PHILIPS PUS9010 (IPS) vs TCL P7L / P79L

In the Philips PUS9010 version with an IPS panel, the HDR brightness unfortunately performs worse than in the previously tested 55-inch model with a VA panel. The difference reaches about 100 nits, which is quite noticeable given the relatively low values. While the VA version could exceed 500 nits, here the maximum brightness is around 400 nits. This level still allows for watching movies and series in HDR, especially on streaming platforms, but the effects are clearly muted. Bright elements do not have the same impact, and scenes requiring high luminance appear less impressive. On the positive side, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is commendable. The IPS version offers around 91%, which is about 5% more than the variant with a VA panel. This translates to somewhat better colour saturation in HDR content, despite the lower brightness. Colours can appear more vibrant and cohesive, especially in colourful scenes.

The biggest limitation of the TCL P7L in HDR is simply brightness. The TV does not have much luminance headroom, so strong highlights, the sun or small light sources can't clearly 'pop' out of the picture. As a result, even well-produced HDR material looks fairly restrained and, in terms of dynamics, is closer to good SDR than to what brighter models show. That does not mean the P7L completely fails at HDR. The issue is primarily a lack of backlight power.

Looking at colours, the situation is a little better. The TV covers around 91% of the DCI-P3 gamut and about 68% of the wide BT.2020 colour space, so for this price class the colour range is quite respectable. TCL markets this model as QLED, although the nature of the solution used is closer to backlighting that uses a PFS phosphor than to a classic quantum-dot layer. What matters most to the viewer, however, is the effect: more saturated colours are on offer.

We assessed the colour reproduction, as always, on the factory settings, focusing on the movie mode, which for Philips usually provides the best starting point. This is also a good moment to demonstrate how much the same TV model can vary depending on the type of panel used. Looking at the white balance, the overall tendency remains similar to the variant with the VA panel. Excessive red in the whites is still noticeable, but in the tested unit with an IPS panel, there are also deficits in the blue channel. As a result, the image has a slightly different colour character, which can be clearly seen in the comparative materials. This is a very good example illustrating why ready-made settings downloaded from the internet do not always work even within the same model.

However, returning to the assessment itself, this unit performs quite well, especially with SDR content. Colour tests show correct saturation and consistency, with no glaring errors that could interfere with everyday viewing. In HDR materials, slight deficits in reds can already be noticed, but these are not flaws that spoil the overall perception of the image. The biggest limitations do not come directly from the colours, but rather from the white and black levels. The use of an IPS panel and slightly lowered gamma results in the image being slightly boosted in brightness, and the poor black levels further affect the perceived contrast. This makes the overall picture look brighter, but at the same time it loses depth, especially during evening viewing.

In Film mode the TCL P7L performs quite respectably without major changes to the settings, particularly with ordinary SDR material. White balance is relatively even, though as brightness increases there is a slight rise in red and blue and a touch too little green. This does not, however, produce a strongly visible tint and most colours remain close to their reference points. The Colour Checker confirms this, with a large portion of errors falling below the level that should be particularly noticeable during normal viewing. We have more reservations about the gamma response. In the darkest parts of the image the TV runs it noticeably above the reference value, so some shadow detail can be a little too subdued. The characteristic then calms down and across much of the range it is close to the intended behaviour. As a result SDR generally looks natural, but in dark scenes the P7L can lose some subtlety.

In HDR the factory calibration is less precise. As brightness increases the excess of blue becomes more pronounced, which can make the image look cooler than it should. The number of larger colour deviations also grows, particularly in brighter hues. As for the EOTF curve itself, it is handled fairly conservatively, with the TV showing the image darker than the reference across much of the range. For such an inexpensive model, the factory Film mode settings are not bad.

After calibration, the picture was brought to a truly sensible level. The overall look is coherent and natural, and when it comes to colour reproduction, it is difficult to unequivocally state whether we are dealing with a VA or IPS panel. This is a good sign, showing that the television has a solid foundation for further adjustments. It is worth noting the larger colour gamut coverage in this variant, which can subtly enhance the perception of colourful scenes, particularly in HDR content. However, this advantage is largely balanced out by the boosted black levels resulting from the use of an IPS panel. The limited black depth affects the perceived contrast, especially when watching in a dark room. Consequently, despite the noticeable improvement after calibration, the final assessment remains the same as in the variant with the VA panel. Better colours are unable to fully compensate for the weaker black levels.

After calibration the TCL P7L can deliver a genuinely pleasant picture, especially with conventional SDR material. We managed to even out the white balance very well, and the gamma curve now tracks close to the target value of 2.4. This is also reflected in the colour measurements: most errors have fallen noticeably, and in everyday viewing it is hard to point to any obvious inaccuracies. Films, series, YouTube and ordinary broadcast TV therefore look more natural, without unnecessary warmth or a cool tint. For a model in this price bracket the SDR performance is really very good.

With HDR the situation becomes more complicated. Calibration helped improve the white balance and tidy up some deviations, but here the panel's limitations become increasingly apparent. The P7L has relatively low brightness and cannot maintain adequate luminance for more saturated colours, so some errors remain even after careful tuning. In other words, settings can improve the way the TV interprets the signal, but they cannot overcome its physical limits. That is why calibration makes most sense for this model primarily in SDR.

In the Philips PUS9010, we find another iteration of the P5 Perfect Picture image processor, designed to improve the quality of inferior materials. One of the components of this system is the distortion reduction function, which is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. It works effectively and indeed reduces the visible colour gradation. Unfortunately, it does so quite aggressively. In practice, it can dim details such as the texture of materials or film grain. This is a notable compromise, so we would not recommend it for movie screenings. However, it performs significantly better with more casual content like YouTube or regular television. The P5 processor also manages quite well with lower resolution materials. The image is soft, at times even too soft, but this can easily be corrected with the sharpness slider, adjusting the effect to personal preference. A positive aspect is also the lack of edge trimming in SD materials, which is still not standard in this class of televisions.

In this respect the TCL P7L performs surprisingly well, especially for such an inexpensive TV. The banding-reduction feature, which in many budget models does little or nothing, actually manages to improve the picture here. It does not remove all banding entirely, but it can noticeably reduce posterisation and make more challenging gradients look more natural. At this price point that’s a genuinely pleasant surprise. Upscaling itself also performs well. Lower-resolution material is scaled correctly, without over-sharpening or adding artificial outlines around objects. Of course the P7L won’t turn a very poor source into a 4K-quality image, but for regular TV the result is simply solid. For a model in this class there is little to criticise.

Philips PUS9010 has a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which will be appreciated primarily by sports fans and gamers. This is especially evident in dynamic scenes where the motion is sharp, and annoying blur is almost non-existent. When it comes to movies (standard 24 fps), Philips gives us a proven set of settings known from higher series. Two sliders are used to control motion. “Smoothness” allows you to adjust the image to your own taste: at low settings, we maintain a cinematic character, while moving the slider to the right gives us a perfectly smooth, albeit somewhat “theatrical” effect. On the other hand, “Motion Blur Reduction” is a function designed for sports – it ensures that fast-moving objects do not lose detail and remain clear.

The TCL P7L uses a panel with a native 60 Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution, and that's how it should be regarded in everyday use. When watching films the TV mainly offers frame interpolation, so it can smooth motion and reduce the characteristic judder, but it does not deliver the fluidity typical of true 120 Hz panels.

The Philips PUS9010 is a truly solid machine for gaming. It has everything that matters: VRR, automatic game mode (ALLM), and support for HGiG. The latter is a great feature – it allows HDR in games to be set exactly as the developers envisioned. The television handles 120 Hz refresh rates effortlessly at every popular resolution (1080p, 1440p, and 4K). Whether you connect a PS5, Xbox, or a powerful PC, everything functions stably and simply as it should. Gamers will also appreciate the Game Bar. This quick, clear menu immediately shows whether the low latency mode is active. This is especially useful when frequently switching between different consoles. The whole experience is complemented by Ambilight. Evening sessions with this backlighting take the atmosphere to a whole new level – the image seems larger, and dynamic scenes leave an even better impression. Even if someone isn’t a fan of such “gadgets”, it’s hard to deny that it’s impressive.

For such an inexpensive TV, the P7L has quite a lot to offer gamers. It has ALLM, VRR, Dolby Vision for gaming, and TCL also includes its Game Bar, which lets you quickly check the key information or change some settings without leaving the game. Not everything is perfect, though, because HGiG doesn’t work here as it should, but at this price point it’s hard to complain about the feature set. The most interesting part starts when you give up 4K. At that resolution the TV runs at up to 60 Hz, but at 1440p and 1080p it can display at 120 Hz. And that’s not just a line in the specs. In fast-paced games that support that frame rate you can really notice the improvement in smoothness, so if you value smoother motion more than maximum image detail, that mode can make a lot of sense. Of course, that doesn’t turn the P7L into a proper 120 Hz TV. Even so, those extra modes are exactly what make the P7L perform very well for gaming.