Philips is taking the plunge into LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes. However, unlike Samsung and its F9-series, these are going into the Dutch's latest Ambilight system incarnation. For those new to this technology, it offers an aura-like lighting which claims reduce eye fatigue, among others. This is apparently not the only bells and whistles installed in its 47PFL9532. Read on to find out more.

Pros

Besides the enhanced offscreen color production and space savings brought about by the two-channel LED Ambilight, the 9000-series is also upgraded with a 100Hz Clear LCD technology. To put it in layman's terms, this doubles the number of picture frames per second to theoretically deliver smoother motion and sharper visuals. That's good news for sports and action fans as Philips is able to bring down the response time to a record low factor of 3ms. Matching this promising figure is full-HD native resolution and dazzling 4 trillion-color reproduction.

For its flagship stature, you are entitled to its top-of-the-line proprietary video processor which has been given a new spin. Rather than endorsing its Pixel Plus branding, the new iteration is now marketed as Perfect Pixel HD. Some notable new additions and enhancements over its predecessor include HD Natural Motion and 100Hz Clear LCD as noted above. Furthermore, this line is about the only 2007 models so far to come with Active Control, Philips' implementation of dynamic picture adjustments based on live input signal processing and light sensor feedback.

Nor will you will neither be disappointed with its connectivity options. Most notable are the three HDMI sockets capable of accepting film-centric 1080p24 video signals. It's kind of interesting to know that all three are lined on the rear. Great if you have a battery of HDMI equipment, but taboo for HD camcorders owners. Well, at least you will have little problem accessing the onboard USB port on the left which supports MP3 and JPEG playback, too. Wrapping it up is a set of digital coaxial audio input and output handy for channeling audio to your home theater system.

Cons

Last year's flagship Ambilight TVs featured three- and four-sided lighting. In this respect, it does seem like a step back that the 47PFL9532 is outfitted with only a two-sided variant. In addition, the 8,000:1 dynamic contrast and 176-degree viewing angle are hardly "exciting" if we were to pit them against similar-caliber 1080p panels such as the Bravia X300/350 and Samsung M8. It's also about time Philips considers throwing in HDMI-CEC or Consumer Electronics Control. At least that will put its TVs on the same level as the Koreans and Japanese in terms of convenience.

Bottomline

Going LED is a nice touch by Philips, but it will have been even better if this is used for LCD panel backlighting. At S$6,599 (US$4,341.82) a piece, it's priced a couple of hundred Singapore dollars lower than the Sharp A83 and Samsung M8, making it a pretty good bargain for the value-conscious. The only question left is how well it will perform in action, a question which will be addressed when we receive the review unit by end September. So stay tuned.