Philips OLED809 review: Classy, affordable and with a bonus light show

You can tell the OLED809 is a Philips TV as soon as you look at it; the halo of coloured light around its panel is unmistakably the work of the brand’s unique Ambilight technology.

It’s not as bright as models further up the company’s OLED range, which use micro lens array (MLA) technology, nor does it get an audio system designed by Bowers & Wilkins. However, it’s still a very capable 4K TV and comes with a very reasonable price tag compared with its rivals. 

Impressive image processing, comprehensive HDR format and gaming support and a 70W speaker system make it a compelling option for those after a mid-range OLED. While these might pique your interest, there are a couple of minor drawbacks that might give you pause for thought.

Philips OLED809 review: Key specifications

Philips OLED809 review: What you need to know

The OLED809 sits at the more affordable end of Philips’ 2024 OLED TV range. As a result, it misses out on the MLA technology found on the OLED909 and OLED959, there’s no audio input from Bowers & Wilkins and its P5 processor is a single-chip affair rather than the extra-powerful twin-chip version housed within the flagship OLED959. The Ambilight system isn’t as sophisticated as the new ‘Plus’ version sported by the OLED959 either.

The OLED809 retains a more basic three-sided version of Ambilight that uses fewer LED emitters per colour zone. And while the sound system might not have B&W DNA and only delivers a 2.1 channel count, it still incorporates four 10W mid/high speakers and a meaty 30W subwoofer.

Its connectivity covers the full gamut of today’s gaming features, including 4K/120Hz support, 144Hz support and variable refresh rates. Its HDR format coverage is similarly comprehensive, taking in both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ as well as the now standard HDR10 and HLG systems. 

There’s dynamic tone mapping provided by Philips’ AI-infused P5 processor too, which works to improve all five of the picture attributes Philips sees as fundamental to good picture quality: contrast, colour, sharpness, motion and source detection. 

Smart features come courtesy of Google TV. As I’ll discuss in more depth later, this provides pretty much all the international streaming services most people will want but misses a few popular UK catch-up options.

Philips OLED809 review: Price and competition

The Philips OLED809 is relatively affordable by OLED TV standards. The 55in model reviewed here cost £1,599 at the time of writing, with the 42in and 48in priced at £999 and £1,099, respectively. It’s also available in 65in and 77in screen sizes, which will set you back £1,799 and £2,999. 

Key rivals include the LG C4 and the Sony Bravia 8. The former received our Recommended award and is available in the same sizes as the OLED809, while also offering an enormous 83in option. Prices start at £889 and top out at £4,245. We’re yet to review the Bravia 8, which comes in 55in (£1,599), 65in (£2,099) and 77in (£3,199). 

Samsung’s Q95D is another OLED worth considering but is slightly more expensive and uses an OLED panel with a quantum dot filter. The 55in model will set you back £1,593, the 65in option costs £2,499, while the 77in model is priced at £3,699.

Philips OLED809 review: Design, connections and control

The OLED809 is a seriously attractive TV. Its screen sits on a heavy-duty central plate base finished in attractive satin chrome, and the frame around its screen is ultra-slim. The screen can be rotated left or right on the stand and is just a couple of millimetres deep at its edges.

The midsection sticks out way further than those outer edges, providing space for the screen’s processors, speakers and Ambilight LEDs. Unless you’re wall-hanging the TV, though, this chunkier section only becomes noticeable from quite a severe viewing angle.

Even the remote control is more elegant than most, boasting a premium matt finish, a stripped-back button count and a small but helpful selection of direct app access buttons. The diamond-shaped navigation pad takes a bit of getting used to but becomes second nature over time. 

The remote also carries motion-activated backlighting and, rather brilliantly, is rechargeable via either a USB-C cable or Qi wireless charger. A mic button on the remote lets you control the TV using built-in Google Assistant and there’s also support for Amazon Alexa-enabled speakers. 

I’d recommend learning the voice recognition system, as the OLED809’s onscreen menus are pretty long-winded and complicated. This is partly a result of Philips admirably providing options for adjusting and finessing pretty much every aspect of the TV’s pictures and sound. But with the OLED809’s picture presets not always delivering consistent perfection out of the box, you will need to spend time familiarising yourself with areas of the labyrinthine menus to optimise the TV’s performance.

The OLED809 is pretty well connected for the money. Four HDMIs lead the way, two of which support full 48Gbps data capacity and all the attendant HDMI 2.1 features of 4K/120Hz, ALLM and VRR gaming functionality. Despite its native 120Hz refresh rate, the panel can support 144Hz refresh rates from PCs. 

Alongside the HDMIs are an optical digital audio output, satellite and aerial tuner inputs, an Ethernet port if you don’t want to take advantage of the built-in Wi-Fi, a headphone jack and two powered USB ports.

Philips OLED809 review: Smart TV platform

The OLED809’s Google TV smart system brings with it all the familiar pros and cons. On the upside, Google TV is more attractively and helpfully designed and organised than its Android TV predecessor was and provides access to a huge array of streaming, gaming and utility apps.

On the downside, Google TV isn’t as customisable as some alternative systems, or as effective at recommending content based on your viewing habits. Plus at the time of writing, the BBC iPlayer and All4 catch-up apps were unavailable, as was the Freeview Play service that might have circumvented Google’s ongoing BBC and Channel 4 catch-up issues. If you want access to these services, you’ll need to buy a streaming stick. 

Philips OLED809 review: Image quality

The OLED809’s relationship with regular SDR content is complex – but ultimately successful provided you’re willing to put in a little legwork.

In the default Crystal Clear picture mode, SDR looks remarkably bright and vibrant – especially for an OLED TV that isn’t using MLA technology. But while this HDR-like look for SDR images in Crystal Clear mode might have surface appeal, and works well in bright rooms, some of its more extreme effects can become a bit wearing.

Skin tones look plasticky and unrealistic, for instance, and there’s an over-smooth, processed look to some images. The brightest parts of SDR pictures look slightly too bright as well, leaving them feeling a little detached from the rest of the image. 

It comes as no surprise to find the Crystal Clear mode’s pictures delivering inaccurate measurements when tested using Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate software, C6 HDR 5000 colorimeter and G1 signal generator. Colour gamut, saturation and tonal accuracy tests all deliver Delta E errors of between 9 and 10, where anything more than three can be considered visible to the naked eye. Two-point and 10-point greyscale errors are both well into double figures, too. 

While you can’t get the Crystal Clear setting to look accurate, you can get it looking much better than it does while retaining its punchy look. To do this, turn off noise reduction, tone down the sharpness enhancement to reduce the noise that can appear with NR turned off, and adjust a Colour Enhancement feature from High to Medium, or even to Low.

The Crystal Clear pictures still aren’t accurate after you’ve tweaked them but you can enjoy their bright and dynamic spectacle without the glaring distractions that can show up in the default settings.

Crucially, though, the OLED809 can deliver close to accurate SDR pictures in its Filmmaker Mode preset. This delivers a colour gamut delta error of just 2.5, and colour point, luminance and sweep errors of between three and 3.5. Greyscale is a touch more off, with Delta E errors of four and 4.3 respectively for 2-point and multi-point greyscale tests – but it will take an eagle eye to spot such small errors with real-world content. The Filmmaker Mode also gives you a better default image, requiring much less time in the settings menus. 

READ NEXT: Best soundbar

Philips OLED809 review: HDR picture quality

Arguably no other TV brand likes putting on a show with its pictures more than Philips – especially with HDR content. This aggressive (and in many ways lovable) tendency is very much on show with the OLED809’s default settings. 

In its default Crystal Clear mode (the TV even defaults to this setting with Dolby Vision sources) the contrast range is mammoth for a television that doesn’t use MLA technology. Black levels are gorgeously rich and deep and stay that way no matter how many intensely bright elements they might be punctuated by. Those bright highlights gleam with an intensity that no other non-MLA OLED screen can match. Measurements confirm a peak brightness of around 1380cd/m² in Crystal Clear mode. 

Since this is an OLED TV with self-emissive pixels, you can even have the OLED809’s brightest pixel right next to its darkest without any compromise between the two. The light delivery doesn’t just excel at its extremes, though. The P5 engine maps light with great subtlety right across the available light range, producing an image with as much insight and nuance as dynamism.

The default Crystal Clear HDR mode delivers the same startling level of impact and vibrancy that it does with SDR – and again, this is very alluring at first glance. Over time, though, you notice how some colour tones can come on too strong, and that some peak brightness highlights can look slightly too stark to feel like a natural part of the image.

The Dynamic Tone Mapping system Philips applies to HDR10 images in the default Crystal Clear mode is ultra-aggressive, too, again generating a few distractingly extreme elements and causing some obvious light jumps following abrupt dark-to-light or light-to-dark cuts. 

This disappears if you feed the TV a Dolby Vision or HDR10+ source, but otherwise, you’ll need to set the HDR tone mapping feature to Static or select “More Detail” within the Enhanced tone mapping setting. However, both of these solutions result in a notably darker picture that undermines the eye-catching point of the Crystal Clear mode. But at least there is a choice available between punch and consistency.

Again, the Crystal Clear setting isn’t interested in staying true to industry HDR standards. Colour, greyscale and EOTF-tracking errors are fairly substantial according to Calman Ultimate. There can be a touch of black crush in the Crystal Clear mode, too. Overall, though, its pictures can still look gorgeous after a little tweaking. 

As with SDR, a Filmmaker Mode is available for enthusiasts who want a more accurate HDR experience. This tracks very closely to the correct HDR EOTF values and RGB Balance, and pinpoints most test colours on a colour checker routine with a Delta E error of under four – an impressive effort for an HDR display. Tests also show the OLED809 can cover 98.3% of the P3 HDR colour spectrum and 74.7% of the BT2020 spectrum.

Filmmaker Mode pictures do lose a lot of the dynamism that Philips’ other HDR presets can give you, but there’s a lovely sense of balance and refinement to its images, as well as more consistent shadow detailing in dark scenes. What matters is that Philips offers a choice between punch and accuracy, both of which can look great in their different ways. 

One final oblique picture quality enhancement worth mentioning is Ambilight. Yet again you need to be careful how you use it; leave it too bright and set to react too sharply to image changes and it can become distracting. Set up correctly, though, it can quickly become a feature you no longer want to live without. 

To test the Philips OLED809 we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software.

Philips OLED809 review: Gaming

Philips’ taste for sharpness, rich colours and high contrast plays perfectly with game graphics, delivering them with a crispness and punch that adds both excitement and immersion to your gaming experience. 

The pixel-level light controls associated with OLED screens ensure a spectacular level of precision in the way 4K HDR graphics are rendered, too – and that precision is immaculately maintained as you run or pan around gaming worlds thanks to the TV’s comprehensive and beautifully delivered high and variable refresh rate support.

The OLED809’s tone mapping can be a touch aggressive with HDR games, but if this bothers you the set does support the HGiG system, which turns off the TV’s tone mapping and devolves HDR settings to your Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.

READ NEXT: Best TV deals

Philips OLED809 review: Sound quality

While the OLED809 doesn’t sound as spectacular as Philips’ Bowers & Wilkins TV collaborations, it’s still a good performer. Movie and TV soundtracks are detailed and crisp, especially with Dolby Atmos sources, and the speakers have enough power and range to keep up with action scene escalations without starting to sound thin or collapse in on themselves.

The substantial subwoofer contributes a decent amount of bass depth too, and only under pretty extreme duress does it start to suffer with mild distortions. At the other end of the spectrum, high-pitched sounds have enough headroom not to come off as brittle or harsh.  

It’s not all good news, however. The OLED809 doesn’t get particularly loud even at maximum volume, voices can sound a little swallowed, and the sound lacks forward projection, leaving the action sounding more like it’s coming from behind the TV than in front of it.

Philips OLED809 review: Verdict

The OLED809 is an excellent and unique mid-range TV. There’s no other set at its price point that looks like it, thanks to its metallic finish and Ambilight technology, and in some ways, there’s no other TV at its price point that performs like it either. 

The knack Philips’ P5 processor has for somehow pushing the brand’s OLED TVs to extremes of colour and contrast other equivalent rivals just can’t reach holds good for this mid-range model too. Sometimes Philips’ bold impulses go a little too far in the TV’s out-of-the-box state, but the tools are provided to let you make its pictures almost anything you want them to be. 

This does make the Philips OLED809 potentially more labour-intensive than some less dramatic TVs. But the ends justify the means – and who doesn’t love a bit of AV drama?