Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Philips’ new OLED TV is coming to U.S. — and it’s amazing

By

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

For the most part, the U.S. is the land of milk and honey when it comes to the latest tech. It’s a huge market, which means tons of choice and some of the lowest prices of any country. But sometimes great products don’t hit these shores. Like Philips’ excellent OLED TVs, which we had the chance to check out at IFA 2019. However, if recent reports emerging from CES 2020 are accurate, that’s about to change: Funai, the company that licenses the Philips brand in the U.S., is going to bring the 804 Series OLED TV to this country in 2020.

Recommended Videos

Why does this matter? After all, we’ve already got great OLED TVs from LG and Sony. Well, first of all, more choice is always welcome. But secondly, the Philips 804 Series has a few features that help it stand apart from LG and Sony, even though the OLED panels for all three manufacturers come from the same factory run by LG Display.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chief among those features is Philips’ Ambilight technology. Using a string of LEDs mounted along three sides of the back of the 804 Series, Ambilight can bounce an infinite array of colors on the wall behind the TV. These colors can match the prevailing on-screen color, which has the effect of enlarging the image, or they can be set to a neutral 6500K white, giving you all the benefits of professional bias lighting. If you’re a fan of the Philips Hue smart lighting system, it’s even cooler: The Ambilight on the TV can sync to those lighting products for an effect that takes over your whole room.

Related

Another cool component is the 804’s support for every major HDR format. HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision are all on board, which would make the 804 the only OLED TV in the U.S. that has them all. It comes in handy when you’re streaming titles from Amazon Prime Video in HDR10+. Speaking of supported formats, the 804 is also good to go when it comes to Dolby Atmos.

Though its Android TV (Android 9 Pie) operating system isn’t that different from the version you’ll find on Sony OLED TVs, the 804 has the edge when it comes to Google Assistant. With built-in mics, you can talk out-loud and hands-free, a feature that we’re seeing a lot this year.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The 804 Series OLED TV also comes with a pretty spectacular remote. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the double-sided design means you can ditch the D-pad dance when entering text and use an actual QWERTY keyboard instead.

We don’t yet have a release date or pricing on the Philips 804 Series OLED TV, which will be available in both 55- and 65-inch sizes, but we’re very hopeful they’ll challenge both LG and Sony on price. Funai’s press release supports this hope: “With these Philips TVs, Funai is really taking OLED image technology, design flair, and connectivity integration to the next level — and all at an affordable new price point,” said Peter Swinkels, director of product planning for Funai.

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
The hidden costs of buying a 4K TV are way higher than you think
Toshiba 55-inch-class C350 series 4K smart Fire TV on a gray shelf and light gray background.

There’s never been a better time to buy a 4K TV. Prices have continued to drop even as screen sizes and smart TV features have continued to grow. But now that 4K TVs are priced within reach of almost anyone who wants one, are you actually going to be able to enjoy all of the extra detail and picture quality that 4K promises? The answer is, sadly, not as often as you expect, and not without some considerable extra investment over and above the cost of the TV.

Modern 4K TVs are packed with a lot of impressive technologies that can make picture quality look amazing, no matter what you’re watching. With upscaling driven by complex algorithms and often aided by AI, even watching an old DVD on a 4K TV will look way better than it did on an HDTV from 10 years ago. But to truly get the best possible results, you need access to native 4K content, preferably with some flavor of HDR, like Dolby Vision, HDR10, or HDR10+.

Read more
Sony’s A75L is its most affordable 4K OLED TV so far
Sony Bravia A75L OLED 4K TV.

Sony has announced that it's about to begin taking preorders on its 2023 Bravia A75L OLED 4K TV -- a model that shares all of the same high-end picture quality technologies found on the company's Bravia A80L, but costs much less. The A75L is available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes, for $1,600 and $2,000 respectively. That's up to $500 less than the same sizes of the A80L. Sony expects preorders to begin in early October.

The A75L definitely brings the price of Sony's incredible OLED TV picture quality within reach of more people, but if you're in the market to buy a new TV right now, you may want to check out Sony or Amazon for their current pricing on the Bravia A80L: the 55-inch model is $1,600 (the same as the A75L) and the 65-inch model is just $1,800 ($200 less than the A75L).

Read more
Hisense kicks off its U8K mini-LED TV availability with deep discounts
A closeup view of an owl displayed on a Hisense U8K TV.

Why wait for a new product to go on sale when you grab a huge discount on day one? That's clearly the thinking behind Hisense's retail launch of its 2023 U8K mini-LED 4K TV, which arrives in stores today. The flagship TV is available in 55-, 65-, and 75-inch screen sizes. Normally, these are priced at $1,300, $1,700, and $2,300 respectively, but for a limited time, Hisense has dramatically reduced all three, which are currently at $800, $1,100, and $1,600.

U8K is the company's flagship TV and marries the impressive benefits of quantum dots with the precise brightness control of mini-LED backlighting. The U8K offers Hisense's best and brightest picture quality -- that is, until (and if) Hisense releases the UX TV it teased at CES 2023. And it's loaded with features that will make it a strong contender if you're looking for a great TV without spending a fortune.

Read more