Dreame Q100 vs Sony BRAVIA 7 II

The Dreame Q100 is unfortunately too simple, and above all too dim, to really deliver a true HDR effect. Our measured peak brightness reaches at most around 300 nits, which is definitely too low for bright parts of the image to really "hit" you with light. In fact, this is a level we more often associate with SDR material than with HDR. It therefore lacks the brightness headroom offered by more expensive TVs, which makes highlights, reflections and the sun look noticeably more impressive.

HDR colours

Fortunately the Q100 makes up for some of that elsewhere. The manufacturer markets it as a QLED TV, although in practice a PFS filter is responsible for widening the colour palette. Our measurements show coverage of about 92% of DCI-P3 and around 67% of BT.2020. These are not top-tier numbers, but still clearly better than basic LCD TVs without an extra layer to expand the gamut. That means HDR material can at least offer more saturated and varied colours, even if the brightness alone does not yet allow you to speak of a fully convincing HDR effect.

Sony Bravia 7 II handles HDR very well and, above all, is simply a bright television. In the correct viewing mode for watching, Professional, we measured about 2,000 nits of peak brightness, so the panel’s capabilities are truly large. Of course, in Mini-LED sets a test-pattern result is only part of the story, because much still depends on how the TV controls the backlight in real scenes. Here Sony’s algorithms perform really well. Depending on the scene, the brightness we measured in films ranged from about 1,100 to as much as 1,700 nits. That’s a level at which HDR has proper punch and bright highlights can be genuinely impressive. It’s not perfect in every situation. With small bright elements on a very dark background, the Bravia 7 II clearly prioritises maintaining good black levels, so their brightness can fall to around 500 nits. It still looks good, but it’s clear the TV doesn’t always manage this without compromise.

Colours

The second thing that has a huge impact on HDR is, of course, colour. And this is where True RGB was meant to deliver one of the biggest changes. Looking at the panel’s capabilities alone, the Bravia 7 II performs very well. We measured roughly 98% DCI-P3 coverage and 88% BT.2020, so the potential for showing highly saturated colours is substantial. In RGB TVs the matter is a bit more complex. When we repeated the same measurements with a film-like background applied, gamut coverage dropped to about 92% DCI-P3 and 78% BT.2020. Those are still good numbers, especially for an RGB Mini-LED TV, but they show that the final result largely depends on how the algorithms drive the three backlight colours. In most scenes the Bravia 7 II handles this well and colours retain strong saturation. The biggest differences are visible in blue shades, where samples start to deviate more noticeably from the reference values and coverage is weaker than for the other primaries. True RGB therefore offers genuinely greater potential, but, as with brightness, a lot depends on what’s actually happening on screen.

For testing we chose the "Film" mode and we think it’s by far the best of the available presets. There are none of the heavily boosted, unnatural colours you see in Vivid/Dynamic mode. The picture looks quite reasonable straight away, although it falls short of perfect. In SDR material the most noticeable issue was a slight warming of the image. The white balance had too much red, which made whites lean towards a warmer tint, and a similar cast was visible in the greys. In HDR the situation was a little different. Here blue had a slight advantage, making the image a touch cooler. These are not major faults. For such an inexpensive TV the factory settings on our unit were pretty decent, and the "Film" mode already delivers a relatively natural picture without much fiddling with the settings.

To evaluate the factory colours we chose the Professional mode, because it performs best among the available presets. It's not perfect. In SDR the white balance is slightly biased toward magenta, so some scenes look a little warmer and less neutral than they should. A bigger issue is the gamma, which sits closer to 2.5 than 2.4. As a result the image is a bit too dark in places, especially in the mid-tones. In HDR the situation is better. As brightness increases there's a little too much red, but it isn't something that really jumps out while watching. Overall the Professional mode is a good starting point, though you can get a bit more out of it with calibration.

Contrary to appearances, the Dreame Q100 is actually quite well prepared for picture calibration. The menu contains plenty of advanced picture settings that allow fairly precise adjustment of its characteristics. In our case the white balance required the most work, both in SDR and HDR. After correction SDR material looked very good. We managed to achieve an almost neutral white balance and natural colours, with the main limitation remaining the black level itself, stemming from the panel design and the lack of local dimming.

In HDR we were also able to improve white balance and colour reproduction, but here the TV’s electronics reveal their limitations more quickly. Even after very precise EOTF curve adjustment, the Q100 doesn't always stick to it properly during real-world scenes. In some content it can also brighten the image, making some parts look brighter than they should, and some detail in bright areas can be lost as a result.

After calibration the Bravia 7 II can look significantly better. First and foremost, we managed to set the white balance very well in both SDR and HDR. Gamma can also be improved, and after correction it runs very close to the reference value. For most users those changes will have the biggest impact on the picture. There is, however, a limitation with the colours themselves. On the Bravia 7 II Sony does not provide access to a traditional CMS that would let us adjust individual hues separately. Much is left to the algorithms controlling the True RGB backlight. If the TV reproduces a specific colour inaccurately, we are not always able to do anything about it. In our measurements this is most apparent in parts of the reds and blues, where errors can still be quite large. That does not, however, undermine the value of calibration. Correctly setting the white point and gamma strongly affects the whole picture, so even without the ability to precisely correct every colour the difference from the factory settings is noticeable.

The weakest point of the Dreame Q100 is its digital image processing. The processor used does a fairly average job of improving weaker material, and the menu offers no function that effectively smooths ugly tonal transitions or reduces visible posterisation. The upscaling itself is also unimpressive. With low-resolution material the image is rather soft and lacks better reproduction of fine detail. Additionally, the Q100 tends to overscan, meaning it slightly crops the edges of the image with very poor sources, for example 480p material. In everyday viewing of HD or 4K content this won’t be a major issue, but with older recordings the processor’s limitations are clearly visible.

Scaling and digital processing are among the strongest points of the Bravia 7 II and one of Sony's biggest advantages over the competition. Sony has for years excelled at digital image processing, and it's clear here too. Above all, the 'Smooth Gradation' function works very well, smoothing weaker tonal transitions in poorer-quality content. The safest setting is low, but we'd comfortably recommend medium as well. The effect is stronger, and the TV still handles fine detail very delicately. Some minor details may be slightly smoothed, but Sony does it much more subtly than many other brands. Upscaling is also very good. Lower-resolution content is nicely upscaled to 4K; the image looks clean and retains a lot of detail. Of course the TV won't magically turn native HD into true 4K, but the Bravia 7 II does very well with what can be pulled from such a source.

The VA panel in the Dreame Q100 has a native refresh rate of 60 Hz, so right from the start it's not a television built for the most demanding sports fans or gamers. The manufacturer does note the option to run at 120 Hz and that mode is indeed available, but it's primarily intended for a gaming mode. In everyday use the Q100 should therefore be treated as a standard 60 Hz TV. That means less smooth motion during fast sports broadcasts or quick gameplay than in models with 120 Hz or higher panels. One positive is the panel's response time. The VA panel doesn't smear excessively, so motion stays fairly clear and doesn't leave strong, blurred trails behind objects. For films we can also use a simple motion smoothing system. The manufacturer has prepared several presets that help reduce the characteristic judder in material shot at 24 frames per second.

The Bravia 7 II uses a 120 Hz panel, so in terms of motion handling it delivers everything you'd expect from a TV of this class. With sport or games at 120 fps the picture is suitably smooth, and for films Sony provides an advanced motion interpolation system. You can therefore adjust the level of interpolation separately and choose whether to retain a more cinematic motion or achieve noticeably greater smoothness. Motion blur itself is a bit worse. The VA panel used isn't among the fastest, and moving objects can show a slight trailing, especially against darker backgrounds. It's not at a level that will seriously disturb normal viewing, but last year's Bravia 7 was better in this regard and had a noticeably faster panel.

Dreame Q100 is not strictly a gaming device, but for console use it offers a pretty sensible package. You get VRR to eliminate screen tearing and ALLM, which automatically switches the TV to a low-latency mode when it detects a console signal. An interesting compromise is support for 120 Hz. The panel won't reach that refresh rate in 4K, but drop to 1080p and you can play at 120 frames per second. If a title prioritises smoothness over resolution (and the game offers such a mode), it's worth using. It also includes a handy Game Bar that lets you quickly change screen settings, switch the refresh mode or add a virtual crosshair. The HGiG implementation is a bit weak, but credit is due for Dolby Vision Gaming support on Xbox Series X and S. This isn't a panel for tech purists, but for casual console gaming, especially when trading 4K for smoother Full HD, it performs very well.

Bravia 7 II has pretty much everything you'd want from a good console TV today. It supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR from 48 to 120 Hz and ALLM, so when you start a game the TV automatically switches to low-latency mode. HGiG works correctly, so once you configure HDR on the console the TV won't try to brighten the image on its own. Just remember to turn off tone mapping in the TV's menu. Another plus is Dolby Vision in game mode, which will be especially useful for Xbox owners. Sony also includes its own Game Menu, where you can quickly view key signal info, check VRR or change gaming settings without digging through the full TV menu. The only thing missing from the feature list is support for 1440p at 120 Hz. Our biggest complaint is not really about the features but the connectors. The Bravia 7 II has four HDMI ports, but only two of them support full HDMI 2.1 with 48 Gbps bandwidth. One of those is also the eARC port. So if you connect a soundbar or AV receiver via HDMI, in practice you only have one full HDMI 2.1 left for a console or PC. With a single console that's fine, but with a PS5, an Xbox and an audio setup it starts to feel cramped. That's hard to justify from Sony. In cheaper TVs two HDMI 2.1 ports can still be accepted, but in a model of this class, especially in 2026, we'd expect all four ports to be HDMI 2.1.