Lack of support for 42PFL8404 TV purchased in Philips store

coylemj

Hi guys, myself and a colleague each purchased a Philips 42PFL8404H/12 LCD TV from the store in Dame St. in Sept. 2009. That model was available at a discount to boardsies at the time and from a search today it appears you had lots of enquiries about it.

I have had no problem with the TV in terms of the screen quality and it has behaved impeccably over the four years since I purchased it. My query relates to the lack of support from Philips for the SmartTV functionality.

There was one and only one s/w upgrade to the box which was in July 2010 and since then nothing. If I query on the Philips.ie website, it's telling me that it was not an Irish model and that it was sold into the Russian market.

The SMartTV function is chronically bad (slow menus and poor content) and I'm wondering why did Philips drop support for that model so soon after I purchased it and is there any way to get a s/w upgrade to give me decent SmartTV functionality?

Richersounds.ie: John

coylemj wrote: »

Hi guys, myself and a colleague each purchased a Philips 42PFL8404H/12 LCD TV from the store in Dame St. in Sept. 2009. That model was available at a discount to boardsies at the time and from a search today it appears you had lots of enquiries about it.

I have had no problem with the TV in terms of the screen quality and it has behaved impeccably over the four years since I purchased it. My query relates to the lack of support from Philips for the SmartTV functionality.

There was one and only one s/w upgrade to the box which was in July 2010 and since then nothing. If I query on the Philips.ie website, it's telling me that it was not an Irish model and that it was sold into the Russian market.

The SMartTV function is chronically bad (slow menus and poor content) and I'm wondering why did Philips drop support for that model so soon after I purchased it and is there any way to get a s/w upgrade to give me decent SmartTV functionality?

Coyle,

Apologies for the inconvenience and yes that was a really popular TV - it was actually a bit of a classic and two of my own guys bought 8404's - given that they had access to pretty much anything on the TV front - that was some accolade.

Unfortunately we don't control the software updates and Philips TV has had a massive shift since 2009 when they were a major force in TV in Ireland - the bottom line is that Philips have completely withdrawn from the Irish TV market and currently we are pretty much the only retailer to still support Philips TV in Ireland however the range is now very top end with an amazing 65" Ultra HD model as the most popular model.

With regard to the 8404 - as you say it was an excellent TV in terms of picture quality but when it comes to Smart functionality it was a little ahead of its time but it now appears dated and slow, unfortunately I have a similar vintage Sony 46" and again the last firmware update was also 2010. In terms of the Smart content - I very much doubt that Philips will develop any new content for the Irish smart given that they have completely withdrawn from the Irish market for TV.

Philips UK and Ireland is now controlled by a new Company called TPVision and I can contact them on your behalf and see if there are any updates planned - however to be honest I would not be overly optimistic.

Drop me a PM or a post if you would like me to contact the guys in TPVision and I'll keep you updated ( apologies for the pun) if I get any positive news,

Best regards,

John Mc & Crew 

zaphodbeeb

Plus one on this, would be very interested to hear of any update.

Richersounds.ie: John

zaphodbeeb wrote: »

Plus one on this, would be very interested to hear of any update.

Guys, as above I will ask the question, but unfortunately we can't order an update ourselves and with a model that's over 4 years old and in a territory that the manufacturer don't suport any more I honestly can't guarantee that there will be an update unless there is a specific issue - in those instances Philips have always responded positively - however very few TV manufacturers continue to develop software for legacy products - unfortunately ( or fortunately in my case ) they tend to put their efforts into their current and forthcoming ranges.

I'll mail Philips towers anyway and give you a shout with any response,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew