NEWS: Philips unveils 9636 and 9506 MiniLED TVs

I received my 9636 yesterday and I am very happy with it. For me, ambilght is very important. But the picture quality is a massive improvement on my previous LCD Philips TV and the local dimming really improves blacks and overall contrast (turning it off and on is like night and day). Under normal viewing conditions I have not noticed any issues with the local dimming (I have it set on medium). If you seek out a video of a white shape moving fast on a black background you will see some ghosting - but I can't say I often watch that type of content. You have to appreciate the limitations of local dimming technology - it is not at a pixel level so it won't be perfect. Philips can improve the algorithm but I don't think I'd notice.

The sound bar is great, ambilight is great, the picture is great, android is fast. I'm definitely keeping it.

Take a look to my video, then cry, the local dimming is a broken mess

so, question to the owners of 9506 - is it worth to buy it? I am thinking about 75" - sony x94j or this philips. Now I have old philips so I know ambilight, but I want to have best picture quality and this local dimming sounds bad. I also know philips low support with updates - so i'm counting on your help

DON'T buy this TV, as it is right now, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
 
Take a look to my video, then cry, the local dimming is a broken mess



DON'T buy this TV, as it is right now, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
I’ve seen your videos. It definitely struggles in some extreme examples - no denying that. But for general viewing, I don’t notice any issues but I certainly do appreciate the deeper blacks that you get as a result of having dimming.

I guess it depends on how you use the TV.
 
I’ve seen your videos. It definitely struggles in some extreme examples - no denying that. But for general viewing, I don’t notice any issues but I certainly do appreciate the deeper blacks that you get as a result of having dimming.

I guess it depends on how you use the TV.
No, you haven't seen the last one, see it, the problem is that the colors goes to shit, everything gets clipped and blown up (even in SDR) just because of the local dimming, now i understand why the calibration was giving me such weird values on certain things
 
No, you haven't seen the last one, see it, the problem is that the colors goes to sh*t, everything gets clipped and blown up (even in SDR) just because of the local dimming, now i understand why the calibration was giving me such weird values on certain things

Why don't you publish video where you try to calibrate and explain issues with this tv model. Make sure brand and model number listed on youtube. That will make philips to pay attention, yet try not to swear as could get easily taken down :laugh: Brands normally react when get public show off. Hence probably why haven't seen any mini-led professional reviews from popular reviewers as they would not risk their name. Vincent only been seen on top philips OLED models as hardly anything is wrong there. Yet he not been given mini-led to review considering that these been on sale now for a while and that means something :lesson:
 
So we know the local dimming is bad, but what does the TV do well? I would like to know things like; Build quality/materials, gray uniformity, black uniformity, DSE, Motion handling, Color accuracy (would really like to know this one) and native contrast performance, how is the game mode(VRR performance). A dimming algorithm is, to my knowledge, purely software based, which means it could get fixed. The question is; how is the rest of the TV that can’t be fixed through software?
 
So we know the local dimming is bad, but what does the TV do well? I would like to know things like; Build quality/materials, gray uniformity, black uniformity, DSE, Motion handling, Color accuracy (would really like to know this one) and native contrast performance, how is the game mode(VRR performance). A dimming algorithm is, to my knowledge, purely software based, which means it could get fixed. The question is; how is the rest of the TV that can’t be fixed through software?
The only real good thing is brightness, materials are normal, nothing special, gray uniformity.. Well, it's not bad, as for black uniformity my panel has several clouds, not too much DSE, motion handling is really good, color accuracy is really good (76% BT2020), game mode VRR is broken for both HDR and SDR since the last firmware, dimming algorithm is software, yes, but if the techs are bad, they wont improve anything, and the local dimming is blowing up the detail on SDR/HDR as shown in my video, so i have it turned off since then..

The TV is really good as TV if you dont care a shit about all those problems
 
The only real good thing is brightness, materials are normal, nothing special, gray uniformity.. Well, it's not bad, as for black uniformity my panel has several clouds, not too much DSE, motion handling is really good, color accuracy is really good (76% BT2020), game mode VRR is broken for both HDR and SDR since the last firmware, dimming algorithm is software, yes, but if the techs are bad, they wont improve anything, and the local dimming is blowing up the detail on SDR/HDR as shown in my video, so i have it turned off since then..

The TV is really good as TV if you dont care a sh*t about all those problems
I have the philips 9506 should I send it back,how do I know that the game mode with vrr does not work or with what game best for xbox series x?
When I look at my xbox in the settings are everywhere green ticks!
 
I have the philips 9506 should I send it back,how do I know that the game mode with vrr does not work or with what game best for xbox series x?
When I look at my xbox in the settings are everywhere green ticks!
Ooh, I don't have an Xbox but is it reporting 120hz Dolby vision gaming? If so thats a big plus.
 
@ megagold5.

I remember reading somewhere that Philips is working with Mediatek in order to see if 120hz DV is possible via firmware upgrade in their chipsets. I cannot locate the link right now though.
 
Can anyone od the owners this 9506 make some photos of it?
I am interesting this model, but looks like frame is silver and my wife is not sure if it will suits.
What about light reflections on the screen? Bother you?
 
Not sure if it's always like this with Philips TVs but they seem to be coming in very sporadic and slow trickles...
 
And also no reviews whatsoever.
Even Vincent did not touch them yet, but had already had hands on 936 oled - yet he was first of few to announce philips miniled range.... So I guess too many issues yet with mini-led. None of reviewers want to hit £3k bill and manufacturers wont send it because probably will be shot on review with all downsides. I am pretty sure there will be some difference in PQ between 65 and 75 models too.
 
Hi I have had the 9506, and I must join the people who warns against this model, the dimming algorythm is very very bad. I returned it, and have now a OLED 706, what a big improvement in PQ

BR Thomas
 
Hi I have had the 9506, and I must join the people who warns against this model, the dimming algorythm is very very bad. I returned it, and have now a OLED 706, what a big improvement in PQ

BR Thomas
Thanks, you've helped me come to concrete decision not to risk the 9506. I was always dubious Philips could pull this off at first go and the various comments convince me they haven't.

I'm now either going to go for the 9206 (100hz, but no localized dimming) or try the OLED806. I'm after 4 sided ambilight as wall mounting otherwise would of gone for a OLED705 or 805 as both good value.
 
Philips screwed up again. What a mess. I thought they improved quality from 2018. But nope. I would avoid Philips TVs for shure.
 
"Philips screwed up again. What a mess. I thought they improved quality from 2018. But nope. I would avoid Philips TVs for shure."

Anti-advertising?) This is their first miniLED TV, this technology is not ideal for all brands. + major updates have not been released. And also nothing prevents you from buying Philips OLED for the same money, which they have been producing for 5 years and every year it gets better and better and is rightfully considered one of the best OLEDs on the market.
 
"Philips screwed up again. What a mess. I thought they improved quality from 2018. But nope. I would avoid Philips TVs for shure."

Anti-advertising?) This is their first miniLED TV, this technology is not ideal for all brands. + major updates have not been released. And also nothing prevents you from buying Philips OLED for the same money, which they have been producing for 5 years and every year it gets better and better and is rightfully considered one of the best OLEDs on the market.
"Not ideal for all brands" this is what mostly annoys me especially with Philips as we are technically alpha testers/owners and yet pay premium for it! Other biggest problem that consumers got used to unfinished products and there is hardly any regulation/control to prevent manufacturers from doing this. Compliance and standards just ignore basic performance standards user would expect. Dimming issues would clearly indicate discrepancy in image quality reproduction and technically should not even get DCI-P3 rating it has as we watch dynamic content and not static. But truly agree probably buying OLED set is much cheaper and better option whilst all issues are present with miniLED.
 
Anti-advertising?) This is their first miniLED TV, this technology is not ideal for all brands. + major updates have not been released. And also nothing prevents you from buying Philips OLED for the same money
Maybe I have strange understanding, but if you sending some goods on market it should works as you promised. And not explain that in some future it should be better - wait for update, a month, a year?
Now I understand this lack of other review...
 
I have returned my 9636 , in some scenes it was fantastic, watching the jungle scenes in Our Planet on Netflix was excellent but similarly watching the scenes with Wilder-beast in the first episode left big shadows where the dark animals moved against the bright sky. Once i had seen this issue i couldn't unsee it. The blooming wasn't an issue for me even though the handling of bright objects like subtitles was very uneven and the blacks were great. Also watching sports like NFL was difficult as the bright players had strange blurs around the players, I dont know if this is the local dimming algorithm or another setting i could have changed such as motion.

Ultimately having persistent shadows/trails on high contrast areas and slow led transitions made it hard for me to watch, I wonder if this is an issue with mini-led in general or just Philips implementation.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom