BRAVIA 3 II / XR35M2
Available screen sizes:
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Panel type: LCD VA Refresh rate: 120Hz Brand: SONY Resolution: 3840x2160 System: Google TV Model year: 2026
The Sony Bravia 3 II is an updated version of the Bravia 3 from 2025. The biggest change is a 120 Hz panel, so it's immediately clear Sony wanted to target gamers more directly, especially PlayStation 5 owners. We checked what else has been improved and whether the Bravia 3 II is actually a more interesting choice than its predecessor.
7.0
Overall rating
The Sony Bravia 3 II is a TV where you can quickly see what the manufacturer had in mind for this model. It’s meant above all to be a sensible Bravia for gaming, and in that respect the changes are quite significant. Sony has finally fixed one of the biggest headaches of its TVs, namely having only two full HDMI 2.1 ports. This one has four, and that alone makes the Bravia 3 II a much more convenient choice for anyone who wants to connect a lot of gaming gear. Fortunately it’s not limited to gaming. The 120 Hz panel performs very well for motion, motion blur is minimal, and the motion-enhancing systems work surprisingly effectively, at times even better than on Sony’s top sets. That makes sport another use case where the Bravia 3 II feels right at home. Add Google TV with its full suite of apps and features, and in terms of everyday use it’s just the Sony we’ve known for years.
The biggest problem with this model, however, isn’t the TV itself but its current price. The Bravia 3 II is today dangerously close in price to the Bravia 5, and when the extra cost for the higher model is just a few percent, choosing the lower series starts to make less sense. The Bravia 5 already offers a full Mini-LED backlight with local dimming, which is exactly what the Bravia 3 II most lacks for evening viewing and HDR. That’s why we look at this model mainly through the lens of price. The Bravia 3 II itself is a very successful lower-mid-range TV and, at the right price, could easily be one of the more interesting choices for a gamer or sports fan. However, if the gap to the Bravia 5 remains small, it will be hard to recommend it wholeheartedly.
Very good motion clarity and exceptionally low motion blur for a 120Hz LCD TV
Finally, 4 × HDMI 2.1 48 Gb/s!
Lots of gaming features: VRR, ALLM, low input lag
Wide colour gamut: QLED (PFS)
Dolby Vision support
Google TV with a wide range of apps and features
Broad audio format support: Dolby Atmos and DTS
Record programmes to USB
Two remotes included
High price for what it offers; for only a little more you can buy the much better BRAVIA 5 model
No local dimming
No proper HGiG support
Average processing of lower-quality source material
Movies and series in UHD quality
6.5
Classic TV, YouTube
6.3
Sports broadcasts (TV and apps)
6.7
Gaming on console
8.1
TV as a computer monitor
7.2
Watching in bright light
5.8
Utility functions
7.9
Apps
9.6
Sound quality
6.8
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HDMI inputs: 0 x HDMI 2.0, 4 x HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) Outputs: Toslink (Optical audio), eARC (HDMI), ARC (HDMI) Network Interfaces: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Ethernet (LAN) 100Mbps
Build quality: Good
Stand type: Legs
Bezel color: Graphite
Stand: Base adjustment
Flat design: No
Accessories: Two remote controls, Stand
Bravia 3 II doesn't try to pass as a top end model, but it's hard to complain about its build quality. The housing combines plastic and metal elements, everything is well put together, and from the front the TV looks neat and fairly modern. The bezels around the screen are relatively narrow, so at first glance you can't really tell it's a budget set. The back reveals more. The cabinet is fairly thick, especially where the electronics are located, so when wall mounted the screen will protrude from the wall a bit more. The TV comes with plastic feet with adjustable spacing, which can be handy with a narrower entertainment unit. Of course the Bravia 3 II also supports the VESA mounting standard, so you can mount it on the wall regardless of size.
Select size:
5.6/10
Local dimming function: No
Result
3,050:1
Result
4,650:1
Result
5,850:1
Result
6,400:1
Result
4,350:1
Bravia 3 II uses a VA panel, a solution that by nature delivers significantly better contrast than IPS or ADS panels. In our unit the native contrast ratio was around 5000:1 and, for a TV without local dimming, that's a pretty good result. In practice that means in a lightly lit room blacks can look genuinely decent. Dark parts of the image do not immediately go grey, and night scenes have noticeably more depth than on many TVs with IPS panels. The poorer black performance becomes visible, however, when you turn the lights off. The Bravia 3 II does not have local dimming, so the entire backlight operates in a similar way regardless of what is happening in a given area of the image. In a dark room it is easy to notice that black is no longer truly black but starts to shift towards a dark navy. It is not a level that severely spoils the film, but during an evening viewing the difference compared with Mini-LED, and even more so with an OLED TV, becomes very clear.
5.3/10
Supported formats: HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG
Luminance measurements in HDR:
Result
408 nit
Result
430 nit
Result
449 nit
Result
457 nit
Result
455 nit
The Bravia 3 II isn't exactly a TV that tries to impress with brightness. In our measurements it reached around 450 nits, so it's well short of the brightest models on the market. That doesn't mean HDR is just a paper feature here. Compared with standard SDR material, the brightest parts of the image can already punch through noticeably, and highlights, light sources and stronger exposures have a bit more energy and stand out better from the rest of the scene. You can see this best in simpler shots where the screen contains lots of bright elements. Then the Bravia 3 II can give a taste of a higher-dynamic-range picture. The problem only starts with more demanding content, where much greater brightness headroom is needed. There the TV quickly shows its limits and instead of bold, spectacular HDR we’re left with a merely competent picture.
The Bravia 3 II uses a QLED panel, although technically it doesn't employ a traditional quantum-dot layer. Instead Sony has used a PFS phosphor-based solution, which performs a very similar role: it allows for more saturated reds and greens, and thus reproduces a much wider colour gamut. In our measurements coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut was about 94%, and of the very wide BT.2020 around 74.4%. Those are good results for this class of hardware, which means the Bravia 3 II has no problem showing suitably saturated colours in HDR material. Colours don't look washed out, and the more intense hues can look really attractive.
BT.2020 color gamut coverage and primary color luminance
| Data set | BT.2020 | P3 | R | G | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic patterns | 74.4% | 94.2% | 57% | 62% | 66% |
| Film measurements | 74.4% | 94.2% | 57% | 62% | 66% |
BT.2020 and P3 – average color gamut coverage (percent of the target gamut).
R, G, B – average primary color luminance relative to target (percent).
Scene from the movie “Pan” (about 2800 nits)
Scene from the movie “Billy Lynn” (about 1100 nits)
Although the Bravia 3 II is not a particularly bright TV, HDR material can look surprisingly good on it. It performs best with content graded for lower peak brightness, like the typical HDR releases on streaming platforms usually mastered to around 1000 nits. With that sort of material the TV maintains fairly good fidelity to the reference image, and the brightest parts of scenes are rendered in a controlled way without major loss of detail (for example, fireworks). Of course, some limitations can't be completely hidden. In some shots the picture can be a touch too dark, and the lack of local dimming means contrast isn't as punchy as on pricier models. Even so, the overall result remains attractive. HDR material mastered to 4000 nits, which clearly exceeds the Bravia 3 II's capabilities, is interesting too. Here the TV has to compress the brightest areas more aggressively and sometimes you can see it can't reproduce all the fine highlight detail. For a TV with this level of brightness and no local dimming, the tone mapping still works quite well. We expected bigger compromises, but Sony does a pretty good job of keeping the image looking natural and not completely losing its dynamism.
HDR luminance chart:
To, co widzieliśmy wcześniej przy mapowaniu tonów, w dużej mierze wynika z całkiem sprawnie działających algorytmów Bravii 3 II. Nawet przy zwykłym HDR10, a więc bez dynamicznych metadanych, telewizor potrafi odzyskać sporą część detali w najjaśniejszych fragmentach obrazu i nie dopuszcza do szybkiego przepalania świateł. Dopiero bezpośrednie porównanie z Dolby Vision pokazuje, że można wyciągnąć z tego ekranu jeszcze trochę więcej. Dynamiczne metadane pomagają lepiej dopasować sposób wyświetlania HDR do konkretnej sceny, dzięki czemu w najjaśniejszych partiach obrazu pojawia się nieco więcej szczegółów, a całość jest lepiej uporządkowana. Różnica nie jest jednak ogromna, co akurat dobrze świadczy o tym, jak Bravia 3 II radzi sobie ze zwykłym HDR10. Dolby Vision daje przewagę, ale nie jest to aż tak duża różnica, którą często widujemy w telewizorach o podobnym charakterze.
Static HDR10
Dynamic: Dolby Vision
6.3/10
In Professional mode the Bravia 3 II delivers a fairly good level of colour reproduction straight out of the box. In SDR the most noticeable issue is a slightly low gamma, which makes the midtones a little brighter. The white balance isn't perfect either; as brightness increases a bit of blue and red drops away, so whites can sometimes appear a touch warmer with a faint greenish tint. These aren't mistakes that immediately jump out when watching a film. Average error values hover around 3, so the factory setup can be considered quite good. The situation in HDR is similar. Here too there's a slight lack of blue, so the picture is marginally warmer than the reference, but the difference isn't large enough to be distracting during normal viewing.
8/10
After calibration you can get a lot out of SDR material. The white balance was set almost perfectly, gamma practically matches the reference value, and average colour errors fell from around 3 to about 1. That’s already the level at which differences from the reference image are very hard to spot in practice. The Bravia 3 II therefore shows that despite its place in Sony’s range it has quite a bit of potential for precise picture tuning. Improvement is also visible in HDR, although here you can’t avoid all the limitations of the TV itself. Once the colours are evened out it’s easier to notice that the EOTF curve in film material runs slightly below the reference value in places, meaning the Bravia 3 II gently darkens parts of the image. That isn’t ideal from a reference point of view, but in this particular TV it also has an advantage. With no local dimming and average black levels this behaviour slightly reduces the visibility of the backlight in darker scenes and helps preserve a stronger sense of contrast. You could say Sony is partly masking the limitations of the panel this way, rather than trying at all costs to stick to the reference brightness.
9.5/10
In terms of the smoothness of tonal transitions, the Bravia 3 II performs very well. In most of the scenes we watched it was hard to notice any problems with the blending of individual shades. Gradients remain smooth both in the bright parts of the image, such as skies or sunsets, and in much more challenging dark shots. The only thing that may stand out in our photos, particularly in the very darkest scenes, is the unevenness of the backlight itself. However, this is not related to colour gradation; it is rather a consequence of using a backlight without local dimming.
6/10
Smooth transition function
Image without overscan on the SD signal
Bravia 3 II is Sony's first TV to use the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip, and you can see a few changes in the image processing. Starting with the basics: the upscaling itself is decent. The TV can sensibly upscale lower-resolution material and doesn't have a strong tendency to over‑emphasise jagged edges or other source imperfections. With regular broadcast TV or lower-quality streaming material the picture therefore remains quite attractive.
We have more reservations about the digital image processing. In this model Sony has replaced the well-known "Smooth Gradation" function with a new setting called "Digital Noise Reduction". Its job is basically the same: to smooth out ugly tonal transitions and artifacts caused by heavy compression. Unfortunately, this function performs noticeably worse than before. At the "Large" setting (the only one that had any visible effect) the TV can smooth away too many image elements at once, which causes film grain to disappear and object textures or even skin to start looking unnatural. Worse still, the effect is not particularly stable. When there's more motion in a scene, the function's effect noticeably weakens and at times it looks as if the TV stops intervening in the image altogether. So for everyday viewing we wouldn't recommend using it at a high level. It can help on static shots, but the trade-off is often too much loss of detail.
8.2/10
Maximum refresh rate of the panel: 120Hz
Film motion smoothing option: Yes
Blur reduction option: Yes
BFI function 60Hz: Yes, 120Hz (double contours)
BFI function 120Hz: Yes, 240Hz (double contours)
Brightness drop with BFI: 25%
Motion handling is definitely one of the Bravia 3 II's strongest points. The TV uses a 120 Hz VA panel, a solution that by nature, despite the high refresh rate, doesn't always cope well with motion blur. Sony has, however, managed that issue very well here. Fast-moving objects remain sharp, and the characteristic motion trails and blur are reduced to a very low level, if not to zero. It's one of the least motion-blur-prone LCD TVs we've had the chance to test. Interestingly, in this respect the Bravia 3 II can even outperform the much more expensive flagship True RGB series, the Bravia 9 II.
Blur (native resolution, maximum refresh rate):
Blur (BFI function enabled):
The "Purity" feature, which uses black frame insertion (BFI), also works very well. When set to its maximum level, moving images become noticeably sharper, but importantly this doesn't come with as large a drop in brightness as on many other TVs. There's also no severe contour doubling or any flicker. That's a big plus for Sony. The panel itself doesn't look exceptional on paper, but the way the TV handles motion certainly is. If you watch a lot of sport or simply care about the sharpness of moving objects, the Bravia 3 II performs superbly in this regard.
8.1/10
The Sony Bravia 3 II is a very good TV for gamers, although not everything has been solved the way we’d like. The biggest change concerns the connectors. For the first time in a Sony TV we get four full HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gb/s bandwidth, thanks to the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset. That removes one of the problems that has hung over this manufacturer’s TVs for years. You can connect several devices at once and on each input use the device’s full capabilities, including VRR and ALLM. There’s also a simple Game Bar that lets you check the key signal parameters and change a few useful settings, such as black level, when you want to improve visibility in darker parts of a game.
There are, however, two limitations worth knowing. The first is the lack of support for 1440p at 120 Hz. That won’t be an issue for everyone, but people using that resolution on a console or PC—for example to get higher frame rates in certain games—will have to choose 1080p. We have more reservations about HGiG support. Sony doesn’t let you disable tone mapping on the Bravia 3 II, so the TV keeps processing HDR even when you’d prefer to leave that task to the console. It’s easiest to spot during HDR setup—the checkerboard test pattern doesn’t disappear at the point where it should based on the TV’s actual capabilities. That doesn’t mean HDR in games will look bad. You just need to set up a little differently and, rather than relying on the pattern, manually set the peak brightness to about 450 nits. So the issue can be worked around, but you should know about it before you start configuring your console.
9.9/10
In terms of input lag, the Bravia 3 II performs very well. With a 120 Hz signal latency is about 8 ms, while at 60 Hz it rises to around 14 ms, so in both cases the response to controls is very quick and during normal gameplay you’d be unlikely to notice any delay. It’s also worth noting the TV’s behaviour in Dolby Vision Gaming mode on Xbox. Input lag then remains practically just as low, and until recently Sony used to have a noticeable problem with this.
| SDR | HDR | Dolby Vision |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p60: 14 ms | 2160p60: 14 ms | 2160p60 DV: 14 ms |
| 1080p120: 8 ms | 2160p120: 8 ms | 2160p120 DV: 8 ms |
| 2160p60: 14 ms | ||
| 2160p120: 8 ms |
7.2/10
Chroma 444 (max. resolution and refresh rate): Yes
Font clarity: Good
Readability of dark text and shapes: Average
Input lag in PC mode (4K, max. refresh rate): 8ms
Matrix subpixel arrangement: BGR
Max refresh rate: 120Hz
G-Sync: Yes
Working with a computer is generally good, although, again, not without a few caveats. The Bravia 3 II correctly handles chroma 4:4:4, so in typical use text and the system interface look sharp and legible. However, grey fonts can draw attention, since their vertical edges may be noticeably brighter than the horizontal ones. On the larger screen this isn't particularly bothersome, but if someone is considering the smaller Bravia 3 II as a monitor for text work, it's worth keeping in mind.
What bothers us more, though, is the lack of additional modes with increased refresh rates. It's not even about 144 or 165 Hz at 4K, but rather the option to get higher smoothness at Full HD. This solution is increasingly appearing in rival TVs (DLG 240Hz), while Sony still does not offer it, even in its pricier models. For most users, 4K at 120 Hz will of course be perfectly sufficient, especially for consoles. But those who also use the TV as a PC gaming monitor may feel somewhat disappointed.
3.3/10
Brightness drop at an angle of 45 degrees: 72%
Viewing angles are fairly typical for a VA panel, meaning simply average and, for some, probably poor. The Bravia 3 II looks best when you're sitting directly in front of the screen. As you move to the side, colours start to lose saturation and blacks become greyer. That's unfortunately the price we pay for this panel's high native contrast. Watching with two or three people shouldn't be much of an issue, but with a wide sofa those sitting at the ends will notice a clearly worse image.
5.8/10
Panel finish: Satin
Reflection suppression: Decent
Black levels during daytime: Good
During the day the Bravia 3 II performs quite well, although a lot depends on where you place the TV. The satin finish handles reflections reasonably — it doesn't act like a mirror, but strong light sources, particularly a window opposite the screen, can interfere with viewing. On the plus side, the VA panel keeps blacks fairly deep in daylight, so the image doesn't immediately look grey or washed out. The brightness of around 450 nits also helps, and the Bravia 3 II can sustain that regardless of how many bright elements are on-screen. That's more than enough for a typical living room and the picture remains readable during the day. However, if the TV will be placed in a very bright room with large windows and a lot of direct light, you can find models with noticeably more effective coatings and greater brightness headroom.
Panel brightness
SONY BRAVIA 3 II (XR35M2): 447 cd/m2
7.9/10
System: Google TV
System performance: Good
Bravia 3 II runs Google TV and, in terms of capabilities, it’s one of the more fully featured systems you’ll find in TVs today. First and foremost, you get access to a very large number of apps, so beyond the most popular streaming platforms you’ll also find plenty of less obvious services. Sony also supports AirPlay and Chromecast, making it very convenient to cast content from a smartphone. Voice search is good too, powered by Gemini, which handles commands in many languages and can genuinely make using the TV easier. During our tests we did encounter one issue: Bravia 3 II wouldn’t reliably receive a picture from a Windows 11 PC over Miracast. So if you want to use the TV as a secondary screen for a computer, the most reliable solution remains a connection via HDMI.
Sony hasn’t forgotten people who still mainly watch regular television. Bravia 3 II supports recording programmes to USB with the ability to schedule them in advance via PVR, which is rare nowadays, especially in cheaper models. There’s also teletext and a clear channel guide, so in terms of basic TV functions we weren’t really missing anything, maybe apart from picture-in-picture (PiP). A curiosity is the two remotes included in the set. The first is modern and pared-back (non-backlit), while the other is a classic design with a full numeric keypad. Although it may look a little old-fashioned, viewers who watch a lot of traditional TV might actually find it more convenient, for example when entering channel numbers.
9.6/10
9.3/10
| Maximum photo resolution: | Supported photo formats: |
|---|---|
The Bravia 3 II's built-in player works really well and, during our tests, handled most popular video and audio formats with no trouble. Basically, there's little that would make us install an additional player or use an external device. The only exception might be videos with subtitles saved in .txt format, which the TV doesn't support, but let's be honest, at this point that would be nitpicking.
6.8/10
87dB
Maximum volume
Supported codecs (TV speakers)
Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Dolby True HD 7.1
Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus (JOC)
Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD
DTS:X in DTS-HD MA
DTS-HD Master Audio
Pod względem dźwięku Bravia 3 II wypada poprawnie, ale trudno powiedzieć o niej coś znacznie więcej. Głośniki dobrze radzą sobie z dialogami i zwykłą telewizją, natomiast zdecydowanie brakuje im niższych częstotliwości. Bas zaczyna szybko tracić energię, przez co przy muzyce, filmach akcji czy grach dźwięk jest dość lekki i brakuje mu uderzenia. Nie jest to oczywiście nic niezwykłego w telewizorach tej klasy, ale jeśli zależy nam na bardziej efektownym brzmieniu, soundbar będzie tutaj bardzo wskazanym dodatkiem.
Znacznie lepiej wygląda kwestia obsługiwanych formatów audio. Bravia 3 II radzi sobie praktycznie ze wszystkim, czego możemy potrzebować, włącznie z Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio czy DTS:X, a więc formatami coraz częściej pomijanymi przez innych producentów. Telewizor może również przesłać je dalej do zewnętrznego zestawu audio. Wyjątkiem jest Dolby Atmos zapisany w Dolby TrueHD, którego wbudowane głośniki nie odtworzą bezpośrednio, ale przy korzystaniu z odpowiedniego soundbara lub amplitunera nie powinno stanowić to większego problemu.
87dBC (Max)
75dBC
Software version during testing: 6140200730
Image processor: PENTONIC 800 4GB RAM
Panel uniformity and thermal imaging:
Backlight Type: PFS LED
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