Samsung Neo QLED QN70F / QN74F / QN77F vs Philips PQS9011 / PQS9001 (The One 2026)

QN70F is a television that can positively surprise when it comes to brightness. In ideal testing conditions, it reaches even 800 nits, which – for this price range – is a really solid value. Of course, that’s a result from test patterns, so we decided to check how it performs in practice, on real films. Here, the television somewhat tempers its capabilities. In most of the tested scenes – e.g. in "The Meg" – the actual HDR brightness remained around 500 nits. That’s still a decent result, allowing you to enjoy HDR effects, although it’s far from perfection. On the other hand, we have a QLED screen with a quantum dot layer, which means very good colour reproduction capabilities. Colours are vivid and saturated. QN70F covers about 94% of the DCI-P3 colour space, and in the wider BT.2020 palette, it exceeds 75%, so in this respect, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

The Philips PQS9000 is a moderately bright TV — in our HDR scenes it reached roughly 450 to just over 500 nits. That’s enough to notice a difference compared with SDR. Sun reflections, lamps or flares have a bit more punch than on basic TVs, whose brightness often tops out around 300 nits. It’s not, however, a level where bright elements look especially striking. The biggest limitation remains contrast. Without local dimming, brightening a bright object also lifts the black level around it. So there’s no clear separation between strong highlights and a dark background, and it’s that kind of pairing that really shows what HDR can do. The PQS9000 offers more than the cheapest models, but despite decent brightness the effect remains fairly basic.

Colours

Philips deserves praise for the colours. Although the manufacturer markets this model as QLED, it actually uses a PFS phosphor instead of quantum dots. The solution itself doesn’t prevent good results. On test patterns and in measurements of film scenes we recorded about 94% DCI-P3 coverage and 75% BT.2020. For this class of TV that’s really good. In practice this means the vast majority of colours used in HDR films and series will have appropriate saturation. Lush greens or intense reds aren’t a problem and add appeal to the picture. Limitations are easier to notice in some games and rarer content that use the most saturated shades of the wide BT.2020 gamut. In those situations, displays with wider colour coverage, such as SQD or RGB LED, can show more. At its price point the PQS9000 has nothing to be ashamed of.

We tested the QN70F in the best default picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. And it must be admitted that in this particular test unit, the factory settings performed quite well. The picture was calm, natural, and despite slight deviations – pleasant to watch. The biggest error was a slight dominance of red in the white balance, which caused a slight pinkish tint over the entire scene. However, it wasn't a glaring flaw – rather subtle and only noticeable when directly compared to a properly calibrated screen. A slightly bigger issue arose in the brightness characteristics. The TV tends to lower the brightness of parts of the image that should be displayed brighter. As a result, some details can appear slightly dimmed – they don't completely disappear, but they don't stand out as clearly as they should. Nonetheless, as for a TV in this range and in these settings – we consider the result a good starting point for further calibration.

The factory picture settings for Movie mode on the PQS9000 unfortunately need tweaking. In SDR the biggest problem is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes whites, greys and skin tones too warm, in places even slightly pink. Gamma runs below the reference across most of the range. The TV therefore brightens midtones and highlights, making the image look flatter than it should.

In HDR the white balance itself performs significantly better. Apart from minor deviations the components sit close together, so there isn’t the same obvious tint as in SDR. The EOTF curve, however, shows a slight brightening of parts of the image, and the biggest issue appears when measuring the wide colour gamut. Many shades deviate substantially from the target, with errors reaching ΔE 8–9. The good gamut coverage we praised earlier therefore doesn’t mean the TV hits specific colours accurately. It can display a wide range of colours, but out of the box it doesn’t use that range very precisely.

After calibration, the QN70F shows that it can offer a really high level of colour reproduction. It has managed to nearly perfectly balance the white point, and the values in the Color Checker test dropped below level 3 – that is, below the threshold at which the average eye can notice differences. The image looks natural, and the colours are faithfully reproduced, without excessive saturation or the coolness known from factory settings. It must be acknowledged that Samsung provides very extensive calibration options – not only for enthusiasts but also for professionals. The QN70F takes advantage of this potential and, after appropriate settings, can come close to significantly more expensive models in terms of colour accuracy. The only thing that could still be picked on is the brightness characteristic. There is still a tendency to brighten the smallest sections of the image – particularly those that should remain darker. However, this is a design feature of this model, not a calibration error. Despite this, the final result definitely deserves recognition.

Calibration brought a big improvement, especially with SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance and remove the earlier colour cast, and the Color Checker measurements now look very good. Colours are much closer to what they should be on screen, so with regular TV or SDR movies we can be happy with the result. Unfortunately HDR spoils that a bit. On the one hand it's limited by the panel itself, because calibration won't improve contrast or replace local dimming. On the other hand there are colour errors we couldn't correct because the CMS settings, i.e. colour management, were greyed out and inactive. That loses Philips points with us. The white balance can be fine-tuned, but without access to wide gamut controls you can't as effectively sort out colours in HDR. It's a shame, because the SDR results show the potential is there, but we weren't allowed to fully make use of it everywhere.

Samsung QN70F offers a distortion reduction feature that improves the smoothness of tonal transitions. In "Standard" mode, it works quite well – smoothing out problematic transitions without significantly interfering with the structure of the image. Film grain is partially removed, but details like texture and skin structure remain visible. "High" mode operates much more aggressively. The smoothing is stronger, but at the cost of a noticeable loss of detail. Therefore, in practice, we recommend sticking with the "Standard" setting or turning off this feature altogether. The improvement in gradation may be less spectacular, but the image retains more naturalness.

When it comes to upscaling low-quality content, the QN70F performs very well. Tests with lower resolution images went really well. Despite some slight aliasing of contours, everything looks clean and clear, even if the original content was very poor quality. It's just a pity that the television has an overscan issue that cannot be completely turned off. As a result, images with very low resolution may be slightly cropped, which is mainly noticeable on subtitles or the interface.

Digital image processing on the Philips PQS9000 performs well, although we have a few reservations. The "Distortion Reduction" function helps smooth tonal transitions in lower-quality sources, but it works rather unevenly. It can improve one part of the picture, only to, moments later and still within the same scene, lose its way and show banding between shades again. On the plus side, it doesn't strip away film grain or fine noise, so the image retains its texture. We found the "Medium" setting worked best and that's the one we recommend.

The upscaling to 4K itself is adequate, though the image is very soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which may leave some viewers wanting more clarity. In that case, it's worth slightly increasing the sharpness in the TV menu, as this will help emphasise edges more. Don't overdo the sharpness slider, though, or you'll get artificial halos instead of an improvement.

The QN70F is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself places it among the best when it comes to image smoothness. Whether we're watching fast-paced sports broadcasts or gaming on a console – the picture looks fantastic. There's no sense of stuttering, clipping, or the typical "judder" seen in lower-end models during fast motion. Samsung also allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences. In the picture clarity settings, we find options such as motion blur reduction and judder reduction – each of which can be adjusted independently. This is especially useful when we are watching content with a lower frame rate and want to give it a smoother, more cinematic feel – or conversely, maintain the natural filmic "feel" of 24 frames.

In terms of motion handling the Philips PQS9000 performs exceptionally well for an LCD TV. It's not just about the 144 Hz refresh rate, but above all how quickly the panel itself responds. At 120 Hz you can hardly see the typical trailing smears behind moving objects. What's particularly pleasing is that this also applies to darker backgrounds, where many VA panels clearly struggle. Here motion remains clear, and in this respect Philips has pleasantly surprised us.

The "Motion Styles" feature is used to adjust how motion is displayed. It includes two sliders: "Smoothness" and "Blur Reduction", allowing you to tailor the effect to the material you're watching and your personal preferences. Our suggested settings are shown in the photo. Treat them as a starting point and see which level of smoothing suits you best.

Samsung QN70F is a really solid choice for gamers. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, which means full support for gaming in 4K at a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Additionally, it comes with all the essential features we expect today: automatic game mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR), and a very well-designed, intuitive Game Bar with information on the mode, resolution, and frame rate. The Game Motion Plus feature is also noteworthy, allowing artificial frames to be added to games running at 60 fps or less. It works surprisingly well and improves gameplay smoothness without much delay in many titles – especially those where consoles struggle to maintain a stable frame rate.

[UPDATE] We have updated our Samsung TV tests for the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial gaming feature HGiG.

Unfortunately, there are also some pitfalls. The lack of support for Dolby Vision mode is not surprising – it’s a standard with Samsung. But the absence of the HGiG feature is much more disappointing. What’s worse, it was removed by a software update, leaving users who previously benefited from it quite shocked. Without HGiG, it’s impossible to manually set the maximum HDR brightness from the console, which results in some games appearing slightly overexposed – especially if the TV misinterprets the tonal range. Why has Samsung, a brand that has set standards in gaming features for years, decided to take such a step? It’s hard to say. At the time of writing the review, the tested TV was operating on software version 1110 – and to be honest, if you’re relying on full support for gamers, it’s better to temporarily hold off on updates.

Features for gamers

In terms of gaming features the Philips PQS9000 has a lot to offer. Four HDMI 2.1 ports let you connect multiple devices without having to choose which one gets the full capabilities. Consoles can use 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, and a PC can also run 144 Hz at 4K or 240 Hz if you drop to Full HD. There's also VRR, which matches the refresh rate to the frame rate and prevents screen tearing. Its range runs from 48 to 240 Hz, with the upper limit applying to Full HD mode.

It also includes ALLM, so the TV switches itself into game mode, and a properly working HGiG, which is handy when setting HDR on the console. There's a Game Bar for quick access to settings and signal information. The list even includes Dolby Vision gaming, but it's hard to enjoy because of very high input lag. Apart from that caveat, the feature set is really solid.