After the PFL9603H series, here is the test of a new high model coming from Philips’ factories: the 42PFL9703H.

Connectivity and specifications

The matte finish Full HD panel is combined with a HD compatible digital tuner.  All of this rests on a pivoting base while another plus is the 4 HDMI inputs ensuring a certain readiness for additional sources (satellite receiver, computer, game console, home media player, etc.).

The remote borrows the same design as that of the 42PFL9603H’s including the same defect; an overly sensitive dial which is difficult to master.  We ended up avoiding it and settling for use of the directional buttons (although this also wasn’t ideal as they are integrated to the dial).

In fact, other than the remote these two models strongly resemble each other.  And we can see on Philips’ website that they are pretty much identical except in two areas:

•     The 9703H has a wide gamut panel

•     The 9703H has a version 3 Ambilight system (Ambilight Surround) versus a version 2 for the 9603H.  This actually involves the addition of a third LED bar to the back on top.

Otherwise, here is some supplementary information on the 9703 H in this article on the Philips 42PFL9603H.

Image quality

The wide gamut panel’s measurements were slightly different compared to what the 9603H produced.  Overall results were very similar except for those related to the CIE graph which showed an abnormal amount of green due to an exaggerated use of the wide gamut on a movie that was not encoded for this color subset.  Luckily, to the naked eye this ‘’spilling over’’ (see graph) is not visible and colors still appear rather natural if we set the TV to Movie mode.  Otherwise, default settings are not too well adapted for true home cinema.  Also, the back lighting option is not available (contrary to the PFL9603) and it thus limits the possibility of improving depth of black for movie viewing in the dark.

Unfortunately, we find the same two defects that were detected in the 9603H’s panel; real contrast is a bit weak and the gamma curve is very far from being ideal.  The first point is due to a grayish black that oscillates between 0.35 and 0.45 cd/m².  This involves a dynamic correction carried out by the TV even when moving into Movie mode with all filters deactivated.
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Whatever the settings, the gamma curve is never a constant 2.2.