Sony Bravia 8 (XR80) vs Samsung The Frame 2025 (LS03F)

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.

The Frame LS03F is a television that can surprise with its brightness. The maximum luminance reaches around 650 nits, which already looks impressive on paper. But as we know, laboratory tests are one thing, and real film scenes are quite another. When watching HDR materials in natural conditions, The Frame 2025 maintains very good results. In most film scenes, the peak brightness remained at around 550–650 nits. This is a sufficient value to feel the difference between standard picture quality and that of HDR – bright highlights, reflections on water, or moonlight are presented clearly and spectacularly.

It is also worth remembering that the LS03F is a QLED television, which translates into solid colour saturation. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space reaches about 92%, allowing for vibrant, intense colours in HDR content. This is not the level of top premium models, but for a lifestyle screen, the result truly deserves recognition.

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.

When it comes to image quality straight out of the box, even in Filmmaker mode, which is supposed to be the closest to reference, there were issues. We noticed clear deviations in white balance in both HD and 4K HDR content. The image was heavily skewed towards red and blue, giving the screen a characteristic pinkish tint. This effect was most noticeable in bright scenes – for example, in shots with a lot of white, where neutral light should naturally dominate. At such moments, the screen clearly took on pink tones, which is also visible in the attached comparison photo. As for the brightness characteristics – it wasn’t as bad as one might expect with such colour inaccuracies. The analysis of the gamma curve and EOTF showed a slight brightening of the image compared to the reference, but not enough to drastically ruin the viewing experience.

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.

After calibration, the movie mode has gained a completely new quality. The issue of the pink tint, which had been clearly visible before, especially in bright scenes, has been effectively eliminated. Colours now look much more natural, and the white balance no longer dominates the rest of the image. It is no longer the same exaggerated "box picture" – everything now has coherence and a cinematic character. Additionally, the tendency of the television to slightly brighten scenes, previously visible in the EOTF curve analysis, has been partially corrected. Of course, this is within the limits of what the design allows without local dimming – one cannot speak of perfect brightness management here. Nevertheless, the final effect was definitely closer to what one might expect from a mode called Filmmaker.

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.

LS03F has been equipped with the NQ4 processor, which is responsible for improving image quality – particularly in lower quality materials. In practice, this works surprisingly well, especially when it comes to older content and recordings with lower resolution. Activating the "noise reduction" function yields noticeable effects. The TV effectively smooths tonal transitions and removes digital noise that can appear in darker areas of the image. Compared to previous generations, there is a clear advancement – previously, this function often smoothed everything too much, including details that it shouldn't remove. In this year's model, smoothing still occurs, but in a much more acceptable manner. Textures of materials, skin, and fabric details are no longer subdued as strongly as before – the image retains more naturalness. However, this does not change the fact that film grain is still removed by the TV, which may not appeal to everyone. On the other hand, it is no longer as aggressive an intervention as in previous models. It is also worth mentioning that the LS03F may struggle with very weak signals – for example, from VHS tape recordings or low-resolution video. In such cases, we noticed slight clipping of the image at the edges – so-called overscan. This can lead to a situation where a small part of the image (e.g., subtitles at the bottom edge) gets cut off.

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 new feature in The Frame for 2025 is a display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Yes – in a television that is mainly associated with displaying works of art, you can now not only watch Van Gogh but also comfortably play on a console or follow dynamic sports events. This is a definite step towards greater versatility. In the case of Samsung films, as usual in models with a display rate of 120 Hz and above, it allows you to adjust motion smoothness according to your preferences. You can set a more cinematic reproduction while maintaining frame rate or opt for full motion smoothing. The range of options is broad, allowing you to tailor the effect to your own taste – whether the viewing experience is meant to resemble classic cinema or a show on a modern theatre screen.

*this part of the test refers to the LS03FAU model in sizes 55 and 65 inches, which is equipped with a 144Hz panel, while sizes 43 and 50 inches have 60Hz displays, and thus perform much worse in terms of motion smoothness.

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.

As we mentioned earlier – although The Frame is likely to display images and works of art most of the time, Samsung recognised that a Van Gogh enthusiast could just as easily be an avid gamer. And it must be admitted that The Frame 2025 has almost everything needed to become a full-fledged gaming television.

On board, we find support for ALLM (Automatic Low Latency Mode) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) thanks to the implementation of one HDMI 2.1 port. The television handles lower resolutions at higher refresh rates effortlessly and features an advanced Game Bar – already known from other Samsung models – which allows for a quick preview and change of the most important gaming-related settings. For this, it earns extra points from us. The proprietary motion smoother Auto Motion Plus Game is also worth mentioning, which – it is worth emphasising – operates without increasing input lag. Samsung remains the only manufacturer that has managed to implement this feature in a practically invisible manner in terms of delays. The effect? Much better fluidity in games, especially those that struggle to maintain a stable 60 frames per second. This solution can realistically improve the gaming experience in more demanding titles – particularly on consoles, which do not always manage full fluidity, especially in AAA games.

As for the downsides – the lack of Dolby Vision is already considered standard in Samsung televisions, so there is not much to particularly criticise here. However, there is a different issue entirely. In the latest version of the Tizen system, the HGiG option has disappeared. Literally – it is not there. This is a significant hindrance when configuring the console for proper HDR content display in games. It is hard to understand why such a decision was made, but one thing is certain – this should be fixed as soon as possible. We are talking about a brand that has set standards for gaming on televisions for years. If HGiG returns – and we hope it will – The Frame LS03F can confidently aspire to be called a genuine gaming television. Not just as a decoration on the wall, but as equipment that truly provides joy in gaming.