Philips OLED 811 review: Taking on LG's C6 with Ambilight delights

Philips is slightly out of sync with the rest of the TV industry: while its TVs are launched and showcased early in the year, they don't actually go on sale until autumn – and only in the UK and Europe.

That sees the Philips OLED 811 only just coming onto the market towards the end of 2026, while the best TVs that launched earlier in the year are already attracting discounts.

For the OLED 811, which is Philips' mainstream affordable OLED from its 2026 selection (below the OLED 911), it arrives rivalling the LG OLED C6 and the Samsung S90H – with all three models sitting around the same price, for now.

A distinction is that Philips offers Ambilight, here boosted with new AmbiScape technology, to spread its light show across the room. While third-party lights are available, this is the origin of Ambilight – and one feature that makes Philips TVs great.

Price & Availability

The Philips OLED 811 comes in a full range of sizes, including 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inches, but only the 55-inch is available in the UK.

This is still the sweet spot for TVs, where the £1,399 asking price puts it in direct contention with rivals from LG and Samsung. Expect to pay the same €1,399 on the continent – but you won't find it in the US or Australia at all.

Official retailers include AO, Currys and Richer Sounds, where it is already listed on pre-order with free Philips headphones. Delivery is promised in November, by which point rivals could be attracting Black Friday discounts.

Philips OLED 811: What's new?

The Philips OLED replaces the OLED 810 from 2025, ushering in a full range of changes, with an updated P5 picture processing engine, a brighter OLED EX panel capable of 2500 nits peak and a shift to 165Hz over the 144Hz offered previously.

That's joined by a move to four HDMI 2.1 ports, where previously the 810 only had two full-bandwidth HDMI, so it's a TV better positioned for gaming and connectivity.

Titan OS is the smart TV platform for the OLED 811, moving away from Google TV, while it integrates Freely (for UK viewers). That also means that Google Assistant (as it was) is no longer available for voice control.

Finally, this TV is slimmer than previous OLED models, while the three-sided Ambilight also supports AmbiScape tech, newly introduced in 2026.

Design & Setup

The 811 is the Philips' thinnest OLED TV yet, claiming to be some 20% more trim than the OLED 810.

That's impressive as an abstract claim, but this isn't slim like the LG OLED G6 or Samsung S99H, because there's still a hefty lump of the TV's brains on the back.

This is ringed by the LEDs for Philips' most unique feature, Ambilight. It uses these LEDs to illuminate behind the television, perfectly matched to what's on the screen.

For purists, this can be used for bias lighting to help reduce eye strain, while many will just use it to make the TV more immersive, matching colours across the wall.

During setup you'll be invited to select the colour of the wall behind the TV to make sure that Ambilight looks its best and there are plenty of options to control how it works.

The downside is that this model only has three-sided Ambilight, dropping down from four-sided back in 2023 with the OLED 808.

Expanding the feature set is AmbiScape, which will connect to Matter lights, with Nanoleaf, WiZ, Philips Hue, Osram and Ikea all supported. Up to four can be connected.

It's not entirely new though. Previously Philips TVs offered Ambilight+Hue, but the new system offers greater versatility.

Back to the design, though, and there's a metal swivel pedestal stand that'll be most welcome for those placing it on a surface – as being able to shift the angle of the screen is an underrated feature, even if it's just when connecting a new device.

The remote for the Philips OLED 811 is plastic, runs on two AA and offers direct access to voice searching, Ambilight controls, settings and sources, as well as shortcuts to major streaming services.

Control is centred around a four-way navigator, with a central "ok" button, with each corner offering a different function. It's a little woolly in control and I found navigating around the menus that mis-presses were common.

This entire section of the controller sits under one rubberised layer – and I can't help feeling that individual buttons would offer more distinct control. To make things worse, this doubles as the number pad for channel selection after pressing another button, so it's not the best remote I've seen for a modern TV.

Picture Quality

Sitting at the heart of the Philips OLED 811 is a new OLED EX-type panel, as made by LG Display and featured in the LG OLED C6. In the OLED 811, however, Philips is promising that it's brighter – up to 2500 nits – offering a wider range of colours, while also boosting its refresh rate to 165Hz to better position it for gamers.

Elsewhere, there's the 10th generation P5 AI processor, while support for Dolby Vision 2 tells us that there's a MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, too. I didn't find any evidence of Dolby Vision 2 Max controls in the TV when watching Dolby Vision content – that's expected as a software update.

The 811 features a glossy display that, while it will combat reflections, is not as effective as the matte display that you'll find on the Samsung S90H.

Glossy displays in controlled lighting conditions potentially offer more immersive images. It's a case of personal preference, but I think that blacks look blacker on a glossy display – such as this one.

Philips has shuffled some of its format support on the OLED 811, with Filmmaker Mode (FMM) nowhere to be seen. Instead, there's now a "Reference Mode".

Reference Mode will allow you to adjust the settings to your preference, while Filmmaker Mode typically wouldn't let you do that (I say typically, because some brands do let you make picture-processing changes to FMM settings).

There's wide HDR support, with Dolby Vision IQ offering three modes: Dark, Bright and Crystal Clear (which is Philips' own interpretation), while HLG and HDR10+ Adaptive are also supported.

On top of that, Netflix and Prime Video have their own customised viewing modes, while other streaming services just seem to have a generic "streaming app" mode outside of the HDR format offered (if any).

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Crystal Clear mode is the twinkle in Philips' eye, designed to get show off the brightness of its TVs, while aiming to get more out of the picture. It increases saturation and brightness, particularly with blues, although I found a subtle sandstone wall colouring in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom looked more neon.

Specular highlights – like a reflection on a glossy surface, or star in the night sky – also get boosted, sometimes to extreme levels, so it doesn't look realistic. Ultimately, I'd avoid Crystal Clear because it skews the picture too much in bright colourful scenes.

Reference Mode uses "Movie" motion control, which is my preference – I found that Pure Cinema was a little too flickery for my liking. Philips offers a range of options for every mode, as well as a customisable personal mode, so it doesn't take much tweaking to get it to your preference, but you will have to change it for every mode.

At its core, the Philips OLED 811 is an excellent OLED TV. The switch in mode names doesn't amount to much, as Reference looks like Filmmaker Mode. Handling of HDR content is excellent, with plenty of options to tweak the picture settings to your preference.

The handling of dark scenes is excellent, too, and I found The Batman, which is notoriously dark, perfectly watchable in daylight conditions – only spoilt by a slight window reflection off the screen.

Sound Quality

The Philips OLED 811 is no shrinking violet when it comes to the sound either. There's a 70W speaker system packed into this TV, supporting DTS:X and Dolby Atmos. It uses 5.1.4 processing to create a rich and immersive soundscape – and great performance out of the box.

Within the menus there are additional sound settings, governed by an AI mode, but also offering manual selection from original, dialogue, music and entertainment. I found entertainment to be the default and the richest and most enveloping.

It's a virtualised surround sound rather than a complex collection of speakers, but there's enough gusto to keep many happy – but it's not a patch on the performance you'd get from a more comprehensive soundbar or surround sound system.

For those looking to connect, there's eARC on the HDMI selection, all of which move up to HDMI 2.1, so this is a great TV for those looking to connect a games console – or two. For those connecting external devices, passthrough of Dolby Atmos and DTS codecs gives more freedom for your sound management.

A note on Titan OS

Philips has swapped its TVs to Titan OS, moving on from Google TV that it previously used. That also means the loss of Google's voice searching and controls, as well as things like the smart home panel.

While Philips' TVs can be controlled by Alexa or Google Home, there's now a generic voice search instead of Google Assistant. This doesn't search within apps, it exits the app to give search results, and results are delivered across streaming services, including those you don't have access to. It also isn't a smart search, returning many "related" results away from what you actually asked for.

Titan OS supports Freely for those in the UK, the service that streams terrestrial channels so you don't need an aerial. I find it a really convenient service and it's implementation is fast on this Philips TV – faster than some of the earlier iterations.

The overall user interface is fine, with 'continue watching' rows for services that you use, while otherwise pushing recommendations. But like many TVs these days, the top third is given over to advertising – and the TV will auto-play these with audio, annoyingly. On Fire TV you can turn this off, but I couldn't find that option in Titan OS.

Another oddity is that if you leave the TV in the settings menu for too long, the screensaver opens over the top, including when there's something playing. That leaves you with a soundtrack in the background and a random screensaver.

While many will just connect a Sky box and never really deal with this interface or remote, it's clear that Titan OS could do with some work to make it nicer for daily use. That is happening in the background, though, so onwards and upwards.

Philips OLED 811 review: Verdict

The Philips OLED 811 does exactly what it sets out to do: delivering a mid-range OLED option for those who don't want to spend big bucks on the step-up OLED 911.

The 55-inch-only size in the UK hits the sweet spot for the majority of buyers, although it's disappointing to not have the fuller range of sizes.

The move to Titan OS and the slightly fiddly remote also drag the experience down a peg, but updates could easily be achieved through future updates.

Ultimately, however, this is a TV that's about its performance – and it's a lovely watch, strong across all sources, making it easy enough to make tweaks and get the experience you want.

But really it's a vessel for Ambilight – and this proprietary Philips technology is hugely popular, adding that additional rear illumination that takes movie nights from great to spectacular. Which sums up the quality of the Philips OLED 811: it's a spectacular TV.

Also consider

The Philips OLED 811 faces its strongest competition from the LG OLED C6, which offers similar performance for around the same price, without the benefit of Ambilight. Philips' TV is a little more substantial, but benefits from Freely and that swivel stand, while the audio is a little better too. Philips also offers wider HDR format support.

Samsung's S90H beats the OLED 811 with a matte finish that kills reflections, so it's better suited to watching in rooms where there are big windows. But there's a preference consideration here: glossy displays look darker with more inky blacks, while also being a little more immersive. Samsung's interface is better than Philips', too, but without support for Dolby Vision, Philips has an advantage.