Philips PUS8209 vs LG UA75006LA (VA)

Unfortunately, this is where the problems begin. A maximum brightness of 280 nits is definitely too low to feel the true effect of HDR. In practice, the image resembles standard SDR more, so it’s hard to speak of deeper visual experiences. On the positive side, the colour gamut coverage is commendable – 91.4% DCI-P3 is a score that will be sufficient for most films. It must also be said that the image is stable and there are no issues with sudden changes in brightness or colours. Overall, HDR on this television is more of a formality than an actual added value. If we are looking for genuine HDR thrills, this model may not meet expectations.

The LG UA7500 with a VA panel holds brightness at around 350 nits, which does not make a significant impression by today's standards. It is hard to speak of a true HDR experience here – most content looks more like classic SDR with a slight attempt at boosting the highlights. The advantage is that regardless of the tested scene, the effect remained relatively stable. However, we noticed that in very extreme scenes with a lot of fine details, the television can gently dim the image to achieve better black levels, but this comes at the expense of visibility of bright effects. It is also worth noting that the UA7500 is not equipped with any additional technologies for expanding colours. It is neither a QLED panel nor PFS LED, which is why the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is only 80%, making many HDR films appear flat and not conveying the full diversity of colours.

Philips PUS8209 offers many picture modes, but the best of them, without a doubt, is the Filmmaker mode. Despite its proud name, it has its clear problems. In the case of HD content, the white balance is characterised by a strong dominance of red, which causes the picture to be significantly warmer than it should be in reality. The brightness characteristic (gamma), although correct in the mid-tones, has serious issues at the beginning and end of the curve. Drops in the shadows cause a loss of detail in the dark areas, and blowouts in the bright areas make some elements look unnatural.

For high-quality 4K HDR content, the situation reverses. In this case, blue dominates, leading to an artificial enhancement effect, reminiscent of unnatural retail settings. Such an image looks unattractive and inconsistent with the creators' intentions. An additional problem is the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in HDR materials. It deviates significantly from the reference chart, causing the image to appear too dark, robbing the depth and detail of HDR content.

Against this backdrop, errors in the Color Checker test and deviations in colour palette reproduction are exceptionally large, which further negatively impacts the overall image quality. The Filmmaker mode, although the best among the available options, requires substantial corrections to fully convey the director's vision.

The Filmmaker mode on the LG UA7500 performs better than one might expect from such a budget television, but let’s not get carried away with praise. The image is put together quite sensibly and does not irritate at first glance, however, its weaknesses quickly become apparent. This is most evident in scenes with bright points – background lamps or reflections of light on the skin are distinctly exaggerated. The faces of the characters often look unnatural, as if they have been 'overexposed'. Added to this is the default gamma characteristic, which brightens the smallest details and causes the image to lose subtlety in darker areas. Nevertheless, it is a fact that for its price range, the UA7500 in factory mode provides a fairly decent starting point. However, it is clear that without additional adjustment, it will not be possible to avoid these problems, which is why – as with other televisions – we decided to see what could be achieved after calibration.

After calibration, the white balance for HD and 4K content has significantly improved. Although we have not achieved a perfectly flat characteristic, the effect is definitely better than before. The picture on the television no longer appears artificially warm or excessively cold, which significantly enhances the naturalness of the displayed content. The brightness characteristic (gamma) has also been adjusted – the biggest issues at the beginning and end of the graph have been mitigated. The EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in 4K HDR material, has been stabilised, eliminating problems with excessive dimming of the image. In the colour palette test, some imperfections can still be noticed due to average coverage of the wide colour gamut, which is a limitation of the equipment itself. Nevertheless, the final effect is clearly better than before calibration – the image looks more natural and approaches the expectations of the Filmmaker mode.

The biggest improvement we noticed was when calibrating the mode intended for everyday SDR content. We managed to smooth out the white balance in an acceptable way and tackle the problem of excessive brightening of fine details due to the gamma curve. As a result, the image gained the consistency and naturalness that was missing in the factory settings. After such adjustments, we can confidently state that for everyday television content, programmes, or materials from YouTube, the LG UA7500 performs very well – especially after professional calibration. The situation is somewhat different for HDR content. Here, calibration allowed us to tame the white balance and slightly improve the brightness management; however, the limitations of the construction are immediately apparent. The lack of additional filters to widen the colour palette results in the most vivid colours appearing flat, and the image does not display the intensity we would expect from good HDR. So in SDR, the UA7500 performs quite well, but in HDR – despite corrections – it remains far behind, and this is a characteristic that one must accept when choosing this television.

The television offers a "Distortion Reduction" feature that effectively improves the gradation of tonal transitions, especially when set to the minimum level. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost – the feature simultaneously smooths out details such as the texture of materials. On the positive side, it is worth noting that the operation of this option does not negatively affect film grain, which remains intact.

As for image scaling (upscaling), the television generates a plastic, soft image that generally looks pleasant. However, in the background, one can sometimes notice issues with aliasing on certain elements, such as branches or fine details, which can lower the quality of reception. Despite these minor imperfections, the overall experience of scaling is satisfactory.

LG UA7500 with a VA panel performed really well in this category. Image scaling from Full HD or even SD materials was surprisingly smooth. The picture looked smooth, edges were not overly jagged, and the television retained a considerable amount of detail, meaning that even older films did not lose their character. It particularly excelled with faces – there were no artificial contours or 'mask' effects, which often occur in cheaper models. The way the television handled tonal transitions in lower quality materials is also noteworthy. Thanks to digital processing, colours did not bleed into each other, and gradients appeared natural and smooth. There was no excessive smoothing of the image or loss of cinematic grain. This makes the UA7500 great for everyday content – from terrestrial television, through sports, to YouTube, where we often watch materials in various resolutions.

The 60 Hz panel in the Philips PUS8209 is mainly suitable for watching films, but there is still a sense of something missing. The television does not offer any motion smoother that would allow users to adjust the fluidity of the picture to their individual preferences, which can be disappointing for some users.

The LG UA7500 is a television with a 60 Hz panel, so it's difficult to expect much admiration in this category. It's more of a screen intended for everyday content or an evening film viewing rather than for following dynamic sporting events or playing action games. It's clear that the manufacturer targeted this model specifically at that group of consumers – and it performs correctly in that regard. We have the TruMotion feature available, which is a motion smoother. It's simple, with only one slider, but it can introduce a noticeable difference. At the lower settings, the image appears more raw and cinematic, whereas at higher values, the motion becomes smoother and more pleasing to the eye.

The Philips PUS8209 offers basic features useful for gamers, such as variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and a Game Bar that makes managing settings easier.

Unfortunately, due to the 60 Hz panel, the television will not meet the expectations of more demanding gamers who are counting on higher smoothness and image precision. Additionally, this model does not support any HDR mode dedicated to gaming, such as HGiG or Dolby Vision, which further limits its capabilities in this regard.

The LG UA7500 is a television that can be confidently recommended to "casual" gamers. It lacks a 120 Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 ports, so it cannot fully utilise the potential of modern consoles. However, the manufacturer has included several features that can enhance the gaming experience. Notably, the Game Bar stands out – a very well-designed panel where you can quickly preview and change the most important settings. From this interface, we have access to features like ALLM mode (automatic switching to game mode) and frame synchronization, which is VRR. The VRR range is limited – it works from 48 to 60 Hz – but the mere presence of this feature in such an affordable television makes a positive impression.

Additionally, it supports HGiG, which is the HDR calibration mode for gaming. It sounds good, but based on our testing experiences, we already know that for the UA7500, this option doesn't make much sense. The television doesn't handle HDR very well, so paradoxically, we achieved better results with this mode disabled. This is another indication that the UA7500 is more of a screen for occasional gamers who value simplicity and convenience rather than for those seeking the full experience from the latest consoles.