Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Samsung S85H

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.

Interestingly, the new WOLED SE panel has brought a slight improvement in brightness to the S85 lineup. In the same film scenes last year’s model sat closer to about 700 nits, while the S85H can reach roughly 800 nits. That’s not a change that completely transforms the HDR experience, but the extra headroom is noticeable, especially with point highlights, reflections or stronger special effects. Around 800 nits is a very good result for an entry-level OLED and in most films it’s enough for HDR to have the necessary punch. Bright elements can clearly stand out against perfect blacks, and that contrast is still doing most of the work here. However, you need to remember the typical limitation of OLED technology. When a very bright scene covers a large portion of the screen, brightness can drop to almost half. This is the result of panel protections that limit its output with large bright areas.

Colours

The S85H can deliver very pleasant, saturated colours and in most HDR films it looks really good in that regard. We measured around 95% coverage of DCI-P3, so the palette most commonly used in films is reproduced to a very high degree. Skin tones, greens and stronger reds still have appropriate intensity and under normal viewing it’s hard to have major complaints. Only when you look more broadly at BT.2020 do the limitations of the new WOLED SE panel become apparent. Coverage was about 70%, a bit less than WOLEDs of the previous generation and noticeably less than QD-OLED panels. In films this isn’t a big loss, since most productions rarely use such heavily saturated colours. You’re more likely to notice it in games, where developers more often opt for more intense colours.

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.

To evaluate colours we of course used Filmmaker mode, and in SDR our S85H unit was set very well from the factory. The largest deviation appears in the white balance, where as brightness increases it starts to lose a bit of blue. In practice this means whites and greys have a slightly warmer tint than they should. However, it's not a big fault and during normal viewing it generally isn't very noticeable. Gamma also stays close to the reference value, so the picture is neither overly bright nor unnecessarily dim. The S85H's SDR picture therefore looks really good straight out of the box. A few more imperfections appear in HDR. Here the white balance shifts more with rising brightness, with blue starting to dominate and the red component clearly lacking. This also results in larger errors in some colours. These aren't yet colour errors that completely change the character of the picture, but in direct comparison with the reference the difference is easier to spot. Overall, Filmmaker mode is a very good starting point before 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.

Calibration delivers really good results on the S85H. First and foremost, we were able to set the white balance almost perfectly, which removes the slightly too-warm picture tone previously seen in SDR. Colour reproduction also improves significantly, with most errors falling to very low levels, and in everyday viewing it's hard to find any visible inaccuracies. You can also improve HDR quite a bit, although some issues remain that stem from the TV's inherent characteristics. The S85H doesn't always hold the luminance curve perfectly. The darkest parts are slightly boosted, while, as you approach the panel's limits, you can see small deviations in the brightest highlights. Add to that the limited coverage of the wider BT.2020 colour gamut, which of course cannot be overcome by any calibration. Despite that, the end result is very good, and after calibration the S85H can deliver a really well-tuned, natural image.

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.

Samsung's S85H uses the same proprietary AI processor, AI NQ4 Gen2, as last year’s S85F, and in terms of digital image processing it performs quite well. Upscaling is one of the model's stronger points. Lower-resolution material is well sharpened, edges look natural and the picture doesn't come across as overly artificial. Just remember a common quirk of Samsung TVs: at very low resolutions you can't completely turn off overscan, so the TV may slightly crop the left edge of the picture. The "noise reduction" function, that is smoothing weaker tonal transitions, also works very well. The processor can effectively remove posterisation and other artefacts visible in lower-quality material. However, be careful with the strength of this function, because Samsung can be fairly aggressive here. When it's activated, along with unwanted artefacts, fine details such as skin or clothing texture also start to disappear.

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.

The S85H uses an OLED panel, so it performs brilliantly when it comes to motion blur. Pixels respond almost instantly, so moving objects don't produce the characteristic ghosting seen on some LCD TVs. This is especially noticeable with sport or fast-paced games, where the picture stays very clean even during rapid motion. The panel itself runs at 120 Hz. That's more than enough for movies, TV shows, sport or console gaming. It's a shame Samsung didn't include a higher refresh rate aimed at PC gamers, as more and more TVs now offer 144 or even 165 Hz at 4K. However, that doesn't affect motion handling in films or sport.

There's also the classic motion smoothing feature with two settings: blur reduction and judder reduction. So you can choose whether films should keep their cinematic 24 frames per second, or whether you'd prefer to smooth them a bit. The S85H gives plenty of freedom here, and the interpolation itself works well and, with sensible settings, doesn't generate too many artefacts.

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 S85H is very well prepared for gaming, essentially regardless of whether you connect a console or a computer. The manufacturer didn’t skimp on connectors and all four HDMI ports support full HDMI 2.1. That means you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM without worrying which input to plug your console into. With multiple devices that matters a lot, since you don’t have to choose between a console, a PC or a soundbar connected via eARC. The feature set itself is very complete. The S85H supports VRR, FreeSync and automatic switching to Game Mode, and Samsung also offers its expanded Game Bar, which lets you quickly view the key signal parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only real omission is Dolby Vision, which will matter mainly for Xbox owners. That’s a typical trait of Samsung TVs. Game Motion Plus performs very well and it’s one of the features that has set Samsung TVs apart for years. It smooths motion in games running at 30 or 60 fps, but does so without as large an increase in input lag as a classic motion interpolator. In practice, for slower-paced games, racing or action titles it can genuinely improve motion perception, especially if you’re sensitive to low frame rates.