Televisions

Since the 55OLED807 is an OLED TV, moreover, its local peak light intensity is achieved without the surrounding darkness being polluted by light 'leakage'. Sequences like Alien's opening starscape are therefore a remarkably convincing demonstration of the local contrast advantages of the technology.

Good For Gotham
This boosted brightness has been achieved without any compromise to the screen's black levels. Dark scenes benefit from black colours that look richly, deeply and consistently dark, with no near-black flickering from the panel drivers, or drifting black tones caused by the set's contrast optimisation processing. As Batman appears for the first time in The Batman (4K Blu-ray), from a pitch black railway station tunnel, the blackness is as absolute as it's supposed to be. Yet just as importantly, the subtle increases in shadow detail that ultimately define his form are all rendered superbly, with excellent gradation and finesse.

While this movie isn't exactly a riot of colour (unless you like black and really dark grey), the occasional shot featuring the neon-drenched backdrop of Gotham by night reveals the 55OLED807's colour performance to be seriously impressive – and the panel's greater luminance is used to help colour tones seem more natural rather than more aggressive or cartoonlike. Even in the TV's most aggressive Crystal Clear picture preset, colours are typically balanced and authentic, with just the occasional tone standing out too much.

The experience of 4K sharpness and detail the 55OLED807 delivers with both native 4K and upscaled HD sources is outstanding. Maybe, in the aforementioned Crystal Clear preset, a touch artificially so, in fact. Yet with the milder presets every little texture and every hint of grain can be seen in The Batman's native (from shooting to digital intermediate) 4K visuals.

All this clarity can be retained when there's motion to contend with – use either Philips' Pure Cinema or Movie motion options to enjoy a picture that looks neither unnaturally fluid or too afflicted with unwanted processing side effects.

Complementing the TV's cinematic images is an audio performance that largely makes a mockery of its slender chassis. The mid-range, in particular, sounds surprisingly rich and fulsome, which is great for dialogue and soundtrack delivery, and there's decent weight of bass at one end and fine detailing at the other. Sometimes, with very low-frequency effects, the TV's rear-facing woofer can sound like it's being asked to do too much, but generally this is an enjoyable listen.

Later in the year there will be, once again, higher-spec Philips OLEDs with Bowers & Wilkins-designed speaker bars – keep that in mind if you're in the market for a more all-singing, all-dancing solution.

Adjustment Bureau
Back with picture performance, the 55OLED807 looks stunning as a game monitor. Its sharpness, vibrant colours, strong motion clarity and extreme contrast work perfectly with the latest game graphics standards.

The only frustrations are that you can't game in Dolby Vision at 4K/120 frame rates, and – as with last year's 806 series – the 4K resolution is halved in HDR Game mode if your console is outputting 4K/120Hz signals with variable refresh rates. To retain full 4K resolution with 120Hz VRR feeds, you'll need to switch to HDR Monitor mode, which takes away some of the colour and brightness enhancements the Game mode maintains.

This manual intervention is one of a number that I'd recommend you make with the 55OLED807's default settings. Another would be that if you're watching a film in a dark room, turn off not only the set's Eco mode features, but also the new Ambient AI features. Or, at least, the Eye Care and Dark Scene Optimisation options, as these crush out far too much shadow detail in the sort of dark room settings many of us typically want to watch movies in.

Philips still tends to be a bit over-enthusiastic with its noise reduction and motion presets, too, so you'll usually need to tone those down. Also, while the Crystal Clear preset is very appealing on one level – it seems to be really taking advantage of everything the EX panel can do – it does need configuring when it comes to its sharpness and colour strength to give it a more consistent performance. Philips' HDR Personal preset, on the other hand, is a little duller than you might expect, especially as there are also Filmmaker Mode and Home Cinema options to cater for people who want accurate pictures.

Next Level OLED
The sheer number of image presets and adjustments here is perhaps overwhelming, so it's pleasing that even out of the box the 55OLED807's pictures are clearly better than those of its already excellent predecessor. Tweaking them a little, if you are inclined, simply makes the step forward more pronounced. And the star of the show is the new EX panel, which adds an extra level of dynamism to OLED's customary strengths.

Overall, this model comfortably improves on the OLED806 without substantially moving the price dial. Superb.

HCC Verdict

Philips 55OLED807

Price: £1,799
www.philips.co.uk

We say: Another OLED step forward from Philips – this TV's performance is exemplary, and the specification is comprehensive. Be prepared to tweak a bit, though.

Overall: 5/5

Specifications

4K: Yes. 3,840 x 2,160 HDR: Yes. HDR10; HLG; HDR10+; Dolby Vision TUNER: Yes.Freeview HD; satellite HD CONNECTIONS: 4 x HDMI inputs; 3 x USB; headphone jack; Ethernet 4K/120 PLAYBACK: Yes, via two of four HDMIs SOUND (CLAIMED): 70W BRIGHTNESS (CLAIMED): 1,000 nits on 3% white window CONTRAST RATIO (CLAIMED): N/A DIMENSIONS (OFF STAND): 1,225.4(w) x 701.4(h) x 68(d)mm WEIGHT (OFF STAND): 18.3kg

FEATURES: High-brightness EX panel; Gen 6 P5 picture engine; Advanced HDR tone mapping system; four-sided Ambilight with Hue support; Aurora screensaver mode; Android 11 OS; ALLM and VRR (incl. AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync); Game Bar; Filmmaker Mode; IMAX Enhanced; Bluetooth; Wi-Fi; Dolby Atmos