Philips to service 12,000 Ambilight plasmas

See? We hate to say we told you so, but we knew those Ambilights were trouble. Looks like Philips is putting out a service call to about 12,000 42 and 50-inch Ambilight plasmas in the US due to an issue with arcing capacitors in the cabinets, which probably don't but just might pose a slight fire hazard. 12,000 units may not sound like a whole lot, but that's actually a pretty substantial amount of sets, and it wouldn't surprise us if that figure accounted for every 42 and 50-inch Ambilight set in the US. So if this sounds like it could apply to you, make sure you pick up the phone and get those guys out to fix your plasma -- while it's still working, that is.

[TC @ Mar 17th 2006 9:33AM]

I love the fact that someone's probably staring at their 'arching capacitors' catching fire and saying 'Wow! this Ambilighting really rocks!"!!!

[Jonathan Keim @ Mar 17th 2006 11:07AM]

Why exactly would anyone be compelled to buy this? It does make them different from all the others, but it only makes the cost per unit go up and it doesn't really do much

[Alex @ Mar 17th 2006 11:23AM]

I wish they would sell an independent ambilight system for use in any home theater. I saw a phillips prototype where they had ambilights set up all around a room and they were playing the movie Final Fantasy the Spirits Within. They of course had to program the lights to match the movie, kind of like creating a new soundtrack, but the start of that movie with ambient light was absolutely incredible. Anyone skeptical about how immersive this technology is should really see the demo, and remember how out of focus their peripheral vision is.

[Lee @ Mar 17th 2006 11:25AM]

This is akin to putting those dopey neon lights under your car so you can go "cruising" and look "cool."

Though I certainly give Philips points for trying to do something new with this set. It's unfortunate for them they're having so many issues with it.

[Lee @ Mar 17th 2006 11:26AM]

Maybe the idea with Ambilight was something along the lines of having a Dual Shock game controller... just adds a little something to the experience.

[Jeff @ Mar 17th 2006 11:49AM]

"This is akin to putting those dopey neon lights under your car so you can go "cruising" and look "cool.""

Well, no, it isn't.

It's long been known that putting a backlight behind your set both reduces eyestrain and also, if you use the right *color* backlight, improves the perceived color accuracy of the set. You need a neutral grey background for this, though, which these sets *do* support but you just don't see it in the ads they make because it doesn't look very impressive.

There are several modes that these Ambilight sets have; you can have it try to match the backlight color of whatever you're watching on the fly (that's what they show in ads) or you can set it to any static color that the set supports (which is what you should do).

But it's not a useless technology. Maybe the background-matching feature is, but the technology itself isn't; it's based on real science. (Not that there's anything all that revolutionary about sticking a couple light bulbs on the back of a TV, but it's a good feature to have anyway and nobody else does it that I know of.)

[Lee @ Mar 17th 2006 11:56AM]

Jeff, apparently where you come from your people have no sense of humor.

It's called -> I was kidding. get it? Neon for the back of your TV... Anyway, the humor is lost.

And yes, I fully understand the concept here... pretty easy to grasp.
;)

[Tommy Mang @ Mar 17th 2006 12:16PM]

"Philips", need I say more...

[Perrey Z. @ Mar 17th 2006 3:32PM]

#1: don't be so stupid, the Ambilights sets DO NOT CATCH FIRE, GET IT?! THEY DO NOT!

#2:What the hell do you know, Einstein? i'll tell why EVERYONE should buy these; because A; the Ambilight feature are not a gimmick, they actually have a good purpose., and B; They are the best invention ever to enjoy watching television in an all-dark room., But since this wasn't invented by Sony or Panaosnic is not widely accepted. Doesn't matter anyway, Philips it's already NUMBER 1 not Panasonic in U.S. sales as they claim to be. The actual sales numbers speak for itself.

#4: What many issues are you talking about? this is a single isolated problem with U.S. units ONLY., these units come from Mexico there is where the problems lies. MEXICO, the land of useless poor workmanship.

#8: And what's wrong with been Philips, Idiot? This is the world's largest electronics company in the world, this will happen and has happen with ANY company regardless of industry., Things might happen when a high-end product such as these FlatTV are assemble in a third world country as Mexico.

What? doesn't Sony, Panasonic and Apple make any mistakes., Re-think BEFORE you type, your statement is as useless as you are.

A NOTE TO RYAN BLOCK: I hate to say to you you are wrong, but you are ALAWAYS wrong! There is NOTHING wrong with the Ambilight features, it's component nor they are trouble as you wrote.

The problems are with only a certain batch of sets that were assemble in Mexico from April 2005 to August 2005, the parts causing the problem are also made in Mexico, these was and has NEVER been an issue with sets manufacture for other markets or units from the 2004 line which were imported from Belgium.

You don't need to be spreading lies and writing here that better give them a call while your plasma is working because it's not the entire 42" and 50" Ambilight production, ONLY CERTAIN AMOUNT OF UNITS FROM APRIL TO AUGUST 2005 ARE DEFECTIVE.

Philips WILL NOT send a in-home service call to models that are not covered by the specific manufacturing dates.

So instead of acting funny by your not-so-funny-little-attend-to-be-ahip-reporter, report and write with A-C-C-U-R-A-C-Y.

[tp @ Mar 17th 2006 6:42PM]

wow, perrey z needs a girl

[Jeff @ Mar 17th 2006 6:58PM]

Well Perrez, you driving your point to far by stating Mexicans are the blame for plugging in the wrong capacitors. It's Philips idea to do production there and they bare responsibility. The ambilights for American market also came from Belgium btw.

I thought the newsitem was a little negative, I rather have a company admiting to plugging in the wrong capacitor than some vague company that will just change their name whenever they did something wrong.

[chris h @ Mar 17th 2006 7:51PM]

I actually own an ambilight Plasma and it is very very cool. They do NOT have to be preprogrammed as someone suggested earlier, and really enhance the viewing experience. Don't knock it till you've tried it :)

[evo @ Mar 17th 2006 8:50PM]

...and a Valium. Relax, dude; just because you clearly really like Philips, AmbiLight, and "A-C-C-U-R-A-C-Y", it's not like you've been personally impugned.

[AR @ Mar 17th 2006 10:24PM]

I actually like the Ambilight feature. At first I thought I would just turn it off but I prefer to keep it on. The 50PF9630A is no where near as good of a picture as other plasmas like the Pioneer 50" but it was about half the price at 3K OTD.

[Glifford @ Mar 18th 2006 2:26PM]

Let's hope Philips is able to correct this problem ASAP and come out with better products soon!

[Scott @ May 24th 2006 5:03PM]

I own a 42" Philips plasma with ambilight. The ambilight feature is very cool. However, any sound close to a bass note vibrates the ambilight and emits a buzzing sound.
It is now three months to the day from my first contact with Philips to get this problem resolved.
They first replaced the speakers. No difference.
They then, after admitting there is a problem with these sets, installed a felt gasket. The problem is even worse now. The regional manager instructed the technician to inform me that the problem is inherant in these sets and I would just have to live with it.

I've been referred to the "Customer Care Center" to resolve the issue after speaking with a manager, who assured me they would respond within 48 hours.
They did, I received a computer generated call saying they would contact me within one week.

I am not a whiner complaining about a minor problem.
The buzzing coming from this thing is loud and would drive anyone nuts.

The service I've received from Philips has been horrible. They just seem to want to put me off until my warranty runs out. The repair technician says the product is made with such cheap materials compared to other sets, it's no wonder I'm having problems.

My advice: While the ambilight is cool, listen to Consumer Reports. Buy the Panasonic.

[Lee @ Jun 9th 2006 12:49PM]

I also have a 50" Ambilight with no problems except for the rattle stated above since then I have bought the Hitachi 55" what a difference in picture quality I love the glow of the Phillips but it does not compare to this new screen could be cause it is going on two years old or the contrast ratio but either way unless you have both side by side to compare the Phillips is a great set hope they get the bugs out for the future and have the stores set up a better selling display where the buyer can see the light feature as he would in his home.

[nolverto @ May 22nd 2007 11:44PM]

My friend Peter just bought one and he's had to exchange it twice making this his third one. And each time it works when he first plugs it in, but then after turning it off, it wont turn back on. This is a really annoying problem. Has any one else had this problem.

[tommyboy @ Aug 10th 2007 4:44PM]

I have had the 50" plasma ambilight for 8 months now and love it. I honestly have 1 problem and that is that the TV seems to reset itself about once a month whereas the screen and ambilight turn off then right back on. It is such a rare occurance that it hasn't been worth pulling it off the wall and bringing it in for repair. Eh, maybe wone day when I am bored and have nothing to do, (or watch) I'll do it.

I have been thinking about a new TV for the bedroom and will definitely go for the 42" LCD ambilight. HD programming is so intense with ambilight and is worth every penny.

[tommyboy @ Aug 14th 2007 11:33AM]

I spoke to the service tech at Philips and they directed me towards a software update to correct the video reset. Just download it onto a USB key and plug it into the side of the set. Well, let's see if it works...

[tommyboy @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:05PM]

Update - TV Operates perfectly. It really doesn't matter to most people here because they do not make this in a plasma anymore but for those who do, just call Phillips or go on their site and get the software update.