Philips 20PT6441 20 inch TV

Well, after my RCA 19" stereo TV gave me 10 years of service, it finally died. It was time to find a new second TV.

I knew that I wanted to get a flat screen TV. It had to be stereo. The inputs and outputs had to be easily accessible.

I wanted to get another RCA TV, but thought that maybe I should check around a bit first. I had never considered Phillips before. Why?

Well they have a great reputation. They are known as innovators. They have a reputation for quality. But my impression is that while they are top of the line, they are not shy about pricing to that level as well. Frankly, I was able to get a high quality TV for a much cheaper price that had great picture and great sound (my old RCA).

So this time I decided to search around again. Did I want a 20" or a 24", or perhaps a 27".

After researching several sources including Epinions reviews I narrowed my choices down to Phillips, RCA, JVC and Apex.

Now it was time to go to stores and talk with sales reps and service techs to see about problems with returns. After some discussions I found that while Apex is new, the quality is OK. There were a lot of returns due to component and design. Note that at this time Apex is still first generation. The sales reps said that they expected the second generation of Apex to be very high quality.

So Apex was out of consideration.

Checking on RCA, I was told that 10-15 years ago they were one of the best. In fact one of the sales reps said he has a 15 year old RCA that is still performing excellent.

However, the amount of returns on RCA's for the past few years was high. He said the best choices for reliability and least returns for whatever reason (picture quality, problems with components, etc.) were Phillips, JVC, and Sony. I verified this with other sales people at other stores.

I had $200 in gift cards from Circuit City so that was my place to buy. At Circuit City there was a 27" JVC for $249.00 I was so, soooooo tempted. But after measuring the space in the bedroom a 27" would be to big.

I was fortunate that there was a good selection of TV's that I could compare side by side. There was a 20" Goldstar, a 20" Phillips, a 20" Sony, and a 20" Panasonic. I saw some HDTV on all of the sets, listened to the sound, basically ran them thru their paces.

The picture and the sound on the Phillips model 20PT6441 was excellent. It is a flat screen TV. The price was $179.99 so I was really surprised to see that it was easily in my budget. The color of the set is silver.

The TV is well thought out. But then again it is a Philips. For example: there are inputs on the side of the TV, and the back of the TV. You can use earphones with the TV (the input is on the side). It is a Stereo TV, and can even do surround sound. So I bought it.

The box easily fit into the back of my 2000 Honda Civic Hatchback. It only weighted a mere 75 lbs, so it was a really easy lift.

I drove home, and brought my new toy in. I was ready to uncrate the TV and saw something very smart on the outside of the box.

There were pictures of the best and safest way to uncrate the TV. Open the box top, fold the flaps, take off the foam holding the TV in place, take off the protective static and foam guard, then turn the box upside down, and lift it off.

Most companies do not care about such a simple thing. But this speaks of quality to me.

After taking off the box, I took my new TV over to the space I wanted it to go. Here I found a couple of surprises. Not pleasant ones.

Bad surprise #1 - The TV is really, really really deep. So a warning here, make sure that you have a very wide shelf to put it on.

Bad surprise #2 - Unlike computers, the vast majority of TV sets, and the vast majority of electronics the power cord was attached to the right front side of the TV! Talk about inconvenient! Why would they first hard wire the power cord to the TV. and more important, why put it in the right front side of the TV???

These are minor, but be advised and plan for them.

The width of the set and the height of the set are excellent.

The set is rather light weight weighing in at 75 lbs. It was easy to pick up and place on a high dresser in the bedroom. Unfortunately, there are no built in handles. Hooking up the Direct TV (or cable if you use it) must be done from the back of the set. Setting up the set is a snap. Maybe 5 minutes if you have never set up a TV before.

The next thing to look at is the users manual. There is a 23 step set of instructions for the TV and the remote that folds out. I would like to see more details, like for instance other codes I can use in the remote to control say a VCR, CD, Tape or DVD player.

That being said, the instructions that are provided do take you thru the complete set up. They do explain the features and what each feature does.

There are preprogrammed settings that can be used for both picture and sound, or you can set your own. For sound there is a pre-programmed setting for music, one for voice, one called "Personal" and one for movies. The movie sound really expands the sound and it is just like being in a movie theater with the sound being very wide. You can adjust the bass, the treble, and even super base. Also the stereo and simulated surround.

Regarding the settings for visual, there are also many adjustments for the picture. For example, there is one for games, there is one for movies. If you are watching HDTV and don't like the way the picture is coming in, you can change the ratio. It is easily done using the remote.

I do not use the V-chip. I firmly believe that it is a non necessary governmental intrusion on my life and my privacy. But I do not want to get into a political discussion here.

One thing that is missing that I really liked with my RCA was the alarm. In other words with my old RCA, I could set the TV for 7:00 AM and at &:00 AM it would turn on. It is far less jarring to get up to a TV instead of a buzzer, or bell. Unfortunately, the Phillips TV does not have this feature.

Anyway, after setting my settings, I attached my Direct TV box. The picture and sound were fantastic. Very sharp, and clear. I then tried some of the local stations using an external local antenna. They came in very good. There is a handy feature for weak TV signals to help you get them.

Direct TV is hooked up to two TV sets. During a storm it was not able to be picked up by the old set, but it was picked up by the Philips. Good job Philips!

All in all, I think that the Phillips is a really good TV. It looks good, the picture quality is crisp, the sound is good, the side inputs is an excellent idea. The remote is a good size, with lots of options. And it is a great deal for the price.

That being said, I am not "Blown away" by the set. However, I do highly recommend the set. It would be like a Mercedes. Good solid car, comfortable, secure, feeling of high end but not "Wow!"