Sections
- Page 1 Philips 55PUS7101 Review
- Page 2 Picture Quality Review
- Page 3 Sound and Conclusions Review
Philips 55PUS7101 – Sound Quality
Although the 55PUS7101 features relatively little bodywork around its screen, it still delivers a decent audio performance. This is helped, no doubt, by a large woofer that fires out of the TV’s rear.
The set can reach volumes that are more than loud enough for most ears without the mid-range beginning to sound compressed or muddy. Voices always sound clear and rounded, and it achieves quite a large soundstage considering its speakers don’t fire directly forwards.
There’s a marginal over-emphasis of trebles during dense audio moments, but this stops short of distracting harshness. The soundstage also sometimes sounds a little swallowed due to the sound emerging from the TV’s rear, and bass levels are somewhat limited versus the best TVs, despite the big woofer.
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Overall, however, the 55PUS7101’s sound quality can be considered a masterpiece compared with its pictures.
Other Things to Consider
The remote control supplied with the 55PUS7101 handily features a full QWERTY keyboard on its rear to aid text input, while the layout of the buttons on the other side is pretty intuitive.
One other thing to note in this section is the 55PUS7101’s input lag measurement – something that’s always of interest to video gamers. The news here is pretty good: using the TV’s Game setting and turning off other items of residual video processing results in a delay in producing pictures of just 33ms. This is a good figure by 4K TV standards, and one that shouldn’t seriously harm your gaming performance.
Should I buy a Philips 55PUS7101?
The fairly short answer here is no. Its contrast performance – or to be more precise, its black-level response – just isn’t up to scratch by modern TV standards. Especially now that the TV world has the expanded luminance range of HDR content to deal with. The problem is so great that it undermines any strengths the TV may exhibit elsewhere, leaving rivals such as the Panasonic 58DX750 looking like much better mid-price options.
Verdict
The cool design and Ambilight tech show traces of Philips’ past innovative spirit, but the 55PUS7101 is a big disappointment where picture performance is concerned.
How we test televisions
We test every TV we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Trusted Score
Score in detail
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Value 7
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Smart TV 7
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Image Quality 5
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Design 9
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Sound Quality 8
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
