13. Philips 32PF9630

No more messing around - now we roll out the heavy artillery! The Philips 32PF9630 is not what you could call a bargain TV set. Philips has included the best available LCD panel, onboard electronics, image-processing algorithms and speaker technology in this set. And their intention is obvious: Make the 32PF9630 the best 32" TV set in the world, price being no object. And since that price (for those of you who do have to ask), will be in the neighborhood of $1,600, Philips couldn't afford to blow it.

Design And Finish

(Score: 4.5)

Philips has subjected us to many eccentricities where design is concerned. Just take a look at this white TV set straight out of Star Trek - and the early episodes at that. But for this exceptional product, the Dutch manufacturer has chosen to take a restrained approach, and it's fairly successful. The 32PF9630 is pure class. All the parts are plastic, true, but their quality is excellent and the use of Plexiglas is very well handled.

Ergonomics

(Score: 4)

Again Philips has taken a conservative approach. The Plexiglas laser-pistol that passes for a remote control is out. Philips has used the more classic bridge-shaped remote now used for all the maker's plasma sets. It's robust, yet undeniably practical. The same is true for the OSD, which has a good number of possible adjustments yet is still practical enough for beginning users.

Connectivity

Here's where Philips has really gone all-out. This set has everything. The standards are all here, naturally: VGA, Cinch, YUV, etc. And of course the luxury connectivity, HDMI, is available. But the set also comes with a number of convergence modules such as a memory-card reader and a USB host port, which is very handy for plugging in your digital camera, external hard disk or USB key so that the set can display photos and play music stored on these media.