Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Samsung OLED S95H (S99H) (QD-OLED)

Thanks to its new QD-OLED panel, the Sony Bravia 8 II can reach an astronomically high peak brightness of around 2000 nits, which translates to near-reference quality for films and series mastered in HDR. In test material such as Life of Pi or Sicario 2 the effect is simply stunning – detail in bright areas remains perfectly visible, and night scenes impress with depth and contrast. It's not perfect, though. Compared with its fiercest rivals the Bravia 8 II shows a noticeable drop in brightness on full-screen, very bright frames. If you compare peak point luminance with the 100% white level in HDR, the Bravia 8 II can be two to three times dimmer than the LG G5 or Samsung S95F. This was particularly clear in a scene from The Meg – the screen became noticeably darker than the competitors' TVs. Despite this drawback the Bravia 8 II still ranks among the market leaders. Credit is due for the absolutely top-tier coverage of colour gamuts – DCI-P3 at almost 100% and BT.2020 close to 90%. Those are the specs that let HDR content reach its full potential and deliver a cinema-like experience at home.

When it comes to pure brightness, the S99H is an astronomically bright TV. Its peak brightness in film scenes can exceed 2,800 nits. Whatever the scene, you can expect powerful HDR effects that are almost blinding, which is exactly what we want from a top‑tier display. By nature, an OLED panel can't maintain that extreme brightness in very bright, full‑screen frames the way it can with small bright highlights, but the results are still excellent. In a bright scene from The Meg the sun still exceeded 2,200 nits. That means the S99H was able to hold a higher brightness than most Mini LED screens on the market. In terms of brightness the S99H is currently the best OLED TV we've tested.

Colour gamut coverage

The S99H also handles colours exceptionally well, thanks directly to the QD‑OLED panel used here. Whether the test used synthetic test patterns or measurements with film material in the background, the results remained very high. The S99H easily covers almost 100% of the DCI‑P3 gamut, and in the most demanding space, BT.2020 it reaches nearly 90%. That's absolute top‑tier performance. These results match what we saw in the new SQD‑Mini‑LED displays, and in real film scenes they even surpass RGB Mini LED displays.

Straight out of the box, the Bravia 8 II performs very well. In its best IMAX® Enhanced mode the TV renders colours pleasantly and naturally, though "good" here doesn't mean "best in class". The white balance definitely needs adjustment — skin tones tend to lean slightly pinkish to cool, in both SDR and HDR material. We also noticed that the EOTF curve shows a tendency to brighten the darkest parts of the image. This likely stems from the manufacturer's desire to reveal as much detail as possible, even in deep shadow. Is that a good approach? It's hard to say definitively, but one thing's certain: it's not an ideal solution.

Samsung offers a whole host of picture modes and features, but we traditionally recommend choosing FILMMAKER mode, especially if you want the most faithful rendering of the creators' intent. Out of the box the TV is tuned very well, though it has minor flaws. These are mainly a slight deviation in white balance in SDR content and a slightly low gamma. As a result, the picture in a dark room can be a little too bright compared with the reference value of 2.4, which is the standard for watching films with the lights off. These are, of course, small issues, because overall colour reproduction remains very good and the errors in ColorChecker measurements are not large. However, we know that for a screen of the S99H's calibre you can and should expect even more, so we subjected it to professional calibration.

After calibration we were mainly able to eliminate the excessive coolness of the picture caused by an overly strong boost to the blue channel. Reds became deeper and skin tones took on a natural, healthy look. Actors who previously seemed 'cold' now appear much livelier and more convincing on screen. One thing hasn't changed: analysis of the EOTF curve still shows the Bravia 8 II tends to brighten the darkest parts of the image. It's hard to tell whether this is an intentional choice by the manufacturer or an effect of the panel design and software. In practice this means scenes that creators intended to remain in deep shadow can reveal more detail than intended. Despite this, the picture after calibration is clearly better, with warm, natural colours and realistic skin tones making viewing on the Bravia 8 II simply more pleasant to the eye.

After professional calibration, FILMMAKER mode looks practically perfect. Because Samsung offers a rich set of advanced calibration controls, we were able to tune the colours to an almost perfect level. Above all, we managed to even out the white balance and the gamma curve, which resulted in noticeably improved contrast and correct image modelling. In a profile prepared like this there really isn't a single thing to pick apart or call a fault. After calibration, the S99H can deliver an essentially reference-quality picture.

Upscaling and digital image processing are a real showcase for the Bravii 8 II. Sony has long been seen as a master in this area and this only confirms its reputation. The proprietary XR processor can extract almost the maximum from lower-resolution sources – whether it's broadcast TV or an old DVD movie, the picture looks crisper, with more detail and better depth. Of course, if you feed it exceptionally poor-quality material (like our archival shot of the Model), don't expect miracles, but in everyday viewing there's little to complain about.

The smooth gradation function also performs very well. On the "Medium" setting it effectively smooths tonal transitions, removing banding in colour and grey gradients, while not destroying film grain or fine image detail. It's this balance between subtlety and effectiveness that keeps Sony TVs among the best on the market in this category.

Upscaling and digital image processing are handled by Samsung's proprietary NQ4 Gen3 processor. It copes very well with scaling lower-resolution content to 4K. The picture is clear without looking artificial or overly sharp. The only fairly specific drawback appears with very old material recorded at 480p or lower. In such cases the TV can slightly crop the edges of the image.

The processor also does a decent job with artefacts visible in low-bitrate material, for example in heavily compressed YouTube videos. The noise reduction function effectively smooths the picture and reduces posterisation, but it works quite aggressively. It can remove not only unwanted artefacts but also some fine detail, and even natural film grain. We, wanting to preserve maximum fidelity to the source material, chose not to use it. However, if someone values a clean, as-smooth-as-possible image more than keeping every detail, it may prove useful.

Motion handling is essentially sorted on the Bravia 8 II. The OLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate naturally delivers a very clean, sharp picture in fast-moving scenes, so there's little to complain about. What really deserves praise, though, are its motion smoothing systems, among the best on the market. They let you precisely tailor film motion to your preferences, from subtle smoothing to an almost "soap-opera" effect, without the risk of artificial stutter, frame tearing or annoying artefacts. It's one of those features you'll appreciate both during film sessions and when watching sport.

Another major advantage of organic panels is very good motion handling. Thanks to the pixels' near-instant response time, the Samsung S99H shows virtually no smearing. Fast-moving objects don't produce visible halos or trailing artefacts, so the TV performs very well for both sport and gaming. One quirk of OLED screens compared with LCD is the way they render low-frame-rate material. With very slow camera movement the picture can appear noticeably more juddery. This can be quite effectively mitigated using frame interpolation. Samsung lets you adjust judder reduction and motion blur reduction separately, so it's easy to find a compromise between a smoother picture and preserving the cinematic feel of the content.

Sony has really done its homework and with the Bravia 8 II put together a package of features for gamers that’s hard to call anything other than 'almost perfect'. It has everything you expect in gear of this class – VRR, ALLM, a Dolby Vision Gaming mode, HGiG, and even a handy Game Bar that lets you quickly check parameters and change settings without leaving the game. It’s also a plus how smoothly and hassle-free these features run, with no latency and no odd stutters. You just fire up a game and everything looks as it should. Unfortunately, there are a few caveats. The maker still gives us only two full-bandwidth HDMI ports, so if you have a console, a PC and another device, for example a soundbar on eARC, you end up having to swap cables. It’s also surprising there’s no support for 1440p at 120 Hz, which is particularly important for Xbox gamers. Overall though, it’s one of those TVs you can confidently put at the centre of your gaming living room and enjoy gameplay without major compromises.

Samsung S99H is also a top TV for gamers. It offers almost every possible and useful feature... well, perhaps except the obvious lack of Dolby Vision for the Xbox console. It’s equipped with four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with the full 48 Gbps bandwidth. That makes it easy to use frame-rate synchronization VRR or automatic low-latency mode (ALLM). This year Samsung also has no issues with proper HGiG support, so HDR setup on a console is quick and free of unnecessary complications. Samsung is also known for interesting extras in its TVs. In the Game Bar menu you’ll find options to add an on-screen crosshair, enlarge the minimap, or change the aspect ratio of the displayed image (PC).

Particularly noteworthy is Samsung’s feature: Game Motion Plus. It’s Samsung’s proprietary motion-smoothing system that uses interpolation to boost smoothness in games. Input lag then rises to around 40 to 50 ms (depending on the strength of the setting), which, compared with the competition, is an excellent result. The system makes gameplay noticeably smoother. So if someone has their eye on a demanding game (e.g. GTA 6 😉) that runs on a console at only 30 fps, the S99H can display it much more smoothly than competing models.