Philips PUS8209 vs Dreame S100

Unfortunately, this is where the problems begin. A maximum brightness of 280 nits is definitely too low to feel the true HDR effect. In practice, the image resembles standard SDR more, so it's hard to speak of deeper visual experiences. On the plus side, the color gamut coverage is commendable – 91.4% DCI-P3 is a result that will be sufficient for most films. It must also be noted that the image is stable and there are no issues with sudden changes in brightness or colors. Looking at the overall picture, HDR on this TV is more of a formality than an actual added value. If we are looking for true HDR emotions, this model may not meet expectations.

The Dreame S100 is a relatively bright television. In movie mode, the brightness we measured reached about 600 nits. This is a really good result, although not the highest, considering the capabilities of the competition in this price range. In fullscreen scenes, it is evident that the television can generate an image that strikes with brightness. Unfortunately, when more complex scenes appeared on the screen, the local dimming algorithm in this model tried above all to maintain the deepest blacks. However, this came at the expense of HDR effect – and in a drastic way. In such scenes, the brightness of bright elements dropped below 100 nits, which is a truly tragic result, far from any HDR effect. This aspect can be improved, though not without any "buts." It is enough to change the local dimming setting in the television's menu, but then the blacks in such scenes simply turn gray. It’s a pity that Dreame could not refine the local dimming algorithms better, and the S100 is another example that the mere number of local dimming zones does not always translate into better image quality. As a consolation, it is worth adding that the Dreame S100 is advertised as a "QLED" television, although in reality it utilizes a PFS LED filter. As a result, the colors are appropriately saturated, and the color gamut coverage we measured exceeded 94% of the DCI-P3 palette.

Philips PUS8209 offers many picture modes, but the best among them, without a doubt, is the Filmmaker mode. Despite its proud name, it has its clear issues. In the case of HD content, the white balance is characterized by a strong dominance of red, causing the image to be significantly warmer than it should be in reality. The brightness characteristic (gamma), although correct in the midtones, has serious problems at the beginning and end of the graph. Drops in the shadows lead to a loss of details in dark areas, and highlights in bright areas make some elements look unnatural.

For high-quality 4K HDR content, the situation reverses. In this case, blue dominates, leading to an effect of artificial image enhancement, reminiscent of unnatural store settings. Such an image looks unappealing and inconsistent with the creators' intentions. An additional problem is the EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in HDR materials. It deviates significantly from the reference chart, making the image appear too dark, robbing the depth and detail of HDR content.

Against this background, the errors in the Color Checker test and deviations in color palette reproduction are exceptionally large, which negatively impacts the overall image quality. The Filmmaker mode, although the best among the available options, requires significant corrections to fully deliver the director's vision.

We tested the Dreame S100 in "movie" mode and definitely recommend using this setting for watching all kinds of content. Interestingly, in the deeper settings of the TV, we also find a dedicated "Filmmaker" mode, which is available today from almost every manufacturer. However, in the case of the Dreame S100, we do not recommend using it – it blocks all image-related settings and does not allow any configuration in the menu - not even motion smoothing. So how do the factory colors perform on the S100? Not too bad, but also not great. The TV itself was quite heavily tinted with blue components, which is clearly visible in our white balance measurements. This caused the image to be artificially brightened, and the colors had a slight bluish tint. This is confirmed by the Color Checker palette, which showed how color samples leaned towards blue, generating quite significant color errors. The image in HDR mode looked definitely better, where color errors were not as prominently visible, though they still fell far from ideal. Here, the white balance was also too heavily skewed towards the blue color, which caused quite significant errors in color reproduction.

After calibration, the white balance for HD and 4K content has improved significantly. Although we did not achieve a perfectly flat characteristic, the effect is definitely better than before. The image on the television no longer appears artificially warm or overly cold, which significantly enhances the naturalness of the displayed content. The brightness characteristic (gamma) has also been adjusted - the biggest issues at the beginning and end of the graph have been mitigated. The EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K HDR material, has been stabilized, eliminating problems with excessive dimming of the image. In the color palette test, some imperfections can still be seen due to average coverage of a wide color gamut, which is a limitation of the hardware itself. Nevertheless, the final effect is clearly better than before calibration - the image looks more natural and approaches the expectations for the Filmmaker mode.

The Dreame S100 turned out to be a device very susceptible to professional calibration. In its menu, we found a whole array of advanced options that allowed us to effectively correct factory errors. Thanks to advanced white balance correction – both in SDR and HDR content – we completely eliminated excess blue components. The image immediately became much more natural and pleasant to view. After fully tuning the colors, errors in the Color Checker test dropped below Delta E values of 2-3. For the average viewer, this means that any color distortions have become nearly impossible to notice with the naked eye. This is a really nice surprise, as often new brands in the television market have significant problems with proper implementation and functioning of sliders in the calibration menu. Here, everything worked as it should. The only thing we need to criticize is the way the television manages its brightness in HDR. Due to the specific nature of the local dimming algorithms, we observed anomalies in the EOTF curve we measured. In the areas where high highlights should appear, there is a slight uplift of the curve above the reference line. In practice, this results in unnatural brightening of some of the brightest elements in movies or games. Despite this minor flaw, professional calibration brings a huge, very positive change to this model.

The television offers a "Distortion Reduction" feature that effectively improves the gradation of tonal transitions, especially when set to the minimum level. Unfortunately, it comes at a price – the feature also smooths out details like the texture of materials. On the plus side, the operation of this option does not negatively affect the film grain, which remains intact.

As for image scaling (upscaling), the television generates a plastic, soft image that generally looks pleasant. However, in the background, one can sometimes notice issues with aliasing on some elements, such as branches or fine details, which can lower the quality of the reception. Despite these minor imperfections, the overall experience of scaling is satisfactory.

The scaling and digital processing in the Dreame S100 is handled by a technology that the manufacturer proudly calls Dreamind™ Pro AI. However, it is essential to clarify that this is not a proprietary processor but merely a marketing name for a chip from MediaTek – specifically, the model MT5889. Unfortunately, we are talking about quite an outdated unit, from the time when MediaTek lagged significantly behind the competition in terms of performance. This, unfortunately, has a direct impact on the image, as this chip is responsible for that as well. The upscaling in the S100 is rather mediocre, and the processor tends to strongly and artificially sharpen edges (fortunately, this can be somewhat tempered with the sharpness slider in the menu). In the options, we also find a "Contour Smoothing" function, which theoretically is supposed to improve tonal transitions. In practice, it brings almost no improvement – setting it to any level rarely eliminates visible color banding but can unnecessarily blur elements of the image that should remain sharp.

A separate problem is the phenomenon of overscan (clipping the edges of the frame), which is almost always visible here. Although there is an option to set the screen to display the full frame in low-resolution materials, it requires activating the aforementioned Filmmaker mode. And as you already know, this mode completely blocks any other adjustments in the image menu. In our test tables, we noted that the television offers the option to disable overscan, as technically such a feature exists in the system – however, in everyday use, with reasonable image settings, you will not be able to take advantage of it.

The 60 Hz panel in the Philips PUS8209 is mainly suited for watching movies, but there is also a certain sense of dissatisfaction here. The TV does not offer any motion smoothing feature that would allow adjusting the smoothness of the picture to individual preferences, which may be disappointing for some users.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the Dreame S100 performs really well. It features a panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate, although in reality, the vast majority of users using it in a traditional way will still be limited to 120 Hz (because today's equipment, apart from PCs, only allows for such values). Thanks to the high refresh rate, the image in motion remains really sharp, largely due to the well-functioning MEMC fluidity enhancer. In the menu, we find predefined modes that allow the TV to efficiently add artificial frames, which effectively improves the fluidity of dynamic sports shots, but also helps get rid of image stuttering in film and series materials recorded at 24 frames.

The Philips PUS8209 offers basic functions useful for gamers, such as variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and a Game Bar that makes managing settings easier.

Unfortunately, due to the 60 Hz panel, the television will not meet the expectations of more demanding gamers who are counting on higher fluidity and precision of the image. Additionally, this model does not support any HDR mode dedicated to games, such as HGiG or Dolby Vision, which further limits its capabilities in this regard.

The Dreame S100 seems almost like the perfect screen for gamers. The TV is equipped with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gbps, which means that features such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) synchronization in the range of 48-144 Hz work seamlessly on consoles. It also has a well-designed game panel (Game Bar) that allows you to continuously check the most important parameters – from active picture modes to the number of frames rendered by the console, and even the ability to add a crosshair in the center of the screen. All of this looks great on paper, but the biggest issue with the S100 is the implementation of HDR mode in games. The TV does not have a properly implemented HGiG format. As a result, an unsuspecting user may incorrectly configure the console during the initial setup of the display. A wrong configuration can lead to a picture that is too dark or too bright (as a guideline: we suggest setting the brightness in the Xbox console menu to about 600 nits, and in the PS5 to 12 clicks). The Dolby Vision format is also problematic; it often just would not activate at all when using the XBOX – Dreame S100 line. And when it was managed to be activated, gaming was impossible due to a very high input lag that often exceeded 100ms. If the manufacturer can improve the HDR issue in games through an update, the S100 will be truly excellent equipment for gamers. For now, however, one must reckon with compromises.