Philips OLED808 assessment: A surprising mid-range OLED

The 55-inch OLED808 is a part of Philips’ 2023 8-Collection household, which additionally contains 48-, 65- and 77-inch fashions. It might not be the flagship mannequin for this 12 months, however there are two large causes to concentrate to this explicit Ambilight TV.

Firstly, it employs the most recent P5 image engine, the seventh Gen P5 AI, which options improved Ambient Intelligence and a slew of recent image enhancing wizardry. Secondly, it makes use of OLED EX panel know-how, which pre-MLA (Micro Lens Array, know-how used within the a lot pricier LG G3), was about pretty much as good as OLED obtained.

There are or course, many different sights onboard – plus the inevitable caveat or two contemplating the worth. I’ve had it on my testing bench for the previous week or so, and this is how I’ve obtained on.

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Philips OLED808

Editor’s selection

It might not be Philips’ flagship TV, however this superior 8 Collection 4K mannequin will not go away you wanting. It seems beautiful, presents elegant picture high quality and has enhanced Ambilight, which seems as beautiful as ever.

Professionals

• Dynamic HDR image efficiency
• Excellent design
• Google TV OS works nicely

Cons

• Solely two HDMI inputs help 4K/120HZ
• No Freeview Play
• Lacking mainstream catch-up TV gamers

Specs, pricing and availability

Out there now, the Philips 55OLED808 sells for £1,799 (though savvy deal hunters ought to have the ability to discover it for much less) within the UK, and €1,590. Owing to the complexities of name licensing, this mannequin, which is made by TP Imaginative and prescient, shouldn’t be out there within the US, Canada or Australia.

Design

All the time a robust level of Philips TVs, the design of the OLED808 warrants admiring glances. Gloriously skinny, the razor skinny, zero bezel panel is introduced in a darkish steel body, and sits on a central, rectangular steel satin chrome stand, with a beneficiant quantity of swivel.

The protruding again panel is house to audio {hardware} and basic connectivity. It is also the place you will discover a three-sided iteration of Ambilight, right here in next-gen guise with improved colour-matching accuracy, due to a brand new RGB sensor, and an prolonged menu of visible kinds. It seems pretty much as good as ever, and stays an enormous promoting level for Philips TVs.

Connectivity contains 4 HDMI inputs. Inputs 1 and a pair of are 4K/120Hz appropriate, with HDMI 2 forming the ARC/eARC connection.

There’s additionally a digital optical audio output, a trio of USB ports, a headphone mini jack, and a CI bay for those who want one. The panel has each terrestrial and single satellite tv for pc tuners, which I will contact on extra shortly.

The OLED808 ships with a slim, black Bluetooth distant management. Along with a pleasant hairline end, there are devoted buttons for Ambilight, Prime Video, YouTube, Netflix and Rakuten TV.

Options

The good platform of selection for Philips this season is Google TV, the content-centric sibling of the extra widespread Android TV OS. Full display screen, it is a simple sufficient interface to reside with.

Because the set runs Google TV, there isn’t any provision for Freeview Play on the time of testing. Additionally lacking are BBC iPlayer, ITV X and Channel 4 catch up apps. These could nicely flip up sooner or later, however the hopefully you will be utilizing an exterior TV field, like Sky Q, or streaming gadget like a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, that may have them, so whereas disappointing, it is in all probability not a complete catastrophe.

Philips has ramped up help for avid gamers on the OLED808. There’s not solely a devoted gaming UI (accessed by way of a protracted press on the Menu button), but in addition provision for Dolby Vision 4K/120Hz playback, VRR support for 4K at a full fats bandwidth of 48Gbps, in addition to FreeSync Premium and G-SYNC compatibility. There’s additionally Auto Sport and Auto-Low-Latency modes as normal.

Latency is nice in Sport mode. I measured enter lag at simply 12ms (1080/60), which is not market main however does the job. Enjoying Overwatch in 4K/120Hz is buttery clean, with excellent definition and color vibrancy.

Usability is ok too. Philips has achieved a lot to simplify its menu navigation system over the previous few years, to the purpose now the place you may rightly describe it as intuitive.

There is a Fast Menu, which presents uncluttered entry to a TV information, linked sources, and Aurora, a calming viewing mode that performs animated scenes and JPEGs. When you’ve ever felt the necessity to unwind with undulating jellyfish, it will be proper up your wellness avenue.

As has turn into commonplace with Philips, HDR help is common. The set is compliant with HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Imaginative and prescient. This offers it an apparent edge over fast OLED rivals from LG and Samsung, as they don’t play ball with all HDR protocols.

There’s additionally codec help for each Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio streams, the latter hitching a experience on Philips DTS Play Fi compatibility bandwagon.

Play-Fi, if you do not know, is an interoperable audio streaming platform that helps multiroom audio and wi-fi house theatre. Consider it as an alternative choice to Sonos and Denon’s Heos. It is in all probability greater within the US than different territories, which is odd contemplating the place Philips sells its TVs, however does seem like gaining some traction over right here too.

Image efficiency

The OLED808’s photos don’t require a lot TLC to look spectacular. Straight from the field, the display screen wows with deep, vast color, inky blacks, vivid highlights and refined shadow element.

While you choose to look at HDR10 + Adaptive content material, you are served a selection of HDR Private, HDR Crystal Clear, HDR Cinema, HDR Filmmaker and HDR IMAX Enhanced image presets. Select Dolby Imaginative and prescient, and also you get a equally themed choice. Dolby Imaginative and prescient Vibrant appears to make one of the best use of the panel.

There’s additionally an HDR Sport mode and devoted Calman calibration setting, for those who need to get right down to the nitty gritty.

Because it occurs, the OLED808 is a wonderful HDR performer. I measured HDR peak brightness at simply over 1000 nits utilizing a 5 per cent measurement patch, when participating the HDR Crystal Clear picture preset.

On a bigger 10 per cent window, the set was measured at simply over 900 nits. That is cannot contact the likes of Mini LED screens just like the TCL C845K, however does nearly beat the likes of its OLED competitors, the LG C3, and the Sony A80L.

Philips is leveraging loads of AI with its present silicon, and getting wonderful outcomes. It is nicely value taking a deeper dive into this menu choice to get one of the best from it.

Ambient Gentle Degree Optimization, which robotically adjusts the brightness of the show in keeping with room lighting situations, and Darkish Element Optimization, which extracts darker element when viewing in vivid ambient lighting situations, are highly effective instruments.bThere’s even the choice to optimise color temperature, once more by based mostly on ambient mild.

Philips

I discovered Darkish Element Optimization to have probably the most pronounced impact when watching dimly lit scenes, resembling these which dominate Prime Video’s John Wick spinoff, The Continental.

Many sequences within the present are exceptionally darkly lit and troublesome to view in comparatively excessive ambient mild. Darkish Element Optimization lifts textures and shapes from their surrounding backgrounds with out overly brightening the image.

As talked about, color vibrancy and copy are each distinctive, and there is a richness to the set’s presentation. Deep reds and nuanced blues specifically are spectacular with animated motion pictures.

Sound efficiency

Whereas the OLED808 lacks the refinement of Philips collaborations with Bowers & Wilkins in its flagship units, just like the OLED907+, it is nonetheless a surprisingly satisfying hear. The soundstage is generously proportioned and would not undergo too closely from the dearth of directionality of its speaker complement.

The OLED808 could solely have a 2.1 speaker configuration, with a downward firing stereo pair, but it surely truly sounds excellent. For one factor, it performs loud with out overt distortion, due to 70W amplification. The model says it is taken nice pains to clean out the crossover between its stereo audio system and the devoted triple ring, rear-facing bass driver, and general, I would say it has been successful.

After all if you wish to make extra of Dolby Atmos-encoded TV reveals, then make the most of the eARC HDMI output, and bitstream to a appropriate soundbar or house cinema receiver.

Verdict

The Philips OLED808 is a slick and spectacular TV that hardly places a pedestal foot fallacious.

The razor skinny design is a head turner, and the inclusion of Ambilight will win it inside design kudos. The true star of the present, although, is the mix of OLED EX panel and AI enhanced image processing, which delivers some prime flight imagery.

The one important draw back is the limitation of Excessive Body Charge HDMI throughout its 4 inputs. Having simply two 4K/120Hz-capable inputs is annoying sufficient, however shedding certainly one of these to eARC is a royal ache for largers setups.

Nonetheless, in relation to the upper-mid vary 4K OLED market, you’ll wrestle to discover a better-rounded display screen, and it comes extremely really helpful.