Philips OLED909 vs SHARP JP7765E

The Philips OLED909 impresses with the quality of its HDR effect, achieving up to 1500 nits of peak brightness in tested scenes. This is an excellent result, placing this television among the best OLED models on the market. The MLA matrix, also used in models like the Panasonic Z95A and LG G4, plays a key role here, allowing for exceptionally bright and detailed reproduction of dynamic scenes. However, it's worth noting that in the most demanding scene from the movie The Meg, the brightness drops to around 700 nits. This is a typical phenomenon in OLED technology, where intensely bright full-screen images cause a limitation of luminance. Nevertheless, the HDR effect still looks very good, and the television performs better than most competitors under similar conditions. The wide color gamut coverage also deserves praise. The OLED909 offers 95% coverage of DCI-P3, ensuring the television can display vivid and realistic colors.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly: at first, we were quite surprised. The television is capable of achieving over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rarely seen result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, one can get the impression that we are dealing with truly good equipment. However, unfortunately, we must return to the problem we mentioned earlier regarding local dimming management. When small, bright elements appear on a dark background on the screen (like in the test scenes from Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it is noticeable how poorly the JP7 handles the zones. The television dims them almost to the maximum, stifling the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability makes the image on the JP7 unfortunately lose its appeal in demanding, contrast-heavy films.

As a consolation, it is worth noting that the panel has the potential for good color display. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been implemented here, allowing the coverage of the DCI-P3 palette to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it is mainly based technologically on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles among manufacturers about what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this naming to your judgment. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colors in this panel is simply good.

Like other televisions, the Philips OLED909 has been tested for color reproduction in factory modes. The best mode turned out to be Filmmaker Mode, but despite its name, it is not free of flaws.

The biggest problem is the white balance. Both in HD and 4K HDR content, there is a noticeable dominance of green and red shades, which causes a distinct yellowing of the screen. This effect is particularly visible in test materials, for example in the scene with Tom Cruise in the foreground, where the difference compared to the calibrated image is very clear.

Regarding brightness characteristics, the gamma in HD materials was boosted too much - it was below the reference value of 2.4, which gave the image a "milky" filter and affected the overall clarity. In the case of 4K HDR content, we noticed the opposite phenomenon – there is a clear drop at the beginning of the EOTF curve, indicating problems with reproducing the smallest details in dark scenes. Although the Filmmaker mode offers acceptable quality, noticeable errors in white balance and brightness characteristics show that the television requires additional calibration to fully reveal its potential in color reproduction.

When it comes to out-of-the-box colors, the Sharp JP7 was tested in Film mode, which traditionally offers the most consistent image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results are still far from ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish tint. Another issue was the gamma – during fullscreen scenes, the television provides too much brightness, completely stripping away its cinematic character. All of this translated into color reproduction errors, particularly with shades of gray, which exceeded Delta E 10. Just to remind: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed but not any better. Here, the blue color dominates the white balance, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness reminiscent of aggressive demo modes. Furthermore, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasize the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the television generates an image significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the content.

Philips OLED909 offers tools for image calibration, which significantly improves its quality. After calibrating the Filmmaker Mode, the television presents a much more natural color reproduction. The white balance after calibration looks very good. Although we noticed slight deviations in the blue hue in HD content, the errors fall within acceptable limits, and the image looks much better than in factory settings. The brightness characteristics, including gamma and EOTF, have also been distinctly improved. The television no longer has issues with excessive brightening or darkening of the image. Both dark and light details are now rendered correctly, making the image look very good in every scene. After calibration, the Filmmaker mode in the Philips OLED909 offers excellent image quality that will meet the expectations of even the more demanding users. The calibration fully utilizes the potential of this model.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and truly... the television gained a new life thanks to it, especially in SDR content (YouTube, classic television, series, or older movies). Because we managed to accurately set the white balance and stabilize the gamma, color errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye has trouble detecting discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with really great color accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the content in HDR turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and adjustments to the settings, the television simply did not want to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we cannot find any option that would allow for real control over brightness management (EOTF). Although a significant portion of color errors was reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It's a pity because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is large, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR, you have to come to terms with a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be overcome even with professional equipment.

Philips OLED909 offers a distortion reduction feature aimed at smoothing tonal transitions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this feature leaves much to be desired. Setting it to "Medium" yields some results, but it comes with the risk of blurring essential details in the image. For this reason, we do not recommend using this option unless you are focused on mitigating visible artifacts at the expense of detail.

When it comes to image scaling, the television presents a very pliable image, which may appeal to viewers who prefer a softer image. Those expecting sharper clarity will also find a solution, as image scaling can be adjusted according to individual preferences in the settings.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how the Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the image remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect or cropped edges. Of course, this is not at the level of top models and at times one can notice slight jaggedness on the contours, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the digital image processing itself is significantly worse, as aside from the scaling, it virtually does not exist. In the JP7 menu, we won't find any option that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal reaches the matrix in a very raw form, which, with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube), leads to visible posterization. Either this is a flaw in the software or a very strange design decision, as in earlier Sharp models, this feature was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here we are left at the mercy of what the source provides, without any digital support from the image processor.

The Philips OLED909 with a 144 Hz panel offers excellent image fluidity, which should satisfy both movie lovers and gamers. Additionally, the television is equipped with a smoothing feature called "Motion Style," which allows precise adjustment of image fluidity to personal preferences. In the settings, we find two sliders: "Fluidity," which regulates the fluidity of motion in movies, and "Motion Blur Reduction," which helps eliminate minor artifacts and distortions in dynamic scenes. This feature works well, making even fast movements on the screen clear and readable.

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is very mediocre, and the reason is simple: the television uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it difficult to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in movies using a slider called De-judder. Lower settings produce a more raw, "cinematic" (frame-based) image, while higher settings add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, that is, in the 3-5 range – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while getting rid of the tiring image stutter. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually suggests the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it does not contribute anything to the image and serves more as a placeholder – it is meant to look good in the settings, but technically it should not function on this panel.

The Philips OLED909 is a television that meets practically all the requirements of gamers. Equipped with ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and support for Dolby Vision, it guarantees excellent gaming experiences. Additionally, the television offers very low input lag, ensuring that the response to player movements is instantaneous, which will be especially appreciated by fans of dynamic games.

The television easily supports any resolution at 120 Hz, and even higher refresh rates. The HGiG feature, responsible for the correct display of HDR content in games, works as it should, making the image in game mode balanced and tailored to the guidelines of console manufacturers.

The OLED909 also includes a Game Bar feature that allows for quick previewing and changing of game-related settings. Although the interface of this solution may seem less visually appealing than that of competitors, it serves its purpose well by offering all the most important options in one place.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find:

• ALLM Mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Game Menu: Which is hard to call a full-fledged “Game Bar,” as its functionality is minimal. Besides enabling ALLM, there is only a smoothness enhancer dedicated to games, which we recommend against because it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils the responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when lowering the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another absence is VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to image tearing. The lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard is also very problematic. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to “overshoot” the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in highlights, we end up with an unnaturally over-brightened image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for very casual gamers.