Philips The One (PUS8959 / PUS8919 / PUS8909 / PUS8949 vs Samsung OLED S85F (QD-OLED)

The luminance chart for Philips PUS8959 shows that the television can achieve around 550 nits of brightness, which can be considered a satisfactory level. This brightness allows the effects of HDR to be felt, particularly standing out in more demanding scenes. In the tested patterns, the television performed quite well, even in challenging sequences like those from "Sicario 2". Due to the lack of local dimming, the television does not dim small bright elements, and they shine with the full "power" of the television but at the cost of the silverish blacks we mentioned in the paragraph about blacks. It is also worth praising Philips PUS8959 for its good coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette, which amounts to around 94.5%. This makes the colors vivid and close to the creators' intentions, further enhancing the quality of HDR effects and the viewing experience of high dynamic range content.

As an OLED, the Samsung S85F can really shine – literally. Under favorable conditions, it can generate brightness exceeding 750 nits. This is hugely significant because most movies are created with displays around 1000 nits in mind. In practice, this means that in scenes with moderately large bright elements, the image can look simply fantastic. However, it's not always so rosy. When there is a massive amount of light on the screen – whether it's a vast bright background or an entire screen filled with white – the S85F must tone it down. The brightness can drop by even four times in such scenes. This limitation is known to basically every OLED in this price range, so we don't consider it a particular failing. However, something that deserves praise is what sets this model apart from the competition – color gamut coverage. Thanks to the QD-OLED panel, our colorimeter showed values exceeding 100% DCI-P3 coverage and as high as 86% for the ultra-wide BT.2020 palette. Such results are hard to find even in televisions that cost several times more.

The Philips PUS8959 television was tested in the best, theoretically most precise picture mode – Filmmaker. Although the name suggests cinematic quality, it unfortunately falls far short of the ideal. The biggest issue in this mode is white balance, both in HD and 4K content. It is characterized by a significant dominance of the red color and dips in the green level, resulting in an unnatural color reproduction. For example, white elements of the image have a distinctly pinkish hue, and the green is less intense, causing the overall image to lose its naturalness and color balance. The ColorChecker test confirms these errors – it is clearly visible how the color samples "deviate" from the correct values, which can be best observed on the sample squares that should accurately reproduce colors. The lack of accuracy in this regard affects the realism and fidelity of the image, which is particularly undesirable in Filmmaker mode.

Regarding brightness characteristics, the gamma chart resembles a real roller coaster – with small elements displayed on the screen, the brightness is excessive, causing details to become overly highlighted. Meanwhile, at higher gamma values, the image loses contrast and becomes too dark, making the overall appearance look less dynamic. Similar issues can be noticed in the EOTF characteristics – the television is unable to correctly reproduce the brightness level, negatively affecting the overall image quality.

Samsung, as befits a manufacturer with ambitions, equipped the S85F with a mode called Filmmaker. Its task is simple: to make the colors on the newly purchased television as true to what the director wanted us to see as possible. Sounds great… but, as often happens, a great-sounding theory doesn’t always translate into perfect practice.

In the tested unit, it quickly became apparent that the image – due to an excess of blue and red – looked as if someone had overdone the saturation a bit. As a result, quite significant color errors appeared, particularly in 4K content. To make matters worse, there was a brightness issue – the S85F could brighten most scenes more than it should, taking away their intended mood.

Fortunately, Samsung televisions, including the S85F, offer an impressive number of settings for advanced calibrators. This means we could check what this panel is truly capable of when it gets into the right hands.

After calibration, the Philips PUS8959 television shows a significant improvement in color reproduction, especially in HD content. The white balance is exceptionally even, and the Delta E error values are below 1, which can be considered an outstanding result. Additionally, the gamma, which is responsible for brightness in lower-quality materials, performs very well, maintaining a stable level at 2.4, leading to an appropriate balance between bright and dark areas of the image.

Regarding 4K HDR materials, a significant improvement is also noticeable. The white balance, although not as perfect as in HD content, no longer shows issues with excessive red exposure, making the image appear more natural and harmonious. Unfortunately, in the EOTF characteristics, it is difficult to speak of any significant improvement, due to the design limitations of the television that prevent significant enhancement in this aspect.

Nevertheless, the overall performance is much better after calibration, making the Philips PUS8959 one of those televisions where it is truly worth spending time on precise calibration to achieve satisfactory image quality.

Thanks to the vast number of settings in the menu, we managed to bring the S85F almost to perfection. White balance in SDR content? Literally perfect – deviations do not exceed a value of "1". Thus, it can be confidently said that in materials with not very high dynamics, we have an image close to reference.

In HDR content, minor issues did arise, but they are of little significance in practice – most errors fall below the threshold of perception, which is a value of "3". We also managed to tame the S85F regarding brightness management – the EOTF curve, even in films, adheres to an almost perfect line. This is one of those cases where after calibration, you can comfortably forget about the settings and simply enjoy movies and series at the highest level.

When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, the "Distortion Reduction" function at the minimal setting performs quite well, effectively smoothing tonal transitions without excessive influence on other elements of the image. In tests, I did not notice that the reduction negatively affected the image structure, such as film grain or object details – everything remains in place, which is a big plus for users who appreciate the natural look of film materials.

On the other hand, regarding digital processing, the image looks quite good, although it is characterized by very softened contours, giving it an almost "misty" quality. This effect can evoke mixed feelings – some users may enjoy the fluidity and delicacy of this type of presentation, while others may find it too gentle, losing detail. It is a matter of individual preferences, but it must be admitted that the Philips PUS8959 provides quite subtle yet effective tools for improving tonal transitions without excessive interference in the natural character of the image.

The tone transition smoothing feature in the S85F works really well – it can completely eliminate the problem of visible bands in very poor quality materials, even from YouTube. Unfortunately, even the lowest level of this option comes with compromises. Noise reduction is aggressive enough that it can smooth out film grain, which many of us consider an element of the cinematic atmosphere. At the "Standard" level, we did not notice that this feature removed anything significant from the image, so we can recommend this setting. On the other hand, the "High" level is a different story – it can smooth not only noise but also fine, desirable details such as the texture of objects.

When it comes to image scaling, the S85F performs very well. The material looks sharp, and the only minor imperfection is slightly visible contour jaggedness. And there’s the ongoing issue with Samsung televisions – overscan. This can cause some scenes to have their frames slightly trimmed, which is worth keeping in mind when watching very old content.

Philips TV PUS8959 is equipped with a 120 Hz panel, which should satisfy more demanding users, especially those who love watching dynamic sports broadcasts or playing games. Such a high refresh rate allows for a significantly smoother image, being a key aspect during dynamic scenes and fast actions.

For those who prefer watching movies, the TV offers an additional motion smoother that allows adjusting the frame rate of the film according to personal preferences. The Philips PUS8959 has a 10-step adjustment for the functions called "Smoothness" and "Motion Blur Reduction." The "Smoothness" function is responsible for increasing the number of frames through interpolation, making motion on the screen smoother, resembling the effect of so-called "soap opera." Meanwhile, "Motion Blur Reduction" focuses on minimizing blurring and improving motion sharpness, which is particularly noticeable in dynamic sequences, such as action scenes or fast sports shots.

S85F is a hellishly fast television – and this is not just an empty catchphrase for effect. Thanks to the 120 Hz OLED panel, dynamic scenes, whether in games or while watching a live match, look exactly as they should – smoothly, sharply, and without the feeling that something is "escaping" from the frame. The lightning-fast pixel response time, typical of OLEDs, plays a crucial role here. Transitions between frames are practically instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. A ball flying across half the field? A car racing in a chase scene? Everything here is clear and free of the characteristic "trail" found in LCDs.

This is exactly what we expect from a good OLED – zero compromises in motion fluidity. The S85F gives the feeling that regardless of the pace of the action, we can focus on what is happening on the screen, rather than on the imperfections of the image.

Philips PUS8959 is a television that will certainly satisfy gaming enthusiasts. It supports most modern technologies useful during gameplay, such as HGiG, allowing for better HDR effect reproduction in games. As a result, the image is closer to what the game developers intended to achieve.

The television also supports 120 Hz image display, ensuring smoothness and dynamism, which is particularly important during action games and sports broadcasts. The Game Bar feature provides quick access to game settings, making it easier to adjust the image according to user preferences without interrupting gameplay.

Unfortunately, the Dolby Vision mode does not offer low input lag, which may be noticeable during dynamic scenes. Nevertheless, thanks to the HGiG feature and high refresh rate, the Philips PUS8959 remains an attractive choice for gamers, offering good image quality and appropriate smoothness during gameplay.

The S85F has practically everything it needs to become the dream screen for gaming. Four fully-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR, ALLM, a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all parameters – and on top of that, a gem in the form of Game Motion Plus. This is a motion interpolator that makes animation in games more enjoyable, with only a slight increase in input lag. This is a rare combination, and Samsung deserves a big plus for it.

Now comes the moment where we have to complain a bit. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung TVs is already standard, so there's no point in hoping (unless something changes in a few years) – but the disappearance of HGiG after the software update is something that’s hard to explain. HGiG (which stands for HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a mode that allows for precise reproduction of brightness in HDR games, according to the creators' intention. Without it, HDR calibration on the console becomes less precise, so we might end up with an image that's too dark in the shadows or overly bright.

Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – and we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become almost the perfect TV for gamers.