Phillips 42 Hd Plasma Tv By Jessica Yamaguchi on Jun 16, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

My husband and I purchased this Phillips HD Plasma T.V. about a month ago. The T.V. we were replacing was ancient and tiny. We decided the best place to go was Sam's Club as they are known for having good bargains on electronics and we were unlikely to get ripped off. We only had about $1000 dollars to spend and we were sure we would end up with a 32 inch T.V…; my husband was dead set on Plasma. I had read quite a few reviews on Visio's…those seemed to be the best “lower” priced Plasma's…however I had heard that they had some sound quality problems as well as some other problems to watch for. I am not very educated when it comes to electronics and all of the technical language used, it all sounds like blah, blah, blah to me.

When we were looking at TV's one of the things I made sure I checked was the sound quality. The TV's we could afford DID have issues as far as sound quality went, they were kind of muffled sounding and I don't know how to explain it in technical terms…just …lacking and sound was similar to what you would expect coming out of small speakers. Even after we tried adjusting with tuning devices they had. The picture's quality we looked at were beautiful on all of them but the sound was a huge factor for me…

After walking around awhile, we stumbled upon the bigger TV's (that we couldn't afford) and accidentally found a Phillips.

We could not believe the price on this T.V. …Regular price for this Phillips HD Plasma (42inch) is $994 (at Sam's Club) dollars. We just happened to get the very last one at our Sam's Club and so it was priced at $808 dollars. We checked the sound and it was perfect, clear, and in stereo. The adjustments are EASY! We bought it and with tax and everything it ended up being $876 dollars.

Set up/Installation was a snap…my husband took care of everything.

There is a 10 second delay when you hit the ON button, but that's no big deal…I'm not that impatient. The picture is crisp clear and bright. Adjusting the picture quality/color etc is easy...even I figured it out!

There's an “assistant” in the menu that shows you a series of pictures that you choose which one you like best and it uses that info to set your preferences…you can adjust sound the same way ( it plays music and you select which series sounds the best to you). You can manually set things but we kept ending up with off coloring and green outlines on people so the assistant thing was perfect.

I know that it can be set to automatically adjust “signals” so that your picture stays clear and crisp. Here are a few things I found on the website (Sam Clubs Website) about the TV features…

There is a built in HDTV tuner, Picture Plus 3 HD which gives you the most vivid and sharp HDTV images, and Virtual Dolby surround, apparently this enhances surround sound effects and creates the “cinema like” sound experience. (No wonder I liked it!)

I'm sure there are more features I could/should list…I don't understand half of what I listed above means…I just know that we are VERY pleased with this TV all around! The price was awesome, the picture is perfect, adjustments are easy, and the sound is phenomenal. I believe it does come with a warranty…but I can't find the paperwork so I can't tell you much more about that. It does come with a well laid out manual that we haven't really used to much!

If you are shopping for a Plasma TV I would definitely check this one! I think it is a DEAL! I have seen this TV in other ONLINE stores for MORE than $994 however, if you look at Sam's Club (even their online store) they are UNDER $1000. The Model number is 42PFP5332D/37.