Apparently, when the good Lord said ‘Let there be light’, he was talking directly to Philips. For with its new 42PFL9900D TV the brand has finally got tired of being ‘subtle’ with its still exclusive ‘Ambilight’ TV technology, and has instead gone what can only be described as gonzo with it. The results, as we’re about to find, are little short of extraordinary. The best place to start is with a little backgrounder on Ambilight.

At its core it’s a system whereby TVs emit lights from their edges which can be coloured to match the content of the image being shown. Obviously this helps Ambilight TVs achieve a very distinctive style, but this wasn’t the main inspiration behind Philips developing the technology.

Rather it was independent scientific research showing that people found long-term viewing of TVs more enjoyable and relaxing if the images on the screen were accompanied by some sort of light ‘context’ existing beyond the screen’s boundaries. Initially Ambilight delivered just one colour simultaneously from the left and right edges of the TV. Then Philips developed a ‘stereo’ version that could do different colours from either side of the TV depending on the demands of the image content.

And ultimately it launched a few TVs that delivered an Ambilight ‘Surround’ effect, where soothing light pooled from all four of the TV’s edges. The key thing about all these Ambilight developments, though, was that the light was always produced from the rear of the TV, so that it pooled across the wall.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under CD soundmachines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.