PHILPS PUS9060 vs Haier K85F

The One is bright enough to enjoy films recorded in HDR format. The average brightness of this model is around 500 nits, so we can easily expect a pleasant viewing experience for films from streaming platforms. Of course – it could always be better, because when it comes to brightness, you can never have too much for this type of content. Unfortunately, a disappointing surprise may be the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette offered by the PUS9060. Although the manufacturer boasts about using a QLED filter here (in reality, it’s PFS LED), it's hard to speak of any positive effects from its operation. 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 palette is certainly not a level to be proud of in 2025 – particularly in a television advertised as QLED.

Let’s now turn to one of the hottest topics in the world of televisions, namely the quality of HDR effect. In the case of the Haier K85F model, we must unfortunately make it clear: if you are looking for equipment to watch content in a wide dynamic range, you should avoid this model at all costs. The main problem is its very low peak brightness, which during our tests barely reached 250 nits. To give you a better idea of what that means – such a value is fine for watching standard SDR content, but it is absolutely insufficient to showcase any real benefits of HDR. The image simply lacks the "power" to generate bright, striking highlights. All our measurements and tests on specialist patterns only confirmed this. As if that weren't enough, the television also struggles with colour reproduction. In this budget build, we won't find any technologies to expand the colour palette, such as quantum dot layers (marketed as "QLED"). As a result, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, which is crucial for HDR materials, is only around 80%. In practice, this means that the image will not only be dark but also devoid of the vibrant, saturated colours that the director wanted to show us.

We tested the PUS9060 in the best factory mode available – of course, we are referring to the movie mode. Unfortunately, the best in this case does not mean good. The image in this mode was distinctly yellowish and shifted towards orange tones. The white balance on this television was definitely too warm, giving the entire scene an artificial, somewhat “tanned” appearance. This led to significant colour errors, which in the worst cases exceeded a delta E value of 6 – thus they were visible to the naked eye. The situation was reversed in HDR mode, where the image became too blue and too cool in perception. Additionally, there was a slight increase in brightness – the gamma curve and EOTF suggested that the television slightly brightened the image, which was also evident in the comparative photo below.

Well, how does the television perform with colours straight out of the box, without any interference from our side? The Haier K85F offers a full range of picture modes, such as Dynamic and Eco, but for anyone who wants to watch films according to the creators' intentions, only one really matters: Film mode. That is where we focused our tests, and unfortunately, its name has little to do with reality. The picture in the factory settings is very far from what we could call cinematic fidelity and requires numerous adjustments. Let's start with the white balance, which has a noticeable deficiency of red. In practice, this means that the entire image has a cool, bluish tint. The situation is even worse regarding brightness management, namely the gamma curve (for SDR) and EOTF (for HDR). Their graph resembles a real rollercoaster, which has a disastrous impact on the viewing experience. This results in unnatural dimming of SDR content, causing details in shadows to be lost, and in the case of HDR – excessive brightness, which further exacerbates the issue of clipping. Such a combination, namely too cool white combined with chaotic brightness and excessive blue saturation, results in significant errors in colour reproduction. Our measurements on the specialist ColorChecker chart revealed errors (Delta E) regularly reaching and exceeding values of 8-9. Put simply, errors above the threshold of 3 are already easily noticeable to the naked eye, so such a result means that the colours on the screen are simply heavily distorted.

Thanks to calibration in film mode, we managed to completely eliminate the yellow-orange tint, which significantly improved the perception of the entire scene. The image has become much more visually pleasing, although it is still far from reference settings. It may now appear slightly bluish, but it is still a definite improvement compared to the factory settings.

Unfortunately, we were not able to significantly improve the brightness characteristics, but this is already a matter of the television's design - the absence of local dimming limits the ability to precisely manage brightness. The PUS9060 simply cannot dynamically adjust luminance as more advanced models do. Nevertheless, after calibration, the overall experience is much more enjoyable, especially with film material.

Well, is there anything that can be done about this picture? Can professional calibration save the situation? The answer is both yes and no. It must be clearly stated that there are certain limitations we cannot overcome. The constraints of the design itself, meaning simply a poor panel and its narrow colour coverage, make it impossible to expect a reasonable HDR effect – we won't mislead you on that. The biggest beneficiary of our adjustments is undoubtedly the SDR mode, and it is indeed for watching such content, after calibration, that this television starts to make sense. We managed to somewhat tame the white balance. Although the television only offers basic 2-point adjustment (rather than precise 20-point), so it's not perfect, we successfully eliminated that unpleasant, cold "chill" in the picture. Above all, however, we noted a significant improvement in brightness management. The gamma curve, which previously resembled a rollercoaster, looks like an almost perfectly straight line after calibration. This is a sign that the television can finally display images without artificially dimming or brightening them. The conclusion is simple: even with such a cheap television, professional adjustment of the settings can achieve a lot and extract the maximum potential from it.

In the PUS9060, we find yet another version of the image processor called by Philips the P5 Perfect Picture, which is designed to improve the image – especially the imperfect one. The television features a distortion reduction function, which serves to smooth tonal transitions, i.e., those "colour joins" we mentioned earlier. This function does this very effectively – there is no noticeable harsh gradation of colours, but unfortunately, it works so aggressively that it sometimes dulls desired elements, such as the textures of materials or film grain. So one can consider this a certain compromise. We would rather not recommend using this function for films, but for more casual content – e.g., YouTube or standard television – it is perfectly fine.

The P5 processor also aims to improve the quality of lower-resolution images and does so quite effectively. The test image with the model is very soft – sometimes overly so – but this can be easily adjusted with the sharpness slider to match personal preferences. It is also pleasing that the television does not cut off edges in SD materials – which unfortunately still occurs in some TV models.

Let's move on to digital processing and image scaling, specifically how the Haier K85F handles lower resolution signals, such as those from standard television. Right from the start, we encounter an extremely annoying and completely incomprehensible issue – overscan that is enabled by default. This means that the television artificially enlarges the image, cropping its edges, and this happens on every source, even 1080p. To see the full frame, you have to dig through the screen settings each time and manually switch the format to "expand to 16:9". It's a detail, but it's devilishly frustrating. The very act of scaling content to 4K resolution can be summed up in one word: acceptable. And that's about it. The image processor does not strip details from the picture, nor does it generate jagged edges or other artifacts. It simply does its job, without any fireworks. It's alright, but nothing more. However, the biggest and most noticeable shortcoming in the digital processing section is the absence of a smooth tonal transition feature. This is an algorithm that could significantly reduce the annoying banding effect we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not provide such a solution, condemning us to watch the imperfections of the panel and low-quality materials in full view.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is equipped with a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, so we can confidently say that it is suitable for both watching sports and playing games. And indeed, it is. But what about films that are most often recorded at 24 frames? As with most of the televisions we tested with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and above, the PUS9060 offers two sliders in the motion smoothness options. The “Smoothness” slider allows you to adjust the effect in films – you can set the image to be smoother, resembling a theatrical effect (higher settings), or more cinematic, with a slight "jump" in frame rate (lower settings). Additionally, there is a function called "Motion Blur Reduction," which limits blurring – and this is a very useful feature, especially when watching sports.

The matrix in the K85F model operates at a native refresh rate of 60 Hz, which right from the start sets certain expectations regarding image fluidity. However, we must admit that we were very positively surprised when we found two separate sliders for motion control in the settings menu: one labelled as "Motion Blur Reduction" and the other "De-Judder". Such generosity in this price segment is an absolute rarity, as typically manufacturers offer at most one shared option. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm waned as quickly as it appeared. It soon became clear why Haier was so "generous" – the slider responsible for motion blur reduction is simply a dummy. Its adjustment brings absolutely no visible effect on the screen, so only one of the two options works.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is a true gaming monster – it has practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming television. There's VRR, there's ALLM, and on top of that, there's the implementation of HGiG, which helps to set HDR in games the way the developers intended. The television supports every possible resolution at 120 Hz, including 1080p, 1440p, and full 4K – so regardless of whether you're gaming on Xbox, PS5, or PC, everything works as it should. It also features a simple Game Bar, which is a special menu for gamers that allows you to quickly check if the ALLM mode is indeed working in low-latency mode.

And of course – Ambilight TV. Let’s be honest – without LED lights at the back, it’s not really a proper gaming setup. 😉 The multicoloured backlighting can really enhance the atmosphere, especially in the evening. It may not be to everyone's taste, but younger gamers will be thrilled – because it just looks impressive.

Let's move on to features for gamers, although we must emphasise at the outset that this is more of a proposal for the "casual" ones. The manufacturer boasts in the specifications about the presence of HDMI 2.1 ports, which looks impressive on paper, but in reality, it is largely a marketing ploy. What good is a modern port if the heart of the television is a panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz? It physically cannot display a signal at 120 frames per second, even at lower resolutions, which deprives the HDMI 2.1 port of its most significant advantage. It's a shame. (That’s why we mark it as HDMI 2.0 in our tests). Another curious peculiarity is the television's reaction to attempts to calibrate HDR from the console level. Changes to brightness settings cause very unnatural image behaviour, which might suggest an incorrect implementation of the HGiG standard. To be honest, however, one shouldn't worry too much about this, because as we've mentioned numerous times, we simply do not recommend using any HDR content on this screen. However, to avoid being too negative, the Haier K85F also has two significant and unexpected advantages. The first is the presence of ALLM, or Auto Low Latency Mode, which switches the television to low latency mode as soon as it detects a connected console. The second, even bigger surprise, is support for VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate. While it works within a very modest range of 48-60 Hz, its mere presence is commendable. As a result, the image in games can experience less "tearing," which significantly improves the gaming experience.