The Philips 974 Series OLED is a Sam's Club exclusive that's only available in the US. Unlike the Philips OLED models released in Europe, this model is made by the budget-friendly Skyworth brand, which licensed the Philips name in North America. Despite its cheap price tag, the TV has numerous modern features such as HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, 4k @ 120Hz, VRR, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+. The TV runs the Roku TV OS smart system, which supports some smart features like voice control, and gives you access to a wide variety of streaming apps. We bought and tested the 65-inch model, which is the only size available.
Our Verdict
The Philips OLED TV is decent for mixed usage. It looks good in a dark room thanks to its perfect blacks and vibrant colors. However, it's not bright enough to handle glare in a well-lit room, despite having solid reflection handling. HDR content also lacks impact due to this limited brightness. The TV has a full suite of gaming features to take advantage of your modern console, and its wide viewing angle makes it a solid option for watching TV with a group of friends. Just make sure you use it in a dimly lit room.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no haloing around bright highlights.
Very wide viewing angle for a consistent image from the sides.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Direct light sources are noticeable on the screen.
Too dim in SDR to overcome glare in well-lit rooms.
Poor HDR brightness leads to a lackluster HDR experience.
The Philips OLED TV is good for a home theater overall. Like any OLED, you get perfect black levels with no haloing, so the image has nice depth to it. Colors are vibrant enough to enjoy, and they're very accurate in SDR without needing calibration. HDR color accuracy is only decent, so enthusiasts will likely want to get the TV calibrated. Unfortunately, the TV is very dim. This doesn't matter too much for viewing SDR content in a dark room, but highlights and bright scenes don't pop out as they should in HDR, so HDR movies and shows lack impact.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no haloing around bright highlights.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Doesn't passthrough most DTS audio formats.
Poor HDR brightness leads to a lackluster HDR experience.
Noticeable stutter due to the TV's fast response time.
Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Philips OLED TV is mediocre for bright rooms. Color vibrancy and the deepness of blacks are mostly unaffected by ambient lighting, so you're not making a big trade-off with image quality when you have your lights on. The TV's handling of direct reflections is okay, but you still see mirror-like reflections on your screen if you have a light source placed opposite it. Unfortunately, this model has poor peak brightness, so it doesn't overcome glare in a bright room. Because of this, the TV is best suited for a dimly lit room.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Blacks remain deep and colors stay vibrant in a room with ambient lighting.
Direct light sources are noticeable on the screen.
Too dim in SDR to overcome glare in well-lit rooms.
The Philips OLED TV is not a bad model for watching sports, as long as you're not in a bright room. Even though the TV has solid reflection handling overall, this is a very dim TV that doesn't overcome glare in a well-lit room, and it's much better suited for a dimly lit setting. Outside of that, you get vibrant colors that are mostly accurate, so jerseys and playing fields look lifelike. Additionally, motion in fast sports like racing is crystal clear thanks to the TV's nearly instant response time. It even has a very wide viewing angle, so its image quality holds up when you're watching from an angle.
Very wide viewing angle for a consistent image from the sides.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Direct light sources are noticeable on the screen.
Too dim in SDR to overcome glare in well-lit rooms.
Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Philips OLED TV is a very good gaming TV overall. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so it pairs great with modern consoles. It delivers low input lag for a responsive feel, and its nearly instant pixel transitions lead to sharp, clear motion. It looks good in a dark room when gaming in SDR, thanks to its vibrant colors and perfect blacks. Unfortunately, the TV is very dim, so it's not suitable for bright rooms. Furthermore, HDR games lack impact since highlights and bright moments don't stand out the way they should.
Low input lag, especially at 120Hz, for a very responsive experience.
Nearly instantaneous pixel transitions for no noticeable blur behind fast motion.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Poor HDR brightness leads to a lackluster HDR experience.
The Philips OLED TV has poor brightness overall, which is its one major flaw. It's not nearly bright enough in SDR to overcome glare in a bright room. HDR content looks muted since the TV isn't bright enough to make highlights in darker scenes pop, and bright scenes look dim.
Too dim in SDR to overcome glare in well-lit rooms.
Poor HDR brightness leads to a lackluster HDR experience.
Like all OLEDs, the Philips OLED TV has perfect black levels. Blacks are deep and inky when viewed in a dark room, with no haloing around bright highlights.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no haloing around bright highlights.
The Philips OLED TV has good colors overall. Its SDR color volume is good enough that you enjoy vibrant colors in most SDR content. Additionally, the TV has excellent out-of-the-box color accuracy in SDR, so colors mostly look the way they should. On the other hand, bright colors in HDR content are muted due to the TV's limited brightness capabilities. Colors in HDR aren't as accurate as they are in SDR, but they're still decent, and most people will be satisfied.
Colors are vibrant and accurate in SDR.
Note: We're in the process of improving our tests related to image processing, but this score should give you a general idea of how a TV performs overall with its image processing capabilities.
The Philips OLED TV has unremarkable image processing. It has very good gradient handling, so you barely see any banding in color gradients. Its PQ EOTF tracking is decent, but some scenes are either darker or brighter than intended. Unfortunately, the TV's 'Noise Reduction' slider does nothing at all, so low-quality content has visible artifacts present. On the other hand, the TV does an acceptable job upscaling low-resolution content, but some finer details are hard to make out.
Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Philips OLED TV has excellent responsiveness while using its dedicated gaming mode. The TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so it's fully compatible with the Switch 2, PS5/PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X|S. You also get a responsive feel when gaming due to its very low input lag, and fast motion is clear thanks to its nearly instant pixel transitions.
Low input lag, especially at 120Hz, for a very responsive experience.
Nearly instantaneous pixel transitions for no noticeable blur behind fast motion.
We're in the process of fixing the way we evaluate a TV's overall motion handling. This section is currently broken, and the score isn't indicative of how well a TV handles motion overall.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch Philips 974 Series OLED (65OLED974/F7). This TV is only available in one size and is exclusive to Sam's Club in the US. It comes with a three-year manufacturer's warranty. This model isn't comparable to any of the Philips OLED TVs available in Europe.
| Size | Model |
|---|---|
| 65" | 65OLED974/F7 |
Our unit was manufactured in December 2024, as seen on the label.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Philips 974 Series OLED is the most affordable OLED on the market, but it has one major flaw. This is a very dim TV that's not nearly bright enough for well-lit rooms, so it's best suited for watching content in a dark room. Even then, HDR content looks lackluster since the TV isn't bright enough to make highlights pop. You can get superior brightness and better performance overall by spending a bit more on other entry-level OLEDs like the LG B4 OLED.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best OLED TVs, the best gaming TVs, and the best TVs under $1,000.
The LG C5 OLED is better than the Philips 974 Series OLED. Both TVs display perfect blacks, but the LG is significantly brighter in HDR, so it displays an image with noticeably brighter highlights and more vibrant colors. The extra brightness of the LG also means it's much better suited for bright rooms. On top of that, the LG supports 144Hz and BFI and has superior image processing, so it's the more well-rounded option.
The LG G5 OLED and the Philips 974 Series OLED are both WOLED models, but they aren’t on the same playing field. The LG is the significantly better TV, with superior brightness, reflection handling, image processing, colors, and accuracy. All of this leads to an image that impresses more in a dark room with all types of content. The LG is also suitable for the brightest rooms, whereas the Philips is so dim that it’s only suitable for dark environments. Finally, the LG supports 165Hz and BFI, making it the better gaming TV overall.
The Samsung S90D OLED is much better than the Philips 974 Series OLED. Due to its QD-OLED panel, the Samsung displays colors that are significantly more vivid and punchy. The Samsung has superior brightness overall, so it's more well-suited for rooms with the lights on, and it provides a more impactful HDR experience. Image processing is also superior on the Samsung, and it's more accurate in HDR out of the box, so all types of content look better on it. If you're a gamer, you also get better performance on the Samsung, since it supports 144Hz and has an optional BFI feature.
The LG B4 OLED and the Philips 974 Series OLED both display perfect blacks, but the LG is the better TV all around. The LG is a lot brighter in SDR, so it fights more glare in a well-lit room. Additionally, the B4 is much brighter in HDR, so highlights and bright scenes pop out more, leading to a more impactful HDR experience. The LG also has superior image processing and is the more accurate TV out of the box, so it provides better image quality that stays closer to the content creator’s intent no matter what content you’re watching.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
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