Philips PUS8209 vs TCL C7L

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.

TCL C7L is undoubtedly an extremely bright television. In synthetic tests on static images, it can achieve peak brightness levels of around 2800 nits. This is an absolutely phenomenal result, considering the price range it falls into. Unfortunately, the tests with real film scenes are not as spectacular as the measurements of white squares. The brightness in actual HDR shots drops to around 1200 nits in the C7L model. This is still a very good result, as the vast majority of contemporary films are mastered at such a value. However, when small, pinpoint elements appear on the screen, the brightness of those details drastically drops – even to about 400 nits – which diminishes the HDR effect somewhat. The television does this intentionally to maintain a better level of black and prevent a huge glare of light. This is somewhat explainable, but it also shows that Mini LED technology is not completely uncompromising in this regard. As for the HDR effect itself – alongside brightness, colors are obviously key here. And these, thanks to the use of new, "super" quantum dots, are simply outstanding and among the best on the market. The television can achieve around 90% coverage of the ultra-wide color gamut BT.2020 and 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut, easily matching the best RGB MINI-LED screens. Best of all, the C7L can maintain such high color saturation regardless of the scene being displayed, which is often problematic in competing RGB Mini-LED televisions.

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.

When it comes to colors straight out of the box, a new feature in TCL televisions – including the C7L model – is the presence of a new picture mode called Filmmaker Mode. This is significant news, as such a mode was previously unavailable from this manufacturer. By design, as the name itself suggests, the image in this setting is intended to be presented with the full intent of the film's creator. After our tests, we can confirm that it is undoubtedly the best built-in mode on this television if you care about faithful color reproduction straight out of the box. However, we definitely wouldn't say that it is perfect. Like most devices on the market, this C7L also had its factory flaws. The white balance in Filmmaker Mode strayed into a slightly greenish-yellow hue, mainly due to an excess of green component and a noticeable lack of blue color. Of course, for the average viewer, this may not be a drastic flaw, but if you care about perfect whites, natural skin tones, and fully unlocking the potential of these new "super" quantum dots, this television is in need of professional calibration.

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.

After conducting a professional calibration, we managed to significantly improve the situation in the factory Filmmaker Mode. Following our adjustments, the errors in the ColorChecker test and across the entire wide color gamut dropped below the threshold of human perception – that is, below a value of 3, which is indeed a very good result. The TCL C7L definitely benefits from such an intervention in terms of color fidelity, and it's hard to dispute that. However, the management of brightness in HDR content post-calibration looks a bit worse. As I described earlier – even though we set up this model properly, when we turn on actual film scenes on the TV, it manages its brightness in a rather peculiar way. It often brightens certain elements on the screen contrary to the creator's intent, which is clearly visible in the EOTF graphs measured in specific films. Despite this defect – or rather a specific characteristic of this television – one cannot take away from it that after calibration, the C7L was able to reproduce the colors completely accurately.

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.

This point can be, in a sense, called the Achilles' heel of the C7L model. Unfortunately, this TV uses an older MediaTek chipset – the Pentonic 700 – which has never been known for exceptional digital image processing. This is clearly evident in the operation of the gradual smoothing feature, which is responsible for reducing jagged edges and removing digital noise. It simply works very poorly – after setting it to low, its effectiveness is practically nonexistent. The only small plus here is that the algorithm doesn't spoil anything additional in the image and doesn’t forcibly blur details. The upscaling, that is, scaling the image from lower resolutions to 4K, performs a bit better. It is simply adequate and doesn’t stand out in any particular way compared to the competition. However, it cannot be denied that the C7L would gain significantly in this aspect if the manufacturer decided to use the newer Pentonic 800 processor, which is now increasingly found in many competitive models.

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.

TCL C7L features a native 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which can even ramp up to 288 Hz at lower resolutions when using a PC. These are, of course, very high values and commendable on paper, but in everyday life, it's worth remembering that nearly all dynamic content you display on this television will still be running around a maximum of 120 Hz. To harness this dynamics, we find a motion smoothing system in the TV's menu called “Motion Clarity.” It offers several predefined modes, including a user mode, which we definitely recommend setting manually using our tried-and-true guides on our YouTube channel. There we have two key sliders at our disposal. The first one, “Blur Reduction,” is responsible for reducing blurring and improving sharpness in dynamic 60fps materials, such as sports broadcasts. The second slider, “Flicker Reduction,” allows for the addition of artificial frames in movies and series recorded at cinematic 24 or 30 frames per second. This, of course, completely eliminates the irritating stutter effect during camera movement shots.

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.

When it comes to gaming, the TCL C7L is simply an outstanding television for gamers. With the presence of two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports at 48 Gbps, we have access to all the key features that console owners and powerful PC users require. It offers a well-functioning ALLM mode with very low input lag and VRR frame synchronization that operates impressively from 48 up to 288 Hz. Importantly, unlike some competitors, TCL has ensured proper implementation of the console HDR10 HGIG profile and support for Dolby Vision in games. This is complemented by a well-designed gaming panel, the Game Bar, which even allows for customization of its appearance and theme to perfectly match the aesthetics of your console.

The only thing that can – and indeed must – be criticized here is the fact that the television offers only two full HDMI 2.1 ports, while the other two are older HDMI 2.0. This creates quite a significant logistical problem. Why? Because one of those fast ports also supports the eARC audio return channel. In practice, this means that if you connect a soundbar or home theater system to the television, you will only have one free HDMI 2.1 port left. If you have two consoles or a console and a powerful computer at home, unfortunately, you will have to give up something or constantly juggle the cables at the back of the unit while maintaining convenient audio system control.