Philips PUS7009 (IPS) vs Philips OLED811

In terms of HDR effect quality, PUS7009 (IPS) performs very poorly. A brightness level of 250 nits does not allow for enjoyment of HDR effects, and the image resembles a more standard SDR. There is no talk of dynamic effects or vivid bursts of light. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is only 75%, which is decidedly insufficient. The lack of full colour coverage means that the colours are not as vibrant as they should be, resulting in a flat and unconvincing image. There are no aspects for which this model could be praised in the context of HDR.

Philips OLED811 uses a new generation of WOLED EX panels, also found in models such as the LG C6 and Samsung S90H. After calibration we measured around 1500 nits, which is a very good result for an OLED TV. You can see this clearly in films and series. All kinds of bright flashes have the right intensity, especially when they appear against a dark background. In such scenes the OLED811 can deliver truly impressive HDR. Of course, that does not mean you will see that level of brightness in every shot. When the screen is filled with a large amount of white or a wide explosion, brightness falls to around 600 nits. That is still a good result, but those scenes no longer have the same punch as small, bright elements on a dark background. This is a known limitation of OLEDs and the OLED811 is no exception.

Colours

Aside from HDR brightness, colours also matter and here Philips performs very well. It covers almost the entire DCI-P3 gamut, which contains most of the colours used in HDR films and series. You get saturated reds and lush greens, and when watching it’s hard to find major faults in that respect. It looks a little worse with the much wider BT.2020 gamut, whose most saturated shades are already out of reach for this panel. There is also the issue of the white subpixel that the WOLED panel uses to boost brightness. With very bright colours you can see a certain washout: the colour is bright but loses some of its intensity. It is precisely in such situations that QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display have the advantage. However, in most films and series this is not something that will immediately stand out.

The television was tested in film mode, which – despite its name – does not provide accurate image display. The white balance in both 4K HDR and HD/SDR content is characterised by drops in red, causing the image to appear cooler and the colours to lose their natural warmth. The gamma brightness characteristics and the EOTF curve confirm that the television has issues maintaining appropriate brightness – it heavily boosts it, resulting in an unnaturally washed-out image. This effect can be seen in the comparisons below, where the entire image appears as if it has a milky filter applied. Additionally, the limited coverage of a wide colour gamut also does not favour quality – colour checker tests indicate significant colour variations, making it difficult to achieve faithful image reproduction.

Film mode on the Philips OLED811 is sensibly set up straight out of the box. Most colour errors remain small, both in SDR and HDR, so you can sit down to watch without adjusting the settings first. There are no major inaccuracies that would immediately distract from the film. It falls a little short of perfection, though. The white balance shows a slight lack of red compared with green, so whites and greys can have a faint greenish tint. It is not a strong colour cast, but measurements clearly show it. There are also minor brightness deviations in SDR: some parts of the image are slightly brightened, and the darkest shades are not always reproduced evenly. In HDR the TV sticks much closer to the reference, although in places it gently lifts detail from the shadows. These are generally areas that could be improved. The factory film mode provides a good starting point, and calibration will reveal how much more can be gained from it.

After calibration, the picture has significantly improved, especially in terms of white balance, which is now more stable, and the shades have taken on a natural quality, eliminating the previous impression of a picture that was too cool. Calibration has brought noticeable benefits in terms of tonality – shadows and midtones are now more realistic, and the overall effect seems more harmonious. Unfortunately, hardware limitations still affect the quality of the image. The brightness characteristics remain problematic, despite our efforts, and due to the poor coverage of the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 colour gamut, delta E errors are still at a high level. Although calibration has improved some aspects, the television still does not allow for complete satisfaction.

After calibration the Philips OLED811 produces an image very close to the reference. We managed to correct the white balance and eliminate the slight tint visible in the factory settings. Errors in the Color Checker measurements for SDR and HDR fell to around 1 to 2, and many samples are even below 1. That's a level at which differences from the reference image are hard to spot with the naked eye. We also improved the gamma, and only in the brightest whites is there a slight brightening remaining. In HDR the EOTF curve also tracks the reference closely, although the TV still tends to gently boost the brightness of small elements, such as stars or on-screen text. This gives the picture a little extra sparkle that shouldn't be there, but otherwise there's little to fault. It was already good out of the box, and after calibration we managed to refine most of the remaining shortcomings.

When it comes to tonal transitions in low-quality material, a feature named "Distortion Reduction" (set to "minimum") effectively improves gradation, eliminating ugly tonal transitions. However, this setting on Philips televisions is quite aggressive – while it does not blur the grain or good-quality material, it can introduce undesirable effects and blur elements that should remain sharp when the signal is poorer.

In terms of image scaling, Philips PUS7009 performs reasonably well. A significant advantage is the absence of cropped image edges, meaning no overscan, which allows for the display of the full frame without loss. The image is noticeably enhanced, making characters and backgrounds, such as the model or branches in the background, appear quite detailed and natural, even with lower quality signals. Although scaling is not perfect, as it can remove desirable details in the distance, the results are good enough to satisfy most users.

OLED811 handles lower-quality material reasonably well, though it falls well short of perfection. The "Banding reduction" function helps to smooth tonal transitions and on the low setting gives a fairly good result. It does not remove bands between shades as effectively as similar solutions from some competitors, but at least it does not introduce new artefacts in the process. This is a sensible setting for everyday viewing. There is still some dissatisfaction, however, because the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset used here can, in other manufacturers' implementations, cope with the effects of heavy compression more effectively even at similarly low settings. Much therefore depends on how a given manufacturer makes use of its capabilities. We have a few more comments about the upscaling to 4K. There is a lot of detail, but the overall image looks rather soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which robs the picture of a bit of sharpness and clarity. This can be partly corrected with the sharpness slider in the menu, though that will merely accentuate outlines rather than recover detail. On the plus side, there is no overscan; even with an SD signal the TV does not crop the edges of the picture.

Philips PUS7009 does not have any motion smoothing features for films, which means we cannot choose whether the picture should be more choppy or more cinematic. These features could improve more dynamic scenes. As for motion blur, despite using a 60Hz IPS panel, the situation looks quite good. The response time between pixels is better than in versions with a VA panel, which keeps motion blur at an acceptable level and does not significantly affect the comfort of watching dynamic scenes.

In terms of motion handling the OLED811 performs excellently. At 120 Hz, which is useful for console gaming and watching sport, the picture stays clear and moving objects do not leave noticeable smears. The fast response of OLED pixels helps here; this is clear in the UFO test, even on dark backgrounds. There are also motion smoothing controls. For films you can adjust the level of smoothing to suit your taste, ranging from preserving a cinematic character to much smoother motion. A separate blur reduction setting is useful for fast-paced material such as sports broadcasts.

In terms of compatibility with consoles, Philips PUS7009 is suitable for casual gamers. Despite the use of HDMI 2.0, the television offers access to features such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and Game Bar. ALLM automatically switches the television to low latency mode, allowing for quicker response times during gameplay, while VRR dynamically adjusts the refresh rate to reduce the tearing effect. Game Bar is a tool that provides quick access to game settings and real-time monitoring of parameters - although we believe it appears the weakest compared to competing Game Bars.

Unfortunately, more demanding gamers may be disappointed. The Philips PUS7009 does not support advanced HDR formats in games or high refresh rates, due to the use of a 60 Hz panel. The lack of support for these features limits the television's ability to deliver smooth and fully detailed experiences during dynamic gameplay.

OLED811 has almost everything you could expect from a TV for gaming. It supports 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, and when connected to a PC it can reach 165 Hz. It also has VRR, which helps prevent screen tearing when frame rates fluctuate, and ALLM, which automatically switches to game mode. So you don't have to dig into the settings every time you power up your console.

Another plus is that HGiG works correctly, so once HDR is set on the console the TV doesn't apply its own changes to image brightness. There's also a Game Bar to check signal parameters and quickly change settings useful while gaming. The list even includes Dolby Vision for gaming, but there is a significant catch, which you can read about below.