LG OLED G5 vs Sony Bravia 8 MK2

LG G5 with its new Tandem OLED panel brings the biggest change in terms of TV brightness. And it’s substantial. This is a truly astronomically bright OLED. In every scene tested – whether it's point lights or full-screen whites from the movie The Meg – brightness on the G5 exceeded 2000 nits. Just a year ago, such values on an OLED were simply unimaginable. And here we are – the G5 is approaching, and at times even surpassing, the best Mini-LEDs on the market. A novelty in the Tandem OLED panel is also the expanded colour gamut coverage – and here the LG G5 performs almost perfectly. DCI-P3 achieves a full 100%, while BT.2020 hovers around 83%. These are some of the highest values currently available on the market – it's hard to find any other TV that comes close to such results, unless we're talking about the best displays with QD-OLED panels. The G5 has almost reference-level HDR quality – both in terms of brightness and colour saturation. This is an OLED that can truly shine – and not just metaphorically.

Thanks to the new QD-OLED panel, the Sony Bravia 8 II can achieve astronomically high brightness levels of around 2000 nits, translating to near-reference quality in films and series recorded in HDR format. In test materials such as Life of Pi and Sicario 2, the effect is absolutely stunning – details in bright parts of the image remain perfectly visible, and night scenes captivate with depth and contrast. However, it’s not perfect. Compared to its most formidable competitors, the Bravia 8 II shows a noticeable drop in brightness during full-screen, very bright scenes. When comparing peak luminance with 100% white brightness in HDR mode, the Bravia 8 II can appear two or three times dimmer than LG G5 or Samsung S95F models. This was particularly evident in a scene from the film The Meg – the screen became noticeably darker than in competitors' televisions. Despite this flaw, the Bravia 8 II's results still place it at the forefront of the market. It deserves praise for its absolutely top-notch colour gamut coverage – nearly 100% DCI-P3 and close to 90% BT.2020. These parameters allow full potential extraction from HDR content and provide a cinematic experience in the comfort of your home.

Our test unit LG G5 had some issues in the factory Filmmaker mode. While the picture might have seemed fine to most people, we knew this TV could do much more. This mode had a noticeable excess of blue tint in the white balance, resulting in a strongly cooled image – especially in HDR modes, where there was additionally a lack of red. The image appeared cold, and its sharpness was artificially boosted and unnatural. Another significant problem was the brightness characteristics. In SDR content, the situation wasn't the worst, aside from a slight dimming of the entire image. However, it fared much worse in HDR materials – due to improper brightness management, the smallest details could completely disappear from the image, while larger, bright elements looked overexposed and lacking in gradation. Fortunately, the G5 supports calibration using 3D LUT (a professional tool for colour calibration), so we decided to take advantage of its professional capabilities and see what it was really capable of. Because while it wasn't terrible even before calibration, the potential of this TV definitely deserved more.

Right out of the box, the Bravia 8 II performs really well. In the best IMAX® Enhanced mode, the TV manages to render colours in a pleasant and natural way, although "well" doesn’t mean "best in class" here. The white balance definitely requires adjustment – skin tones tend to lean towards slightly pink/cool tones, both in SDR and HDR content. We also noticed that the EOTF curve characteristics show a tendency to brighten the darkest parts of the image. This is likely due to the manufacturer's desire to highlight as many details as possible, even in deep shadows. Is this a good approach? It's hard to say definitively, but we know one thing – it's not an ideal solution.

After completing the calibration process with professional tools, we can confidently state this – the LG G5 offers almost reference-quality image. Most of the errors related to white balance and the ColorChecker test are below a value of 2, which is a phenomenal result, practically imperceptible to the human eye. And while one could still nitpick that in HDR films the TV still has a tendency to slightly dim the smallest elements of the image, in practice this does not negatively affect the overall reception. Hats off to LG, as once again they provide users with enormous display settings options – and this, combined with very good parameters of the panel itself, results in an image that is truly hard to beat.

After calibration, the excessive cooling of the image caused by an overly strong boost in blue colour was primarily eliminated. The reds became deeper, and the skin tones took on a natural, healthy appearance. The actors, who previously seemed "cold," now look much livelier and more convincing on screen. However, one thing hasn't changed – the analysis of the EOTF curve still shows that the Bravia 8 II has a tendency to brighten the darkest parts of the image. It's hard to say whether this is a deliberate effect by the manufacturer or a consequence of the panel's design and software. In practice, this means that scenes that the creators wanted to leave in deep darkness can reveal more details than intended. Despite this, the reception of the image after calibration is clearly better – the warm, natural tones and realistic skin shades make viewing on the Bravia 8 II simply more pleasant to the eye.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the LG G5 performs very well. The television handles lower quality content excellently, especially when the "Smooth Gradation" feature is set to a low level. In this mode, it effectively removes undesirable artifacts and issues with visible tonal transitions. It may also slightly smooth out some desirable details, like the subtle texture of clothing or skin, but importantly – it does not remove film grain, so it's hard to talk about a serious compromise here. This is one of those options that is actually worth turning on.

The G5 also does well with upscaling, which is improving the quality of older materials. The test image with the model looked really solid – slight jaggedness was visible, but that's an effect that can't be completely avoided. On the plus side, there were no overscan issues, which – contrary to appearances – is not obvious, even in 2025.

Upscaling and digital image processing are a true showcase of the capabilities of the Bravia 8 II. Sony has long been regarded as a master in this field, and here it only confirms its reputation. The proprietary XR processor can extract nearly the maximum from lower resolution materials – whether it's TV or an old movie from a DVD, the image appears clearer, with more detail and better depth. Sure, if we feed it exceptionally poor-quality material (like our archival photo with the Model), it won't work miracles, but in everyday viewing, it’s hard to find fault.

The gentle gradation feature also performs excellently. In the “Medium” setting, it effectively smooths tonal transitions, eliminating stripes on colourful and grey gradients, while not destroying film grain or fine image details. It’s this balance between delicacy and effectiveness that keeps Sony TVs among the best on the market in this category.

The motion smoothness on the LG G5 is simply phenomenal. The television is equipped with a panel featuring a 165 Hz refresh rate, and this combined with the instantaneous response time of the OLED matrix delivers incredible results. The image doesn’t judder or blur like on traditional LCD televisions. Like most LG models, the G5 comes with a motion smoother, which can be handy when watching movies – we’re talking about the TruMotion mode, of course. With the “De-Blur” and “De-Judder” sliders, we can adjust the smoothness of older materials according to our own preferences, whether we want to maintain the characteristic film jitter or lean towards a more fluid, television-like effect.

Motion fluidity is practically a closed topic in the case of the Bravia 8 II. The OLED with 120 Hz refresh rate naturally provides a very clean, clear image in dynamic scenes, so it's hard to complain about anything here. However, one of the best smoothing systems on the market deserves particular praise. They allow for precise adjustment of movie fluidity to personal preferences – from gentle smoothing to an almost "theatrical" effect – without the risk of artificial jumps, image tearing, or annoying artifacts. It's one of those features that will be appreciated both during movie screenings and while watching sports.

Features for gamers? Perfect. That should be enough for you to know what level we’re dealing with here. The G5 is a TV designed for gamers, so you'll find literally everything you might expect from a gaming screen. There's Game Bar, support for high resolutions with high refresh rates - that is, 4K at 120 Hz, and even more, as the panel has a refresh rate of 165 Hz (which PC gamers will benefit from). The TV supports variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and also properly handles HDR in games thanks to the HGiG feature. All of this adds up to one of the best gaming feature sets available on the market. Well done, LG.

Sony has really done its homework from previous years and in the Bravia 8 II, it has prepared a package of features for gamers that is hard to describe as anything other than "almost perfect". We have everything you’d expect from equipment of this class – VRR, ALLM, Dolby Vision Gaming mode, HGiG, and even a handy Game Bar that allows you to quickly check parameters and change settings without leaving the game. It's also worth noting how smoothly and seamlessly these features work – no delays, no strange stutter. You simply turn on the game and everything looks as it should. Unfortunately, there are a few "buts". The manufacturer still provides us with only two full bandwidth HDMI ports, so if someone has a console, a PC, and another device like a Soundbar connected via eARC, the fun begins with plugging and unplugging cables. It's also surprising that there's no support for 1440p at 120 Hz – particularly important for Xbox gamers. Overall though – this is one of those TVs that can comfortably be placed in the centre of a gaming lounge and enjoyed without major compromises.