Philips: 37PF9731D

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Comments (14)

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Rob, Milton Keynes on October 1st, 2008
I have the 37PF9731D and have had the same backlight issues , mine was brought from ebay for £900 over a year ago and has been repaired under warranty the issue with the back light has been resolved by a firmware up date i downloaded and the tubes being replaced by a which had a magnesium build up on them this is a known issue with this model ,they did however recomend turning the brightness settings up and running the TV in for two weeks when i got it back again because of this magnesium issue TV is better than it was when first new now !!

Darren Martin, Burton on Trent on August 14th, 2008
I have the 32PF5521D its a beautiful set and produces great HD quality with sky HD and Xbox 360,I had problems with mine when it was 4 months old where the backlight failed but the set worked. I was told it needed a repair kit at the cost of £10 but wanted £80 to do the job and they would not tell me what the parts were. If i turned the tv on and off with the standby button it finally came on and would be fine till you turn it off. I went on for another 12 months complaining to the shop where i bought it they passed the book to philips. Philips passed the book to the store. so who is the 12months warranty with?? . I bought the tv in Oct 2006 it went wrong in Feb 07 it took till November 2007 for someone to sort it. Philips didnt want to know. A company called Viewtec in Derbyshire repaired it within a few days and its been fine since. My other as now got the same problem a 32PF5520d model. its 4 components on the inverter panel if anyone as any information on this would you get intouch.

Keith, Wiltshire on February 16th, 2008
Excellent TV for image, but our LCD backlight has just today starting exhibiting the same problems as described by others. We have had our LCD for just under a year but bought at John Lewis with 5 years cover so should be OK. Anyone with their LCD going wrong should consider pressing for it to be fixed even if over the 12-month guarantee period, as the Sale of Goods Act (if I recall correctly) means that it should be fit for purpose and have a reasonable life for the money paid. Check with Citizens Advice and then write to the company (e.g. Empire Direct) with the appropriate wording - it's worth a go.

Foster on February 6th, 2008
We've had the TV since Oct 2006 and the backlight problem is getting worse. Of course it's now over 12 months old so the guarntee won'tcover it. Empire direct have washed their hands of it.

Mark on January 6th, 2008
I have had this TV for around 15 months and recently I have started to have the problems with the backlight that have been outlined previously. As yet I have not contacted Philips but I will be doing this first thing on Monday morning.

Laura, Cheshire on July 26th, 2007
Bought ours last November and absolutely loved it but have just noticed the dark horizontal lines and large dark patch at the bottom of the screen. An engineer is coming out next week but I guess it doesn't sound hopeful!

Ian, Essex on April 10th, 2007
The TV looks stunning and the picture is amazing, I really can't fault this TV on anything... EXCEPT for the one major issue I now have, which interestingly other users on this website have also noted -- the now infamous backlight issue. I've had my TV for three months and the horizontal light/dark stripes are getting worse. There is also a dark patch in the middle/bottom of the screen. As the TV warms up, it gets less obvious, but it's still there and seems to be getting worse week by week. My TV is going back to the shop for a refund ASAP! It is a real shame as, without this issue, the TV is easily the best on the market for features, picture quality and appearance.

Manuel Cabral, Lisbon on February 10th, 2007
I got mine early November 2006 and six weeks later the dark patches appeared. The technical assistance didn't solve the problem in time and the store where I bought it gave me my money back and I got a Sony 40X2000, which, so far is doing better.

Pete, London on February 10th, 2007
Great TV, terrible backlight problem. Philips showing no signs of being interested in finding a solution. They will only offer a replacement from their range, which is a useless offer because they do not make another 37inch full HD set.

Andy n Wales on January 27th, 2007
Nowt wrong with mine..beaut pic in both standard and HD...ambilight is soothing....far better than Tosh which I bought first and had to flog on ebay cos the standard pics were awful...

Bill, Bolton on January 25th, 2007
Im afraid the comments about the tv having a major fault are correct. After a few weeks/months the backlight starts failing resulting in dark patches across the screen which ive been told in time will get worse. Philips are also finally owning up to this, whether they recall all the tv's that have been sold is a different matter but they will be getting a phone call this week from me.This is a real shame because the set is beautiful and the picture top notch, ive also got used to the ambilight and wouldnt want to lose this feature. Pity.

The Boy, London on January 13th, 2007
The TV has inherited problem with dark horizontal panels which don’t go and Philips keeps it all quiet. DO NOT BUY IT.

kostas greece on January 5th, 2007
This is an excellent LCD Full HD TV. There is long future...

Bill, Bolton on October 19th, 2006
Got the TV at the weekend and finally managed to get it on the wall last night(19th October). First of all, I am not that tech minded but have a general grasp of what the TV is capable of and what I need to get the thing looking good. The TV took an age to get on the wall because it needed a vesa wall mount 800x200 compatible, you must check this as I wasted money on a universal bracket that didn’t fit. The look and finish of the TV is incredible, a really glossy matt black finish that really looks the part and wouldn’t look dated for a good few years. I’ve also got to say the ambilight surround looks awesome and can displayed a number of ways, either as a solid colour that is displayed around the TV, or as effect that changes with the colour the TV is broadcasting, finally you can turn the TV off but leave the ambilight on to create a soothing glow against the wall. Currently I have sky hd connected by ixos hdmi leads, an xbox 360 connected through component leads and finally everything is connected to my Kef Kit 100 home theatre, i cannot comment really on the sound of the TV because everything is connected to the Kef. I’m sorry to say i have one gripe with the TV, and please feel free to add your comments if you can help me, but the TV can produce a picture so sharp that it doesn’t look right, especially the star wars movies that look like the lead characters have been superimposed onto the screen, leading to my teenage daughter to call the TV rubbish and wanting the old TV back.