Last year was the year that high dynamic range (HDR) truly started to take off, and Philips was aware of it, debuting a line of TVs that supported both the open HDR10 standard as well as Dolby Vision. Despite the inclusion of Dolby’s technology and a fairly broad feature set, the TVs still came in at far under the price of other brands’ flagships. While Philips didn’t stop releasing TVs in 2017, it seems that it was saving some of its best for CES.
Once again, Philips turned to Dolby Vision for its new 69-Series and 59-Series televisions. While they aren’t the attention-grabbing OLED or MicroLED monsters that are currently dominating the show floor, these should be a great option for those looking for an HDR-enabled smart TV on a budget. Plus, the brand also has a new Ultra HD Blu-ray player, and a TV meant specifically to help you out in the kitchen.
While both the 69 Series and 59 Series are very similar in terms of features, Philips says that the 69 Series is designed “for the most demanding consumers.” In addition to Dolby Vision, these models feature 4K upscaling, wide-color gamut support and the new BrightPro2 backlight, which builds on the BrightPro backlight used in Philips’ 6000 Series and others. This combined with Macro dimming and 120 Perfect Motion Rate should mean deep blacks, bright whites, great color reproduction, and minimal blurring during fast-moving action scenes.
The 69 Series TVs offer dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO antennas, HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 for compatibility with modern streaming devices and Blu-ray players, and Sonic Emotion Premium sound. Despite Philips releasing a number of Roku TV models recently, these TVs use the company’s NetTV platform. The 69 Series will be available in April and will come in three different screen sizes: 65 inches, 55 inches, and 50 inches. Philips has yet to share pricing information for any of the models.
The 59 Series is similar to the 69 Series, but has an ever-so-slightly bulkier look. While these models still feature Dolby Vision, wide-color gamut isn’t supported, and the BrightPro backlight technology is used instead of BrightPro2. Like the 69 Series, these models feature Philips’ 2018 NetTV smart TV platform, which offers a built-in web browser as well as the usual suite of apps featuring Netflix, YouTube, and more. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Sonic Emotion Premium sound are also included.
While this series isn’t quite as premium as the 69 Series, there are a wider variety of screen sizes, with 75-inch, 65-inch, 55-inch, 50-inch, and 43-inch models. All of these will be available in April, but like the 69-Series, Philips has yet to release pricing information.
While the other TVs mentioned here can go in a living room, bedroom, or basement den, there is really only one place that Philips intends for the 7703 Series Kitchen Android TV to go. Not only do the choices of a white or brushed-metal finish allow the TV to easily fit into your kitchen, but the integrated Google Assistant is a perfect choice for what Philips correctly points out is often the busiest room in any home.
This is a 24-inch LED TV powered by the Android TV platform, and while it can be used to catch up on the news and weather over breakfast, it can obviously do a lot more. Google Assistant can help you out with recipes, and when you realize you’re out of a certain item like milk, a simple “Buy Milk” command is all it takes to bring up various purchase options, after which you can simply say “yes” to the one you want.
This TV also functions as a Bluetooth speaker, complete with a 16-watt amplifier. Philips sound enhancement technologies like Clear Sound aid faithful reproduction of any source, while Incredible Sound expands the soundstage. The integrated Auto Volume Leveler evens out unexpected volume increases, like commercials.
The 7703 Series Kitchen Android TV is slated to launch in the second half of 2018, and like the rest of Philips’ TV announcements, there is no pricing information so far.
Philips was one of the earlier companies to offer UHD Blu-ray players, and its newest, the BDP7303 seems to come near the top of what the company currently offers, but not all the way at the top. It offers 4K support complete with 4K upscaling, as well as HDR, but Dolby Vision doesn’t seem to be supported as it is with the BDP7502. This model does support Netflix, YouTube, and Vudu streaming in 4K, complete with built-in HEVC and BP9 decoders.
The BDP7303 is slated to arrive this summer, and has no announced price. From where Philips seems to be positioning it, we expect the price to come in between $250 and $300.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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