The Philips 55-inch variant 55PUT7906/94, which is a standard Ultra HD LED TV from the company’s Ambilight 7900 series, is priced at Rs 99,990. It has Ambilight LED lighting on three sides. Along with this, there is also support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It runs on the Android TV operating system. Is this the coolest TV you can buy under Rs 1 lakh in India? Find out in this review.
Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-Inch Ultra HD LED Android TV (55PUT7906/94) Design and Specs
Philips Ambilight 7900 series TVs come in three sizes including 55-, 65-, and 75-inch TVs. Its price ranges from Rs 99,990 to Rs 1,89,990. The same specifications and features have been given to all three TVs, which also include three-sided Ambilight LED lighting on the back of the TV. ,
From the front and back, this TV looks similar to any modern budget TV or mid-range TV. The borders around the screen are thin, there is a logo at the bottom, the module for the infrared receiver, the indicator light and a physical multifunction button for power and volume controls.
The TV is a bit thick but slim around the edges, allowing easy access to the ports on the left side even when mounted on a wall. The 55-inch variant weighs 14.2 kg without the stand. It is compatible with the VESA wall mount which is not included in the box. A tabletop stand is provided in the box that can be attached near the corners of the TV. This means you’ll need a table big enough to hold the TV.
The Philips Ambilight 7900 series TV looks like a simple TV from the outside, but its main features stand out when you turn the TV on. LED lights have been placed on the frame of the TV, which are placed on the left, top and right edges. They project colored lights on the wall behind the TV. These lights are very bright, so even if the TV is placed on the table, it scatters a lot of light behind the wall.
Most of the ports on the Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-inch TV are located on the back, in a downward-facing rectangular slot. That is, before mounting the TV on the wall, you will have to make most of the connections beforehand. Ports on the back include digital audio out (Toslink), a USB Type-A port, RJ45 Ethernet port, antenna jack, and three HDMI ports.
The ports on the left side are easy to access even when the TV is mounted on the wall. These include an HDMI port (ARC compatible), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-A port. The company has done a smart job by providing an ARC-enabled port on the side.
The Philips Ambilight 55PUT7906/94 LED TV has an Ultra HD screen (3840×2160 pixels). In this, the support of HLG, HDR10, HDR10 + and Dolby Vision in High Dynamic Range has been given. For sound, the TV has two full-range bottom speakers with a total sound output of 20 W and support for various audio formats up to Dolby Atmos. Bluetooth 5 and dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity have been provided in the TV. There’s 8GB of internal storage for apps and app data, as well as an unspecified quad-core processor to power the software and interface.
Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-Inch Ultra HD LED Android TV (55PUT7906/94) Remote Control and Features
The company has provided a full size remote control with the TV which is slightly larger as per the requirement. The buttons on the remote control navigation, playback controls, input selection, and a classic number pad. Hotkeys have been provided for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and YouTube, as well as the Google Assistant. The microphone is also available on the remote for voice commands.
An info button has been provided on the remote that indicates the resolution and internet speed. Apart from this, there is also an Ambilight button, which allows quick access to the Ambilight menu and you can turn Ambilight effects on or off, as well as modify settings.
Initially the remote worked fine. But after a few weeks I found out that it only worked when in front of the IR receiver. It happened only within one night while it was working fine the day before. Replacing the battery and restarting the TV didn’t help either. Bluetooth connectivity worked for the Google Assistant only. Surprisingly, after a few days, the remote was working properly again, so it was important to mention this issue here.
Other than Ambilight, the Philips 55PUT7906/94 TV is pretty basic in terms of features. The TV has Chromecast built-in for streaming content and Google Assistant for voice commands.
Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-Inch Ultra HD LED Android TV (55PUT7906/94) Software and Interface
The Philips Ambilight 7900 series 55-inch LED TV runs on the Android TV 10 operating system. It sounds a bit like Google TV. In this, the main experience is available like the rest of Android TV. The TV has access to the Google Play store, which has more than 7,000 apps and games.
Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Youtube are available pre-installed on the TV. Based on these, TV also makes content recommendations. It may be a step back from the Google TV UI, but the Android TV UI is also a good option.
In addition to the problem with the remote control, I found that the UI performance is poor somewhere. There was a slight response lag while navigating the UI, which was also visible as a lag in the images. It’s nice that this wasn’t an issue when playing original content, but I found it much easier and more convenient to switch to Chromecast with Google TV.
Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-Inch Ultra HD LED Android TV (55PUT7906/94) Performance
Today, OLED or Quantum Dot TVs are available for less than Rs 1 lakh. It seems crazy to spend so much money on the Philips Ambilight 7900 Series 55-inch LED TV. Although the Ambilight effect is quite unique in itself. Brands like Govee and Philips now offer solutions for setting up LED lighting on TVs even after purchase. However, the company’s Ambilight feature is easy to use and is also controlled via the TV remote, which makes it special. But, I wonder if Ambilighting alone is enough to make it premium.
The TV sports an Ultra HD resolution LED screen with support for HDR up to Dolby Vision. Performance is quite good with high-quality content. The image looks as sharp as can be. But it does have some flaws that you wouldn’t expect in a Rs 1 lakh TV.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse would be a good place to start. The bright colors were visible while he was watching movies, and the comic book-style images looked good. Watching movies on this Ambilight-enabled TV was a treat and I was not disappointed.
The work that Ambilight did with the film was pretty impressive. The bright colors on the screen combined with the bright lights behind the TV made the picture feel bigger and more vibrant than it actually is. The Ambilight effect was able to read colors faster at the edges of the screen and flow with the screen, making the experience of fast-moving colorful content different.
Ambilight couldn’t do much with Better Call Saul’s monochrome scenes and muted colors. It was better to turn it off here. I found that the effect looked best when the Ambilight lights fell on a white wall. The effect was diminishing on the textured blue wall.
The Ambilight settings on the TV are easy to control, which is nice. Presets have also been given for this so that you can control its intensity. When placed in hall lighting, it is illuminated in a single color. The image was pretty sharp in Into The Spider-Verse. The image was also quite colorful and bright at Masaba Masaba. Colors looked good, but they weren’t quite as striking compared to the cheaper Xiaomi OLED Vision TV.
The display’s backlight gave a bleached-out effect in dark scenes, making blacks look like dark grays. This is the kind of performance you’d expect from an affordable LED TV, which is why I’m disappointed in this TV here. The Philips Ambilight 7900 series TV gets quite bright thanks to its LED screen. Due to this, it can be easily seen even in a brightly lit room. In such a situation, even if the light in the room is reduced by lowering the curtains, the picture starts to look great. Here, TVs like Hisense 55U6G are brighter and cheaper.
HDR has been supported by the TV up to Dolby Vision, but the TV doesn’t benefit much from it. There’s only a slight improvement in brightness and colors when switching to HDR compared to SDR content. This wasn’t quite the same as seen on other TVs, including the Sony X75K, which performed well even with just HDR10 capability.
The TV correctly upscales low-resolution content. HD and FullHD movies and TV shows look decent in terms of sharpness. There are no problems with movement, color and contrast. The TV’s sound quality isn’t amazing, but it’s not bad either. The 20 W speakers perform a bit disappointingly as expected. The sound from the TV is enough for a small room. In large rooms you have to turn up the volume. Dolby Atmos does not improve the sound much. In general, the sound experience can be called acceptable.
our verdict
The Philips Ambilight 7900 series LED TV is quite unique. You can buy it for its Ambilight system. Initially it may seem unnecessary, but it proves to be very effective in enhancing the viewing experience. However, the lighting effect alone does not do justice to the Rs 99,990 price tag.
Speaking of performance, the TV performs like a TV priced around 60k or more. Which also includes the company’s own 55-inch 8100 series TV. There seems to be a drop in black level. The overall brightness is also not able to complete it. At the same time, there were also some strange problems with the remote control.
If the Ambilight system excites you the most, then you can consider buying this TV. It works very well and definitely adds to the entertainment customers are looking for in a TV. If you don’t have much to do with Ambilight, then you can check out Xiaomi OLED Vision TV, which comes as a much better option than Philips TV for the same price.