The Bravia 8 II is Sony’s latest 4K QD‑OLED display aiming to claim the throne as the best TV of 2025, but with a controversially high price tag at launch, only two HDMI 2.1 ports, and brightness that trails competitors, can Sony match titans such as the Samsung S95F and LG G5, and which one should you buy?
Let’s find out.
Sony’s Bravia 8 Mark II takes the incredible color volume, excellent viewing angles, and perfect black levels in the dark of QD OLED, and pairs them with a glossy finish that supercharges perceived clarity and HDR “pop.” Out of the box, SDR accuracy in Professional mode is outstanding, and with a simple white‑balance touch‑up it becomes even better. HDR accuracy is also among the best I’ve measured, with exceptionally wide BT.2020 coverage.
Brightness isn’t chart‑topping versus LG G5 or Samsung S95F, but it’s still very bright in real content. In a light‑controlled room this TV absolutely sings. In bright rooms, QD‑OLED’s magenta cast and shadow‑detail washout still show up—it’s not the right tech for sun‑splashed spaces.
Gaming and motion are where Sony stumbles. The set is locked to 120Hz (while G5/S95F can do 165Hz), latency is higher than it should be, HGIG behavior appears “not fully off,” and there may be a touch of sharpening you can’t disable. Movies and consoles still look great, but for PC gamers there are better choices.
Bottom line: in a dark theater room at 55 or 65 inches, this is the best overall image I’ve seen this year—and the built‑in sound is shockingly good. I just wish Sony would unlock 165Hz, shave latency, ship a backlit remote, and make a 77” version.
For this review I used an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, Color Checker Display Plus colorimeter, Calman Ultimate, Portrait Displays Video Forge Pro 8K pattern generator, a Sony RX100 VII 1000fps camera, an SM208 Screen Luminance Meter, and a Sony Cinema Line FX3 mirrorless video camera. Plus years of display testing experience.
Disclaimer: This TV was purchased by me for this review, however Sony did send me the Theater System 6. All opinions are my own. Additionally Home Theater Review may run advertising campaigns with various manufacturers including Sony. Finally I have joined Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software reviewer program to get free licensing going forward.
The 65‑inch ships well‑protected and sets up cleanly. The TV’s overall fit and finish match the premium positioning. Cable management is great, and the weight is manageable. With only two HDMI 2.1 ports and one consumed by eARC if you run external audio, planning your hookups matters—especially for multi‑console or PC + console setups.
I recommend 2 people to assemble.
Out of every OLED I’ve seen this year nothing produces images that pop off the screen the way they do on the Bravia 8 II. Colors are measmerizingly vibrant and bright, while tones come across natural. Just by eye this was the most impressive display I’ve had a chance to review in 2025.
For home theater enthusiasts below are all my Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software results measuring the accuracy of the display. For everyone else, feel free to skip to the TLDR.
SDR – Professional Mode (Pre‑Cal): EOTF and primaries track closely; mild WB offset visible on 100% white.
SDR – Professional Mode (Post WB): near perfect white balance & grayscale tight across the range.
SDR – Vivid (Pre-Cal): Overtracking, too much color, and EOTF inaccuracies.
SDR – Vivid (Tuned): Near professional accuracy while boosting brightness massively.
SDR – ColorChecker: Avg ΔE ~0.7; standout for a consumer TV.
HDR – Professional Mode: Strong EOTF tracking with minor issues.
HDR – Professional Mode (Post WB): Excellent tacking.
HDR – ColorChecker: Avg ΔE ~3.54; standout for a consumer TV.
BT.2020 Coverage: 88.11% u’v’; wide color volume benefits are obvious in real content.
The short version: Calman data confirms what my eyes saw: in SDR, Professional mode is essentially reference.
After a quick white‑balance tweak I saw what might be the best accuracy results in both SDR and HDR of any display I’ve measured in these tests. I also saw exceptionally good BT.2020 color reproduction meaning the Bravia 8 II should be capable of faithfully representing just about any HDR content on the market today.
I have seen some complain that SDR is not bright enough on the Bravia 8 II, but by swapping it into Vivid mode and changing a few settings you can get near identical accuracy as what's seen on professional mode, and a blindingly bright over 1,100nits making it certainly more than bright enough for most folks.
Many have said the Bravia 8 II falls short of the S95F and G5 in terms of brightness, however in terms of HDR imagery the Sony Bravia 8 II is the one that wowed me the most in 2025, and its why I bought one myself.
On charts, the Sony Bravia 8 Mark II sits mid‑pack against the very brightest 2025 OLEDs, but context matters.
Real content is where this set punches above its weight. Window tests hit >1,800 nits at 10%, and in a demanding HDR game scene (Baldur’s Gate 3 at D65) I measured specular highlights over 1,600 nits with mid‑scene elements around the 500‑nit mark. That level of performance is miles ahead of most TVs and firmly in “wow” territory.
What separates this Sony isn’t only the raw nit count—it’s how the glossy QD‑OLED panel carries color into the highlights. Some competing sets get brighter on paper but lose color saturation as they climb, or, in the S95F’s case, are constrained by a matte finish that lowers perceived depth. Here, small bright elements pop with rich color atop inky blacks, lending that high‑end “window into the world” effect that makes HDR feel alive.
Is it the absolute brightest? No. Do you feel short‑changed in real movies and games? Also no. Unless you spend your nights comparing charts full‑screen, the combination of brightness, gloss, and color volume delivers some of the most convincing HDR I’ve seen this year.
As an emissive OLED, the Bravia 8 Mark II doesn’t use local dimming—each pixel is its own zone. In a dark room that translates to perfect black levels next to bright pixels without haloing, and this panel’s uniformity helps keep low‑APL scenes clean.
Against even excellent Mini LED sets (including Sony’s own Bravia 9), QD‑OLED still has an edge in ideal conditions for shadow nuance and black floor. If you primarily watch in the dark, this is where Sony leaps ahead.
This is the biggest reason I prefer the Sony Bravia 8 Mark II to Samsung’s S95F. The glossy coating here dramatically boosts perceived sharpness and contrast. Fine textures look crisp, small specular details pierce through, and the whole image has more “depth” than matte implementations.
However, QD‑OLED panels can exhibit a magenta shift under significant ambient light, and shadow information can wash out sooner than on WOLED. You can’t brute‑force past that with more nits alone.
If your room has windows blasting the screen or uncontrolled overheads, you’ll see color shifts and crushed detail in darker scenes sooner than you might on a great WOLED. Place it thoughtfully and control light where possible. For daytime sports and bright animation you’ll be fine; for filmic dark sequences, give this set the theater treatment and it rewards you.
Let’s split this into two audiences.
Console / casual PC users: You’ll be happy. At 120Hz with OLED response times, motion is already very good. De‑judder at “1” cleans up 24p nicely without tipping into soap‑opera. The set remains more responsive and cleaner in motion than most Mini LEDs. Hooked to something like a Switch 2, the overall experience is great.
Both Motion Interpolation on and off look good on camera.
PC enthusiasts chasing every millisecond: Skip this display. Sony locks the panel to 120Hz while competitors like LG’s G5 and Samsung’s S95F run at 165Hz.
In my bench setup, total system latency on the Bravia measured about 35 ms versus ~26 ms on the G5—a meaningful gap you can feel in fast shooters and competitive titles. There’s no good reason for Sony to leave performance on the table when the underlying panel appears capable of more.
HGIG is another pain point. Even with options labeled “off,” tone‑mapping behavior doesn’t seem fully disabled, which makes precise in‑game HDR calibration a mild wrestling match.
Sony Bravia 8 II: Baldur’s Gate III
I’ve also seen chatter suggesting a small amount of sharpening is always applied; I can’t confirm that, but it tracks with my sense that you can’t get the image entirely “raw.” None of this ruins the experience for most players—but for those of us who obsess over perfect tone‑mapping and the lowest latency, it’s frustrating because it feels fixable in firmware.
Sony Bravia 8 II: UFO Motion Test
At 120Hz the panel still delivers pleasing motion clarity for most content, but against a 165Hz OLED you will notice the difference in ultra‑fast mouse‑driven camera pans. Again, for movies and consoles: excellent. For high‑frame‑rate PC purists: not ideal.
Sony is really leaving money on the table here by yet again ignoring this audience, and missing out on sales.
QD‑OLED’s viewing characteristics remain a highlight. Color and luminance hold up exceptionally well off‑axis, and my panel’s uniformity was excellent—no visible banding on grays in normal use and a very clean near‑black presentation.
Sony’s recent sets have tended to look clean here, and this sample continues that trend.
The built‑in audio is shockingly good—easily the best sound I’ve heard from a TV. Timbre is natural with clear treble and mids, and bass presence is respectable for a slim chassis. If you want more headroom and low‑end grunt, Sony’s Theater System 6 (which they sent to me) integrates nicely and adds that missing weight, but I could happily live with the TV alone.
Sony’s UI and general menu flow are also in a good place—snappy enough and logically laid out. Where I want to see change is firmware: please unlock 165Hz, reduce latency, and give us a true “off means off” path for HGIG/tone mapping and any edge enhancement. Also, Sony, ship a backlit remote at this price; the current clicker does include a dedicated input button (thank you), but fumbling in a dark room to find keys is not it.
Evaluated as a dark‑room, 55–65‑inch home‑theater TV, the Bravia 8 Mark II is a knockout. It delivers the core QD‑OLED promise—spectacular color volume, superb off‑axis performance, and infinite contrast, with a glossy finish that meaningfully boosts perceived clarity over matte competitors.
Calman results back up the subjective impressions: SDR can be near‑reference with a trivial WB correction, HDR accuracy is excellent, and BT.2020 coverage is huge. Peak numbers aren’t the absolute highest, yet in real scenes the TV hits >1,600‑nit highlights with rich color that feels more impactful than some “brighter” sets.
However, it’s not perfect. Two HDMI 2.1 ports (one is eARC) make system planning trickier than it should be. The 120Hz cap and elevated latency are self‑inflicted wounds for PC enthusiasts, and HGIG behavior needs to be fixed so “off” truly means off. The bright‑room story isn’t this set’s strength either; QD‑OLED still shows magenta shift and loses shadow nuance under heavy ambient light.
But taken as a package—especially at its now‑reduced price—the Bravia 8 Mark II combines the best of Samsung’s recent QD‑OLEDs with Sony’s tuning, a more clear and clean presentation, better audio, and (for my eyes) better motion at sensible settings.
In a controlled room, this is the TV I most want to watch movies on. If you’re a competitive PC gamer or need bulletproof daytime performance, look elsewhere. If you want reference‑leaning accuracy, thrilling HDR with great color, stellar uniformity, and the best built‑in sound I’ve heard in a TV, this Sony earns a spot at the very top of your shortlist.
I’m giving it a full‑throated recommendation for theater use—and I sincerely hope Sony ships a 77‑inch version next year with 165Hz and a firmware pass that unlocks the panel’s full potential. Do that, and we’re talking about the easy class leader across the board.
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