Philips calls it ‘The One’ – but we’re not so sure
65in LCD TV | £899 | whf.cm/65PUS8807
Philips ‘The One’ TVs are models picked out to represent what the brand considers to be the most all-round attractive combination of price, features and performance in its latest TV range. This year the honour goes to the PUS8807 range, which features Ambilight tech, the impressive P5 picture processing engine and smart build quality. Yet the 65in model we are looking at here costs just £899.
The Philips 65PUS8807 is a sharp looker for its price. Its crisp silvery bodywork looks and feels more premium than most similarly priced rivals, and the way the TV rests on a centrally mounted, heavy-duty stand means you don’t need a particularly wide bit of furniture to place it on.
Ambilight finds LED lights arranged along the rear of its top, left and right edges casting out pools of light from around the TV that can be set to either a single colour ambience or to track the colour content of the pictures you’re watching. The accuracy and positioning of Ambilight’s colours is pretty uncanny and immersive, extending the viewing experience beyond the screen.
The TV is built around a VA type panel, and illuminated by a direct LED system (where the lights are positioned behind the screen). Two of the 65PUS8807’s four HDMI ports can handle 4K/120Hz gaming signals, as well as VRR and ALLM. There is support for Dolby Vision gaming up to 60Hz, plus you can optimise gaming performance via HGiG, where set-up screens on your console enable it to determine the best HDR output for the TV.
Smart features are provided by version 11 of Android TV, and the implementation of it here is slick and stable. All of the main HDR formats, HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are supported. While many TVs support two or three of these formats, it is still relatively rare to find a brand doing the consumer a favour by tackling all four.
Picture processing is provided by a fifth-generation version of Philips’ P5 engine, which is built around the principle that there are five key elements to TV picture quality (contrast, colour, motion, sharpness and source detection) that can be individually improved by processing tweaks applied in an optimal order.
Weird, not wonderful
After the consistent excellence of Philips’ OLED TVs, we had high hopes for this LCD set. Especially as it has been picked out by Philips as ‘The One’ for 2022. Sadly, though, the 65PUS8807’s picture performance is best
