29PT8836 29" CRT HD Amazing.... Review on Philips 29PT8836/94

I have taken my first step towards setting up a mini HT setup. I was on a hunt for one for the past month or so. I thought to share it with you all. The first step for me of course was to get the screen the TV as you may put it, and the first impression comes for an LCD. The min screen size I think for any small HT should be atleast 30”. LCDs are way to expensive in this regard. Almost all 30” LCDs were 50K+. Then there was LCD projection TVs, I went for some demos and the results were really acceptable and price was decent as well. I was getting a Sony 42” Projection LCD for 50K. I was almost finalizing the deal when I stumbled upon this amazing Philips 29" 29PT8836 HD ready CRT TV..

This TV changed my entire dimension to look at CRTs. I never in my dreams thought that CRT can give so brilliant picture quality. But as I researched more I came to know its this particular TV technology with HD support and pixel plus with 100hz refresh rate that makes this do damm clear. I tell you Sony Wega was nothing as compared to the picture quality this Philips offered. Sony was offering its 29” HDCRT KV-DZ29M80 but was way expensive 36000. You can get Philips 26” Widescreen LCD for 40K.

Tata Sky was a visual treat.......looking splendidly amazing on this CRT. DVDs were a pleasure to watch nothing less than any 30” LCD can offer.

However there were few things to ponder, officially the TV supports 1080p resolution but that technically is not possible on a 4:3 aspect ratio. I researched on this more and learnt that it is capable of downscaling HD input of 1080p at 720p or 1080i which anyhow is very good and absolutely acceptable. Another drawback (a big one I might say) is the lack of HDMI input. How are we supposed to play HD content without HDMI inputs? Well the ans is through component video. Though component video is no substitute for HDMI but still that is the only input provided by Philips to play HD content. Check out this article.

https://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36644

So finally I went with the deal and got the Tata Sky as well to enjoy this beauty. I know I am gonna miss the widescreen aspect but I can live with that given the HD clarity and the price I got this one for……. just 22500/- INR. I will connect my computer with DVI 2 COMPONENT cable and would let you know the results on how FARCRY looks as compared to my Samsung 940BW.

I already have moderately decent Philips DVD player DVP 5500 (Plays all Divx content and has inbuilt Dolby Digital and DTS decoder). My REVIEW can be read at mouthshut at https://mouthshut.com/review/Philips_DVP5500-121268-1.html.

Next I am planning to have the speaker setup in next couple of months. Would be more difficult to get a decision on this one but that’s what I enjoy most…….. tech hunts….

Ok guys time for the next update.....the story so far is pretty good with the TV with no complains what so ever. Recently I bought the component cable (YPbPr). Its was hard to find even in delhi....its strange very less people know what component cable is or what component video is all about. Neeway after almost a fullday struggle I got the cable and mind you its pretty expensive as its a heavy duty gold plated cable(Always buy high quality component cable with gold plated connectors) . Got it for 700 bucks. The wait was worth...I never knew DVDs could look so amazingly clear. There is a vast difference between interlaced and progressive playing, as my DVD player cannot upscale DVDs so the DVD (Matrix Reloaded) was playing at its native resolution i.e 576p(The TV was able to detect the resolution correctly and displayed it before).

The picture quality was absolutely crystle dot clear, shear pleasure to watch.....considering it was playing at only 576p, I can only wonder how 720p would look. 1080p as I said technically is not possible on a 4:3 aspect ratio, but I tell you 720p would be more than enough for a  29" TV to fully enjoy. You can only take advantage of 1080p if you have a widescreen TV of atleast 42"......60" would be even better with a BIG room to view it. I am thinking to buy the next level DVD player by philips itself......... model DVP5986 or 5965 which can upscale DVDs to 720p and also have quite a few nifty features................will update you with that as well.........tech hunt continues...:-)