Philips 42PUS7809 Ultra Hd 3D and Smart TV review

Once the Ultra Hd resolution TV’s entered the market, we find more and more 4K TV sets for sale with a lot of features.
A top-medium range 3D Smart TV set manufactured by Philips is the Ultra HD 42PUS7809 model.

It is a TV that incorporates an Ultra Hd screen, also 3D rendering, being a Smart TV with Wi-Fi Internet connection and having Philips Ambilight technology.

Design

Philips 42PUS7809 doesn’t step out from the design line that we got used to with the other models like the 5, 6 and 7 series. The frame has a dark gray color with metallic tint and has a perfect rectangular shape, the Philips logo at the bottom is slightly lifted to define the shape of the TV. Borderless design was chosen in this case so the frame is practically invisible with a thickness of less than 1 mm.

The TV’s diagonal of 106 cm is perfect for viewing distances between 3.5 – 4 5 meters.

Connections

Being a top class model, the Philips 42PUS7809 Ultra HD comes with a full range of connections.

There are 4 HDMI jacks, three USB connections for connecting storage devices, a LAN connection, a SCART component, CI + slot, antenna plug and also satellite dish connection.

Wi-Fi connection for Internet is also available and the Miracast is available to mirror content from your phone or tablet directly on the TV.

Image and 3D

I watched some videos on this UltraHD TV and I made an opinion about its performance.

Screen brightness is very good, surpasses models like40H6400 or 40H7000.

The contrast is not bad (on this model we have Micro Dimming Pro available) although for best results it should be adjusted anywhere from 90 to 100% from image settings and brightness needs to be reduced below 55%. The screen is fairly uniform although sometimes problems appear with black areas which are bright lit in some images.

  The color pallete is mediocre and there are some issues like having too strong tones of blue or red, visually canceling some color variations. Of course by careful adjustment of RGB tones, you can get a decent picture on most sources.

Image processing is done at 600 Hz (obtained from TV’s chip, not real ones) so rapid scenes are fluid and blur reduction is efficient. I noticed that Philips processes better rapid images, compared to the competition and the Ultra HD 42PUS7809 is no exception to that.

Regarding 3D image – no news here. It supports 2D- 3D conversion and Dual Play TV for games fans.

Ambilight technology it is a plus for this TV set –  in addition to reducing eye fatigue when watching TV for a long time also amplifies 3D effects (actually about any action scene whether 2D or 3D) and the result is as expected. A 3D move scene with explosions reflected throughout the entire wall is a pleasant experience. Probably the 3D package + Ambilight technology is the advantage of this model.

Finally let’s talk about the greatness of Ultra Hd.. but it’s not a lot to say for now. We have no permanent 4K streaming and UltraHD image sources are not that many. If you can get your hands on some 4k movies then you will enjoy the details provided by 42PUS7809.

For the SD or HD signal this TV does the scaling at Ultra Hd screen resolution but that will not enhance the overall picture quality.

A little piece of advice for those who want to use this TV as a monitor for Ultra-HD games on PC (if your have a powerful computer) because there are some problems on signal output (see below to conclusions). Ultra HD is more of a future benefit especially since we talk of an Ultra HD at a good price.

Sound

A good image needs sound as good. Philips has equipped the 42PUS7809 with two 10W stereo speakers plus a subwoofer positioned in the rear for amplifying low frequencies. The TV sounds good both on the medium and low frequencies. Problems with distortion and vibration appear when we enhance volume over 80%. As I have said on other occasions, if you want a good TV, buy a separate sound system, I recommend a sound bar – especially now that prices have dropped.

Smart TV and Internet 

As mentioned above this model connects to the Internet through LAN cable and Wi-Fi (with built-in adapter). We tested the Wi-Fi and it connects very quickly. Philips has never excelled on the Smart TV (we’re not talking now about top models with Android). This model did pretty well. On Youtube there were no problems with playing very long clips and most applications load in medium times.

Several times we experienced screen freezing and some apps have not been launched at all. Here Philips has some problems and only regular software updates will solve the problems on the matter of Internet TV. For those who really need a good Smart TV –  they should better choose a Samsung or Lg model that have managed to impose on the market, having a faster browser, online video playback and more useful applications.

This model supports connecting a keyboard / wireless mouse for web browsing.

Other options

Philips 42PUS7809  can also record programs on an external hard drive, play media files from external storage devices (though it’s far from perfect) and has a  built in DVB-S tuner – so you can connect it to a satellite antenna.

Conclusions

Pro:

We love that we have a complete TV with a lot of options at a quite acceptable price – UltraHD resolution, 3D rendering, Smart-TV and Ambilight included.

Cons:

Image suffers from color / shade variations.

On Smart TV function, lag and app freezing frequently occur and TV‘s software is problematic – it is very important to be updated to the latest version available from Philips.

For gamers that wish to use the advantage of Ultra HD resolution be careful – you should test with an HDMI good fluidity and response time, because there are some problems (lag, unsupported video format in some ways, etc.).

As a final conclusion I can say that the 42PUS7809 UltraHD is a good alternative for the 3D movie fans and not only (Xbox, Ps4, movie enthusiasts, etc.). As for Smart TV well… you should think twice and choose another brand.