Philips Ambilight 43PUS6814/12 TV 43 inch LED Smart TV (4K UHD, HDR 10+, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Smart TV, Alexa built-in) light silver (2019/2020 model) [Energy Class A]

I purchased this TV (I'll call it the 'Philips' from now on) to replace my 40-inch Samsug HD set, which after 5 years was looking lost and lonely in the corner of my living room. I watch a lot of physical disc media as well as YouTube and Amazon Prime streams; I am very concerned with quality of picture detail, sound and colour, and felt after 5 years I must upgrade from HD to 4K UHD, despite not owning any 4K media. My understanding was that 4K would improve the quality of HD Blu-ray and DVD. The 65-inch screen size would allow me to display those physical media bonus features (photo galleries, advertisement literature, etc) at legible proportions.I measured up the space I could allocate to a TV and 65 inches was just about right. It's vital you take measurements, because the TV at first looks gigantic until it is situated in its final resting place. Even better if you can go study a 65-inch TV in the real world so you're prepared for the size of it. I purchased the Philips via Amazon Prime with a £200 discount for £699 and it was delivered 48 hours later by two gentlemen who carried it into my living room.The box is intimidating and heavy, approximately seven feet-long. The enclosed instruction sheet made the connection of the stand easy, though the sheer mass of the TV can make lying it flat to commence the operation quite tricky. The rear connections are easy to fit. The power cord is plugged into the opposite end of the set. My choice of TV is the silver rim, which is accompanied by a white back-panel (to reflect the Ambilight more efficiently). The remote-control is white and two AAA batteries are included. I stood my Philips on the existing reinforced glass, metal and wood cabinet. I was dubious concerning the stand because it seems very small compared to the set, but it's absolutely fine, heavy and sturdy (secured with seven screws, two clips and a white back-plate).Onto the Philip's settings, of which there are many, which means, for a TV-phile like myself, a range of options to perfectly fine-tune all operations. I disabled all image enhancement filters because one should always discover what a TV's default standard is before fiddling with settings in case they are undesirable or superfluous; so far, I've seen no need to reactivate any. I wirelessly connected the Philips to my broadband, then paired the remote-control to the TV; no trouble at all. I don't watch anything but discs or internet streams, so skipped the TV channel detection and tuning systems.I previously owned a Philips HD set with two-strip Ambilight and always enjoyed it. I jumped at the chance of obtaining a three-strip version covering a much larger area of wall. The new Philips set Ambilight is gorgeous, with many modes and options.Now, and finally, the picture and audio quality. I played scenes from two Blu-rays ('Star Wars The Last Jedi' and a 'Hammer Horror film') to contrast two very different decades of film production. Star Wars was outstanding, a cinema-grade image; I was stunned how well a HD Blu-ray upscales. I am struggling to imagine how much better it could look via a 4K Blu-ray. I could clearly make out all the surface details of spacecraft, and reflections on the spacecraft portals. The surface of Crait (the mineral plant) looks beautiful, and the final battle there throws up so much texture and detail that it's almost 3D. The Hammer Horror film was full of grain, it being a lower-budget and older production, but every ounce of detail was present and looked larger than life on this massive screen; it made the 'horror' aspects once more seem creepy for this jaded old film buff. I also played some DVD format TV and film discs and they all look an order of magnitude superior to my old TV, even old black & white episodes of American shows from the 1950s that show no signs of enlargement deterioration and look better, more nuanced, than through my 40-inch HD Samsung.Sound-wise, the Philips is quite good and I would advise you do not purchase a soundbar until you have studied the on-board audio quality because it's satisfying, particularly the AI-enhanced mode.In conclusion - well, my praise is all over this review. This fantastic TV revitalises the home media experience and I can't wait to run all my favourite films and shows through it. It is a phenomenal piece of technology and I know that anybody upgrading from a smaller standard HD TV will be shell-shocked and delighted by the technological improvement. Don't feel intimidated by its size because the benefits are more than worth it. My set cost £699 via Amazon Prime and it's the best £699 I've ever parted company with.

A great TV, got it on a deal so it was only £629 and what a steal for the size that arrived!Fast and easy process to set up and I was away in no time. Love all the smart features.Only down side is the sheer size of this screen can make non-HD channels look slightly grainy but there is plenty of free HD channels to counteract this.Well worth the money and the ambilight is a lovely touch, really immerses you

There appear to be three variants of this Philips TV, with this being the middle one. The cheaper one doesn't have Alexa and comes with a different stand that doesn't cater to my needs. The more expensive one is 'compatible with Alexa' as opposed to Alexa being 'built in' to this one. That one also comes with Android for the smart stuff but I've read conflicting reports about that and was overall happy to go with this one.I'm still happy I did. It's a great TV for picture, smart functionality and gaming, only let down by the tinny sound of the speakers. If you own or are planning to get a soundbar alongside it, everything else is just about five stars for the price range.IMAGE QUALITYExcellent. I'm restricted to TVs of this size and my previous one's claim that it could do HDR was never backed up by the washed out HDR image it produced. This finally feels like proper HDR. Obviously, it can't compete with the top end OLED displays and it's the darkest scenes that can sometimes show its limitations, but overall a very pleasing upgrade over my three-year-old Samsung.Beyond HDR, the basic 4K, HD and SD images are all very pleasing with enough calibration options to find your sweet spot. I've started using the Natural mode on this. Don't @ me. Movie mode was usually my go-to before this model but Natural actually lives up to its name here.If you're a fan of the infamous dynamic contrast option, you might be disappointed. You're always told to switch it off but I found it had its uses on my Samsung. Here I think it looks legitimately bad, but the picture never really needs it.This TV did take a while to calibrate and I spent the first two days looking at and tinkering with the menus as much as I did watching anything but it's settled in nicely.As for motion, it’s immaculate to my eyes. Perfect whether you’re watching a film or sport. Smooth, correct and no detectable ghosting.VIEWING ANGLESOften a bugbear, this TV is not completely immune to the problem of many modern TVs but it's acceptable. If you're not sat directly in front, the backlight can show through the edges in darker scenes and washes out the blacks but lighter scenes retain a good sense of colour and contrast. It's a shame about a bit of backlight bleeding here and there, then, but I've sent TVs back for viewing angle issues before and this one passes the test while, for the purposes of this review, not being perfect.SOUND QUALITYAs I said at the start, it's the weak spot and the one downgrade from my Samsung. Again, a little bit of calibration can make it bearable to live with and the AI option does a decent job of doing the best with the speakers it has to work with, but the talk of Dolby Atmos is lost on said speakers. If you're in the least bit fussy about these things, a soundbar will be essential. With a soundbar, though, I think it has all the necessities to create a rich sound for this size of TV.SMART APPSThe usual suspects are included. YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, iPlayer, Freeview Play, Rakuten TV, as well as the ITV, Channel 4 and 5 on demand apps. All very easy to pair your account on an existing device and the apps run fast and the wifi has no problems with keeping a 4k stream going. Image quality on them is impressive, although the recent football match on Amazon was missing the HDR signal. I don't use the absent Now TV so I'm pretty happy to carry on using these apps rather than adding another device to one of the three HDMI ports. That said, I did test it with an Xbox One X and it displayed the football match in HDR. Speaking of which...GAMINGGaming was a major factor for me and I'm happy with the results. Each HDMI port utilises full 4k HDR and whether it's the Nintendo Switch displaying games at 720p/1080p or the Xbox One X doing the full monty, both consoles in Game mode have been given a new lease of life in my home. Gears 5 on the Xbox, for example, looks absolutely stunning and a true step up from what I had before.In terms of input lag, I don't know how to measure it properly (I've read 18ms and 20ms from various sources) so can only go on from what I feel. Which is to say, it's ok. I wouldn't say perfect but I don't feel like it's hindering me in the new Call of Duty. The HDMI ports also come with a monitor mode. I'm not entirely sure if it is what I think it is but the picture quality seems to be downgraded here IMHO (others might prefer the softer look) and has minimal calibration options so I would assume input lag is similarly decreased further over Game mode here. I struggle to be able to confirm that assumption while playing, though.REMOTE CONTROLFeels a bit cheap, to be honest, but it's alright and works fine. It could do with a few extras shortcut buttons. Also comes with a mic for Alexa, who is indeed on call to assist you and is easy to set up.ALEXAIt's early days and also my first time with Alexa and I don't feel in a position to judge this aspect fairly so far. She can do stuff like operate the TV and tell me what the weather is for the weekend, though, and our relationship is blooming. Did I mention I really opted for this model number because of the stand?AMBILIGHTOh yeah, best not to forget one of the main features. I like it and it works well. Particularly nice during these winter months. Who needs Christmas lights? I never knew I needed it but the area surrounding the TV feels duller if you turn it off and it's just about worth the additional energy consumption, whatever that may be.FINAL WORDSMy first Philips TV since the 14" one with a built-in VHS player that got me through my formative years in my bedroom. It's been a brilliant reunion and I'm impressed with everything but the sound. For the price and size range, I couldn't ask for much more.

Bought this for our son for his bedroom for Christmas. Easy to set up and it looks and sounds great. He mainly uses it for gaming and it is in the desk area of a high sleeper bed so the glow behind the tv looks great in that space, the size leaves plenty of room for the effect without losing screen size. The added bonus is the use of the alexa through the tv and ability to turn the tv off via alexa to hint when being ignored that he's supposed to be turning it off. He soon gets sick off turning it back on after a couple of times LOL. Had it for a while now and no problems.