There is no shortage of quality TVs with an excellent picture. If you are looking for that little bit more, a TV that raises the bar a little higher, you should definitely consider this Philips. In addition to a sparkling image, with an OLED screen for superior contrast, Philips equipped the 65OLED936/12 with a Bowers & Wilkins speaker system. Time for a review.
PHILIPS 65OLED936/12
Price € 3,299
Screen size 65 in (165 cm), flat
Connections 4x HDMI (2x v2.1 48 Gbps, 2x v2.0, ARC/eARC, ALLM, 4K120 HFR, VRR, AMD Freesync, NVIDIA GSync), 3x USB, 1x optical digital out, 1x headphones, subwoofer preout, 2x antenna, Bluetooth
Extras HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ Adaptive, Dolby Atmos, WiFi built-in, Android 10.0, DTS Play-Fi, USB/DLNA media player, DVB-T2/C/S2, CI+ slot, 5th Gen P5 Processor with AI Intelligent Dual Picture Engine, four-sided Ambilight
Dimensions 1,449 x 830 x 264 mm (incl. foot)
Weight 31.6 kg (incl. feet)
Consumption SDR 136 (G) / HDR 117 watts (G)
Website Philips.nl 10 Score 100 
- Pros
- Top image processing
- Beautiful and very clear HDR images
- Four-sided Ambilight
- Great sound, Dolby Atmos
- 2x HDMI 2.1 with all game features
- Negatives
- Remote sometimes causes wrong keystrokes
- Single TV tuner
The TV is often the center of the living room, so a design with a special touch is always welcome. This Philips is indeed a real eye-catcher. The OLED screen sits on a sleek, chrome-colored neck that transitions into an impressive speaker bar. A TV and soundbar in one. The finish exudes class, from the OLED screen with its fine bezel, to the metal micromesh and Kvadrat speaker fabric on the soundbar.
Not just any soundbar, by the way, because Philips knocked on the door of the renowned British loudspeaker house Bowers & Wilkins. The audio enthusiast will recognize the iconic “Tweeter on Top” design. Furthermore, a Philips TV is of course not complete without Ambilight, a four-sided version on this top model. It comes into its own on the wall, for which Philips even put an extra neck in the box that is intended for wall mounting.
Ambilight, a series of LEDs on the back of the device, brings atmosphere to the living room in a unique way. The LEDs smear color on the wall behind the device, in sync with the image on the screen. This makes the image impression even stronger. But you can also use Ambilight to spice up your parties at home, the LEDs can also respond to music. Or use Ambilight as mood light, the possibilities are endless.
Spicy audio
That impressive speaker bar is so eye-catching that we test it first. Bowers & Wilkins designed a 70 Watt 3.1.2 channel system. The Kvadrat speaker fabric therefore hides two upward-facing speakers that take care of the height channels of Dolby Atmos content. We push the Dolby Atmos demo disc into our player, and a moment later we nod in approval. Demo tracks, but also movie scenes such as Batman vs Superman sound fantastic.
Switch to the ‘movie’ preset and you’ll be immersed in surround sound, with a clear height effect and a solid bass line. If you want some extra ‘rumble’, you have the option to connect an external subwoofer, for which the device has a separate subwoofer pre-out.
Make no mistake, the soundbar is more than brute force, it also has a lot of finesse and control. That comes into its own if you enjoy sophisticated vocal music, a little relaxed jazz, or a touch of classical. In short, this is a great audio solution, something for which you have to reach for an external soundbar with many other devices.
Bright, colorful and full of contrast
On this top model, Philips opted for the most recent and brighter OLED panel. With a peak brightness of 932 nits on a 10% window and 184 nits on a completely white screen, this Philips clearly stands next to and sometimes even above comparable toppers of competitors. Top contrast, and a rich color range (95% P3), that’s a certainty when you get an OLED screen. With support for all major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+ Adaptive, this Philips has everything you need to put sparkling HDR images on the screen. The HDR Filmmaker Mode is also excellently calibrated.
The Philips also stores a lot of color saturation in very bright colors, and that gives clear images some extra intensity, although that can sometimes cost a little contrast. Thanks to good tone mapping, the device also saves a lot of white detail, even in very clearly mastered content.
That the SDR performance is excellent does not surprise us at all. Again, the Filmmaker mode provides a very good calibration, with accurate color reproduction and neutral gray scale. Because Philips really tries to get the most out of the panel, you may lose a little bit of white detail, and the dithering in darkest tones can cost some black detail.
In practice you will rarely suffer from this, but those who want to can tackle that with a professional calibration, the Philips is ‘Calman Ready’ and supports automatic calibration.
Image quality with attention to every detail
Good image performance is not only based on color, contrast and brightness, but also on top image processing. The Philips P5 AI Dual Picture Processing Engine can be found exclusively on the top models, and it does a great job in every way. Superior upscaling gets some extra sharpness and detail thanks to the local AI-based sharpness, which gives different parts in the image their own treatment.
The processor has a specific solution to eliminate color bands in soft gradients, with excellent results. Good news for sports enthusiasts and gamers: the 65OLED936/12 now supports Fast Motion Clarity, a 120Hz Black Frame Insertion technique that provides razor-sharp detail in fast action images. You sacrifice a minimum of brightness for this, but the technology does not cause an annoying flicker.
To prevent burn-in as much as possible, the processor detects very finely meshed static image elements so that it can dim them if they are on the screen for too long. If you don’t always watch in Filmmaker Mode or Home Cinema mode, you can leave it to the TV to detect when you’re watching a movie, it will then switch to the desired mode itself.
Well equipped, also for gamers
Somewhat striking for a top model, the TV has to make do with a single TV tuner. Recording to USB and watching another channel at the same time is therefore not an option. Four HDMI connections, that is standard these days. This Philips has two HDMI 2.0 and two HDMI 2.1. The latter provide 48Gbps bandwidth, and support 4K120 and VRR (HDMI VRR, AMD Freesync and NVIDIA Gsync). ALLM and eARC are also present.
The input lag of 20.6ms (4K60) and 10.7ms (2K120) is good, although competitors do slightly better in this area. Still, this is a great choice for gamers.
Philips uses Android TV as a smart TV platform. That means a very wide library of applications, including all major streaming services. The interface works smoothly and quickly, thanks to a powerful chipset. The remote has a slim appearance that fits well and comfortably in the hand thanks to the Muirhead leather back. However, we are not completely satisfied with it. The flat finish and closely fitting keys cause an unwanted keystroke too easily.
Philips also implemented DTS Play-Fi. The TV can then become part of a multi-room audio system, with many possibilities. You can connect wireless surround speakers, listen to the TV audio on a speaker in the kitchen or on your smartphone, or send the audio from your smartphone to the TV.
Conclusion
The Philips 65OLED936/12 is a clever combination of top image and sound. We find very few downsides to the device. The remote disappointed us a bit with that occasional wrong keystroke. And as far as we’re concerned, a top model should have a double TV tuner. But other than that it’s a lot of fun.
The bright OLED screen with its intense contrast and rich colors is a pleasure to the eye. Philips’ P5 AI Dual Picture Engine delivers stunning results, with refined detail and excellent upscaling. Additional features compared to the lower models, such as an anti-banding solution in soft color gradients, guarantee a perfect image.
The Bowers & Wilkins sound solution not only gives the TV a unique view, but also brings very good sound to the living room. Movies in Dolby Atmos fill the room effortlessly. Smart features are provided by Android TV, and with DTS Play-Fi and four-sided Ambilight, this Philips has two more unique assets.
The Philips 65OLED936/12 is a perfect choice for the movie buff, but also sports fans and gamers will enjoy it.
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