At last week’s Consumer Electronics show, one of the more interesting demos I saw involved a 63-inch plasma HDTV in the Philips booth.

In itself, the 63PFP7422D isn’t big news - it’s a re-branded 1080p Samsung model, although the suggested retail price of $3,499 is very aggressive for this screen size category. What was impressive was an OSD set-up tool Philips calls the Settings Assistant, something that falls right in line with the company’s current "Simplicity" ad campaign.

In this sub-menu, a series of six different still images are presented with a split-screen dividing line in the middle. The image settings are different for the left and right sides, and the viewer is prompted to highlight and select the settings he or she prefers.  As each selection is made, the image parameters (contrast, black levels, color saturation, sharpness, and white balance) are recorded into memory.

Some of the set-up images included two penguins standing on snow in brilliant sunlight, three female models with slightly different skin tones, and a putting green surrounded by flowers. Once the viewer has selected all six preferences, all video content viewed through all signal inputs is presented using those same settings.

I tried the demo myself and have to say I was quite impressed with the results. Flesh tones were accurate with no evidence of red push, colors weren’t oversaturated, grayscale images didn’t seem to be clipping whites, and “ringing” or peaking artifacts didn’t impair image detail.

Until I can actually test the 63PFP7422D, I can’t say for certain how close the image settings I chose were to ideal. But they looked awfully good to my trained eye.

The implications of this clever feature aren’t entirely clear yet. Philips has long been known for pushing the CES envelope with “gimmick” innovations (think AmbiLight) that get lots of press coverage, but turn out to have little practical value.

However, if Philips implements Settings Assistant on all of their HDTVs, it could turn out to be a real winner - especially if other manufacturers copy the idea. Based on my demo, a viewer could set up their plasma or LCD HDTV and be very happy with the results without having to shell out a few hundred dollars to a third-party calibrator. (Of course, they can play with the settings to suit their tastes, as before.)