There's a seriously good-looking Roku TV coming to digital storefronts today — only, it's being made by a company you've probably never heard of before.
That company is called Skyworth, a Chinese TV manufacturer that recently inked a deal with world-famous electronics maker Philips for US branding rights.
Today, that partnership bears its first fruits with the Philips 65" Class 974 Series OLED, or simply the Philips OLED Roku TV for short.
The TV is already available on Sam's Club website for $1,299 and, despite it only becoming public knowledge today, there's already eight highly positive reviews for it.
The Philips name without all the Philips features
If you know much about TVs, a Philips-branded OLED might bring to mind glowing backlights — a feature the company calls Ambilight. While technology will certainly be included in the latest Philips OLED TVs in Europe (which itself is sold and marketed by a company called TP Vision), the US version won't have them.
Instead, we'll have to settle for a fairly basic 120Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium support, alongside Dolby Vision IQ HDR. These are great-to-have specs, for sure, but they pale in comparison to the Philips OLEDs with the latest four-stack OLED panel technology that you'll find in the flagship Philips OLED950.
On the plus side, the US Philips OLED uses Roku TV, which I find to be one of the most egalitarian and user-friendly of all smart TV platforms.
The Philips OLED Roku TV is also only $1,299 for a 65-inch OLED. Compared to the LG C4 OLED that sells for $1,496 on Amazon, it's a fairly good deal.
Philips Roku OLED alternatives
Despite some snags in the specs and the deliberate obfuscation of the manufacturer, the Philips Roku OLED is a solid value proposition. It's only the second Roku OLED to ever hit the US market (Sharp, which itself is majority owned by Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn was the first back in the final months of 2023).
Still, if you're a bit put-off by all the caveats, there are some good alternatives out there.
Roku itself has three series of TVs for sale, the most recent of which being the Roku Pro Series that came out in 2024. My personal favorite, the Roku Plus Series, is a bit older but it's one of the best TVs under $500.
Outside of Roku itself, there aren't a ton of TVs left out there that use the Roku smart platform. Hisense still has a few models rumbling about out there as does Walmart's Onn. brand, but those aren't high up on our recommendation lists.
If you want an OLED, however, choices are plentiful: The Samsung S90D OLED offers great value for $1,199 as long as you don't mind putting up with its Tizen smart platform, and the aforementioned LG C4 OLED has a lower-cost sibling called the LG B4 OLED that can be had for as little as $599 when it's on sale.
We'll be keeping an eye on the Philips Roku OLED with the hopes of getting it in for testing sometime in the near future, but if you need one of the best OLED TVs sooner rather than later, we can help you find it.
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