TCL C655 Pro vs Philips OLED910

In the HDR effect quality category, the TCL 655 PRO television shows decent capabilities, achieving 550 nits of peak brightness. This allows for enjoyment of HDR effects, which is clearly visible in scenes such as the first from the movie Life of Pi or the last frame from The Meg. However, the limited number of dimming zones causes some problems. While in bright scenes the television performs better than its lower model, in more demanding scenes, such as the second and fourth scenes from Sicario 2, it struggles. The dimming algorithm aims for deep blacks, but at the cost of brightness – which in these moments leads to a decrease in brightness by as much as half. In these more challenging scenes with small elements, it is hard to find any praise, and the HDR effect resembles rather SDR. Nonetheless, the coverage of the color palette deserves commendation, which, like in the version without the PRO suffix, is at a very good level.

OLED910 is simply an absurdly bright television for an OLED. All thanks to the new panel from LG Display, the Tandem RGB OLED, which Philips has dubbed its "META OLED." It is this panel that allows for over 2000 nits of brightness in films, which was previously completely unattainable in OLEDs. The way the television handles full-screen scenes drenched in bright light is also commendable. Usually, in OLEDs, brightness drops significantly, but here it remains at an excellent level - around 1400 nits. These are almost reference values, and combined with the great color gamut reproduction at 99% DCI P3 and 82% BT.2020, it gives us an HDR effect that can confidently be called one of the best in the world.

Each of our TV tests is conducted in movie mode, which usually offers the best color reproduction. Nevertheless, even this mode is not free from problems, as we noted with the TCL 655 PRO model.

In the case of HD content, the white balance clearly shifts towards red, and this effect becomes particularly noticeable in a scene from Star Wars, where the white elements of the scenery take on a pink hue. For 4K HDR material, the situation looks better, but there is a tendency to excessively enhance the blue color. As a result, the image can appear artificially sharp, which proves to be uncomfortable for the eye over a longer period. The brightness characteristic also leaves much to be desired. The Gamma chart indicates serious difficulties with excessive brightening, causing the overall presentation to look washed out. Additionally, the EOTF curve reveals significant issues with the reproduction of very small elements - they are excessively dimmed, as we detailed in the paragraph regarding HDR effects.

Unfortunately, when it comes to color reproduction right out of the box, the Filmmaker mode on the OLED910 performs poorly. The television overly emphasizes the color blue, and at times it almost looks like a store mode. It gives the impression that the manufacturer hasn't quite calibrated the device properly. The result is that colors look unnatural, and the overall effect resembles a somewhat exaggerated display from a market showcase. HDR content looks much better, where aside from a slight loss of detail in blacks, it's hard to find fault with anything. The problem is that in everyday viewing, it is the SDR materials that matter the most – and on the OLED910, they simply look bad and are far from what we would expect from a television of this class.

After calibrating the TCL 655 PRO television, a noticeable improvement in white balance can be observed, having completely eliminated the tendency for the screen to have an excessive pink hue, which was previously visible in factory mode. The image has taken on more natural tones, especially in white and bright elements, positively affecting the overall perception of the picture. As for brightness characteristics, the Gamma chart has also improved – the screen is no longer excessively bright, which previously made the image look washed out. Nevertheless, there are still some issues with the EOTF curve that are difficult to eliminate due to the design of the television and its limited number of dimming zones. These limitations prevent achieving ideal results in this regard. However, despite this minor flaw, the overall effect after calibration is truly outstanding, providing high image quality and very good color reproduction.

Fortunately, it quickly turned out that it was not the panel that was responsible for the issues, but rather the way Philips had calibrated the OLED910 from the factory. After calibration, the television displayed its full potential, and only then could we see what the new panels produced by LG Display were truly capable of. We primarily corrected the white balance and brightness characteristics, which allowed us to tame the excessive blue and give the image a natural look. The final effect can be described as excellent. Errors on the Color Checker palette rarely exceeded a value of 3, which in practice means an image close to perfection and colors presented in accordance with the creators' intentions. In SDR content, the effect was remarkable, and in HDR, the improvement was even more noticeable – gradients became cleaner, and colors fuller and more believable. After calibration, the OLED910 transformed from a disappointing television into equipment that can easily be called reference-level in terms of color reproduction.

The TCL 655 PRO television handles tonal transitions in lower-quality materials quite well. The "Gradual Smoothing" feature at a low setting effectively smooths out tonal transitions; however, this comes at the cost of losing some important details, such as the texture of objects. A positive aspect is that it does not negatively affect film grain, which helps maintain the natural look of the image.

In the context of digital processing, the television adds artificial sharpness. This may appeal to users who prefer a more vivid image. However, those who favor a softer, subtler look may find this to be a drawback. Additionally, a downside is the image cropping due to overscan, which limits the field of view and trims the edges of the frame. This can be problematic in certain scenes - e.g., news tickers.

The previously visible color artifacts can largely be eliminated thanks to a feature called "distortion reduction." Similar to the OLED820, it's best to set it to a medium level, as it then produces quite decent results – smoothing out unwanted tonal transitions while not taking away too many details from the image. Although there may be times when the effect is a bit too aggressive, it can generally be considered a useful feature for everyday viewing.

As for image scaling, the OLED910 performs really well. The test material with the model had a characteristic soft look typical of Philips – at times even too soft – but the sharpness slider can be adjusted at any moment to tailor the image to personal preferences. It's also worth noting that the TV has no issues with overscan, which still occurs in some competing models. It's a small detail, but it's pleasing because it means that all content, even the oldest, is displayed as it should be.

The TCL C655 PRO TV is equipped with a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, making it ideal for watching movies. Additionally, the "Flicker Reduction" feature allows users to adjust the fluidity of the image, giving them the choice between smoother motion or a cinematic, choppy effect. Moreover, the TV handles lower resolution content well, such as Full HD and 2K, offering a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which will certainly appeal to gamers who can enjoy smoother images, albeit at the cost of lower resolution.

The OLED910 is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It's a bit disappointing that Philips didn't choose 165 Hz, because we know that the panel used in it is capable of that. On the other hand, such a bonus would mainly benefit PC gamers, as in everyday use, the most important refresh rate is 120 Hz, which is fully sufficient. Combined with the advantages of an OLED panel – lightning-fast pixel response time and no motion blur, the image is impeccably sharp and fast, even in dynamic action scenes. Kudos also goes to Philips' traditional motion smoother called "Motion Style." We can easily adjust it to our preferences: the "Smoothness" slider is for movies and allows you to choose between a more "frame-like," cinematic character and a smooth, theatrical image. Meanwhile, the "Blur Reduction" slider is for sports; it is worth setting it to the maximum value here to ensure that the image is clear and distinct during very fast shots.

The TCL C655 PRO television offers an almost perfect set of features for gamers, supporting all key technologies that significantly improve the gaming experience. The ALLM feature automatically switches the television to low latency mode, resulting in better responsiveness and minimized signal delays – particularly important in dynamic titles. VRR synchronizes the screen refresh rate with the number of frames generated by the console, eliminating screen tearing and thus guaranteeing smoother gameplay.

Support for Dolby Vision in game mode allows for more detailed color and contrast reproduction in games that support this format, while the Game Bar provides quick access to important settings such as response time or latency level. Unfortunately, this model does not support 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which may disappoint the most demanding gamers. However, for those who can forgo 4K, support for Full HD and 2K at 120 Hz offers exceptionally smooth visuals, making it an attractive alternative for enthusiasts of higher refresh rates.

The OLED910 is excellent for gaming. It supports 144 Hz, so if someone has a powerful PC, they can easily take advantage of that potential. On consoles, 120 Hz is the most important, and everything works perfectly here. There is VRR, an automatic game mode, and even Dolby Vision in games along with an HGiG mode, so we actually get a full package of gaming features. Philips also added a Game Bar, which is a quick menu that shows basic information and allows you to enable a few useful things. It may not look as modern as the competition, but it works and serves its purpose. The only downside is the number of HDMI 2.1 ports. There are only two, which can be somewhat disappointing for a TV in this class. If someone is connecting two consoles and something additional to eARC - like a soundbar (which doesn't make much sense in this model, but we'll discuss that in the sound section), they'll need to figure things out a bit more. Other than that, the OLED910 has everything we expect from a gaming TV.