Back in the good old days of CRT TVs, I also managed to own a 25" Sony with the "black Trinitron" considered the best in its class and others nowhere near it. It was with me for nearly 10 years and about 5-6 years back, I started searching the market for a replacement. The LCDs and Plasmas were just coming out then and quite expensive compared to now. Sony had gone down the hill and then entering the latest LCD market. That was when I came across the Philips with PixelPlus and I bought not one but two (a 29" CRT in living room and a 55" RPTV for HT) and are still with me. Both are excellent and the Philips technology was great, nothing else near to that.
Even then and all these years and even now, I keep on hearing that Philips are getting out of the consumer electronics market.
Now, here in weekends, I walk around the several malls looking at all those latest glittering LCD, LED, occasional Plasmas quite regularly. To me, nothing comes anywhere near the Pioneer Kuro plasma as far as picture clarity, motion, colors, blackness and image depth are concerned. Of late, I am seeing the latest Philips 21:9 LCD (I think 56") unbelievably good with magnificent pictures, smooth motions and almost 3D effect. It is just stunning. It is altogether a different beast relative to even their 9000 series. Believe me, I am saying this after looking at all those Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic etc displayed alongside. I think it is as good as the Kuro or even better and the shop owners tell me they sell a few pieces every week. Here it costs a little over $5,000 which is cheaper than the last pieces of 9th generation 60" Kuro put for sale.
What astounds me that when I was in India last month and spoke to my local Philips dealer (with whom I have a good customer-seller relationship and who believe I am the craziest guy in my place when I bought their RPTV, perhaps the only sale in my city at that time!), I got an immediate phone call from Philips central marketing office (Guragaon, I think) informing me that their price in India is about Rs 4.5 lakhs!
Philips is the tragic story of how good you can be but never want to be. It also takes comic proportions when you look at their marketing strategy and image.
I have so far no complaints about them as a customer. If only someone can talk to them and let them decide and inform the world what is their strategy, where they want to be, can we consumers still believe they will exist after 5 or 10 years in the market segment, more sane prices etc etc, .......
cheers.
murali
Even then and all these years and even now, I keep on hearing that Philips are getting out of the consumer electronics market.
Now, here in weekends, I walk around the several malls looking at all those latest glittering LCD, LED, occasional Plasmas quite regularly. To me, nothing comes anywhere near the Pioneer Kuro plasma as far as picture clarity, motion, colors, blackness and image depth are concerned. Of late, I am seeing the latest Philips 21:9 LCD (I think 56") unbelievably good with magnificent pictures, smooth motions and almost 3D effect. It is just stunning. It is altogether a different beast relative to even their 9000 series. Believe me, I am saying this after looking at all those Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic etc displayed alongside. I think it is as good as the Kuro or even better and the shop owners tell me they sell a few pieces every week. Here it costs a little over $5,000 which is cheaper than the last pieces of 9th generation 60" Kuro put for sale.
What astounds me that when I was in India last month and spoke to my local Philips dealer (with whom I have a good customer-seller relationship and who believe I am the craziest guy in my place when I bought their RPTV, perhaps the only sale in my city at that time!), I got an immediate phone call from Philips central marketing office (Guragaon, I think) informing me that their price in India is about Rs 4.5 lakhs!
Philips is the tragic story of how good you can be but never want to be. It also takes comic proportions when you look at their marketing strategy and image.
I have so far no complaints about them as a customer. If only someone can talk to them and let them decide and inform the world what is their strategy, where they want to be, can we consumers still believe they will exist after 5 or 10 years in the market segment, more sane prices etc etc, .......
cheers.
murali
