inch and over

I bought the Philips 30PW850H 30" Widescreen HD-Ready TV from Costco for $799 (a real bargain, especially with Costco's lifetime return policy.) I needed to replace a large older analog projection TV that was taking up too much space in my family room, and wanted to move to a smaller widescreen HDTV. The Philips Widescreen has not disappointed me. The digital picture from DirectTV is very crisp (I'm currently using s-video connection as I don't yet have an HD satellite receiver.) From a progressive scan DVD the picture is beautiful and near-HD as you would expect. The set has two component inputs and two s-video inputs (one in the back and one on the side.) My wife likes to watch the local channels, so I tried to prepare her for what I thought would be relatively poor picture quality on these over-the-air broadcasts. However, broadcast TV looks great on this set as well - apparently the "Eye-Fidelity" system helps upgrade the analog picture. There are no visible lines nor is there the grainy appearance I had expected to see. The widescreen formats are easy to switch between using the remote. The set is attractive and has a small footprint. If you are looking for a widescreen HD monitor that doesn't dominate a room and you want to stay under $1000 in price, this may well be the TV for you.

extrememly dissapointed. bought the 30" phillips widescreen hdtv because it sounded like a good price. I won't buy for price vs. quality again. The whites are very yellow and it actually reminds me of an old tv where the tube is getting worn out. my old sony flat screen has better color actually and the phillips is very hard to adjust the tints. I'm selling it for a loss and will buy another hdtv from a different manufacturer.

In an almost identical manner to another reviewer, 6 months after purchase the color went out on all inputs except the hdtv. Customer service (people in India pretending to be in the US by giving you an American name) were totally clueless. After several calls, they refer me to a local authorized repair center. Since it was out of warranty for labor, that meant $200 for me. The part, cost $700 but was covered under warranty. $65 so that I didn't have to haul the set to the repar place. It has taken 3 service visits and 1 month and the set isn't fixed yet. Adecent (not great) set when its working, but this experience will keep me from buying another Philips / Magnavox product again.