Philips TVs are again. Latest years have seen the model overtaken by Japanese and Korean rivals, with a protracted buy-out of the Philips’ TV division by Taiwanese firm TP V leaving the model in limbo. Lastly, it appears, we’re again on agency floor.
Truly, we discover ourselves in a forest on the outskirts of Brussels. It’s right here that Philips is having a week-long launch for its new vary of TVs. Not solely does the corporate have an exhaustive line-up of recent TVs, it has declared its goal to change into the highest canine of TVs in Europe.
How? It begins with gaining buyer belief, and to that finish Philips has been providing TVs with a 30-day no-quibble assure. That’s one strategy to exhibit confidence. What else? Good tech, in fact. Let’s have a look.
It’s a diversified vary, with one thing for everybody. Sizes go from a kitchen-friendly 24-inches to a room-dominating 75-inches. There are a couple of Full HD TVs, however largely we’re taking a look at Extremely HD 4K units.
The entire 4K TVs might be operating the newest Android TV working system, with built-in 4K sources that embody Netflix, Amazon Video and YouTube. Most of those units will deal with excessive dynamic vary content material.
Unhealthy information in the event you’re a fan of 3D, as a result of there might be none of it by any means. “3D is useless,” declares Philips’ image high quality guru Danny Tack. Apparently there may be not sufficient demand to justify complicating the brand new designs (and danger affecting the image).
OLED
Philips is doing OLED. It’s nonetheless in improvement, however we’re instructed it’ll make an look later this yr, in all probability at IFA 2016 in Berlin. It is going to use an LG panel, which is hardly shocking contemplating LG is basically the one OLED participant on the town.
In Europe, Philips is taking a look at a 55in display dimension, and solely in flat format. The corporate’s analysis suggests the curve is a dying fad in Europe, though China and Latin America will see a curved mannequin.
HDR
Philips has a curious technique in the case of HDR. None of its vary will adjust to the UHD Alliance’s new ‘UHD Premium’ commonplace, which recommends a peak brightness of 1000 nits (the place 1 nit is roughly equal to 1 candle’s brightness). As an alternative, these TVs will go as much as a most of 700 nits.
The corporate just isn’t involved about getting the UHD Premium badge, declaring that Japanese rival Sony has the identical angle. Tack would moderately accept a decrease peak brightness than danger getting halo results on display.
The HDR line-up is split into ‘HDR Plus’ and ‘HDR Premium’. Many of the HDR-compatible TVs are labelled HDR Plus, which denotes a peak brightness of 400 nits. HDR Premium is reserved for the perfect within the vary: the complete 700 nits.
Don’t fear about compatibility, although – these TVs do observe the UHD Alliance’s really helpful ‘HDR 10’ open commonplace. Amazon Video’s HDR, as an example, will play simply wonderful. As will the upcoming Extremely HD Blu-rays.
Right here’s one we’ve not heard earlier than: HDR upscaling. We’re accustomed to HD and UHD upscaling, which takes lower-resolution pictures and bumps them as much as a better decision utilizing intelligent processing, and HDR upscaling does the identical – boosting color, brightness and distinction. The standard of this stays to be seen.
Ambilight
Ambilight is again. For these unfamiliar with this strange improvement: Ambilight makes use of strips of LEDs on the edges of Philips TVs to show the display’s colors in your rear wall.
The thought is to play together with your peripheral imaginative and prescient and make it appear to be the TV’s picture is bigger than it truly is. Think about it as the image spilling over the perimeters of the display. Ambilight is Philips’ get together trick, however that get together has been upgraded to a full-on rave.
Now not is Ambilight mild restricted to 2, three or 4 strips of LEDs: Ambilight Projection (nicknamed Ambilux) makes use of 9 tiny rear projectors. What you get is not simply matching colors: they’re imprecise shapes that mirror what’s on display. It may be just a little distracting at first, however you possibly can simply regulate the depth of the impact. We look ahead to correctly testing this function out.
Philips 2016 TVs
FULL HD
Philips 4000 sequence
HD prepared and Full HD
Sizes: 22in, 24in
50Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Philips 5211 sequence
It is a curious one. It’s like a tiny TV nailed to a conveyable speaker, and features prefer it too. The display makes use of the built-in speaker base however you possibly can go sound-only and use it as a Bluetooth speaker.
Full HD
Sizes: 24in
50Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Philips 5501 sequence
Full HD
Sizes: 32in, 40in, 43in, 49in
50Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Availability: Might 2016
Philips 6400 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 32in
100Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 2
Availability: April 2016
Philips 2016 4K TVs
Philips 6101 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 43in, 49in, 55in
100Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
HDR Plus
Philips 6401 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 43in, 49in, 55in
100Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 2
HDR Plus
Availability: April 2016
Philips 6501 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 43in, 49in, 55in, 65in
200Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 2
HDR Plus
Availability: April 2016
Philips 6561 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 65in
200Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 3
HDR Plus
Availability: April 2016
Philips 7101 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 49in, 55in, 65in, 75in
200Hz body charge
Edge-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 3
HDR Plus
Availability: April 2016
Philips 7181 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 49in, 55in
200Hz body charge
Edge-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 3
HDR Plus
Built-in soundbar
Availability: April 2016
Philips 7601 sequence
One to look out for. This one combines a 700 nit direct-lit LED panel with native dimming (which Philips calls 2D dimming for some cause).
Extremely HD
Sizes: 65in
200Hz body charge
Direct-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 3
HDR Premium
Availability: July 2016
Philips 8601 sequence
That is the one with fancy audio system. How fancy? They’re magnetic speaker bars which you can rip off from the perimeters and place elsewhere for a wider sound discipline. They get their very own devoted (mains powered) stands and talk with the TV by way of Bluetooth.
Extremely HD
Sizes: 55in, 65in
200Hz body charge
Edge-lit LED
Android TV
Ambilight 4
HDR Premium
Removable audio system
Availability: February 2016
Philips 8901 sequence
Extremely HD
Sizes: 65in
200Hz body charge
Edge-lit LED
Ambilight Projection (Ambilux)
HDR Plus
Availability: March 2016