In this review, we’re going to talk about the TV Philips PUS7555, which is the company’s entry-level model with 4K resolution. This is a TV with the essential features, without too many extras, but with the powerful P5 image processor and it is available at a very affordable price.
It has interesting features for this range, such as Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ support.
We will also see some differences depending on the size. We tested the 50-inch version (50PUS7555/12).
Next, we will look at the performance of the Philips PUS7555 (silver) and PUS7505 (black) 4K UHD TVs and our opinion of them.
Design
The PUS7555/12 series has a really attractive design for the simplest area. It has a very elegant look with the frames and base in silver. The table support has two legs at each end so that the TV is almost flush with the furniture.
In the 58 and 70 inch versions, these legs can be placed more in the middle if there is no space in the furniture.
The PUS7505 version has black frames and feet. It’s a matter of taste to choose the version that best suits your home, although the truth is that the silver version is more visually attractive. In any case, the functions are exactly the same.
The included control is the same as last year’s and has received a facelift. It is a very lightweight and easy to use remote. It has buttons for Netflix and Rakuten TV that let you get right into those apps by simply pressing those buttons.
Connections
The connections on the Philips PUS7555 and PUS7505 are three HDMI ports, two USB ports, an optical audio out, the antenna ports, and the Ethernet port.
The 3 HDMI are 2.0 and one of the USB ports, the one on the side, is 3.0.
Picture quality
Now it’s time to evaluate the picture quality of the new Philips PUS7555 (silver) and PUS7505 (black) TVs.
We always recommend following our picture settings to get the best results, and in this case even more, since the device still has a lot of room for improvement from the factory.
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Below we leave you with our calibrations, one for standard content like antenna TV, pay TV (Movistar, Vodafone TV, etc.), Blu-Ray or DVD, and another for HDR content. This way, you can get the most out of this TV and watch it in the best possible way.
Philips PUS7555 Picture Style in SDR
- Picture style: Film or Custom
- Color: 60
- Backlight contrast: 95 (lower when viewed in a dark room)
- Enhancement: 3
- Gloss: 50
Expert Mode Settings
- Color Enhancement: Off (when enabled, colors will fade)
- Color Phase: Warm
- White point alignment: Red WP: 127, Green WP: 115, Blue WP: 110
- Contrast Mode: Off
- Dynamic Contrast: Off
- Video Contrast: 95 (download when viewing in dark room)
- Range: 1
- Ultra Resolution: On
- Noise Reduction: Medium (set to minimum for 4K SDR)
- MPEG Distortion Reduction: Medium (set to minimum for 4K SDR)
- Motion Style: Personal
- Natural Motion: Medium
Philips PUS7555 picture setting for HDR content
- Picture style: HDR movie or HDR personal
- Color: 55
- Backlight contrast: 100
- Enhancement: 5
- Gloss: 50
Expert Mode Settings
- Color Enhancement: Off (when enabled, colors will fade)
- Color Phase: Warm
- White point alignment: Red WP: 127, Green WP: 115, Blue WP: 110
- Contrast Mode: Off
- HDR Plus: Maximum (set to Medium when viewing in a dark room)
- Video Contrast: 100
- Range: 1
- Ultra Resolution: On
- MPEG Distortion Reduction: Minimum
- Motion Style: Personal
- Natural Motion: Minimum
Black level
The version of the Philips PUS7555 we tested is the 50-inch (50PUS7555/12), which features a VA panel. As we have already discussed, these panels offer a very good contrast ratio. This display type is also available in 58 and 70 inch versions.
In the 43″ and 65″ versions, however, the panel is IPS. This means that on the one hand, the black level will be worse on these versions, but on the other hand, the viewing angles will be much better.
The backlight used by the screen is Direct LED and uses the Micro Dimming system to control the lighting of each scene via the software.
The black level is really good and the dark parts of the image are pretty pure black. When viewing in the dark, you can see how the PUS7555 displays well-contrasted images with excellent uniformity across the screen.
It’s also worth noting how well the details in the shadows are preserved, and in the night scenes of a movie you can see all the information in those parts.
There are a number of images we always use to test our TVs, and in the case of the Philips PUS7555, we were able to see how well it shows the darker parts of the picture and how it looks in every detail.
So if you watch movies regularly and are used to watching movies in low light conditions, the Philips PUS7555 is a highly recommended option.
Brightness
The Philips PUS7555 supports Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HLG and HDR 10 formats, and the maximum brightness it can achieve is 350 nits. This is quite an acceptable value for an entry-level TV.
Its performance in HDR seems much better to us than some of the competitors in this field. It retains details in bright areas without burning out, cropping or compressing targets.
As we said, it’s compatible with Dolby Vision, which isn’t very common in this price range and you usually have to go up the line to find it. When we play something in this format, the TV informs us with a notification on the screen.
It also supports the other dynamic HDR metadata format, HDR 10 Plus, in addition to HLG and HDR 10, so we’re talking about a TV that recognizes all the available HDR formats.
Color
The color palette that the Philips PUS7555 reproduces is somewhat limited. The panel has a color depth of 8 bits + FRC and does not have a wide color gamut. It does not cover 90% of the DCI-P3 color spectrum recommended by the UHD Alliance for current HDR TVs. However, this is the standard for this range.
There is some loss in the high lights, especially the blue colors, and this causes them to fill and lose saturation. We recommend following our color adjustment calibration to get the best results.
Sharpness
The PUS7555 is equipped with the P5 image processor, which is known for its good work in displaying sharp and detailed images. In the series we tested last year, the PUS6754 came with the earlier Pixel Precise UHD processor.
This year, we noticed that there was a slight amount of noise when watching content over antenna, and we had to enable noise reduction to reduce it. The good thing is that this does not lead to a loss of sharpness.
Sharpness, as I said, is very high regardless of the source and you can watch broadcasts in both HD and 4K resolution in very good quality. The P5 image engine has a large image database that allows for good scaling on sources below 4K.
Motion picture
The refresh rate of the panel is 60 Hz (native). With fast images, there is some noise around objects and the image is a bit blurry.
As with the image calibration on the left, we recommend enabling image interpolation for a sharper and smoother image. To do this, we need to select “Personal” mode in the Image menu and choose “Medium” for HD content and “Minimum” for HDR within “Natural Motion” to soften the image, but without creating an excessive soap opera effect.
Input Delay and Gaming Experience
The PUS7555 series isn’t the best gaming TV on the market, but it defends itself in this aspect by offering input lag that stays at a reasonable 20ms. To achieve this value, you have to activate the gaming mode, which disables certain functions to lower the latency.
Thanks to its more than acceptable performance in HDR, it is a good TV for gaming in this format. It doesn’t have advanced features like HDMI 2.1 or VRR, which are usually reserved for higher-end models. It does have ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), which automatically sets the ideal latency setting when a game console or PC is connected.
Viewing angle
The viewing angle is quite poor and there is a significant loss of color saturation and contrast when viewing from the sides. This will be the case with the 50, 58 and 75 inch sizes, which have a VA panel.
On the versions with IPS (43″ and 65″), the viewing angles are wider and can be viewed from steeper angles without quality loss.
Reflections
This is a TV that works well in environments with lots of outdoor light. If you have problems with window or lamp reflections directly on the screen, the PUS7555 eliminates much of this annoying glare.
The screen has a semi-matte filter that does a great job of diffusing reflections and making them undistracting.
Sound
As you’d expect, the sound isn’t great, but we were somewhat surprised by the quality of the sound it delivers. For a basic device, the sound surpasses other competitors in this range from Samsung and LG.
There is one mode that we find very interesting, and that is the I.A. mode. This mode automatically adjusts the sound to the content being played and we liked it the most. Of course, there are several modes to choose from, including a news mode, a movie mode, a music mode, a game mode and a custom mode. In the latter, it is possible to make further adjustments, such as equalization by frequency bands
However, if you have the option of adding an external audio device, such as a soundbar, we recommend doing so to improve the sound, as we usually do. This PUS7555 is quite low in relation to the furniture, so you will have to take that into account if you want to place it directly in front of the TV.
The Philips PUS7555 / PUS7505, has an interesting feature that not many models have. It is possible to control the volume independently when we connect a headset. This is useful, for example, when someone listens to the TV through their own speakers and another hard of hearing person uses a headset. In this way, you can adjust the volume of the headset without affecting the volume of the TV.
Smart TV
This is one of the things we like least about this TV. We frankly find the Saphi operating system, which we already know from previous analyses, very limited. There are very few apps you can access, and most of them are not very interesting, and many of them are even in other languages.
If that’s the case, you can at least access the main ones, namely YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Rakuten. Then there is Clan TV, the apps of the major newspapers, but little else. A web browser is installed by default, and to make navigation easier, it is possible to connect wireless keyboards and mice.
You can place and move the apps you like most to have them as direct access in the main menu. There are dedicated shortcut buttons on the remote for Netflix and Rakuten TV.
The processor that powers the Saphi operating system is dual core, it comes with a 2Gb RAM and the storage capacity is 4Gb, although installing the operating system itself leaves a bit less. Definitely more than enough for installing apps and games.
Final opinion Philips PUS7505
Our opinion of the Philips PUS7555 is very positive, considering that it is the basic range. We found it to be one of the most popular TVs in this price range.
Its main advantages are a very good contrast ratio with deep blacks and acceptable brightness for enjoying HDR content. It is also compatible with both dynamic HDR formats such as Dolby Vision and HDR 10+, which ensures maximum compatibility.
The P5 image processor provides good clarity and detail, and makes content in lower resolutions look good.
The weakest point of this TV is undoubtedly its operating system, which is quite limited compared to other competing models. If you’re an active application user, you might want to upgrade to the PUS8505 range, which comes with Android TV, or even add a Fire TV or Smart Box to have a lot more applications and games.
What are the advantages of the Philips PUS7555?
Good contrast: it has excellent contrast that achieves very pure blacks for an entry-level LED TV. A very important feature for movie lovers.
Image processing: it offers high clarity and detail for all types of content, whether it’s a 4K broadcast or an on-air TV program.
Price-quality ratio: it is a TV that undoubtedly has a very good price for the features offered.
Is the new Philips PUS7555 / PUS7505 worth buying?
That depends on how you plan to use the device. If you’re not sure you want a high-end TV and are really looking for an affordable TV but get good picture quality within the price range, then the Philips PUS7555 is probably the best entry-level TV.
Other alternatives
Philips PUS8505
If you can stretch your budget, we recommend upgrading to the PUS8505 range as it comes with a number of important improvements. It features the 3-sided Ambilight system, which provides better immersion when watching TV in the dark. Ambilight improves contrast perception and relaxes your eyes when watching in a dark room.
It also comes with Android TV operating system, which is a much more open platform than Saphi and with which we can access many more apps, games, etc.
