LG QNED91T6A vs Philips PUS7000

As befits a MiniLED television, LG QNED91T easily surpasses the magical barrier of 1000 nits on the luminance chart. In scenes where light played a key role, the effect was truly decent. For instance, 1000 nits in the first scene of "Life of Pi" is an impressive value, and the 600 nits achieved in the third and fifth scenes allowed one to feel the true magic of HDR. However, problems arise with very small light elements on the screen, such as the moon, street lamps, or lights. A value around 100 nits - to put it bluntly - is disappointing, as these elements are dark enough to be barely visible. The television deserves praise for covering 96% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 75% of BT.2020. LG QNED91T leaves us with very mixed feelings, mainly due to the very aggressive dimming algorithms, which, while effectively eliminating the halo effect, negatively impact the brightness of smaller elements.

Unfortunately, the PUS7000 is not suitable for watching HDR content. The screen is simply too dark. A brightness level of 200 nits is insufficient to properly display such a format. Even if a HDR signal message appears on the screen, the image will resemble a standard SDR recording. Therefore, it is better to stick with the latter format to avoid errors in displaying bright scenes, as discussed below. The situation is not improved by the fact that this is a classic LCD model without additional layers enhancing colours, such as QLED or PFS. As a result, colours in HDR may appear washed out. Ultimately, this gives a worse effect than in the standard SDR format, which is simply better suited to the capabilities of this panel.

All our tests are conducted in the best picture mode on each television. In this case, as usual, it is the Filmmaker mode. The name of the mode suggests ideal colour reproduction; however, there were noticeable deviations from the correct image here. Our unit, in terms of white balance, displayed quite a strong dip in blue hues - both in SDR and 4K HDR content - which resulted in a distinct yellowing of the image, visible in comparison scenes from the film with Tom Cruise. As we mentioned earlier, QNED91T has certain tendencies to brighten the screen. This is confirmed by gamma, which is quite significantly below the reference value of 2.4. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in 4K content, showed some issues with the television's dimming in the darkest areas, which we could observe in the paragraph describing the quality of the HDR effect. Although the Filmmaker mode is quite a good "out-of-the-box" mode, it too requires some adjustments.

We tested the television in movie mode, which theoretically should provide the best and most natural colours. And indeed, this mode is quite correct; however, after connecting the calibration equipment, its biggest flaw came to light. The PUS7000 has significant shortcomings in displaying red. Poorly tuned white balance and overly low saturation of this colour cause the image to appear too cool. As a result, one may get the impression that the displayed content is simply lacking in vibrant colours. The situation is worsened by the fact that both SDR and HDR content are excessively brightened. This is confirmed by the gamma curve and EOTF graphs, which show that the television displays the image brighter than it should. This causes scenes to lose their depth and may appear somewhat washed out. Fortunately, in the Philips menu, we find quite a few functions to improve these aspects, so we immediately proceeded to calibration to see what could be squeezed out of this screen.

LG offers advanced calibration tools in its televisions such as 65QNED91T6A, which we utilised. When it comes to white balance, we were able to significantly correct it in SDR content. The picture mode in 4K HDR quality posed greater challenges, which, although still not perfect, looks significantly better than before calibration. Errors on the Color Checker palette and colour gamut are much smaller than in the factory settings. Regarding brightness characteristics, gamma for HD content is practically ideal, with a slight exception at the end of the graph. However, the television had the most trouble with brightness in 4K HDR content. Analyzing the EOTF characteristics in films, we observed that the television manipulates brightness quite heavily, which we could see in previous tests. Brightness is significantly boosted compared to the graph in the static test, and the television lights up certain scenes to the point that some smaller elements lose detail. This is unfortunately caused by the average backlight zone management algorithm in this model. Nevertheless, calibration yields quite good results, especially when it comes to the precise reproduction of colours.

After professional calibration, it is evident that the PUS7000 responds well to image adjustments. In this price range, this is not at all a given. The effects should be evaluated in two scenarios, depending on what content we plan to watch. SDR performs the best. After our adjustments, the picture looks really good. Most colour errors have fallen below level 3, which is the threshold at which distortions usually begin to be visible to the naked eye in measurements. Films, series, sports, and regular television look natural, without unpleasant deviations. If someone mainly watches classic channels or streams in HD quality, the difference after calibration will be noticeable immediately. However, it must be clearly stated that the PUS7000 is still not a television suited for reasonable HDR, and calibration changes very little in this regard. The reason lies in the hardware: the colours remain too unsaturated. The television lacks solutions to expand the colour gamut, such as PFS filters or a quantum dot layer, so the panel simply cannot display the intense colours required by HDR. This is most apparent in reds, which still look pale. This limitation cannot be bypassed with menu settings, as it stems from the design of the backlighting and the panel itself.

When it comes to tonal transitions in lower quality materials, the television offers a well-known feature from LG televisions - "Smooth Gradation". We can control it in three levels: low, medium, and high. We recommend using the medium option, as it does a good job of removing tonal transitions without causing noticeable problems with the removal of object structure or other artefacts.

As for image scaling (upscaling), LG's Alpha processor performs quite well in this regard. The image appears very plastic, with slight aliasing on some elements, which does not significantly affect the quality. It looks really okay, and the overall effect is very satisfactory.

The PUS7000 handles digital image processing quite well. The distortion reduction feature deserves praise, as it effectively smooths out unwanted tonal transitions even at low settings. However, it has a drawback: if applied too aggressively, it can introduce undesirable artifacts on the screen. Therefore, it would be a good idea to experiment with this setting to find a happy medium between a smooth image and detail clarity.

The upscaling, or enhancing the quality of lower-resolution materials to 4K, is adequate. The image after processing is very "soft," which is typical for nearly all Philips televisions. The edges are plastic and smooth, making the image look cohesive. If it feels too soft for someone, the sharpness slider in the menu can always be adjusted to achieve a more pronounced effect.

The television has a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which should satisfy most users in terms of motion smoothness. Additionally, QNED91T is equipped with the TruMotion feature, which allows for smoother image display in films. Within this feature, we can adjust the "De-Judder" and "De-Blur" sliders. The "De-Judder" slider is responsible for reducing judder in films, which is particularly useful when playing content with a lower frame rate, while "De-Blur" helps to reduce blur in fast scenes, which is important for sports or dynamic shots.

In this respect, we actually have no good news. It might seem that the biggest downside is the lack of a 120 Hz panel, but in this price range, that is actually the norm, and it is hard to expect anything more. However, the worst part is that the television does not have any features to improve motion smoothness. There is a lack of any supporting systems, both in films and in sports. We must come to terms with the fact that the image on the PUS7000 is processed "raw". This means that during dynamic scenes or fast camera movements, the motion can appear choppy or unclear. We do not have the option to enable any smoothers that would reduce this effect.

The LG 65QNED91T6A television is equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, providing full support for all the standards needed for gaming on modern consoles. We can count on variable refresh rate (VRR) support and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). This ensures smooth gameplay without delays.

Thanks to support for all popular HDR standards in games, such as HGiG and Dolby Vision, we can fully utilise the potential of the PS5 and XBOX One consoles. The television also handles lower resolutions than 4K without any issues, so even older consoles look good on it. The Game Bar makes it easy to access gaming-related settings, allowing us to quickly and intuitively adjust picture parameters and features for gamers. Additionally, the QNED91T offers the NVIDIA GeForce Now feature, which allows us to play in the cloud without needing a console. However, it should be noted that this solution is quite costly and somewhat falls short of the Xbox Game Pass, which is available only on Samsung televisions.

QNED91T LG is an excellent choice for both less experienced and more advanced gamers looking for a versatile television for gaming.

Although the PUS7000 is not marketed as a gaming television, it does not perform as poorly in this category as one might expect. While it is true that we won’t find support for 120 Hz refresh rates, which is understandable at this price point, the manufacturer has ensured several important features that genuinely enhance the gaming experience on consoles. The most important of these are the VRR and ALLM technologies. VRR is responsible for synchronising the screen with the number of frames generated by the console. This prevents the image from tearing and keeps it consistent even during sudden drops in frame rate while gaming. In contrast, ALLM is a solution that automatically switches the television to the lowest latency mode as soon as it detects a signal from the console. All these parameters are easily accessible thanks to the Game Bar feature. This is a special control panel for gamers that can be summoned on screen at any time. It allows for a quick preview of the current settings and connection status without interrupting gameplay, which is a very convenient solution.