Sony Bravia 8 (XR80) vs SHARP JP7765E

Sony Bravia 8 performs reasonably well in terms of HDR brightness. A maximum brightness level of 880 nits is satisfactory and allows for well-rendered lighting effects in most scenes. In the tested segments of the films Life of Pi and Sicario 2, the TV presents itself quite well, offering vibrant and detailed images that fully capture the atmosphere of these productions.

However, a greater challenge arises in a scene from the film The Meg, where the screen is entirely very bright. In such situations, the limitations of OLED technology become apparent, as the TV loses brightness, dropping to around 450 nits. Such a drop is less satisfying, especially when the entire scene requires intense lighting. Despite these limitations, Sony Bravia 8 remains a competitive model, offering excellent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 74% coverage of the BT.2020 standard. This results in rich colours and precise details, significantly enhancing the quality of HDR content viewing and making for a pleasurable experience.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly, we were quite surprised at first. The TV is able to achieve over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rare result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, you can get the impression that you are dealing with really good equipment. But unfortunately, we have to return to the issue we mentioned earlier, which is local dimming management. When small, bright spots appear on a dark background (like in test scenes from the films Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it’s clear how poorly the JP7 handles these zones. The TV dims them almost to the maximum, crushing the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability means that in demanding, contrast-rich films, the image on the JP7 unfortunately loses its appeal.

As a consolation, it's worth noting that the panel has the potential to display colours well. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been employed here, which allows the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it technologically relies mainly on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles between manufacturers over what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this terminology to your judgement. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colours in this panel is simply good.

The best factory mode available on the Sony Bravia 8 television is IMAX Enhanced, which provides the most cinematic experience, although it is not set up perfectly. The TV tries to replicate cinema settings as faithfully as possible, however, certain shortcomings are noticeable. Starting with white balance, both for SDR materials and 4K, there is a clear dominance of blue. This makes the picture appear too cold, taking away its naturalness. Tests using Colour Checker show that colours shift towards cooler shades, which may lead to less accurate colour reproduction and makes the image less realistic.

As for brightness and contrast characteristics, gamma shows a significant drop at the end of the graph. This means that dark details may be too dim, while bright elements are too bright, causing them to lose subtlety and become less visible. As can be seen in the sky - in the comparison photo. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve is significantly above the reference value, causing the bright elements of the image to be too intense. As a result, users may perceive the image as unnatural, and bright areas may lose detail, negatively impacting the overall viewing quality.

When it comes to colours straight out of the box, the Sharp JP7 was tested in the Film mode, which traditionally offers the most cohesive image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results still fall short of ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish hue. Another issue was the gamma – in full-screen scenes, the TV produced excessively bright images, completely robbing it of its cinematic character. All of this resulted in colour reproduction errors, especially in shades of grey, which exceeded the Delta E 10 value. To remind you: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed, but not in a better way. Here, the white balance is dominated by blue, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness, reminiscent of aggressive demonstration modes. Moreover, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasise the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the TV generates images that are significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the original content.

The calibration process of the Sony Bravia 8 television has brought significant improvements in image quality. The white balance has been distinctly enhanced, both for SDR content and 4K HDR, with minimal errors in the middle section of the graph. Gamma proved to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the calibration – it has been completely stripped of previous drops, which significantly affected brightness stability and better detail reproduction in dark parts of the image. The EOTF curve has also been levelled out, making bright elements of the image appear more natural, and the overall tonal dynamics are now more balanced.

However, the most attention should be paid to colour reproduction, where despite the calibration, there are still some issues. Sony has omitted the use of a CMS system in this model, which allows for very precise control over colours. Consequently, the Colour Checker test for 4K materials still shows significant errors in colour samples. Despite these difficulties, we recommend carrying out the calibration, as the effects are noticeable and significantly enhance image quality, especially in terms of brightness and contrast.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and honestly... the television gained a second life thanks to it, especially with SDR content (YouTube, traditional television, series, or older films). With our precise adjustments to the white balance and stabilisation of the gamma, colour errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye struggles to perceive discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with truly excellent colour accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the HDR content turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and interventions in the settings, the television simply refused to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any option to effectively control how brightness is managed (EOTF). Although a significant portion of the colour errors has been reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It’s a bit disappointing because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is great, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR you will have to accept a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be bypassed even with professional equipment.

The fluidity of tonal transitions in low-quality materials on the ChooseTV 8 is lacking. Unfortunately, the gentle gradation feature (which was available in previous models) is missing, which is a significant downside. The digital noise reduction function can improve tonal transitions quite well, but it also tends to remove some details, such as clouds in scenes from the film The Martian, which may not appeal to everyone. When it comes to digital processing, the Sony XR80 TV performs quite well. The model in the test scenes is displayed without noticeable errors, and the branches in the background are not overly jagged. This shows that ChooseTV 8 is capable of processing complex image details at low resolution well.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling itself – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the picture remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect, which means no cropped edges. Of course, it's not at the level of top models and at times you can notice slight tearing on the edges, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the actual digital image processing performs much worse, as aside from the scaling, it practically doesn’t exist. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any options that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal hits the panel in a very raw form, which with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube) results in noticeable posterisation. Either this is a programming error or a very strange design decision, because in earlier Sharp models this function was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here, we are stuck with what the source delivers, without any digital support from the image processor.

Sony Bravia 8 offers a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, which lays the groundwork for smooth viewing of dynamic content such as sports and games. As a result, movements are sharp and fluid. For more demanding users, the Sony XR80 television is equipped with an advanced motion smoothing system, which is divided into three segments: Smoothness (Film), Smoothness (Camera), and Clarity. The first two are responsible for adjusting the level of blur and smoothing of the image. The third option, concerning clarity, will be described in more detail below. Each of the parameters can be tailored to personal preferences, allowing users to find the optimal setting suited to their individual needs.

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is quite average, and the reason is simple: the TV uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it hard to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in films with a slider called De-judder. Lower settings give a more raw, “cinematic” (framey) image, while higher ones add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, around 3-5 – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while also getting rid of the annoying image skipping. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually indicates the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it doesn’t actually enhance the image and serves more as a dummy – it looks good in the settings, but technically it shouldn’t work on this panel.

Sony Bravia 8 has significantly improved its compatibility with consoles compared to earlier models. The TV supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing, and is compatible with graphics cards, ensuring smooth visuals. The auto low latency mode (ALLM) reduces input lag, which is crucial in fast-paced games. Dolby Vision with low latency additionally provides impressive HDR effects that look fantastic during gameplay.

The Sony XR80 TV also features a Game Bar, which allows quick access to settings and monitoring parameters while gaming. An interesting option is the ability to enable a virtual crosshair on the screen, which can provide a slight advantage in shooter games.

A downside is the lack of support for 1440p@120hz resolution, which could make gaming easier for users with less powerful graphics cards. Additionally, the Sony XR80 only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is typically used to connect an audio system via eARC, limiting the number of available ports for connecting next-gen consoles.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console still generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find here:

• ALLM mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Player menu: Which is hard to call a fully-fledged “Game Bar,” as the functionality is minimal. Aside from enabling ALLM, there’s only a dedicator for gaming which we advise against as it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when reducing the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another shortcoming is the VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to screen tearing. Very problematic is also the lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to "overshoot" the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in the highlights, we end up with an unnaturally oversaturated image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for those who game very occasionally.