Philips OLED909 vs Samsung QN900F

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.

QN900F is truly a bright television – it can generate nearly 2000 nits, a figure that remains unattainable for most models available on the market. But the mere ability to achieve such brightness is not everything – it also matters whether the television can make good use of it. And here, it is not always perfect. Our tests on cinematic test patterns showed that in scenes such as those from Life of Pi or The Meg, the QN900F can truly shine – literally and metaphorically. In such moments, its greatest advantage, which is brightness, makes a huge impression. However, in more demanding scenes, challenges arise – similar to when assessing contrast. When smaller, bright elements appear on screen, the television often struggles with the decision: should it highlight them at the expense of black levels, or perhaps maintain deep blacks while toning down brightness. The result is situations where, for example, in the film Sicario 2, brightness dropped to just 200 nits, making details barely visible. Dimming algorithms could definitely be better for a television of this class.

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.

Testing the QN900F in Filmmaker mode, the characteristic features of the image were quickly noticeable, even though this mode is designed to reflect the director’s vision. The white balance was not perfect – the television displayed distinct deficiencies in the blue colour. This made the entire scene take on a warmer tone, as if someone had applied a subtle filter in shades of yellow and orange. In films where bright shots dominate – for example, scenes in the snow or in strong daylight – this gave the impression of slight warmth that did not always convey the director's intent. The second noticeable element was the management of brightness. The QN900F could sometimes brighten the image more than necessary. It looked as though the exposure had been slightly 'pulled up', causing the scene to lose its naturalness. Shadows were sometimes too shallow, and the contrast slightly weakened. These are not disqualifying errors, but for a television in this price range, it is evident that Filmmaker mode has not been perfected one hundred percent. This is particularly noticeable when we compare its image with what was seen after the screen 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.

After calibration, we managed to eliminate errors in white balance and adjust them to a level that can be considered acceptable. It is not perfect, but it is definitely better than the factory settings. Most colour errors now lie within the deltaE 2–3 range, so in practice, they should not be noticeable during everyday viewing. However, the most significant improvement is evident in how the television manages brightness in SDR content. Shadows and details are no longer flattened, which gives the image depth and naturalness. As for 4K HDR material – colours themselves are no longer an issue, but some imperfections of Mini-LED technology can still be observed. The QN900F tends to dim the smallest bright elements too much, causing them to sometimes disappear from view. However, it should be noted that this is a much better solution than boosting the entire screen, which would spoil the contrast. This is more of a characteristic of this technology than a typical flaw, but it is worth keeping in mind. The effects of calibration are truly very good.

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.

If we want to eliminate jarring tonal transitions that can be irritating, for example, while watching YouTube, we can use a feature called noise reduction. It works really effectively – it removes issues with colour blending when we set it to Standard level. However, as with most Samsung televisions, this does involve some compromises. Although we did not notice this feature significantly affecting the structure of objects in the image, it unfortunately reacts quite aggressively to film grain. Most people will likely appreciate this effect – the noise is simply removed – but if someone is looking for an image as close as possible to reference settings, we definitely recommend turning this option off.

When it comes to scaling, or dealing with very low-quality content, the QN900F performs really well. On the test card with the model, the image appeared clear, with only slight aliasing that shouldn't bother most viewers. However, it is worth mentioning one issue – the television sometimes has problems with so-called overscan, which can cause older content to be slightly cropped. This might manifest, for example, in subtitles disappearing from the bottom of the screen.

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.

There really is nothing to complain about here – the QN900F looks very good in terms of motion. With a 165 Hz panel in 4K, it can confidently be said that this television is suitable for both watching sports and gaming. The motion enhancer plays a key role here. It works brilliantly – not only during sports broadcasts, where it can eliminate blurring and image shaking, but also in games, where the animation becomes clearer and smoother. And of course, if someone likes to experiment with films – they also have that option. At lower settings, a slight graininess and cinematic character can be seen, while at higher settings, it takes on a soap opera effect. In other words, everyone can adjust the picture to their preferences, and the television has the power to handle it.

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.

[UPDATE] We have updated our 2025 Samsung TV reviews following the release of firmware version 1131, which officially restores the essential HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) support.

It really is nice here. The QN900F offers a full set of features that we would expect from a top-end gaming television – we have VRR, ALLM, Game Bar, and also cloud gaming applications. However, the biggest standout is the proprietary motion smoother, which also works in games and – importantly – does not introduce noticeable lag. This is something we won't find with its other competitors. Unfortunately, there is also something concerning. This year, Samsung has evidently messed something up with its televisions. During the testing of the QN900F before its update, it had the HGIG feature, which allowed for perfect adjustment of HDR settings for the console. However, according to our procedures, we always update the equipment to the latest version – in order to give the manufacturer a chance to fix any shortcomings. And here… it turned out the opposite.After the update, the HGIG feature disappeared from the menu, making the correct configuration of the console for HDR practically impossible. It was supposed to be complete – 165Hz, four HDMI 2.1 ports, a full gaming package… but unfortunately, it turned out to be a small blunder. What a shame.