Following in the exotically lit footsteps of the original Aurea, the new screen claims a series of improvements including 'a new design, higher quality materials, increased picture processing, an enhanced light frame with a more accurate colour reproduction and a new high-quality Wide Colour Gamut LCD panel'.
The 42PFL9903H. to give the set its less glamorous name, sees Philips shrink the 'active frame' around the screen image itself, meaning a more compact and hopefully less obtrusive silhouette.
The thin black border between the frame and screen has now been made transparent, which should make for a more seamless integration between the picture and ambilight lighting effects.
The number of all-important LED lights inside the frame has also been upped from 128 to over 150, which Philips claims means an increase in 'colour intensity... and a wider colour palate... allowing Aurea II to more precisely match the colours of the onscreen images'.
Of course at the heart of the Aurea II is Philip's Ambilight Spectra technology, which delivers light that matches the colours on screen from all four sides of the TV on to your rear wall.
Inside the set is Philips' Perfect Pixel HD engine, plus Perfect Natural Motion technology, 100Hz Clear LCD and six 'invisible' speakers mounted in the screen.
The screen is due out this month and will retail for around £2499.
Also on the horizon from Philips is the 42PFL9803H – the company's first LCD set with LED backlighting. Philips hopes this will allow the LCD to produce truer, deeper black levels.
Philips has replaced the normal fluorescent tube backlight found in LCD TVs with a total of 1152 LEDs. These are arranged in eight rows with 16 segments per row – giving a total of 128 segments. Each segment contains nine individual LEDs. Got that?
Claiming a '50 fold' increase in dynamic contrast and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, this set also boasts Ambilight Spectra 2 – four sides of light – a 100Hz Clear LCD, the Perfect Pixel HD engine and four HDMI 1.3a inputs.
The 42PFL9803H will be available in November for an estimated price of £2299.
