Philips OLED809/819 vs TCL C8K

Philips OLED 809 delivers a more than satisfying HDR effect. The television is capable of generating brightness exceeding 900 nits in almost every scene, and sometimes even over 1000. This result allows for a full experience of content with a wide tonal range. The only moment when Philips OLED 809 is unable to generate higher brightness is in a scene from the movie “The Meg,” which features a large amount of bright white across a significant portion of the screen. However, this cannot be regarded as a poor result, as it represents a considerable improvement over its predecessor. Generally speaking, such values for OLED panels produced by LG Display, which do not feature MLA technology, are very, very good. When combined with high coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, they allow for an exceptional HDR experience. The Philips OLED 809 test showed that this television supports popular HDR formats such as Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

The TCL C8K is a truly bright television. In synthetic conditions – that is, during brightness test patterns – it was able to achieve even 3500 nits of peak brightness in movie mode. This is an impressive result that brings the C8K close to the market leaders, at least in terms of panel brightness. More importantly – these are not just numbers on paper. In films with a lot of bright scenes, such as Life of Pi or The Meg, the brightness clearly exceeds 1000 nits, providing a real sense of HDR effect. The picture in such moments looks very dynamic, colours are vibrant thanks to excellent colour gamut coverage, and lights are spot-on and intense. Just as it should be.

However, this does not mean that everything is perfect. Similar to the contrast tests, compromises also arise here in more demanding scenes. In sequences with very fine light elements – such as stars in the night sky or reflections in dark rooms – the local dimming algorithm can… get confused. Instead of bringing those details up, the television sometimes decides to significantly dim them – to a level of around 300 nits – to maintain blacks. On one hand, this is quite a reasonable approach (better deep blacks than a grey/blue screen), but on the other hand – there may be moments when certain elements of the picture become hardly visible or even disappear into darkness.

TEST UPDATE (20/08/2025) : The brightness control algorithm in this model is quite problematic – an attempt to calibrate the picture so that it does not drastically overexpose the brightest scenes results in unnatural shifts: an improvement in one area of the picture leads to a deterioration in another. The television may achieve slightly higher brightness measurements, but in practice, this comes with a highly oversaturated image that looks very unnatural!

For the sake of order, we provide the brightness values without this adjustment:

1. 1463 nits

2. 640 nits

3. 1368 nits

4. 468 nits

5. 1025 nits

The best factory mode in which we conducted all our tests was "Filmmaker", which has become rather standard in televisions from this manufacturer. However, let's check what its characteristics were before we began the calibration process. The first aspect we will examine is white balance, as despite appearing unassuming, it determines whether the image will be free from any kind of tint. The graph clearly shows that both in SDR and HDR materials, there was a dominant presence of two colours: red and green, which resulted in a strong yellow tint that was ubiquitous across the entire image. This is perfectly visible on the "ColourChecker" palette, where all hues shifted towards their warmer counterparts. The second thing we will scrutinise is, in our opinion, the two most important graphs regarding image quality assessment: gamma and the EOTF curve. Both aim to maintain adequate brightness and contrast. The first one serves to describe the brightness level in SDR materials, while the second shows the rate of luminance increase. Analyzing the first one, we can observe that it was extremely lowered compared to the reference value marked by the orange line. This situation resulted primarily in a sharp increase in brightness and a significant reduction in contrast, almost reminiscent of that in OLED televisions. The EOTF curve exhibited greater "moderation" and only slightly brightened the entire image to 50% of the maximum brightness.

In the C8K, a new picture mode has appeared: Filmmaker Mode. This is something we have known for years from televisions of other brands – a mode designed to deliver the director's vision as faithfully as possible, without unnecessary image enhancements. Unfortunately, with TCL, this still seems to be at a stage 'in need of improvement'. At first glance, the screen appears too warm – the image leans towards reds, which may not appeal to everyone. The white balance was significantly skewed – the screen looked distinctly warm, and the red colour dominated almost every scene. There was a lack of blue, which resulted in an unpleasant yellowing and distortion of the image. But that’s not all. Regardless of whether we were watching regular television, YouTube, or films in HDR – the television had a clear tendency to excessively brighten the image. In the gamma and EOTF graph tests, the lines, instead of sticking to the pattern, strayed, which in practice translates to an overly bright and less contrasty image. Additionally, in the colour reproduction tests, there were noticeable deviations – on the colour wheel, certain points were even 'off the mark'. It must be said plainly: Filmmaker Mode in the C8K in its current form is not very filmic.

Philips, like most leading manufacturers, has been providing advanced tools for calibration processes for years. Here we will find both 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments, as well as an advanced CMS (Colour Management System). As you can observe, this has brought about extremely beneficial results and profoundly changed the perceived image. Practically every one of the elements mentioned above has undergone a transformation and has been brought back to its natural state. This is particularly evident on the "ColourChecker" palette, where the measured samples are harmoniously in place. It must be said that the white balance has turned out exceptionally well, allowing us to enjoy a clean image free from any tint in both SDR and HDR materials. The biggest issue of OLED809, namely gamma, has been properly modelled and only shows minor errors here and there, which will not affect the overall picture. The EOTF curve, on the other hand, has been rid of that subtle brightening and now presents itself as reference-level.

After professional calibration, the TCL C8K has made a huge step forward. In SDR content, we managed to almost perfectly set the white balance – the screen has finally stopped being too warm and has acquired a neutral character. The gamma curve, responsible for the way brightness is reproduced, also looks very good now – the image is more consistent and realistic. We also improved the white balance in HDR content – within the limits that the television itself allows. Unfortunately, the C8K still interprets brightness management somewhat "in its own way." When we look at the EOTF chart in films, it is clear that the television brightens entire scenes more than it should. Before calibration, this effect was really troublesome – now the situation looks much better, although it still falls a bit short of perfection. This, however, is a limitation of the device itself, which – despite our efforts – does not allow us to fully tame its nature.

Philips OLED 809 did not perform particularly well in the test of tonal transition fluidity. Moving on to the part of the test where we assess the behaviour of the television's algorithms, we will once again check the function responsible for removing posterization. Indeed, such a function exists in the menu and has several available options. As you can see in the picture on the left, although its presence has been confirmed by us, it is not useful. Only at the highest setting does it effectively remove stuttering; however, it blurs the entire image in the process. Therefore, it is completely useless.

It happens more than once or twice that you and we watch lower quality materials. In this case, the quality of the image upscaling algorithms can have a beneficial effect. We must admit that those implemented in OLED 809 work quite efficiently and improve image quality without visible artifacts. You can only notice slight edge fringing; however, it is unlikely to be visible during normal viewing.

How does the TCL C8K perform with lower quality content? One could say: reasonably well, though without much enthusiasm. The television offers a tonal transition enhancement feature, which aims to smooth out unwanted gradients. In practice, there is a slight improvement, but it is not at a level that will eliminate all imperfections. The feature subtly softens harsh transitions, but does not perform miracles. Film grain is not completely suppressed, and gentle banding on grey backgrounds can still be noticeable. But perhaps that is for the best? – at least the image does not lose its texture or depth, as can happen with televisions that overdo digital processing. When it comes to upscaling, or enhancing the quality of images from lower resolutions, the C8K performs quite well. The picture is sharp, and details – although sometimes slightly softened – remain readable. However, it is not at the level of the best image processors from the competition. On the plus side, it is worth noting the lack of overscan issues, which is the artificial trimming of the image that can still surprise in some models from other brands.

The maximum refresh rate we can set on the tested television is 144 Hz. This value can be achieved by connecting it to a really powerful PC. In the case of consoles or television, everything remains the same. For those who require high smoothness of motion or dislike the characteristic stuttering of films recorded at 24 fps, the manufacturer has prepared a fairly extensive motion smoothing system. In the dedicated tab, we will find a slider for “Smoothness” that is responsible for eliminating stutter, and “Motion Blur Reduction,” which helps increase the sharpness of dynamic elements. The function works very well and granularly, meaning that each setting has a real impact on the perception of motion. We also mention that it works at a refresh rate of 120 Hz, as it operates on multiples of film or television materials. With such an extensive set of options, every user will find their golden mean. In the picture, we present our choice, which is slight smoothing without the soap opera effect.

Motion is influenced not only by settings on the television but also by the response time of the panel itself. OLED televisions feature the best response time on the market, which in the case of 809 is about 0.1 ms. There are no IPS/ADS or especially VA panels that come close to the results of organic panels.

If you are planning a weekend with the Champions League or a marathon of F1 races – the TCL C8K won't let you down. The television is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, which means it should handle fast motion well by definition. And indeed – it performs very well. The fluidity of motion is at a very good level here, and the "Motion Clarity" feature with two sliders (motion blur reduction and flicker reduction) makes it easy to adjust the effect to your own preferences. Want to smooth it out a bit – you can. Prefer a cinematic look – no problem.

The Philips OLED 809 television supports all technologies included in the HDMI 2.1 standard, and during our testing, each one activated without any problems. Therefore, we must state that this television is perfectly suited for all gamers, whether they are using a console or a computer. It is worth mentioning that the manufacturer has opted to implement the HGIG mode, which provides a great alternative to Dolby Vision, which unfortunately in the OLED809 is unplayable due to very high input lag.

A nod to gamers is also the inclusion of a dedicated GameBar, which allows for monitoring current gameplay parameters and quick changes to settings. We will also find a function to enable a crosshair, which will be very useful when shooting with a sniper rifle, but from the so-called hip. Additionally, we can also find a shadow enhancement function for better visibility in shadows and a colour filter for gamers with visual impairments.

In summary, the OLED 809 is a very good and versatile device for gamers. Anyone who purchases this television for gaming does not need to worry about anything, as it is simply made for gaming. Especially since features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or HDR Dolby Vision gameplay will allow for an even greater immersion in their favourite title. Lastly, we will add that the only downside of the television in game mode is the artificial image sharpening, regardless of the settings, and it cannot be 'softened'.

TCL C8K offers practically everything we could expect from a screen for gamers. It features variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), Dolby Vision in games, and a correctly functioning implementation of HGiG, which helps preserve the creators' intentions in HDR titles. The television also supports 120 Hz at lower resolutions without any issues and can even display an astonishing 288 Hz in Full HD – a value that is sure to please fans of dynamic shooters and racing games on PC.

We also find the GameBar – a graphic interface reminiscent of an elongated Nintendo Switch console. It is thanks to this that we gain quick access to information about the current game mode, frame rate, HDR format, and other details that really make life easier for the gamer. Of course, we couldn't resist and launched a couple of races in Forza Horizon on the C8K – and we must admit, it looked and performed really well.

However, there is a slight drawback – in such a fast and evidently gaming device, it is somewhat disappointing that the manufacturer opted for the implementation of only two HDMI 2.1 ports. For some users who utilise several next-generation consoles and, for example, a soundbar with eARC, this might be a certain limitation that is hard to overlook.