Like all HDTV manufacturers, there’s a bit of a transition from “Ready for HD” TVs (which use 1366 x 768 for their resolution) full 1080 Compliant TVs. Right now, most of the manufacturers are trying to unload the older models, with the lower resolution, and many of them are excellent televisions for the price.

The secret that the television manufacturers aren’t telling you is that very few programs are broadcast in the full 1080 resolution. This will change eventually, but if you’re shopping for a “placeholder” television to last you through the next three years, you can score a smart bargain now. The big exception is Blu Ray and HD-DVD; the film studios are making a serious push to release their wares on DVD in the full glory of 1080 scale. So if you’re watching movies, it’s probably worth it to spring for 1080p now; if you’re just watching HD sportscasts, the HD Ready sets will suffice.

For specific recommendations, the Philips TVs have a number of features that are unique to the market. The most notable one, and the one that gets the most press, is the CINEOS backlighting system, which will backlight the wall behind the television to match the ambient color of the picture on the screen. Buying a wall mount for the Philips Ambilights can be troublesome but had some suitable wall brackets. While this sounds like something designed by a marketing weasel, the ultimate effect is rather surprising. It greatly increases the immersion you have with the picture. It relies on a trick of the human eye, and how our visual cortex works. Since a person watching a television tends to focus on the moving picture, a lot of the random motion of the eye gets stilled, and thus, things out of the center of field tend to get short shrift by your brain.

By making the ambient light outside the “focal point” of the image the same color, your brain is tricked into believing that there’s “more to the picture” and there’s an illusory depth of field that’s quite compelling. The Cineos system is found on Philips Models 42PF9831D/10 and 42PF9731D/10, both of which are 42 inch sets. The first one is “HD Ready” and the second is “1080 Compliant”. Both are progressive scan sets, giving excellent picture quality.

Of course, this means you want to mount your television in a space with light colored walls – this visual effect is diminished if it’s put in a room with, say, dark oak bookshelves. Most of the Philips TVs in this category are in the realm of 12 to 20 centimeters deep, making them good candidates for wall mounting. If you are going to mount it, please consider, seriously, spending the funds to have it done professionally. You’re spending upwards of 4,000 pounds on this television.

What’s a few hundred more to have it hung by someone who knows what they’re doing? You will, after all, feel rather poorly if you drop it and break it in the mounting process, or don’t leave enough space to let it circulate enough air to cool properly!