Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs SAMSUNG S95F (TANDEM OLED 83")

Looking at similar results in terms of black levels and contrast, we expected the same stable performance as last year's model when it comes to HDR content. Unfortunately – and this must be said plainly – there has been a regression here that is hard to overlook. The paradox is that the peak brightness of the Bravia 5 can be impressive: in our synthetic tests, the television reached around 1000 nits in HDR. Sounds great, right? The problem is that this power does not always translate effectively to all movie scenes. When small, pinpoint elements appear on the screen, something that was usually refined with surgical precision in the case of Sony clearly falters this time. The algorithms try to maintain deep blacks around small objects, but the side effect is that details can be dimmed to the point of becoming barely visible. A case in point is the movie Sicario 2 – there, in some scenes, small light sources practically vanished as if someone had covered them with dark film.

Of course, not everything looks so dramatic. In simpler, brighter scenes, where the image is filled with a greater amount of light, the Bravia 5 shows that it can shine: literally and figuratively. At that point, the television achieves values in the range of 600–800 nits, which we observed in both synthetic tests and during movie screenings. The impression is truly positive; the brightness adds dynamism, and the colors appear vivid and fresh. However, there remains a certain dissonance. We feel a slight confusion because it is evident that something has gone the wrong way. Technological advancement – more zones, greater backlight power – has not been supported by the refined image management we usually associate with Sony. Fortunately, there are elements that have not been worsened and are instead at a very high level. We are talking about color reproduction. Thanks to the use of the PFS filter, the color gamut coverage is excellent – about 97% of DCI-P3 and 75% of BT.2020. These values allow for a truly wide color reproduction, giving films a natural and cinematic character.

Samsung S95F in the 83-inch variant with Tandem OLED panel also enchants with HDR effects. In test movie scenes, such as "Life of Pi" or "Sicario 2," where smaller light points dominate – stars in the night sky, the glow of the moon, or headlights – the television easily achieves brightness values exceeding 2000 nits. This is a result that not long ago seemed unattainable for OLEDs and places this model in the same category as the best Mini-LED designs.

The limitations of organic panels reveal themselves only in full-screen scenes completely filled with white. In the case of this model, for example, in the last shot from the movie The Meg, brightness drops to around 1000 nits – a bit lower than in the smaller QD-OLED variants, where the result remained around 1400 nits. Nevertheless, we are still talking about a remarkable result, unprecedented in OLED televisions of this size. Color reproduction is equally impressive. The new Tandem OLED panel essentially catches up with QD-OLED televisions, offering excellent coverage of a wide color gamut. The results are slightly weaker than those of QD-OLED, but in practice, they still provide an image whose intensity and naturalness of colors are hard to compare with any other television.

Sony Bravia 5 was of course tested in the best possible mode, which is the Cinema mode. Right out of the box, it offers the most natural colors, definitely better than anything provided by the "eco" or "dynamic" modes, which are more suitable for a store display than a living room. However, the Cinema mode itself does not guarantee that we can always expect cinematic image quality. In SDR content, we had practically no major complaints – the slightly warm white balance made the scenes take on a somewhat golden tone, but it was nothing that was glaringly obvious. However, the problem arose with HDR materials. Here, the color reproduction simply looked poor. The white balance was severely off – with an excess of blue and a noticeable lack of red. At times, it even resembled the store "super vivid image" mode, where everything is overexposed and artificially boosted.

This state of affairs made managing brightness seem too aggressive as well. The EOTF graph clearly showed that the television had issues with overexposing many scenes right out of the box. And while we know what Sony televisions are usually capable of, it was hard to remain indifferent here – which is why we quickly decided to go for calibration.

The best picture mode straight out of the box is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode. This mode has been present in Samsung TVs for several years, and its intention is to reproduce the image as faithfully as possible to the creators' vision. In SDR content, it works reasonably well, although not without flaws. The picture is slightly dimmed, and the white balance tends to shift towards red and blue, resulting in a slight pinkish hue on the screen. Average color errors hover around ΔE values of 3–4, which is on the edge of what most people can perceive with the naked eye.

The limitations are much more apparent with HDR content. Here, a slight excess of blue in the white balance is not as big of a problem – the real issue becomes how the TV manages brightness. In many scenes, the picture looked as if it had been overexposed, and details in the dark could completely disappear. The final effect did not represent what the equipment of this class is capable of and led to significant color errors. It’s hard to understand why such a factory characteristic was chosen, as the HDR reception in this version definitely was not what it should be.

After calibration, the situation changed drastically. We managed to tune the white balance so that entire scenes began to look more natural, and the image gained coherence and elegance. In HDR, we finally got rid of that unwanted blooming effect that had previously ruined some shots. Suddenly, it turned out that the Bravia 5 can extract much more from films than the first contact "straight out of the box" suggested. Yes, if we take a look at the graphs and compare them with the reference patterns, we can see that the start of the EOTF curve slightly deviates from the reference line. However, this is not so much a calibration error as a natural limitation of Mini-LED technology, which cannot be bypassed. Sony, instead of clinging to perfect black, prefers to prioritize the visibility of details – and in practice, it’s hard to disagree with that. We prefer to see the texture of the material on the screen rather than a pitch-black blob that obliterates all nuances.

The calibration itself made a significant difference. After about an hour spent on adjustments, we felt that the picture resembled that from the best cinema halls – of course on a home scale, but with the same sense of quality and refinement. And in such moments, we remember why we love Sony televisions: because once we fine-tune them, they can reward us with an image that captivates for long hours.

After calibration, the S95F shows what it is truly capable of. The white balance was corrected, and minor inaccuracies were adjusted, making the image in SDR content look almost exemplary. Color differences have dropped below the level that the human eye can detect – looking at the screen, one simply feels a full sense of naturalness and color coherence.

In HDR, the improvement is equally noticeable. The television handles brightness much better, eliminating the "blowing out" effect of the entire frame. Bright scenes are more controlled, and blacks retain more detail, although sometimes there may still be slight brightening of the image as a whole. Nevertheless, after calibration, the S95F delivers an image that can confidently be called one of the best on the market – regardless of whether we are watching films in SDR or spectacular productions in HDR.

Bravia 5 carries within it the genes of Sony, which remain intact – and thank goodness for that, because we are talking about absolutely remarkable digital image processing. There is a reason that for years it has been believed that it is this brand of television that sets the standard for how a screen should handle lower-quality materials. If someone is still watching classic television, old movies, or YouTube in lower resolution, here they get equipment that can turn such content into a surprisingly pleasant experience. On board, we find several tools worth activating. The first of these is "digital noise reduction." Set to a medium level, it works almost flawlessly – smoothing tonal transitions that usually pose the biggest challenge with low-quality materials, while not introducing any artificial artifacts. Importantly, it also does not remove the filmic character, or the natural grain that is an intentional element in many productions. Another advantage of Bravia 5 is the upscaling capabilities of the XR processor. The image presented after scaling is soft yet sharp and clear. The contours of characters are well-defined, and backgrounds retain their structure without excessive artificial sharpening. It’s hard to find a better television for watching lower-quality content – Bravia 5 only confirms why Sony is regarded as the benchmark in this field.

The Samsung S95F model features a noise reduction function aimed at improving the fluidity of tonal transitions. Its performance is hard to call ineffective – on the contrary, it can excessively interfere with the image. Older films or materials of lower quality, such as those from YouTube, take on a soft, smoothed character because of it, reminiscent of a painted effect. The problem is that along with the noise, the natural film grain, which gives the image a cinematic quality, also disappears. Fortunately, the function does not blur essential details, so its use is more a matter of taste. If someone prefers a slightly polished and smooth image, it’s worth turning it on, but in our opinion, the most sensible setting is “Standard”.

Upscaling leaves a better impression. The S95F efficiently enhances the quality of lower resolution content – even 576p video looks quite good, although some minor artifacts in the form of blockiness can be noticed. Overall, the effect is very solid, although when compared to the competition – such as the Sony Bravia 8 (II) or LG G5 – it can be seen that those models can extract a bit more from the image. However, it's worth remembering one inconvenience: with older films and photos, there is an overscan issue that causes a slight cropping of the left edge of the image.

Bravia 5 has a 120 Hz panel, which in itself sounds like an invitation to watch sports, fast matches, or spectacular action movies. However, the real magic begins only when MotionFlow comes into play – Sony's proprietary smoothing technology. Thanks to it, we can adjust the character of the image to our own preferences. The “smoothness” slider allows us to transition from a cinematic vibe with a slight “jitter” of the film frame to an almost theatrical fluidity, where every ball in the game glides across the screen like on a string. The higher the value, the smoother and more fluid it is; the lower – the more cinematic and natural. In the options, we also find an additional setting that Sony has called “clearness.” This is nothing more than the BFI function (which stands for black frame insertion), which aims to improve motion clarity. It sounds great in theory, but in practice, you need to use it with great caution. Why? Because all higher settings cause brightness drops of up to half, and in some cases, there can also be contour doubling. Therefore, if we want to use it, we recommend the lowest possible level – “1” out of the available ten. This way, we gain a little better motion clarity without risking a loss of half the image brightness.

In the case of the 83-inch S95F with a Tandem OLED panel, the motion smoothness also makes a huge impression. The panel in native 4K resolution offers a refresh rate of 165 Hz, and this combined with organic technology makes games and sports look remarkable. Additionally, the manufacturer added a film smoother and a motion blur reduction system, allowing each viewer to adjust the image to their own preferences – whether it's a more "frame-rate" cinematic effect or a smooth, almost theatrical spectacle.

In the Bravia 5, there is significant progress compared to the X90L model from two years ago. The television offers literally everything that its predecessor had, but this time the issues that could irritate gamers have been fixed. The problems with setting up variable refresh rate (VRR) have disappeared, and there are no longer any issues with configuring HDR content in HGiG mode. In short: we get a device that simply works as it should without any fuss. The Bravia 5 thus has everything one could expect from a modern gaming television – and it could be advertised with the slogan "ready for PS5" without exaggeration. This is a statement we couldn't make about the X90L model. Hats off, Sony!

It's just a shame that in such a relatively high-priced model, a complete set of four HDMI 2.1 ports is missing. In everyday use, this won't be a problem for most people, but if someone has a console, soundbar, and additional equipment connected via HDMI, at some point there will be a need to either choose or juggle cables.

The low trailing and phenomenal motion fluidity, which are the hallmarks of OLED technology, are just the warm-up. The Samsung S95F has been designed with gamers in mind – and this is evident at every turn. Four HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s may sound like a compromise on paper, but in practice, neither consoles nor PCs will experience the slightest limitations. On board is a complete set of gaming features: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and a flawlessly implemented HGiG standard, which allows you to enjoy HDR exactly as the creators intended. All of this is complemented by Game Bar – an intuitive control center where you can check and adjust the most important settings in seconds.

Particular attention should also be paid to Game Motion Plus, Samsung's own smoothing technology. It can add extra fluidity to animations, which can be a lifesaver in games running at 60 frames, where stability doesn't always hold up. Indeed, support for Dolby Vision in games is missing, but it's hard to consider this a serious flaw – the manufacturer compensates for this gap with other solutions. The S95F is one of the absolute favorites for the title of the best gaming TV on today's market.