02-04-2025
Sony Unveils New Bravia TVs —Including A Premium QD OLED Range
The latest step of what Sony describes as a three year plan with its TV and home audio division has been announced today in the shape of three new additions to its Bravia TV range.
The Bravia 8 II, Bravia 5 and Bravia 3 models (the Bravia 3s were actually announced previously for the U.S., but are now confirmed for release in other territories too) include a mixture of OLED and LCD models – and I can now confirm that the Bravia 8 II OLED models follow on from Sony's current A95L flagship OLEDs in using Quantum Dot OLED technology, rather than reverting to some version of the traditional WRGB OLED approach as some sources have been suggesting.
Sony is adding three new TV series to its Bravia TV range.
The new TV line up does not include the new independent drive RGB LED technology Sony revealed in Tokyo recently (and which I describe in this earlier article). That's hardly surprising, though, given that Sony stated when introducing its new technology for the first time that we shouldn't expect to see it turning up in consumer TVs until at least 2026.
I've been lucky enough to spend time with Sony's new Bravia TVs on two separate occasions now, so as well as providing details of each range below I'll also share my early thoughts on how they're shaping up so far.
The Sony Bravia 8 II QD OLEDs replace the lauded 55 and 65-inch A95L models.
Bravia 8 II Range
The basics
Initial thoughts
The confusingly named Bravia 8 IIs are definitely the highlights of Sony's new Bravia TV additions for serious AV fans, designed as they are to (mostly!) replace the brand's current long-running and massively acclaimed A95L OLED flagship models.
As the Bravia 8 II name suggests, though, fitting Sony's new premium OLED TVs, which use high-end Quantum Dot OLED panels, into its new Bravia TV range naming structure appears to have been something of a struggle. Sony apparently didn't want to position its new premium OLED range above the Bravia 9 Mini LED series that will therefore still sit as Sony's flagship TVs, but the Bravia 8 name is already occupied by an existing WRGB OLED Sony TV range. So adding a mark II was, I guess, the only route open to Sony – though to make things even more confusing, that original Bravia 8 WRGB OLED range is set to continue in Sony's range as a more affordable OLED option for the forseeable future.
The Bravia 8 II at a recent Sony demo event.
One other complication is that since for some reason (possibly panel supply issues) Sony has only opted to launch the Bravia 8 II TVs in 55 and 65-inch sizes, the 77-inch A95L is actually going to continue in the range as Sony's premium 77-inch OLED option.
My experiences of watching the Bravia 8 II TVs so far, including in side by side demonstrations with the A95L, a Samsung S95D, an LG G4 TVs and Sony's BVM-HX3110 professional mastering monitor, have been overwhelmingly positive. For starters, while Sony confirms that the Bravia 8 II's not surprisingly can't reach the 4000 nits of brightness established by the BVM-HX3110, they clearly looked clearly brighter, especially in highlights, than the other three OLED TVs in the head to head demo. Despite all of those other three TVs also boasting relatively high brightness by OLED standards.
The Bravia 8 II also exhibited much less clipping (loss of detail) in the brightest HDR areas than the other TVs, underlining just how much more native brightness the sets have at their disposal.
The Bravia 8 II out-performed its rivals with its color performance, too, getting much more consistently close to the accurate appearance of the mastering monitor across a range of different content. This was especially true when it came to skin tones, with the LG, for instance, leaving people looking a big jaundiced by comparison, while the original Bravia 8 gave people a slightly exaggerated pink tinge.
The Bravia 8 IIs also maintained richer, more natural yellow and red tones in an HDR shot of molten metal than the Samsung and LG sets - possibly, in the LG G4's case, because of the white element deployed in WRGB technology to boost brightness.
With the Bravia 8 II also delivering Sony's customary authority when it comes to motion handling and intense but always natural looking sharpness and detail, the only small issue I saw in Sony's demo conditions was a slight raising of the screen's black levels in the presence of high levels of ambient light - a known side effect of QD OLED technology. That said, the Bravia 8 II suffered much less from this problem than the A95L, to the extent that I suspect it won't actually be an issue in the vast majority regular living room light conditions.
While it's a pity there isn't a 77-inch Bravia 8 II,Sony's second-generation QD OLED TVs really do look like they have the potential to be very special indeed.
The new Sony Bravia 5 Mini LED TV.
Bravia 5 range
The Basics
Aside from making us wonder where the Bravia 6es are, the ranging of the Bravia 5s is more straightforward than that of the Bravia 8 IIs. The Bravia 5s are, after all, basically Sony's new mid-range LCD TV offering. As you can see from the long list of features they support, though, I'd argue that they sit more in the upper mid-range segment of the TV world in general than their Bravia 5 designation may imply, despite the ongoing presence of the Bravia 7 Mini LED TVs in Sony's current TV range.
Taking at face value Sony's claim that the Bravia 5s will get six times as many separately controlled lighting zones as the X90Ls get, then the 65-inch Bravia 5 can be expected to deliver, for instance, more than 500 dimming zones.
While the Bravia 5s will not be as bright or feature as many dimming zones as the Bravia 7s, demos of the Bravia 5s against the X90L models they replace were hugely persuasive. Particularly striking was how much the new screen's substantial increase in brightness helps it to deliver more color volume than the X90Ls, especially when it comes to shades of red. This extra vibrancy joins with a clear improvement in the subtlety with which the Bravia 5s deliver small color tone shifts and blends to instantly makes pictures look more engaging, three dimensional and enjoyable.
The Bravia 5 at a recent Sony demonstration event.
Skin tones look more natural on the Bravia 5s than they do on the X90Ls too, and its richer colors are reinforced by a clear leap in contrast, as the Bravia 5's backlight controls manage to retain good black colors despite the screens' increased brightness.
Backlight blooming is massively more controlled on the Bravia 5 than it is with the X90Ls, too, while a side by side comparison with a roughly equivalent Samsung QN85D reveals the Bravia 5 to be better at reproducing the most subtle shadow details in dark pictures (though the Samsung model achieved slightly deeper black colors).
The final appeal of the Bravia 5s will depend to some extent on their pricing, of course, given their mid-range placement. But there's no doubt that they deliver a really significant performance step-up over their popular predecessors.
The new (in some territories) Bravia 3 TVs.
Bravia 3 range
The Basics
The Bravia 3s have actually been released in the U.S. already, so I won't dwell too much on them here beyond the list of key features listed above. I will say, though, that demonstrations against the X75WL series they replace proved them capable of delivering surprisingly vibrant and natural colors for their likely very affordable price levels, as well as impressively consistent levels of 4K sharpness.
The Sony Bravia 3 at a recent demonstration event.
Note, though, that the performance of Bravia 3 TVs may vary considerably depending on which screen size you're looking at, since some sizes uses wide viewing angle but low contrast IPS panels, rather than more contrast-rich VA panels. In the U.S., the 43, 55 and 75-inch models appear to be using IPS panels, while the 50, 65 and 85-inch models use VA panels.
All of the new Sony TVs detailed in this article are available for pre-order as of today (April 2 2025), with actual shipping availability currently stated rather vaguely as Spring 2025. I'll update this story with pricing information as soon as it is available.
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