PHILIPS PUS9010 (IPS) vs TCL X11L

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.

Such a large number of zones translated not only into deep, inky blacks but also into the panel’s brightness. The X11L is an extremely bright TV. Peak brightness can easily exceed 4000 nits, and with the special "Boost" mode enabled, under specific conditions that brightness can even hover around the marketing figures of 9000–10,000 nits. This is undoubtedly one of the brightest, if not the brightest, screens on the market. But how do those numbers translate to real-world movie measurements? The results are very good, though of course far from the marketing promises. Our measured brightness in actual movie scenes hovered around 2000–3000 nits. That’s an outstanding result, considering that the vast majority of content is produced to those brightness levels, including the rarer material mastered to 4000 nits. But it also shows that the numbers the manufacturer brags about don’t always translate directly to the video content available at home. The only "quirk" (if you can call it that) is that when very small, bright elements appear on the screen, their brightness drops below 2000 nits. The dimming algorithm does this deliberately to preserve deep blacks and minimize halo. This is entirely understandable and the effect remains very strong, but it also demonstrates that even with such powerful hardware, Mini-LED technology has its limits and does not always work without compromise. In HDR, brightness isn’t the only thing that matters; color saturation and color accuracy do as well. On the X11L these are very good thanks to the new Super QLED quantum dots (SQD). The addition of a newly applied filter delivered excellent coverage of the P3 color gamut and the ultra-wide BT.2020. Although it doesn’t reach the advertised 100% of BT.2020, values around 89–90% can be called excellent. Colors are not far off those of RGB Mini-LED panels. We can even say they’re more stable because they use a less demanding algorithm than the one RGB screens often have to deal with.

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 you switch on what should theoretically be the best Filmmaker Mode, you expect a one-to-one image of what the director saw. On the X11L it's quite good, but the mode has obvious flaws that our measurements immediately exposed. Let's start with SDR. Both the white balance and the gamma are simply miscalibrated. The white point has too much blue and red, so there's a faint pink cast on the screen. That also affects the gamma, which instead of holding the cinematic 2.4 runs closer to 2.2. What does that mean? The whole picture ends up pushed and artificially brighter. The worst, though, is saved for last: the HDR measurements. Besides the slight white balance shift, the X11L fails on the luminance management curve, the so‑called EOTF. What we saw in the measurements immediately explains what we saw earlier in films. The image is unnaturally bright because the curve massively overshoots the reference. The TV just unapologetically lifts the dark parts of the picture to create a "wow" effect, completely ignoring the director's intent.

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 professional calibration we chiefly managed to fully master the SDR signal. The X11L responded perfectly to our adjustments. We completely straightened the white balance, removed that pink tint and set gamma to a stable 2.4. After that treatment the picture finally became consistent with the director's vision, natural and free of artificial boosts. We were also able to make minimal tweaks for HDR, but the TV's biggest flaw remained unchanged. I'm talking, of course, about how the X11L handles its brightness and how much it overshoots the EOTF curve. Unfortunately, TCL provides practically no controls to adjust this parameter. Even during professional calibration the software does not allow you to rein in that curve, so the TV in HDR will always tend to brighten the image on its own.

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.

As with the C8L we tested earlier, TCL has delivered a substantial upgrade in its flagship X series in this area. It's all down to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor used in this model. Thanks to it, features like smoothing tonal transitions and even upscaling content to higher resolutions finally look the way they should. The biggest Achilles' heel of previous TCL models has finally been overcome. The processor handles digital processing superbly, and in this respect the TV no longer falls short of flagship models from Korea or even the most polished ones from Japan.

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.

Spec-wise the X11L can impress, supporting refresh rates up to 144 Hz at 4K, and in Full HD it can be pushed as high as 288 Hz. From a real-world perspective, though, we were most interested in how the screen handles 120 Hz — that's the limit of today's hardware, led by current-generation consoles. How does it perform in practice? Even though it's a VA panel, the screen doesn't exhibit heavy ghosting. With very fast-moving objects you can notice a slight trail, but it's subtle enough that you hardly notice it while gaming or watching sport. Also very helpful is the motion smoothing feature called "Wyrazistość ruchów", where you can adjust motion fluidity to your liking. You'll find the recommended settings in the photo.

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.

For gamers the X11L is simply a superb screen. TCL has already trained us to expect that it packs practically every feature available on the market into its products, and it’s exactly the same with the flagship X series. Thanks to the new processor, the X11L gets four HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth. Naturally, HDMI 2.1 brings a set of very useful options, such as automatic low-latency mode (ALLM) and variable refresh rate (VRR) synchronisation, working across the full refresh range up to 288 Hz. All of these features can be conveniently controlled from the dedicated Game Bar. Interestingly, you can customise its appearance to your taste, with three ready-made themes directly referencing the Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. And speaking of Xbox, Dolby Vision Gaming also runs without issue on the X11L.

When playing in the standard HDR10 format you should be aware of the screen’s specific brightness-curve tuning, which can cause problems during initial setup. Even though the TV supports HGiG, getting everything set correctly in the PlayStation or Xbox system menus can be tricky. The screen’s algorithms tend to artificially brighten the test checkerboard, so nailing the correct white-clip point by eye is genuinely difficult. For HDR10 to look correct, we suggest manually setting the console brightness in the console menu to around 2500–3000 nits.