Philips PML9009 / 9019 / 9059 vs TCL P7K / P79K

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.

When it comes to assessing HDR performance, we need to be clear and straightforward without any marketing fluff: the P7K/P79K is not and never was meant to be a champion in this area. The maximum peak brightness that this panel can generate hovers around just 300 nits. This represents a threshold, a sort of thin red line between what can be considered barely satisfactory HDR signal and what is, in reality, only slightly better than standard dynamic range (SDR), unfortunately leaning towards the latter. Synthetic tests confirmed this harsh reality – our measurements taken during movie sessions showed that the luminance in key bright scenes rarely exceeded 200-250 nits. Therefore, this is not a TV that would allow content created in a wide tonal range to truly shine, and that must be openly acknowledged.

Unfortunately, the issue of colour reproduction is presented just as conservatively. Although the manufacturer positions this model within the "QLED" family, owing to the use of a PFS LED filter, the results do not match the heightened expectations. The coverage of the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut reaches only 86%. Compared to the market, this is at best an average result, since most devices that utilise additional layers to expand the colour spectrum easily achieve values at a minimum of 90-92%.

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.

Every reliable assessment of image quality must start with selecting the most optimal, factory preset mode. In the case of the tested P7K/P79K model, the choice was made without hesitation for the "Film" mode. It is the mode that presents an image closest to the intentions of its creators, avoiding both the exaggerated brightness of the dynamic mode and the excessive dimming known from eco settings. And it must be admitted that, for a device in this price range, the factory calibration is surprisingly decent, although it is not without a few stumbles. The most noticeable shortcoming turned out to be the not entirely correctly set white balance. A slight dominance of the blue component gives the image a subtly cool, frosty character, straying from the ideal neutrality that the director intended to show us. The television handles the reproduction of greyscale in the standard dynamic range much better – the gamma curve is almost exemplary. The only slight reservation can be made for the darkest parts of the image, where a delicate deviation from the norm causes a loss of some detail in the shadows. The most significant challenge, however, for the TCL software was interpreting the HDR signal, as illustrated by the EOTF curve. The television follows its own, rather free path here – the darkest details are disproportionately brightened, followed by a noticeable slowdown in brightness increase for mid-tones. Fortunately, most of these imperfections are of a software nature, which can be eliminated. With that thought in mind, we proceeded to the process of professional calibration.

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.

The calibration process turned out to be spot on, especially in the context of standard dynamic range (SDR) content. We successfully managed to eliminate the tendency of the television to showcase cool tones, restoring white to its natural neutrality. Moreover, the precise adjustment allowed us to correct a slight error in the gamma curve, enabling the darkest parts of the image to regain proper depth, without any signs of unnatural brightness. The results are measurable and impressive – in the ColorChecker test, the vast majority of colour reproduction errors fell below the perceptual threshold, achieving a deltaE value of below 2. This is a result that more expensive models would not be ashamed of. Unfortunately, in the case of HDR content, we encounter a wall in the form of the panel's structural limitations. And although we managed to bring the colours into line, the software's specifics mean that the television still adapts brightness in its own way, as evidenced by the persistent, non-standard EOTF curve. To summarise, calibration adds tremendous value, but it is important to be aware that it won't overcome certain physical barriers. The slightly elevated blacks, resulting from the lack of local dimming, and limited peak brightness mean that HDR content won't always be able to showcase its full potential. This is simply not the main task of this display; its true strength, especially after professional tuning, lies in viewing SDR material.

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.

After a series of harsh evaluations, thankfully, it’s time for some praise, and this is deserved by the TCL AiPQ image processor for its work in the field of digital processing and content scaling. It should be noted right away that we are not talking about the level known from flagship models; nonetheless, in the price segment represented by the P7K/P79K, the results achieved are more than solid. The function that smooths tonal transitions performs particularly well, effectively eliminating posterization, which are the characteristic bands often visible in materials with higher compression, for instance, from choose.tv. The algorithm can elegantly remove unwanted gradients, which ultimately looks really good. The television also handles upscaling competently, which means the task of raising low-resolution materials to 4K standard. The resulting image, although it may seem a bit too sharp out of the box, is fortunately not a problem. The software allows for free adjustment of this parameter using a sharpness slider, allowing the final appearance to be easily tailored to personal preferences.

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 issue of fluidity and sharpness of motion image is inextricably linked to the fundamental parameter of the panel, and in the case of the TCL P7K/P79K, we are dealing with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 60 Hz. This specification at the outset defines its capabilities and makes it hard to unequivocally recommend it to enthusiasts of dynamic sports broadcasts. During quick camera movements, the image loses sharpness, and the panel also shows a slight tendency to smudge, which may be noticeable to more sensitive viewers. Fortunately, not everything in this aspect has been left to chance. The manufacturer has implemented a simple motion smoothing system, which is primarily used in film materials recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. Thanks to a dedicated slider, the user can decide on the final nature of the motion – from maintaining a fully cinematic, slightly jerky image, to achieving a very smooth, almost theatrical effect. It is a simple yet effective tool that allows one to adjust the viewing experience to their own preferences.

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.

Although on paper the native 4K@60Hz matrix might suggest that the TCL P7K/P79K is not a TV tailored for gamers, the reality turns out to be surprisingly different. On the contrary, the manufacturer has ensured a rich set of features that make it a very friendly companion for next-generation consoles. Onboard, we find key technologies such as ALLM, which provides automatic switching to low-latency mode, and VRR, or variable refresh rate, which eliminates screen tearing. The list is rounded off with support for Dolby Vision Gaming and a simple yet functional Game Bar. However, the real and extremely pleasant surprise is something else. It turns out that the TV effortlessly supports a high refresh rate signal of 120Hz, but at lower resolutions – 1080p and 1440p. This is fantastic news for console owners, who know how rarely games run in native 4K at a full 120 frames per second. The option to choose between higher resolution and doubled smoothness is therefore an incredibly sensible compromise.

In summary, while the P7K/P79K may not be the target screen for the most passionate, tournament gamers, it offers a package of options for casual or occasional console users that is hard to find among many competitors at this price point.