I found the perfect spare room TV, and it's super cheap

I don't know if you've realized it, but TVs are becoming more affordable than ever before. You can easily pick up a relatively solid 65-inch 4K TV for under $500 these days. That's great value for something that many people use every day. No, you're not getting a top-of-the-line model for that price, but when it's that cheap, I don't think you should expect all the fancy bells and whistles -- but that doesn't mean you shouldn't expect some of them.

The Philips Ambilight 7975 series is an interesting one as it takes your budget-friendly price and adds a strip of bias lighting to the back of the TV. However, instead of an actual strip you put on yourself, think of something like the Govee Backlight, this TV has the LED lights built right into the set. It might be worrying to hear that there's a light always on when you're trying to watch something, but you have a lot of control over it. That's this TV's main gimmick, and I'd say it works pretty well.

Price, availability, and specs

A simple, affordable TV

The Philips Ambilight isn't a TV that's going to blow you away with its features, and that's by design. This is more like a TV that's fit for a bedroom instead of your main living room setup, at least the model I reviewed. For starters, my review unit is just 50 inches, and that doesn't cut it for my living room. I wouldn't settle for anything under 65 inches there, but that doesn't mean other rooms have the same restrictions. I found that this is a great TV for my basement as something to watch while on the treadmill. The 50-inch model costs $333 on Amazon at the time of this writing, so it's not anything that's going to break the bank by any means.

You actually get a fair amount of features at that price, aside from the obvious bias lighting. This QLED TV is equipped with both Dolby Vision and Atmos, and it has the Roku OS built right into it. I have a Roku Ultra in my bedroom, so it was very easy to link my Roku account and automatically log into my apps through the startup process, which was greatly appreciated. I was actually surprised to see how much got packed into here at such a low price.

What I like about the Philips Ambilight TV

A lot of features for a low price

Once you understand that this isn't a TV that's meant to trade blows with high-end models, you can find a lot to like about it. The main selling point of this TV is the Ambilight LEDs. I think these work great, and the fact that you can customize how bright they are makes a big difference. I would generally agree that they are too distracting when you're watching a movie, so you tweak a variety of settings to tailor them to your liking. There's a Cinema mode you can set it to where you can also lower the brightness way down. I found that having the mode set to follow video or audio is a much better experience because that's more likely to tone down the abruptly changing colors. You can also set it to a fixed color if you don't want it to change at all.

I watched my Halloween 5 Blu-ray on this TV with the follow video setting, and I was pleased with how it performed. I don't think I'd watch many movies like this, but I was surprised by how much it can enhance your experience, provided you're willing to tinker with the settings a bit.

While I don't have this TV connected to any external sound system, the fact that it supports Dolby Atmos is a big plus because that's my favorite audio format available. Of course, if you have a receiver, this doesn't matter as much, since you're probably using audio passthrough, but this is a good option for people who don't have that choice. Dolby Vision is also a nice inclusion here, since that's also my favorite HDR format, and it's typically not found on many budget TVs. The lights are definitely the big selling point here, and the inclusion of those Dolby options is icing on the cake.

What I don't like about the Philips Ambilight TV

Maybe it's too budget-friendly

In a vacuum, the Philips Ambilight is a fine TV, but the problem is that it doesn't exist in a vacuum. I have no choice but to compare it to my other TVs, and it simply doesn't stack up. It doesn't have 120hz support, it's just a QLED screen, and it doesn't get very bright. I don't have a way to actually measure its peak brightness, but I wouldn't say the HDR and Dolby Vision support is anything to write home about. I wouldn't recommend making this a TV you have frequent movie nights on. The black levels don't ever quite reach total blackness, or anything close to it really, and I have this TV in a basement where I can completely control the brightness. If you're not watching movies, that's fine, but if you are, you should probably look for something else.

The Ambilight itself, while a big selling point, is a big negative to somebody who simply doesn't like bias lighting. If that's you, I wouldn't recommend this TV in any way, as that's effectively eliminating the one thing that makes this TV stand out from the competition. If you turn the lights off, you're pretty much left with a regular old budget TV, which isn't the end of the world, but you could've cut the costs even more if that's what you plan to do.

Should you buy the Philips Ambilight TV?

Depends on what you need a TV for

Is this a good TV for your living room? No, I would say it's not. Is it a good TV for a hangout spot? Yes, it is. I think this TV works best as a secondary TV, and it could be fun to throw some music on it and have the Ambilight sensor follow the music. It's very easy to envision it on the background at a family gathering with a football game playing. I just don't think this TV is bright enough or good enough to be your main display.

The Ambilight is a really cool feature, and if you're a fan of bias lighting, I don't think you'll be disappointed with what Philips cooked up here. It's definitely not for everybody, but I found myself liking the lights for more casual viewing than I did for serious viewing. If you're mostly watching cable or YouTube TV, I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of this TV. It's perfect for a spare room, a bedroom, or your basement. As long as it's not your main TV, you'll get some enjoyment out of it.