LG QNED91T6A vs Philips MLED920 / MLED910

As befits a MiniLED television, LG QNED91T easily exceeds the magical barrier of 1000 nits on the luminance chart. In scenes where light played a key role, the effect was truly commendable. For instance, 1000 nits in the first scene of "Life of Pi" is a really impressive value, and the achieved 600 nits in the third and fifth scenes allowed for a true sense of HDR magic. However, problems arise with very small light elements on the screen, such as the moon, street lamps, or lights. Values around 100 nits - to put it bluntly - are disappointing, as these elements are so dark they are barely visible. The television deserves praise for covering 96% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 75% of BT.2020. LG QNED91T leaves us with very mixed feelings, mainly due to the very aggressive dimming algorithms which, while effectively eliminating halo effect, do impact the brightness of smaller elements.

Philips MLED920 in our measurements in static tests even reached around 900 nits, which for a mid-range model is quite an impressive result. In practice, this translates to a lot of satisfaction during viewing – in scenes rich in bright light, such as the first, third, or fifth test patterns, the screen was able to generate around 700 nits, which is sufficient to feel the real "HDR effect". However, it cannot be denied that the limited number of backlight zones and the typical mini-LED compromises in dimming algorithms reveal their flaws in more demanding scenes. In sequences with small light sources – like the moon or a scene from the film Sicario 2 – the television clearly prioritises maintaining deeper blacks at the expense of the brightness of these small elements. For most viewers, this is still a reasonable compromise, as the dark background looks much better, although it should be noted that the details themselves may not dazzle with intensity. The question of colours also leaves a bit to be desired. Although the employed PFS filter (the equivalent of quantum dots known from QLEDs) does its job and the colours appear quite vibrant, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space reaches "only" 90%. In everyday viewing, this will be sufficient, but in extremely colourful productions – like the latest Disney animations – one can notice that some tones are not as vivid as they could be in other constructions.

All our tests are conducted in the best picture mode on each television. In this case, as usual, it’s the Filmmaker mode. The name of the mode suggests ideal colour reproduction; however, there were noticeable deviations from the correct image. Our unit, in terms of white balance, exhibited a significant drop in blue hues - both in SDR and 4K HDR materials - resulting in a noticeable yellowing of the image, evident in the comparison scenes from a movie with Tom Cruise. As we described earlier, QNED91T has a tendency to brighten the screen. This is confirmed by the gamma, which is quite significantly lower than the reference value of 2.4. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K content, showed some issues with the television’s ability to dim the image in the darkest areas, which we could observe in the paragraph describing the quality of the HDR effect. Although the Filmmaker mode is a pretty good "out of the box" mode, it still requires some adjustments.

Like every Philips TV we've tested, the MLED920 was primarily assessed in Filmmaker mode – the so-called "most honest" mode, designed for films and to faithfully convey the intentions of the creators. Indeed, in terms of colour accuracy, it performs best among all the modes available on the TV, but it is not without flaws. The first thing that stands out is the white balance. The image has a slight tendency towards purple-pink tones, giving it a somewhat unnatural character. However, an even bigger problem turned out to be what we mentioned earlier – image clipping. Just looking at the gamma or EOTF charts reveals that the line deviates significantly from the norm, dropping below a value of 1.8. In practice, this means "bleeding" of the brightest whites, where the image becomes almost milky. Fortunately, most of these issues can be corrected – the MLED920 responds to calibration, and with a few adjustments, image quality can be significantly improved.

LG offers advanced calibration tools in its televisions such as 65QNED91T6A, which we took advantage of. When it comes to white balance, we managed to significantly correct it in SDR content. The picture mode in 4K HDR quality posed greater challenges, which, while still not perfect, looks significantly better than before calibration. The errors on the Color Checker palette and the colour palette are much smaller than in the factory settings. In terms of brightness characteristics, gamma for HD content is practically perfect, with a small exception at the end of the graph. However, the biggest issues the television faced were with brightness in 4K HDR content. Analyzing the EOTF characteristics in films, we noticed that the television manipulates brightness quite a bit, which we could observe in previous tests. Brightness is significantly boosted compared to the graph in the static test, and the television brightens certain scenes to the extent that some smaller details lose definition. Unfortunately, this is caused by an average backlight zone management algorithm in this model. Nevertheless, the calibration yields quite good results, especially regarding accurate colour reproduction.

After calibration, we managed to largely tame the white balance – to the extent that the average viewer will not be able to detect colour inaccuracies. The characteristic pink-purple glow that previously disrupted the naturalness of the image has also disappeared. The colour palette has been organised, and the colours appear more cohesive and neutral. The gamma in SDR content looks really good after calibration – there’s no sign of the earlier “bleeding” effect in bright scenes. The image has become more contrasty and free from the milky effect that previously severely affected the viewing experience. In the case of HDR content, the improvement is also noticeable, although here it is still evident that the television goes “its own way”. The EOTF curve cannot be fully adjusted, as Philips simply does not offer tools for precise control of this parameter in its settings. In many films, the television still exposes the image “in its own way”. Despite these limitations, calibration has brought a lot of good – the majority of colour inaccuracies have been minimised and the overall image balance has significantly improved. However, one must remember that certain barriers arise from the very hardware construction and simply cannot be overcome.

When it comes to tonal transitions in lower quality materials, the television offers a well-known feature from LG TVs - "Smooth Gradation". We can control it at three levels: low, medium, and high. We recommend using the medium option, as it handles tonal transitions well without causing noticeable issues with removing the structure of objects or other artifacts.

On the other hand, when it comes to image scaling (upscaling), LG's Alpha processor performs quite well here. The image appears very smooth, with slight jaggedness in some elements, but this does not significantly affect quality. It looks really good, and the overall effect is very satisfying.

The manufacturer has equipped this model with several features that improve signal quality, and although we usually approach such “enhancers” with caution, here they prove to be really helpful. The key option is called “distortion reduction” – it works best at a medium level because, on one hand, it effectively smooths out unwanted steps and colour transitions, and on the other, it doesn’t excessively cut details, meaning the image still looks natural.

It’s a bit worse when it comes to upscaling. Lower quality materials – such as the test video with the model – appeared soft and lacking sharpness. Of course, it can be partially adjusted with the sharpness slider in the menu, but the result still falls short compared to what competitors offer at a similar price. Philips still needs to work on this aspect because, in light of the successful improvement of tonal transitions, the upscaling simply comes off weak.

The television has a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which should satisfy most users in terms of motion smoothness. Additionally, QNED91T is equipped with TruMotion technology, which allows for smoother image display in films. With this feature, we can adjust the "De-Judder" and "De-Blur" sliders. The "De-Judder" slider reduces stutter in films, which is particularly useful when playing content with a lower frame rate, while "De-Blur" helps to reduce motion blur in fast scenes, which is important for sports or dynamic shots.

Philips MLED920 features a 144 Hz panel, which immediately suggests that we shouldn’t complain about motion smoothness. And indeed – for a VA panel, the motion blur is relatively low here, and while you can sometimes notice slight issues on darker backgrounds, they’re not something that will catch the eye of most people during regular viewing.

A big plus is also the presence of a motion smoother called “Motion Style.” It allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences – if someone prefers a more “theatrical,” almost television-like character of the image, they can increase the sliders, and if they want to maintain the natural “judders” of a cinematic frame, they just need to set lower values. This way, everyone can find a happy medium.

The LG 65QNED91T6A television is equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, providing full support for all the standards needed for gaming on modern consoles. We can count on variable refresh rate (VRR) support and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). This ensures smooth gameplay without delays.

Thanks to support for all popular HDR standards in gaming, such as HGiG and Dolby Vision, we can fully utilise the potential of the PS5 and XBOX One consoles. The television also easily handles lower resolutions than 4K, so even older consoles look good on it. The Game Bar makes it easier to access gaming-related settings, allowing us to quickly and intuitively adjust picture parameters and features for gamers. Additionally, the QNED91T offers NVIDIA GeForce Now functionality, allowing us to play in the cloud without needing a console. However, it's important to keep in mind that this solution is quite costly and somewhat falls behind the Xbox Game Pass, which is available only on Samsung televisions.

QNED91T LG is a great choice for both less experienced and more advanced gamers looking for a versatile television for gaming.

For gamers, the Philips MLED920 is truly a complete tool. The manufacturer has taken care of everything that is now considered standard in televisions for consoles and PCs. It has ALLM, so the console automatically switches the screen to game mode, there’s VRR and a 144 Hz refresh rate that ensures smooth gameplay even in fast-paced titles. All key HDR formats are supported – including HGiG and Dolby Vision Gaming for Xbox – which means that regardless of what you’re playing and on which console, the television will be able to extract the maximum potential from the image. In everyday gaming, the Game Bar proves useful too – a relatively simple implementation by Philips, but a functional panel where you can quickly check image parameters, enable VRR, or adjust details without leaving the game. It’s not as elaborate as the competition, but it does its job without any complaints. And finally, something that sets Philips apart from the competition – Ambilight. The three-sided LED backlighting can make a huge impression in games, especially in the evening. It’s also a way to slightly 'expand' the screen and create a greater sense of immersion. And since coloured LEDs have recently become almost an essential element of a gamer’s room, the MLED920 fits perfectly into this trend.