Philips OLED770 vs Samsung S85F (WOLED)

The Philips OLED770 does not attempt to compete with the brightest OLEDs on the market, and it would actually be hard to expect that, as it is the lowest model in Philips's series for 2025. In our measurements, it achieved a maximum brightness of about 700 nits, which allows for enjoyment of HDR effects in scenes where light appears point-wise – for example, in the flash of headlights or a starry sky. In such moments, the picture can truly impress. However, it is different when there are more bright elements on the screen. The television, like many cheaper OLEDs, limits brightness in those cases, and the entire picture noticeably dims. This was best seen in a scene from the movie The Meg, where the sun rises behind an oil rig – at that point, the brightness dropped to about 250 nits, nearly three times less. The HDR effect remains visually pleasing, but it is worth being aware that this model performs best in scenes with less intense light. Fortunately, the OLED770 has an ace up its sleeve – the coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette is as high as 99%, so colors in movies and games are saturated and very close to what the creator intended to convey.

For most of the time, let's say in 90% of film scenes, viewers won't see practically any difference between the S85F versions. When small but very strong light points appear on the screen – a lantern in a dark alley, a gunshot, the sun breaking through the clouds – this WOLED panel (like the smaller S85F) performs wonderfully. Our measurements showed peak brightness at around 750 nits. We can confidently state: this is an excellent result that guarantees fantastic HDR effects. The problem arises in a very specific, uncomfortable situation for any OLED. We're talking about the moment when the entire screen has to shine at full power brightly. Examples include a slide with a white background, a ski jump scene, or our test sequences (5) from the movie The Meg. And here, unfortunately, the results diverge quite significantly to the detriment of the WOLED panel variant. Our measurement equipment was able to measure a maximum of about 250 to 300 nits of brightness in such conditions. Just to be clear: the same model on a QD-OLED panel in the same test is almost twice as bright. The second issue: colors. And here we also have to be honest – QD-OLED has a design advantage. Why? It’s simple. QD-OLED creates colors from three components (red, green, and blue) and does not need an additional white subpixel. The WOLED panel we are testing uses this white subpixel mainly to boost overall brightness. The effect is that QD-OLED is able to show a slightly wider color palette, and the colors are a bit "cleaner." But let’s be clear: it’s not that the colors on this WOLED panel are bad! On the contrary, they are actually very good. Coverage of the DCI-P3 film palette at 97% and 71% for the wider BT.2020 palette is still a high standard. We just have to honestly admit that this few percent advantage in color coverage is on the side of QD-OLED technology and may be noticeable in very specific moments.

The first measurements already show that the factory settings of the Philips OLED770 have a lot to improve even in Filmmaker mode. The white balance chart clearly shows a lack of blue, which gives the image a slightly yellowish tint. In practice, the white is not snow-white, but leans towards warmer hues – which some may even like, but from the accuracy perspective, this is a deviation from the norm. The gamma, on the other hand, tends to be on the darker side – the average value is about 2.6 instead of the reference 2.4. In the mid-tones, the image appears muted and more saturated, which may look too "filmic," but takes away some naturalness. However, the biggest issues can be seen in color reproduction. The average error is relatively high, and some colors – especially shades of gray – clearly deviate from what should be seen. In everyday viewing, this means that sometimes colors may look less natural than we would wish.

When it comes to factory color reproduction, our test sample in SDR mode suffered from a slight deficiency in red and yellow color. This resulted in a subtle yellowish tint visible in the shades of white. However, this is not the biggest problem with the S85F. Similar to the QD-OLED panel variant, the biggest issue with this model is the way it presents HDR content. When we look at the EOTF curve graph, it is easy to see that the television has quite significant problems with overly brightening the image. This causes the final picture in many scenes to become very unnatural.

Philips OLED770 has shown signs from the beginning that it houses significant potential, but it was difficult to fully see this in the factory settings. The image was sometimes too warm, and some colors seemed to have lost their naturalness along the way. However, calibration revealed that it is a television very receptive to adjustments – it reacted to every correction and almost immediately unveiled another layer of its capabilities. The white balance was successfully set both in SDR and HDR, eliminating the yellowish glow and presenting a neutral, clear white. Gamma stabilized closer to perfection, allowing midtones to regain their naturalness, and shadows no longer appeared artificially darkened, possibly even with a slight brightening effect. The effect was obvious... Movies are watched with greater ease; the image has cinematic depth, but without the feeling that something is exaggeratedly darkened. However, the most interesting part was the work on colors. Out of the box, the errors were not dramatic but slightly noticeable – skin tones were sometimes too warm, and gray didn’t always have the shade we expected. After calibration, the error values dropped to around 2, and in many cases even below 1. This is a level significantly lower than the threshold of perception for the human eye. In other words, after correction, the colors finally “clicked” into place. Looking at the screen, we had the impression that the television had begun to speak with a full voice. Like an instrument that has finally been well-tuned.

After calibrating in Filmmaker mode, we managed to eliminate most of the unwanted effects. In SDR content, the television performs exemplary, and its color reproduction errors do not exceed a value of 2, which is an excellent result. A bit worse, although still very good, are the HDR quality contents. While we were able to eliminate a significant unnaturalness in the image caused by too high a positioning of the EOTF curve, the most discerning observers may notice that it is not perfectly aligned. It runs slightly below the reference curve, which would suggest that the S85F has slight issues showing all the details in the image. We must point out right away that it is highly unlikely that an average viewer would notice any shortcomings in the image. The final effect after calibration is rated as exemplary.

The problem of the previously mentioned color connections can largely be mitigated by the "distortion reduction" feature, which is an algorithm for smoothing tonal transitions in Philips TVs. It works best at a low setting—effectively eliminating unwanted color bands while not introducing strange artifacts or losing image detail. It's one of those features that is truly worth keeping switched on.

The issue with upscaling is somewhat less favorable. The image from a lower resolution can be too soft, while at the same time, distinctive "jaggies" appear in certain areas. The impression is that the algorithm is trying to reconcile two contradictory directions—smoothing and sharpening—and ultimately hasn't found the golden mean. As a consolation, it's worth noting that the television has no issues with overscan, meaning it doesn't cut off the edges of the image, which sometimes happens with other competing models.

The processing of tonal transitions (gradients) in the S85F is at a high level. The television effectively handles posterization (the "stepping" effect of colors), even with heavily compressed materials, such as from streaming services. However, using this feature requires making a certain compromise. We noticed that the noise reduction algorithm is quite aggressive – even at the lowest setting, it can eliminate natural film grain, which for many viewers is part of the film's aesthetics. The "Standard" setting seems to be the golden mean, not causing visible loss of important details, so we can recommend it. However, we advise against using the "High" level, which removes not only noise but also desired details, such as texture or structure of objects on the screen.

The scaling (upscaling) process of lower resolution content works very well in the S85F. The image is sharp and clear. The only minor imperfection we observed is occasional, slight aliasing on the edges. The television also still exhibits characteristics typical of this manufacturer, such as active "overscan" (slight magnification of the image). This should be kept in mind, especially when watching older materials, as it may result in a minimal cropping of the original frame.

The issue of the panel in the Philips OLED770 is not entirely straightforward. The manufacturer claims a 120 Hz panel, but our measurements showed that the screen can accept a 4K signal even at 144 Hz. This sounds like great news – because who wouldn't want an extra mode for PC gaming at this price? However, the reality turned out to be more complex. With 120 Hz materials, the television behaves like most OLEDs – the picture is absolutely clear, with no trace of ghosting or blurring, making it ideal for both fast-paced games and sports broadcasts. The problem arises only at 144 Hz. Unlike models with official support for that frequency, here we observe the phenomenon of so-called frame skipping. This means that the television is unable to display all frames – some of them are skipped, causing the motion to lose fluidity, and double outlines appear on the screen. The effect resembles the operation of the BFI function, which Philips does not offer in this model anyway.

The S85F is a model with impressive speed. The use of a 120 Hz OLED panel ensures that dynamic scenes, both in games and during sports broadcasts, meet expectations: smoothly, sharply, and without loss of clarity. A key role here is played by the instantaneous pixel response time, which is a natural advantage of OLED technology. Transitions between frames are instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. Moving objects, like a ball on the field or a car in a chase scene, are clear and devoid of the characteristic motion blur typical of LCD panels (the so-called "tail").

If someone is looking for a gaming TV, the Philips OLED770 is a candidate that's hard to ignore. The mere fact that we have an OLED here provides a great starting point – perfect blacks and infinite contrast make evening sessions in atmospheric games look like they’ve been pulled straight from the cinema. On top of that, there’s the Ambilight system, which features LEDs on the back of the TV that extend the image onto the wall behind the screen. The effect is such that even regular gameplay in FIFA can look like a small spectacle, and in horror games, the atmosphere becomes really intense. On the technical side, it’s pretty good as well. The Philips OLED770 supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) up to 120 Hz, has an automatic low latency mode for gamers (ALLM), and if someone is using an Xbox Series X, they can also count on Dolby Vision support in games. You just need to know that in this mode, input lag is slightly higher than standard, although still at an acceptable level. As a bonus, we get the “Game Bar” panel, which is a special tool strip for gamers. It's not the most conveniently designed solution, but it allows you to check key parameters without leaving the game. In total, this presents a picture of a TV that on one hand has all the most important gaming features, and on the other can add something unique – Ambilight. And it’s this mix of technology and visual effect that makes the OLED770 one of the better screens for gaming in a home environment.