Elevated gaming

The adoption of a 120Hz LCD panel and dedicated Game Bar have expanded the appeal of Philips' bright-room barnstormer, reports Steve May

- Steve May

TO ENTICE SHOPPERS as the 2022 hardware season gets into full swing, Philips has embellished its gilt-edge LED LCD mid-ranger - colloquially known as The One but officially designated the 55PUS8807 - with 120fps HFR support, VRR, and a new dedicated Game Bar interface. Priced £899, it could be a gamer's dream, not to mention a well-appointed living room-friendly movie set.

This year the TV is available as a jaw-dropping 86-in model for the first time, but if that's a little too imposing, smaller variants reach down to an accommodating 43in.

Now in its fourth generation, The One looks much like its predecessor (see HCC #329). The screen is framed by an ultra-slim bezel, and sits on a central pedestal stand, both elements a slick silver-grey. The remote control, with its dedicated buttons for Prime Video, Netflix, and Rakuten.TV, and the Google app store, come in a similar livery.

Approached side-on, Philips' TV is slim, but not dramatically so, given that it employs a direct rather than edge LED backlight. From this viewpoint, you will also notice the PUS8807's three-sided Ambilight system, where LED lights run around the rear of the panel.

To appeal to gamers, the TV is AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync certified and features two HDMI inputs (out of four) that are 120fps capable. That means 4K HFR from games able to manage it (which in my case is almost exclusively Call of Duty: Warzone). Note you'll need to use the Monitor mode in order to enjoy full-res 4K/120.

The set also features Philips' new Game Bar interface, accessible via a long press of the remote's menu button. As we've seen on rival game-centric control systems, this dedicated Ul reports frame rate, input lag level, HDR, and colour space info.