Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs Samsung QN80F 100"

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.

When it comes to HDR in Filmmaker mode, the QN80F can make a great first impression. Our laboratory tests have shown that under the best conditions, the television is capable of achieving brightness exceeding 1200–1300 nits. These are truly excellent results, making HDR effects in many films look incredible. The television is simply bright enough not to need to artificially adapt the image – the bright parts of scenes have the right 'power' and actually look like a light source. Of course, the laboratory is one thing, and everyday viewing is another. In practice, in film scenes, brightness generally oscillates in the range of 700–1100 nits. These are still great values that, in most cases, provide a strong sense of realism and make the lights on the screen truly capable of blinding. The problem arises in exceptionally challenging sequences, where, like almost every mini-LED, it reveals its limitations. A good example is Sicario 2: the scenes with the helicopter in the night sky look much weaker, and the lights lose intensity, dropping to around 370 nits, making it hard to speak of serious admiration. To this, we must add the issue of colours. Although we are dealing with a QLED, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette is around 90%. This is a rather average result for a quantum dot television. In practice, this means that some colours may appear less saturated than we would expect, especially in demanding HDR productions.

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.

The Samsung QN80F performs best in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to replicate the creators' intentions as accurately as possible. And indeed – this is the mode in which the television showcases its potential. But let’s not kid ourselves, it is far from perfect. In SDR content, the issue of white balance came to the forefront. Slightly lacking greens and a noticeable excess of reds caused the screen to take on a pinkish hue. You don't even need meters to notice this – in everyday viewing, the subtly shifted colour palette could be quite noticeable, and in colour checker tests, the colours would literally "pop" out of their reference fields. With HDR content, the situation looked a bit better, as the white balance was closer to ideal, but another problem arose – brightness management. The EOTF curve often caused the image to become too bright, which spoiled the sense of contrast, and in dynamic scenes, it led to a slight "flicker" in perception. We had already mentioned this when discussing black levels and HDR. The good news, however, is that Samsung provides a lot of tools for improvement. The QN80F allows for truly detailed calibration, including a 20-point white balance. And since the manufacturer has left us so many options, we decided to check how the television would perform after a thorough adjustment.

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.

After calibrating the QN80F, it immediately showed that it was capable of much more. The previous pinkish tint disappeared, and the white balance finally looks like it should – natural and without excessive deviations. The colours gained depth, and the image became more saturated and cohesive, making watching films simply more enjoyable. It's a bit like removing a light haze from the screen – suddenly everything appears sharper and clearer. The management of brightness has also improved. The television no longer gets easily lost in dynamic shifts, and the EOTF graph shows that the curve tracking is significantly more stable. Of course, there are no miracles – the limited number of zones still means that small bright elements can be slightly washed out, but that's a result of the design itself, not the settings. After this correction, the QN80F feels like a more mature piece of equipment, and watching films finally provides the satisfaction expected from a television even in a higher class.

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.

With lower quality materials, such as films from YouTube or older television recordings, the QN80F can display its strengths and weaknesses. If strange colour transitions or artefacts start to appear on the screen, it is worth using the noise reduction function. The best setting is at "medium" – it smooths out problematic sections while not blurring the entire image. However, one compromise must be remembered: this function always removes film grain. If someone enjoys its presence in older productions, it is better to keep the reduction turned off, as the grain simply disappears regardless of the setting.

Resolution scaling, or upscaling, is another strong point of Samsung. The QN80F may not be the best television on the market in this regard, but it performs very well in its price range, which is very important for such a large size as a 100-inch screen. Even lower quality materials can gain a second life – the image becomes sharper, more readable, and overall much more pleasant to perceive. A weak point remains overscan, which is the slight cropping of edges in very low resolutions (e.g., 576p), something that has been a longstanding issue for Samsung. Fortunately, this is practically of no consequence when watching HD and 4K content on a daily basis.

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.

The QN80F features a 144 Hz panel, and this is evident in practice – with full refresh, the image is remarkably smooth, and motion blur remains at an acceptable, barely noticeable level. However, this mode is primarily aimed at PC gamers. The most important reference point in everyday use remains the 120 Hz refresh rate, and this is where a certain discrepancy arises. During the UFO test, we noticed a splitting of the contours of rapidly moving objects – it looked as if the television had the BFI (Black Frame Insertion) feature permanently activated, which in practice led to an unpleasant effect of double edges. We do not yet know whether this is a software issue or a characteristic of this model, but in its current form, such behaviour is hard to commend.

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.

The Samsung QN80F gives the impression of a television designed with gamers in mind. On the list of advantages, we have a 144 Hz panel, four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, complete support for VRR and ALLM, as well as one of the best-designed game bars on the market. Additionally, there is the Game Motion Plus motion smoother, which works even in games without any real increase in input lag, making the QN80F an absolute standout in this category. In practice, this means you can enjoy smoother visuals without sacrificing responsiveness, which is a dream for many console gamers!

As is usual with Samsung, there is no Dolby Vision support in games, and this is no longer surprising. However, we were much more surprised to find that in the 2025 models… the HGIG function has disappeared. This function allowed consoles like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X to perfectly adjust HDR tone mapping to the capabilities of the television. In the current firmware for the QN80F, this option simply does not exist – it seems more like an error rather than a conscious decision by the manufacturer, but as of the day of testing, it must be acknowledged that HGIG is not available. Due to this one omission, the QN80F, instead of being almost the perfect television for gamers, becomes a device that is only "almost" perfect. This is quite a shame because, aside from this, Samsung has created a model that truly raises the bar in the gaming equipment segment.