TCL C655 / C69B 98' vs SONY BRAVIA 3 II (XR35M2)

The quality of HDR effect on the TCL C655 / C69B looks quite promising. The average value in the test charts is around 450 nits, which already allows for a hint of the brilliance of light effects and better image dynamics. However, as previously mentioned, this effect can be somewhat subdued by slight differences in bright and dark colours, resulting from the lack of local dimming technology. Nevertheless, the DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage of 94% deserves high praise, and this is made possible by the use of a quantum dot (QLED) panel. As a result, colours are vibrant and well-rendered when watching HDR content.

Bravia 3 II is certainly not a TV that tries to impress with brightness. In our measurements it reached about 450 nits, so it falls well short of the brightest models on the market. That does not mean HDR is just a paper feature. Compared with ordinary SDR material, the brightest elements of the image can already come through noticeably, and reflections, highlights and stronger exposures have a bit more energy and stand out better from the rest of the scene. This is most obvious in simpler shots where the screen displays many bright elements. Then the Bravia 3 II can give a hint of a higher dynamic-range picture. The problem only begins with more demanding content, where much greater brightness headroom is required. There the TV quickly shows its limitations and instead of powerful, striking HDR we get only a competently rendered picture.

Colours

Bravia 3 II uses a QLED-type panel, although technically it does not use a classic quantum dot layer. Instead Sony has used a solution based on PFS phosphor, which performs a very similar role: it allows more saturated reds and greens and thus enables a much wider colour gamut. In measurements DCI-P3 coverage was around 94%, and the very wide BT.2020 around 74.4%. These are good results for this class of hardware, which mean the Bravia 3 II has no problem reproducing sufficiently saturated colours in HDR content. Colours do not look washed out, and more intense hues can look genuinely attractive.

The TCL C655 / C69B television offers a film mode that has been tested for colour reproduction quality. Although this mode is called film mode, unfortunately, it has many errors that the director would certainly not want to see when recording their work. Starting with image analysis, it's worth examining the white balance – both in HD and 4K HDR content, the white balance has significant errors. In both cases, the red colour dominates, making the colours too warm, and the overall image takes on a pink or yellow tint. The Colour Checker test confirms these errors – the colour samples stray into incorrect shades, affecting the overall colour fidelity. A minor issue is the brightness characteristics. However, this too is not without flaws. The gamma graph shows a strong spike at the beginning, which can cause the image to be excessively brightened, and the EOTF curve responsible for brightness in 4K HDR materials also has significant variations – it is evident how the television tries to maintain the appropriate brightness, but it does not always manage to do so effectively.

In Professional mode the Bravia 3 II already delivers a fairly good level of colour reproduction straight out of the box. In SDR the most noticeable issue is a slightly low gamma, which makes the midtones a little brighter. White balance isn't perfect either; as brightness increases the blue and red components become slightly lacking, so whites can at times take on a marginally warmer, faintly greenish tint. These are not faults that immediately catch the eye when watching a film. Average error values hover around 3, so the factory setting can be regarded as quite good. The situation is similar in HDR. Here too there is a slight lack of the blue component, so the image is marginally warmer than the reference, but the difference is not large enough to significantly interfere with normal viewing.

After calibrating the television's movie mode TCL C655 / C69B , the white balance has been adjusted, and the colours are displayed as they should be – which is confirmed only by slight deviations in the Colour Checker test. The gamma is really correct, which means the television shouldn't have problems with brightness in low-resolution materials. Unfortunately, a similar EOTF characteristic is still visible, which is a natural phenomenon in televisions that do not have local dimming – they simply struggle to "shine" stronger in a given section of the screen. Despite this design limitation, which cannot be bypassed, we recommend adjustment in the settings, as the overall coloration looks really very good.

After calibration, there is particularly a lot to be gained from SDR content. The white balance was set almost perfectly, the gamma practically matches the reference value, and the average colour errors fell from around 3 to about 1. That is already a level at which differences from the reference image are, in practice, very difficult to detect. The Bravia 3 II therefore shows that, despite its position in Sony’s lineup, it has quite a lot of potential for precise picture calibration. Improvements are also visible in HDR, although here it is no longer possible to avoid all the limitations of the TV itself. After evening out the colours, it is easier to notice that the EOTF curve in film content runs slightly below the reference value in places, so the Bravia 3 II gently darkens part of the image. This is not an ideal solution from a reference point of view, but in this particular TV it also has its benefits. With no local dimming and average black levels, this behaviour slightly reduces the visibility of the backlight in darker scenes and helps maintain a stronger impression of contrast. So you could say Sony partly masks the limitations of the panel this way, instead of trying at all costs to stick to the reference luminance.

The TCL C655 / C69B television handles tonal transitions in lower quality materials well. The "Gradual Smoothing" function, at its lowest setting, effectively eliminates visible banding, but at the same time causes a loss of detail, for example, in the texture of objects. The advantage is that it does not interfere with film grain, allowing the image to maintain a natural appearance.

In terms of digital processing, the television adds a considerable amount of artificial sharpness, which may appeal to those who prefer a crisp image. For those who favour a more subtle representation of details, this could be a downside. Another drawback is the rather aggressive overscan – the image gets cropped, leading to the loss of portions at the edges and limiting the field of view.

The Bravia 3 II is Sony's first TV to use the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, and there are a few changes in image processing. Starting with the basics. The upscaling itself is adequate. The TV can sensibly pull up lower-resolution material and does not have a strong tendency to over-emphasise jagged edges or other source imperfections. With regular broadcast TV or weaker streaming material the picture therefore remains quite pleasing. We have more reservations about the digital image processing. In this model Sony has replaced the well-known "Smooth Gradation" function with a new setting called "Digital Noise Reduction". Its role is essentially very similar: it is supposed to smooth unpleasant tonal transitions and artefacts resulting from heavy signal compression. Unfortunately, this function performs noticeably worse than before. At the "High" setting (the only one that had any visible effect) the TV can smooth away too many elements of the image at once, causing film grain to disappear and the texture of objects or even skin to start looking unnatural. Worse still, the effect is not particularly stable. When a scene contains more motion, the function's effect clearly weakens and at times it looks as if the TV stops intervening in the picture altogether. For everyday viewing we therefore would not recommend using it at a high level. It can help on a static shot, but the price is often an excessive loss of detail.

Unlike smaller versions, the 98” model stands out with significantly better motion fluidity. Instead of the standard 60 Hz, this colossal screen is equipped with a full-fledged 144 Hz matrix, which opens up entirely new possibilities – both for gamers and movie lovers. Thanks to the full motion smoother, the television provides incredible image fluidity, eliminating motion blur and enhancing the viewing comfort of dynamic scenes. It is worth noting that this technology works across the full refresh range, meaning that there is no need to compromise between fluidity and quality. Additionally, the "Flicker Reduction" function allows you to adjust the fluidity to your own preferences – you can opt for a more cinematic effect with visible frames or an extremely smooth image.

Motion handling is definitely one of the Bravia 3 II's strongest points. The TV uses a 120Hz VA panel, a solution that, by nature, despite the high refresh rate, does not always cope well with motion blur. Here, however, Sony has managed to keep that problem very well under control. Fast-moving objects remain crisp, and the characteristic trails and blurring are reduced to a very low level, if not to zero. It is one of the least motion-blur-prone LCD TVs we have tested. Interestingly, in this respect the Bravia 3 II can even outperform the much more expensive True RGB flagship series, the Bravia 9 II.

The 98-inch TCL C655 / C69B is excellently equipped for gamers. Full HDMI 2.1 ports and a 144 Hz panel allow for gaming in 4K at 120 Hz, providing fluidity and responsiveness that will impress even the most demanding.

The television supports Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), eliminating screen tearing, while the Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM) ensures that the game starts immediately without the need for manually switching settings. There is also support for Dolby Vision and HGiG, making the image quality in games even better – details are sharp, colours are natural, and contrast is perfectly balanced.

Additionally, the television offers a dedicated gaming panel that allows for quick adjustment of picture settings without the need to exit the game. It is a device that meets virtually all the requirements of a modern gamer.

Sony Bravia 3 II is a very good TV for gamers, although not everything has been implemented exactly as we would like. The biggest change concerns the connectors. For the first time in a Sony TV we get as many as four full HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gb/s bandwidth, thanks to the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset. That removes one of the issues that has plagued this manufacturer’s TVs for years. We can connect several devices at once and on each input use the device’s full capabilities, for example VRR or ALLM. There is also a simple Game Bar that lets you view key signal parameters and change a few useful settings, such as black level, when you want to improve visibility in darker parts of a game. However, there are two limitations worth knowing. The first is the lack of support for 1440p at 120 Hz. That will not be a problem for everyone, but people using that resolution on a console or PC, for example to get higher frame rates in certain games, will have to choose 1080p. We have more reservations about HGiG support. Sony does not allow you to disable the TV’s tone mapping on the Bravia 3 II, so the screen is always processing HDR content even when you would prefer to leave that task to the console. This is most obvious during HDR setup — the checkerboard pattern does not disappear at the point that corresponds to the TV’s actual capabilities. That does not mean HDR in games will look bad. You just need to approach the setup a little differently and, instead of relying on the pattern, manually set the peak brightness to around 450 nits. The issue can be worked around, but you should know about it before you start setting up the console.