Philips PUS7009 (VA) vs Philips OLED820

In terms of HDR effect quality, Philips PUS7009 performs very poorly. A brightness level of 250 nits does not allow for an enjoyable HDR experience, and the image resembles more of a standard SDR. There’s no mention of dynamic effects or vivid bursts of light. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is only 75%, which is definitely insufficient. The lack of full colour coverage means that the colours are not as vibrant as they should be, resulting in a flat and unconvincing image. There are no aspects of this model that could be praised in the context of HDR.

When it comes to HDR quality, the Philips OLED820 uses the same class of WOLED panel found in its biggest rivals – the LG C5 and the Samsung S90F. This means we can expect really solid results. This year, mid-range OLED panels can exceed the threshold of a thousand nits, and the tested model reaches around 1300 nits in some films. This is an outstanding result, allowing the director's vision to be conveyed with incredible precision, as this is the brightness range in which modern productions are mastered. Of course, there are situations where even the OLED820 has to compromise. Full-screen scenes flooded with white, like those in the film The Meg, can drop brightness to 400–500 nits, which clearly diminishes the effect. This is a characteristic of OLED technology that has not yet been fully eliminated. Despite this limitation, it's hard not to appreciate the HDR in this model – high luminance and a wide coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 99% make the image look simply fantastic.

The television was tested in movie mode, which - despite its name - does not provide correct image display. The white balance in both 4K HDR and HD/SDR content shows drops in the red color, making the image cooler and the colors lose their natural warmth. The gamma brightness characteristic and EOTF curve confirm that the television struggles to maintain appropriate brightness - it excessively boosts it, resulting in an unnaturally washed-out image. This effect can be seen in the comparisons below, where everything looks as if a milky filter has been applied. Additionally, the limited coverage of a wide color gamut does not contribute positively to quality - color checker tests indicate significant color fluctuations, making it difficult to achieve faithful image reproduction.

The colour reproduction in the factory settings really surprised us, and in a positive way. The Philips OLED820, switched to Filmmaker mode, immediately showed that it was quite well tuned in terms of colour. The white balance was relatively accurate, although there was a slight deficiency in the blue hue, which sometimes gave the image a slightly yellowish tint. However, this is not a drawback that particularly interferes with everyday viewing. A bigger problem arose with the brightness characteristics. The gamma chart clearly deviated from the ideal, as the line was below the expected values, causing the image to be excessively brightened, and the colours looked as if they were covered with a light milky filter. This effect was also noticeable in tests using the Colour Checker pattern, where more pronounced errors appeared.

After calibration, the image significantly improved, especially in terms of white balance, which is now more stable, and the hues have gained a natural quality, eliminating the previous impression of an overly cool image. The calibration brought noticeable benefits in tonal quality – shadows and midtones are now more realistic, and the overall appearance seems more harmonious. Unfortunately, hardware limitations still affect image quality. Brightness characteristics remain problematic, despite our efforts, and due to poor coverage of the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 colour gamut, delta E errors are still at a high level. Although calibration improved some aspects, the television still does not provide full satisfaction.

After calibration, both the Filmmaker mode and the gaming mode improved quite a bit. A slight adjustment of the white balance and enhancement of the brightness characteristics yielded excellent results with SDR content – the image looked nearly perfect, natural, and very close to the reference. For HDR material, the situation was similar; the colours looked fantastic, and it was hard to find fault with anything. However, we did notice a certain characteristic, which we had already pointed out when comparing scenes from the film Billy Lynn. The analysis of the EOTF curve showed that the TV has a slight tendency to dim details in the blacks, meaning that the darkest parts are not always displayed exactly as the director intended. Nevertheless, the effect after calibration is superb, and the OLED820 is emerging as one of the more interesting screens in its class. A little bit of fine-tuning is all that’s needed, and there’s really nothing to worry about.

When it comes to tonal transitions in low-quality material, the function called "Distortion Reduction" (setting “minimum”) effectively improves the gradation, eliminating unsightly tonal transitions. However, this setting on Philips televisions is quite aggressive – while it does not blur grain or good quality material, it can introduce unwanted effects and blur elements that should remain clear with a poorer signal.

In terms of image scaling, Philips PUS7009 performs reasonably well. A major advantage is the lack of cropped edges of the image, meaning no overscan, which allows for displaying the full frame without losses. The image is noticeably enhanced, making characters and backgrounds, such as the model or branches in the background, appear quite detailed and natural, even with lower quality signals. Although scaling is not perfect, as it can remove desired details in the distance, the results are good enough to satisfy most users.

Fortunately, the earlier effects of the mentioned posterisation can be quite effectively mitigated. The "distortion reduction" feature set to medium handles unwanted colour banding well, improving the smoothness of tonal transitions. It does sometimes work a bit too aggressively and smooths out some details – such as the minor imperfections of the actors’ skin – but despite that, it can be considered worth using without major compromises. The upscaling in the OLED820 also performs well. The test image with the model is exceptionally soft, sometimes perhaps too much, although this can be remedied with a slight increase in sharpness in the picture menu – that's a matter of individual preference. The absence of overscan issues with very low-resolution content is also commendable, allowing us to not worry about the image being unnecessarily cropped.

Philips PUS7009 does not have motion smoothing features, which means there's no option to adjust the picture for a choppier or smoother, theatrical effect. Such features could positively affect the viewing of dynamic scenes. In terms of motion blur, this model is equipped with a 60 Hz VA panel, which delivers slightly worse results than the IPS panel variant. The VA panel introduces minimally greater motion blur, although the differences are not significant and should not pose a problem for most viewers.

Motion fluidity is an area where OLEDs always shine, and the Philips OLED820 confirms this rule. The panel itself offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which will mainly benefit PC gamers, but even with standard TV sources or consoles, where it operates at 120 Hz, motion is fast, sharp, and simultaneously smooth, without any signs of smearing. This is thanks to the remarkable response time between pixels, which ensures the image maintains clarity in every dynamic scene. The manufacturer has also added their own smoothness enhancer called "Motion Style." In the menu, we find two sliders – the first, responsible for smoothness, allows for the adjustment of the number of artificially added frames in films. This way, we can choose a raw, cinematic character with clearly visible film frames or a more theatrical image with smooth motion. The second slider is for motion blur reduction, particularly useful in sports broadcasts. Here, we definitely recommend setting it to the maximum value, as the effect is truly excellent.

In terms of compatibility with consoles, Philips PUS7009 is likely to satisfy casual gamers. Although equipped with HDMI 2.0, it offers features such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and Game Bar. ALLM automatically switches the TV to low latency mode, which speeds up responses during gaming, and VRR adjusts the refresh rate to minimise screen tearing. The Game Bar provides quick access to game settings and monitors key parameters, although visually it falls short compared to competing solutions. However, more demanding gamers may feel underwhelmed. Philips PUS7009 does not support advanced HDR formats in games, and the 60 Hz panel limits its ability to display smooth and detailed images in dynamic scenes, which may not satisfy fans of fast-paced action games.

The Philips OLED820 is one of the most comprehensive TVs for gamers. Onboard, we find practically everything one could expect: two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps (shame there aren't four), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), support for Dolby Vision in games, and a good implementation of the HGiG mode. The TV also handles lower resolutions at 120 Hz without issue, so you can count on great flexibility when choosing different picture modes on your console. Philips also adds a Game Bar – a panel that allows you to change picture modes, add a crosshair, or preview parameters. Although it looks a bit clunky and is less refined than its competitors, it gets the job done. In practice, therefore, the OLED820, in addition to a full set of four HDMI 2.1 connections, offers almost everything a gamer could need.