Philips might just have made the greatest console gaming TV that's ever been built. There may only be around six prototypes of these new AmbiLux TVs in existence, but I'm desperate to get one plugged into my PS4 when they launch at the end of this year.
The rear-projection tech was first shown around a year ago, with the pico-projection technology only expected to find its way into product – possibly - in a couple more years.
But at this year's IFA Philips has rolled out this surprising, stunning, new 65-inch Ultra HD TV and it really is a thing of rare beauty.
Unlike the traditional Philips Ambilight design, where an LED array beams different lighting effects behind the screen, the AmbiLux tech actually recreates what's being played out on the front of the LCD screen on the wall behind it.
The nine pico-projectors beam out their images in a fan from the rear of the display and, depending on the distance from the wall, will be more or less distinct. The TV tech then stitches the nine separate images together to form one fluid, soft focus image.
The idea is not to necessarily expand on the main image, but to blur the lines where the panel ends and the bezel begins.
And it works mightily impressively too.
Because the images are so indistinct you don't find yourself focusing on them – well, once you've gotten over the slack-jawed-gawping stage anyway. Your focus is on the image on the screen with the projected backdrop playing more in the periphery of your vision.
It means the skinny bezel almost disappears as the image, light and colour flood out of the panel and around into the room.
I can imagine sitting myself down, controller in hand, directly in front of the AmbiLux playing The Last of Us with unprecedented immersion for a flat-panel TV gaming experience.
Smarty
As well as being brightly lit the Philips 65PUS8901 AmbiLux is, of course, a smart TV.
And, because Philips is one of the main players when it comes to getting Google into TVs, we're talking about another Android TV right here.
There's a quad core processor in there, powering the content for the 3840 x 2160 display, and 16GB of expandable memory to fill up with cat videos and downloaded Google Play movies.
Though as you can just go for the UHD loveliness of Netflix, that's something to consider too.
As svelte as the chassis it though, the AmbiLux is going to be more suited to a stand mount than a wall-mount. It may look stunning on a clean, white wall, but you have to have it brought a long way from the wall itself in order to let those pico-projectors actually create the gorgeous halo effect.
Unfortunately though the panel Philips has used in the 65PUS8901 isn't the top-end screen in Philips' armoury. Lacking the Micro Dimming and Bright Premium features, and the HDR compatibility, of the Philips 65PUS9600, it's obviously not going to be sitting at the top table for the videophiles.
The edge-lit LED backlighting leads to the inevitable bleed around the edges of the panel and the black reproduction isn't on the same scale as the contrast-heavy 65PUS9600 or the stunning OLED panels Panasonic and LG have been showing off.
Money, money, money
But, because of its almost prototype design, the Philips 65PUS8901 AmbiLux is rather pricey to produce and is likely to top even the cost of Philips first 4K HDR screen. We don't know the pricing of either screen as yet, though fingers crossed it's not in the same territory as Panasonic's gorgeous, though insanely pricey, Viera TX-65CZ950.
Given you're going to be paying a pretty ol' penny for the AmbiLux TV though the lack of a real premium screen is a bit of a disappointment.
With the number of new HDR screens doing the rounds at this year's IFA, even from within Philips itself, that's one of the key pieces of tech you're going to want in your next high-end, high-price TV.
But this is something Philips has often done – prioritising picture quality above all else for its top-of-the-line TVs then introducing its more 'wacky' features into the second tier 8000 series TVs.
If I had thrown £7,000 at this TV maybe that would be a concern, but without knowing the price it's hard to be too stern on it. And, given that this is one of the most fun television designs we've seen in absolutely ages, you've got to take your hat off to Philips for actually getting this TV out to market.
Early verdict
The panel may not be the latest in TV tech, but the pico-projection takes Ambilight further that we ever expected and makes more of a difference than we could have hoped. There's a possibility it could become distracting, but we've got a feeling that if you spend some time with the Philips 65PUS8901 AmbiLux you're unlikely to want to go back to a plain ol' non-luminous flatscreen ever again.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1fYhnwO
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