summary
The Philips OLED809 is a mid-range OLED TV that offers excellent picture quality in both SDR and HDR, though you’ll need to tweak some picture settings to get the best SDR performance. As a mid-range device, the TV doesn’t achieve the highest brightness ratings, but peak brightness is slightly higher than last year’s OLED808 model. The HDR display is certainly impressive. Additionally, the TV has been improved in other areas over the 808, including a 144Hz mode for PC gamers, a nicer and more complete Game Bar menu, a better HDR tone mapping, and a fancier remote control.
TP Vision will launch four OLED TVs under the Philips brand this year. Of the four, the Philips OLED759, the entry-level model with Titan OS instead of Google TV, and the mid-range Philips OLED809 have already been released. The OLED+909 and OLED+959 aren’t expected until after the summer. We’ve now been able to test the Philips 809 extensively for this review.
This OLED TV is the successor to last year’s Philips OLED808 and is powered by LG’s new OLED EX panel. The TV will have to do without LG’s ultra-high-definition micro-lens technology (MLA), as TP Vision is reserving it for the 9xx models that will be released later this year. The new Woled panel is said to offer higher peak brightness than its predecessor. Like its predecessor, the 809 has the “regular” Google TV as its smart platform.
Like Samsung and LG, among others, TP Vision has expanded its more expensive Ambilight TVs this year with a 144Hz mode for PC gaming. What’s more, the new model has the same Pentonic 1000 processor as last year’s top OLED model, the OLED+ 908, which should improve image processing and the user experience. Naturally, the TV also has Ambilight, the ambient lighting in the back that changes colors with what you see on the screen.
The 809 is available in 42-inch, 48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch and 77-inch screen sizes. Starting prices range from €1,287 for the smallest model to €3,999 for the largest. The 65-inch version we tested, the Philips 65OLED809, costs at least €2,098 at the time of writing.
Based on the specs, we expect the 809 to compete primarily with the LG C4. The Philips is the more expensive of the duo. The 55-inch version of the C4 costs at least €1,338, while the Philips 55OLED809 can’t be bought for less than €1,748 yet. This price will drop in the coming months, but based on current price ratios, TP Vision’s latest OLED model should come from a good base to beat the C4. On the following pages you can read whether this is successful.