PHILIPS PUS9010 (IPS) vs TCL A400 PRO

In the Philips PUS9010 version with an IPS panel, HDR brightness unfortunately falls short compared to the previously tested 55-inch variant with a VA panel. The difference is about 100 nits, which is clearly noticeable given the relatively low values. While the VA version could exceed 500 nits, here the maximum brightness reaches around 400 nits. This level still allows for watching movies and series in HDR, especially on streaming platforms, but the effects are clearly more subdued. Bright elements do not have as much impact, and scenes requiring high luminance appear less impressive. On the positive side, the coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette is commendable. The IPS version offers about 91%, which is roughly 5% more than the variant with the VA panel. This translates to slightly better color saturation in HDR content, despite the lower brightness. Colors can appear more vivid and consistent, particularly in colorful scenes.

The TCL A400 Pro is a moderately bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches about 600 nits. That level already allows for a real HDR effect and in many movies it does produce a noticeably more attractive picture than SDR. However, it is not a level that overwhelms by brightness alone. The A400 Pro is not one of those TVs that "attack" the viewer with a powerful flash in every dramatic scene. The biggest limitation is visible with small bright elements on a dark background. Due to rather aggressive control of the dimming zones, the TV can significantly reduce their brightness — in extreme cases down to around 100 nits. That means small lights, sparks, stars, or single highlights can be much less visible than they should be. That said, this is not done without reason. The A400 Pro does this to keep blacks as deep as possible and to limit haloing around bright objects. It's a deliberate compromise: the TV more often chooses deeper blacks over maximally bright, point-like highlights. On one hand this is understandable, especially with a limited number of dimming zones, but on the other hand you should be aware that the HDR effect will not always be as strong as the peak brightness alone would suggest.

On the plus side, the colors are worth noting. The PFS LED filter used here, marketed by the manufacturer as QLED, produces suitably saturated colors. Our measurements showed about 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and about 74% of BT.2020, which is a solid result for this class.

We assessed color reproduction, as always, using factory settings, focusing on movie mode, which in the case of Philips usually offers the best starting point. This is also a good moment to show how much the same TV model can vary depending on the panel used. Looking at white balance, the overall trend remains similar to the variant with a VA panel. There is still excessive red in the whites, but in the tested unit with an IPS panel, there are also deficiencies in the blue channel. As a result, the image has a slightly different color character, which can be clearly seen in the comparative materials. This is a very good example showing why ready-made settings downloaded from the internet may not always work even within the same model.

However, returning to the assessment itself, this unit performs quite well, especially in SDR content. Color tests show correct saturation and color consistency, without glaring errors that could interfere with everyday viewing. In HDR materials, slight deficiencies in reds are already noticeable, but these are not flaws that completely ruin the perception of the image. The biggest limitations do not stem directly from the colors but rather from whites and blacks. The use of an IPS panel and slightly lowered gamma results in the image being slightly boosted in brightness, while the weak black further affects perceived contrast. This makes the overall look brighter, but at the same time, it loses depth, especially during evening viewing.

As standard, we carried out color measurements in the best-calibrated mode, Filmmaker Mode, the one that is supposed to be closest to the creators’ intent. The A400 Pro, of course, also offers other picture modes, but in practice they suffer from much larger color errors and alter the image character more strongly. We won’t go into those modes in detail in this part of the test. So how does the factory color reproduction perform? In short: really very well. In fact, looking at our measurement results, it’s excellent. Both the white balance and the luminance response were set surprisingly precisely. The errors were so small that during testing we genuinely rubbed our eyes in disbelief. Such good out-of-the-box settings don’t happen often, even in TVs operating in Filmmaker Mode. All the more reason to praise TCL, because the A400 Pro right out of the box can produce an image very close to how the source material should look. The results were so good that you could easily think someone had already paid extra attention to that unit and tried to calibrate it.

Our nitpicking really comes down to just one thing. In SDR content the image was slightly brighter than the reference for a dark room, because the factory gamma was set closer to 2.3 than to 2.4. It’s not a big error and most viewers probably won’t even notice it.

However, it should be noted that we’re talking about our specific review sample. With factory colors there can always be some variation between units, production batches, or screen sizes. So we don’t assume that every A400 Pro will look identical straight out of the box.

After calibration, the image was brought to a really reasonable level. Everything looks coherent and natural, and when it comes to color reproduction, it's hard to definitively state whether we have a VA or IPS panel. This is a good sign, showing that the TV has a solid foundation for further adjustments. It's worth noting the larger color gamut coverage in this variant, which can slightly improve the reception of colorful scenes, especially in HDR content. However, this advantage is largely counterbalanced by the elevated blacks, resulting from the use of an IPS panel. Limited black depth affects perceived contrast, especially when watching in a dark room. As a result, despite the noticeable improvement after calibration, the final assessment remains the same as in the variant with a VA panel. Better colors are not able to fully compensate for the weaker blacks.

Despite its excellent factory tuning, we couldn't resist checking how the TCL A400 Pro would respond to a professional calibration. Since the starting point was so good, we were even more curious whether we could squeeze even more out of this TV. And here we have to boast: we managed to bring our unit to absurdly low color errors. Results below 1 are something you don't see every day, even on very good TVs. Such results are more often associated with professional reference monitors than with a lifestyle TV for the living room. In terms of white balance and color reproduction, the A400 Pro after calibration simply performed outstandingly. The only thing we can pick at after a deeper analysis concerns the brightness behavior. The TV can manipulate luminance levels depending on the content being displayed, and quite often the image is a bit darker than it should be according to the standard. This most likely stems from the way the Mini-LED backlight and local dimming algorithms work in this model. However, that doesn't spoil the overall impression, because in terms of color precision alone the A400 Pro after calibration reached a level we really didn't expect.

In the Philips PUS9010, we find another iteration of the P5 Perfect Picture image processor, which aims to improve the quality of weaker materials. One of the components of this system is the distortion reduction function, responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. It works effectively and actually reduces visible color gradation. Unfortunately, it does so rather aggressively. In practice, it can dull details such as material textures or film grain. This is a clear compromise, so we wouldn't recommend it for movie screenings. It performs much better with looser content, like YouTube or regular television. The P5 processor also handles lower resolution materials quite well. The image is soft, sometimes even too soft, but it can easily be adjusted with the sharpness slider, tailoring the effect to personal preferences. Additionally, the lack of edge cropping in SD materials is a plus, which is still not standard in this class of televisions.

Digital video processing is unfortunately one of the weaker points of the TCL A400 Pro. That doesn't mean the TV performs badly, but it's hard to call it anything clearly above standard. The upscaling itself is adequate: edges are smoothed fairly well, the image doesn't look overly sharp or pixelated, and lower-quality content can be watched without major discomfort. At the same time the overall look is slightly soft and it lacks the precision that the best image processors in more expensive TVs can deliver.

Much worse, however, is its handling of tonal transitions caused by heavy compression. TCL equipped the A400 Pro with a "Gradual Smoothing" feature that in theory should reduce visible color banding and artifacts in lower-quality content. In practice its effectiveness is very limited. It does not improve tonal transitions in any noticeable way, and at higher settings it can also smooth out image details, giving the picture an artificial, slightly blurred character. For that reason we think it's best to leave this feature off. The A400 Pro handles basic image scaling decently, but if you often watch heavily compressed content with visible posterization, this model won't be one of the best choices.

Philips PUS9010 has a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which will be appreciated primarily by sports fans and gamers. This is especially evident in dynamic scenes where motion is sharp, and annoying trailing is nearly absent. When it comes to movies (standard 24 fps), Philips provides us with a proven set of settings known from higher series. Two sliders are used to control motion. The “Smoothness” slider allows you to adjust the image to your taste: at low settings, we maintain a cinematic character, while moving the slider to the right gives us a perfectly smooth, albeit slightly “theatrical” effect. On the other hand, the “Motion Blur Reduction” is a feature made for sports – it ensures that fast objects do not lose details and remain clear.

The TCL A400 Pro is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, but in practice we're most interested in how it performs at 120 Hz. That's the refresh rate used by most consoles today, as well as many sports broadcasts and high-frame-rate content. In this range the TV performs quite well. Motion clarity is really good, especially after properly configuring the motion smoothing. The "Motion Clarity" feature improves smoothness. Its settings include two sliders that let you tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences — separately for lower- and higher-frame-rate material. That way you can achieve either a more cinematic look or a noticeably smoother picture. If you don't want to tweak settings manually, you can use presets such as low, medium, high, cinema, or nature.

The Philips PUS9010 is truly a solid machine for gaming. It has everything that matters: VRR, automatic game mode (ALLM), and support for HGiG. The latter is a great feature—it allows HDR in games to be set exactly as the creators envisioned. The television handles 120 Hz refresh rates effortlessly at every popular resolution (1080p, 1440p, and 4K). It doesn't matter if you connect a PS5, Xbox, or a powerful PC—everything runs smoothly and just as it should. Gamers will also appreciate the Game Bar. It's a quick, clear menu that immediately shows whether low latency mode is active. This is especially useful when frequently switching between different consoles. The experience is completed by Ambilight. Evening sessions with this lighting are on a whole different level; the image seems larger, and dynamic scenes leave an even better impression. Even if someone isn’t a fan of such “gimmicks,” it’s hard to deny that it’s impressive.

When it comes to features for gamers, the TCL A400 Pro performs excellently. The TV has practically everything you can expect from a gaming TV today: 4K support at high refresh rates, VRR, ALLM, correct implementation of HDR formats in games, including Dolby Vision, and HGiG. Because of that it works well with both next-gen consoles and PCs. Another plus is the inclusion of a Game Bar, a special panel with the most important settings for gamers. From it you can quickly check basic signal information, refresh rate, and active features, and also adjust the look and behavior of some settings to your own preferences. This is a solution that may not change picture quality by itself, but it greatly improves the convenience of using the TV while gaming.

The only thing to complain about is the number of full HDMI 2.1 ports. The A400 Pro has only two such ports out of four, and one of them also functions as eARC. In practice this means that if someone wants to connect two next-gen consoles and a soundbar, they may hit some limitations. In that scenario you'll have to either swap devices or use extra equipment, for example an AV receiver or a soundbar with HDMI inputs. Despite this, it's hard not to rate the A400 Pro very highly as a gaming TV. The gaming feature set here is really powerful.