Compare: Sony Bravia 3 50' (VA) vs Philips OLED811

Sony Bravia 3 in the VA panel variant is a television that, in terms of character, remains the same budget model, but the change in panel type makes watching movies and series much more enjoyable. The higher contrast and deeper blacks finally allow for evening viewing without the impression of the screen drowning in shades of grey. This is a significant advantage over the IPS version, even if it comes at the cost of much poorer viewing angles. In practice, it comes down to a choice – if we mainly watch from a sofa positioned straight on, the VA panel delivers a noticeably better effect. The rest of the picture remains largely the same. The PFS filter still provides nicely saturated colours, and the upscaling is at a good level, meaning that SDR content looks clean and aesthetically pleasing. The Google TV system, although it doesn't always run perfectly smoothly, remains a huge advantage – access to a wide library of apps and streaming platforms is something that the competition in this price bracket doesn't always offer in such a polished form. At the same time, the Bravia 3 with VA doesn't resolve all the issues of its predecessor. The HDR brightness at around 350 nits still doesn't allow for a true high dynamic effect, and the lack of local dimming means that fine details can still be blown out. Additionally, there's no USB recording, which was present in the predecessor. So, who is the Bravia 3 in the VA version for? For those who want an affordable entry point into the world of Sony televisions and care about decent quality in movies and series, mainly watching lower-quality content. It is not a proposition for gamers or for someone expecting cinematic HDR effects. Much like with the IPS version, it's hard to talk about a bargain – even if it is the "cheapest Sony of 2025," it still costs more than competitors who can offer Mini-LEDs with significantly better contrast and brightness at the same price. Therefore, it's worth considering this model primarily when an attractive promotion arises.

Philips OLED811 is a mid-range OLED for 2026 that stands out from its biggest rivals mainly for one thing: Ambilight. The light that follows the picture and spreads across the wall can change the mood of the whole viewing experience. In the evening the screen seems to extend beyond its frame and watching gains an extra bit of charm. For some it will be a pleasant extra, for others a decisive reason to pick Philips again. The picture itself is very comparable to what models like the LG C6 or Samsung S90H offer when using the same panel type. You get deep, perfect blacks that make bright elements really pop. The OLED811 can deliver strong HDR and, importantly, after calibration the picture is close to the reference. There’s no big advantage over the competition, but there’s also no sense that by choosing Philips for Ambilight you’re sacrificing image quality.

Gamers also get a few solid upgrades over last year’s model. Thanks to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset we finally have four HDMI 2.1 ports, so connecting several devices, for example consoles, a PC and a soundbar, no longer means you have to decide which one gets the full capabilities of the port. Gaming itself is very enjoyable — the TV responds quickly, supports variable refresh rate, and from a PC it allows gaming in 4K at 165 Hz. It’s a pity the new processor’s capabilities haven’t been put to equally good use when processing lower-quality sources. The biggest doubts, however, concern the operating system. Titan OS replaced the popular Google TV and, although it has clearly developed over the past year, it’s still hard to call the change a good one. True, the system runs more smoothly, has more useful features, and its library already includes most popular streaming services. Still, the choice of apps is much smaller than Google’s (or the competition’s), and in our view that remains the OLED811’s biggest drawback. People using less popular services may feel that difference particularly strongly.

Is it worth buying? Yes, if Titan OS meets your needs. In terms of picture and the gaming features, the OLED811 has as much to offer as its rivals, but Ambilight gives it something others don’t. Philips therefore gives and takes a bit. It adds a unique viewing atmosphere but limits freedom of app choice. If the services you use are available, this compromise may be worth accepting.

The biggest difference in the 50-inch variant is how the Bravia 3 handles contrast. Although the TV is not equipped with a local dimming system, the change to a VA panel significantly impacts the effect. The contrast is definitely higher than in the other sizes based on IPS panels, and the blacks no longer resemble washed-out shades of grey or navy. This allows for much more detail to be seen in the darker parts of the image, making evening viewing simply more enjoyable. It's still not the level of Sony's more expensive models, but the difference compared to the other variants of the Bravia 3 is clear and easily noticeable after just a short viewing session.

Black levels and contrast are categories where the Philips OLED811 showcases all the advantages of OLED technology. Each pixel emits light independently and can be switched off completely, so black is simply black. No grey halo or blooming around bright objects. During evening viewings this creates a striking effect: stars in the night sky, city lights or text on a dark background remain clearly separated from a perfectly black surround.

So it's hard to expect any improvement over other OLEDs here, because in terms of black depth and contrast the result is already exemplary. The OLED811 doesn't need local dimming zones or a compromise between the brightness of a small object and the black around it. Even a single bright point can sit next to a completely switched-off pixel, giving the image excellent depth.

It's precisely in scenes with a lot of black that the advantage over Mini-LED TVs becomes apparent. Even the most advanced local dimming systems control larger areas of the picture, so in demanding shots they can produce a halo around bright elements or dim them to preserve the dark background. The Philips OLED811 doesn't have that problem.

Interestingly, in the 50-inch version, the Bravia 3 performs slightly better in terms of brightness than its larger variants. In measurements, it achieved around 370 nits, which still aren’t values that can compete with top-tier TVs, but are sufficient to speak of a semblance of HDR effect. For some users, this level will be acceptable; others will consider it typical for SDR content, where striking highlights or strong contrasts are not expected. So it must be clearly stated that the Bravia 3 is not a TV for those who want to squeeze maximum quality from the most challenging film materials.

However, this doesn’t mean that everything is average. Sony has equipped this model with an additional PFS filter, which works similarly to the solutions used in QLED TVs. As a result, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut has increased to over 91 percent. In everyday use, this means livelier, more saturated colours and a more pleasant image quality. Even if it lacks strong lighting effects, movies and series can look significantly more appealing than in its predecessor, the X75WL.

Philips OLED811 uses the new generation WOLED EX panels, also found in models like the LG C6 and Samsung S90H. After calibration we measured about 1500 nits, which is a very good result for an OLED TV. You can see that clearly in films and series. Flashes of light have the right punch, especially when they appear on a dark background. In those scenes the OLED811 can deliver really impressive HDR. Of course this doesn't mean you'll see that level of brightness in every shot. When the screen is filled with a large area of white or a wide explosion, brightness falls to around 600 nits. That's still a good result, but such scenes don't have the same impact as small bright elements on a dark background. That's a known limitation of OLEDs and the OLED811 is no exception.

Colours

Aside from HDR brightness, colours also matter and here Philips also performs very well. It covers almost the entire DCI-P3 gamut, which contains most of the colours used in HDR films and series. So you get rich reds and lush greens, and while watching it's hard to fault it in that regard. It looks a bit worse with the much wider BT.2020 gamut — its most saturated shades are already beyond the reach of this panel. There's also the issue of the white subpixel that the WOLED panel uses to help boost brightness. With very bright colours you can see a certain "washout": the colour is bright but loses some of its intensity. It's in exactly these situations that Samsung Display's QD-OLED panels have the advantage. In most films and series, though, this won't be something that immediately jumps out at you.

Sony Bravia 3 was primarily tested in movie mode, which immediately turned out to be the best choice among the factory settings. It's not a perfect picture, but compared to the eco mode that the TV suggests right out of the box, the difference is clear and positive. In movie mode, one can notice a certain issue: the image appears too warm, which stems from a lack of blue in the white balance. Nevertheless, in SDR content, the final effect can still be considered quite decent and satisfactory for everyday viewing. Much more serious errors emerge in HDR materials. The Color Checker analysis showed significant deviations, and poor brightness management combined with limited colour gamut coverage further exposes the shortcomings of the picture in this mode. All of this makes HDR on the Bravia 3 seem unconvincing and can spoil the impression left by the quite decent SDR content settings. Fortunately, this is not a hopeless situation. Various errors can be somewhat mitigated, and some can even be completely corrected through professional calibration. That's why we decided to check how the TV would perform after such adjustments.

The film mode on the Philips OLED811 is sensibly set up straight out of the box. Most colour errors remain minor in both SDR and HDR, so you can comfortably sit down to watch without adjusting the settings first. There are no large inaccuracies that would immediately distract from the film.

It’s not quite perfect, though. The white balance shows a slight lack of red relative to green, so whites and greys can have a faint greenish tint. It’s not a strong colour cast, but measurements clearly show it. There are also small luminance deviations in SDR: some parts of the image are slightly brightened, and the deepest tones aren’t always reproduced evenly. In HDR the TV stays much closer to the reference, although it occasionally lifts detail from the shadows. These are generally things that can be refined. The factory film mode provides a good starting point, and calibration will reveal how much more you can get out of it.

The calibration allowed us to extract significantly more from the ChooseTV 3 than we could have expected at the beginning. Firstly, we managed to correct the deficiency of blue, which previously caused a noticeable warming of the image. After a slight adjustment in the white balance, most of the errors in the Color Checker measurements for SDR content practically disappeared. The shades of white gained a natural quality, and brightness management in gamma stabilised to an almost ideal level, not exceeding the threshold of human eye perception. Therefore, it can be confidently said that in SDR content, after a few tweaks in the settings, ChooseTV 3 performs really remarkably. Much worse, although still decidedly better than before calibration, are HDR contents. The white balance was managed to be sorted out, however, the limitations of the IPS panel are insurmountable. The lack of local dimming means that even the smallest elements can be overexposed, which is immediately noticeable. Colour-wise, the effect has also improved, although it is far from perfect – many errors still exceed the threshold of four, and even five delta E units, which means they remain visible to the human eye. It was already clear earlier that ChooseTV 3 is not a television designed to impress with HDR quality. Nevertheless, it is pleasing that in SDR content, after calibration, the image can look really great, and in this category, the television has positively surprised us.

After calibration the Philips OLED811 delivers an image very close to the reference. We managed to even out the white balance and remove the slight colour cast visible in the factory settings. ColorChecker errors for SDR and HDR fell to around 1 to 2, with many samples even below 1. That's a level at which differences from the reference are hard to spot with the naked eye. We also improved the gamma, with only a slight lift remaining in the brightest whites. In HDR the EOTF curve also stays close to the reference, although the TV still tends to slightly boost the brightness of small details, such as stars or subtitles. That gives the picture a bit of extra brightness that shouldn't be there, but otherwise it's hard to find fault. It was already good out of the box, and calibration allowed us to iron out most of the remaining issues.

In terms of tonal transition fluidity, the experiences from the Bravia 3 with a VA panel are quite similar to what we saw in the IPS variant; however, there is one significant factor here – screen uniformity. The VA panel manages much better at maintaining image consistency, which immediately translates to a higher rating. This was most noticeable in scenes from the film Green Knight. In the IPS version, strong brightening and vignetting practically made it impossible to assess the gradation itself, whereas in the 50-inch variant, this issue was greatly reduced. As for the tonal transitions themselves, the television performs really well. In the bright parts of the image, we noticed no serious errors – colors blend smoothly, without creating artificial contours. In darker scenes, there are also no major problems with color gradation, and thanks to more uniform backlighting, the image is significantly more pleasant to perceive than in the IPS panel version. So we can say that this is one of those categories where the Bravia 3 in the 50-inch version performs surprisingly well.

Compared with Philips' previous OLEDs, the smoothness of tonal transitions has clearly improved. The biggest difference is in the dark parts of the picture, which can cause WOLED panels quite a few problems. On the OLED811 they have been smoothed very well, with tones flowing smoothly from one to the next, without obvious banding or posterisation. That's a big plus, especially when watching dark scenes.

Unfortunately, it isn't as good in brighter shots. That's where we have the biggest reservations: instead of a gentle transition between tones you can sometimes see distinct boundaries, in other words posterisation. It can be noticeable, and it's a pity the improvement seen in dark scenes didn't extend to the brighter areas of the picture to the same degree.

Bravia 3 brings more to the Sony TV family than just a shared name. It stands out primarily with its ability to enhance the quality of weaker materials thanks to the processor used. Of course, we won't find the advanced XR chip known from more expensive models here, but even so, it's fair to say that the image in lower resolutions looked surprisingly good. Scaling worked effectively, and most parts of the screen were devoid of the typical excessive edge tearing found in budget constructions. The feature that improves the fluidity of tonal transitions is also noteworthy. At the high setting, it performs quite well, effectively masking gradient imperfections without a significant loss of detail. It does occasionally happen that the algorithm smoothingly blurs elements that should remain sharp – for example, faces – however, in the overall assessment, the effect is beneficial. The best results were achieved precisely at the highest setting, and this option could be recommended to those watching lower quality content.

The OLED811 handles processing lower-quality material reasonably well, though it's far from perfect. The "Banding reduction" function helps smooth tonal transitions and on the low setting gives a pretty good effect. It doesn't remove banding between shades as effectively as similar solutions from some competitors, but at least it doesn't introduce new artefacts. It's a sensible setting for everyday viewing. Still, there's a bit of a letdown, because the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset used here can, in other manufacturers' hands, deal with the effects of heavy compression more effectively even at similarly low settings. A lot therefore depends on how a given manufacturer uses its capabilities.

We have a few more comments about the upscaling to 4K. There's plenty of detail, but overall the image looks rather soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, so the picture lacks some sharpness and clarity. You can partially correct this with the sharpness slider in the menu, though that will be extra edge enhancement rather than recovering detail. On the plus side, there's no overscan, and even with an SD signal the TV doesn't crop the edges of the picture.

The fluidity of motion has never been a strong point of televisions equipped with 60 Hz panels, and the Bravia 3 is no exception. Nevertheless, Sony has added something that might appeal to those who are more sensitive to the way images are displayed. This refers to the proprietary motion smoother, Motion Flow, which offers users a lot of adjustment options. With it, you can make the picture smoother, almost theatrical, or stick to a more cinematic style with the characteristic judder, which many people simply associate with a filmic vibe. These functions work for content with lower frame rates, such as movies and series recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second, which is the type of material we encounter on a daily basis. It is precisely in this area that the motion smoother proves to be one of the most important features for everyday use of the television, and here the Bravia 3 performs really well.

In terms of motion handling the OLED811 performs superbly. At 120 Hz, which is useful for console gaming and watching sport, the image remains clear and moving objects don't leave noticeable trails. The OLED's fast pixel response helps here. You can see it clearly in the UFO test, even on a dark background. There are also controls for motion smoothing. In movies you can adjust the strength of smoothing to your taste, from preserving a cinematic feel to much smoother motion. A separate blur-reduction control is useful for fast-paced content like live sports broadcasts.

Bravia 3 isn't gear for eSports enthusiasts or fans of late-night marathons with a controller in hand. The lack of 120 Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 ports closes the topic before it even has a chance to develop. This is a TV for the casual gamer who, after work, fires up FIFA or racing games, not for someone who measures every frame in a spreadsheet. Nonetheless, Sony has added a few nice extras to ensure it’s not too bare. ALLM works as it should, automatically switching the TV to game mode (low latency). We even find a simple Game Bar here, which is clear and straightforward. However, the biggest curiosity is the PlayStation Portal app. Thanks to it, you can launch games from your PS5 wirelessly and see them on the TV screen straight away. Sounds great, but it only takes a few minutes to feel significant delays. In our opinion, it’s more of a showcase of capabilities than something that can be used on a daily basis. If someone really wants to play, it’s better to plug the console in with an HDMI cable and forget about wireless issues.

The OLED811 has almost everything you’d expect from a TV for gaming. It supports 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, and when connected to a PC it can reach up to 165 Hz. It also offers VRR to help avoid screen tearing when frame rates fluctuate, and ALLM, which automatically switches to game mode. So you don’t have to go into the settings every time you start your console.

Another plus is the properly working HGiG, which ensures that once HDR is set on the console the TV doesn’t apply its own changes to image brightness. The Game Bar is also available, letting you check signal parameters and quickly change settings useful while gaming. The list even includes Dolby Vision for games, but there’s a significant catch here, which you’ll read about below.

Here, the Bravia 3 shows its best side. Latency drops below 12 milliseconds in almost every resolution and mode, so the response to controller movements is instantaneous and there's no sense of lag. It feels as if the console and the television are speaking the same language, without any unnecessary pauses or hesitations. The Dolby Vision Gaming mode deserves special mention. In its predecessor, the X75WL model, using this feature was simply a torment – input lag could reach over 100 milliseconds, which effectively took the joy out of gaming. In the Bravia 3, this problem has been completely eliminated.

OLED811 responds instantly. We measured 14 ms at 60 Hz and just 5 ms at 120 Hz, both in Full HD and 4K. Those are excellent results that let you comfortably play even fast online multiplayer games. Unfortunately, when Dolby Vision is enabled the situation changes dramatically: at 60 Hz latency rises to 157 ms, and at 120 Hz it’s 57 ms. The first result in particular already causes a clearly noticeable lag between a movement on the controller and the response on screen. For gaming it’s definitely better to stick with HDR10.

Working with a computer on the Bravia 3 with a VA panel isn’t as good as with the IPS panel version. The fonts are clearly less sharp and harder to read, which is immediately noticeable when working with text. There’s also a surprising dithering issue that we didn’t notice in the IPS variant. It’s quite an unusual situation, but definitely worth noting, as it may hinder those planning to use the TV as a monitor. As for PC gaming, there’s also little reason for enthusiasm here. The lack of support for frame synchronization with graphics cards or higher refresh rates makes the screen rather unattractive in this role. So if someone is seriously considering connecting the Bravia 3 to a computer, a variant with an IPS panel will be a much better choice, as it performs significantly better in this regard.

The Philips OLED811 works very well with a PC. The manufacturer has finally managed to correctly implement 4:4:4 chroma, even at maximum resolution and refresh rate. As a result, small text and coloured edges are readable, without the blurring or rainbow fringing that comes from loss of colour information. Dark text on dark backgrounds also holds up well, which TVs can struggle with. There are still minor imperfections related to the RGWB subpixel layout. Fonts are not as sharp as on a classic RGB monitor, and with white letters you can see faint red halos up close. From a normal viewing distance you barely notice it, though it’s easier to spot when sitting close at a desk.

Where it really shines is gaming from a PC. The combination of 4K at 165 Hz, working G-Sync and input lag around 5 ms makes the OLED811 excellent for that. If you have a computer that can take advantage of that refresh rate, it’s definitely worth plugging it into the Philips.

The viewing angles in the Bravia 3 with a VA panel are clearly poorer than in the version with an IPS panel. It’s enough to sit a little off to the side for the picture to start losing saturation and sharpness, while the black takes on a lighter shade. This is the natural price to pay for the significantly better contrast and deeper black, which are definitely an advantage in this variant.

The viewing angles on the OLED811 are excellent and among the best on the market. Even when sitting well off to the side you still see an image with deep blacks and well-saturated colours. That's a big advantage over LCD screens. You don't have to sit exactly in front to enjoy good picture quality.

QD-OLED panels perform even better, keeping colours more faithful at off-axis angles. On the Philips, at wider off-axis angles the whites shift slightly towards greenish tones, but the effect is so small that it's hard to find it bothersome while watching. We'd even say that in this respect this is the best WOLED panel sample we've tested so far.

The performance of the Bravia 3 in the VA variant during the day is a mix of pros and cons. The manufacturer has also used a satin finish here, but compared to IPS, it handles direct reflections worse. When sharp light hits the screen, reflections can be more pronounced and may interfere with viewing. On the other hand, the TV compensates with higher brightness. In typical daytime conditions, the image is more readable and clearer than in the version with an IPS panel. Thus, in everyday use, the Bravia 3 in the VA edition can perform even better, as long as we don't place it in a heavily sunlit spot.

OLED811 copes with daytime viewing, although in a very bright living room it already has its limits. Peak brightness in SDR reaches about 600 nits, a level comparable with the LG C6 or Samsung S90H, which use the same panel. That’s noticeably more than basic OLEDs and will be plenty for most people. Bear in mind, though, that this brightness isn’t maintained across the whole screen — it falls with a lot of white, and the average from our measurements was around 392 nits.

A bigger issue can be direct reflections from windows or lamps. The glossy coating dampens them reasonably well, but they’re still clearly visible on the screen, especially in dark scenes. It doesn’t diffuse reflections as effectively as matte screens, so placing the TV opposite a large window isn’t the best idea. On the plus side, black levels remain very good even in daylight. In a typical living room the Philips will therefore perform without major problems, but with strong sunlight falling directly on the screen you’ll want blinds.

Smart TV Features

The biggest advantage of the Bravia 3 in daily use is the presence of the Google TV system. Thanks to it, we have access to one of the largest libraries of apps and streaming services, so regardless of whether someone mainly uses Netflix, Disney+ or smaller platforms, everything is just a reach away. The Google voice assistant also worked very well, responding to our commands quite "smartly". The Google TV system should theoretically run very smoothly since Sony has been implementing it better than many cheaper competitors for years. Unfortunately, in the case of the Bravia 3, it's not as great as we might have expected. During testing, we noticed slight lags in the interface, and some features, such as screen mirroring, simply refused to cooperate. One might get the impression that the processor in this model sometimes struggles to handle the demanding system, and not everything works as smoothly as we would hope.

Classic Features

Sony, even in the cheapest series, knows how to remind users of its experience with various users. The set includes two remotes. The first is modern and minimalist, with a small number of buttons, which works wonderfully when using applications and Google TV functions. The second is a classic remote with a richer set of buttons and a numeric keypad, which will be appreciated especially by older people accustomed to traditional solutions. It's a nice gesture towards different user groups, and it must be admitted that Sony has handled this very practically. It's a pity, however, that compared to the X75WL model, the ability to record content from TV tuners to USB memory has been removed. The manufacturer has completely abandoned this feature, so if someone was attached to it, they unfortunately won't find it in the Bravia 3.

Smart features — Titan OS

The Smart TV system is the most controversial change in the OLED811. Philips has dropped the user-favourite Google TV in favour of its own Titan OS. For many people this may be a hard decision to accept, although Titan is getting noticeably better year on year and runs more smoothly. We have working AirPlay, screen mirroring from a computer and voice search in Polish. System responsiveness has improved too, though you can still notice small delays when navigating the menus. We have the impression the IR remote is partly to blame, as it doesn’t always pick up commands immediately. The biggest limitation compared with Google TV is the smaller selection of apps. That doesn’t mean it’s empty, however — you’ll find Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, CANAL+, and Apple TV has recently joined the library. If you mainly use popular services, Titan should be fine, but it’s worth checking availability of less well-known apps before buying (see the list at the bottom 😉).

Ambilight

Ambilight remains one of the best reasons to consider a Philips TV. On the OLED811 it’s three-sided — LEDs along the top and sides of the casing light the wall with colours matched to what’s happening on screen. In the evening this creates a great effect and can change the whole room’s atmosphere, so we awarded extra points for this feature. You don’t have to use the dynamic picture tracking though. If you prefer a calmer viewing environment you can set a static white light. It’s a pleasant option for evening sessions when you don’t want to sit in front of a bright screen in a completely dark room.

Classic features

For regular TV viewing the OLED811 performs well, though it lacks USB recording and picture-in-picture (PiP). You can connect Bluetooth headphones and use them alongside the TV’s speakers. What bothers us most, however, is the infrared control mentioned earlier. The remote itself is quite interestingly designed: it’s backlit and has a hybrid keyboard with a numeric section. It’s a shame you still have to point it at the TV like with old sets. With equipment at this level we’d prefer to just press buttons without worrying which way we’re holding the remote. Hopefully Philips will fix that in future models.

Here Sony has really done a great job. The built-in player works quickly and doesn't "choke" when launching various formats. We didn't have to reach for external apps like VLC, as the TV handled even files that can cause quite a bit of trouble on other models – such as HEIC photos from Apple devices. It's a small detail, but one that shows the manufacturer wanted the user to feel complete convenience. By plugging a movie into a USB drive or photos from a holiday into a portable hard drive, you can simply connect them and immediately watch on the big screen. No fuss, no installing additional software, no searching for workarounds. This is really rare in televisions, and it must be said that in this aspect, the Bravia 3 truly surprised us pleasantly.

The USB player in the OLED811 handles most of the audio and video formats we test, so it's perfectly adequate for watching a movie or playing music from a USB stick. Our main reservations are about photos, specifically the strangely selective handling of their resolutions. The TV opened 8, 16 and 32 Mpix files, but couldn't cope with the rest. So it's not that the photos are simply too large, because the player can display a higher-resolution image and refuse to open a smaller one. When browsing holiday photos this can be genuinely annoying, as some will need to be converted on a computer first... or you could just use remote screen mirroring...😉

Bravia 3 plays in a rather flat manner, but makes up for it with loudness. It’s perfect for watching traditional television as the dialogue is clear, and the mid tones are easily heard. Users, especially older ones who mainly value speech comprehensibility, will particularly appreciate this type of characterisation. However, if someone expects more from the sound, like stronger bass or a wider soundstage, it’s worth investing in a soundbar. The television supports modern codecs, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, so an external sound system can easily take advantage of their potential. This ensures that with relatively low expenditure, a much fuller and more engaging sound can be achieved.

There have been a few concrete changes to the sound compared with last year’s OLED820. The rear subwoofer is gone and the 4.1 speaker layout has been replaced by a 2.2 configuration. Despite these changes the OLED811 still sounds good and fairly even. It can play louder, and the sound even seems a touch fuller than a year ago. The bass has suffered; although the sound has weight, the low end lacks the depth of its predecessor. You can hear this most clearly in films and music when you’re waiting for a stronger hit. That said, it’s still well above average for built-in TV speakers. If you want deeper bass and more distinct spatial effects, it’s worth considering a soundbar or a system with an AV receiver. Philips gives you plenty of flexibility: it supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS, and will pass Dolby TrueHD tracks over HDMI eARC to compatible equipment without any problems. So there’s room to upgrade later if you decide to expand the sound system.

Sony Bravia 3 50' (VA) vs Philips OLED811

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Colours

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

Daytime performance

Panel details

TV features

Classic features:

Smart features:

Sound connection options

Supported audio formats (external HDMI eARC audio):

Senior accessibility

Smart TV Features

Classic Features

Smart features — Titan OS

Ambilight

Classic features

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements