Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs Samsung R85H / R86H

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 brightness, the R85H performs really respectably. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can exceed 1000 nits. These are not, of course, levels on a par with the pricier Mini-LEDs, but they are more than enough for watching films and TV shows in HDR, and the effect can already be quite noticeable. The problem reappears in more demanding scenes where there is a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly limit its brightness so as not to light up too large a portion of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights fell even to around 200 to 250 nits, so it is clear that a small number of zones combined with the particular behaviour of the algorithm has consequences here. Fortunately, this is not something that disturbs viewing all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. It's just that with very small points of light you shouldn't expect an effect as strong as on TVs with many more zones or on OLEDs.

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.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed acceptably in SDR, but a few things stood out immediately in the measurements. In the white balance red increased with rising brightness while blue decreased. As a result the brighter parts of the picture had a slightly too warm tint. Gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, which left most of the image a little too bright. The combination of these two effects also showed up in the colours, with errors growing particularly in the brighter and more saturated samples. It did not look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we had expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our sample fared noticeably better. The white balance was much more even and, over most of the range, the individual components stayed close together. Only in the very brightest areas did red start to be lacking, causing white to shift subtly. The EOTF curve, by contrast, looked very good and followed the target luminance levels across almost the entire range. That does not mean HDR colours were perfect. The Colour Checker still showed some deviations, especially for some of the more saturated hues, but the errors were clearly smaller than in SDR.

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 calibration the R85H shows it has genuinely substantial capabilities in colour reproduction. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance could be brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target value across most of the range. This also translated into very low errors on the Colour Checker, so there is really little to pick fault with. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some things can no longer be corrected as well. At the highest brightness levels the character of the backlight begins to make itself felt and the individual components of the white balance start to drift apart. The same applies to the most saturated colours, which do not always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations the overall image is much more accurate than with the factory settings, and the biggest difference is definitely seen in SDR. There is, however, one thing calibration cannot fix. With heavily saturated elements the colour can slightly bleed onto adjacent bright areas of the image. It is easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a faint tint of a neighbouring colour. It does not appear in every scene, but when the material is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than a matter of picture settings.

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.

In the R85H image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but when it comes to upscaling lower-quality material the TV’s behaviour is very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, because the manufacturer has dealt with this aspect quite well for years. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges do not become excessively soft, and the TV does not try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply well balanced, and with regular broadcasts or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung in this class. There remains only a minor drawback in the form of overscan, which cannot be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate matter is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterisation and somewhat tidy up heavily compressed footage, but it is worth emphasising that it does this relatively aggressively. At stronger noise reduction settings it begins to remove not only compression artefacts but also fine details and the natural film grain. It is therefore best used only when the material truly needs it.

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 R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just bear in mind that the extra hertz above 120 are mainly used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as any particular advantage. For films and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets you set motion anywhere from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit worse. Because it's a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds this isn't very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more pronounced the smearing becomes. This is a typical trait of this type of panel and it's easiest to notice in dark shots.

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.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gaming features for several years, and the R85H really doesn't miss anything important here. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so we can easily take advantage of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with HDR properly set on the console, games retain the correct brightness and we don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the picture. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung does not support on any of its TVs. The Game Bar is also very useful — a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. We can quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or change key picture settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio and Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 frames per second. Of course this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting addition for some people.