Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Hisense UR8S

Thanks to its new QD-OLED panel, the Sony Bravia 8 II can achieve an astronomically high brightness of around 2000 nits, which translates into almost reference-quality performance in films and series mastered in HDR. In test material such as Life of Pi or Sicario 2 the effect is genuinely impressive: details in bright areas remain perfectly visible and night scenes charm with depth and contrast. It is not, however, perfect. Compared with its toughest rivals, the Bravia 8 II shows a noticeable drop in brightness on full-screen, very bright frames. If you compare peak point luminance with 100% white in HDR mode, the Bravia 8 II can appear two or three times darker than models such as the LG G5 or Samsung S95F. In a scene from The Meg this was particularly obvious, with the screen becoming noticeably dimmer than competing TVs. Despite this shortcoming, the Bravia 8 II still ranks among the market leaders. Its absolutely top-tier colour gamut coverage is praiseworthy: DCI‑P3 at almost 100% and BT.2020 close to 90%. These are the specifications that allow HDR content to be fully realised and deliver cinema-like experiences at home.

UR8S is a slightly higher-end Mini-LED, so you could expect a lot in terms of brightness. And indeed, on a synthetic test pattern peak brightness reached around 2200 nits. That’s a very good result, but as always what’s much more important is what the TV does in normal film scenes. Here the results are a bit more uneven. In bright scenes, where there’s a lot of light on screen, the UR8S can deliver really strong HDR. Brightness then reaches about 1500 nits, so the image is very intense and has plenty of punch. It’s worse with small bright elements on a dark background. The TV clearly dims them to keep good blacks and to prevent excessive bloom. As a result things like single stars or tiny reflections can be only around 200 nits. And here HDR is no longer as impressive. So you can see that the local dimming algorithm works effectively, but it also has its cost: sometimes it simply sacrifices the brightness of small details in favour of contrast.

Colours

With RGB Mini-LED TVs colours should be judged a little differently than usual. If we look solely at the panel’s native capabilities, the UR8S performs excellently. We measured around 94% coverage of BT.2020 and practically full DCI-P3. These are among the highest values currently found in LCD TVs and this is where the potential of the RGB backlight is most obvious. The problem is that this potential is not always realised in real scenes. When we ran the same measurements on test patterns with a film background applied, saturation of some colours began to fall noticeably. Individual zones are not always able to control the three RGB components so precisely when the scene becomes more complex. This is most visible with blue and magenta. On simple test patterns they can look very strong, but in more demanding scenes samples of those colours visibly shrink. So the UR8S’s capabilities are enormous, it’s just that the TV cannot fully make use of them in every scene.

Straight out of the box the Bravia 8 II performs really well. In its best IMAX® Enhanced mode the TV can reproduce colours in a pleasant, natural way, although "good" here does not mean "best in class". The white balance definitely needs adjustment, as skin tones tend to shift slightly towards pinkish/cool hues in both SDR and HDR content. We also noticed that the EOTF curve tends to brighten the darkest parts of the image. This is likely the manufacturer's attempt to reveal as much detail as possible even in deep shadows. Is that a good approach? It's hard to say definitively, but one thing is clear: it is not an ideal solution.

For assessing the out-of-the-box colours we used Filmmaker mode, which is intended to show an image that is as close as possible to how the material was prepared. Looking at the white balance alone, the UR8S performs quite well. There is no strong tint that immediately jumps out, although as brightness increases a little too much blue and red start to appear, with a simultaneous shortfall of green. Colour errors therefore show up in measurements, but the image itself does not look bad. We have far greater reservations about how the UR8S manages picture brightness. In SDR the gamma sits around 1.9–2.0 for most of the range instead of the target 2.4. In practice this simply means the picture is too bright, especially in the midtones. Shadows are lifted too much, causing the image to lose some depth. A similar tendency is visible in HDR. The EOTF curve is above the reference value for a large part of its range, so the UR8S again brightens the image more than it should. This is not due to a lack of brightness — the TV has plenty — but to the way it manages that brightness. As a result, HDR content can look very striking, but not always precisely as it should.

After calibration we mainly managed to eliminate the excessive cooling of the image caused by an overly strong boost to the blue channel. Reds became deeper and skin tones acquired a natural, healthy look. Actors who previously seemed 'cold' now appear much more lively and convincing on screen. One thing has not changed, however: analysis of the EOTF curve still shows that the Bravia 8 II tends to brighten the darkest parts of the image. It is hard to say whether this is an intentional move by the manufacturer or a result of the panel design and software. In practice this means scenes that creators intended to remain in deep shadow can reveal more detail than intended. Despite that, image quality after calibration is clearly better, and the warm, natural colours and realistic skin tones simply make watching on the Bravia 8 II more pleasing to the eye.

Hisense provides plenty of calibration options and, in SDR, these can yield a very good result. After calibration, the white balance is practically even across the entire range, and colour errors fall to very low values. The UR8S can be adjusted very precisely here. HDR is somewhat different. The white balance itself can also be noticeably improved, although at the highest brightness levels larger deviations begin to appear. The most interesting aspect, however, is the behaviour of the EOTF curve. Even after it has been correctly set on test patterns, the UR8S still tends to interpret brightness in its own way when watching films. Depending on the scene, parts of the image are slightly brightened while others are dimmed relative to how they should appear. This shows that the algorithms controlling the local dimming have a significant influence on the final image. Calibration therefore allows colours to be improved very effectively, but we are not able to completely 'turn off' the way the UR8S manages brightness in HDR.

Upscaling and digital image processing are a real showcase of the Bravia 8 II's capabilities. Sony has long been regarded as a master in this field, and this only confirms that reputation. Sony's proprietary XR processor can pull almost all the detail out of lower-resolution sources, whether it's television or an old DVD movie the picture looks sharper, with more detail and greater depth. Of course, if you feed it exceptionally poor-quality material (such as our archival photo of the Model), it won't work miracles, but for everyday viewing there's little to complain about.

The gentle gradation function also performs excellently. On the 'Medium' setting it effectively smooths tonal transitions, eliminating banding in colour and grey gradients while not destroying film grain or fine image details. It is precisely this balance between subtlety and effectiveness that keeps Sony's TVs among the best on the market in this category.

A big plus of the UR8S is the use of the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor, and digital image processing is one of this model's stronger points. The TV handles smoothing tonal transitions very well, especially with lower-quality content. The feature responsible for this effect works effectively without overprocessing the picture. Even on the medium setting it can noticeably reduce visible banding and unevenness without heavily blurring details. Upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges look natural, and the image is not overly sharpened. The UR8S simply copes very well with a weaker signal, and in this respect it is one of its most notable strengths.

Motion smoothness is, in the case of the Bravia 8 II, practically a closed matter. A 120 Hz OLED naturally delivers a very clean, sharp picture in fast-moving scenes, so there's little to complain about. Particular praise, however, is due to its motion-smoothing systems, which are among the best on the market. They let you precisely tailor the motion of films to your own preferences, ranging from subtle smoothing to an almost "theatrical" effect, without the risk of artificial judder, image tearing or annoying artefacts. It's one of those features you'll appreciate both during film screenings and when watching sport.

The UR8S is equipped with a panel with a native 180 Hz refresh rate, so right from the start it offers excellent motion handling. The panel itself performs really well here, although some limitations typical of VA panels are still visible. Motion blur is relatively minor for this type of screen, but with faster motion (especially on darker backgrounds) it can still be noticed, particularly when compared with the same image on OLED TVs.

In terms of gamer features the UR8S performs really well. The TV supports practically everything you can expect from a modern console or PC display. It offers ALLM, VRR and 4K at 120 Hz. There is also Dolby Vision in Game Mode, so when using, for example, the Xbox Series X you do not have to give up that HDR format. PC gamers get even more options. The panel can run at 4K at 180 Hz, and dropping to Full HD can raise the refresh rate to as much as 330 Hz. There is also a Game Bar that lets you quickly check key information and change gaming-related settings. The only clear omission is a correct implementation of HGiG. With it enabled the TV still alters HDR brightness mapping, so we do not get the effect intended by that standard. Aside from that, the UR8S is very well prepared for both consoles and a powerful PC.