PHILPS PUS9060 vs TCL P89K / TCL P8K

The One is bright enough to enjoy films recorded in HDR format. The average brightness of this model is around 500 nits, so we can easily expect a pleasant viewing experience with films from streaming platforms. Of course—there's always room for improvement, because when it comes to brightness, you can never have too much for this type of content. Unfortunately, a disappointing surprise may be the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut that the PUS9060 offers. Although the manufacturer boasts the use of a QLED filter here (it’s actually PFS LED), it's hard to speak of any positive effects from its operation. 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut is certainly not a level to brag about in 2025—especially in a television marketed as QLED.

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K peaks at around 300 nits, although in real film scenes the television typically maintains closer to 250 nits. These are values that cannot be considered sufficient to achieve a true HDR effect – they are more aligned with a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we won’t see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments where the screen actually “blinds” as is the case with more expensive models. The image is consequently a bit flat, and the differences between light and shadow – more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall impression. One of these is the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at around 93-94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), colours gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, while the typical “wow effect” associated with HDR brightness is lacking, the image itself can impress with its richness and vibrant tones, making the film scenes pulse with colour and not appear significantly washed out.

We tested the PUS9060 in the best factory mode applied to it – of course, we're talking about the movie mode. Unfortunately, the best in this case does not mean good. The image in this mode was clearly yellowish and leaned towards orange tones. The white balance on this television was definitely too warm, giving the entire scene an artificial, somewhat "tanned" appearance. This directly resulted in significant colour inaccuracies, which in the worst cases exceeded a delta E value of 6 – thus, they were visible to the naked eye. The situation was reversed in HDR mode, where the image became too blue and too cool in perception. Additionally, there was a slight boost in brightness – the gamma curve and EOTF suggested that the television slightly brightens the image, which was also evident in the comparative image below.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the start. We noticed that the TV had a tendency to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat lowered, which made the image appear softly "washed out," lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most noticeable in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness curve clearly deviated from reference values. As a result, darker areas of the image looked too gloomy, and brighter ones did not always reach the correct level of luminance. The second noticeable issue was a slight blue overdrive – the TV stubbornly boosted this colour, causing some parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a slight purple tint. It is not a major flaw, but to a discerning eye – noticeable. Fortunately, most of these errors could be adjusted during calibration. You can see the results of this calibration in the charts and photos below.

Thanks to calibration in movie mode, we managed to completely eliminate the yellow-orange tint, which significantly improved the reception of the entire scene. The image has become much more visually pleasing, though it still falls short of reference settings. It may now appear slightly bluish, but it is still a considerable improvement compared to the factory settings.

Unfortunately, we could not significantly improve the brightness characteristics, but this is more about the design of the television itself - the lack of local dimming limits the possibilities for precise brightness management. The PUS9060 simply cannot dynamically adjust luminance like more advanced models do. Nevertheless, after calibration, the overall reception is much more enjoyable, especially in film material.

After calibration, the TCL P8K revealed a completely different side. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level colour reproduction for both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly aligned. The gamma values for SDR materials finally look as they should – the image has the right depth and no longer appears washed out. The only concern that can still be raised about the P8K pertains to its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes it gently boosts it, other times it smooths it out, making the effect not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colours look stunning, and their accuracy is truly impressive. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1–2, which is a performance that much more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

In the PUS9060, we find another version of the image processor known by Philips as P5 Perfect Picture, which aims to enhance the image – especially the imperfect ones. The TV includes a distortion reduction function, which serves to smooth tonal transitions, meaning those "colour joins" we mentioned earlier. This function does its job very effectively – there’s no strong gradation of colours, but unfortunately, it operates quite aggressively, occasionally dimming desired elements like material textures or film grain. So, it can be seen as a bit of a compromise. We wouldn’t generally recommend using this function for movies, but for more casual content – like YouTube or regular TV – it’s absolutely suitable.

The P5 processor also enhances the quality of lower resolution images, and it does this quite effectively. The test image with the model is very soft – sometimes almost too soft – but this can be easily improved with the sharpness slider, adjusting it to one’s own preferences. It’s also pleasing to see that the TV doesn’t clip the edges in SD materials – which unfortunately still happens in some TV models.

The TCL P8K performs somewhat weaker when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower quality materials. The television does offer a feature to smooth out unwanted bands, but its effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it's hard to speak of a real improvement—at times, the effect is even opposite to what was intended, as the feature can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurring on the screen.

On the other hand, the upscaling, which involves scaling the image to 4K resolution, looks definitely better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well—HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing way without excessive loss of sharpness. There are indeed slight “hard” edges typical of this class of equipment, but this can be easily adjusted using the sharpness slider according to personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfying, especially considering the price range this model is in.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is equipped with a 4K panel featuring a 144 Hz refresh rate, so we can confidently say it’s suitable for both watching sports and gaming. And indeed it is. But what about movies, which are most often recorded at 24 frames? As with most of the TVs we’ve tested with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and above, the PUS9060 offers two sliders in the motion smoothness options. The “Smoothness” slider allows you to adjust the effect in films – you can set the picture to be smoother, resembling a theatrical effect (higher settings), or more cinematic, with a slight “judder” (lower settings). Additionally, there is a feature called "Motion Blur Reduction," which limits motion blur – and this is a very useful feature, especially when watching sports.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a 144 Hz refresh rate, which in itself is a significant advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and gamers – the image is smooth, and the movements of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is suitable only for sports. On the contrary – it can also maintain the right dynamics in movies without introducing an artificial 'theatrical' effect, as long as the settings are adjusted thoughtfully. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called 'Motion Clarity', which features two sliders: blur reduction and flicker reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity but can cause a slight soap opera effect. The second, on the other hand, reduces flicker and improves sharpness in motion, although it may slightly dim the screen. Properly adjusting these two parameters allows for a truly good balance between natural motion and fluidity. The 60 Hz screen is good for dynamic content, though more discerning users will notice that it is not a top-tier panel in terms of motion clarity.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is a true gaming monster – it has practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming television. It features VRR, ALLM, and also includes HGiG implementation, which helps set up HDR in games as intended by the developers. The television supports every possible resolution at 120 Hz, including 1080p, 1440p, and full 4K – so regardless of whether you're playing on Xbox, PS5, or PC, everything works as it should. It also comes with a simple Game Bar, a special menu for gamers that allows you to quickly check if the ALLM mode is indeed working in low latency mode.

And of course – Ambilight TV. Let’s face it – without LEDs on the back, it’s not a true gaming rig. 😉 The multicoloured backlighting really adds to the atmosphere, especially in the evening. It may not appeal to everyone, but younger gamers will be thrilled – it just looks impressive.

Although the TCL P8K is a budget television, it absolutely cannot be said that it is unsuitable for gaming. On the contrary – this screen can pleasantly surprise any gamer. On board, we find two HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow us to effortlessly send a 4K image at 120 Hz. If someone plays on PC, they will also be pleased to know that the television can operate even with a refresh rate of 240 Hz at a lower resolution – a small thing, but it’s appreciated. Additionally, there is a full set of gaming-specific features: automatic game mode, a Game Bar with quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the image is smooth, the response is quick, and the television works well with next-gen consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn't have to mean giving up on fun. Definitely not when it comes to gaming.