Do the technical gadgets of the Philips Ambilight TV 807, which has just been discounted at Amazon, or the Philips OLED 937, which are for sale at MediaMarkt and Saturnus, leave you cold? Then the LG OLED A2 is worth a look given its considerably lower price.
The entry-level OLED is now available from various suppliers at particularly low prices. For example, the 48-inch (121-centimeter) variant costs at Amazon, Media Markt* And Saturn* only 666 euros. If you want it a size up, the 55-inch (139 centimeters) model is available from Amazon, MediaMarkt and Saturn* only at 799 euros.
LG OLED A2: OLED technology and Dolby Vision for less than 800 euros
Let’s peel the Band-Aid right off and look first at the “cons” of the LG OLED A2 – although of course those always depend on requirements. The A2 “only” has a 60 Hertz screen and no HDMI 2.1 connections. If you like watching sports and want to get the most out of your Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X, you’ll need to shop around for a more expensive TV.
But if you focus on streaming, then the LG OLED A2 is a good choice for you. Because its OLED display has great image quality with high contrasts, which even comes close to more expensive LG models. As is typical for OLEDs, you get excellent contrast between deep blacks and bright whites. Since the A2 doesn’t have an OLED Evo display, it doesn’t come close to the internal competition in terms of peak brightness.
But only real home cinema experts should notice that. Furthermore, the A2 does an excellent job and gets the most out of most streaming services thanks to Dolby Vision support. Only HDR10+ is missing, which is why some Amazon productions like “The Rings of Power” don’t look as brilliant as they do on a Samsung TV.
In addition, the A2 scores with simple operation, the creation of multiple user profiles and voice control via Google Assistant, Alexa and LG ThinkQ. Here you really get a lot of TV for relatively little money.
Philips OLED TV 707: The best alternative with Ambilight, 120 Hertz and HDR10+
If you don’t want to do without 120 Hertz and HDMI 2.1 and you also want HDR10+ and the spectacular Ambilight function, the Philips Ambilight TV OLED707 is a good, but also more expensive alternative to the LG OLED A2.
The 48-inch version of the Philips TV is currently priced at Amazon 859 euros*. As a Prime customer, you save on shipping costs and get the 48-inch model cheaper than anywhere else. You pay 1063.99 euros for the 55-inch model. Ebay is slightly cheaper for the larger version. That’s where the Ambilight TV costs 1028.90 euros including shipping costs*.
The Philips 707 does almost everything a little bit better than the LG OLED A2. Especially the higher refresh rate and the HDMI 2.1 connections make the Ambilight TV interesting for sports fans and console gamers. If you stream Amazon Prime Video regularly, you can look forward to HDR10+.
But you have to make compromises in terms of operation, because Philips is traditionally behind the competition here. However, the criticism only refers to the TV’s menu, you navigate intuitively through the Smart TV menu as usual.