Philips PML8709 vs Panasonic W85

Looking at the contrast results, we expected that the algorithms responsible for the zones in the Philips PML8709 would be at least decent. However, what we encountered during testing is difficult to explain. The average brightness we managed to achieve was just 350 nits, which is definitely too low to fully enjoy HDR effects. In practice, the TV barely stands out compared to an average SDR. The situation becomes even more surprising in test scenes, such as the second one from the movie Life of Pi or Sicario 2. Small light elements achieve just 120 nits there, making them practically imperceptible. Such a level of brightness is completely below modern HDR standards and significantly diminishes the experience of watching high-quality content. The only bright spot in this category is the very good coverage of wide color gamuts – DCI-P3 at 97% and BT.2020 at 83%. This ensures that colors are saturated and well-reproduced, which can somewhat improve the overall experience of watching HDR materials. However, the lack of adequate brightness means that even this cannot save the Philips PML8709 in this category.

Unfortunately, we don't have good news here. The Panasonic W85B is quite a dark television – its peak brightness doesn't exceed 300 nits, making it hard to talk about any real HDR effect. In practice, this means that scenes which can 'shine' and impress on other screens simply look like regular SDR with a slight colour boost here. Our measurements and film tests confirmed this – regardless of the content, the W85B won't draw anything more from HDR. So if someone is looking for a television specifically for HDR, it's better to look at other models. On a positive note, the W85B does quite well in terms of colours. It's a QLED television, so its colour gamut coverage is wide, and most films and series look natural, without a noticeable 'faded' effect. The colours are saturated, so in everyday viewing, there's no feeling that something is seriously off.

Though theoretically the Filmmaker mode in the Philips PML8709 should provide natural colour reproduction, in reality it resembles a store mode more. In the white balance, both for HD and 4K content, there is a clear dominance of blue. This causes the image to appear washed out and cold, which is particularly noticeable in the comparative image below.

The brightness characteristics also leave much to be desired. Both gamma and the EOTF curve exhibit excessive screen brightness. As a result, there is a loss of detail in both the brighter and darker areas of the image, further diminishing its credibility and naturalness. Bright elements appear unnaturally flat and little varied.

These significant issues with white balance and brightness characteristics lead to noticeable errors in colour reproduction, which can easily be seen in films as well as the Colour Checker test. The colours are inaccurate, affecting the overall image quality and visual experience. The factory settings require significant improvement in order to fully enjoy the potential of this television.

Testing the Panasonic W85B, we obviously started with the Filmmaker mode, as it's the gold standard for watching content "the way the director intended." The problem is that this TV is quite far from those intentions. The biggest issue turned out to be an excess of red – both in SDR and HDR. The image often looked too warm because of this, and in some scenes, it was almost "on fire." Added to this is the issue of brightness management. When we looked at the gamma and EOTF charts, it was clear as day that in most scenes, the TV brightens the image more than it should. The effect was easy to predict. Details can get lost, leading to flattening and clipping across the entire screen. We obviously know how to fix this, but to be fair, it does require a lot of calibration work. Out of the box, the W85B doesn't produce an image close to reference quality – it's more of a TV that, without professional adjustments, will always interpret colours and brightness a bit "in its own way." Unfortunately, this is to the detriment of the viewer.

Philips offers advanced image calibration tools in its televisions, which we decided to fully utilise. The results? Although we managed to improve many aspects, it wasn't without difficulties. White balance was one of the biggest challenges – despite our efforts, it could be called fighting against windmills. We were able to significantly correct it, so the picture now looks much better than in the factory settings, but it is still far from perfect. Especially in some scenes, a subtle dominance of blue is visible, although not as intense as before. We achieved a significant improvement in brightness characteristics – gamma now appears much more stable. The EOTF curve looks correct at first glance, however, when analysing movie content, it is evident that the television has trouble maintaining the proper characteristics. The algorithms are "struggling", trying to adjust brightness, which may be due to the limited number of dimming zones that do not always handle more complex scenes well. Overall, the picture after calibration looks much more pleasing to the eye – colors are more natural, and colour reproduction errors have been minimised. Although it is still not perfect, the Philips PML8709 now presents itself much better than in the factory settings.

Fortunately, calibration made a significant difference for the Panasonic W85B, especially for SDR content. Here, the improvement was quite evident – we managed to even out the white balance and reasonably tame the TV's tendency to overly brighten the entire image. The picture became more coherent and the colours gained the naturalness that was lacking in the factory settings. Admittedly, the results from the Color Checker are not perfect, as the W85B has noticeable issues with green saturation, but overall, we rate the post-calibration effect in SDR quite positively. The situation with HDR is a bit different. Here too, we managed to reduce the tendency to warm up the entire scene, so the image performed definitely better than in the factory settings. However, there is still the same problem we mentioned earlier – the TV interprets the image too strongly "in its own way" and brightens the whole screen. And the lack of local dimming only exacerbates this effect. In summary, briefly, in SDR content, the W85B performs really well after calibration and is perfectly suitable for everyday viewing. However, in HDR, even after adjustments, it is still difficult to unambiguously recommend it for more serious viewing.

The distortion reduction feature in the Philips PML8709 smooths tonal transitions, but its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. We recommend setting this option to "Medium" - at this level, the effect is noticeable but not excessive. Unfortunately, compared to other Philips models, the smoothing effect is less effective, meaning that certain tonal transitions may still appear somewhat uneven. An additional drawback is that this feature also smooths other details, such as the textures of materials like shirts, which can affect image sharpness.

As for image scaling, the television performs very well. The image appears smooth and free of noticeable "jaggies". This effect may appeal to many users, although some might prefer a more vivid look. Fortunately, the television allows for adjustment of the sharpness parameter, enabling us to tailor the image to individual preferences.

With native SDR content, the Panasonic W85B performs very well – tonal transitions are smooth and natural, without artificial bands or clear outlines. However, the situation is worse with lower resolution materials. This is where the TV has the biggest problem with "beautifying" the image. The lack of any menu option to improve gradation means that with older films or materials from YouTube, one can sometimes notice slight issues with colour blending.

Fortunately, upscaling, or enhancing the quality of lower resolution content, performs much better. This is definitely a strong point of this model – the image is scaled cleanly and in detail, and the TV handles this better than one might expect from such an inexpensive setup. This is thanks to the HCX processor, which Panasonic has been developing for years, and it shows that even in the lower series, it can do a good job.

Philips PML8709 is one of the few models with mini-LED technology on the market, offering a refresh rate of 60 Hz. While it’s not a panel for the most demanding gamers, it should satisfy those who mainly watch movies. The TV is equipped with a “Motion Style” feature, which is a motion smoother that allows you to adjust the fluidity of motion according to your preferences – from a more “plastic” look to a cinematic aesthetic with clearly visible frames.

At first glance, everything looks good – the Panasonic W85B has a 120 Hz panel and even a 144 Hz mode, so it seems like it should handle smooth motion really well. The problem starts when we delve into the settings. The options for improving fluidity are supposedly present in the menu, but in practice… they don't change anything. No matter what we choose, the image looks the same. On top of that, there’s a lack of BFI, or black frame insertion, which in many TVs helps sharpen motion. And suddenly, it turns out that despite the strong panel, the W85B doesn’t give us any real tools to adjust that motion to our needs. It’s only good when the source itself operates at a higher frequency – for example, games at 120 Hz. But when it comes to movies or sports, we just have to accept what the TV shows us because there’s nothing more that can be done about it.

Philips PML8709 is a television aimed more at casual gamers, mainly due to the 60 Hz panel, which won’t meet the expectations of the most demanding users. However, for those who appreciate gaming at a more moderate pace, this model may prove sufficient.

The television offers several gamer-friendly features, such as ALLM (automatic switching to game mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate), which help in providing smoother image display without annoying stutters. Furthermore, in terms of HDR, we find the implementation of HGiG, which adjusts the HDR effect to the specifics of games, ensuring a more natural image in appropriately optimised titles. Unfortunately, there is no support for Dolby Vision mode, which may be noticeable in games that utilise this format.

A nice addition is the presence of a basic "Game Bar," which allows for quick previewing and modification of the most important settings related to gaming. It’s a simple but useful touch, especially for those who frequently change their configuration between different types of gameplay. Despite some limitations, the Philips PML8709 offers a solid set of features for less demanding gamers.

On paper, the Panasonic W85B looks really solid. It has two full HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM, variable refresh rates, Dolby Vision in games, and of course, a high refresh rate for the panel itself. Additionally, there's the characteristic Panasonic game bar, which allows you to view key parameters with a single click and quickly change them if needed. It sounds great, but the problem arises when we enable HDR. Here, the W85B really struggles because the implementation of HGiG is practically nonexistent – the TV poorly manages brightness, and instead of faithful images, we get scenes that are too bright, sometimes even blown out. The solution? The simplest one – turn off HDR in the console settings and keep everything in SDR. And here it gets really interesting, because in this scenario, the W85B shows its better side. Low input lag, high smoothness thanks to 120 Hz – all of this makes gaming look phenomenal. Yes, HDR can be skipped, but if responsiveness and smooth gameplay are the priorities, the W85B provides plenty of fun.