Philips 20PF4121/01 TV

So I went TV buying, and ended up with a Philips 20PF4121/01. I found a competent salesperson, and bought the TV in the shop. I knew well that this costed me about €100 more than if I had bought it via the internet. But buying via the internet has disadvantages as well, having to wait, having to be home for the UPS delivery, and if the thing ever breaks down getting the TV repaired on guarantee is next to impossible. And somehow the salary of the competent salesperson has to be paid. :)

The advantage of the Philips 20PF4121/01 TV is a low response time, 16 ms, which is necessary if my main application for the thing will be playing games on it. With 20" screen size it has the good size for the place where I wanted to put it. And the price was reasonable, on the low end of the LCD TVs on offer. Where I had to compromise was with the resolution, the thing isn't exactly high-definition yet. While a 720p video format is supported, the actual number of pixels is only 640 x 480. More than enough for the PS2 games, but I'm afraid it could be a bit on the low side for the upcoming PS3.

For one minute I was toying with the idea of buying a "future-proof" TV, with HDMI, 1080 pixels of vertical resolution to have the best possible image in 1080p video mode, ready for the high-definition TV (and game consoles) of the future. Unfortunately HDTV is still years away, there are very few channels already supporting it, and then only part of the time. Thus only the top range of TV sets are really offering that resolution and the HDMI interface. The sets on offer were much bigger, and a hell of a lot more expensive. A 40" / €4000 TV certainly has the best possible image, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I bought the small and cheap TV for the small room, and will replace my old CRT living-room TV with something HDTV in a couple of years, when there are more sources of high-definition video signals, and the prices have come down.

The Philips 20PF4121/01 just weights 8.8 kg, or 11.5 kg with the box, manuals, remote, etc., so I had no problem transporting it myself. Setting it up was very easy. I moved the PS2 from the living room to the small room and hooked everything up. Up to now my PS2 had stood flat on a shelf, but where I put it now I was able to use an interesting feature of the PS2, the ability to stand it upright. The DVD drawer is designed cleverly, so you can place the DVD in it without it falling out, even if the drawer is upright.

So now I have a secondary entertainment center in my appartment. I tested watching DVDs there, and it works, only that I'm currently limited to DVDs with an European regional code. I don't want to modify the hardware to make the PS2 multi-zone, and while I've heard you can do it by software, I don't have that software available. The image is sharp and crisp, with a good contrast and luminosity, no complaints. Then I started playing Dragon Quest VIII, and that worked well too. I actually had to *reduce* the brightness, contrast, and color from the initial settings, so I'd say the rumors that LCD TVs are pale aren't really true any more.

I admit that buying this TV was a blatant case of consumerism, buying stuff to make me happy again. But the thing is, it works, provided you can actually afford the stuff you are buying, and don't get into even greater debt-related depressions later. Fiddling with a new electronic gadget, and playing a new PS2 game, took my mind of guild drama and feeling stuck in World of Warcraft. I will just have to see how my interests develop, whether I'll take a full break from WoW for a while, or I play WoW only on the weekends when I have larger chunks of time available and can do dungeon groups. In a way being unguilded is a liberation, you don't get the feeling that you "have to" log on any more.