Hisense A6N vs Philips PUS8209

The HDR performance on A6N is unfortunately underwhelming. A peak brightness of just 250 nits doesn't allow for spectacular highlights, and HDR looks rather washed out, more like standard SDR. This won't satisfy more demanding users who want to enjoy high-quality film content. Additionally, colour gamut coverage isn't very impressive either, with DCI-P3 at 82% being a mediocre result that doesn't let you fully enjoy vibrant colours in HDR material.

Unfortunately, this is where the problems start. A maximum brightness of 280 nits is definitely too low to experience the true effect of HDR. In practice, the image resembles standard SDR more, so it's hard to talk about deeper visual experiences. On the plus side, the colour gamut coverage is 91.4% DCI-P3, which will be sufficient for most films. It's also worth noting that the image is stable and there are no issues with sudden brightness or colour changes. Overall, HDR on this television is more of a formality than an actual added value. If we're looking for genuine HDR emotions, this model may not meet expectations.

In the colour reproduction category, the Hisense A6N in Filmmaker Mode leaves much to be desired. Although the mode's name suggests we should expect faithful rendering of cinematic colours, the reality is different, and the TV has considerable picture-quality issues. The problem with white balance is particularly noticeable for both HD and 4K material, with a strong bias toward blue. This results in artificial, cool tones, clearly visible in the comparison image below. The ColourChecker test further confirms these errors, which are compounded by low colour-gamut coverage.

The gamma luminance curve shows a serious problem maintaining a 2.4 target. The curve sits well below the reference value, leading to excessive image brightening and washed-out blacks. The EOTF curve for 4K material also indicates brightness issues, with a significant early overshoot caused by the TV's excessive brightening that negatively affects picture quality. This picture profile prevents fully enjoying films and requires manual adjustment.

Philips PUS8209 offers many picture modes, but the best of them, without a doubt, is the Filmmaker mode. Despite its proud name, it has its distinct problems. For HD content, the white balance is characterised by a strong dominance of red, causing the image to be significantly warmer than it should be in reality. The brightness characteristic (gamma), although correct in mid-tones, has serious issues at the beginning and end of the graph. Drops in shadows result in a loss of detail in dark areas, and spikes in bright areas make some elements look unnatural.

For high-quality content in 4K HDR, the situation reverses. In this case, blue dominates, leading to an artificial image boost effect, reminiscent of unnatural retail settings. Such an image looks unappealing and does not align with the creators' intentions. An additional problem is the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in HDR materials. It deviates significantly from the reference graph, causing the image to appear too dark, stripping depth and detail from HDR content.

Against this backdrop, the errors in the Color Checker test and deviations in colour palette reproduction are exceptionally large, which further negatively affects the overall image quality. The Filmmaker mode, while the best among those available, requires substantial corrections to truly convey the full vision of the director.

Hisense A6N offers options and tools in its settings for adjusting many picture settings that we utilised. When it comes to white balance, we managed to eliminate excess blue – this effect is clearly visible in the comparison image below, where the boy in the picture almost "comes to life." A significant improvement can also be noticed in the gamma brightness characteristic – the television no longer has serious issues with excessively brightening the entire image. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for 4K materials, where the EOTF curve could not be fully corrected due to the exceptionally low brightness of this model. For HDR content, we use dynamic tone mapping, which allows for the recovery of many details despite the boosting of midtones in the image. For this television, this provides more benefits than drawbacks. The errors that are still visible in the test with the colour palette and Colour Checker for 4K content arise from low colour gamut coverage and are difficult to eliminate due to the television's characteristics. Nevertheless, the tonal quality of the image is significantly better, which is why we recommend calibrating the factory settings, which are far from ideal.

After calibration, the white balance for HD and 4K content has significantly improved. While we haven't achieved a perfectly flat characteristic, the result is definitely better than before. The image on the television no longer appears either artificially warm or overly cold, which significantly enhances the naturalness of the displayed content. The brightness characteristic (gamma) has also been adjusted – the most significant issues at the beginning and end of the graph have been mitigated. The EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K HDR materials, has been stabilised, eliminating problems with excessive dimming of the image. In the colour palette test, some imperfections can still be seen due to the average coverage of the wide colour gamut, which is a limitation of the hardware itself. Nevertheless, the final result is clearly better than pre-calibration – the image looks more natural and approaches the expectations for Filmmaker mode.

Let's see how A6N handles low-quality sources. When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, the lack of features for reducing posterisation or smoothing such transitions in low-quality material like television or DVD may be noticeable to more demanding viewers. As for digital processing, the model was presented correctly and the branches were free of the characteristic jaggedness. The picture has strong three-dimensional modelling and a soft look, which may appeal to viewers who prefer this kind of image style.

The television offers a “Distortion Reduction” feature that effectively improves the gradation of tonal transitions, particularly when set to the minimum level. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost – the feature also smooths out details like material textures. On the plus side, it’s worth noting that the operation of this option does not negatively affect the film grain, which remains intact.

As for image scaling (upscaling), the television generates a plastic, soft image that generally looks pleasant. However, in the background, issues with aliasing of certain elements, such as branches or small details, can sometimes be noticed, which may decrease the quality of the reception. Despite these minor imperfections, the overall experience of scaling is satisfactory.

The 60 Hz panel in Hisense A6N will probably satisfy people who like watching movies, because the TV offers an "ultra motion smoothing" feature that lets you adjust the image's judder, making it more choppy or smoother, with a soap‑opera effect. When it comes to motion blur, it’s rather average; there’s quite noticeable smearing, especially on dark backgrounds, which is a fairly typical trait for this class of TVs.

The 60 Hz panel in the Philips PUS8209 is mainly suited for watching movies, but here you can also feel a certain shortcoming. The television does not offer any motion smoothing that would allow you to adjust the fluidity of the picture to individual preferences, which for some users may be disappointing.

Hisense A6N is a TV that will likely appeal to casual gamers, mainly because of its 60 Hz panel, which may not satisfy more demanding users. Still, it offers a few features that can make gaming more enjoyable. The TV supports ALLM (automatic low latency mode), VRR (variable refresh rate) and Dolby Vision, allowing for better picture quality and smoother motion in games that support those technologies. What's more, the low input lag means in-game reactions are quick, which is crucial, especially in fast-paced titles. Thanks to these features, although the TV is not an ideal choice for demanding gamers, it offers solid support for those who value comfortable gaming without complicated settings. It's an ideal solution for people who want to enjoy gaming without heavy hardware requirements, while still having access to modern technologies that improve the gaming experience.

Philips PUS8209 offers basic features useful for gamers, such as variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and Game Bar, which makes managing settings easier.

Unfortunately, due to the 60 Hz panel, the TV will not meet the expectations of more demanding gamers who are looking for higher fluidity and precision of image. Additionally, this model does not support any HDR mode dedicated to gaming, such as HGiG or Dolby Vision, which further limits its capabilities in this regard.