PHILPS PUS9060 vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

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 talk about how this television shines. If you are expecting dazzling light effects, we need to temper your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most movie scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. This is not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the sense of that famous "high dynamism" offered by flagship products. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a "light monster," it makes up for it in another crucial category: colours. This is where PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers disguise under the name QNED/NanoCell. Thanks to this approach, the television offers a much wider colour palette than classic LCD designs. In our tests, coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does this mean for you? That even with lower brightness, when watching movies in HDR, colours will be vivid, deep, and appropriately saturated. The image is not washed out but rather juicy, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

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.

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, regardless of the version, it should offer the same picture. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with a VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This television, “out of the box,” serves us a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. Overall, it is very warm, even hot. Many users may describe this as a picture that is “too cinematic,” leaning towards sepia. Additionally, there is the issue of the gamma curve – the television has a tendency to slightly artificially brighten scenes (gamma is too low), causing the picture to lose some depth. The good news is that these are not panel errors, but merely software issues. As always in our tests, we conducted professional calibration, which completely eliminated these shortcomings, restoring the natural white balance and correct saturation.

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.

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initial, too warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The television stopped artificially brightening scenes, which gave the image depth. The greatest improvement is noticeable in SDR content, that is, while watching regular television, YouTube, or playing games without HDR. Here the QNED80A shows its class – colour reproduction errors (DeltaE) have dropped below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means that the errors are virtually unnoticeable to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties begin with HDR content. Although we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve graph (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the television still "interprets" the image in its own way. This stems from the nature of the edge-lit backlight with local dimming and the fact that LG gives the calibrator very little control over this parameter. In short: the television struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is significantly more accurate and pleasant to behold than with factory settings, even if it falls a bit short of studio perfection.

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.

In this category, the QNED80A proves to be a true "dark horse." It is an excellent, affordable television for those who frequently watch lower-quality content – for example, traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling, that is, enhancing low resolution to native 4K, exceptionally well. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and, most importantly, not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality content. This feature works really effectively, eliminating annoying "banding" of colours under heavy video compression. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember that we are not dealing with a top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system may struggle and introduce minor artefacts or distortions. Nonetheless, it is definitely worth giving this feature a chance, as in most cases the quality improvement is visibly apparent.

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.

We move on to a matter that may be decisive for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This television is equipped with a panel featuring a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There is no denying it – at this price, we expected more as we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for a similar price. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strongest aspect of this display. Fortunately, LG has equipped the television with a proven motion smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite effectively with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: the motion becomes smoother, yet still looks natural, without the artificial "television theatre" effect.

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.

Now that we have established that the QNED80A is a television with a 60Hz panel, we must say it plainly: we will not be playing here at 120 frames per second at any resolution. Does this disqualify the equipment in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially those "casual" ones. LG has decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing quite a few useful functions inside. We have support for VRR (variable refresh rate) in the range of 48-60Hz and automatic game mode ALLM, which instantly reduces input lag upon detection of a console. All of this is managed from a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu, which has already become LG's hallmark. A big plus goes to the manufacturer for consistency regarding HDR. Although the television does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a moderately bright screen, playing in HDR is clear, and the details in shadows and highlights are accurately reproduced, rather than "cut off".