Compare: LG OLED C6H (TANDEM OLED) vs Philips PQS9011 / PQS9001 (The One 2026)

The C6H is an even more interesting TV, because the use of a Tandem OLED panel means the C series is starting to move into territory previously reserved for much more expensive models. You still get all the advantages of the regular C6, but the panel’s capabilities are on a completely different level. HDR shows this best. In many scenes we measured around 2,000 nits, and at times even 2,300 nits, results until now seen in flagship TV ranges. There’s also a wider BT.2020 colour gamut and, above all, much stronger colours at high brightness. In that respect it’s hard to call this a typical mid-range OLED. What’s more, the rest of the TV keeps up with the panel. You get excellent image processing, 165 Hz, a full suite of gaming features and the user-friendly webOS with the Magic Remote. If we judged the C6H solely on its capabilities and specifications, it could easily be placed alongside much more expensive top-tier TVs. Unfortunately the spell is somewhat broken when evening comes and you want to watch a film. Around black our C6H sample showed noticeable dithering and an irritating flicker. It was most visible in difficult, very dark scenes, and it’s the kind of flaw that’s hard to ignore in an OLED TV. After all, part of the reason you buy such a panel is to enjoy perfect blacks during an evening viewing. It’s all the more a shame because otherwise the C6H is a truly excellent TV. Everything also indicates this isn’t a limitation of the panel itself but a software problem, similar to what we observed in the LG G6. We therefore hope LG will fix it with an update, as it has done in some overseas markets. For now this one issue prevents us from fully recommending the C6H. Until LG fixes it, the safer choice is the regular C6 or a competing OLED that doesn’t struggle with this near-black behaviour. However, if an update does indeed resolve the problem, the C6 with Tandem technology would immediately become one of the most interesting OLEDs of 2026.

The idea behind The One has hardly changed over the years and with the Philips PQS9001 this is both a strength and its biggest drawback. You still get a versatile mid-range television whose main distinguishing feature is Ambilight. The light that follows the picture can change the atmosphere of an evening viewing and for many people will be the main reason to buy it. It's easy to see why: once you like that effect, you often don't want to go back to watching without it. The picture quality itself is good, but a very similar level has been seen in this series in previous years. The VA panel delivers decent blacks, colours are nicely saturated and the brightness is sufficient for comfortable viewing in a typical living room. It's a pity, though, that Philips didn't take another step and at least implement some form of local dimming. In a dark room you can see a navy-black rather than true black, and HDR, though noticeable, is less impressive as a result. After so many years of The One on the market we'd expect more.

There is a clear step forward in Titan OS. Compared with last year, and especially the version from two years ago, the system has become much more pleasant to use. A few apps have been added, many small functions improved and the annoying bugs we complained about before have been fixed. Overall it runs respectably, although we're again bothered by a remote that has to be pointed at the television. Philips stubbornly sticks with infrared for basic control, even though voice control uses radio connectivity. That makes it harder to understand why radio wasn't also used for menu navigation. The One also has a lot to offer gamers. Four HDMI 2.1 ports and extensive features are one thing, but what impressed us most was the panel's response time. Our unit showed virtually no smearing, even on dark backgrounds, which is rare for LCD TVs with a VA panel. That deserves considerable praise. The ability to play in 4K at 144 Hz or in Full HD at 240 Hz further encourages connecting a PC. Unfortunately there's an unfinished element here too: Dolby Vision when gaming on Xbox incurs very high input lag.

The PQS9000 therefore leaves mixed impressions. It can surprise with excellent motion handling and shows that Philips has worked on the system, but the image quality lacks a similar step forward. This is a television we can recommend primarily to Ambilight fans. If that lighting is what convinces you to choose Philips, buying The One makes a lot of sense. It's worth checking, though, whether you can't find a Mini LED model with good local dimming at a similar price, which would offer deeper blacks and more striking HDR. Then you need to decide what matters more to you: the ambience created by Ambilight or better image quality itself.

The Tandem OLED panel gives the C6 noticeably greater capabilities in several areas of the picture, but when it comes to black levels there was nothing that needed changing. As with any OLED, individual pixels can be completely switched off, allowing the TV to deliver perfect black and virtually infinite contrast. It therefore makes no difference whether bright subtitles appear on a black background, tiny stars or small light sources. You won't see the glow typical of LCDs around them, and transitions between bright and dark areas are very precise. In terms of black level alone the Tandem OLED version has no advantage over the standard C6, because both panels can switch off pixels on a per-pixel basis. Differences between them only appear with brightness and colour. However, if we look solely at contrast and black level, both variants offer the same reference-level performance.

NOTE: In the helicopter scene from the film Sicario 2 we noticed grain and flickering in the darkest parts of the image. This looks like a software bug that LG should address with an update. On the Tandem OLED version the effect is even more noticeable, and we observed similar behaviour on the flagship LG G6.

Black levels and contrast on the Philips PQS9000 are decent for an LCD TV without local dimming. That's mainly thanks to the VA panel; in our film scenes contrast often exceeded 5000:1, and in weaker results dropped to around 4000:1. That delivers an image with quite good depth and a clear advantage over typical IPS panels, where blacks are much more prone to looking grey. Unfortunately that's basically where the panel's strengths end. The TV has no local dimming, so it can't dim dark areas separately while retaining strong highlights elsewhere on the screen. All it has is global dimming, which brightens or dims the entire backlight at once. In a completely dark room these limitations become apparent: blacks take on a dark navy hue, and shadowy scenes lack the depth of a good screen with local dimming. Fortunately Ambilight helps here. The light on the wall makes the on-screen blacks appear deeper and slightly masks the panel's glow. That doesn't change the TV's actual contrast, but it affects how our eyes perceive it. In this case Ambilight is therefore not just decorative, as it can also make evening viewing more pleasant.

And it is with HDR that the Tandem OLED panel shows its greatest advantage. The C6H’s brightness is simply very high and in our measurements it hovered around 1900–2300 nits in most film scenes. That’s already a level at which bright highlights, the sun or small light sources can look truly spectacular. The biggest impression, however, was made by the fifth scene from the film The Meg. It is exceptionally demanding for OLEDs because almost the entire screen is very bright. Even so, the C6H reached about 1650 nits in that scene. By comparison, the regular C6 with a classic WOLED panel recorded around 600–700 nits at the same point. So we’re talking about more than double the brightness, and in places the difference even approaches three times. And that is probably the best example of what Tandem OLED delivers here. It’s not just a higher result on a small test patch. The C6H can maintain very high brightness even when much more of the screen is lit. As a result HDR has significantly greater dynamism, and in this respect the C6H is much closer to flagship OLEDs than to typical mid-range models.

Colours

Tandem OLED also brings an improvement in colours. DCI-P3 coverage remains practically complete at about 99%, while in the much wider BT.2020 colour space we measured around 82–83%. That’s roughly seven percentage points more than the regular C6. In everyday use this won’t be a difference visible in every scene, because most films do not use such a wide gamut. However, when very highly saturated colours appear, the C6H already has noticeably greater capability, especially in reds. Reds benefit the most, becoming deeper and more saturated. This still isn’t at the level of the best QD-OLED panels or SQD TVs, but for a WOLED panel the performance is really very good.

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. Reflections of the sun, lamps or flares have a bit more sparkle than on basic TVs, whose brightness often tops out around 300 nits. However, it is not a level at which bright elements make a particularly strong impression. The biggest limitation remains contrast. Without local dimming, when the TV brightens a bright object it also raises the black level around it. There is therefore no clear separation of strong highlights from a dark background, and it is that contrast that can show 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 calls this model QLED, in reality a PFS phosphor is used here instead of quantum dots. That choice does not prevent the TV from achieving good results. On both test patterns and in measurements of film scenes we recorded about 94% coverage of DCI-P3 and 75% of BT.2020. For this class of TV that is really good. In practice this means that the vast majority of colours used in HDR films and series will have appropriate saturation. Vibrant green or intense red are not much of an issue and add appeal to the picture. Limitations are easier to notice in some games and in rarer content that use the most saturated shades of the wide BT.2020 gamut. In such situations, displays with wider colour coverage, such as SQD or RGB LED, can show more. In its price bracket, however, the PQS9000 has nothing to be ashamed of.

Straight out of the box the LG C6 is fairly well set up, especially if you select the Filmmaker mode. In SDR content the white balance is decent, although as brightness increases it shows a slight deficiency in red. The image therefore becomes a little cooler, but not enough for the difference to be very noticeable during normal viewing. More is happening in the brightness response. Gamma is a bit low and, instead of holding at 2.4, it sits closer to 2.1–2.2 across much of the range. In practice the C6 slightly brightens midtones. Shadow detail is therefore more readable, but the picture loses some depth compared with how it should look in a darkened room.

In HDR the situation is a bit more interesting. The lower end of the greyscale performs very well, but from roughly 20–30% brightness the white balance starts to drift increasingly. As brightness rises there is more red, while blue becomes noticeably deficient. In the brightest scenes the difference is already substantial and also affects the reproduction of some colours. The EOTF itself is, however, fairly well tracked across most of the range. The C6 merely tends to slightly brighten the image, which we already saw in our film comparisons. The largest deviation appears in the very brightest areas, where the TV begins to adapt the signal to the panel’s capabilities.

The factory Filmmaker setting in HDR is therefore not perfect, but overall it performs well. The biggest room for improvement is the white balance, particularly at high brightness.

Unfortunately, the factory picture settings for Film mode on the PQS9000 need refinement. In SDR the most noticeable problem is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes whites, greys and skin tones too warm, sometimes even slightly pinkish. On top of that the gamma runs below the reference across most of the range. The TV therefore brightens midtones and highlights, making the overall image look flatter than it should.

In HDR the white balance itself is much better. Apart from minor deviations the RGB components track closely, so there is no pronounced colour cast as in SDR. However, the EOTF curve shows a slight brightening of parts of the image, and the biggest issue appears in measurements of the wide colour gamut. Many hues deviate significantly from the target, with errors reaching levels of 8–9. The good gamut coverage we praised earlier therefore does not mean the TV hits specific colours equally well. It can display a wide colour range, but out of the box it does not use it very precisely.

LG TVs have long been very receptive to calibration and the C6 is no exception. After adjustment the white balance could be set almost perfectly, and most colour errors fell below 3, often even down to around 2. In practice this means very accurate colour reproduction in both SDR and HDR. An interesting detail only emerged when we looked at the HDR luminance response. On a classic EOTF plot everything looks almost ideal and at first glance it would be hard to find fault. Only when we measured the TV's behaviour on filters based on real film scenes did it become apparent that the C6 has a slight tendency to artificially boost image brightness.

It is not a huge difference and many people may even welcome it because HDR looks a bit more striking as a result. From the point of view of fidelity to the source material this is not ideal behaviour though – some scenes are simply a touch brighter than the filmmaker intended. Interestingly, this is rather unusual for LG. In previous generations the brand's TVs typically stuck closely to the reference picture characteristic after calibration. With the C6 we are still very close to the standard, but this subtle brightness 'boost' can indeed be noticed in films and series.

Calibration brought a significant improvement, especially in SDR material. We managed to even out the white balance and remove the previous colour cast, and the Color Checker measurements now look really very good. Colours are much closer to what should be on screen, so with ordinary TV or SDR films we can be satisfied with the outcome. Unfortunately HDR somewhat spoils that result. On the one hand it is limited by the panel itself, because calibration won't improve contrast or replace local dimming. On the other hand there remain colour errors that we couldn't correct because the CMS settings, that is the colour management controls, were greyed out and inactive. That costs Philips points with us. The white balance can be fine‑tuned, but without access to wide‑gamut adjustments it's not possible to order HDR colours equally well. It's a shame, because the SDR results show the potential is there, but we weren't allowed to make full use of it everywhere.

In terms of tonal transitions alone, the C6H performs really well. Gradients are smooth, colours do not break up into obvious bands, and in both bright and dark scenes it is hard to find significant posterisation issues. In most material the image looks very clean in this respect.

Note: The issue of dithering in near-black areas looks much worse, however. In very dark parts of the image you can notice distinct flickering and grain, which can be quite pronounced when viewed up close. The Tandem OLED panel version exhibits the effect noticeably more than the regular C6. It's a shame, because the tonal transitions themselves are at a very high level. It is precisely the behaviour of the image just above black that is the main reason we cannot rate this category higher.

The Philips PQS9000 handles tonal transitions very well. This is especially evident in dark scenes, where shades flow smoothly into one another without visible banding or distinct boundaries between colours. As a result, even on large, uniform areas the image looks smooth. Minor imperfections only appear in lighter tones, but you have to look closely to notice them. During normal viewing they are unlikely to distract from the film. In this category Philips performs really well.

Here the LG C6 has taken a really big step forward. The TV uses the same processor found in the flagship G6, and in terms of image processing the two models are very similar. That's a considerable plus, because this year's LG processor excels in that area. The "Smooth Gradation" function works particularly well. With heavily compressed footage it can effectively hide ugly banding and artefacts that often occur, for instance in lower-quality streaming. It's best to leave it on the "Low" setting. Then the improvement is noticeable, while the TV does not yet start to blur fine detail. Higher levels smooth the picture more, but can already remove some of the natural texture of objects on screen. Upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution material is sharpened correctly, edges look clean, and the processor quite effectively reconstructs fine detail. In this respect the C6 is already very close to LG's best TVs and the differences compared with the G6 are small.

Digital picture processing in the Philips PQS9000 performs well, though we have a few reservations. The "Distortion Reduction" function helps to smooth tonal transitions in lower-quality material, but it works rather unevenly. It can improve one part of the image, only to seem to lose its effect a moment later, still in the same scene, and show banding between shades again. A plus is that it doesn't remove film grain or fine noise, so the image retains its texture. We found the 'Medium' setting worked best and we recommend it. The upscaling to 4K itself is acceptable, although the image is very soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which may leave some viewers feeling the picture lacks definition. In that case, it's worth slightly increasing the sharpness in the TV's menu, as this will make edges appear more defined. However, don't overdo the sharpening slider, otherwise artificial halos may appear instead of an improvement.

The C6H with a Tandem OLED panel can also operate at refresh rates of up to 165 Hz. PC gamers will naturally get the most out of this, because for consoles, films or sport we're still looking at a maximum of 120 Hz. The panel itself is excellent when it comes to motion. OLED pixels respond virtually instantly, so even with fast-moving objects you don't see the typical motion blur. The picture remains clean whether you're watching sport or playing fast-paced games.

If you prioritise smoothness over motion clarity, TruMotion is available. LG lets you adjust two parameters separately. De-Judder mainly works with films and series shot at 24 fps and helps reduce the judder that's characteristic of them. De-Blur, meanwhile, is intended for 50/60 fps content, so it's particularly useful when watching sport or television.

In terms of motion handling the Philips PQS9000 performs exceptionally well for an LCD TV. It's not just the 144 Hz refresh rate, but above all how quickly the panel itself responds. At 120 Hz there are virtually no typical trailing smears behind moving objects. What is particularly pleasing is that this also applies to darker scenes, where many VA panels clearly struggle. Here motion remains clear and, in this respect, Philips pleasantly surprised us.

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

The C6H offers practically the full suite of gaming features. On consoles you can easily use 4K at 120 Hz, while PC users can push the refresh rate up to 165 Hz. The TV also supports VRR from 40 to 165 Hz, ALLM and a proper implementation of HGiG. Dolby Vision is also available in game mode, which remains a major advantage for Xbox owners. All key information can be viewed in the Game Bar, which provides quick access to VRR settings and the current signal’s parameters. The OLED implementation therefore does not alter the feature set available to gamers, but with such high panel brightness HDR games can make an even stronger impression. Functionally, the C6H is simply a very complete TV for console and PC gaming.

Gaming features

In terms of gaming features, the Philips PQS9000 has a lot to offer. Four HDMI 2.1 ports let you connect several devices without having to choose which one gets the full-capability port. Consoles can use 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, while a PC can also make use of 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 is 48 to 240 Hz, with the upper limit applying in Full HD mode.

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

In terms of input lag the C6 performs as a good gaming TV should. At 120 Hz we measured around 5 ms, so the response to the controller is practically instantaneous. At 60 Hz the result rises to around 14 ms, but those are still good figures. Latency is slightly higher with Dolby Vision. At 120 Hz it's around 14 ms, and at 60 Hz about 22 ms. In practice, if you play normally on an Xbox, it's unlikely to be something that will actually bother you.

Input lag is already less impressive than the gaming features themselves. At 60 Hz we measured 32 ms, both in SDR and HDR. That result is fine for more relaxed games, but in fast-paced shooters you can feel a slight lag. At 120 Hz the delay drops to 16 ms and gaming is noticeably more enjoyable, though the competition can respond even faster.

The biggest problem appears when Dolby Vision is enabled. At 60 Hz the delay is as much as 213 ms, and at 120 Hz it reaches 106 ms. The response to controller input is then clearly delayed, which seriously disrupts gameplay. Therefore, on the PQS9000 it is definitely better to stick with HDR10. Dolby Vision is supported for games, but its practical usefulness remains limited.

The C6H with a Tandem OLED panel also works very well as a computer display. When working with text the most important thing is that the TV correctly handles 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, so small fonts, icons and interface elements are rendered clearly. The only thing you might notice from very close up is slight coloured fringes caused by the unusual subpixel layout. At a normal viewing distance for such a large screen that practically stops being an issue and everyday text is very legible. The C6H performs even better when the computer is used for gaming. The TV can run at refresh rates of up to 165 Hz, supports G-Sync and VRR, and input lag at the maximum refresh rate is about 5 ms. Combined with the very fast response time of the OLED panel this provides excellent conditions for PC gaming. There is no smearing, the image is very smooth and controls respond almost instantly. In that respect the C6H can easily be treated not only as a TV but also as a very large gaming monitor. You just need to remember that at 77 or 83 inches arranging a desk sensibly can be quite a challenge. 😉

The PQS9000 scores highly for PC compatibility, mainly thanks to its gaming capabilities. A 144 Hz refresh rate at 4K and support for G-Sync Compatible and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro allow frame-rate synchronisation on compatible NVIDIA and AMD cards. Working with text is also good. Regular fonts are sharp and legible, and thanks to proper 4:4:4 chroma handling coloured letters, icons and small desktop elements retain their clarity. The main reservation concerns very small, dark text: the horizontal strokes of letters are noticeably darker than the verticals, which makes some characters look uneven. You probably won't notice this from the sofa, but if someone plans to put The One on a desk and work up close, this flaw may become annoying.

The C6H with a Tandem OLED panel also offers very wide viewing angles. You can watch the TV well off to the side and the image still retains high contrast and saturated colours. As you would expect from an OLED, it’s one of those screens where you don’t have to fight for the seat right in the middle of the sofa. Only TVs with QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display perform slightly better in this respect. The C6H’s marginally lower score comes from our unit having a slightly greater tendency to shift toward a greenish tint when viewed at really extreme angles. This is, however, a subtle difference that we noticed mainly during direct comparisons. In normal viewing, most people are unlikely to notice it.

Viewing angles are one of the weakest points of the Philips PQS9001. Simply moving to the side is enough for the colours to lose saturation noticeably, and for the picture to look washed out and less contrasty. When watching with several people, seats directly in front of the screen will therefore be by far the best.

Unfortunately this is a typical characteristic of VA panels, where good contrast when viewed head-on comes at the cost of poorer off-axis performance. Most TVs with such a panel suffer the same problem and The One is no exception. The swivelling stand helps a little, allowing you to angle the screen towards the viewer, but it won't solve the issue when seats are widely spaced.

The Tandem OLED panel performs noticeably better in daylight. The screen coating itself behaves very similarly: it is glossy, does a decent job of suppressing reflections and maintains deep blacks with the lights on. A bright window or lamp will still be visible on the screen, but the image does not lose much of its depth. The biggest difference, of course, is brightness. In typical SDR content the C6H reaches around 690 nits, noticeably more than the standard C6. In a bright living room you can really tell the difference; the image has more punch and cuts through the light entering the room much better. Tandem OLED also handles scenes with many bright elements better, although brightness still drops at near‑full white. So they have not entirely removed one of the typical OLED characteristics, but the limitation is far less pronounced here. If the TV is going to be used often in a bright living room, this is one of those C6H advantages over the regular C6 that you will actually notice in everyday use.

The Philips PQS9001 performs quite well for daytime viewing. The main advantage is a stable brightness of around 500 nits, regardless of how many bright elements appear on the screen. Even when watching winter sports or a scene full of white, the image does not dim. In a typical living room that level is more than enough to watch television comfortably without having to draw the curtains.

The satin finish does a decent job of suppressing reflections, though it does not eliminate them completely. A window opposite the screen will be visible and can be distracting, especially in darker scenes. Black holds up well in daylight, so the picture does not become overly washed out. For everyday viewing, it's therefore quite good, as long as the sun is not shining directly on the screen.

Smart TV: webOS

Regardless of which C6 variant you get, the feature set remains the same. At the heart of the TV is webOS, the system LG has been developing for many years. It runs quickly, is well optimised and above all offers access to virtually all popular apps. Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, Max and other streaming services — in that respect it’s hard to find any major gaps. The system also provides a lot of additional options. You get AirPlay, easy screen casting from a smartphone, smart home device control and the ability to personalise the home screen. LG has expanded webOS significantly over several generations and at times the number of available tabs and recommendations can feel a bit overwhelming (especially with background ads), but once you get used to it the system is convenient and, above all, works smoothly.

Classic TV features

The C6 also handles being used as a regular TV very well, not just as a screen for Netflix. Terrestrial TV reception, the programme guide and channel switching all work smoothly and it’s hard to have major complaints. LG still offers the ability to record programmes to USB, so in terms of classic features the kit is really comprehensive. Basically, we’re missing only two things. The first is PiP, the ability to display two video sources simultaneously. The second is a backlight on the remote, which would be especially useful when watching in the evening. Apart from that, the C6 has pretty much everything you can expect from a modern television.

Magic Remote: DIFFERENT VERSIONS

When buying a C6 it’s worth paying attention to the remote, because LG has created a little confusion here. During our tests we had, among others, the C64 variant, found in large retail chains. The box contained the new, much smaller Magic Remote Slim. It has fewer buttons and looks decidedly more modern, but still retains the two most characteristic features of LG remotes: the scroll wheel and cursor control via motion. Meanwhile, the C6E we tested was equipped with the older, larger version of the Magic Remote. It works pretty much the same, but has a classic numeric keypad and many more physical buttons. It looks less modern, but some people, especially those used to traditional remotes, may find it more comfortable. So there’s no single answer as to which remote is better. The new one is smaller, simpler and definitely more contemporary. The older one, however, gives quicker access to a larger number of functions without having to click through menus. It’s worth knowing that depending on the C6 designation, the box may contain either variant.

Titan OS in this year’s The One shows that Philips has worked on its system. Compared with last year’s version many small details and functions that previously did not behave as they should have been fixed. Now you can use AirPlay without problems, stream the picture from a computer via Miracast or search for something by voice in Polish. The system itself runs decently, though it is certainly not among the fastest. The app library has also grown, with Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, CANAL+, Apple TV and YouTube available. The selection is still smaller than on Google TV, but when using popular services Titan gives fewer reasons to complain. Everyday convenience has improved in the basic features as well. You can connect Bluetooth headphones and listen through them at the same time as the TV’s speakers, and there is a mode that lets you switch the screen off and leave only the audio playing. USB recording and picture-in-picture (PiP) are missing. What’s most disappointing is the remote — despite its backlit buttons it still controls the TV via infrared, so you have to point it at the screen. The system has gained many useful tweaks, but that part of the operation has stayed the same and can be irritating in daily use.

During our tests the TV easily handled virtually all the most popular video formats we put on a USB stick. There were no problems with high bitrates, subtitles or more demanding files, so it’s hard to fault it in that respect. The only exception was files with a DTS audio track. That’s no surprise, because the TV simply doesn’t support that codec. Otherwise the built-in player is good enough that most users won’t need to install external apps or connect an external player.

The built-in USB player works quickly and smoothly and handles most of the files we tested without a problem. Music playback is good, from popular MP3s to FLAC files, including 96 kHz/24-bit. It's perfectly adequate for everyday playback of media from a USB stick. However, our main reservations again concern photo handling. The player is rather selective about image resolution: it opened our 8, 16 and 32 MP files, but failed with, among others, 4, 12 and 24 MP files. It's hard to see the logic in that when a larger photo works but a smaller one doesn't. That can be irritating when browsing holiday photos.

The Philips PQS9001 has a 2.0 audio system with a total power output of 40 W, which is two 10 W drivers on each side. It performs quite well and noticeably better than most budget TVs. There's plenty of volume, but the sound itself lacks depth. The biggest issue is the lack of low bass, so explosions in films and the heavier parts of music don't have the proper weight.

Higher frequencies aren't reproduced evenly either. Measurements show a clear dip around 2 kHz, a boost at 6-7 kHz and a drop above roughly 8 kHz. This can emphasise sibilant consonants and give the sound an edge, despite the roll-off of the highest treble. It's adequate for everyday viewing, but for films and music it's worth considering additional audio equipment, all the more so given that the TV supports surround sound formats, including Dolby Atmos and DTS. A compatible soundbar or AV receiver will make better use of those formats than the built-in speakers.

LG OLED C6H (TANDEM OLED) vs Philips PQS9011 / PQS9001 (The One 2026)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Colours

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

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: webOS

Classic TV features

Magic Remote: DIFFERENT VERSIONS

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements