Philips 9603 LCD TV series to launch May 2008

Philips new range of top-end 1080p LCD sets will launch in the UK later this month, offering new features and improving on its Ambilight technology.

The 9603 series, which features sets from 32” up to 47”, will retail between £999 for the smallest of the range, and £1,999 for the largest.

The 9700 series is also set to hit UK shores soon in sizes ranging 42” up to 52”, although there have been delays in organising the retail aspects, so no prices have yet been announced.

“There’s not been a firm decision on which supplier will offer the [9700] range yet,” said a Philips spokesperson. “The sets haven’t been delayed. There was initially talk of just one set from the series being released, but want to have the whole range out.”

Whiter than white

The new range will include dynamic contrast ratios up to 55,000:1, which helps make the blacks look blacker and the whites look whiter. This is achieved by dynamic contrast, essentially the management of the LCD backlight being switched on and off in response to the image displayed.

“By using this system, we can achieve dynamic contrast on up to 95% of the picture, compared to 25% before,” confirmed the spokesperson. This means extremely dark scenes with spots of light will become even more pronounced with less power consumption.

Both ranges will use Ambilight Spectra LED lighting around the edges of the sets, which helps reduce eye strain and improves the image quality. The Spectra aspect actually introduces a delay into the frame’s colour changing, so if an image moves off-screen, the colour frame picks up the transition in real-time.

The Spectra technology will be used on both vertical edges of the 9603 series, and on the top as well for the 9700 range.

TechRadar.com brought you the full list of specifications for the high-end TVs earlier this year, which you can read here.