Philips OLED+908 review

The perfect TV fashions from Philips are referred to as OLED+, and there’s no query that they’re OLED-based TVs. However what does the plus signal stand for? In accordance with Philips, it stands for high-quality and a premium expertise not solely in image high quality, but in addition in sound and design.

In the case of the latter, I can attest to that proper after screwing collectively and organising the OLED+908, or 65OLED908/12 which is the complete mannequin identify for the 65-inch mannequin on my TV bench. It truly is a good-looking unit to behold, from super-thin edges to an all-black display screen floor with minimal reflections, to a black felt-covered panel that extends virtually all the best way all the way down to the bench prime, and homes a group of audio system.

Solely a small, equally black metallic loop protrudes from the centre entrance of the TV to help it, whereas the foot is wider and supplies good stability on the again. The distant management has additionally obtained a facelift this yr and is a chic stable metallic block with brushed black surfaces.

Philips has confirmed that there will likely be no OLED+938 this yr, so the 908 is that this yr’s prime mannequin following the 907. With two front-facing 20W audio system and a rear subwoofer with 30W of energy and a sound system by Bower & Wilkins, you possibly can nonetheless get a whole lot of sound from this mannequin, albeit not the identical top-quality and encompass impact.

Costly, however not the most costly

The TV is obtainable in three sizes, 55-, 65- (examined right here) and a 77-inch mannequin. They’ve the identical image and sound traits, the one distinction is the dimensions. For a 55-inch, you’ll pay £1,999, and the 65-inch is £2,499, whereas there’s an even bigger value soar as much as 77-inch to £4,299.

You should buy it from Richer Sounds within the UK.

That is barely decrease than the LG G3, their prime mannequin amongst 4K OLED, and Samsung’s equal S95C. Apart from the 77-inch which is incomprehensibly far more costly. However now I assess the TV in entrance of me, and at 65-inch, the OLED+908 is extra moderately priced for this degree of high quality.

OLED+908 is constructed on the identical OLED panel because the LG G3, and comes from LG. With the identical pixel expertise as in its predecessor and actually the identical brightness of the sunshine sources, however with the brand new MLA layer in entrance, the brightness immediately will increase considerably. MLA stands for Micro Lens Array, and includes lenses in entrance of every gentle level that focus and launch extra of the sunshine to your eyes.

Mattias Inghe

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Numerous gentle with new good layer

Philips themselves declare that the OLED+908 will attain as much as 2,100 nits in spot brightness in HDR viewing, and definitely small gentle spots on one other dimmed floor could be actually intense, however I don’t have measurement instruments ok to substantiate it. On a bigger however nonetheless small sq. of 10% of the display screen, I get simply over 1,200 nits. That’s nonetheless loads, and matches the Samsung S95C. LG’s personal G3 mannequin is barely brighter, however it nonetheless makes the OLED+908 one of many brightest TVs ever.

And with virtually good dynamics. The nuance in intensely vibrant surfaces, in addition to in close to pitch black, is so convincing that I discover myself forgetting that I’m truly taking a look at a display screen and never actuality. With 99% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and excessive color accuracy, the picture is each well-balanced and impartial. Simply steer clear of the ‘Intense’ image mode, which pushes up the color saturation unnaturally and has a barely chilly tone.

It’s potential to set the brightness and color temperature to auto-adjust to the room, however you’ll miss out on these final additional ranges of brightness. I due to this fact favor to run it off and swap between ready-made picture profiles to my very own liking.

You’ve gotten strict Filmmaker mode which provides hotter color temperature, and turns off a whole lot of picture sign enhancement, in addition to all movement compensation, so that each picture in a 24Hz cinema reel feels laborious and static. In case you prefer it, it’s faithfully reproduced right here.

In any other case, there’s Dwelling Cinema, which supplies some body smoothing however not with out shedding the cinema really feel, and in addition does extra to reinforce the image sign if it’s not streamed losslessly, in addition to an Imax-optimised image mode.

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Construct on the sound with DTS

This implies customised facet ratio and DTS:X sound as a substitute of standard stereo or Dolby Atmos, in case your supply is IMAX. In any other case, the image expertise for IMAX is kind of just like Filmmaker mode. With DTS help in your TV, you additionally get DTS Play-Fi, a function that makes it simple to construct a real house cinema encompass with wi-fi suitable Bluetooth audio system.

For on a regular basis TV watching, you’ve a Private Profile that gives a impartial image with some picture enhancement, and free rein to customize particulars in each potential method. Along with these, there’s an eco mode only for SDR video, a recreation mode, and a mode for Calman-calibrated image. Lastly, you get a pixel-mapped display screen mode when you join a pc, however can after all swap to recreation mode even there.

The picture administration was good within the earlier top-of-the-range Philips mannequin, and it’s no worse right here. The P5 AI Good Image picture processing engine does a superb job with most issues, from scrubbing away MPEG artefacts on compressed video to smoothing out sweeping tones in a blue sky, for instance.

Movement dealing with rivals one of the best opponents, besides maybe Sony, which nonetheless performs magic that the opposite distributors haven’t discovered but.

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Keep away from SD decision when you can

If there’s something I wish to complain about, it’s the upscaling, which at resolutions under 720p begins to look ugly and unnatural, with seen, mushy “pixel squares” in some conditions. So the image gained’t be flawless when you’ve bought outdated crappy SD channels to observe in your TV. But it surely could be time to improve when you’re spending this a lot cash in your TV. Upscaling to 4K from 1080p or 720p appears good, aside from a little bit of flicker in some conditions.

You get two HDMI 2.1 ports with help for all the important thing game-enhancing applied sciences, together with Freesync and G Sync help, in addition to well-approved low enter lag of round 8ms. It’s a little bit of a disgrace that the TV is restricted to 2 such ports and that the opposite two HDMI playing cards are of the HDMI 2.0 selection.

Particularly since one of many 2.1 ports has eARC help and also you would possibly wish to join exterior audio to it. Then you possibly can select whether or not you need a PC, Ps, Xbox or Change in your final 2.1 port so that you would possibly wish to add HDMI ports to your TV.

You will get the TV image both through one of many different HDMI ports with out lack of high quality, or stream it with good TV apps. The OLED+908 has a set community port and help for Wi-Fi 5, which for probably the most half needs to be ok for it. Occasional purposes, corresponding to streaming video games with GeForce Now, for instance, might have issues on Wi-Fi 5 when you’re unfortunate, however in any other case it’s ok for probably the most half.

Wi-Fi 6 can be higher for higher connectivity if the sign from the router is weak. In any other case, the bandwidth is okay.

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Google TV with few additions

The OLED+908 runs Android-based Google TV as its good platform, with the complete Google Play vary of good apps accessible, and a small handful of the preferred ones pre-installed. There’s little or no probability you’d miss something particular when it comes to content material or performance.

Philips doesn’t provide a plethora of proprietary options. Screensaver with picture gallery, alarm perform, media participant for linked storage, and TV information, after all. That’s just about it. No separate assortment of free content material, like Samsung and LG have, for instance. You must discover separate third-party providers for that.

I’ve the identical grievance in regards to the OLED+908 as I did in regards to the Philips mid-range LED TV The One, and it’s about fast entry to image and sound settings. There’s a menu that provides first rate entry to that, however it solely works when you’re watching table-top TV for some purpose. Philips claims it’s a restriction within the Google TV platform, however different producers run the identical system and have managed to resolve it anyway, so it appears like a weak excuse.

Image settings could be accessed throughout app use, however another way, and with many additional clicks.

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Must you purchase the Philips OLED+908?

Since that’s the largest grievance I’ve in regards to the OLED+908, it’s apparent that we’re coping with a top quality TV right here. One in every of many on this prime section of OLED televisions constructed on the very newest expertise, with a noticeable increase in particularly brightness for HDR.

It’s not the brightest or most vibrant, and I had hoped that Philips had deserted the outdated HDMI 2.0 ports altogether in the long run, however it’s laborious to complain in regards to the film and gaming expertise that’s truly delivered.

The added worth it has to supply is especially its comparatively highly effective sound, and Philips’ distinctive Ambilight impact with a hoop of diodes that lights up the wall behind the TV in the identical color because the picture. This could present additional immersion in sure kinds of media. It’s additionally simple to regulate its depth and magnificence, in addition to swap it off fully, with a particular button on the distant management.

The sound is among the finest in a TV proper now, though it’s sadly a step again in each weight and element copy from final yr’s prime mannequin OLED+937. Most individuals can do properly with it with out having to complement with a soundbar, however I miss the little additional that 2022’s finest Philips may ship.

This overview initially appeared on M3.

Specs

• Product identify: Philips OLED+908
• Producer: Philips
• Examined mannequin : 65OLED908/12
• Panel kind: MLA OLED EX
• Measurement: 55 inches, 65 inches (examined mannequin), 77 inches
• Decision: 4K UHD, 2160p
• Body price: 120Hz
• Native dimming: OLED-EX with MLA
• Color depth: 10-bit
• Color gamut: 99% DCI-P3
• Hdr: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, HDR10 Adaptive, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, Dolby Imaginative and prescient IQ
• Working system: Google TV 12
• Audio: 2.1 2pcs 20 Watt, 1pcs 30 Watt subwoofer
• Connections: 2x HDMI 2.1 (one with eARC), 2x HDMI 2.0, LAN, 1pcs USB-A 3.0, 2pcs USB-A 2.0, RF antenna, satellite tv for pc, optical digital audio out, analogue stereo out
• Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0
• Dimensions incl. base: 144.4 x 89.5 x 28.7 cm (65 inches)
• Weight: 26.8 kg (65 inches)
• Vitality class: G
• Wall mount: Vesa 300x300mm