Philips MiraVision

Award winning flat panel mirror TV

Long ago people used to hide TV sets in their house. Shocking but true, people werent proud to display their display technology in the middle of their living rooms. It used to be common to have to open doors to cabinets for a peek at the household TV. These days, entertainment centers are a common way to hide the TV in your house, often right along with all the other gear you keep near the TV. The floor model TV was a cabinet that would forgo covering the screen, rendering the TV into an accepted piece of furniture that would dominate the family rooms dcor.
Now a new method of hiding your TV is offered by Philips: the MiraVision mirror LCD TV. Its an LCD display you can hang on the wall with a customizable picture frame that can be changed to fit its environment. While the set is off, if you look into it you get to see only the most beautiful person in the world: YOU! Turn the set on and you get all that other garbage. Thankfully you can turn it off again and there it is again, your breathtaking visage! Yes, mirrors are great. MiraVision takes a new approach to hiding the TV in your living space.

The MiraVision is a great LCD screen with flexibility to fit your needs in either home or office. You can use it as a TV or a computer monitor with a 15 pin PC input. All the electronics can be hidden behind the set and go totally incognito, totally unrecognizable as a TV. You can choose from models that convert either the entire surface to a display or that dedicate only a portion of its surface to the HDTV display. This gives you the option of having a mirror/TV, a handy feature with possibilities for an office or waiting area. The esthetics of the frame is fully customizable: stock frames that can be easily removed and replaced with a design that fits your decor.

Input/Output

2 - S-video

15-pin DIN (PC output)

Component

Features

16:9 aspect ratio

60Hz Progressive Scan

1280 x 768 pixel resolution

Includes Philips own Digital Natural Motion

DCDi Faroudja Resolution Enhancement

MiraVision comes in 17, 23 and 30 models. Good Housekeeping presented Philips with top innovative product honors in October 04. Although its great implementation of stealth TV technology, its sure to have a great looking set behind it too. The image quality is top notch; Digital Natural Motion is Philips own technology used to smooth progressive scan images. Faroudja video processing is an industry leader, a name that truly speaks volumes. Lack of HDCP digital input will certainly affect flexibility as a pure home entertainment device. Component video does not sacrifice picture quality but the inclusion of a digital input would have been appreciated. The PC input is a particularly cool addition. This will make this a great set anywhere you need a utilitarian graphic display.