Philips PUS7009 (IPS) vs Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5)

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.

Looking at similar results in terms of blackness and contrast, we expected equally stable performance as last year's model when it came to HDR content. Unfortunately – and this needs to be said outright – there has been a regression here that is hard to overlook. The paradox is that the peak brightness of the Bravia 5 is impressive: in our synthetic tests, the television achieved around 1000 nits in HDR. Sounds great, right? The problem is that this power does not always translate effectively to all film scenes. When small, point-like elements appear on the screen, something that had usually been polished with surgical precision in Sony's case is this time noticeably lacking. The algorithms attempt to maintain deep black around small objects, but the side effect is that details can be dimmed to such an extent that they become barely visible. Just consider the example of the film Sicario 2 – in some scenes there, small light sources practically disappeared, as if someone had covered them with dark film.

Of course, not everything looks so dramatic. In simpler, brighter scenes, where the image is filled with more light, the Bravia 5 shows that it can shine: literally and figuratively. Then the television achieves values in the range of 600–800 nits, which we saw both in synthetic tests and during film screenings. The impression is really positive; the brightness adds dynamism, and the colours appear vibrant and fresh. However, there remains a certain dissonance. We feel a slight confusion because evidently something has gone in a direction it shouldn’t have. Technological progress – more zones, greater backlighting power – has not been supported by the well-crafted image management that we usually associate with Sony. Fortunately, there are elements that have not been worsened and are, in fact, at a very high level. We are talking about colour reproduction. Thanks to the application of the PFS filter, the colour palette coverage is excellent – around 97% DCI-P3 and 75% BT.2020. These are values that allow for truly broad colour reproduction, giving films a sense of naturalness and cinematic quality.

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.

Sony Bravia 5 was of course tested in the best possible mode, which is the Cinema mode. Right out of the box, it provides the most natural colours, definitely better than anything offered by the "eco" or "dynamic" modes, which are more suited for a showroom display than for a living room. However, the Cinema mode alone does not mean we can always expect cinematic picture quality. With SDR content, we had virtually no major complaints – the slightly warmed white balance gave the scenes a somewhat golden tone, but it was nothing that was visually jarring. However, the problem arose with HDR material. Here, the colour reproduction simply looked poor. The white balance was heavily skewed – with an excess of blue and a clear lack of red. At times, it resembled the store's "super vibrant image" mode, where everything is overexposed and artificially boosted.

This situation also made brightness management seem overly aggressive. The EOTF graph clearly showed that the television had problems with overexposing many scenes right out of the box. And while we know what Sony televisions are usually capable of, it was difficult to remain indifferent here – thus we quickly decided to go for calibration.

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 situation changed dramatically. We managed to adjust the white balance so that entire scenes began to look more natural, and the image gained cohesion and elegance. In HDR, we finally got rid of that unwanted clipping effect that had previously marred some shots. Suddenly, it turned out that the Bravia 5 can extract significantly more from films than the “out of the box” impression suggested. Indeed, if we look at the graphs and compare them with the patterns, we can see that the beginning of the EOTF curve slightly deviates from the reference line. However, this is not so much a calibration error as it is a natural limitation of Mini-LED technology, which cannot be bypassed. Sony, instead of clinging to perfect black, prefers to prioritise the visibility of details – and in practice, it's hard to disagree with that. We would rather see the texture of the material on the screen than a pitch-black blob where all nuances are lost.

The calibration itself was truly beneficial. After about an hour spent on the settings, we felt that the image resembled that from the best cinema halls – of course on a home scale, but with the same sense of quality and refinement. And in such moments, we remember why we like Sony televisions: because when we fine-tune them, they can reward us with an image that captivates for long hours.

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.

Bravia 5 carries within it the genes of Sony, which have remained untouched – and thank goodness for that, because we are talking about absolutely remarkable digital image processing. It is no coincidence that for years it has been believed that it is televisions of this brand that set the standard for how a screen should handle lower quality materials. If someone still watches classic television, old films or YouTube in lower resolutions, here they get equipment that can transform such content into an unexpectedly pleasant experience. On board, we find several tools worth activating. The first of these is "digital noise reduction". Set to a medium level, it works perfectly – smoothing tonal transitions, which usually cause the most trouble in low-quality materials, while not introducing any artificial artifacts. Importantly, it also does not remove the filmic character, meaning the natural grain that is intentionally present in many productions. Another advantage of the Bravia 5 is the upscaling capabilities of the XR processor. The image displayed after scaling is soft, yet at the same time sharp and clear. The contours of characters are clearly visible, while backgrounds retain their structure without excessive artificial sharpening. It’s hard to find a better television for watching lower quality materials – Bravia 5 only confirms why Sony is regarded as a benchmark in this field.

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.

Bravia 5 received a 120 Hz panel, which in itself sounds like an invitation to watch sports, fast matches, or spectacular action films. However, the real magic begins when MotionFlow – Sony's proprietary smoothness technology – comes into play. Thanks to it, we can adjust the character of the image to our own preferences. The "smoothness" slider allows you to transition from a cinematic feel with a slight "jitter" of the film frame to a nearly theatrical fluidity, where every ball in the match glides across the screen as if on a string. The higher the value, the smoother and more fluid it is; the lower it is, the more cinematic and natural it feels. In the options, we will also find an additional setting that Sony has called "clarity". This is nothing more than the BFI function (i.e., inserting black frames), which is meant to improve motion sharpness. It sounds great in theory, but in practice, one must use it with great caution. Why? Because all higher settings cause brightness drops of up to half, and in some cases, contour doubling also appears. Therefore, if we wish to use it, we recommend the lowest possible level – "1" out of the available ten. This way, we gain a bit better motion clarity without risking a loss of half the image brightness.

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.

In the Bravia 5, there is a significant improvement compared to the X90L model from two years ago. The television offers literally everything its predecessor had, but this time the issues that could frustrate gamers have been fixed. The problems with setting variable refresh rate (VRR) have disappeared, and there are no longer any issues with configuring HDR content in HGiG mode. In short: we get hardware that simply works as it should, without any fuss. Therefore, the Bravia 5 has everything you could expect from a modern gaming television – and it can be reasonably advertised with the slogan “ready for PS5.” This is a statement we couldn't make about the X90L model. Well done, Sony!

It’s just a shame that this relatively high-priced model lacks a full set of four HDMI 2.1 ports. In everyday use, this won’t be a problem for most people, but if someone has a console, soundbar, and additional equipment hooked up via HDMI, at some point there will be a need to choose or juggle the cables.