Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Samsung QN80H

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.

The Samsung QN80H is undoubtedly a bright TV. In synthetic tests it exceeds the 1000‑nit mark, which on paper already promises a solid HDR effect. In practice the screen really shows its stuff, although it can't always fully spread its wings (or its backlight 🤔). The best impression comes from bright, wide shots. Sunlit landscapes or heavily lit scenes look really good on it. Brightness then sits around 700 nits, which delivers a noticeable step up compared with standard SDR. Problems start in dark scenes with small, pinpoint highlights. The QN80H tends to dim those aggressively to protect black depth at all costs. On one hand you get better contrast, on the other... you lose dynamics and the sparkle of fine HDR detail. The TV therefore has plenty of potential, but the local‑dimming algorithm can be too restrictive.

Colour‑gamut coverage

Colour-wise it’s also good. The QN80H uses quantum‑dot technology, and in our measurements it covered 93% of the DCI‑P3 colour space and about 70% of BT.2020. Those results won't drop anyone's jaw today, but in real‑world use they’re more than enough to deliver a vivid and natural picture for most films and series. Colours are suitably saturated and, after proper tuning, they don't look artificial or overly aggressive.

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.

The QN80H’s factory settings performed really well, especially compared with most TVs that come through our tests. Of course we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, and that’s the mode we recommend switching on right after the initial setup. For SDR content our sample was set up surprisingly well. The white balance was very even, colours looked natural, and errors were so small they were hard to spot without test equipment. The only weaker point was the gamma. In brighter parts of the picture the TV brightened them a little too much, so the image sometimes lost some depth. Even so, we wish most TVs looked this good straight out of the box.

It was a bit worse in HDR. The white balance was still set correctly, so the issue wasn’t colour but the way the QN80H managed image brightness. You could see that straight away on the EOTF chart. The TV brightened large parts of scenes too much, causing the brightest elements to blow out. Interestingly, very small highlights were often dimmed too much at the same time. As a result some fine details simply disappeared. The factory Filmmaker mode in HDR isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not as well tuned as it is in SDR.

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.

The biggest difference after calibration was in HDR Filmmaker mode. SDR was already very good out of the box, so we didn't have much work to do there. In HDR, however, we were able to rein in how the QN80H handled brightness; it had been making most scenes too bright. After calibration the picture is calmer, more natural and much closer to a faithful reproduction.

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.

The digital image processing in the Samsung QN80H is handled by the second-generation NQ4 AI processor. It's a chip we've already seen in previous Samsung models and it still performs very well, especially with lower-resolution content. The image is effectively upscaled to 4K, but without excessive sharpening and without making it feel like the TV is trying to forcibly enhance the source material.

The "Noise Reduction" feature also proves useful. It can noticeably reduce posterisation and visible banding in lower-quality material, especially in low-bitrate streaming. However, you should remember it doesn't work without side effects. It can remove some film grain and slightly smooth the picture. So with a good-quality source we'd leave this feature turned off. If, however, banding and uneven tonal transitions bother you more than the loss of some grain, "Noise Reduction" can be a really useful addition.

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.

Motion blur and motion handling on the QN80H are really good, mainly thanks to the fast panel. In 4K the screen refreshes the image at up to 144 Hz, and when switched to Full HD and connected to a PC it can reach up to 240 Hz. That's new for Samsung TVs and a handy extra for people who want to use the TV for PC gaming. We were more interested, though, in how the QN80H performs at 120 Hz, because consoles use that refresh rate. It does very well. The panel doesn't suffer much from the smearing typical of VA panels; faint trails behind moving objects are mostly visible on dark backgrounds. That's not something that would interfere with normal sports watching or gaming. The TV also has a motion smoothing system that Samsung calls "Picture Clarity". You can set judder reduction and blur reduction separately, so it's easy to tune it for films, sport or your own preferences.

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.

The Samsung QN80H is a TV that performs very strongly when it comes to gamer-focused features. The biggest new feature for 2026 is DLG mode, which allows refresh rates up to 240 Hz when the image is switched to Full HD. It's an option aimed mainly at PC users, but it also shows that Samsung is still investing heavily in the gaming side of its TVs. The list of advantages doesn't end there. The QN80H has four full HDMI 2.1 ports, which at this price point still isn't standard. So you can connect multiple consoles, a PC or a soundbar at once and not worry about which port supports the full video capabilities. The TV also supports VRR, ALLM and HGiG, so it's hard to fault its basic feature set.

A downside is the lack of Dolby Vision, which could matter especially for Xbox Series X owners. However, this isn't a flaw that rules the QN80H out as a gaming TV. Samsung does have a feature that most manufacturers still lack, namely its proprietary motion smoothing, Game Motion Plus. This motion smoother also works in game mode, improving the smoothness of titles running at 30 or 60 frames per second without a drastic increase in input lag. In practice, Game Motion Plus can make a much bigger difference than Dolby's codec, especially in more demanding games that don't offer a 60 fps mode. The image becomes noticeably smoother, while controls remain sufficiently responsive. So despite the lack of Dolby Vision, the QN80H is still one of the best-equipped gaming TVs in its class.