Philips OLED770 vs Samsung S85F (WOLED)

The Philips OLED770 doesn't try to compete with the brightest OLEDs on the market, and it's actually hard to expect that, as it's the entry-level model in Philips' range for 2025. In our measurements, it reached a maximum of around 700 nits, which allows for enjoyment of HDR effects in scenes where light appears in spots – for instance, in the flash of headlights or a starry sky. In such moments, the picture can truly amaze. However, it's different when there are more bright elements on the screen. The TV, like many cheaper OLEDs, restricts luminance at that point, and the entire image noticeably dims. This was best seen in a scene from the movie The Meg, where the sun rises behind an oil platform – the brightness dropped to around 250 nits, which is almost three times less. The HDR effect remains pleasing to the eye, but it's worth being aware that this model performs best in scenes with less intense light. Fortunately, the OLED770 also has an ace up its sleeve – the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette is as high as 99%, so colours in movies and games are vibrant and very close to what the creator intended.

For most of the time, let's say in 90% of film scenes, viewers will hardly see any difference between the S85F versions. When small but very bright light points appear on screen – a lantern in a dark alley, a gunshot, the sun breaking through the clouds – this WOLED panel (just like the smaller S85F) performs exceptionally well. Our measurements showed a peak brightness of around 750 nits. We can confidently state: this is a great result that guarantees fantastic HDR effects. The problem arises in a very specific, uncomfortable situation for any OLED. We're talking about the moment when the entire screen has to shine at full brightness clearly. Examples include a white background screen, a skiing scene, or our test sequences (5) from the film The Meg. And here, unfortunately, the results diverge quite significantly against the WOLED panel variant. Our measurement equipment was able to measure a maximum of around 250 to 300 nits of brightness under such conditions. To be clear: the same model on a QD-OLED panel in the same test is almost twice as bright. The second issue: colours. And here we also have to be honest – QD-OLED has a structural advantage. Why? It’s simple. QD-OLED creates colours from three components (red, green, and blue) and doesn’t need an additional white subpixel. The WOLED panel we’re testing here uses that white subpixel, mainly to boost overall brightness. The effect is that QD-OLED is able to display a slightly wider colour palette, and the colours are a bit "cleaner." But let’s be clear: it’s not that the colours on this WOLED panel are bad! Quite the opposite, they are really very good. Coverage of the DCI-P3 film colour gamut at 97% and 71% for the wider BT.2020 palette is still high-end. We just have to honestly admit that those few percentage points of coverage advantage lie with QD-OLED technology and may be noticeable in very specific moments.

The first measurements already show that the factory settings of the Philips OLED770 have a lot to improve, even in Filmmaker mode. The white balance chart clearly indicates a lack of blue, giving the image a slightly yellowish tint. In practice, white is not snow-like, but leans towards warmer hues – which some may even find appealing, but from a precision standpoint, this is a deviation from the norm. The gamma, on the other hand, tends to be on the darker side – the average value is around 2.6 instead of the reference 2.4. In mid-tones, the image appears muted and more saturated, which can look too "cinematic" but detracts a bit from the naturalness. However, the most significant issues are visible in colour reproduction. The average error is relatively high, and some colours – particularly shades of grey – deviate significantly from what should be seen. In everyday viewing, this means that sometimes colours may look less natural than we would wish.

When it comes to factory colour reproduction, our test unit in SDR mode suffered from a slight deficit in red and yellow. This resulted in a subtle yellowish tint visible in shades of white. However, this is not the biggest issue with the S85F. Similar to the QD-OLED panel variant, the main problem with this model is the way it presents HDR content. When we look at the EOTF curve graph, it’s easy to see that the TV has quite significant issues with strong image over-brightening. This results in the final image becoming very unnatural in many scenes.

Philips OLED770 had shown signs from the start that it harboured significant potential, but it was hard to fully appreciate this in its factory settings. The image was often too warm, and some colours appeared as if they had lost their naturalness along the way. Calibration revealed that this television was very amenable to work – it responded to every adjustment and almost immediately unveiled another layer of its capabilities. The white balance was set in both SDR and HDR so that the yellowish haze disappeared and a neutral, clear white emerged. Gamma stabilised closer to perfection, which helped restore the naturalness of mid-tones, while shadows ceased to be artificially darkened, perhaps even with a slight brightening effect. The result was obvious... Movies are watched with greater ease; the image has cinematic depth without the feeling that something is overly darkened. However, the most interesting aspect was working on the colours. Factory errors were not dramatic, but slightly noticeable – skin tones could be too warm, and grey wasn’t always the shade we expected. After calibration, the error values dropped to around 2, and in many cases even below 1. This is a level that is definitely lower than the threshold of discernibility for the human eye. In other words, after correction, the colours finally “clicked” into place. Looking at the screen, we felt like the television had begun to speak with a full voice. Like an instrument that had finally been properly tuned.

After conducting calibration in Filmmaker mode, we managed to eliminate most unwanted effects. In SDR content, the TV performs exceptionally well, and its colour reproduction errors do not exceed a value of 2, which is an outstanding result. The HDR content looks a bit worse, though still very good. Although we managed to eliminate a significant unnaturalness of the image caused by an overly high EOTF curve, the most discerning observers may notice that it is not perfectly aligned. It runs slightly below the reference curve, which would suggest that the S85F has minor issues in displaying all details in the image. We must immediately point out that it is highly unlikely for the average viewer to notice any deficiencies in the picture. We assess the final result after calibration as exemplary.

The problem of the previously mentioned colour connections can largely be mitigated thanks to the "distortion reduction" function, which is an algorithm for smoothing tonal transitions in Philips. It works best at a low level – effectively eliminating unwanted colour bands while not introducing strange artifacts or losing image detail. This is one of those features that is truly worth keeping on.

The issue of upscaling is somewhat less impressive. Images from lower resolution can be too soft, while in some parts the characteristic "jaggies" appear. The impression is that the algorithm is trying to reconcile two contradictory directions – smoothing and sharpening – and ultimately fails to find the golden mean. As a consolation, it's worth noting that the television does not have problems with overscan, meaning it does not cut off the edges of the image, which can sometimes happen in other competing models.

The processing of tonal transitions (gradients) in the S85F is at a high level. The television effectively handles posterization (the "stepping" effect of colours), even with heavily compressed content, for example, from streaming services. However, using this feature requires a certain compromise. We noticed that the noise reduction algorithm is quite aggressive – even at the lowest setting, it can eliminate the natural film grain, which for many viewers is part of the film's aesthetics. The "Standard" setting seems to be a golden mean, without causing a noticeable loss of important details, so we can recommend it. However, we advise against using the "High" level, which, in addition to noise, also removes desired details such as texture or the structure of objects on the screen.

The upscaling process of lower resolution content works very well in the S85F. The image is sharp and clear. The only minor imperfection we managed to observe is occasional slight aliasing on the edges. The television still displays characteristics typical of this manufacturer, namely active "overscan" (a slight image enlargement). This should be kept in mind, especially when watching older content, as it may result in minimal clipping of the original frame.

The issue of the panel in the Philips OLED770 is not entirely straightforward. The manufacturer claims a 120 Hz panel, but our measurements showed that the screen can accept a 4K signal even at 144 Hz. This sounds like great news – because who wouldn't want an additional mode for PC gamers at this price? However, the reality turned out to be more complex. With 120 Hz content, the television behaves like most OLEDs – the image is absolutely clear, with no trace of blurring or smearing, ideal for both dynamic games and sports broadcasts. The problem only arises at 144 Hz. Unlike models with official support for this frequency, here we see the phenomenon of so-called frame skipping. This means that the television is unable to display all the frames – some of them are skipped, causing motion to lose smoothness and double outlines to appear on the screen. The effect resembles the operation of the BFI function, which Philips does not offer in this model anyway.

S85F is a model with impressive speed. The use of a 120 Hz OLED panel ensures that dynamic scenes, both in games and during sports broadcasts, perform as expected: smoothly, sharply, and without loss of clarity. A key role here is played by the lightning-fast pixel response time, which is a natural advantage of OLED technology. Transitions between frames are instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. Moving objects, like a ball on the field or a car in a chase scene, are clear and free from the characteristic smearing of LCD panels (so-called "trail").

If someone is looking for a TV for gaming, the Philips OLED770 is a candidate that's hard to overlook. The mere fact that this is an OLED gives it a great starting point – perfect blacks and infinite contrast make evening sessions in atmospheric games look like they've been taken straight out of a cinema. Added to that is the Ambilight system, which uses LEDs on the back of the TV to extend the image onto the wall behind the screen. The effect is such that even just playing FIFA can look like a small spectacle, and in horror games, the atmosphere becomes really thick. On the technical side, it's also quite decent. The Philips OLED770 supports variable refresh rate (VRR) up to 120 Hz, has an automatic mode for gamers (ALLM), and for those using an Xbox Series X, Dolby Vision support in games is also available. You just need to know that in this mode, the input lag is slightly higher than standard, although still at an acceptable level. As a bonus, we also get the 'Game Bar', which is a special tool strip for gamers. It's not the most conveniently designed solution, but it allows for a quick view of key parameters without exiting the game. Overall, this gives a picture of a TV that has all the most important gaming features on one hand, and on the other can add something unique – Ambilight. And it's this mix of technology and visual effect that makes the OLED770 one of the better screens for gaming in a home environment.

85F has practically everything on board to become the dream screen for gaming. It features four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Additionally, there is a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all the key parameters. However, the real gem is the Game Motion Plus feature. This motion smoother dedicated to games makes the animation more pleasant to the eye while only slightly increasing input lag. This is a rare and well-functioning combination that deserves big applause for Samsung.

Now comes the moment where we need to vent a little. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung TVs has become standard, so there's no use hoping (unless something changes in the future). Unfortunately, it's much harder to explain the disappearance of support for HGiG after one of the software updates. HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a key mode that allows for precise representation of brightness in HDR games, as intended by the creators. Without it, HDR calibration on consoles becomes less accurate, which may result in images that are too dark in the shadows or overly bright in the light areas. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become nearly the perfect TV for gamers.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 lineup due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial HGiG feature for gamers.