Sharp GP7 vs Sony BRAVIA 2 II (S25M2)

In terms of HDR, Sharp GP7 can surprise us pleasantly. The maximum brightness of around 500 nits is the threshold at which the real advantages of high dynamic range begin to be visible. During our tests, we achieved stable values between 430 and 500 nits, which translated to a clearer distinction of elements in both bright and slightly darker scenes. Additionally, it has a DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage of about 95%, allowing for vibrant, visually pleasing colours. Of course, it isn't top-tier, but for this price range – a big plus.

Sony Bravia 2 II isn't a particularly bright TV and unfortunately that's immediately obvious in HDR. In our measurements brightness stayed around 300 to 330 nits, which is far too low for the brightest parts of the image to look truly impactful. In practice HDR here doesn't differ that much from regular SDR. Bright highlights, the sun or lamps are of course visible, but they lack the intensity you'd expect from HDR content. The Bravia 2 II is therefore much better suited to standard SDR material, where its limited brightness will be least noticeable.

Colour gamut coverage

The Sony Bravia 2 II also doesn't impress when it comes to colour. The TV doesn't use any extra gamut-expanding filter, such as the quantum dots found in QLED sets or a PFS phosphor layer. In our measurements it covered about 78% of the DCI-P3 gamut and roughly 57% of the very wide BT.2020. That's definitely too little to deliver truly saturated colours in HDR material. More intense reds, greens or turquoises will simply be less striking than on TVs with an expanded colour gamut. The Bravia 2 II is much better matched to the standard Rec.709 gamut used for films, series and SDR broadcast.

Out of the box, in movie mode, GP7 doesn't fare badly at all. In HD materials, we noticed slight disturbances in white balance - drops in red and blue that made the image take on a somewhat greenish hue. This is noticeable, for instance, on the faces of characters, which become less lifelike. The gamma is slightly brighter in places, resulting in less deep blacks. In 4K HDR content, a cooler, bluish tone also emerges, making the colours appear less natural. On the other hand, looking at it from a "straight out of the box" perspective, these settings aren't bad - a few minor adjustments will suffice, and with the help of special tools, we will try to improve them.

The out-of-the-box colour reproduction in Kino mode was really quite good, at least for ordinary SDR material. The Bravia 2 II had a slight tendency to boost reds, which made some colours lean a bit warmer, at times with a faint pinkish tint. That wasn't a major fault and during normal viewing the picture still looked fairly natural. There was a bit more going on with image brightness. Looking at the gamma curve, Sony doesn't stick perfectly to the reference value. The darkest areas are slightly lifted, while as brightness increases the gamma gradually rises and a large part of the image becomes darker than it should. However, the difference isn't big enough to seriously bother during everyday watching. Overall, SDR straight out of the box performs quite decently.

The situation is much worse in HDR. We've already mentioned the limited colour gamut, but on top of that the Bravia 2 II quite aggressively manipulates image brightness. The EOTF curve sits below the reference for much of the range, which means the TV renders most mid and brighter parts of the scene darker than the source material intends. Only towards the very end of the range does the curve flatten out, as the panel reaches the limits of its capabilities. Combined with a peak brightness of around 300 nits, this gives HDR that not only lacks much punch but can simply look too dark.

Calibration really makes a difference in Sharp GP7. After making adjustments, we achieved a better white balance in HD content, and the colours started to look much more natural, with minimal deviations and no clear dominance of individual hues. In 4K HDR, the change isn't as spectacular, but it's still noticeable. The gamma has been brought to a more neutral level, although a slight boost in the brightest details on the screen is still evident. The inability to control dynamic tone mapping limits our manoeuvrability, but nonetheless, this is a significant step forward compared to the factory settings.

Calibration did a lot for the Bravia 2 II, especially with SDR content. Above all, we managed to even out the white balance and tidy up the gamma, which now stays much closer to the reference value. As a result, the image no longer has the earlier pink cast, and the brightness across different areas is much better organised. You can also see it in the colour errors, which after calibration dropped to a very low level (with only minor issues in the most saturated reds).

We also partly managed to rein in the Bravia 2 II in HDR, especially in the way the TV handles image brightness. However, there is one thing no calibration can fix: the panel's capabilities. A narrow colour gamut means the TV physically can't reproduce the most saturated colours recorded in HDR content. On top of that, the low contrast of the IPS panel causes darker scenes to be covered in a grey haze, which robs colours of some of their depth. So we can improve how the Bravia 2 II uses its capabilities, but we can't overcome the panel's inherent limitations.

The TV can scale lower quality content quite well. Our test patterns were well reproduced, and although there was minimal banding with fine, delicate shapes (such as thin branches), it still looked satisfactory. Additionally, Sharp GP7 offers a “10-bit colour reproduction” feature to smooth tonal transitions in poor quality materials. It is useful, but at the cost of some details, so we recommend turning it on only when we're really watching something of poor quality.

Upscaling on the Bravia 2 II performs quite well and the TV maintains the standard we've come to expect from Sony. Lower-resolution material is sensibly upscaled to 4K, and the image is slightly smoothed without excessive edge sharpening. It's less successful at dealing with content that shows visible compression artefacts. That's down to the "Digital Noise Reduction" function, which on the "High" setting can smooth some ugly banding. The problem is it does so quite aggressively and, along with the imperfections, removes a lot of fine detail, including natural film grain. What's more, when there's more motion on screen its effectiveness drops considerably and the improvement is minimal. For that reason we generally didn't use this feature for everyday viewing.

With a 60 Hz panel and average response time, it's hard to expect miraculous smoothness. In dynamic tests, like the one with the “little green man”, it’s clear that the picture can blur and occasionally lose sharpness. For watching movies and series, this is acceptable, especially since you can use the motion smoother with three levels of adjustment. However, if we care about ultra-smooth sports broadcasts or super-responsive gameplay, we might feel a bit dissatisfied.

Bravia 2 II uses a 60 Hz panel and, for what it is, handles motion quite well. However, bear in mind it’s an entry-level panel and its limitations are especially noticeable with sports. The TV can’t interpolate 50/60 fps material to a higher refresh rate, so it can’t further improve the sharpness of fast-moving objects. For films and series there’s a conventional motion-smoothing feature that can reduce the judder typical of 24 fps material.

Let's not kid ourselves – GP7 Sharp is not a television for the most demanding console gamers. Yes, we have ALLM, which automatically switches the TV to low latency mode, but it lacks VRR or G-Sync. We also won't find any advanced menu to help adjust settings during gameplay. Dolby Vision in games? It's there, but with such a large input lag that it's hard to talk about comfort. If we play occasionally and don't aim for the highest standards, it can be managed, but tech enthusiasts will face disappointment.

The Bravia 2 II isn’t a TV that’s particularly suited to gaming, and the feature list makes that clear pretty quickly. You basically only get automatic low-latency ALLM and a simple Game Bar where you can view basic signal info and change a few settings. That’s where the positives end. The TV doesn’t support VRR or 120 Hz (not even at lower resolutions) and on top of that it has problems correctly implementing HDR HGIG. It’s fine for occasional console play and, thanks to low input lag, the controls remain responsive, but if you’re after a TV primarily for gaming the Bravia 2 II is a significantly limited choice.