TCL A300W NXTVision vs Philips MLED920 / MLED910

When it comes to brightness, the TCL A300W is definitely the dimmest TV among all frame-style models, such as Samsung The Frame or Hisense CanvasTV – and unfortunately, you can see that right away. In our measurements, peak luminance reached only around 400 nits, and on test movie screens, this value dropped to 350 nits. That’s definitely too little to feel the real "magic" of bright HDR effects. As a consolation – the TV is equipped with a PFS LED coating (which is something like QLED), which provides very good coverage of a wide colour gamut, both DCI-P3 and BT.2020. In addition, there is full support for all popular HDR formats – HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision – which somewhat compensates for the shortcomings in brightness and helps improve the overall experience of materials in this quality.

Philips MLED920 in our measurements in static tests even reached around 900 nits, which for a mid-range model is quite an impressive result. In practice, this translates to a lot of satisfaction during viewing – in scenes rich in bright light, such as the first, third, or fifth test patterns, the screen was able to generate around 700 nits, which is sufficient to feel the real "HDR effect". However, it cannot be denied that the limited number of backlight zones and the typical mini-LED compromises in dimming algorithms reveal their flaws in more demanding scenes. In sequences with small light sources – like the moon or a scene from the film Sicario 2 – the television clearly prioritises maintaining deeper blacks at the expense of the brightness of these small elements. For most viewers, this is still a reasonable compromise, as the dark background looks much better, although it should be noted that the details themselves may not dazzle with intensity. The question of colours also leaves a bit to be desired. Although the employed PFS filter (the equivalent of quantum dots known from QLEDs) does its job and the colours appear quite vibrant, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space reaches "only" 90%. In everyday viewing, this will be sufficient, but in extremely colourful productions – like the latest Disney animations – one can notice that some tones are not as vivid as they could be in other constructions.

TCL A300 offers several picture modes, but without a doubt, the movie mode performs the best. Unfortunately, even though it is the best option available, it is not free from errors. Both in HD and HDR content, the image has a noticeably too warm hue – it has a slight pink tint, which is particularly noticeable in snowy scenes. Instead of pure white, we get a pinkish coating that spoils the natural perception of colours.

The management of brightness is also lacking. In the case of older HD materials, the image often seems too dark – confirmed by an elevated gamma value. Conversely, with HDR content, the effect is the opposite – the image is overly bright, as we observed in scenes from the film Pan. Such a lack of consistency also affects colour accuracy – a test with a ColorChecker showed that many samples clearly deviate from reference values.

Fortunately, TCL allows for manual adjustment of settings, so we decided to check how the television would perform after our professional calibration. The effects of this adjustment are described below.

Like every Philips TV we've tested, the MLED920 was primarily assessed in Filmmaker mode – the so-called "most honest" mode, designed for films and to faithfully convey the intentions of the creators. Indeed, in terms of colour accuracy, it performs best among all the modes available on the TV, but it is not without flaws. The first thing that stands out is the white balance. The image has a slight tendency towards purple-pink tones, giving it a somewhat unnatural character. However, an even bigger problem turned out to be what we mentioned earlier – image clipping. Just looking at the gamma or EOTF charts reveals that the line deviates significantly from the norm, dropping below a value of 1.8. In practice, this means "bleeding" of the brightest whites, where the image becomes almost milky. Fortunately, most of these issues can be corrected – the MLED920 responds to calibration, and with a few adjustments, image quality can be significantly improved.

After our professional calibration, the TCL A300 has literally been given a new lease on life. The image has stopped being too warm, and the colours finally look as they should – as confirmed by the ColorChecker test, where the colour samples finally started hitting their marks, at least to some reasonable degree. It was also possible to partially correct the brightness management – the image is now more balanced and less "wobbly" between different types of content. Of course, certain limitations can't be bypassed – a slightly visible blooming effect still occurs, but that's a characteristic of the technology, not something that can be eliminated even after professional settings.

Generally: after calibration, the A300 looks significantly better and gains a whole new quality.

After calibration, we managed to largely tame the white balance – to the extent that the average viewer will not be able to detect colour inaccuracies. The characteristic pink-purple glow that previously disrupted the naturalness of the image has also disappeared. The colour palette has been organised, and the colours appear more cohesive and neutral. The gamma in SDR content looks really good after calibration – there’s no sign of the earlier “bleeding” effect in bright scenes. The image has become more contrasty and free from the milky effect that previously severely affected the viewing experience. In the case of HDR content, the improvement is also noticeable, although here it is still evident that the television goes “its own way”. The EOTF curve cannot be fully adjusted, as Philips simply does not offer tools for precise control of this parameter in its settings. In many films, the television still exposes the image “in its own way”. Despite these limitations, calibration has brought a lot of good – the majority of colour inaccuracies have been minimised and the overall image balance has significantly improved. However, one must remember that certain barriers arise from the very hardware construction and simply cannot be overcome.

TCL A300 handles tonal transitions in high-quality films very well, but the question arises – how does it perform with weaker materials? The TV is equipped with a tonal smoothing feature; however, its effectiveness can be described in one word: “random”. In one scene, it may work and improve the gradation, but when turned off… the effect remains the same. There is a lack of consistency and predictability here.

Image scaling is also not one of A300's strong points. On the test pattern, the main character actually looked better than on the raw signal, but with thin lines – like fonts or background details – there was noticeable jaggedness and aliasing. On the plus side, the TV does not cut off the image and has no issues with overscan, but the overall quality of scaling is rather average.

The manufacturer has equipped this model with several features that improve signal quality, and although we usually approach such “enhancers” with caution, here they prove to be really helpful. The key option is called “distortion reduction” – it works best at a medium level because, on one hand, it effectively smooths out unwanted steps and colour transitions, and on the other, it doesn’t excessively cut details, meaning the image still looks natural.

It’s a bit worse when it comes to upscaling. Lower quality materials – such as the test video with the model – appeared soft and lacking sharpness. Of course, it can be partially adjusted with the sharpness slider in the menu, but the result still falls short compared to what competitors offer at a similar price. Philips still needs to work on this aspect because, in light of the successful improvement of tonal transitions, the upscaling simply comes off weak.

TCL A300 is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, which should instantly satisfy virtually everyone - both gamers and sports fans. Motion is fluid and the image is clear even during fast scenes. Additionally, the television offers a motion enhancement feature called "Motion," where we find two sliders on a 10-point scale. These allow you to adjust the effect to your own preferences - from a classic, filmic look with visible frames to a very smooth (though already unnatural) image reminiscent of a soap opera effect. This way, everyone can find a setting that suits them.

Philips MLED920 features a 144 Hz panel, which immediately suggests that we shouldn’t complain about motion smoothness. And indeed – for a VA panel, the motion blur is relatively low here, and while you can sometimes notice slight issues on darker backgrounds, they’re not something that will catch the eye of most people during regular viewing.

A big plus is also the presence of a motion smoother called “Motion Style.” It allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences – if someone prefers a more “theatrical,” almost television-like character of the image, they can increase the sliders, and if they want to maintain the natural “judders” of a cinematic frame, they just need to set lower values. This way, everyone can find a happy medium.

The TCL A300 is a television designed not only to transport us to a digital art museum but also into the full-fledged world of gaming. It offers practically everything you can expect from gaming hardware: two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, 144 Hz refresh rate, support for VRR and ALLM.

It also deserves credit for the proper implementation of the HGIG mode – something that competing Hisense sometimes struggles with. The television handles lower resolutions (e.g., Full HD) with ease while maintaining high refresh rates, which will be appreciated by owners of older consoles or PCs.

Additionally, there's an attractive and clear GameBar that facilitates quick access to settings for gamers. The A300 is indeed well-prepared for gaming at the highest level – it’s just a shame that issues with ghosting somewhat detract from its overall appeal as a gaming device.

For gamers, the Philips MLED920 is truly a complete tool. The manufacturer has taken care of everything that is now considered standard in televisions for consoles and PCs. It has ALLM, so the console automatically switches the screen to game mode, there’s VRR and a 144 Hz refresh rate that ensures smooth gameplay even in fast-paced titles. All key HDR formats are supported – including HGiG and Dolby Vision Gaming for Xbox – which means that regardless of what you’re playing and on which console, the television will be able to extract the maximum potential from the image. In everyday gaming, the Game Bar proves useful too – a relatively simple implementation by Philips, but a functional panel where you can quickly check image parameters, enable VRR, or adjust details without leaving the game. It’s not as elaborate as the competition, but it does its job without any complaints. And finally, something that sets Philips apart from the competition – Ambilight. The three-sided LED backlighting can make a huge impression in games, especially in the evening. It’s also a way to slightly 'expand' the screen and create a greater sense of immersion. And since coloured LEDs have recently become almost an essential element of a gamer’s room, the MLED920 fits perfectly into this trend.