Xiaomi S Mini 2025 vs Philips OLED811

Since the Xiaomi S MiniLED boasts an impressive number of 308 dimming zones, it is time to test how it performs in HDR tests. Starting with luminance, or the ability to display bright scenes, the television achieved nearly 1000 nits of brightness – a result that can be considered outstanding in this class. Do these figures, however, translate to real experiences in film scenes? In the case of less demanding shots, such as those from the film The Meg, the television indeed showed excellent results, reaching up to 900 nits. Such values are impressive and can truly convey the power of HDR effects.

Unfortunately, much like with contrast, it wasn't without issues. When smaller, brighter elements appear on the screen – as in the challenging scenes from Sicario 2 – the aggressive operation of the dimming zones spoils the entire effect. Brightness in these moments drops to just 100 nits. This is definitely too little to capture the full magic of HDR. Instead of a dynamic and detailed image, the viewer receives a muted, almost flat impression, which takes away all the enjoyment from the viewing experience.

In summary, if we are looking for a television with high brightness for watching films during the day, the Xiaomi S MiniLED will easily fulfill that task. However, its inability to precisely manage the dimming zones means that watching films in the evening, especially in demanding HDR scenes, can be more frustrating than satisfying.

Philips OLED811 uses a new generation of WOLED EX panels, also found in models such as the LG C6 and Samsung S90H. After calibration we measured around 1500 nits, which is a very good result for an OLED TV. You can see this clearly in films and series. All kinds of bright flashes have the right intensity, especially when they appear against a dark background. In such scenes the OLED811 can deliver truly impressive HDR. Of course, that does not mean you will see that level of brightness in every shot. When the screen is filled with a large amount of white or a wide explosion, brightness falls to around 600 nits. That is still a good result, but those scenes no longer have the same punch as small, bright elements on a dark background. This is a known limitation of OLEDs and the OLED811 is no exception.

Colours

Aside from HDR brightness, colours also matter and here Philips performs very well. It covers almost the entire DCI-P3 gamut, which contains most of the colours used in HDR films and series. You get saturated reds and lush greens, and when watching it’s hard to find major faults in that respect. It looks a little worse with the much wider BT.2020 gamut, whose most saturated shades are already out of reach for this panel. There is also the issue of the white subpixel that the WOLED panel uses to boost brightness. With very bright colours you can see a certain washout: the colour is bright but loses some of its intensity. It is precisely in such situations that QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display have the advantage. However, in most films and series this is not something that will immediately stand out.

Xiaomi, like many manufacturers, offers a wide range of picture modes. On the S MiniLED, we can find both IMAX Enhanced and Filmmaker. Our tests were conducted in Filmmaker mode, which theoretically aims to reflect a reference image, but the reality turned out to be somewhat different.

Let's start with the test of SDR content. Here, the television had quite a few issues, especially with white balance. The clearly visible dominance of red made the image look too warm, with all colours taking on a reddish hue. This was particularly noticeable in a comparative scene from the film Star Wars. The brightness characteristics (gamma) also left much to be desired – instead of a smooth transition, we had a real "rollercoaster," with a visible excessive brightening of the screen.

In 4K content, the situation improved significantly. The white balance, although still not perfect, was much more balanced, with a slight dominance of red and blue, but without excessive impact on the overall perception. The EOTF curve (responsible for brightness in HDR) showed some brightening in the brightest parts of the image, which was noticeable, for example, in the test scene from the film Pan that we described earlier. These brightening effects may disturb the precision of the image, but in 4K, the overall effect was much more acceptable than in SDR.

Although Xiaomi S MiniLED can pleasantly surprise with 4K content, its factory settings in SDR require solid adjustments, especially regarding white balance and brightness. This is definitely a television that would benefit from calibration.

Film mode on the Philips OLED811 is sensibly set up straight out of the box. Most colour errors remain small, both in SDR and HDR, so you can sit down to watch without adjusting the settings first. There are no major inaccuracies that would immediately distract from the film. It falls a little short of perfection, though. The white balance shows a slight lack of red compared with green, so whites and greys can have a faint greenish tint. It is not a strong colour cast, but measurements clearly show it. There are also minor brightness deviations in SDR: some parts of the image are slightly brightened, and the darkest shades are not always reproduced evenly. In HDR the TV sticks much closer to the reference, although in places it gently lifts detail from the shadows. These are generally areas that could be improved. The factory film mode provides a good starting point, and calibration will reveal how much more can be gained from it.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that gains a completely new life after calibration. The results are truly outstanding and show how much potential is in this model.

In SDR mode, the white balance is nearly perfectly aligned. The errors are so minimal that in many cases they can be considered negligible. This is confirmed by the results of the Colour Checker palette, where the errors did not exceed a value of 2 ΔE – this is really a rare result. Gamma also performs very well, although at the beginning of the graph there are slight brightenings in the darkest elements. However, this is a minor exception that does not significantly affect the perception of the image.

In 4K HDR materials, the calibration also brought visible improvements, particularly in the white balance. The image looks natural and cohesive. However, the characteristic of brightness remains a problem. EOTF analysis in film materials shows that the television tends to over-brighten or under-darken the smallest elements on the screen. This is a result of limitations in the dimming algorithms we discussed earlier with HDR and contrast testing. Unfortunately, this is a technical characteristic of this model that cannot be completely eliminated.

Despite this minor flaw, the calibration allowed for maximising the capabilities of this television. The image now looks phenomenal, and its quality impresses in every type of material. Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 shows that with the right settings, it can compete with more expensive models.

After calibration the Philips OLED811 produces an image very close to the reference. We managed to correct the white balance and eliminate the slight tint visible in the factory settings. Errors in the Color Checker measurements for SDR and HDR fell to around 1 to 2, and many samples are even below 1. That's a level at which differences from the reference image are hard to spot with the naked eye. We also improved the gamma, and only in the brightest whites is there a slight brightening remaining. In HDR the EOTF curve also tracks the reference closely, although the TV still tends to gently boost the brightness of small elements, such as stars or on-screen text. This gives the picture a little extra sparkle that shouldn't be there, but otherwise there's little to fault. It was already good out of the box, and after calibration we managed to refine most of the remaining shortcomings.

When it comes to tonal transitions in lower quality materials, such as YouTube or television, the Xiaomi S MiniLED is equipped with a feature called "Colour Contour Removal." At the "low" setting, it performs quite well, although its effectiveness can be inconsistent. Sometimes it seems as though the television is struggling to smoothen, which creates a certain dissonance. On the positive side, we did not notice any visible side effects, although due to the instability of this feature, one could suspect that unexpected issues may arise in certain situations.

Image scaling also performs moderately. There is some slight jaggedness, particularly on thin elements like branches, and subtitles can appear slightly jagged. While this may not be very bothersome, a more discerning eye will certainly pick up on these shortcomings. Overall, most users should be satisfied with the quality of scaling and smoothing, but the television will not satisfy those who expect perfection in every frame of the image.

OLED811 handles lower-quality material reasonably well, though it falls well short of perfection. The "Banding reduction" function helps to smooth tonal transitions and on the low setting gives a fairly good result. It does not remove bands between shades as effectively as similar solutions from some competitors, but at least it does not introduce new artefacts in the process. This is a sensible setting for everyday viewing. There is still some dissatisfaction, however, because the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset used here can, in other manufacturers' implementations, cope with the effects of heavy compression more effectively even at similarly low settings. Much therefore depends on how a given manufacturer makes use of its capabilities. We have a few more comments about the upscaling to 4K. There is a lot of detail, but the overall image looks rather soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which robs the picture of a bit of sharpness and clarity. This can be partly corrected with the sharpness slider in the menu, though that will merely accentuate outlines rather than recover detail. On the plus side, there is no overscan; even with an SD signal the TV does not crop the edges of the picture.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is equipped with a panel featuring a refresh rate of 4K@120Hz (1080p@240Hz), which provides sufficient smoothness for both watching dynamic sports broadcasts and playing the latest games. This level of refresh rate makes the image appear fluid, even in the most intense scenes. Additionally, the television offers a “Motion Smoothing” feature that allows you to adjust the way the image is displayed in films. You can choose a more frame-like effect, typical of the cinematic experience, or a smoother one, reminiscent of the so-called “theatrical effect.” This way, every user can tailor the settings to their preferences and enjoy smooth images in their favourite content.

In terms of motion handling the OLED811 performs excellently. At 120 Hz, which is useful for console gaming and watching sport, the picture stays clear and moving objects do not leave noticeable smears. The fast response of OLED pixels helps here; this is clear in the UFO test, even on dark backgrounds. There are also motion smoothing controls. For films you can adjust the level of smoothing to suit your taste, ranging from preserving a cinematic character to much smoother motion. A separate blur reduction setting is useful for fast-paced material such as sports broadcasts.

Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that has a lot to offer gamers. With two HDMI ports boasting 48 Gbps bandwidth, we can easily connect modern consoles or PCs, utilising their full potential. Additionally, the ALLM feature automatically switches the TV to low-latency mode – something we will appreciate during dynamic games without annoying lags. Regardless of what we connect, it functions smoothly, and the television handles various resolutions exceptionally well. There is also the GameBar, which may not look as impressive as the "bars" from the competition, but makes up for it with practicality. It is a simple settings panel that allows us to quickly change the most important options or check statistics – an ideal solution when time is of the essence.

However, we must admit that operating the television itself – or rather finding the gaming features within it – posed a significant challenge for us. We approached the testing of the Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 several times to locate all the necessary options. The hidden menu allowed us to discover the "GameBoost" feature, which enables switching the television to 240 Hz mode, activating VRR, and allows for enabling picture in HGIG mode.

In summary, the Xiaomi S MiniLED 2025 is a television that definitely deserves praise in the gaming hardware category. Its rich set of features – 240 Hz mode, VRR, HGIG, and "GameBoost" – provides an exceptional gaming experience. Unfortunately, the intuitiveness of the menu itself leaves much to be desired and may pose a challenge for the average user.

OLED811 has almost everything you could expect from a TV for gaming. It supports 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, and when connected to a PC it can reach 165 Hz. It also has VRR, which helps prevent screen tearing when frame rates fluctuate, and ALLM, which automatically switches to game mode. So you don't have to dig into the settings every time you power up your console.

Another plus is that HGiG works correctly, so once HDR is set on the console the TV doesn't apply its own changes to image brightness. There's also a Game Bar to check signal parameters and quickly change settings useful while gaming. The list even includes Dolby Vision for gaming, but there is a significant catch, which you can read about below.