Top 3 Full HD 32-inch LCD TVs

We have recently come across 3 very good full HD LCD TVs. Thus it's time to put their results side by side, and see which one emerges the winner. We have the 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