First tests of Sony Bravia 8 II. Great OLED but... Is it a missed opportunity?

Sony Bravia 8 II is shaping up to be one of the strongest contenders among premium OLED TVs. It is meant to be the spiritual successor to our highly rated Bravia A95L – featuring a top-of-the-line QD-OLED panel, a refined operating system, and solutions that bring to mind Japanese precision from Sony. And indeed – the Bravia 8 II is a very good television. Excellent picture quality, solid build, and a polished interface are strong arguments. But after the initial tests, it's hard not to ask one question: has Sony squandered too much potential that this design could have possessed?

Contrast – OLED as it should be

Let's start with the positives. The contrast in the Sony Bravia 8 II is absolutely top-notch – but it was hard to expect anything less. As with any OLED television, we have infinite depth of black and no backlight bleed typical of LCD panels. There are no reservations here – it's simply OLED. Perfect black and contrast is this television's middle name!

Image Scaling – Sony Has Done Its Homework

When it comes to processing lower quality content, the Bravia 8 II performs really well. At first glance, it’s clear that Sony has learned from the shortcomings of last year’s Bravia 8, where image scaling and tonal transitions left a lot to be desired. This time, the processing algorithms are more refined, and overall, it can be said that it's at a high level.

An added advantage is the QD-OLED panel, which performs excellently on its own regarding the smoothness of tonal transitions. There are no issues with colour gradients here. Compared to the Samsung S90F, Sony offers noticeably better scaling quality, especially with Full HD material or traditional television.

And here, many of you may wonder – what about the S90F? After all, the Sony Bravia 8 II was supposed to compete with the flagship S95F or LG G5, not the more affordable S90F! Well... it's time to take a look at those aspects that have somewhat cooled our enthusiasm.

Brightness - something went wrong

Well, let's move on to the biggest surprise – and unfortunately, it’s not a positive one. It concerns brightness – both in HDR and in everyday SDR.

According to the editorial team at RTINGS, the Bravia 8 II achieves about 15% higher peak brightness than the previously discussed Samsung S90F. And don’t get us wrong – this is a very good result, even phenomenal. The problem is that the Bravia 8 II reportedly uses the same QD-OLED panel as the flagship S95F and not the S90F. So, since the components are similar, why don’t the results match Samsung’s top OLED or the LG G5? That certainly raises some concern. The same applies to the 100% brightness window, which is when the entire screen shines white. The S95F and LG G5 can surpass the magical 400 nits during this, which is truly impressive. And the Bravia 8 II? Just over 240 nits, which is almost 40% less. The differences are therefore very clear and – to put it bluntly – in terms of parameters, it’s closer to Samsung's S90F (QD-OLED) than to full-fledged flagships.

Unfortunately, the brightness in SDR is also underwhelming. We’re talking about values around 500 nits, which again isn’t terrible, but is definitely below expectations for a TV of this class. The Bravia 8 II was supposed to compete with the top models from Korean manufacturers. And it looks like the battle for customers will play out more on price than in measurement tables.

Great for gamers, but lacking flair

Since Sony is the manufacturer of PlayStation, we naturally expect their TVs to be the perfect companion for gaming – and in fact, the Bravia 8 II really does offer everything needed to get the most out of even the most powerful version of the PS5 with the PRO suffix. We have 120 Hz, low input lag, variable refresh rate (VRR) support, automatic game mode (ALLM), as well as the classic “game bar” with connection status and frame rate information.

And all of this works really well. The problem is that Sony seems to have stagnated while the competition moves on. We still only have two HDMI 2.1 ports, even though some manufacturers are already offering four. Moreover, although the panel used supports up to 165 Hz (as demonstrated by Samsung with its S95F), Sony hasn’t opted to fully utilise it. Is this a hardware limitation stemming from a design based on the MediaTek chip? Or did they simply say, "who needs that"? We don’t know.

This doesn’t change the fact that for 90% of gamers, the Bravia 8 II will be a very solid choice, but by 2025 we expected a bit more boldness and innovation from Sony in the gaming segment. After all, the world of gaming doesn't end with PlayStation.

Design – looks familiar

In terms of appearance, the Bravia 8 II closely resembles the A95L. Is that a good thing? The television looks solid, minimalist, and modern. But it’s hard not to notice that the design is clearly thicker than the competition. What’s the reason for this? An additional cooling system, which supposedly helps achieve higher performance parameters for the panel. It’s just a shame that the tests do not show clear benefits from the cooling used – and since it does not translate into noticeably higher performance, one might feel that a slimmer design would look better. Of course – tastes vary, and everyone might prefer something different, but in our opinion, it is the ultrathin televisions that most often win recognition in the eyes of future buyers.

On the other hand, such a "uniform mass" also has its advantages. The television can be mounted almost flush with the wall, and there’s no impression of anything sticking out. Lastly, it’s worth mentioning the very nice, elegant stands that come in the box – they are sturdy, look good, and importantly – they can be set at two heights, making it easier to fit a soundbar audio setup underneath the screen.

Google TV at its best

Although we haven't physically had the BRAVIA 8 II in our hands yet, we know well what to expect from the system from Sony – Japanese engineers have been showing for years that they can really get a lot out of Google TV. The interface works smoothly and responsively, and the whole thing just looks neat and tidy. At least in our opinion, Sony has “gotten along” with Google TV the best and makes using this system the most enjoyable among all manufacturers that utilise it.

In the package, we find a well-known, minimalist remote – without a numeric keypad. It’s a small, tidy controller designed for one thing: convenient operation of Google TV and quick access to apps. Simple, functional, and sleek – it’s hard to want more if you mainly use streaming services and a voice assistant.

What price? Sony BRAVIA 8 II

As you can see from the price comparison, the Sony BRAVIA 8 II is definitely positioned closer to flagship models – such as the Samsung S95F or LG G5 – in both the 55" and 65" versions. It may have a tough time, especially when we look at the 65-inch variant. The difference compared to the S90F model is almost 50% in price – and that’s with specifications that are similar in many aspects. Of course, the quality of workmanship, brand, or operating system may be a justification for some to pay a premium, but looking at it with a cool eye – it won’t be an easy battle. Especially since both Korean manufacturers start from a rather high price point – and as previous years have shown, their TVs often drop in price quite rapidly. As a result, the price difference between the BRAVIA 8 II and the S90F or even S95F or LG G5 models may increase even more over time.

Missed Opportunity? SONY Bravia 8 II

Sony BRAVIA 8 II is a television that on one hand can make a huge impression – excellent blacks, a remarkable processor, QD-OLED, low input lag, and a well-functioning system. On the other hand, it's hard not to get the impression that it's a bit of wasted potential. After all, we have the same panel as in the flagship Samsung S95F – so we could have expected greater brightness, higher refresh rates, or a complete set of HDMI 2.1 ports.

Perhaps Sony has long since given up the race for numbers and simply focuses on delivering a coherent, “its own” product for loyal fans of the brand. It's hard to say. But on the other hand, it’s also not difficult to notice that certain limitations – especially in terms of brightness – could be a deliberate move to ensure that the BRAVIA 8 II doesn’t outshine last year’s very expensive and prestigious BRAVIA 9 with Mini LED backlighting.

Is it a television worth attention then? Absolutely. Could it have been something more? Well... We’ll leave that question up to you! Let us know in the comments if you're waiting for the new BRAVIA 8 II model. And if not – we invite you to our reviews of the 2024 sales! Maybe you’ll find something for yourself there? Perhaps you’ll be tempted by the “old”, but still great A95L?