Philips OLED909 vs Philips OLED950

Philips OLED909 impresses with its HDR quality, achieving up to 1500 nits of peak brightness in tested scenes. This is an excellent result, placing this television among the best OLED models on the market. The MLA panel, also used in models such as the Panasonic Z95A and LG G4, plays a key role here, allowing for exceptionally bright and detailed reproduction of dynamic scenes. However, it is worth noting that in the most demanding scene from the film The Meg, brightness drops to around 700 nits. This is a typical phenomenon in OLED technology, where intensely bright full-screen images cause a limitation in luminance. Nevertheless, the HDR effect still looks very good, and the television performs better than most of the competition under similar conditions. The wide colour gamut coverage also deserves praise. The OLED909 offers 95% coverage of DCI-P3, ensuring that the television can display vibrant and realistic colours.

The OLED950 is a phenomenal television for consuming content in HDR format, primarily thanks to the innovative Tandem OLED panel. With this technology, the screen can generate astronomical brightness levels, reaching over 2000 nits in film scenes (on test patterns). This is an exceptional result that places the OLED950 among the world’s top displays available on the market. However, it is important to note a specific characteristic of this solution – at moments when full-screen bursts of light appear on the screen, brightness can drop by as much as half. It is worth emphasising, though, that values above 1000 nits on a full screen are still an outstanding result. This allows for the HDR image to be displayed exactly as filmmakers would wish, maintaining the dynamics and impact of bright scenes.

The use of the Tandem OLED panel has also brought tangible benefits in terms of colour reproduction, improving elements that traditional WOLED panels struggled with compared to their QD-OLED competition. For the OLED950, the colour gamut coverage is broader than in classic WOLED panels, reaching nearly 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space and a solid 82% of the demanding BT.2020 palette. Although these results still do not match the high standards of QD-OLED panels, the difference diminishes during real-world use. We cannot deny that in the vast majority of films, colours look simply fantastic on this model – they are saturated, vibrant, and full of depth.

Just like with other televisions, the Philips OLED909 has been tested for colour reproduction in factory modes. The best mode turned out to be Filmmaker Mode, however, despite its name, it is not without flaws.

The biggest problem is the white balance. In both HD and 4K HDR content, there is a noticeable dominance of green and red hues, which causes a distinct yellowing of the screen. This effect is particularly evident in test materials, for instance in a scene with Tom Cruise in the foreground, where the difference compared to a calibrated image is very apparent.

As for brightness characteristics, in HD material the gamma was overly boosted – it was below the reference value of 2.4, which gave the image a “milky” filter and affected overall clarity. In the case of 4K HDR content, we noticed the opposite phenomenon – at the beginning of the EOTF curve, there is a noticeable drop, indicating problems with reproducing the smallest details in dark scenes. Although Filmmaker Mode offers acceptable quality, noticeable errors in white balance and brightness characteristics show that the television requires additional calibration to fully demonstrate its potential in colour reproduction.

We tested the OLED950 model in Film mode. Although it is theoretically the best and most faithful preset on this television, in practice it proved not to be free from flaws. Interestingly, in the unit we tested, the biggest challenge was not the white balance itself – although it did show a slight tendency to give the image a pinkish hue. The main issue lay in the way the television managed brightness, both in everyday SDR content and in demanding HDR scenes. The analysis of the gamma graph and the EOTF curve leads to one key conclusion: the television excessively exposes brightness in the lower registers. This results in the image appearing less contrasty than the panel technology allows. Details in dark areas that should remain perfectly black (characteristic of "OLED black") are simply unnecessarily highlighted and brightened. Fortunately, these errors can be corrected using the appropriate tools, which is why – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration.

Philips OLED909 offers tools for image calibration, which significantly improves its quality. After calibrating the Filmmaker Mode, the television presents a much more natural colour representation. The white balance after calibration looks very good. Although we noticed slight deviations in the blue tint in HD content, the errors are within acceptable limits, and the image gives a much better impression than in the factory settings. The brightness characteristics, including gamma and EOTF, have also been clearly improved. The television no longer has issues with excessive brightening or darkening of the image. Both dark and bright details are now rendered correctly, making the image look very good in every scene. After calibration, the Filmmaker Mode in the Philips OLED909 offers excellent image quality that will meet the expectations of even the more demanding users. Calibration fully utilises the potential of this model.

As can be seen, the OLED950, after a professional calibration process, transforms into an absolutely phenomenal display that, without a shadow of a doubt, can be placed alongside the best televisions currently available in the world. This equipment only needed a professional touch to show its full potential and eliminate factory shortcomings. The minimal errors in reproduction in the Color Checker tests and the fidelity of the colour palette speak for themselves. We are dealing with an almost perfect device here. A true window to the world, offering image quality of the highest order.

The Philips OLED909 offers a distortion reduction feature aimed at smoothing tonal transitions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this function leaves much to be desired. Setting it to the "Medium" level brings certain effects, but it comes with the risk of blurring important details in the image. For this reason, we do not recommend using this option unless we are keen on mitigating visible artifacts at the cost of detail.

As for image scaling, the television presents a very plastic image, which may appeal to viewers who prefer a softer picture. Those expecting clearer sharpness will also find a solution, as image scaling can be adjusted according to individual preferences in the settings.

Upscaling

In terms of the image upscaling, the proprietary P5 processor performs just as well as in most models from this manufacturer. Low-resolution content takes on a very soft and plastic character. This kind of presentation will certainly appeal to many people. However, if you prefer sharper contours, you can lightly enhance them with the appropriate slider in the television's menu. It's really hard to find fault in this aspect. The image simply looks very good and additionally there is no issue with the phenomenon of overscan.

Smoothing and Distortion Reduction

The function for smoothing tonal transitions performs somewhat worse. In the settings, we find an option called "Distortion Reduction." This allows for three levels of adjustment of the processor's interference. Unfortunately, the Minimum setting works poorly and the smoothing effects are negligible. The Medium level gives a decent result, but it also starts to smooth out actors' skin details. On the other hand, the Maximum setting works too aggressively. It definitely removes too much detail from the faces and background elements, and can even take away the film grain. To achieve the optimal effect, it's worth experimenting with these settings at home and adjusting them to your preference. It may seem that the Medium option is the best compromise here.

The Philips OLED909 with a 144 Hz panel offers excellent motion smoothness, which should satisfy both film enthusiasts and gamers. Additionally, the television is equipped with a motion smoothing feature called "Motion Style", which allows for precise adjustment of motion fluidity to personal preferences. In the settings, we find two sliders: "Smoothness", responsible for regulating motion fluidity in films, and "Blur Reduction", which helps eliminate minor artifacts and distortions in dynamic scenes. This feature works well, ensuring that even rapid movements on the screen are clear and readable.

The motion reproduction in the OLED950 model is virtually perfect. This is typical for screens of this type (OLED 120Hz+), as the panel shows no blurring at all. This allows us to enjoy perfect sharpness in practically any conditions. Much of this is thanks not only to the specifics of organic technology. Equally important work is done by the smoothing systems implemented by the manufacturer.

The Philips OLED909 is a television that meets practically all the requirements of gamers. Equipped with ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and support for Dolby Vision, it guarantees an excellent gaming experience. Additionally, the television offers very low input lag, ensuring that reactions to player movements are instantaneous, which will be particularly appreciated by fans of fast-paced games.

The television handles any resolution at 120 Hz without any issues, and even supports higher refresh rates. The HGiG feature, responsible for accurately displaying HDR content in games, works as it should, making the image in game mode balanced and aligned with the guidelines of console manufacturers.

The OLED909 is also equipped with the Game Bar feature, which allows for quick preview and adjustment of game-related settings. Although the interface of this solution appears less visually appealing than that of competitors, it serves its purpose well, offering all the essential options in one place.

The OLED950 is nearly the perfect television for gamers. This is not only due to the unique atmosphere created by the Ambilight system during gameplay. The most important aspect here is the robust hardware support. You will find literally everything you should expect from a modern gaming display. The manufacturer has implemented two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s. This gives us access to gaming in 4K resolution at 120 frames per second. Of course, support for VRR technology and the automatic ALLM game mode is also included. The device handles any HDR signal without difficulty, whether we are using Dolby Vision or the HGiG standard.

Access to all settings is available from one place thanks to the special Game Bar overlay. Although this interface may not be the most visually appealing on the market, it fully accomplishes its purpose. It displays all the important signal parameters and offers useful extras. Gamers can take advantage of the minimap zoom feature or add a permanent crosshair on the screen, which can be seen as a small aid in online competition. The contrast range adjustment also proves to be useful, as it allows you to brighten shadows and gain better visibility of enemies hidden in dark corners of the map.