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PHILIPS 55OLED856/12 55inch 4K UHD OLED SMART TV WiFi Dolby Atmos Ambilight

£9.9£99Clearance
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This time there's a 3.1.2ch Dolby Atmos soundbar strapped onto the stand which makes for a very tidy flagship OLED TV solution indeed. It comes in 48in, 55in and 65in sizes and the satisfaction that each time the soundbar has been tuned to make sure that the audio sounds as if it's coming from the centre of the screen. Switching to the 4K Blu-ray of 1917, also in Dolby Vision, the Philips proves that it’s just as capable with more subtle source material. There’s a fine line between delivering the film’s muted palette and draining the life out of the picture, and it’s one that the Philips treads with confidence. A soundbar might not be totally necessary, mind you. The sound quality of the TV itself is actually rather good, and certainly better than what we’ve heard from any other entry-level OLED this year. Bass is more than sufficient and there’s impressive clarity too. Of course, for the complete cinematic experience, a soundbar or surround-sound setup is recommended, but it’s not a necessity if you can’t afford to buy both at once.

While pricier Philips sets have enjoyed an audio partnership with Bowers & Wilkins, that isn’t the case here, and there are just two downward firing 10W drivers to handle the TV’s sound. In terms of settings, we opt for Dolby Vision Bright for a good balance of punch and realism. Even when watching at night, we preferred the added brightness from this setting that the Dolby Vision Dark profile can’t quite muster, to give a more convincing HDR impact. As a mid-range panel, its peak brightness is on the humble side, so a helping hand here to make the most of its capabilities is appreciated. Smart TV is Android TV (version 9) which was fast and stable with a good line-up of apps. We didn’t have any issues with crashes or hanging. We did, however, have issues with the BBC iPlayer where we didn’t have any sound. No matter what we tried we couldn’t fix this issue (it is also the same on the OLED+934). The menu system of the 2019 Philips TVs are complex, expansive and get in the way of the user. We also didn’t like the UI for using the TV's in-built tuner. None of the interfaces are intuitive for users and could do with a redesign to simplify. So, what do we know about the set itself? It will feature a "razor thin, zero bezel" design, keeping things sleek and focused on the picture itself. Unlike the OLED 856, which comes with a "wedge mount metal dark chrome T bar stand", the OLED 806 will feature a rather ordinary pair of feet to balance it on a counter.

What Makes Us Different?

The 55OLED807 is quite similar to competing TVs from alternative brands in many ways – so I may as well start with the feature that puts the Philips out on its own: Ambilight. Hi all, had the 55OLED856 one week now after it's first decent price drop at Richer Sounds and have spent more time trying to get it set up to a reasonable level than I have any other recent bit of tech I can remember. If anyone could assist with one or more of the following issues, I'd be really grateful. The resulting picture is stunningly sharp, detailed and three-dimensional, and brilliantly balanced in terms of colours and contrast. It skews a little darker than the LG CX, but its picture is beautifully deep and dramatic and there’s no loss in terms of dark detail. For gamers, there is VRR support on HDMI1 and HDMI2 for smooth gameplay, and the TV automatically switches to the low latency gaming setting when you switch to your console’s HDMI input.

Information about the minimum amount of time, in which the pixels change from one color to another. Very often the manufacturer provides the response time for transition from grey-to-grey (G2G). One of the attractive things about Philips TVs is the Ambilight system. This provides illumination from the rear of the television that can spread the colours across the room. This can be coordinated with other Philips Hue devices, with the TV driving the colour show based on what's on the screen. The latest models offer four-sided Ambilight which is great for wall mounting, some older models are only three sided. The 62 x 107 x 28cm dimensions (including the feet) might not mean a huge amount on paper but what it really amounts to is the kind of size and shape that will work in almost any home. The ice-skate feet are simple to fit and require just 78cm of sideboard or shelf to stand on. The former of those, as the name suggests, measures ambient light levels and adjusts contrast algorithms to deliver a more 'comfortable' viewing experience in darker rooms. Film Detection, meanwhile, can switch automatically either to the UHD Alliance's ultra-accurate Filmmaker Mode when the appropriate content flag is detected (although no such content seemingly exists), or to Philips' own Home Cinema Mode, which has been concocted to deliver an image that's sort of a mid-point between Filmmaker Mode and the heavily saturated, high-contrast Vivid preset.Turning to new video features, at the top of the tree is the fifth-generation of Philips' P5 AI Intelligent Picture Engine. This applies a dizzying roster of separate processing elements to what Philips sees as the five fundamental parts of picture quality: colour, source detection, contrast, sharpness and motion. Most will be buying smaller than that, but the important thing is that it fits into your room and will be a comfortable size for viewing.

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