Philips' latest UHD TV has great colors thanks to lasers
We're well into the era of 4K televisions now, meaning manufacturers have to find new ways to distinguish their new sets from the competition. Philips has had mood lighting for years and it's experimented with short-throw projection backgrounds; now it wants to fiddle with the color on the screen itself. The Philips Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV from P&F does just that by incorporating cyan LEDs and a red laser into its backlighting source, as opposed to more standard white LEDs. P&F claims the combination allows for a more accurate, more expressive range of colors.
The set we saw on display recently looked great, displaying shots like a bright scarlet parrot and the Tokyo cityscape at night. The reds looked redder and the blues bluer. But with rival manufacturers like LG advertising its own "Wide Color LED" technology, a more precise palette might not be enough. Apart from the picture, P&F added a little more oomph to the Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV by incorporating a pair of full-range vertical speakers that can be side-mounted on the set, or detached and placed away from the TV (as far as the wires will allow). There are also plenty of smart TV features, including Miracast for playing media beamed from your mobile devices as well as the usual assortment of streaming apps -- YouTube, Netflix, Vudu, Pandora and Amazon.
The Philips Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV will be available in May in 58-inch and 65-inch sizes, with the smaller 58PFL8900 going for $3,000, while the larger 65PFL8900 can be yours for $3,500.
