New Philips TVs 2021 tested: the best with Ambilight

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Philips televisions are real light artists. In the back walls, rows of LEDs shine in color and brightness to match the current picture – so to a certain extent, this expands on the wall behind the television and immerses the room in a fascinating light mood. Imitate Ambilight for other televisions? It doesn’t work that well, so far the original is unmatched. Some of the Philips televisions of the model year 2021 have particularly bright screens. COMPUTER BILD gives an overview of the new models and explains in the test which television is the best choice for which buyer.

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55OLED936


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Complete List: The Best TVs with Android TV

Philips 58PUS8506: The best seller in the test

  • Good image quality with high sharpness
  • Decent sound quality
  • Settings menu nested

Philips is likely to sell most televisions in the PUS8506 series, and the PUS8505 predecessors were real bestsellers. The secret: affordable prices, complete equipment and stylish workmanship with a solid base and beautiful aluminum frame. In the test, we liked the picture with well-coordinated colors and clean scaling, even if the typical disadvantages of affordable televisions were not hidden: the illumination of dark pictures was not perfectly even, the viewing angle was small. But this can easily be counteracted, the screen can be swiveled on the stand. Clearly in this price range: the LCD screen works at 50 to 60 Hertz, so the sharpness of the contours decreases with rapid movements. In its price range, it still shows some of the best image quality. The Philips 58PUS8506 also scored points in the test with its clean and clear tone. With the help of the Mimi app, the Philips even counteracts hearing impairments and improves speech intelligibility. The selection of apps is huge, thanks to the Android TV operating system. For Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Netflix and other streaming offers including media libraries, no additional device is required.
The Android operating system gives Philips televisions an infinite variety of programs.

The Android operating system gives Philips televisions an almost infinite variety of programs.

Philips PUS7906 & PUS7506: With and without Android

In the lower price range, Philips gives its customers a choice: The PUS7906 series works like the more expensive models from the manufacturer with the Android TV operating system in the current version 10. The equipment, including four HDMI inputs, is similar to that of the PUS8506, the However, the screen cannot be rotated. In addition, Philips installs less RAM, which should be noticeable in the operating speed. Alternatively, the PUS7506 comes with Philips’ own Saphi operating system. This turned out to be rather cumbersome in earlier tests, and the app selection for it is also meager. But if you already use streaming services via a connected game console, you won’t miss anything.

This is what the new mini-LED technology brings

The LCD televisions in the price ranges above the PUS8506 work with so-called mini-LED technology. Everyone knows LEDs as light sources in all situations. In the case of LCD TVs, they make the screens glow in the edge. This immediately shows the dilemma of LCD screens: This backlight shines over the entire surface of most screens with the same brightness – i.e. also behind dark image areas. As a result, they don’t look as dark as they should. There is no such thing as a perfectly deep black, the images lack depth. Mini-LED now means that particularly small LEDs are used. So many of them can be distributed over the entire screen area. This makes it much easier to achieve even illumination of the entire screen surface. Much more important: the television can control the fluoroscopy as required. It simply dims the mini-LEDs behind dark areas of the image – it is also called “local dimming”. In principle, this is old hat, but for many years it was limited to comparatively few and therefore large image segments. So if the full moon was shining in the black sky, a gray halo could be seen all around and a pitch black sky only at some distance from the moon. With the mini-LED technology, a much finer segmentation is now possible, at Philips there are around 1,000 zones.

The Philips PML9636 combines mini-LED technology with speakers from B & WD-Backlight for the best contrast.

The Philips PML9636 combines mini LED technology with speakers from B&W.

Philips PML9636: Mini-LED at the highest level

The top model of Philips LCD devices is the PML9636 – the letter combination PML in the type designation indicates mini-LED technology. The manufacturer packs in all innovations with mini-LED, new P5 processor and HDMI 2.1. The mini LED backlight swings up to enormous maximum brightness, Philips promises pictures with up to 2,000 candelas per square meter (2,000 nits) – that would be the upper edge of what televisions are currently capable of. The actual LCD screen works at 100 Hertz (or 120 Hertz for video material from countries with a 60 Hertz power grid), which promises high motion sharpness. In addition, the new game consoles can turn up their 4K images up to 120 Hertz, so that gaming feels even more immediate. Loudspeakers from the British manufacturer B&W ensure good sound. The arrangement is the same as that of the OLED935 model. If you want to know how good they sound, you can read about it in the Philips OLED935 test. In the back, Philips installed four-sided Ambilight. However, the devices were not yet available until December 2021, and a test will follow as soon as possible. Other manufacturers already have the improved LCD technology at the start, including TCL with new mini LED TVs, LG with QNED TVs and Samsung with Neo QLED TVs.

Philips PML9506: Mini-LED a little quieter

The same applies to the PML9506 model series, which is also struggling with a delayed market launch and will only be available in 65 and 75 inches. A striking difference to the PML9636: The speakers come from our own company instead of B&W and are conventionally hidden in the lower frame. Philips promises rich sound thanks to an additional woofer in the back with three membrane rings plus four passive membranes as helpers. A mini LED backlight is also used in the screen here, but Philips does not let it shine quite as brightly; there is talk of a maximum of 1,500 candelas per square meter. The rest of the equipment with the latest P5 processor, HDMI 2.1 with 120 Hertz and VRR, Freesync Premium Pro and full HDR compatibility is the same as that of the PML9636.

Philips OLED806 & OLED856 in the test

  • Excellent picture quality
  • Good sound with helpful setting options
  • Operation not that easy

For quality-conscious film and series fans, Philips offers televisions with OLED screens. With their self-luminous pixels, they don’t need a backlight and thus create a perfect contrast with an extremely deep black. The best example of this is the Philips OLED806. In the test, it impressed with its crisp display quality, which is perfect for HDR films (High Dynamic Range) with its high-contrast images. Philips televisions are generally not restricted to certain processes; they process the basic standards HDR10 and HLG as well as HDR10 + and Dolby Vision. In addition, there is very good image adaptation to the room brightness by means of a light sensor. The OLED806 rests inconspicuously on two rod-shaped feet – when it is not hanging on the wall. The OLED856 has a central base on which the screen can be rotated. The comparatively large number of sizes is new: Philips offers the OLED806 and OLED856 in the tried and tested dimensions of 55 inches and 65 inches with a screen diagonal of 140 and 164 centimeters. The 121 centimeter 48-inch model of the OLED 806 enriches the range at the bottom, and the 195 centimeter 77-inch model at the top.

Philips OLED936 in the test: Unbeatably brilliant

  • Brilliant OLED screen
  • Perfect color rendering
  • Operation sometimes cumbersome

The Philips OLED936 set a new laboratory record in the test: It was the first OLED television to crack the brightness mark of 1,000 candelas per square meter. In films and documentaries, for example, this makes sunlight shine more lifelike, light reflections shine more and the images appear more lively overall. In addition, there is the usual clean color matching. The OLED936 also offers something extraordinary when it comes to sound: a soundbar is permanently mounted underneath the screen, contributed by B&W. This ensures particularly fine and clear sounds with great reproduction of details. The rest of the equipment offers the usual picture from Philips: four HDMI connections with all the essential features of HDMI 2.1, Android 10 with all the important apps and a tricky menu system. The and the barely perceptible buttons on the remote control ultimately barely prevented the OLED936 from being rated “very good”. But of course: Ambilight should not be missing, here it is used again in the four-sided version.
Here the Philips OLED936 shows its full strength in the test with glaring sunlight and clearly defined shadows

Here the Philips OLED936 shows its full strength in the test with glaring sunlight and clearly drawn shadows (scene from “Planet Earth II” on UHD Blu-ray).

Test result Philips TV 2021

Ambilight remains a strong argument for buying a Philips TV. But there are a number of other reasons for a new TV model from the manufacturer. With the affordable PUS8506, for example, it is the elegant aluminum design, with the flagship PUS936 the outstanding image and fine sound are impressive. However, you have to get used to the operation, the paths through the menus are longer and more tortuous than with the competition. Fortunately, this is less noticeable in everyday use of TV programs and apps, as the strengths are clearly in the foreground.



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