Sony Bravia 8 (XR80) vs Samsung S85F OLED

Sony Bravia 8 performs reasonably well in terms of HDR brightness. A maximum brightness level of 880 nits is satisfactory and allows for enjoyable light effects in most scenes. In the tested segments of the films Life of Pi and Sicario 2, the television looks really good, offering vibrant and detailed images that fully convey the atmosphere of these productions.

However, a greater challenge is presented by a scene from the film The Meg, where the screen is entirely very bright. In such situations, the limitations of OLED technology are evident, as the television loses brightness, dropping to about 450 nits. This decline is less satisfactory, especially when the entire scene requires intense lighting. Despite these limitations, Sony Bravia 8 remains a competitive model, offering excellent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and a BT.2020 standard coverage of 74%. As a result, colours are rich and details are precise, which significantly enhances the quality of HDR content consumption and makes viewing a pleasant experience.

For an OLED, the Samsung S85F can truly shine – literally. Under favourable conditions, it is capable of generating brightness exceeding 750 nits. This is hugely significant, as most films are created with displays reaching around 1000 nits in mind. In practice, this means that in scenes with moderately large, bright elements, the image can look simply fantastic. However, it's not always so rosy. When there is a huge amount of light on the screen – whether it's an expansive, bright background or a whole frame filled with white – the S85F has to tone it down. In such scenes, brightness can drop by even four times. This limitation is well-known to essentially every OLED in this price segment, so we do not consider it a particular shortcoming. However, something that deserves praise and sets this model apart from the competition is its colour gamut coverage. Thanks to the QD-OLED panel, our colourimeter recorded values exceeding 100% DCI-P3 coverage and as much as 86% for the ultra-wide BT.2020 gamut. Such results are hard to find even in televisions costing several times more.

The best factory mode available on the Sony Bravia 8 television is IMAX Enhanced, which provides the most cinematic experience, although it is not perfectly set up. The television tries to faithfully reproduce cinematic settings, but certain shortcomings are noticeable. Starting with the white balance, both for SDR and 4K materials, a pronounced blue tint can be observed. This causes the image to appear too cold, stripping it of its naturalness. Tests using Colour Checker show that colours shift towards cooler tones, which may affect the accuracy of colour reproduction and make the image less realistic.

As for brightness and contrast characteristics, the gamma shows a significant drop at the end of the chart. This means that dark details may be too dark and bright elements too bright, resulting in a loss of subtlety and becoming less visible. As seen in the sky - in the comparative photo. In turn, the EOTF curve is well above the reference value, causing bright elements of the image to be too intense. As a result, users may perceive the image as unnatural, and bright areas may lose details, negatively impacting the overall viewing quality.

Samsung, as befits a manufacturer with ambitions, has equipped the S85F with a mode called Filmmaker. Its task is simple: to ensure that the colours on the newly purchased television are as true to what the director intended as possible. Sounds great… but, as is often the case, a theory that sounds great does not always translate into perfect practice.

In the tested unit, it quickly became apparent that the image – due to an excess of blue and red – looked as though someone had overdone the saturation a bit. As a result, quite significant colour errors occurred, particularly in 4K content. Moreover, there was a problem with brightness – the S85F could brighten most scenes more than it should, taking away their intended mood.

Fortunately, Samsung televisions, including the S85F, offer an impressive number of settings for advanced calibrators. This means that we could test what this panel is truly capable of when placed in the right hands.

The calibration process of the Sony Bravia 8 television has brought significant improvements in image quality. The white balance has been noticeably enhanced, for both SDR and 4K HDR content, with minimal errors in the middle of the graph. Gamma has proven to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of calibration – it has been completely rid of previous dips, which has significantly impacted brightness stability and better detail reproduction in the darker parts of the image. The EOTF curve has also been levelled, making bright elements of the image appear more natural, and the overall tonal dynamics are now more balanced.

However, the most attention should be paid to colour reproduction, where, despite calibration, certain issues still persist. Sony has omitted the use of a CMS system in this model, which allows for very precise control over colours. As a result, the Colour Checker test for 4K materials still shows significant errors in colour samples. Despite these difficulties, we recommend performing calibration, as the effects are noticeable and significantly enhance image quality, particularly in terms of brightness and contrast.

Thanks to the vast number of settings in the menu, we managed to bring the S85F to nearly an ideal level. The white balance in SDR content? Literally perfect – deviations do not exceed the value of “1”. So we can confidently say that in materials with not very high dynamics, we have an image close to reference here.

In HDR content, slight issues have arisen, but they are not significant in practice – most errors fall below the threshold of perceptibility, which is the value of “3”. We also managed to tame the S85F when it comes to brightness management – the EOTF curve, even in movies, holds an almost perfect line. This is one of those cases where after calibration, you can comfortably forget about the settings and simply enjoy films and series at the highest level.

The fluidity of tonal transitions in low-quality materials on the Bravia 8 is poor. Unfortunately, the soft gradation feature (which was available in previous models) is missing, which is a significant downside. The digital noise reduction feature can considerably improve tonal transitions; however, it also tends to remove some details, such as clouds in scenes from the film The Martian, which may not be to everyone's liking. As for digital processing, the Sony XR80 performs quite well. The model in test scenes was displayed without noticeable errors, and the branches in the background are not overly jagged. This shows that the Bravia 8 is capable of effectively processing complex low-resolution image details.

The tonal transition smoothing function in the S85F works really effectively – it can completely eliminate the problem of visible banding in very poor quality materials, such as those from YouTube. Unfortunately, even the lowest level of this option comes with compromises. Noise reduction is aggressive enough that it can smooth out the film grain that many of us consider a key element of the cinematic experience. At the "Standard" level, we did not notice that this function removed anything significant from the image, so we can recommend this setting. On the other hand, the "High" level is a different story – it can smooth out not only noise but also subtle, desirable details such as the texture of objects.

As for image scaling, the S85F performs very well. The material looks sharp, and the only minor imperfection is slightly visible aliasing of contours. And there’s still the persistent issue with Samsung televisions – overscan. This can cause the frame to be slightly cropped in certain scenes, which is worth keeping in mind when watching very old content.

Sony Bravia 8 offers a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, which forms the basis for smooth viewing of dynamic content such as sports and games. This ensures that movements are sharp and fluid. For more demanding users, the Sony XR80 television is equipped with an advanced motion smoothing system, which is divided into three segments: Smoothness (Film), Smoothness (Camera), and Clarity. The first two are responsible for regulating the degree of blur and smoothness of the image. The third option, concerning clarity, will be described in more detail below. Each of the parameters can be adjusted to personal preferences, allowing users to find the optimal setting tailored to their individual needs.

The S85F is a mind-blowingly fast television – and this is not just an empty phrase for effect. Thanks to the 120 Hz OLED panel, dynamic scenes, whether in games or while watching a live match, look exactly as they should – smoothly, sharply, and without the feeling that something is “slipping away” from the frame. The lightning-fast pixel response time, typical of OLEDs, plays its part here. Transitions between frames are virtually instantaneous, and the picture remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. A ball flying across half the pitch? A car racing in a chase scene? Here, everything is clear and free from the characteristic “trail” of LCDs.

This is exactly what we expect from a good OLED – no compromises when it comes to motion fluidity. The S85F gives the impression that regardless of the pace of the action, we can focus on what is happening on the screen, rather than the imperfections of the image.

Sony Bravia 8 has significantly improved its compatibility with consoles compared to earlier models. The television supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing, and it synchronises with graphics cards to ensure smooth image display. The automatic low latency mode (ALLM) reduces input lag, which is crucial in fast-paced games. Dolby Vision with low latency additionally provides impressive HDR effects that look stunning during gameplay.

The Sony XR80 television also features a Game Bar, allowing quick access to settings and monitoring parameters while gaming. An interesting option is the ability to enable a virtual crosshair on the screen, which can provide a slight edge in shooting games.

A downside is the lack of support for 1440p@120hz resolution, which could facilitate gaming for users with less powerful graphics cards. Additionally, the Sony XR80 only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is typically used to connect an audio system via eARC, limiting the number of available inputs for connecting next-generation consoles.

The S85F has practically everything on board to become the dream screen for gaming. Four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR, ALLM, a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all parameters – and on top of that, a gem in the form of Game Motion Plus. This motion smoother makes animation in games more enjoyable, while input lag only increases slightly. This is a rare combination, and it’s a big plus for Samsung.

Now comes the moment when we need to complain a little. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung televisions has become standard, so there’s no point in hoping (unless something changes in a few years) – but the disappearance of HGiG after the software update is something hard to explain. HGiG (which stands for HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a mode that allows for precise reproduction of brightness in HDR games, in accordance with the creators' intentions. Without it, HDR calibration on a console becomes less precise, so we can end up with an image that is too dark in the shadows or excessively overexposed.

Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – and we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become nearly the perfect television for gamers.