Sony X85L vs PHILPS PUS9060

The Sony X85L TV offers solid HDR performance with a brightness of 750 nits, which is sufficient to enjoy vibrant effects. In scenes of moderate difficulty, such as the first, third, or fifth test scenes, a brightness of around 600 nits allows you to fully experience the HDR effect. Unfortunately, in more demanding segments, like the scene from the film Sicario 2, the TV reveals its limitations. Drops in brightness to 250 nits make the HDR effect lose its impressive quality and resemble ordinary SDR. Nonetheless, it is worth highlighting the very good coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 95%, which definitely deserves praise and positively impacts the overall image quality.

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 television Sony X85L has been tested in IMAX Enhanced mode, which, while associated with world-class cinema, does not guarantee an image consistent with the director's intent. The main issue is the white balance – there is a noticeable strong dominance of blue and significant deficiencies in red. As a result, the image becomes unnaturally cool and looks artificial. Errors in colour reproduction were confirmed by the Colour Checker test, which showed significant discrepancies – colours were "scattered" like shots from a rifle, and only a few samples hit the target values. This clearly shows that the precision of colour reproduction leaves much to be desired.

The brightness of the image is one of the positive features of the television. The gamma for HD content is at an acceptable level, although minor errors occur, but generally it is quite good. However, the issue remains the brightness characteristic for 4K materials, controlled by the EOTF curve. It is evident here that very small, bright elements of the image are too dim, which is the result of the limited number of backlight zones due to the design of the television.

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.

Thanks to the use of calibration tools offered by Sony X85L, it has been possible to significantly improve the image quality. After calibration, the white balance for HD content is much more stable, making colours look more natural and enhancing the authenticity of the image. Although it's not perfect, these changes allow viewers to enjoy a more realistic representation of colours, eliminating the earlier cool tone. The gamma, which already performed reasonably well, has been adjusted to an even better version. As a result, tonal transitions and brightness are more consistent, positively impacting the depth and detail of the image.

As for 4K content, despite efforts, the white balance still struggles with a lack of red, which can cause overly warm colours in some scenes. Synthetic tests showed that the EOTF curve in HDR is fairly stable, with a slight boost in mid-bright scenes. However, in actual film material, the TV can still be too bright with fine, light details, which is a result of the limitations of large local dimming technology.

Nonetheless, the calibration has brought significant benefits, particularly in terms of colour accuracy, improving overall image quality and providing a more natural and consistent directorial vision.

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.

In terms of smoothing tonal transitions, the Sony X85L television doesn’t offer any dedicated enhancement options, which is a bit of a downside. On the other hand, the image scaling performs quite well – the television adds a touch of artificial sharpness, which can make details such as tree branches more pronounced, although sometimes with visible jagged edges. This type of effect may appeal to some viewers who prefer a more detailed image.

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.

Sony X85L, equipped with a 120 Hz panel, will meet the expectations of a wide range of users – from sports and gaming fans to movie enthusiasts. Movie lovers will surely appreciate the presence of one of the best motion smoothing systems, known as Motionflow. This system offers adjustment using smoothness and clarity sliders – smoothness is responsible for fluid motion, eliminating the stuttering effect, while clarity enhances the sharpness of fast scenes, reducing blur.

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.

Sony X85L offers a fairly solid set of features for gamers, making it an attractive choice for gaming enthusiasts. First and foremost, the television has a 120 Hz panel, which translates to smooth and dynamic image display, ideal for both fast-paced action games and more demanding sports titles. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, allowing for the full capabilities of next-generation consoles to be utilised. Additionally, Sony X85L supports VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, which helps reduce stuttering and artifacts during gameplay, ensuring a smooth experience. The television also supports G-Sync, which is particularly beneficial for gamers using NVIDIA graphics cards, allowing for screen refresh rate synchronization with GPU performance, eliminating screen tearing. It’s worth mentioning the Game Bar feature, which facilitates quick access to important game-related settings, such as VRR, brightness levels, or display modes, making it convenient and useful during gameplay.

However, there are some limitations. The television does not support HGiG, which may be a downside for some gamers, as HGiG optimises HDR effect rendering in games, providing a more authentic visual experience. Additionally, the Dolby Vision mode, although available, is not practical for gaming due to very high input lag.

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.