PHILIPS PUS9010 (IPS) vs Hisense UR9S

In the Philips PUS9010 version with an IPS panel, the HDR brightness sadly performs worse than in the previously tested 55-inch variant with a VA panel. The difference reaches about 100 nits, which is noticeably significant given the relatively low values. While the VA version could exceed 500 nits, here the maximum brightness reaches around 400 nits. This level still allows for watching movies and series in HDR, especially on streaming platforms, but the effects are clearly more subdued. Bright elements don't have the same impact, and scenes requiring high luminance are less impressive. On the plus side, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is commendable. The IPS version offers about 91%, which is roughly 5% more than the variant with a VA panel. This translates into slightly better colour saturation in HDR content, despite the lower brightness. Colours can appear more vivid and cohesive, especially in colourful scenes.

Hisense UR9S is without doubt a show of force from the Chinese manufacturer when it comes to luminance. On a synthetic test pattern the panel hit as much as 2600 nits, which is an impressive result. But it’s important to clearly separate laboratory results from filmic realities. In real-world content the UR9S behaves much more restrained. Peak brightness in balanced scenes hovers around 1500 nits. In demanding, dark shots, where algorithms must both preserve deep blacks and precisely light small details, brightness can fall drastically, even to around 400 nits. The discrepancy between the chart and reality is therefore huge. This is a direct consequence of conservative local dimming behaviour. When a bright object occupies a large part of the frame, the system can easily maintain a high brightness level. However, in night scenes the priority becomes protecting blacks and fighting halo artefacts (unsightly glows around bright edges). To avoid contrast degradation the TV drastically limits light output. Even so, the UR9S can still produce a very powerful, engaging HDR effect that impresses in bright, spectacular sequences.

Colour gamut coverage

On test patterns the Hisense UR9S performs excellently in terms of colour. DCI-P3 coverage is almost 100%, and the wide BT.2020 as much as 93%. Those are figures even the best QD-OLED TVs don't reach. But again, synthetic measurements are one thing, films and series are another. In real-world scenes the figures dropped to 93% for DCI-P3 and 81% for BT.2020. That’s still a great result, but the advantage of RGB Mini LED is no longer as dramatic as manufacturers promise in marketing materials. One could even say their capability is now close to that of quantum-dot-equipped TVs, the so-called QLEDs. So why is that? To a large extent, colour reproduction here depends on the way the backlight zones operate. When a strongly saturated colour appears next to white or another, more complex element, a single zone must handle both parts of the image at once. Under such conditions the backlight can't maintain extreme saturation of a given colour on the screen, because the emitted light takes on a character closer to white. In the UR9S this has been refined quite well, but still not enough for the TV to maintain such high colour saturation in every situation.

We evaluated colour reproduction, as always, on factory settings, focusing on the movie mode, which in the case of Philips usually offers the best starting point. This is also a good moment to show how much the same model of TV can vary depending on the panel used. Looking at the white balance, the overall tendency remains similar to the version with the VA panel. There is still excessive red in the whites, however, in the tested unit with the IPS panel, there are also losses in the blue channel. As a result, the picture has a slightly different colour character, which is well illustrated in the comparative materials. This is a very good example showing why ready-made settings downloaded from the internet do not always work even within the same model.

However, returning to the assessment itself, this unit performs quite well, especially in SDR content. Colour tests show correct saturation and colour consistency, without glaring errors that could hinder everyday viewing. In HDR materials, it is possible to notice slight losses in reds, but these are not flaws that completely spoil the image perception. The biggest limitations do not stem directly from the colours, but rather from the whites and blacks. The use of an IPS panel and slightly lowered gamma means that the image is slightly boosted in brightness, and weak blacks further affect perceived contrast. This makes everything look brighter, but at the same time, it lacks depth, especially during evening viewing.

We tested the Hisense UR9S in Filmmaker Mode, which out of the box provides the best image reproduction. In HDR content the TV performed quite well in that regard. The white balance didn't show major errors, and the brightness response, while following Hisense's typical curve, was kept at a reasonable level. The picture therefore wasn't overly brightened or noticeably colour-distorted. The same mode fared much worse with SDR content, the kind we watch most often, like broadcast TV or YouTube. The white balance was strongly shifted toward red and blue, giving the image a slightly pink tint. This also affected the gamma curve. Instead of approaching the reference value of 2.4, it was closer to 2.0, which made the image look too bright, especially in midtones and darker areas. Filmmaker Mode therefore remains the best out-of-the-box choice, but it's not without flaws.

After calibration, the picture has been brought to a really reasonable level. The whole thing looks cohesive and natural, and when it comes to colour reproduction, it's hard to definitively say whether we're dealing with a VA or IPS panel. This is a good sign, showing that the television has a solid foundation for further adjustments. The larger colour gamut in this variant is a plus, as it can subtly enhance the depiction of colourful scenes, especially in HDR content. However, this advantage is largely offset by the boosted blacks resulting from the use of an IPS panel. The limited depth of black affects perceived contrast, particularly when watching in a dark room. As a result, despite noticeable improvement post-calibration, the final rating remains the same as that of the variant with a VA panel. Better colours are not able to fully compensate for the weaker blacks.

After calibration, the biggest improvement was in SDR, although we also refined the HDR picture. Hisense offers plenty of calibration controls in the menu, so we were able to precisely correct the white balance and other picture errors. The most important change was removing the pink cast that had been clearly visible in SDR material. After calibration the image looks much more natural, especially in everyday content like TV and YouTube. Colour reproduction errors on the ColorChecker chart are very small after calibration. The vast majority of colours fall below values of 2–3, which is at a level very hard for the human eye to detect. The only thing we couldn't completely eliminate is the way Hisense TVs map tones in HDR. It affects how brightness is distributed in films and can subtly 'beautify' the image, rather than strictly following the creators' intent. For less experienced viewers this can create a stronger 'wow' effect, but it won't always fully match how the material should look.

In the Philips PUS9010, we find another iteration of the P5 Perfect Picture image processor, which aims to improve the quality of lower-grade materials. One of the components of this system is a distortion reduction function that smooths tonal transitions. It works effectively and actually reduces visible banding. Unfortunately, it does so quite aggressively. In practice, it can mute details such as material textures or film grain. This is a clear compromise, so we wouldn't particularly recommend it for movie sessions. For more casual content, like YouTube or regular television, it performs much better. The P5 processor also handles lower resolution materials quite well. The image is soft, at times even too soft, but it can easily be corrected using the sharpness slider, adjusting the effect to personal preferences. A positive aspect is also the absence of edge cropping in SD materials, which is still not standard in this class of televisions.

Digital image processing has been one of Hisense's strengths for the past two years, and the UR9S is no different. The manufacturer uses the Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor, which in practice is based on the well-known MediaTek Pentonic 800 platform, previously used in models such as the U8Q. The TV handles upscaling lower-resolution material to 4K very well, and copes with low-bitrate content, where various compression artefacts can easily appear. Thanks to a function called "Smooth and gradient image", the picture stays detailed without looking overly sharpened or artificially smoothed. When watching regular broadcast TV or older, lower-quality material, the UR9S can get a surprising amount out of it. In terms of digital image processing, this is one of the most finely tuned LCD TVs we've had the chance to test.

Philips PUS9010 has a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which will be appreciated mainly by sports fans and gamers. This is especially noticeable in dynamic scenes where the motion is sharp, and annoying blur is almost non-existent. When it comes to movies (standard 24 fps), Philips offers us a proven set of settings known from its higher series. Two sliders are used to control motion. “Smoothness” allows you to adjust the picture to your liking: at low settings, it maintains a cinematic character, while moving the slider to the right gives us a perfectly smooth, albeit slightly “theatrical” effect. Meanwhile, “Motion Blur Reduction” is a feature designed for sports – it ensures that fast-moving objects do not lose detail and remain clear.

The Hisense UR9S is one of the first TVs on the market with a 4K panel and a 170 Hz refresh rate. In the larger sizes, 75 and 85 inches, that goes up to 180 Hz. Such a high refresh rate will mainly benefit owners of very powerful computers. Films and TV series are still most often watched at 24 fps, and sports broadcasts at 50 fps, so in everyday use the panel's response time and the behaviour of the motion smoothing are more important. In that respect the UR9S performs very well. Panel motion blur is low, as our UFO test also confirmed. Moving objects do not leave a pronounced smear, so the picture remains clear even in fast scenes.

Philips PUS9010 is a solid machine for gaming. It has everything that’s important: VRR, automatic game mode (ALLM), and support for HGiG. The latter is fantastic – it allows you to set HDR in games exactly the way the developers envisioned. The TV handles 120 Hz refresh rates effortlessly at every popular resolution (1080p, 1440p, and 4K). It doesn’t matter if you connect a PS5, Xbox, or a powerful PC – everything runs smoothly and just as it should. Gamers will also appreciate the Game Bar. It’s a quick, clear menu where you can immediately see if the low latency mode is active. This is especially useful when frequently switching between different consoles. The whole experience is enhanced by Ambilight. Evening sessions with this backlighting create a whole different level of atmosphere; the image seems larger, and dynamic scenes are even more impressive. Even if someone isn’t a fan of such “gimmicks,” it’s hard to deny that it makes an impression.

The Hisense UR9S is very well set up for gaming. All three HDMI ports are HDMI 2.1 and offer the full 48 Gb/s bandwidth. The TV supports 4K at 170 Hz, and on larger screen sizes even 180 Hz. You also get VRR, ALLM, NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, so it's hard to fault the basics. PC gamers can additionally enable DLG mode. After switching the resolution to Full HD the refresh rate can rise up to 330 Hz. That's more of an option for a narrow group of users, but it shows how much headroom the panel has. Hisense also added a Game Bar, where you can quickly change the main settings, check the refresh rate, or enable a crosshair and minimap zoom.

The biggest drawback remains the lack of a properly working HGiG implementation. The TV still uses its own tone mapping, which makes setting up HDR on consoles a bit awkward. In our case values around 1500–2000 nits worked best, but it's worth checking which setting keeps all the detail in the brightest parts of the image.