Samsung DU7192 (VA) vs Sony BRAVIA 7 II

On the luminance charts, the peak brightness of the television is around 280 nits. Unfortunately, such a value is too low to fully enjoy the effects of HDR, which require significantly higher luminance. In the tested materials, such as The Meg or Gemini Man, the lack of adequate brightness severely limits the magic of HDR, and details in the brighter parts of the image are not sufficiently highlighted. For users primarily consuming SDR content, this quality level might be acceptable but it is definitely not enough when it comes to HDR. Additionally, a DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage of 82% does not favour presenting HDR content in its full glory. The limited colour range makes it difficult for the television to reproduce vibrant and diverse hues, which is crucial for achieving a cinematic experience.

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.

The best factory mode we relied on during testing turned out to be "Filmmaker." Although it is the mode that most closely aligns with the creators' intent, it still has some imperfections. In the white balance graph for both SDR and HDR, there is a clear dominance of red, resulting in significant yellowing, particularly noticeable in whites and on actors' faces. In HDR mode, there is also a slight dominance of green, which, however, does not have as large an impact on the perception of the image. The gamma, responsible for brightness in SDR materials, performed quite well, but with one serious reservation. In the darkest parts of the image, it was too low, causing excessive brightening of those scenes, depriving the film of drama and contrast. In the case of HDR, the white balance remains at a similar level, but the EOTF curve graph draws attention. At the beginning, the curve noticeably bulges, leading to strong brightening of the darkest scenes. Then, the result sharply drops below the reference line, resulting in an overly dark image and a loss of dynamics in the brighter parts.

In summary, the "Filmmaker" mode, despite its advantages, needs refinement—especially regarding white balance and proper management of brightness in the darkest and brightest parts of the image. In its current form, it may be acceptable for less demanding users, but for viewers expecting precise image reproduction, it may leave much to be desired.

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.

Even with its lower models, Samsung offers advanced image calibration tools, which allow for significant improvement of factory settings. We took on this task, and the results turned out to be more than satisfactory. The white balance, which previously exhibited a strong yellow tint in both SDR and HDR, has been significantly improved. Although minor deviations from the norm can be observed, the overall effect is much cleaner and more natural than before calibration. As a result, whites and skin tones look much better. We were also able to properly model the gamma in SDR content, allowing for maximum contrast that this television can offer. The EOTF curve, responsible for HDR content, has also been improved – the image is no longer brightened or darkened as drastically as it was before calibration. Despite these successes, HDR content still struggles with high deltaE error values. The main reason lies in the limited brightness of the television, which does not allow for a full representation of the dynamics of HDR content. Nonetheless, after calibration, the image is clearly better and much closer to the creators' intent. For users seeking the best possible quality in this class of equipment, calibration is definitely recommended.

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 tonal transition smoothing feature works in two modes – 'off' and 'auto'. Turning it off causes gradation issues, while the 'auto' mode provides smooth transitions, but at the cost of grain effect and details, which are often blurred. Due to these limitations, we do not recommend using this feature, as confirmed by our tests conducted with it turned off.

Scaling lower resolution materials in this model is not impressive. Details are blurry, and the edges of objects may contain artifacts. This limitation means the television performs better with higher resolution content.

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.

Even though Samsung DU7192 is the lowest model in the manufacturer's range, it is equipped with a motion smoothing system. While the functionality of this solution is significantly limited compared to more expensive models, its mere presence makes the TV stand out against the competition in this price bracket. The TV supports a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is sufficient for comfortable viewing of movies and series, but may be inadequate for dynamic content such as sport. In the motion smoothing menu, we find, among other things, a "Vibration Reduction" feature. Unfortunately, its performance leaves much to be desired – regardless of the setting, the image retains the characteristic stutter known from material recorded at 24 frames per second, which means that this feature practically fails to fulfil its purpose.

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.

Samsung DU7192 is equipped with HDMI 2.0 ports, which is expected at this price range. This limitation means there is no support for the full capabilities of the latest generation consoles, such as VRR technology. The TV offers only basic features for gamers – automatic switching to low-latency mode (ALLM), and support for basic HDR for games in HGiG standard. HGiG allows for displaying HDR content in games according to manufacturers' guidelines, however, the limited brightness of the TV does not allow full enjoyment of the effects that this standard offers. Unfortunately, there are no conveniences such as GameBar, which is increasingly common even in cheaper models and significantly facilitates quick adjustment of settings for games. The presence of this feature could significantly enhance the user experience, especially for those who frequently switch display modes.

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.