TVs
82 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
ADDINGTOITSformidableline
TVs, Philips has joined LG,Sony
inadoptingwhatincreasinglyloo
futureofpremiumTVs:OLED.T
903 seriesandlessexpensive 80
usethispaneltechnology,whichh
offpixelsindividually to produceebbetter
contrastandperfectblacks.
Keyfeaturesonthe8 03 series,represented
herebythe 65 OLED803,includeLG-made
OLEDpanels powered by Philips’second-
generation P5 video processing engine,Ultra
HDPremiumcertification and three-sided
Ambilightintegrated bias lighting technology.
It runsonanAndroid-based Smart TV
platform, too. HDRsupport forthe HDR10,
broadcast-friendly HLGand HDR10+ formats
are present and correct, though DolbyVision
is anotable omission.
The65OLED803lacks thesuperb-sounding
Bowers &Wilkins speakers of the903 series,
but picture quality should be similar,sothe
former mightbethe moresensible choice if
youalready have your own sound system.The
65in 65OLED803 is £2,399,but there’s also a
smaller 55in 55OLED803, whichcosts £1,499.
THIN BLACK LINE
Fromthefront,the styling is the epitome
of minimalism. There’s only apair of shiny
cuboid feet peeking fromunderneath the
panel, one of which is etched with the
Philips logo.It’s so low-slung, however,that
there’s not enough clearance to put even a
low-profilesoundbar in front without
obscuring the screen. Thankfully,the
65OLED803’sonboardspeakers arevery
decent,producing sufficient presence and
dialogue clarity forrun-of-the-mill viewing.
The screen itself is wafer-thin but
protrudes at the rear to accommodate the
internalcomponents, power
supply,audio systemand, more
importantly,the LEDlights
responsible forPhilips’nifty
Ambilightfeature (more on this
later). The connections are
foundonthe right sideofthe
television,including four HDMI
inputs. However,only HDMI1
and HDMI 2are full-bandwidth
HDMI 2.0b ports, capable of
supporting 4KHDRvideos at
higher bit depth, frame rateand
chroma. Yo u’ll therefore needto
hook up your Xbox One X, PS4
ProorAppleTV4Kbox to one
of thesetwo sockets.
PHILIPS 65OLED803
★★★★★
£2,399•Fromw
VERDICT
PhilipsweavesOLEDtech,excee
processingandAmbilightmagic
very special TV
The65OLED803 ships withtwo remote
controls,althoughneitherofthemis
conventional in the strictest sense.The one
with morebuttons has aQWERTYkeyboard
on the back, makingiteasytotype in your
Wi-Fi or Netflix password on theTV, butit’s
infrared-only and so requires you to pointit
fairly accuratelyatthe remote sensor on the
telly.The secondremoteisamore futuristic-
looking example,withonlysix keys, Google
Assistant support and atouchpadthatdoesn’t
looklikeatouchpadatall.
STRONGAND STABLE
As mentioned, this is aPhilips TV,but it uses
LG’s WRGBOLEDpanel. Previous LGpanels
proved to be veryuniform, and the same is
truehere.Thin verticalstreaks were barely
visible on our 5%-above-black slide,and not
noticeable to us even in challenging low-light
scenes. Brightness uniformity is fantastic, too:
we checked the screen with full-fieldgrey
slides and therewas no obvious colour tinting
or dirty-screeneffect to spoilyourviewing –
another improvement on LG’s previouspanels.
Perfect blacks, vibrant colours andwide
viewing angles are traits common to allOLED
TVs, but whatmakesthe 65OLED803 stand
out is one particularset-and-forget motion
setting that letsyou enjoyboth high motion
resolution and smooth 24p playback without
unwanted side effects. In other words, youcan
watch24fps films withoutjudderorsoap-
opera effect, as well as 50Hz or 60Hz sports
content withhighmotion clarity andminimal
interpolation artefacts,all without needing to
change the motionsettingsafterthey’ve been
set correctly.Thisisarefreshing departure
fromother TVsthat require adegree of faffif
you want everything to look itsbest.
The 65OLED803 also excels at makingthe
best of standard-definition broadcasts, but
unsurprisingly it’s native UHDHDR content
where the TVshines. After calibration,HDR
peak brightness on our65OLED803 review
unit came in at 875cd/m^2 ,even higher than
the newer LGOLED65C9.This helpsitdeliver
some of themost impactful HDR we’veseen
on aconsumer OLED, despiteminor clipping
of brightspecular highlights in 4,000-nit
movies and occasional posterisation at high
colour luminance.
Input lag is abit of adisappointment. We
measured39ms in both1080p SDRand 4K
HDR Gamemodes, whichwhile entirely
playable,putsthe Philips afairway behind the
gaming responsivenessprovided by high-end
OLEDmodels fromotherTVbrands.
SUITSHUE
The Ambilightbias lighting systemdeserves
aspecial mention. Yo ucan setAmbilight to
simply change colours and brightness
according to the picture or sound,but our
favouriteuse wastoset it to asingle, stable
whitecolour,which adds agentleglowto
the wall behindand helpstoprevent eye
fatigue.Just make sure youtone downthe
default Ambilightbrightness
level, otherwise it tends to
crushshadowdetail, especially
during HDRviewing.
In short,Philips hasmade an
exemplary OLEDTV. As with its
LCDpredecessors, Philips’
image-processing engine serves
up stunninglyrefined motion
across sport, movies andgames.
Theonly disappointmentisthe
higher input lag compared to the
class-leaders. Still, addAmbilight
to the mix, and the 65OLED803 is
aunique and crediblealternative
to other top-performing OLEDs
on the market.
