We analyze the OLED 807, one of the most interesting televisions in the Philips catalog, offering a premium design and excellent image quality, for a reasonable price.
The Philips OLED 807 are one step below the OLED+ 907 and OLED+ 937 that make up the high-end Philips range, which is why we have been surprised by the image, sound and construction quality of these televisions.
Having an OLED EX panel already puts us on track regarding image quality performance, since this type of panel provides above-average brightness and, until this model, these panels have been reserved for the top models .
The OLED 807 features a four-sided Ambilight system that creates a truly unique viewing experience. This model arrives in stores with a price of 2,079.99 euros which, although we cannot say that it is a cheap television, has a large screen that is worth taking into account.
Elegance and good finishes from the support to the control
One of the most recurring comments from those friends and family who have passed through my living room while I was testing the Philips OLED 807 has been: how beautiful it is!
Philips has accustomed us to a very elegant design on their televisions, but I must admit that with this OLED 807 they have gone a step further, betting on materials and a design more typical of the Premium range.
The OLED 807 screen seems to float on a central support that is surprising for the stability it provides with a simple support point on the back and a thin stainless steel bar on the front, which is what really supports the television. In any case, an exercise in minimalism and style.
The assembly of the support is simple and 4 screws are enough to fix it on the back, being covered by a useful piece of plastic that acts as a guide to carry the cables to the back of the furniture through the back of the support.
The profile of the OLED 807 is one of those that takes away the hiccups. With just 3 mm thickness of a screen protected by a metal cover in the upper third, while all eyes are on the Ambilight RGB LED lighting system that in this model occupies all four sides.
The connectors are grouped in two orientations: those for antenna, networks and HDMI are oriented downwards, while USB, audio and two HDMI towards the side, thus improving their connectivity. A plastic cover hides the connectors from view.
The only physical button of the OLED 807 is found in the lower left corner of the television that, by pressing it, manages to control the basic operating functions without needing the remote control.
The remote control maintains the same distribution as in the previous generation, but changes the rigorous black for a silver color to match the base, maintaining the synthetic leather finish on the back, which provides its premium touch to the remote control.
All the buttons on the remote are at the same level and it includes a backlighting system on the keys that allows it to be used without problems in dim light.
At the top we find the direct access buttons to the Ambilight configuration, the Philips HUB for featured content and two direct buttons for Netflix and Rakuten TV, as well as access to the configuration menus and the Google Assistant that is invoked pressing the button and talking to the command.
Philips refines its processor, but continues with its old ways
We come to one of the most complex sections for a television and that is that talking about image quality at certain levels is quite complicated because the televisions in the ranges in which this OLED 807 operates already offer very good quality and the differences with its rivals They are minimal… but there are.
Philips has opted for a 65-inch OLED EX panel with a 4K UHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) and a 10-bit color depth. This EX panel replaces its hydrogen base with deuterium, providing greater efficiency and stability when it comes to maintaining brightness.
It should be said that the OLED 807 is available in 48″, 55″, 65″ and 77″ diagonals, but the 48″ model is not equipped with this EX panel, so the comments we make in this analysis will not apply. at this size despite being an OLED 807.
One of the most important novelties of this new batch of the Philips 800 series is the incorporation of a 6th generation P5 processor that comes with some improvements and optimizations with respect to the 5th generation, and it really shows in the processing of the picture.
One of these improvements is given by what Philips calls Ambient Intelligence, which is nothing more than an ambient light sensor that allows the processor to apply algorithms that correct the image, adapting it to the light conditions in the room. Sound like Dolby Vision IQ to you? Well indeed, it is something similar… but native to Philips.
It goes without saying that the image quality offered by this panel is excellent, and the arrival of the new processor has brought some moderation in the excessive sharpness that Philips televisions used to show, making the image more natural.
The color is well adjusted, but in some preset profiles setting the brightness too low can leave an image lacking in vibrancy. It will suffice to apply a slight adjustment for the result to be perfect.
For example, to view content in Dolby Vision I preferred the Dolby Vision Bright setting even when watching the content in the dark to get a little more strength in the colors, but lowering the sharpness setting a couple of notches to give it a more cinematic touch. .
Even so, the OLED 807 shows marked black squashing in the darkest areas and fails to pull off as much shadow detail as some of its direct rivals.
Adjusting content in SDR is always more complicated since there is no metadata that tells the processor which settings to adopt, but this is where image profiles are essential.
In my case, I have used the Home Theater profile for almost all the content, applying some minimal settings. I found the Filmmaker mode too dull and others like Crystal Clarity too artificial, although they can work for watching game shows, sports or other TV shows.
Motion adjustment also benefits from the arrival of the new 6th generation P5 processor expanding the adjustment modes and the intensity of the interpolation.
At this point, I must say that my choice has been the Pure Cinema profile since the rest of the profiles left a halo of compression artifacts around moving objects due to the excessive sharpening applied by Philips.
The OLED 807 comes with 4 HDMI connectors of which only 2 are HDMI 2.1 while the other two have extended HDMI 2.0 functions.
As we have already seen in other televisions such as the Sony Bravia XR X95K, the audio return channel (eARC) occupies one of these HDMI 2.1 ports, so in practice, if you have an external sound system, the HDMI 2.1 ports available are reduced to 1.
However, Philips has played its cards right and integrated ARC support into its HDMI 2.0 connectors freeing the HDMI 2.1 port from this function and leaving it operational for gaming devices.
These HDMI 2.0 ports with ARC can process lossy Dolby Atmos into external sound systems. It’s not a huge loss since most Dolby Atmos content on the platforms is already like this.
For everything else, the performance in games of the Philips OLED 807 is impeccable, allowing gaming in 4K at 120 Hz with VRR and ALLM that provides a latency of 15 ms.
It is compatible with G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, but at the moment it is only compatible with the Geforce Now streaming game platform and the battered Stadia, although we assume that it will not take long to extend its support to Game Pass and others. All operating information and game settings can be configured from the game bar.
Android TV 11 arrives but maintains some complicated setting menus
The operating system of the Philips OLED 807 has undergone a small change during the time that we have been testing it, so that it has gone from using the Android TV interface , to the new, much easier-to-use Google TV.
The latest update of the operating system has completely changed the appearance of the interface, betting on Google TV, although it remains on the basis of Android 11.
That implies full access to the huge library of Google Play applications to the content recommendation of installed apps, thus facilitating access to content without having to wander from one app to another.
Philips maintains its own setup menu separate from system options. These menus are becoming more and more extensive and, despite the fact that many of them have a brief explanation of their functions, it is not always easy to find the right setting.
For example, to change something as simple and common as the color or sound profile, you would have to go through four levels of the menu.
The EasyLink system allows easy connection with devices compatible with this standard, but the OLED 807 cannot control television decoders or other external devices from the remote itself as Samsung or Sony televisions do.
What can be done from the remote is to access the voice controls by invoking the Google Assistant from the dedicated button on the remote control, add voice control with Alexa, thus allowing the television to be included in a domestic scene.
A whole show of RGB lights and powerful audio but it does not convince in the dialogues
If the Philips OLED 807 attracts attention for something, it is, without a doubt, because of the Ambilight lighting system that it mounts on its back. This system consists of a series of LEDs located on the back that light up synchronously to emit light from the back of the television.
In this generation, the system evolves from the three-sided system to four sides, allowing the base of the screen to be illuminated, but the incorporation of the new Ambilight Next Generation is reserved for the high-end range, which improves the density and precision of the projected color.
The Ambilight system allows you to extend the screen experience by projecting the same zoned color patterns that are displayed on the screen onto the rear wall. The experience could not be more spectacular, while the visual experience is more relaxed when viewing content in the dark since the eye does not experience sudden changes in light.
The light show does not outshine the sound quality offered by the OLED 80 7, which mounts a sound system similar to that of the previous generation with a trio of speakers visible at the rear, but internally the soundboard has been expanded so the bass sounds a little more defined.
It consists of a pair of full-range speakers that deliver a power of 30 W per channel, supported by a 10 W subwoofer and four passive radiators that round off the bass presence.
The result is reasonably good for a sound system built into such a thin TV. As in the image, in the sound it is convenient to use the appropriate profile depending on the content. In our case, the most frequent choice has been Original, leaving a cleaner sound in dialogues and effects.
Although it has Dolby Atmos and DTS support , it does not offer surround sound, so installing a sound bar can be a significant improvement in this section. However, we insist, it is not bad sound to come integrated into a television and it is more than enough to watch TV programs.
Ambilight attracts attention, but its features make it one of the best televisions in its category
The Philips OLED 807 can be considered the mid-range of Philips, more for having the 900 series above it than for its quality, which is really good.
The arrival of the new processor has lowered the level of excessive sharpness that gave an artificial appearance in previous models and has improved the color calibration. There is room for improvement in fine-tuning some image profiles to get the most out of a panel that delivers a really good level of brightness.
