• LCD is a big priority for them, and this CES Philips has an all-new LCD line, starting with the 7000 series. Dubbed the "Ultimate Dream TV," the $2,800 52" 52PFL7603D has a 2-millisecond response time thanks to 120Hz ClearLCD technology, and it wouldn't be Philips without an Ambilight LED lightshow around the bezel. Along with design taken from their European Aurea TV line, the 7000 series also features a "invisible sounds system" which has the sound originate from the back of the TV, then uses the curved bezel to push the sound forward.

• The 5000 LCD series features an "Eco TV," the 42PFL5603D designed with a power-saving feature that dims the backlight in low ambient light and when content doesn't require as intense a backlight. Philips is calling the world's lowest power consumption—less than 0.15w on standby mode—scoring all kinds of certification. It's also lead-free.

• Philips is promoting a new Blu-ray player, the BDP7200 which is their first profile 1.1 player. There's nothing very thrilling about it except its sexy design and its low MSRP of $350. That's if you can find it—hopefully it will be in wider production than its predecessor.• Most of the other Philips announcements are refreshes of existing products, such as the Swarovski Active Crystals, the Streaming Wireless music system, and Ambisound Home Theater surround bar that features HDMI 1080p up conversion. [Philips]

The displays themselves will be 1080p, 100Hz (likely 120Hz when these sets come Stateside), have a 3ms response time, come in 42-inch sizes, and use their Perfect Pixel HD Engine. In addition, there's "four trillion colors" and three HDMI 1.3 inputs. On the audio side, it has 26 speakers embedded inside, in a combination of 24 front mini drivers and 2 subwoofer/mid speaker boxes. As far as contrast and brightness goes, it's a 550cd/m2 display with a true and dynamic contrast ratio of 1200/8000 to one. That's the kind of contrast and brightness LCDs saw a few years ago, but the videophiles do still hold strong to the credo that accuracy of color is more critical than blinding lights. (My hunch says that consumers at BestBuy say differently, opting for the most powerful pictures, generally.) No price yet, but available September in Europe, but only in a 42-inch version.

The ambilight frames in Philips TVs used to use CCFLs behind the bezel; this set uses 126 LEDs inside of the bezel, which is semi-translucent, for a supposedly more seamless glow effect. Seems like a trick, but those who know Ambilight do appreciate its ability to reduce eyestrain and make things like ocean and jungle scenes seem to end far beyond the edges of the panel's 1080p pixel count.

Have these LCDs improved in visual quality? Judging from the specs and history, it is unlikely that it can pace a new Samsung or Sharp, but we'll have to wait for reviews.
The gallery is definitely worth a click-thru if you are interested in Philips, Goddard films, the Aurea or mammary glands. And more on most of those topics to come.

[Philips via Webwire]

To minimize visible speaker components, the Aurea uses 26 tiny drivers as opposed to larger speakers. Offering 1080p resolution with 8000:1 dynamic contrast and increased refresh rates, the 42" 42PFL9900D will cost a pants-dropping $6895 when it's released in September. And while our source for the story calls the image good, it's not the best they've seen.

So yes, you will be paying a premium for glowy LEDs, but that's not news to anyone, right? The Aurea will be on display at IFA later this month, so we'll give you full impressions then.

[tuexperto via technabob]

If tripping the Ambilight fandango isn't your idea of a good time, there are other features that might be more interesting to you. The 120Hz refresh rate found on half of the models is intended to beat the 8ms response time. (This effect is achieved using a multitude of differing techniques, and it might take six months or so for us to be sure who has it figured out.) The Perfect Pixel HD technology for sharpness is also key. Make the jump for my thoughts on a side-by-side comparison with a Samsung, a gallery of my Ambilight shots, plus a cute little newcomer called Modea.

When I went to the Philips suite, the first thing I noticed was a 42-inch 1080p Philips next to a 40-inch 1080p Samsung (the side-by-side shots of the gallery below). And as usual with a bake-off challenge, there were aspects of the Philips that beat the Samsung, but aspects of the Samsung that trumped the Philips. For instance, in the shot of the wave, you can clearly see the added detail that the Perfect Pixel HD technology provides (not to mention the extra diagonal two inches of real estate); however, when you look at the rocky cliff, even scaled down, you can make out more detail in the Samsung.

Of course much of this can be fixed; in fact, last Friday I demonstrated how friendly Philips' picture-tweaking interface is for people who don't know their hue from their saturation. However, I tend to shrink from side-by-side comparisons set up by one manufacturer.

That said, the TVs were tasty (check out the snikety-snak detail on the PS3 game showing on the 52-incher) and competitively priced for 1080p. Here's the recap of pricing and availability.

42PFL7432D 42" 1080p - Currently available for $1,999 April
42PFL9832D 42" 120Hz 1080p - Coming next month for $2,999
47PFL7432D 47" 1080p - Currently available for $2,499 April
47PFL9732D 47" 120Hz 1080p - Coming next month for $2,799
52PFL7432D 52" 120Hz 1080p - Coming in September for $3,599

Ambilight TV Press Release from CES [Philips]

Couple this with a Philips Ambilight—or maybe even your own homemade ghetto ambilight, and you've got yourself a party. A really nerdy party. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Ceratec via Fresh Creation]

An Ambilight Fireplace [via Gadget Lab]

You might think that taking the AmbiLight idea and applying it to speakers is a bit whack. Well, you're wrong. Imagine having 16 million colors illuminating your computer corner, desk or batcave, responding to the sound and vision in your home. Under the AmBX name, these peripherals come in either 2.1 or 5.1 the speakers being 40W and subwoofer 80W. No price or release date yet but I expect gamers will be keeping an eye out. More pics after the jump.

– Ad Dugdale

Philips Brings AmbiLight To PC Peripherals [TrustedReviews]

Step 1: Buy Cheap LED Light strips from IKEA.

Step 2: Attach it to the back of your LCD/Plasma.

Step 3: No more headaches. – Jason Chen

Give your HDTV the Philips Ambilight effect on the cheap [Instructables via Consumerist]

Philips Flubs Pricing on New 63-inch 1080p Plasma TV [Crave]

11:11: Lucas Covas and his sexy European accent takes the stage. Points out the dudes wearing "luminous" clothing that has a display built-in hanging around the room. Also points out their 2007 17 CES Innovations Awards.

11:15: Talks about a bunch of old stuff like Skype phonea and amBX gaming speakers, and Ambilight TVs.

11:17: Stewart Miller, President of Philips North America joins Lucas on stage. They then show off the 1,000,000th Ambilight TV manufactured that's all tricked out with 2,000 diamonds. Classy.

11:20: Philips is focused on flat TVs. In 2007 Philips will offer 30 new models of flat TVs, with larger sets being 1080p. Perfect Pixel HD Engine is a chipset dedicated to pumping out 1080p HDTV resolution, decreasing motion blur, increasing contrast, etc.

11:22: 120Hz refresh rate give 4ms response time on their new LCD TVs. New 32-inch, 47-inch, and 52-inch amilight LCDs coming this year.

11:24: Ambisound gets rid of surround sound speakers and puts everything up front. Shows it off with a Fantastic Four clip. Here's the deets:

Ambisound HTS8100
Price: $ 999
Availablity: second quarter 2007

Ambisound
HTS6600
Model: HTS6600
Price: $ 599
Availablity: second quarter 2007

11:27: Supreme commander video game clips with crazy lights all over the room. Showing off the amBX speakers with lights. It blows all sorts of wacky lights all over the place and vibrates your wrists while you play. Some crappy looking games like "Broken Sword: The Angel of Death" are already programmed to use amBX stuff.

11:31: Blu-ray rah rah rah. 25GB discs out now, 50GB discs on their way. New BR player plays the discs and upscales DVDs.

11:32: VoIP phones. Philips HD voice technology improves call quality.

11:34: Digital picture frames in 7 and 9-inch models. Internal memory holds the pics, holds albums, does slideshows with transitions.

11:36: Portable DVD players that can also view digital photos, comes loaded with video iPod docks. New surge protectors as well, including the squid design.

11:38: Wireless HDMI can transfer uncompressed 1080p HD over the air. designed to replace wiring between TV and components. It supports HDMI 1.3, which is nice.

11:43: And that's it. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

–Adam Frucci

The model names are really stupid, though: 47PF9441D and 63PF9631D. I've seen sexier serial numbers. Like that time when that MP3 player had all those 0s and 8s. Curvy...Anyhow, both sets have HDMI intputs, and the plasma does photo and mp3 playback from USB.
$3k for the LCD, and $6k for the plasma.

Looks good, but if I were to buy a Philips TV, I'd make sure it had ambilight like the 1080p we talked about before. –Brian Lam

CES 2007: Philips LCD TV Finally hits 1080p HD [Gizmodo]

This is the first, using their noise reducing pixel plus tech in its fourth iteration. The 3rd gen was amazing. My favorite TV to date is the same sized LCD with Pixel Plus 3, and a lower res of 1366 by 768 (compared to the 1920 by 1080 res of this one). Details are sparse, but I'm sure more will come.

This could be my new favorite TV. –Brian Lam

Philips TVs [Philips]

Anyway, check out that wild-looking user interface, which analyzes the screen and projects the main color onto the wall behind it. The starter kit is 165 ($211) for the single LED strip with software, and 55 ($70) for each additional LED bar, four of which you'll need for "quad mode," completely surrounding your monitor with blinkinlights. Looks like it would be more distracting and cheesy than entertaining. – Charlie White

Product Page [Smartbytes]

Philips 100-inch LCD TV [Digital Trends]

Here's a video of my friend Alyssa trying to introduce the set to you all without giggling. Mission? Unsuccessful. The video is little more than a blooper roll, but on a slowish news day, I thought you'd enjoy. We would have shot more, but we figured it was time better spent just watching the TV. Jump for a photo, and more impressions of this beautiful TV.

Without running any benchmarks, I'll say I'm impressed by it. In a nutshell, the TV has a 1366x768 pixel display, is CableCard ready, and the picture has pretty decent black-levels for an LCD—so much that I actually did a double take; I initially thought I was using a plasma. (I'm sure that comparison wouldn't stand up to a hardcore test comparison with a high-end Pioneer Plasma, but take my initial mistake as a good thing.)

I could be wrong, but I believe the 4500:1 dynamic contrast ratio is due to the set's ability to selectively turn off or dim sections of the backlighting.

One thing I've yet to test: according to the spec sheet, the LCD only supports 1024x768 pixels when connected to a computer. That's somewhat disappointing, given that it's less than what the set should be capable of. And while there are dual HDMI inputs, there aren't any dedicated VGA or DVI inputs. Oh, one more nice perk is the built-in card reader, which can read images and MP3s and play them back on the set. No video support, however, from memory cards. – Brian Lam

Philips 42PF9831D/37 TV [Philips]

Philips' 42-inch TV [TrustedReviews]

The units in question are only in the United States, where the problem occurred on one of the assembly lines Philips uses for the US market. Philips will make house calls to make the repairs to the 12,000 sets in question. The company added that since the materials inside its TV sets are flame retardant, there was no risk of the units bursting into flames. Still, who wants a smoking TV set in their living room?

Philips to fix 12,000 plasma TVs in US [Reuters]