Philips is adding two new OLED models to its 9-Series TVs that come equipped with soundbars developed by its partner audio firm Bowers & Wilkins.
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The new models were announced at IFA 2019, and include the Philips OLED934, details of which were first leaked in March, and the Philips OLED984. The TVs are the company’s third and fourth that sport B&W soundbars, following its earlier 903 OLED and 8804 LCD models.
As with all of Philips’ high-end TVs, both models come with the company’s Ambilight mood lighting system, which is a series of LED lights set into the back of the TVs that shine light onto the surrounding wall. The idea with Ambilight is to draw the viewer in to whatever content they’re watching. The light, which has the effect of surrounding the display with various trippy colours, can either follow the same hues as whatever is on screen, or be set to a static white, red, blue or green colour.
The TVs also feature Philips’ latest, third-generation P5 processor, which can achieve new PQ performance levels and improved noise reduction, colour accuracy, contrast and sharpness.
Philips reckons the new P5 chip provides double the computational power of its original P5 processor, resulting in a 30% picture quality improvement compared with its earlier 903 OLED model. Further, the new chip should ensure better High Dynamic Range performance with both the HDR10 and HDR10+ formats. That’s because it uses a higher bit resolution to boost dark detail, while processor modes such as Detail Enhancer and Perfect Natural Reality help to create sharper and higher-contrast images. The TVs also support Dolby Vision, another premium HDR format.
Both the 934 and 984 support Dolby Atmos, with the former model really delivering on this thanks to its twin 5cm upward-firing speakers. These, according to Philips, provide a much greater sense of scale during Atmos playback. In addition, the Philips 934 also sports four 3cm mid-range drivers, two 19 titanium tweeters and a centrally mounted 8cm subwoofer.
If that sounds good, well, the Philips984 is even better. According to the company, it comes with “the most advanced sound system ever offered on a TV”. The sound system is mounted in a cabinet just underneath the TV, and comes with three 10cm left, right and centre drivers inside their own enclosures. The tweeters meanwhile are decoupled from those drivers, enabling them to deliver high-frequency performance more accurately, Philips said.
The Philips OLED984 is available in 65-inches only, while the Philips OLED934 comes in 55 and 65-inch varieties. Pricing and release dates are yet to be announced.
