There are much bigger Ultra HD TVs on show at IFA 2013, but don’t underestimate the impact of a 65-inch screen with eight million pixels.
As big as four 32-inch screens, Philips’ 65PFL9708 is, at £4,500 reasonably priced when compared to the competition; Panasonic’s 65-inch TX-L65WT600 unveiled at IFA will sell for £6,300.
We know the pixel maths, but the difference between Full HD 1080p and Ultra HD 2160p is underlined on the way into the Philips stand where there’s a demo of one against the other showing the 65PFL9708’s upscaling technology.
Each screen has a magnifying glass on the screen; while the pixels on the Full HD screen is clearly visible as a grid, on the latter there’s very little to see even at extreme close-up.
Picture processing
As well as the entrancing Ambilight, the 65PFL9708 has a Ultra Pixel HD Engine to control all picture processing, the most powerful new element of which is called Ultra Resolution.
Primed for 4K, it takes a Full HD pixel, splits it into four same-coloured pixels, then adds nuance and differentiation between them by amplifying the intensity, to increase the picture quality beyond mere upscaling. Perfect Natural Motion is also here, and promises the same performance as with Full HD, thanks to the increase in processing power.
It’s clever stuff. The resolution stands up even when you look at the TV screen from very close by. A native 4k picture of a mountain forest on one 65PFL9708 looks impressive at first, but a reveal of the same image on another 65PFL9708 alongside – with Ultra Resolution engaged – has much more detail as well as added depth and texture.
HD Upscaling
Without any native sources of Ultra HD for homes the 65PFL9708 is all about upscaling. “I’ve always been trying to improve the image by upscaling,” says Danny Tack, Director of Product Planning at TP Vision, which makes Philips TVs. “And if you do that too much you cause an artificial picture, but with so much more resolution and power it’s now much easier. We work on the basis that most homes in Europe have a Full HD source that we can upscale to 4k.”
More 4k-to-Ultra Resolution 4k demo sequences, such as a moving stop-motion sequence of a forest, then a falling tide, showcase the detail enhancement exquisitely, though we’re mindful that the 65PFL9708 is in Vivid picture mode.
There’s also a slight increase in gamma on the panel with Ultra Resolution switched-on, which overall just looks crisper. Occasionally we did notice a hint of noise in backgrounds, but the overall impression is of so much more picture information on display – and Tack underlines that impression by showing a satellite map of London. It’s possible to see minute details.
Passive 3D on a Philips TV?
The 65PFL9708 also has a light sensor that reduces the brightness. “It optimises the blacks for the ambient light,” says Tack. “We also adjust the amount of dimming of the backlight, which is new.”
However, the 65PFL9708 use Micro Dimming Pro, not Philips’ top-end Micro Dimming Premium. “We now are doubling the amount of dimming in the backlight with the light sensor,” says Tack. “Micro Dimming Pro is the perfect marriage between the perfect picture quality and power consumption because it reacts to the amount of light.
We know the human eye is in different environments sensitive to different elements – in a dark environment it’s important to keep the blacks dark. In a bright environment you’re not so sensitive to blacks, and bright whites are more important.”
But why the use of a passive 3D panel rated at just 100Hz for the 65PFL9708? “It’s about display availability for now,” says Tack, “but the main reason why most of our high-end TV products have not been passive 3D was because of resolution loss. There’s nothing wrong with passive 3D as a technology, but in Full HD it loses a lot of resolution. That problem is solved by 4k resolution – it’s a perfect marriage.”
However, the 65PFL9708 isn’t an immaculate conception. Although it’s not fitted with HDMI 2.0 inputs, buyers of the 65PFL9708 will receive an adaptor box in due course. “When the final confirmation or approval of HDMI 2.0 is done in the nest few weeks we will work on an upgrade kit to make sure that you will be able to buy a small box to link between HDMI 2.0 sources and this TV,” Tack told us. “Buyers will be fully guaranteed for the future.”
Cloud Apps
Philips also unveiled to us its upcoming new Cloud TV app for its existing Smart TV platform. The version we saw featured streams from BBC World and BBC Entertainment along with a host of German-centric channels, with access to over 600 IPTV channels from six partners.
Another dimension is the Cloud Explorer app, which allows access to media on Dropbox via a Philips TV account; the default for a new Dropbox account is currently 2GB, though through a partnering agreement linking a Philips TV will add a further 2GB. Both apps are due to appear on Philips next week on all Philips 2012 and 2013 TVs.
Another forthcoming update, this time to the Philips MyRemote app, will allow viewing of TV schedules and on-the-go recording to USB.
Philips will also sell an 84-inch 84PFL9708 in October, which starts at an eye-popping £13,000 – though even that is a significant price-cut on first-gen Ultra HD TVs.
Early verdict
This looks like a brilliant first-generation Ultra HD TV. The picture is fantastic and the price is almost too good to be true.
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