Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Samsung S90H (QD-OLED)

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.

The Samsung S90H is a genuinely bright TV for the mid-range OLED segment. In synthetic tests its peak brightness reached around 1650 nits. That’s an impressive result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we have seen from previous models in this price bracket. Most importantly, these tests translate directly to real video material. In four out of five film clips we tested, the S90H’s brightness ranged between 1300 and 1500 nits. That headroom allows it to reproduce most HDR films with very high dynamic range and without obvious compromises, especially in material mastered to 1000–1500 nits. In practice light effects, reflections and explosions have the appropriate punch, and the picture does not appear dimmed. Of course, on full-screen very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to around 900 nits. This is a direct result of the OLED panel’s protection systems working to prevent overload. Even in this scenario there is little to complain about. Those 900 nits across the whole screen is still a very high level, ensuring excellent dynamic range in HDR content.

Colour has always been a major strength of QD-OLED TVs, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 colour space we measured reached a full 100% (actually 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit about 89%. That’s an excellent result, enabling very saturated and vivid colours in HDR content. It’s worth emphasising that QD-OLED’s advantage over WOLED panels is not limited to palette coverage alone. In practice it’s mainly visible in the higher brightness of saturated colours, that is in a greater colour volume. As a result, intense reds, greens and blues in HDR look more vibrant and more striking.

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.

The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles colour reproduction without any calibration. As always, we carried out the measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best factory picture preset. And here Samsung really deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, and a few years ago this was not one of its strong points. The average colour error (Delta E) remained around 3, which is below the level at which most people can notice any inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of grey did the values slightly approach 4, but even then it's hard to regard this as a real problem while watching. For out-of-the-box settings, the result is simply excellent.

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.

All right, but you know we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't also check how far we could push the S90H after professional calibration. And there was no big surprise. Since the factory settings were already very good, there wasn't much room for improvement. Even so, we managed to refine the picture to near perfection. After calibration the mean colour reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, with Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the brightness response, so the image more faithfully reflects the creators' intent and maintains appropriate tonality across the whole luminance range. After professional calibration the S90H therefore becomes a display very close to reference.

Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. The factory settings already deliver a very high level, so in everyday viewing some people may not notice a dramatic jump. Much also depends on the individual unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn't mean every S90H will perform at the same level. Even identical models can differ from each other in terms of factory calibration. That's exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it allows a specific unit to be brought to the highest possible accuracy, rather than relying on a bit of luck when buying.

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.

In this respect Samsung has changed practically nothing compared with last year’s model, which is actually quite good news. The feature responsible for smoothing tonal transitions still very effectively limits the posterisation effect. However, you should remember that it works rather aggressively, because besides the artefacts themselves it can also remove film grain and slightly soften fine image detail. As always, this is therefore a matter of compromise and personal preference. If you want the most faithful reproduction of the source material possible, we recommend leaving this function turned off.

There is also little to be said about upscaling in terms of revolution. The S90H uses the same proprietary NQ4 Gen3 image processor as its predecessor, so scaling quality has remained practically unchanged. The TV handles lower-resolution material well, effectively improving its sharpness. However, the overscan problem has still not been solved. With some older material, especially archival recordings, it may happen that a portion of the image at the edges is cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but a shame Samsung has left this issue unchanged for another year running.

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.

In terms of motion handling the S90H delivers a very high level. A new feature here is a panel with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, although in practice that will mainly benefit PC gamers. Films, series and sports broadcasts do not use such high refresh rates, so when watching them the difference compared with the standard 120 Hz will not be noticeable. That said, thanks to the OLED panel's lightning-fast response time motion is very clean and the picture does not suffer from the motion blur typical of many LCDs. Samsung has equipped the television with extensive motion-smoothness settings. You get two sliders: judder reduction and blur reduction, which let you easily tailor the picture's character to your own preferences. You can easily achieve a very smooth image when watching sport, but you can just as well preserve a more cinematic feel at the typical 24 frames per second. It all depends on which effect you prefer.

From the outset the Samsung S90H feels like a TV designed with gamers in mind, and it's easy to see why. The manufacturer has equipped it with almost everything you could expect from a modern gaming screen. You get as many as four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM and VRR, and very high refresh rates. There's also a clear Game Bar that lets you instantly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is the HGiG behaviour. Last year it could cause quite a few problems, but on the S90H it works exactly as it should.

Samsung's ace up its sleeve remains its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works similarly to the motion smoothing used for films: it improves animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30 or 60 fps, with the right settings input lag did not exceed 40 ms in our tests. That's a very good result, especially since with many manufacturers enabling similar features results in delays several times higher. Game Motion Plus does not, of course, replace Dolby Vision Gaming, as it's a completely different type of feature, but overall it's a gaming addition that many players may find more noticeable. Smoother motion in 30/60 fps games often makes a bigger difference than HDR itself (which, incidentally, is often poorly implemented in games).