Philips PML9009 / 9019 / 9059 vs Samsung M80H

Philips PML9009 does not really operate at the highest values in HDR content. Most effects with brightness at around 550 nits will not leave us thrilled with the lighting effects, although they are quite stable, which is a plus and will make a considerable difference compared to SDR content. It is worth noting that we can only achieve a good result in one scenario, namely in the film "Gemini", where the flashlight as the only light source can shine. Why in that scene specifically? The answer is quite simple. The scene itself does not contain a large amount of black, and the flashlight is not as large an object as the sun in the first and last scenes. Overall, the brightness measurement results in HDR content do not provide a basis for recommending this television for viewing productions that utilise a wide colour spectrum. Although it is worth noting that this model can cover it to a decent extent of 93% in the case of the DCI-P3 palette.

The M80H is not among the brightest TVs. Its peak brightness is around 350 nits and we saw similar results in most of our test scenes. That is not enough to achieve truly striking HDR; bright highlights lack the necessary punch and the overall image is a bit too dark. In practice HDR on the M80H resembles a well-presented SDR image more than noticeably more dynamic material with a wide brightness range. The image can still look acceptable, but it is hard to speak of strong specular highlights, clearly glowing light sources or an effect that immediately distinguishes HDR from ordinary content.

Colours

One of the M80H's stronger points is its colours. The TV uses a filter based on PFS backlighting, which allows it to display a much wider colour gamut than a standard LCD screen without filters. Our measurements confirm this – the M80H covers around 96% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 72% of BT.2020. Those are really good figures, which allow colours to be deeply saturated. Samsung's approach here is interesting. The M80H is not part of the QLED family, even though in terms of colour it is practically indistinguishable from models carrying that badge. From an image-quality point of view it doesn't really matter though — the colours are simply good.

The best factory mode used during our tests was "Filmmaker". Here, we will look at both SDR and HDR content. The element that distinguishes them is primarily the EOTF curve in materials with a wide colour gamut and the gamma in those recorded "the old way". Starting with SDR films and series and the most basic thing we can observe, which is white balance, we see a significant dominance of red colour. This led to a yellow tint across the entire image, causing unnaturally looking faces and yellowed whites. This flaw is also evident on the "ColourChecker" palette, where all colours have shifted towards their warmer counterparts. Looking at a more significant graph, that of the gamma responsible for image contrast, we see considerable errors starting from the very beginning. From the left, the value we measured, marked by a connected ellipsis, clearly spiked upwards, causing complete merging of details in the darkest scenes. This state of affairs remained until 10% screen brightness, after which it dipped below the reference orange line, leading to a deterioration in contrast, which, as we know, the Philips PML9009 already lacks. In HDR materials, the white balance issues were very similar to those in SDR content. The discrepancy arises when checking the EOTF curve, which controls the rate of brightness increase and severely limited it, causing the image to appear unnaturally dark. As for the colours themselves, there were more reasons for concern here, as the television's too low luminance caused a huge discrepancy between the actual state and the correct one, which is perfectly visible on the error graph, often exceeding the scale.

Filmmaker Mode is set fairly well out of the box, although it falls short of perfection. In SDR material the most noticeable issue is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes the image appear a little warmer than it should. HDR content has a similar character. As for the brightness response, in SDR the gamma stays close to the target value for most of the range. Small deviations are mainly visible in darker areas, which in places are a bit too crushed. In HDR the darkest details are slightly lifted, while from around 65% brightness the image begins to be slightly darkened. This is largely due to the way the TV controls its brightness. Overall, Filmmaker Mode looks pretty good straight out of the box, but the picture can still be improved.

Philips PML9009, like most leading manufacturers, has been offering advanced tools for the calibration process for years. Thus, we find 2- and 20-point greyscale adjustment as well as an advanced CMS (Colour Management System). The differences resulting from calibration are evident, and even someone not paying attention to picture quality (although there probably aren't many such here) will notice a positive difference. Both SDR and HDR materials have undergone a significant transformation. The former, as well as the latter, have primarily rid themselves of the unpleasant yellow tint resulting from a red colour dominance in white balance. As for the SDR materials and gamma, although it is not 'lined up' perfectly and still loses dark details, the rest of it is on a more than decent level, and minor errors will not be noticeable. The colours themselves look infinitely better, and thanks to low deltaE errors, they are nearly reference-quality. On the other hand, the HDR materials, due to the low luminance of the unit, were not blended as we would have liked. Although the white balance has been largely normalised, here and there one can notice a slight blue tint. Fortunately, the EOTF curve turned out to be much more accessible and allowed for practically ideal geometry. Unfortunately, due to the screen's insufficient brightness, colour errors are still quite high.

After calibration, the M80H fares very well, especially with the most ordinary SDR content. Regular broadcast TV, YouTube and films watched without HDR can look very good on it. After correcting the white balance the errors are small, although sometimes we can still see that the TV tends to overdo the most saturated reds. In HDR it is also possible to improve the picture and correct its main faults, but it is not at the level of pricier models. Samsung quite heavily restricts colour adjustment in HDR, so in many areas we have to accept what the TV offers out of the box. Calibration lets us improve some parameters, but we are no longer able to change the overall character of the M80H's image.

Judging by how PML9009 Philips handled tonal transitions, the image scaling test should perform equally well. This time we are examining the television's algorithms responsible for enhancing the quality of images that have been recorded in lower quality. Such images can be found in various television programmes or older films. In this regard, Philips PML9009 performs quite mediocrely and significantly blurs the image. This is particularly evident in fine branches or the model's hair.

We will take another look at the tonal transitions, which performed remarkably. Within the unit, we find several levels of smoothing. Even the lowest setting can effectively eliminate any non-fluid tonal transition and will work well with the vast majority of content. More importantly, none of the settings for this function softens the effect of film grain, which is extremely important in terms of alignment with the director's vision. However, we note that sometimes it may turn out that fine details will be blurred.

Although the M80H is positioned fairly low in Samsung's range, the manufacturer equipped it with one of its stronger processors, the NQ4 AI Gen2. The same chip can be found, for example, in Neo QLED TVs and the lower-tier S85H OLED. That is good news, because when it comes to improving weaker sources the processor performs really well. Upscaling is the strongest point. Low-resolution content is displayed correctly and edges do not look overly jagged. Of course the TV will not create details that are not present in the source, but regular broadcast TV and older recordings look decent on it. One drawback is the overscan effect, that is edge cropping, which cannot be completely turned off. The tonal transition smoothing function, the so-called noise reduction, also works well. The processor can effectively reduce visible traces of heavy compression, but it does not do this without side effects. At higher settings it may over-smooth the image, remove some fine detail and even eliminate film grain. For that reason we recommend using this function mainly for content that really suffers from strong compression and posterisation.

Philips PML9009 is equipped with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 120 Hz. This is the essential minimum for watching all kinds of sports and is recommended for comfortable gaming in favourite titles on consoles or PCs. The manufacturer has prepared an effective system for improving the sharpness of moving images for those who do not like the characteristic stuttering of footage recorded at 24 fps or require a high level of motion fluidity, for example, when watching football matches. In the dedicated tab, we find the "Fluidity" slider, which helps eliminate stuttering, and "Motion Blur Reduction," which aids in increasing the sharpness of dynamic elements. This function works very well and granularly, meaning each setting has a real impact on the perception of motion. With such a set, every user will find their sweet spot. In the picture, we present our choice, which is a slight fluidity enhancement without the soap opera effect.

A matter directly related to motion is the pixel response time of the panel itself. The best in this regard are, of course, OLED panels, followed by IPS and ADS-based units, and finally, VA. Despite the overall good quality of the systems responsible for smoothing the image, the use of a VA panel carries consequences in the form of a black halo behind fast-moving objects. While this will not occur frequently in the tested television, it will be visible here and there.

The M80H performs very well for watching sport and for gaming. The TV is fitted with a panel offering a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz at 4K, and when the resolution is lowered to Full HD it can even support 240 Hz. PC gamers will benefit most from the latter.

The panel also handles content displayed at 120 Hz well, which is particularly important for console gaming. The high refresh rate is also useful when watching sport, and motion blur is relatively limited. That matters because VA panels are not known for top results in this area. With the M80H, fast-moving objects do not show pronounced smearing.

Philips PML9009, equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports at full bandwidth, supports all features dedicated to gamers. The most basic ones, such as VRR and ALLM, are a given, but G-Sync, FreeSync, and gaming in HDR Dolby Vision with low input lag are not. These features activate without any issues and during the tests conducted, they did not present any problems. Such preparation of the television is certainly a strong point and one can say that it is a unit dedicated to gamers. For more advanced users, we also mention that the PML9009 is equipped with an HGIG mode, which will be particularly felt by gamers, as there are still relatively few games supporting Dolby Vision. This mode primarily allows for the adjustment of HDR effects to the capabilities of the television on a special board, in order to avoid dimming or burning out the image.

The television additionally features a special menu - GameBar. This allows for editing the unit's settings "on the fly", without the need to exit the game. We will also find features such as enabling a crosshair or adjusting black levels for better visibility of opponents in shadows.

In a brief summary of this paragraph, the Philips PML9009 is a unit that will certainly capture the attention of gamers. Thanks to its versatility, it will allow playing any title in the highest quality without compromises. Especially since features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or gameplay in HDR Dolby Vision will enhance the immersion in the favourite title.

The M80H could be a very good choice for gamers on a slightly smaller budget. In terms of features it offers essentially the same as far more expensive Samsung TVs. All three HDMI ports support the 2.1 standard, so even if one is taken by a soundbar connected via eARC there is still room for a PC and consoles. There is also VRR that runs up to 144 Hz at 4K and up to 240 Hz at Full HD. Samsung has also correctly implemented HGiG, so after performing HDR calibration on a console games are properly matched to the screen’s capabilities. This won't make the M80H any brighter, but at least it won't unnecessarily crush the brightest parts of the image. There's also a Game Bar for quick access to key settings and a Gaming Hub that lets you play in the cloud without a console. The M80H also offers Game Motion Plus, which creates additional frames and improves the smoothness of games running at 30 or 60 fps. Input lag then rises to around 59 ms, but is still roughly three times lower than with ordinary motion smoothing on TVs from other manufacturers. We wouldn't really recommend it for online gaming, but in more relaxed titles it can perform very well.