Philips PUS8359 (VA) vs LG NANO81A / NANO80A

Philips PUS8359 didn't impress us with its performance in HDR materials. This model is capable of generating a maximum brightness of 320 nits, and often even less. Such results, combined with the lack of support for HDR Dolby Vision, mean that the image will be significantly darker compared to the source material. Therefore, it would be more beneficial for this television to play SDR content. This is also suggested by the quite low coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 83%, resulting in significant colour deficiencies. The fact remains that the television supports an HDR format based on dynamic metadata; however, HDR10+ is such a niche format that it doesn't offer any major advantages.

If you're hoping that HDR on the NANO81A will bring tears to your eyes, I have to disappoint you. This TV is just too dark to show what this format is really about. With a brightness of only 250 nits, HDR really only exists on paper here. In practice, during viewing, it's very hard to tell whether we're watching material in high dynamic range or regular SDR – it simply lacks that “punch” of light in the bright parts of the image. But, to balance out the criticism, we do have one light at the end of the tunnel – and quite a distinct one at that. It's about colour gamut coverage. Here, the NanoCell filter shows that it's not just marketing nonsense. Our measurements indicated that the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is around 88%. That's a really solid result, placing this model significantly above typical budget models based on regular white LEDs without any filters. Of course, it still lags a bit behind QLED TVs or advanced panels with PFS filters, but for this price range, the colours are surprisingly saturated and vibrant. It’s just a shame that this low brightness doesn't allow them to fully “spread their wings” with the Nano filter.

The best factory mode in terms of fidelity to the source material was "Film". This is what we used during our tests. Just like every other factory mode in televisions, it had its drawbacks. So we'll check what exactly was wrong with both SDR and HDR materials. In both cases, the white balance exhibited an excessive dominance of the green and red colour combination. This created a yellow tint spreading across the entire image, causing issues such as yellowed whites and problems with skin tones. This state of affairs was perfectly illustrated on the "ColourChecker" palette, where each of the tested samples was pushed towards its warmer counterparts. The foundation of the image is primarily contrast and black. These are represented by gamma charts and the EOTF curve. Looking at the first one, we can see a true rollercoaster, as both elevated and lowered gamma can be observed. The heavily elevated gamma caused visibility issues in black levels, whereas the lowered gamma resulted in a dramatic reduction in contrast. In this context, the EOTF curve performed significantly better, as it only slightly brightened the image.

For every film fan, the natural choice in LG televisions is the Filmmaker Mode. It is designed to show the image as the director intended – without unnecessary "enhancements". Unfortunately, in the case of our test unit NANO81A, the factory settings left a bit to be desired. The main issue turned out to be the white balance. Measurements revealed a distinct deficiency of blue, which in practice meant that many scenes had a slightly yellowish, even "yellowed" tint. The white wasn’t perfectly clean, which took away the freshness of the image. Additionally, the brightness management wasn't perfect either – the factory-set gamma was too low. The image often appeared oversaturated, as if it had been pulled too much from the shadows, which detracted from its naturalness and depth. Fortunately, LG, even in this relatively low price range, does not block access to advanced settings. The calibration options for this model are extensive, which is a significant plus for those who enjoy "fiddling" in the menu. We decided to approach the matter our way and see how much we could squeeze out of this panel with professional calibration.

Philips provides a wide range of image calibration tools in both its higher-end and budget models. We utilised these tools and got to work, which wasn’t as easy as many of you might think. While we managed to model the white balance, significantly improve the gamma, and refine the EOTF curve in both cases, the deltaE errors remained exceptionally high. There are several reasons for this situation, which are directly related to the low coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and the maximum brightness of the unit in HDR material.

After calibration, the NANO81A is a completely different television. What LG offers in terms of image enhancement tools, even in such an affordable model, deserves major credit. We were able to completely eliminate that annoying yellowing of whites and make the colours natural, vibrant, and simply "real". In SDR content (i.e., regular television, YouTube, or older films), the picture now looks miles better – it’s clean, well-balanced, and no longer strains the eyes with strange hues. It’s clear that this panel has significant potential, which is simply wasted out of the box due to poor presets. However, we have one serious reservation that calibration cannot fully overcome – it's about brightness management in HDR mode. The LG algorithm in this model is very conservative. The TV deliberately dims the HDR image to avoid clipping the already weak blacks of the IPS panel. The developers faced a choice: either provide more light and accept that black would become light grey, or dial down the brightness to maintain any contrast. They chose the latter. Despite this, after our adjustments, watching anything on the NANO81 is considerably better.

In this paragraph, we will look at two functionalities. We will once again take a look at the feature responsible for tonal transitions, but we will also check how the television handles image scaling. The option responsible for smooth gradation is called "Distortion Reduction." As we have established, it quite effectively smooths out inconsistencies. However, we must point out two things: we cannot enable it for HDR material, and it blurs details in films.

The tested television does not boast the best image scaling. The overall blurriness of the image is quite noticeable, but what’s worse, it blurs details. This is particularly evident on the branches and hair of the model. There is also a characteristic white halo around the character.

It often happens that cheap 4K panels ruthlessly expose all the "dirty laundry" and imperfections in lower resolution materials. However, with the LG NANO81A, the situation is completely different. It's a really solid performer when it comes to handling content that's far from ideal. The built-in processor does a great job with upscaling. Even older recordings look quite decent on this screen – the image is coherent, cleaned of digital noise, and simply pleasant to the eye. A big plus is the gradation reduction feature, which you can find in the settings. It is exceptionally effective in combating colour banding, which is a godsend when watching low bitrate materials, such as from some streaming services or older files from the web. However, it is worth maintaining a certain vigilance. Since we are dealing with a less powerful chip than in LG's top models, too aggressive a setting for this option can sometimes result in minor artifacts or slight blurring of details. Despite this risk, I definitely encourage experimentation with this feature – in many cases, it can save the viewing experience and make low-quality material fully watchable.

Philips PUS8359 will not be the best television for sports. The reason for this is the lack of implementation of even the basic motion smoothing feature, which was to be expected given the price of the device. We also note that we are dealing with a VA panel, whose sharpness does not stand at the highest level by itself. This type of panel is mainly associated with high contrast, which comes with a rather slow response time, as we can clearly read from the matrix analysis results. As you can see, from the pictures captured in fast motion, the image is blurred typically for this type of panel. While it may not be the ideal option, it can conditionally be used for watching sports; however, one must keep in mind the less-than-sharp motion. It is worth mentioning that movies will be characterised by judder since the television does not possess any, not even the simplest, motion smoother.

In terms of motion fluidity, the NANO81A unfortunately has a bit of a hurdle. The television is based on a panel with a refresh rate of 60Hz. If you're looking for perfect sharpness in dynamic football matches or fast-paced action games, you might feel somewhat dissatisfied. With such a low native refresh rate, fast objects on the screen will always be a bit blurry.

It won’t be a surprise if we say that Philips PUS8359/12 only has the most basic support for consoles. Once we connect the console, we can expect features like VRR and ALLM. This is quite pleasing for the former, as life has shown that even in more expensive units, there can be issues with this. A nice touch is the implementation of a special GameBar that allows changing settings on the "fly", so we won't have to exit the gameplay and become unnecessarily distracted. This feature also allows for adapting the gameplay to the needs of individuals with disabilities, which will certainly be extremely beneficial.

NANO81A is unfortunately not a device designed with esports in mind. The lack of 120 Hz signal support is a fact that users planning to purchase this model simply have to accept. Nevertheless, LG’s engineers have worked hard to squeeze the maximum potential from this 60 Hz panel, offering a set of features that genuinely improve gaming comfort. First and foremost, the television supports VRR technology (in the range of 48–60 Hz) and ALLM. This ensures that the image remains stable and does not "tear," and the device automatically switches to low latency mode as soon as it detects a signal from a console. Managing these settings is extremely simple thanks to a dedicated system overlay that allows for a quick preview of parameters without leaving the game. A very significant advantage is support for the HGiG format. This solution is crucial for owners of modern consoles, as it allows the television to correctly "understand" the intentions of game developers regarding HDR tone mapping. In practice, this helps avoid the effect of "blown-out" bright spots, such as clouds or light sources, which is unfortunately a common issue in budget LCD televisions.