OLED writ large

This 77in OLED TV from Philips reminds John Archer why bigger is (nearly) always better

- John Archer

We don't often review different screen sizes from the same TV range. Yet here we're making an exception for Philips' 770LED807, a monster OLED whose screen measures - as you can probably guess 77in from corner to corner.

This is a whole 22in more than the 55in 550LED807 we looked at previously (HCC #333) - enough to remind us that something magical happens when you get a screen above 70in or thereabouts. This is where you feel like you've crossed from merely watching TV to enjoying a genuine 'home cinema' experience, and might have you wondering why anyone bothers with a projector and screen combination.

That's not meant to throw shade on the 55OLED807, which remains an outstanding mid-sized OLED option. It's just that if the 77OLED807 can take the smaller model's quality to a display nearly twice as big, it could give your home cinema habit a whole new dimension.

The set's gigantic proportions give Philips' unique approach to design more room to shine - literally, when it comes to Ambilight. This long-running exclusive technology places LEDs around the TV's rear edges, casting coloured light out onto the wall around it. Ambilight can track the content of the onscreen picture in terms of both the hue and position of the colour 'halo', expanding the viewing experience even further than the 77in picture.

Basically, the 770LED807 is much more capable than the 55in version of filling your field of view - and then some, thanks to its XL Ambilight array.

Keeping it slim

It's an elegant-looking telly too, the ultra-thin frame around the screen feeling even more impressive at this scale than it does on the 55OLED807, as does the remarkable skinniness of the main screen at its outer edges. Something so thin supporting such a huge chunk of glass feels even more contrary to the rules of physics.