Have your say & ask the experts

i might have to make this choice soon , and i will check them both out thoroughly , im not worried about clouding as i will make sure i can return either tv if theres any problems , im leaning towards the philips slightly , what would you choose and why ??

philips details in black scenes not good...upscaling not good...colours xcelent.sony...everything good except colors a little flat.

asuming the 5500 is much the same (not sure you can actually say that when it comes to electronics though!) as the WE5 as far as colour goes, I certainly dont find the colour on mine flat.......

I have a 40w5500 and am very happy with it, this is my second set as the first suffered with clouding in the top corners but the replacement is great and no clouding. I have to admit that with all sources i am thoroughly satisfied as the difference between this and my old Sony P3020 32" is night and day...i would stress as you said in your post that you need to be able to exchange the TV if you are not happy as some sets certainly suffer with the clouding so get a decent retailer and i think the choice is easy, it has to be the 40w5500.

Thats a load of rubbish about flat colours by the way! The W5500 has a Live Colour setting which sorts out any 'flat' colours, it works so well that i have never needed it up any higher than low if atall, i only use it for standard def anyway as you really don't need any processing when using hi def!

thanks guys , in not worried about upscaling , as this will be done by my humax box and ps3 , i have not closley inspected a w5500 yet , although having glanced at them in a few shops , i wouldnt have thought they lacked colour , i think im right in saying the we5 is nearly the same apart from being more eco friendly , anyway ill scrutinise both thoroughly if i have to change tv (my plasma is being repaired ) , thanks for the input ..

I dont know about that live color thing.just saying it looks a bit dull compared do another brands beside them at stores

You are assuming that all the sets are calibrated correctly, and i noticed the opposite when looking around and found the sony colours more natural. Colour levels are a bit of a personal taste issue as well i think as i have a few friends who i notice like the colour set alot higher than i like it.

 

Store settings are for bright light conditions with loads of other tellies.  Your home is, hopefully, completely different so I'm not sure you can really tell in the shop.

 The tests here are as good a guide as any if you can't borrow one for a few days!

I'm looking around for a new TV for months now, have seen any set of the mayor players several times, with own material and I'm not agreeing with Whathifi's overoptimistic conclusions over Philips LCD's. To me they are subject to quite some artifacts in the picture, artificially improved by 'not so perfect' motion sharpening software that will seriously bother you in the long run (halo's).  Regarding this, they are even with expensive LCD's not in the same league as Panasonic (Plasma's, still), Sony and even Samsung. For Sony, I would not recommend a W, but a Z5500 (if you take a close look, decreasing in price by the day now).