PHILIPS PUS9060 vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

The One is bright enough to enjoy movies recorded in HDR format. The average brightness of this model is about 500 nits, so we can count on a pleasant viewing experience for movies from streaming platforms without any issues. Of course, it could always be better, because when it comes to brightness, there is never too much for this type of content. Unfortunately, a disappointing surprise may be the DCI-P3 color gamut coverage offered by the PUS9060. Although the manufacturer boasts about using a QLED filter here (it’s actually PFS LED), it's hard to talk about any positive effects of its operation. 85% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage is definitely not a level to brag about in 2025 – especially in a television advertised as QLED.

Let's talk now about how this TV shines. If you expect dazzling light effects, we need to cool your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most movie scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. That's not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the sense of that famous "high dynamic range" that flagship products offer. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a "light monster," it makes up for it in another key category: colors. Here, the PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers hide under the name QNED/NanoCell. Thanks to this process, the TV offers a significantly wider color palette than classic LCD designs. In our tests, the coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does this mean for you? That even at lower brightness, when watching movies in HDR, the colors will be vivid, deep, and properly saturated. The image is not washed out but lush, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

We tested the PUS9060 in the best factory mode it employs – of course, we’re talking about movie mode. Unfortunately, the best in this case doesn’t mean good. The picture in this mode was distinctly yellowed and leaned towards orange tones. The white balance on this TV was definitely too warm, resulting in an artificial, somewhat "sun-kissed" look for the entire scene. This directly translated to significant color errors, which in the worst cases exceeded a delta E value of 6 – thus, they were visible to the naked eye. The situation was the opposite in HDR mode, where the picture became too blue and too cold in appearance. Additionally, there was a slight increase in brightness – the gamma curve and EOTF suggested that the TV slightly brightens the image, which was also evident in the comparison photo below.

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, it should offer the same picture regardless of the version. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with a VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This TV “out of the box” serves us a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. The overall image is very warm, almost hot. Many users might describe this as a “too cinematic” image, approaching sepia. Additionally, there's the issue of the gamma curve – the TV tends to slightly, artificially brighten scenes (the gamma is too low), causing the picture to lose some of its plasticity. The good news is that these are not flaws of the panel, but merely of the software. As always in our tests, we carried out a professional calibration, which completely eliminated these shortcomings, restoring the natural white balance and correct saturation.

Thanks to calibration in movie mode, we managed to completely eliminate the yellow-orange hue, which significantly improved the reception of the entire scene. The image has become much more visually pleasant, although it still falls short of reference settings. It may now appear slightly bluish, but it is still a significant improvement compared to the factory settings.

Unfortunately, we could not significantly improve the brightness characteristics, but that is more about the construction of the TV itself – the lack of local dimming limits the possibilities for precise brightness management. The PUS9060 simply cannot dynamically adjust luminance like more advanced models do. Nonetheless, after calibration, the overall reception is much more enjoyable, especially in film materials.

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initially too warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The TV stopped artificially brightening scenes, which added depth to the image. The biggest improvement is visible in SDR content, meaning when watching regular television, YouTube, or in games without HDR. Here, the QNED80A shows its class – color reproduction errors (DeltaE) dropped below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means that the errors are practically unnoticeable to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties begin with HDR content. Even though we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve graph (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the TV still "interprets" the image in its own way. This is due to the nature of the edge-lit local dimming used and the fact that LG gives the calibrator a very limited range of control over this parameter. In short: the TV struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is much more accurate and pleasant to the eye than in factory settings, even if it still falls short of studio ideal.

In the PUS9060, we find the latest version of the image processor called P5 Perfect Picture, which is designed to improve the picture - especially the imperfect ones. The TV features a distortion reduction function, which smooths out tonal transitions, that is, those "color joins" mentioned earlier. And this function does so very effectively - there is no strong color gradation, but unfortunately, it works aggressively enough that it sometimes dims desired elements, such as material textures or film grain. So this can be considered a compromise. We would not recommend using this function for movies, but for more casual content - such as YouTube or regular television - absolutely.

The P5 processor also improves the quality of lower resolution images, and it does this quite effectively. The test image with the model is very soft - sometimes even too much - but this can be easily adjusted with the sharpness slider to match personal preferences. It is also pleasing that the TV does not cut off edges in SD content - which unfortunately still happens in some TV models.

In this category, the QNED80A proves to be a real "dark horse." It's a fantastic, affordable television for those who often watch lower quality materials – for example, from traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling exceptionally well, meaning it enhances low resolution to native 4K. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and most importantly – not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality material. This feature works really effectively, eliminating the annoying "banding" of colors in heavily compressed video. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember that we are not dealing with a top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system may struggle and introduce minor artifacts or distortions. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth giving this feature a chance, as in most cases, the improvement in quality is noticeable to the naked eye.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is equipped with a 4K display with a 144 Hz refresh rate, so we can confidently say that it is suitable for both watching sports and playing games. And indeed, it is. But what about movies that are most often recorded at 24 frames? Like most of the TVs we tested with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and higher, the PUS9060 offers two sliders in the motion smoothness options. The “Smoothness” slider allows you to adjust the effect in movies – you can set the image to be smoother, resembling a theatrical effect (higher settings), or more cinematic, with a slight “jump” in frame rate (lower settings). Additionally, there is a function called "Motion Blur Reduction," which reduces blurring – and this is a very useful feature, especially when watching sports.

We move on to a matter that may be decisive for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This TV is equipped with a panel that has a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There's no point in hiding it – at this price, we expected more because we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for similar money. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strong suit of this screen. Fortunately, LG has equipped the TV with a proven smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite well with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: motion becomes smoother while still looking natural, without the artificial "TV theater" effect.

The PHILIPS PUS9060 is a true gaming monster – it has practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming television. It features VRR, ALLM, and also includes HGiG implementation, which helps set up HDR in games as the developers intended. The TV supports every possible resolution at 120 Hz, including 1080p, 1440p, and full 4K – so regardless of whether you’re playing on Xbox, PS5, or a PC, everything works as it should. There is also a simple Game Bar, which is a special menu for gamers that allows you to quickly check if the ALLM mode is indeed functioning in the lowest latency setting.

And of course – Ambilight TV. Let's be honest – without LEDs on the back, it’s not a true gaming device. 😉 The multicolored backlighting can really enhance the atmosphere, especially in the evening. It may not be to everyone's taste, but younger gamers will be thrilled – because it simply looks impressive.

Since we have established that the QNED80A is a 60Hz panel television, we must say it directly: we will not be playing here at 120 frames per second in any resolution. Does this disqualify the device in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially for "casual" gamers. LG has decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing in quite a few useful features. We have support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) ranging from 48-60Hz and an automatic game mode ALLM, which quickly reduces input lag upon detecting a console. We manage all of this through a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu (Player Panel), which has already become LG's trademark. The manufacturer deserves big credit for consistency regarding HDR. Although the television does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a moderately bright screen, HDR gaming is clear, and details in shadows and highlights are accurately reproduced, rather than "cut off."