Hello guys! Just before the new review season begins, I want to share my experience with
Philips 6550 series TV from last year. Main reason for this is to list anomalies which
I've encountered during the test. I am sure this will be useful for all of you who are
considering this particular model. I will focus on picture quality in this review
since design, setup and menu overview is already covered in the unboxing video – check description
for the link. As Full HD TVs slowly fade away from the market,
people are looking for the best non-UHD models that are still available. PFT6550 is the highest
ranked Full HD model in Philips 2015 lineup, featuring company's well known Perfect Pixel
HD engine, 800 Hz Perfect Motion Rate and Micro Dimming Pro technologies. Active 3D
is also supported, though there were no 3D glasses in the packaging.
Until the advent of UHD, Philips's Perfect Pixel HD engine was one of the best picture
processors out there. A few years back it was reserved only for the high end models
and delivered stunning picture quality when combined with high contrast 100 Hz plus panels.
Its focus is on color, sharpness and noise of the picture, regardless of its resolution
or type. In short, you could be watching noisy interlaced SD content and still experience
solid picture. Since PFT6550 is equipped with this high quality
processor, I expected nothing but great picture coming out of this TV. Philips has selected
VA panel with ANSI contrast of 3700:1 and Rec.709 coverage of about 97.6% to make sure
that this quality processing is done on the solid ground.
However, things were not looking so great when I actually started watching the content.
Here are top 5 problems I've experienced during the test:
Problem #1: sharpness This is the first TV for which it took me
more then 10 seconds to adjust sharpness properly. What do I mean by that? Well, I want to look
at the original image, not overprocessed one with yellow halos around the objects. On the
other side, I do not want picture to be less sharp than it is supposed to be. With PFT6550,
it seems that there is no ideal value, just bigger or smaller compromise. Sharpness set
at 0 will make image look blurry. Sharpness at 1 will bring it closer to the original
image, but will introduce slight halo effect. Sharpness at 2 will increase processing even
more and this will keep increasing as we reach max value of 10. Part of the solution is to
enable Game or Computer mode, but this is not valid for all types of signal.
Problem #2: blurry image This is not related with problematic sharpness,
but seems to be something else. During watching content over digital tuner or USB, I saw image
I can best describe as faint 2D-to-3D conversion even though 3D was disabled. Image looked
as if it had crosstalk in it which could be observed from 2 to 3 meters away from the
TV quite easily. Part of this problem was solved with new software update, but I still
could see it on some content. Problem #3: Gamma fluctuations
Even though local dimming and dynamic contrast were disabled, TV was often activating something
similar to dynamic contrast which was crushing details in the dark areas of the picture.
In this video this is clearly shown on the port side of the ship. Look how strip is dark
and details are hard to see. To fix this you need to go to the menu and
play with Contrast control. Immediately after doing this, gamma will normalize and exposure
will come closer to the original image. Problem #4: Motion interpolation
You know that I am not a big fan of soap opera effect when watching movies. I like the original
24 frames per second pace without judder reduction. Well, someone at Philips thinks that this
is not the correct approach and makes judder reduction constantly kick in. So even if Perfect
Natural Motion is disabled, tempo of the movies is not right and artifacts show up when scene
gets complex. To correct this you again have to play with picture options or if source
permits, activate PC or Computer mode. Problem #5: Upside down picture
I've tested over a hundred TVs in my career from low to high end and I've never seen anything
like this. When I was checking input lag on all 4 HDMIs
this TV has, I noticed that on HDMI number 3 picture is upside down. I tried all different
picture presets, exchanged cables and inputs, but problem remained. The only good thing
is that I managed to measure the input lag... So how to conclude? I find it very disapointing
that technology which was proven so many times in the past is now so unstable and problematic.
Yes, there are certain strenghts like high contrast and true 100 Hz panel, but it is
really annoying to constantly fight with the TV on how it is handling picture. This is
the 4th Philips series 6 TV in the past 4 years which is very unstable in terms of picture
quality and it looks like we are not making any progress in solving it.
I don't know if Android has anything to do with it, but this is a clear example how TV
should not work and be set for home usage. If this was only happening in Standard or
Natural modes I would understand, but all of these problems were visible in Movie and
ISF modes as well. The only positive item related to the software
is Android platform, which was crashing significantly less than the one on more expensive PUS7600
model. I really hope that Philips will correct these
issues in the upcoming software updates. If they provide me with a review sample, I would
be happy to retest it and share the results in a new video. Until then, I do not recommend
this TV and suggest Panasonic, Samsung or LG in the same price range for more stable
result and overall better video experience. Thank you for watching.