HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality was very good. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail of HD content. Color accuracy was very good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Color temperature was slightly on the cool side, lending images a bluish tone. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was good, so images had depth and dimension. Depth of black level was below average, with darker scenes in particular looking hazy, with little contrast. Image brightness was very good (with the backlight control turned up), so the picture is well suited for a brighter room. A lower backlight setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the model did a very good job producing a smooth transition without distinct, coarse bands. There was slight display non-uniformity that created brighter cloudy areas most noticeable on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie). We routinely see this issue with LCDs and severity can vary from model to model. Film mode operation for HD film-based content was excellent, with no visible jaggies along the edges of objects during motion scenes. Deinterlacing on the other hand was only good, with some jaggies visible when converting 1080i video content, such as from cable, to the display's native resolution.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Philips has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide the same picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions—say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. The picture did show some dimming from the sides but not to any point we found distracting. With dark scenes this model didn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on the vertical position of the viewer's head. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly.
4K UHD PICTURE QUALITY. 4K UHD picture quality is very good. All native 4K content (non HDR) we played on this model, including movies and test videos, was presented in full 4K detail with excellent fidelity when played back via the TV's HDMI input. For color, contrast and black level, the TV performs similarly to its HD picture quality.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE. Though this model is HDR compatible, its HDR performance is not effective and lacked the enhancements in image quality expected from this capability. The display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) did not enhance the realism of our 4K test videos mastered for high dynamic range, while revealing little contrast between moderately bright and very bright highlights within a scene. Though the TV does recognize HDR content, it does not trigger new picture settings for this format. The HDR picture could therefore not be optimized for color and brightness without affecting regular HD content, so we left the settings optimized for HD. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail from black to white, with no obvious banding on areas of the image that have subtle shade variations. There was no visible loss of near-white shadow detail in the brightest areas. Brighter colored objects remained nicely saturated.
MOTION BLUR. This Philips TV has good motion performance, with some blurring on our motion tests. Though this model includes Philips's "120 PMR", a feature designed to reduce motion blur.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. It does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast in a brighter room environment.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has good sound quality; about average among the models we've tested. When watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it delivers decent performance but falls short of the better performers. Bass was lacking in depth and definition, but treble was nicely detailed, while the overall sound was a bit thin and closed in. The speakers produced a good volume range so this model should play sufficiently loud in typical room environments, but quality does degrade at high volume settings. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness, which can be a bit distracting on some audio content. Most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE. The dark labeling of the connectors on the TV console is very difficult to read. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV. Philips includes a traditional button keypad remote for control of basic functions. The high contrast labels on the buttons make them easier to read in a dimmer viewing environment. It includes buttons that allow direct access to streaming services from Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, and NetTV. The TV's stand is 35 inches wide.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides basic Internet functionality with a limited selection of applications via its "Net TV" portal. Movie streaming services include Netflix, YouTube and Hulu.
CONNECTIONS. This model has three HDMI inputs—one supports ARC (Audio Return Channel), one "component/composite shared" input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has one USB port, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, WiFi wireless networking; DLNA, to access files within your home network; Screen mirroring, where the image on your smartphone or other compatible device can also appear on the TV.
WHAT'S INCLUDED. A printed user manual. A quick start guide. A remote control with batteries.
ABOUT ULTRA HD TESTING: We test UHD picture quality using 4K movies, videos, photos, and test patterns to confirm these displays deliver performance to this format's full potential. We check the TV's ability to reproduce 4K image detail, as well as high dynamic range (HDR) for TVs that support this capability. Image quality is tested using a 4K movie player connected to the TV's HDMI input, as well as from files stored on flash drive plugged into the TV's USB port. We also check how well the TV can upscale HD movies to the display's higher UHD resolution while keeping artifacts such as "jaggies" along the edges of image content to a minimum. The best UHD TVs, and HDTVs, present high fidelity images that reveal the full quality of the best source content without degradation.
