ratios or split the screen to watch two channels at once and freeze the frame - great if you want to study the leaderboard during a sports event or look in more detail at the weather map on the evening news.

There are connections galore - S-Video, component, DVI and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a new connection standard that makes connecting up home theatre a breeze.

The remote control will work with all your other components and is put together with an attractive metal finish.

You can wall mount the TV or rest it on the stylish glass and metal stand that comes with it.

Don't worry about having to replace expensive bulbs, they have a life expectancy of at least 60,000 hours - as long as the plasma screen itself is likely to hold out.

It is with colourful DVD-based movies, especially those with lush nature shots that the Ambilight really does make a difference.

Ambilight may seem like an extravagant extra on an already expensive purchase, but if you're serious about viewing quality and can stretch your budget, it's well worth considering.

I used to think the ultimate would be to have a 50-inch plasma screen but I'm warming to the picture quality of LCD and at 42 inches you do get a decent home theatre experience.

Philips Ambilight

Pros Excellent screen quality, stylish, Ambilight is effective

Cons Most of us cannot afford one

Price: $14,999 (32-inch LCD with Ambilight $6999, 42-inch plasma with Ambilight $8999, 50-inch plasma with Ambilight $14999, )

Herald Rating: 8/10

Philips