Samsung R95H Micro RGB vs Sony BRAVIA 7 II

In terms of brightness the Samsung R95H shows it’s still a top-tier TV, although the results aren’t always as spectacular as you might expect from a flagship Micro RGB model. In synthetic tests the TV can exceed 2400 nits, so it certainly has plenty of power. Crucially, it can maintain high brightness even when bright elements occupy a larger part of the screen. In real movie scenes the situation is a bit more complex. The R95H typically reaches around 1000 to 1400 nits, which still delivers a very good, punchy HDR effect. Bright sun, specular highlights and lights can look really impressive, and the TV has enough power for HDR to stand out clearly from ordinary SDR.

The problem mainly appears in very dark scenes with single, small light sources. Here the local dimming algorithm prioritises deep blacks and reducing halo over the maximum brightness of such elements. As a result, small lights can be noticeably dimmed. Overall, HDR performs well, but not without limitations. The R95H has huge brightness headroom, especially in larger, brighter parts of the image, but in difficult, dark scenes its capabilities are mainly limited by the way local dimming works.

Colours

Colours were meant to be the biggest revolution from the RGB backlight and indeed the R95H shows considerable potential here. The assessment isn’t as simple as synthetic measurements might suggest. On test patterns the TV performs brilliantly – BT.2020 coverage reaches nearly 94% and DCI-P3 98%, so particularly strongly saturated reds and greens can look really impressive. The picture changes a little when, instead of test patterns, we start measuring real movie scenes. Then BT.2020 coverage drops to about 87% and DCI-P3 to 93%. It seems that with more complex imagery the RGB zones are not always able to maintain the same high colour saturation as on simple patterns. They are still saturated, but the advantage of the new backlight isn’t as large as the manufacturer’s figures might suggest.

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.

To assess factory colour reproduction we chose Filmmaker mode, the setting that should, in theory, be closest to how the creators prepared the image. Unfortunately the R95H does not fully exploit its panel’s capabilities. The biggest issue in SDR is the gamma. The image is noticeably brightened across almost the entire range, which robs it of some depth and makes it look flatter than it should. The white balance is not ideal either — as brightness increases there is a bias toward red and a lack of blue, making the image too warm. You can see this especially on bright elements and skin tones, which can look more reddish than they should. It’s similar in HDR. The EOTF curve sits above the reference value for a large part of the range, so the R95H again brightens the image compared with how it should appear. Combined with an inaccurate white balance, this means colours here are not as precise as we would expect from a TV of this class. The factory Filmmaker setting is therefore not the R95H’s strongest suit. At first glance the picture may look impressive because it is bright and strongly saturated, but in terms of fidelity to the source material there is still plenty of room for improvement.

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.

The R95H responds very well to calibration. In SDR we were able to set the white balance and gamma almost perfectly, and colour errors dropped to a very low level. The difference compared with the factory settings is therefore substantial, and after calibration the picture looks noticeably more natural. In HDR we can also make significant improvements, especially in terms of white balance and overall colour accuracy. The situation is a bit different when it comes to managing brightness and colour saturation. At a certain point we hit limits caused by the way the RGB backlight and local dimming operate. Individual zones have to control both the brightness and the colour of the light at the same time, so in more demanding scenes you can’t always achieve exactly the same saturation and brightness that the TV shows on simple test patterns. Calibration simply can’t entirely overcome that. Even so, after calibration the R95H delivers accurate image reproduction, and most of the errors we saw with the factory settings can be effectively eliminated.

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 Samsung R95H uses the new Micro RGB AI Processor, but in practice we didn’t notice a big leap compared with the NQ4 AI Gen2 or Gen3 chips found in the manufacturer’s other TVs. Upscaling itself still performs very well. The image is properly smoothed while retaining plenty of sharpness and not looking overly soft. That’s definitely one of Samsung’s strong points. It’s a pity that with very low-resolution material you still can’t completely disable overscan.

The processor also handles banding well and can effectively smooth unwanted posterisation. The noise reduction feature works really effectively, but you need to use it with restraint. At higher settings it can start to interfere quite heavily with the picture and even remove natural film grain. So it’s best to use it only when the source is genuinely heavily compressed.

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.

Samsung R95H has a 165Hz panel, so its motion handling is genuinely excellent. At 120Hz, for example when gaming on a console or watching sport, motion blur is minimal, and when you connect a PC you can use the full 165Hz and further improve motion clarity. Bear in mind it's still a VA panel, so it doesn't respond as instantly as OLED. Sometimes you might notice slight ghosting behind a moving object, but from a normal viewing distance it shouldn't be bothersome. For movies and TV shows you can also use the adjustable motion smoothing. You can keep the more cinematic 24 fps look or gradually smooth motion if you prefer a more fluid image. Samsung gives plenty of freedom here, so it's easy to find a setting that suits your preferences.

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.

In terms of gaming the Samsung R95H is almost a complete TV. When you connect a PS5 or Xbox Series X you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, and the TV also works correctly with HGiG. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung, like on its other sets, simply doesn't support. There's also the Game Bar, already known from other Samsung models, which lets you quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or HDR format and change key settings without leaving the game. You can also brighten darker parts of the picture or change the screen aspect ratio.

Samsung also offers Game Motion Plus, a motion-smoothing feature designed specifically for gaming. It makes most sense in titles running at 30 fps, where it can noticeably improve smoothness and make camera movement feel much nicer. You should just remember this comes at the cost of higher input lag (about 60 ms), so it's not the best choice for online or fast-paced games. It's also worth mentioning the Gaming Hub, which lets you run some games directly from the cloud without connecting a console. In terms of gaming features it's hard to find any major omissions on the R95H.

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.