Sony Bravia 7 (XR70) vs TCL C9K

Since we know that the television handles contrast well, let's check how it performs in terms of HDR effects. The luminance graph shows the very high capabilities of this model – 1500 nits is a truly impressive result. The HDR effects are particularly striking in scenes where most of the screen is covered in light, such as in scenes 1, 3, and 5 of the test. Minor shortcomings, typical of this technology, are still visible with very small light effects, as in the scene from the film "Sicario 2," where brightness drops to 500 nits. Although these are not stunning results, they can be considered decent. Additionally, it is worth praising the television for its high coverage of a wide colour gamut – DCI-P3 at 96%, which allows for vibrant, saturated colours.

As we mentioned with black and contrast – the C9K makes a huge impression in synthetic tests. Our measurements showed that on a screen 10% filled with white, the television is capable of squeezing out... 4000 nits of brightness! It sounds cosmic, but – and here unfortunately the pattern repeats – the numbers say one thing, and practice another. In real film scenes, the situation looks different. In the best case, when the light effects occupy a large part of the image and the local dimming algorithm doesn't have to think too hard about what to do with thousands of zones – the result is really quite good. At that point, the C9K can reach about 1500 nits, which provides a pleasant, intense flash and can indeed make a positive impression.

The problem begins with smaller elements – such as stars in the sky, the moon, or individual reflections. That's when the proverbial cat comes out of the bag: the algorithms are not yet refined, and brightness drops even to 400–500 nits. This is a huge difference compared to the potential of 4000 nits that we saw in laboratory tests. Why does this happen? Most likely, the television tries to protect the black and minimise the halo effect around bright objects. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of details – some of the intricate details simply disappear, and the scene loses its nature.

The IMAX Enhanced mode on the Sony BRAVIA 7 television is undoubtedly the best mode available on this model, although it is not without its flaws, as its name might suggest. The biggest issue is the white balance – both in HD and 4K HDR content, there is a clear dominance of red, which causes the image to take on pink hues. This is particularly noticeable on the tested snow pattern, where the pinkish tint becomes very apparent. Errors in the Colour Checker test also confirm these deviations – although they are not catastrophic, there is a tendency to drift towards warmer colours. As for brightness performance, the gamma remains at a decent level with a slight peak but without major issues. However, the biggest challenge comes from 4K materials. It is clear that the EOTF curve is significantly above the reference graph, which causes the image to become overly brightened.

For colour tests, we once again reached for the Filmmaker mode – a new feature in TCL televisions for 2025. And although the direction itself is a step in the right direction, the execution leaves much to be desired. The white balance in SDR content turned out to be too warm – there was an excess of red. Conversely, in HDR, it swung in the opposite direction: the image became excessively blue. The Colour Checker test revealed quite a few colour inaccuracies that were noticeable to the naked eye. An even bigger problem turned out to be what we mentioned above – managing brightness. Regardless of whether we were watching SDR or HDR content, the image had a tendency to blow out the entire scene, giving it an unnatural, almost grotesque character. Therefore, it is hard to call this a 'director’s mode' – because the director surely has never seen such an image.

Sony BRAVIA XR70 offers a wide range of tools that allow for adjusting the picture to individual preferences, enabling us to make significant adjustments to the settings. The white balance has been free from the problem of red colour dominance – snow no longer takes on pink shades, which was previously noticeable. Although one can detect slight deviations in the final part of the white balance graph, concerning a drop in blue colour, they are acceptable and difficult to notice in everyday use. The Colour Checker test confirms that errors in colour reproduction are no longer as pronounced and rarely exceed a value of 2, which is a very good result. As for brightness, gamma, while not requiring much improvement, was slightly adjusted. The most significant change was noted in the EOTF curve – the television no longer has issues with excessively brightening the entire image in 4K material. However, upon closer analysis and the inclusion of EOTF characteristics in film material, some limitations of the television become apparent due to the previously discussed dimming algorithm. Some small elements may be slightly more brightened, but these errors are so minor that most users will not notice them. Overall, the calibration results are very, very positive.

After calibration, we finally managed to tame the white balance – and it immediately translated into a more natural image. Colours finally started to look as they should, and the overall presentation was incomparably better than with the factory settings. In other words – it’s worth taking a moment to improve this, as the gain is really significant. The gamma responsible for managing brightness was also brought under control in SDR content, and the effect was more than satisfactory. Unfortunately, when we switched on the HDR material, the situation quickly became complicated. No matter how we set the local dimming, the television had a tendency to do what it pleased with the image – either overexposing the whole picture or dimming the darkest parts too much. Just like we saw in the scene from the film Billy Lynn. Colour-wise, the improvement after calibration makes a great impression, but managing brightness in HDR remains the Achilles' heel of the C9K and constitutes a technological limitation.

Since we know that the television performs very well with high-quality materials, it is worth checking how it fares with lower-quality content. Here, the television shows its potential, and the applied graphics processor works really brilliantly. On the test screen with the light bulb, there are no issues with colour transitions, and the smooth gradation feature works very well – we recommend setting it to "Medium".

As for digital processing, or so-called upscaling, the television sharpens the image quite noticeably, which leads to slight aliasing, for example, on the branches in the background, but it does not remove desirable details. Nevertheless, the overall appearance is really appealing and may be to the taste of most users. However, if we prefer a softer, more plastic image, this effect can be reduced in the settings by adjusting the sharpening level according to personal preferences.

The digital image processing in TCL C9K is rather mediocre. The tone transition smoothing feature is supposedly present, but activating it hardly makes any difference – colour banding is still visible, and it can inadvertently highlight elements we would prefer to hide, such as textures of objects. Fortunately, it does not remove film grain, but that's scant consolation considering the effects are still poor. Thus, it's hard to recommend using this option.

On the other hand, image scaling performs significantly better. Lower quality materials look quite decent – characters and backgrounds are represented clearly, although of course, with sources like 576p, the limitations of the physics cannot be disguised. Sometimes, there's characteristic aliasing of objects, but that's due to the source itself, not the algorithm. A plus for the fact that there are no overscan issues – the image is neither artificially cropped nor enlarged.

The Sony BRAVIA 7 television with a 120 Hz display will satisfy most users in terms of motion smoothness. Additionally, Sony offers the Motion Flow feature, which allows for the selection of three different picture settings, tailoring them to individual preferences: Smoothness – Film: This setting enhances motion smoothness, giving the image a more cinematic or theatrical quality. Smoothness – Camera: This setting provides even greater smoothness, useful when watching dynamic scenes such as sports broadcasts. Clarity: This setting focuses on minimising noise and motion artifacts, resulting in a more stable and clear image.

Similar to the C8K, the C9K is also a really fast television – both figuratively and literally. On board, we have a 4K panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, and at lower resolutions, the panel can even ramp up to 288 Hz. Such speed translates into practice – while watching sports or playing games, the picture looks very smooth and clear. Additionally, in films, we get an extra motion smoothing feature called Motion Clarity, which allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences – from the cinematic "stuttering" of frames to nearly theatrical smoothness.

Sony Bravia 7 has significantly improved its capabilities for working with consoles compared to earlier models. The television supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates the tearing effect, and is compatible with graphics cards, ensuring smooth display. The auto low latency mode (ALLM) effectively reduces input lag, which is crucial in dynamic games. Dolby Vision with low latency additionally provides impressive HDR effects that look great during gameplay.

Sony Bravia 7 also offers a Game Bar feature, which allows quick access to settings and monitoring parameters while gaming. An interesting option is the ability to enable a virtual on-screen crosshair, which can provide a slight advantage in shooter games. Nevertheless, compared to the Bravia 9 model, the HGIG feature in the Bravia 7 does not perform as well, which may be noticeable for more demanding gamers – especially as the HGIG mode is becoming increasingly popular among players as the preferred method for reproducing HDR effects.

A drawback is the lack of support for 1440p@120 Hz resolution, which could make gaming easier for users with less powerful graphics cards. Furthermore, the Sony Bravia 7 is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is often used to connect an audio system via eARC, limiting the available connections for new generation consoles.

For gaming, the TCL C9K is a complete tool. Here we have two (out of four) HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, so all the key technologies work: VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Additionally, the manufacturer has included a really intuitive Game Bar, which allows you to quickly check the most important parameters and adjust settings without rummaging through the menu. Also worth noting is TCL's policy – the television does not shy away from any HDR formats, even in game mode. Whether it's HGiG or Dolby Vision for the Xbox Series S/X console – everything works as it should, giving the player a wide range of freedom.