Televisions · Review
Philips The Xtra 65PML9009 (65" QD Mini LED, Ambilight)
One of the two tellies we test everything else on - and the Ambilight is genuinely hard to give back.
No BS summary
A 65-inch QD Mini LED panel with Philips' Ambilight, and it's a properly punchy, colourful telly. The Mini LED backlight gives it real brightness and much deeper blacks than a normal LED set, the quantum-dot colour pops, and then there's the Ambilight - LEDs on the back throwing matching colour onto the wall - which sounds like a gimmick until you live with it and can't go back. The smart side (Philips' own Titan OS) is the weak link, but we hang a streamer off every telly anyway, so it barely matters.
Score: 8.5/10
Kudos for
- Bright, punchy QD Mini LED picture
- Deeper blacks than a standard LED set
- Ambilight - the party piece you stop noticing you rely on
- Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support
Dropped the ball
- Titan OS is leaner and less app-rich than webOS or Google TV
- A little backlight bloom in extreme dark scenes
- Built-in speakers are thin - it wants a soundbar
The picture
This is where it earns its money. The Mini LED backlight means it goes genuinely bright for HDR highlights, and because it can dim in zones, blacks look deep rather than the washed-out grey you get from a basic LED. Add the quantum-dot colour and films look rich and vivid without tipping into cartoonish. In a properly dark scene you'll catch a touch of bloom around bright objects - the usual Mini LED tell - but it's well controlled and you stop noticing it.
The Ambilight
The thing nobody else does. LEDs along the back of the set cast colour onto the wall that matches what's on screen, and it does two things: it makes the picture feel bigger than 65 inches, and it takes the edge off watching in a dark room so your eyes aren't staring at one bright rectangle in the black. We were ready to dismiss it as a gimmick. We were wrong. Of everything across both our test tellies, this is the feature we'd miss most.
Living with Titan OS
The honest weak spot. Philips' own Titan OS is clean and quick enough, but the app selection is thinner than LG's webOS or Google TV, and it just feels more basic. For us it's a non-issue, because we run a Google TV Streamer into it and ignore the built-in apps entirely - which is what we'd suggest you do with almost any telly. Buy a TV for its panel, not its software.
The remote
The 11pm test - find it in the dark, hit the right button? The Philips remote is fine but unremarkable, and not backlit, so you'll hunt for it. In practice we drive the telly through the streamer's remote most of the time, which is the other reason the built-in software rarely comes up. And the usual bugbear: the hardwired app-shortcut buttons (Netflix, Prime and the like) are far too easy to knock by accident and bump you clean out of whatever is playing - some people love the one-press access, I would happily bin them.
What's missing
Two things from our LG NanoCell: its Magic Remote (point-and-click is genuinely lovely and the Philips clicker can't match it) and webOS's slicker, fuller app store. Picture-wise, though, the traffic runs the other way - the LG would dearly love this set's Mini LED contrast and its Ambilight.
Who should buy this
Anyone who wants a standout, vivid picture and the Ambilight wow factor, and who's happy to add a cheap streamer for apps. For film nights in a dimmed room it's a treat.
Who should skip it
If you specifically want the slickest built-in smart platform straight out of the box with no streamer, the LG will please you more day to day - you'll just give up the Mini LED punch and the Ambilight to get it.
Specs at a glance
| Screen | 65" 4K QD Mini LED |
|---|---|
| Signature feature | Ambilight (3-sided) |
| HDR | Dolby Vision, HDR10+ |
| Audio | Dolby Atmos |
| Smart platform | Titan OS (we run a streamer instead) |
Where to buy
Pick your country. We may earn a small commission on some links once our affiliate programmes are approved - you pay the same.
| UK | Amazon UK · Currys |
|---|---|
| US | Amazon US · Best Buy |
| CA | Amazon CA · Best Buy CA |
Links go live as each affiliate programme is approved.
Final word
A vivid, bright Mini LED telly with a genuinely special trick up its sleeve. The software's the only soft spot, and a twenty-quid streamer makes it disappear. Live with the Ambilight for a week and you'll understand why this is the set we'd find hardest to give back.