Philips PUS8079 vs Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5)

The maximum brightness in content with a wide tonal range at a level of 202 nits is extremely low and, in practice, does not allow for watching films and series on streaming platforms in the highest quality. It is worth mentioning that in this case, the use of the HDR format equipped with dynamic metadata will not help either. Why won't it help? Because the only such format implemented in the television is HDR10+, which is extremely unpopular, and films recorded in this format are scarce. It is also worth noting that PUS8079 utilises WLED backlighting, which unfortunately is not the best solution, resulting in a coverage of the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut of only 80%. The result of this situation is significantly less intense colours in HDR content.

Looking at similar results in terms of blackness and contrast, we expected equally stable performance as last year's model when it came to HDR content. Unfortunately – and this needs to be said outright – there has been a regression here that is hard to overlook. The paradox is that the peak brightness of the Bravia 5 is impressive: in our synthetic tests, the television achieved around 1000 nits in HDR. Sounds great, right? The problem is that this power does not always translate effectively to all film scenes. When small, point-like elements appear on the screen, something that had usually been polished with surgical precision in Sony's case is this time noticeably lacking. The algorithms attempt to maintain deep black around small objects, but the side effect is that details can be dimmed to such an extent that they become barely visible. Just consider the example of the film Sicario 2 – in some scenes there, small light sources practically disappeared, as if someone had covered them with dark film.

Of course, not everything looks so dramatic. In simpler, brighter scenes, where the image is filled with more light, the Bravia 5 shows that it can shine: literally and figuratively. Then the television achieves values in the range of 600–800 nits, which we saw both in synthetic tests and during film screenings. The impression is really positive; the brightness adds dynamism, and the colours appear vibrant and fresh. However, there remains a certain dissonance. We feel a slight confusion because evidently something has gone in a direction it shouldn’t have. Technological progress – more zones, greater backlighting power – has not been supported by the well-crafted image management that we usually associate with Sony. Fortunately, there are elements that have not been worsened and are, in fact, at a very high level. We are talking about colour reproduction. Thanks to the application of the PFS filter, the colour palette coverage is excellent – around 97% DCI-P3 and 75% BT.2020. These are values that allow for truly broad colour reproduction, giving films a sense of naturalness and cinematic quality.

The best factory mode in terms of colour reproduction and fidelity to the director's vision was "Film". Admittedly, it was the best among the pre-defined modes, although it had significant discrepancies between what the film's author wanted to convey and what the tested television displayed. Both in SDR and HDR materials (though to a lesser extent in the latter), the white balance, which is the most fundamental element responsible for image purity, turned out to be somewhat of a repeat of the vivid mode, with the blue tint known from displays on shop shelves. Moving directly to SDR materials and what is responsible for contrast, namely gamma, we see that it is significantly reduced. This leads to cutting down on an already limited contrast range and brightening the entire image. In the EOTF curve, which is responsible for the increase in brightness pace in HDR materials, we observe a sharp drop below the reference line, which, given the limited light output of the television, had a significant impact on the perception of these contents, which were even darker. We will not separate the assessments of the colours themselves, as in both cases they achieved astronomical deltaE values, being simply completely different from what they should be.

Sony Bravia 5 was of course tested in the best possible mode, which is the Cinema mode. Right out of the box, it provides the most natural colours, definitely better than anything offered by the "eco" or "dynamic" modes, which are more suited for a showroom display than for a living room. However, the Cinema mode alone does not mean we can always expect cinematic picture quality. With SDR content, we had virtually no major complaints – the slightly warmed white balance gave the scenes a somewhat golden tone, but it was nothing that was visually jarring. However, the problem arose with HDR material. Here, the colour reproduction simply looked poor. The white balance was heavily skewed – with an excess of blue and a clear lack of red. At times, it resembled the store's "super vibrant image" mode, where everything is overexposed and artificially boosted.

This situation also made brightness management seem overly aggressive. The EOTF graph clearly showed that the television had problems with overexposing many scenes right out of the box. And while we know what Sony televisions are usually capable of, it was difficult to remain indifferent here – thus we quickly decided to go for calibration.

Fortunately, Philips implements advanced image correction tools in all its televisions. SDR materials benefited the most here, and the enormous deltaE errors were significantly corrected, both white balance and gamma underwent considerable reshaping. Although one cannot speak of a reference image here, it is definitely better, and films or series can be watched without causing headaches, and above all, eye strain. Naturally, HDR materials, due to the very low luminance of the television, could not be corrected to the same extent as those with a standard colour palette; however, the EOTF curve and white balance were roughly straightened out. Unfortunately, that was all we managed to squeeze out of our unit, although it should be noted that each unit is different and has completely different errors, smaller or larger.

After calibration, the situation changed dramatically. We managed to adjust the white balance so that entire scenes began to look more natural, and the image gained cohesion and elegance. In HDR, we finally got rid of that unwanted clipping effect that had previously marred some shots. Suddenly, it turned out that the Bravia 5 can extract significantly more from films than the “out of the box” impression suggested. Indeed, if we look at the graphs and compare them with the patterns, we can see that the beginning of the EOTF curve slightly deviates from the reference line. However, this is not so much a calibration error as it is a natural limitation of Mini-LED technology, which cannot be bypassed. Sony, instead of clinging to perfect black, prefers to prioritise the visibility of details – and in practice, it's hard to disagree with that. We would rather see the texture of the material on the screen than a pitch-black blob where all nuances are lost.

The calibration itself was truly beneficial. After about an hour spent on the settings, we felt that the image resembled that from the best cinema halls – of course on a home scale, but with the same sense of quality and refinement. And in such moments, we remember why we like Sony televisions: because when we fine-tune them, they can reward us with an image that captivates for long hours.

We will return once more to the issue of tonal transitions but in the context of the overall improvement of image quality. As we can observe in the photograph on the left side, the enhancement function for gradation works brilliantly. Moreover, it offers several settings, and each of them, even the lowest one, provides beneficial effects, and what’s more, it does not soften the effect of film grain. We will reiterate that this function is the greatest advantage of the tested television.

Next, we will take a look at image scaling. Here, the tested television performed worse. We can primarily notice severely jagged fine details and a characteristic white halo around the figures. One must not forget about the considerable artificial sharpening of the image.

Bravia 5 carries within it the genes of Sony, which have remained untouched – and thank goodness for that, because we are talking about absolutely remarkable digital image processing. It is no coincidence that for years it has been believed that it is televisions of this brand that set the standard for how a screen should handle lower quality materials. If someone still watches classic television, old films or YouTube in lower resolutions, here they get equipment that can transform such content into an unexpectedly pleasant experience. On board, we find several tools worth activating. The first of these is "digital noise reduction". Set to a medium level, it works perfectly – smoothing tonal transitions, which usually cause the most trouble in low-quality materials, while not introducing any artificial artifacts. Importantly, it also does not remove the filmic character, meaning the natural grain that is intentionally present in many productions. Another advantage of the Bravia 5 is the upscaling capabilities of the XR processor. The image displayed after scaling is soft, yet at the same time sharp and clear. The contours of characters are clearly visible, while backgrounds retain their structure without excessive artificial sharpening. It’s hard to find a better television for watching lower quality materials – Bravia 5 only confirms why Sony is regarded as a benchmark in this field.

This paragraph, unlike the others, will be extremely short. The reason for this state of affairs is the lack of implementation of even the most basic motion smoothing function, which was to be expected, considering the price of the device. We also note that we are dealing with a VA panel, which in itself will not have the best sharpness under the sun. This type of panel is primarily associated with high contrast, which goes hand in hand with quite slow response times, as we can clearly read from the matrix analysis results. As you can see, from the photos taken in quick motion, the image is typically blurred for this type of panel. Although it will not be the ideal option, it can conditionally be used for watching sports, keeping in mind the less than optimal sharpness in motion. It is worth mentioning that movies will be characterised by judder, as the television does not have any, even the simplest, motion smoother.

Bravia 5 received a 120 Hz panel, which in itself sounds like an invitation to watch sports, fast matches, or spectacular action films. However, the real magic begins when MotionFlow – Sony's proprietary smoothness technology – comes into play. Thanks to it, we can adjust the character of the image to our own preferences. The "smoothness" slider allows you to transition from a cinematic feel with a slight "jitter" of the film frame to a nearly theatrical fluidity, where every ball in the match glides across the screen as if on a string. The higher the value, the smoother and more fluid it is; the lower it is, the more cinematic and natural it feels. In the options, we will also find an additional setting that Sony has called "clarity". This is nothing more than the BFI function (i.e., inserting black frames), which is meant to improve motion sharpness. It sounds great in theory, but in practice, one must use it with great caution. Why? Because all higher settings cause brightness drops of up to half, and in some cases, contour doubling also appears. Therefore, if we wish to use it, we recommend the lowest possible level – "1" out of the available ten. This way, we gain a bit better motion clarity without risking a loss of half the image brightness.

Philips PUS8079 offers only the most basic support for gaming in the form of ALLM, VRR, and a Game Bar. The most important information is that thanks to the implementation of the feature responsible for dynamic frequency changing, the picture is actually quite smooth for this price range and does not suffer from tearing.

A slightly greater nod towards gamers is the introduction of the Game Bar, allowing for real-time editing of settings. This means we won't have to exit the game to make any changes to the picture. Importantly, it has not been stripped of options known from higher models. Thus, we will find features such as shadow enhancement for better visibility in dark areas and a colour filter for players with visual impairments.

In the Bravia 5, there is a significant improvement compared to the X90L model from two years ago. The television offers literally everything its predecessor had, but this time the issues that could frustrate gamers have been fixed. The problems with setting variable refresh rate (VRR) have disappeared, and there are no longer any issues with configuring HDR content in HGiG mode. In short: we get hardware that simply works as it should, without any fuss. Therefore, the Bravia 5 has everything you could expect from a modern gaming television – and it can be reasonably advertised with the slogan “ready for PS5.” This is a statement we couldn't make about the X90L model. Well done, Sony!

It’s just a shame that this relatively high-priced model lacks a full set of four HDMI 2.1 ports. In everyday use, this won’t be a problem for most people, but if someone has a console, soundbar, and additional equipment hooked up via HDMI, at some point there will be a need to choose or juggle the cables.