Philips BDP9700 in the test

Many Blu-ray players have a problem: They provide a first-class picture and sound quality, a noble case, only with the smart functions it is not far. As a result, the Philips BDP9600 catapulted to the top of our list. Now the successor is there and the expectations are large.


Philips BDP9700: Settings


Philips has again used the BDP9700 large effort. The Media-Tek main processor has the Dutch with a downstream Qdeo image chip. The Analogton section is also high-quality. Four stereo DACs from Burr-Brown are used for the digital-to-analog conversion, guaranteeing the highest precision of the computation. The analog board is supplied by a dedicated toroidal transformer for the best possible current.


Philips BDP9700: Picture and sound


No less exquisite it goes outside. The brushed aluminum case is three millimeters thick. With four kilograms, Philips is twice as heavy as its colleagues from LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony.


After switching on the BDP9700, a discreet, blue menu shines, which leads to the sources and the settings. The user can also access the Smart TV portal. There he finds all important offers. The Mediatheken of ARD and ZDF, the online Videotheken maxdome and WATCHEVER and the music streaming service Napster are on board. There is a web browser. Only navigating through the Smart TV portal could be a bit smoother.


An app for smartphone and tablet is also available - for Android devices, but not for iPhone & Co. However, it is only useful when streaming DLNA servers. Control functions such as play or stop for discs are missing. For this, the traditional remote control is necessary. With it, the user should also take a short excursion into the picture settings menu. It is recommended to set the detail optimization to 0.


Underneath this, the sharpness impression suffers something, but one prevents unsightly Moires. In addition, the owner should check the set format. At 16: 9 and 16: 9 widescreen, a few pixels of the film on the left edge of the film are cut off from a film DVD. The Auto Fit setting makes it better. However, a software update should be able to fix this.


Then it says: lean back. The Philips performs his work excellently, by giving the TV a brilliant and plastic picture. This is due, for example, to adaptive contrast optimization. The final perfection when it comes to scaling moving objects in SD sources, however, is missing him. To do this, the AV receiver can be safely connected via the analog multi-channel sound output. The sound has the punch and the fine drawing you'd expect.


This makes the Philips a top all-rounder: solid processing, strong picture and sound quality and a rich smart TV offer. This is very rare.