Philips PUS8209 vs Samsung S85H

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.

Interestingly, the new WOLED SE panel has brought a slight improvement in brightness to the S85 series. In the same movie scenes last year's model stayed closer to around 700 nits, while the S85H can reach roughly 800 nits. This isn't a change that completely transforms HDR perception, but that extra brightness is noticeable, especially with pinpoint highlights, specular reflections and stronger special effects. Around 800 nits is already a very good result for an entry-level OLED and in most films it's enough for HDR to have the proper impact. Bright elements can stand out clearly against perfect black, and it's still that contrast that does most of the work. You do need to bear in mind a typical limitation of organic panel technology. When a very bright scene covers a large part of the screen, brightness can drop by almost half. That's the effect of the panel's protection mechanisms, which limit its power with large bright areas.

Colours

The S85H can deliver very pleasing, saturated colours and in most HDR films it looks really good in that respect. We measured around 95% DCI-P3 coverage, so the palette most commonly used in movies is reproduced to a very high degree. Skin tones, greens and stronger reds still have the right intensity, and in normal viewing it's hard to fault them. Only when you look wider at BT.2020 do the limitations of the new OLED SE panel become apparent. Coverage was about 70%, a little less than previous-generation WOLEDs and noticeably less than QD-OLED panels. In films this is not a big loss, because most productions rarely use such highly saturated colours. You're more likely to notice it in games, where creators often opt for more intense 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.

For colour evaluation we naturally chose Filmmaker mode, and in SDR our S85H sample was very well set up from the factory. The largest deviation is in the white balance, where, as brightness rises, there is a slight lack of blue. In practice this means whites and greys have a subtly warmer tint than they should. However, this is not a major fault and during normal viewing it is unlikely to be very noticeable. Gamma also stays close to the reference value, so the image is neither overly bright nor unnecessarily dim. The S85H’s SDR picture quality is therefore very good straight out of the box. A few more imperfections appear in HDR. Here the white balance drifts more with increasing brightness, blue starts to dominate and the red component is clearly lacking. This also translates into larger errors for some colours. They do not yet amount to shifts that completely change the character of the image, but in direct comparison with a reference the difference is easier to spot. Overall, Filmmaker mode is a very good starting point before professional 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.

Calibration yields very good results on the S85H. First and foremost, it was possible to set the white balance almost perfectly, which removes the slightly too warm character of the image that was previously visible in SDR. Colour reproduction itself also improves markedly, with most errors falling to a very low level and in everyday viewing it is hard to speak of any noticeable inaccuracies. You can also make significant improvements in HDR, although some issues remain due to the TV's inherent characteristics. The S85H does not always hold the brightness curve perfectly; the darkest parts are slightly lifted, and as you approach the panel's limits small deviations are visible in the brightest areas. Added to this is the limited coverage of the wider BT.2020 gamut, which of course cannot be overcome by any calibration. Despite this, the end result is very good and, after calibration, the S85H can produce a really well-tuned, natural image.

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.

Samsung has fitted the S85H with the same proprietary AI NQ4 Gen2 processor used in last year’s S85F and, in terms of digital image processing, it performs quite well. Upscaling is one of the model’s stronger points. Lower-resolution material is well sharpened, edges look natural, and the picture does not feel overly artificial. One caveat is a typical Samsung trait: at very low resolutions you cannot completely disable overscan, so the TV may slightly crop the left edge of the image. The "noise reduction" function also works very well, smoothing weaker tonal transitions. The processor can effectively remove posterisation and other imperfections visible in lower-quality material. However, you need to be careful with the strength of this function, because Samsung can be quite aggressive here. When it is activated, small image details, such as the texture of skin or clothing, can start to disappear along with the unwanted artefacts.

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 S85H uses an OLED panel, so it performs excellently for motion blur. Pixels respond virtually instantly, so moving objects do not leave the characteristic trailing seen on some LCD TVs. This is especially noticeable in sport and fast-paced games, where the picture remains very clean even during rapid motion. The panel itself runs at 120 Hz. That is more than sufficient for films, TV series, sport and console gaming. It is a pity Samsung did not include a higher refresh rate aimed at PC gamers, as more and more TVs now offer 144 or even 165 Hz at 4K. However, that does not affect motion handling in films or sport.

You also have a classic motion-smoothing feature with two settings, blur reduction and judder reduction. So you can decide whether films should retain their cinematic 24 frames per second or whether you prefer to smooth them a little. The S85H gives plenty of freedom here, and the interpolation works well and, with sensible settings, does not generate too many artefacts.

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 Samsung S85H is very well prepared for gaming, essentially regardless of whether you connect a console or a PC. The manufacturer hasn't skimped on ports and all four HDMI ports support full HDMI 2.1. That means you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM without worrying which input your console is plugged into. With multiple devices that matters a lot, because you don't have to choose between a console, a PC or a soundbar connected via eARC. The feature set itself is very comprehensive. The S85H supports VRR, FreeSync and automatic game mode switching, and Samsung also offers its extensive Game Bar where you can quickly check key signal parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only notable omission is Dolby Vision, which will matter mainly to Xbox owners. This, incidentally, is typical of Samsung TVs. Game Motion Plus performs very well, and it's one of the features that have set Samsung TVs apart for years. It smooths motion in games running at 30 or 60 fps, but does so without as much increase in input lag as a conventional motion interpolator. In practice, with slower-paced games, racing titles or action games this can really improve the perceived motion, especially if you're sensitive to low frame rates.