PHILIPS PUS9010 (IPS) vs SHARP JP7765E

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.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly, we were quite surprised at first. The TV is able to achieve over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rare result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, you can get the impression that you are dealing with really good equipment. But unfortunately, we have to return to the issue we mentioned earlier, which is local dimming management. When small, bright spots appear on a dark background (like in test scenes from the films Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it’s clear how poorly the JP7 handles these zones. The TV dims them almost to the maximum, crushing the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability means that in demanding, contrast-rich films, the image on the JP7 unfortunately loses its appeal.

As a consolation, it's worth noting that the panel has the potential to display colours well. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been employed here, which allows the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it technologically relies mainly on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles between manufacturers over what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this terminology to your judgement. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colours in this panel is simply good.

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.

When it comes to colours straight out of the box, the Sharp JP7 was tested in the Film mode, which traditionally offers the most cohesive image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results still fall short of ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish hue. Another issue was the gamma – in full-screen scenes, the TV produced excessively bright images, completely robbing it of its cinematic character. All of this resulted in colour reproduction errors, especially in shades of grey, which exceeded the Delta E 10 value. To remind you: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed, but not in a better way. Here, the white balance is dominated by blue, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness, reminiscent of aggressive demonstration modes. Moreover, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasise the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the TV generates images that are significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the original content.

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.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and honestly... the television gained a second life thanks to it, especially with SDR content (YouTube, traditional television, series, or older films). With our precise adjustments to the white balance and stabilisation of the gamma, colour errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye struggles to perceive discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with truly excellent colour accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the HDR content turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and interventions in the settings, the television simply refused to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any option to effectively control how brightness is managed (EOTF). Although a significant portion of the colour errors has been reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It’s a bit disappointing because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is great, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR you will have to accept a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be bypassed even with professional equipment.

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.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling itself – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the picture remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect, which means no cropped edges. Of course, it's not at the level of top models and at times you can notice slight tearing on the edges, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the actual digital image processing performs much worse, as aside from the scaling, it practically doesn’t exist. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any options that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal hits the panel in a very raw form, which with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube) results in noticeable posterisation. Either this is a programming error or a very strange design decision, because in earlier Sharp models this function was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here, we are stuck with what the source delivers, without any digital support from the image processor.

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 motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is quite average, and the reason is simple: the TV uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it hard to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in films with a slider called De-judder. Lower settings give a more raw, “cinematic” (framey) image, while higher ones add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, around 3-5 – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while also getting rid of the annoying image skipping. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually indicates the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it doesn’t actually enhance the image and serves more as a dummy – it looks good in the settings, but technically it shouldn’t work on this panel.

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.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console still generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find here:

• ALLM mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Player menu: Which is hard to call a fully-fledged “Game Bar,” as the functionality is minimal. Aside from enabling ALLM, there’s only a dedicator for gaming which we advise against as it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when reducing the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another shortcoming is the VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to screen tearing. Very problematic is also the lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to "overshoot" the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in the highlights, we end up with an unnaturally oversaturated image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for those who game very occasionally.