Philips PML9009 / 9019 / 9059 vs LG QNED91T6A

Philips PML9009 doesn't really operate at the highest values in HDR materials. Most effects with brightness around 550 nits won't leave us thrilled with the lighting effects, although they are quite stable, which is a plus, and a considerable difference can be felt between SDR materials. It's worth noting that we can achieve a good result only in one scenario, that is in the film "Gemini," where the flashlight as the sole light source can really shine. Why in this scene? The answer is quite simple. The scene itself doesn't have a large amount of black, and the flashlight isn't as large an object as the sun in the first and last scenes. Overall, the brightness measurement results in HDR materials aren't a solid basis for recommending this television for viewing productions that use a wide color gamut. However, it's worth mentioning that this model can cover it in a not too bad 93% degree in the case of the DCI-P3 palette.

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.

The best factory mode used during our tests was "Filmmaker". Here, we will examine both SDR and HDR content. The key differentiator is primarily the EOTF curve in the wide colour gamut materials and gamma in those recorded "the old way". Starting with SDR films and series and the most basic thing we can observe, which is white balance, we see a significant red colour dominance. This led to a yellow tint across the whole image, causing unnaturally looking faces and yellowed whites. This issue is also clearly visible on the "ColourChecker" palette, where all colours have shifted towards their warmer counterparts. Looking at an even more significant graph, the gamma responsible for the contrast of the image, we see considerable errors beginning right from the start. From the left, the value we measured, indicated by a combined ellipsis, clearly spiked upwards, causing complete merging of details in the darkest scenes. This state of affairs persisted up to 10% brightness on the screen, after which it dove below the reference orange line, leading to a deterioration in contrast, which, as we know, Philips PML9009 is already lacking. In HDR materials, white balance issues were very similar to those in SDR content. The discrepancy appears when checking the EOTF curve, which governs the rate of brightness increase and severely limited it, resulting in an unnaturally dark image. As for the colours themselves, there were more reasons for concern here, as the television's low luminance caused a huge disparity between the actual state and the correct one, which is perfectly visible on the error graph, often exceeding the scale.

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.

Philips PML9009, like most leading manufacturers, has been providing advanced tools for calibration processes for years. Here we find 2-point and 20-point greyscale adjustments, as well as an advanced CMS (Color Management System). The differences resulting from calibration are evident, and even someone who doesn't pay attention to image quality (although there probably aren't many like that here) will notice the positive difference. Both SDR and HDR materials have undergone quite a transformation. The former and the latter have primarily shed the ugly yellow tint resulting from the red colour dominance in white balance. As for the SDR materials and gamma, although it is not perfectly modelled and still loses dark details, the rest of it is at more than a decent level, and minor errors will not be noticeable. The colours themselves look far better, and with low deltaE errors, they are almost reference-quality. On the other hand, HDR materials, due to the unit's low luminance, have not been optimised as we would have liked. Although the white balance has been largely normalised, a slight blue tint can still be observed here and there. Fortunately, the EOTF curve turned out to be much more accessible, allowing for practically perfect geometry. Unfortunately, due to the screen's too low brightness, the colour errors remain quite high.

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.

Judging by how PML9009 Philips handled tonal transitions, the image scaling test should perform just as well. This time, we are checking the TV’s algorithms responsible for enhancing the quality of images that were recorded in lower quality. Such images can be found, for example, in various TV shows or older films. In this regard, Philips PML9009 performs quite mediocrely and drastically blurs the image. This is particularly noticeable on fine branches or the model's hair.

Let’s revisit the issue of tonal transitions, which performed remarkably well. Within the unit, we will find several levels of smoothing. Even the lowest one can effectively eliminate any jerky tonal transitions and will be suitable for the vast majority of materials. More importantly, none of the settings for this function soften the effect of film grain, which is extremely important in terms of alignment with the director's vision. However, we would like to point out that sometimes it may turn out that fine details are blurred.

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.

Philips PML9009 has been equipped with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 120 Hz. This is the essential minimum for watching all kinds of sports and is recommended for comfortable gaming in favourite titles on consoles or PCs. The manufacturer, for those who dislike the characteristic judder of footage recorded at 24 fps or those requiring a high degree of motion smoothness, such as when watching football matches, has prepared an effective system for improving the sharpness of moving images. In the dedicated tab, we will find a "Smoothness" slider responsible for eliminating judder and a "Motion Blur Reduction" setting that helps to increase the sharpness of dynamic elements. The function works very well and granularly, meaning each setting has a real impact on motion perception. With such a set, every user will find their sweet spot. In the picture, we present our choice, which is slight smoothing without the soap opera effect.

A matter directly related to motion is the response time of the pixels in the panel itself. The best in this regard are of course OLED panels, followed by units based on IPS and ADS screens, and lastly VA. Despite the generally good quality of the systems responsible for smoothening the image, the use of a VA panel carries consequences in the form of black smear behind fast-moving objects. Although in the tested television this should not occur frequently, it will be noticeable here and there.

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 PML9009, equipped with HDMI 2.1 connections with full bandwidth, supports all functions dedicated to gamers. The most basic ones, such as VRR and ALLM, are a given, but G-Sync, FreeSync, or playing in HDR Dolby Vision with low input lag are not. These features activate without any problems, and during the tests conducted, they presented no obstacles. Such preparation of the television is certainly its strong point, and it can be said that it is a unit dedicated to gamers. For more advanced users, we also mention that the PML9009 is equipped with the HGIG mode, which will be particularly felt by gamers, as there are still relatively few games that support Dolby Vision. This mode primarily allows for the adjustment of HDR effects to the capabilities of the television on a special board, to prevent dimming and burning of the image.

The television additionally implements a special menu - GameBar. This allows for editing unit settings "on the fly," meaning without having to exit the game. In it, we will also find functions such as activating a crosshair or black level correction for better visibility of opponents in shadows.

In a brief summary of this paragraph, the Philips PML9009 is a unit that will undoubtedly attract gamers' attention. Thanks to its versatility, it will allow for playing any title in the highest quality without compromises. Especially since features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or gameplay in HDR Dolby Vision will provide an even greater immersion in the favourite title.

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.