Philips OLED950 vs TCL P7L / P79L

OLED950 is a phenomenal TV for consuming content in HDR format, primarily thanks to the use of innovative Tandem OLED technology. With this technology, the screen can generate astronomical brightness levels, reaching over 2000 nits in movie scenes (on test patterns). This is an outstanding result that places the OLED950 model among the elite displays available on the market. However, it is worth noting a specific aspect of this solution – at moments when full-screen flashes of light appear, brightness can drop by as much as half. Nonetheless, it is important to highlight that levels above 1000 nits on a full screen are still an outstanding result. This allows HDR content to be displayed exactly as filmmakers intended, maintaining the dynamics and impact of bright scenes.

The use of Tandem OLED technology also brought tangible benefits in terms of colour reproduction, improving elements that traditional WOLED panels had issues with compared to QD-OLED competition. In the case of the OLED950, the colour gamut coverage is wider than in classic WOLED panels, reaching nearly 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space and a solid 82% of the demanding BT.2020 palette. While these results still do not match the highly refined achievements of QD-OLED panels, the difference becomes less noticeable during real-world use. We cannot deny that in the vast majority of films, colours look simply fantastic on this model – they are saturated, vibrant, and full of depth.

The biggest limitation of the TCL P7L in HDR is simply brightness. The TV doesn't have much luminance headroom, so strong highlights, sunlight or small light sources can't clearly "pop" out of the image. As a result, even well-produced HDR material looks fairly restrained and, in terms of dynamics, is closer to good SDR than to what brighter models show. That doesn't mean the P7L completely fails at HDR; the issue is mainly a lack of sufficient backlight power. Looking at colours, the situation is a bit better. The TV covers roughly 91% of the DCI‑P3 gamut and about 68% of the wide BT.2020 space, so for its price class the colour range is quite decent. TCL markets this model as QLED, although the nature of the solution used is closer to a PFS phosphor‑based backlight than a classic quantum dot layer. What matters most to the viewer is the effect: more saturated colours are on offer.

We tested the OLED950 model in Film mode. Although it is intended to be the best and most accurate preset on this television, in practice, it proved to be not without flaws. Interestingly, in the specimen we tested, the biggest challenge was not the white balance itself – although it did show a slight tendency to give the image a pinkish tint. The main issue lay in the way the television managed brightness, both in everyday SDR content and in demanding HDR scenes. Analysis of the gamma chart and the EOTF curve leads to one key conclusion: the television excessively exposes brightness in the lower registers. This results in the image appearing less contrasty than what the panel technology allows. Details in dark areas, which should remain perfectly dimmed (the characteristic "OLED black"), are simply unnecessarily highlighted and brightened. Fortunately, these errors can be corrected using the appropriate tools, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration.

In Film mode the TCL P7L performs quite decently without major tweaks, especially with ordinary SDR material. The white balance is relatively even, although as brightness increases there’s a slight rise in red and blue and a bit too little green. That doesn’t create a strongly visible colour cast and most colours remain close to their reference points. The Colour Checker confirms this, with a large portion of errors falling below the level that should particularly bother during normal viewing. We have more remarks about the gamma response. In the darkest parts of the image the TV drives it noticeably above the reference, so some shadow detail may be a little too dim. The curve then settles and for much of the range it’s close to the intended targets. As a result SDR generally looks natural, but in dark scenes the P7L can lose some subtlety.

In HDR the factory setup is less precise. As brightness increases the excess blue becomes more pronounced, so the picture can look cooler than it should. The number of larger colour deviations also rises, especially in brighter colours. The EOTF curve itself is handled fairly conservatively, with the TV showing the image darker than the reference over much of the range. For such an inexpensive model, the factory Film mode settings are not bad.

As you can see, the OLED950, after a professional calibration process, becomes an absolutely phenomenal display that, without a shadow of a doubt, can be placed alongside the best televisions currently available in the world. This equipment needed only a professional touch to showcase its full potential and eliminate factory shortcomings. The residual errors in the Color Checker tests and the fidelity of the colour palette speak for themselves. We are dealing with an almost perfect device here. A true window to the world, offering image quality of the highest order.

After calibration the TCL P7L can produce a genuinely pleasant picture, especially with conventional SDR material. We managed to even out the white balance very well, and the gamma curve now tracks close to the target value of 2.4. This is also evident in the colour measurements, as most errors have fallen significantly and in everyday viewing it’s hard to notice any major inaccuracies. Films, series, YouTube and regular TV therefore look more natural, without unnecessary warmth or a cool tint. For a model at this price point the SDR result is really very good.

In HDR the situation becomes more complicated. Calibration improved the white balance and corrected some deviations, but here the panel’s limitations become increasingly apparent. The P7L has relatively limited brightness and can’t sustain appropriate luminance for more saturated colours, so some errors remain even after careful tuning. In other words, settings can improve how the TV interprets the signal, but you can’t overcome its physical capabilities. That’s why calibration is most worthwhile for SDR on this model.

Upscaling

In terms of the scaling of the image, the proprietary P5 processor performs just as well as in most of the manufacturer's models. Lower resolution content gains a very soft and plastic character. This presentation will certainly appeal to many people. However, if you prefer sharper contours, you can gently enhance them using the appropriate slider in the TV menu. In this aspect, it's really hard to nitpick. The image simply looks very good and additionally, there are no issues with overscan.

Smoothing and Distortion Reduction

The smoothing of tonal transitions performs somewhat worse. In the settings, we find an option called "Distortion Reduction." This allows for a three-level adjustment of the processor's intervention. Unfortunately, the Minimum setting works poorly and the smoothing effects are minimal. The Medium level gives a decent result, but it also begins to smooth out the details of the actors' skin. On the other hand, the Maximum setting works too aggressively. It removes far too many details from the face and background elements or can even eliminate film grain. To achieve the optimal effect, it's worth playing around with these settings at home and adjusting them to your liking. It might seem that the Medium option represents the best compromise here.

In this respect the TCL P7L performs surprisingly well, especially for such an inexpensive TV. The banding reduction feature, which in many budget models does little or nothing, actually manages to improve the picture here. It doesn't remove all banding completely, but it can noticeably reduce posterisation and make trickier gradients look more natural. In this price segment that's a genuinely pleasant surprise.

The upscaling itself also looks good. Lower-resolution material is upscaled properly, without excessive sharpening or adding artificial edges around objects. Of course the P7L won't turn a very poor source into a 4K-quality picture, but for regular TV the result is simply solid. For a model at this price point there are few major complaints to make.

The motion reproduction on the OLED950 model is simply perfect. This is typical for screens of this kind (OLED 120Hz+), as the panel shows no motion blur at all. This allows us to enjoy perfect sharpness in practically any conditions. A significant part of this is due not only to the nature of organic technology itself. Equally important work is done here by the smoothing systems employed by the manufacturer.

TCL P7L uses a native 60 Hz panel at 4K resolution, and that's how it should be treated in everyday use. For movies the TV mainly offers frame interpolation, so it can smooth motion and reduce noticeable judder, but it doesn't deliver the smoothness typical of true 120 Hz panels.

OLED950 is almost the perfect television for gamers. This is due not only to the unique atmosphere created by the Ambilight system during gameplay. The most important aspect here is the solid hardware support. We literally have everything you would expect from a modern gaming display. The manufacturer has implemented two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s. This gives us access to gaming in 4K resolution at 120 frames per second. There is, of course, support for VRR technology and the automatic game mode ALLM. The device handles any HDR signal with ease, whether we’re using Dolby Vision or the HGiG standard.

We have access to all settings from one place thanks to the special Game Bar overlay. While this interface may not be the most graphically attractive on the market, it fully accomplishes its task. It displays all the important signal parameters and offers useful additions. Gamers can take advantage of the minimap zoom function or add a fixed crosshair on the screen, which can be seen as a small aid in online competition. The adjustment of contrast range also proves to be useful. It allows you to brighten shadows and achieve better visibility of enemies hiding in dark corners of the map.

For such an inexpensive TV, the P7L has quite a lot to offer gamers. It has ALLM, VRR and Dolby Vision in games, and TCL also includes its Game Bar, where you can quickly check key information or change some settings without leaving the game. Not everything is perfect, though, because HGiG doesn't work here as it should, but at this price point it's hard to complain much about the feature set. The most interesting part comes when you give up 4K. At that resolution the TV runs at up to 60 Hz, but at 1440p and 1080p it can already display at 120 Hz. And that's not just a spec-sheet curiosity. In fast-paced games that support that frame rate the difference in smoothness is genuinely noticeable, so if you care more about smoother motion than maximum image sharpness, that mode can make a lot of sense. Of course, that doesn't make the P7L a true 120 Hz TV. Still, it's precisely these extra modes that make the P7L perform really well for gaming.