Compare Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs TCL P89K / TCL P8K

Sony Bravia 5 is a continuation of the iconic model X90L, and you can see that the manufacturer wanted to take a step forward. A greater number of dimming zones have been used, which makes the contrast seem better in many scenes, and the blacks deeper than those in its predecessor. The 120 Hz matrix and MotionFlow system allow you to adjust the smoothness of the picture to your personal preferences – from a slight cinematic texture to crystal-smooth motion in sports and games. This is equipment that is not afraid of any content because whether we are watching a match, an action movie, or a concert, the picture retains clarity and character. However, the true strength of the Bravia 5 remains the XR processor. It is what makes older materials look better than they should – upscaling works here like magic, smoothing out noise, improving gradation, and giving consistency even to lower quality content. Thanks to this, in everyday use, the Bravia 5 can surprise because instead of fighting with signal imperfections, it pulls the maximum from it. Additionally, there is excellent color reproduction after calibration and dynamic tone mapping along with Dolby Vision mode, which allows you to enjoy details even in difficult, high-contrast scenes. However, it cannot be hidden that in a few moments, the Bravia 5 disappointed us very much. Despite the larger number of zones, brightness and contrast are not always better than in the X90L – sometimes they even perform worse. This raises a sense of wasted potential because we were counting on a greater qualitative leap. After all, we are talking about a true MINI-LED television here. Nevertheless, the Bravia 5 remains a great television for those who want to enjoy primarily picture quality. If you are looking for a model that can impress with motion smoothness, extracts details from difficult scenes, and works wonders with older materials, the Bravia 5 will easily meet these expectations. It’s a television that sometimes can't quite match the competition in certain respects, but it still holds its ground with what Sony does best – cinematic picture.

TCL P8K is a television that immediately wins you over. It seems cheap, supposedly of lower quality, yet it can surprise you. This device shows that at this price, you can still get equipment with character – and it's specifically aimed at a certain group of users. Because let's be honest, the P8K is a television created with gamers in mind. Two HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR support, 4K at 120 Hz, HGiG, and even Dolby Vision in games – it sounds like something that just recently could only be found in much more expensive models. And on top of that, a 144 Hz panel and the possibility to reach even 240 Hz on PC. At this price? It's really hard not to smile. Added to this is Google TV, the system that breathed life into this screen. Everything works intuitively here, with access to a vast library of apps and an efficient Google Assistant that actually understands what you're saying – even when you say it in your own way. Of course, it's not a perfect television. Brightness in the range of 250–300 nits is unimpressive and probably won't impress in a sunny living room. But just an evening, a movie, and a little darker environment will reveal that this screen can do quite a bit. Thanks to dynamic tone mapping, the P8K handles HDR surprisingly well, and colors can look natural. In cinematic scenes, there’s no sign of a plastic, overexposed image – it’s just pleasant. Let’s not pretend that it competes with Mini LEDs or OLEDs – that's not the point. The P8K / P89K is meant to be a television that is simply enjoyable to use. And that’s where its strength lies. For someone who wants to play games, watch Netflix, fire up YouTube, and have all of that in one simple device – it hits the mark. The TCL P8K shows that “cheap” doesn’t have to mean “bad.” It's a television with character that doesn’t pretend to be premium equipment but delivers a lot. And maybe that's why it’s so easy to like it.

Bravia 5 is the entry-level television in Sony's Mini-LED series for 2025, so naturally, we start with the most important aspect – how it performs with black levels and contrast. After all, the term “Mini-LED” sounds almost like a magic spell today. In theory, it means thousands of tiny LEDs arranged in zones that are supposed to work in harmony, dimming and brightening the image so that the viewer's eye perceives more depth than in a classic LCD. In practice, we counted about 200 backlighting zones in the 65-inch Bravia 5. Is that a lot? Definitely more than in its predecessor, the legendary X90L model, but when looking at Chinese manufacturers who can pack hundreds, sometimes even thousands of zones, it comes off as fairly modest.

One would expect that combining a greater number of zones with refined dimming algorithms—something Sony has trained us to expect over the years—would result in a significant quality jump compared to the X90L. Meanwhile – and this is where a slight disappointment comes in – tests showed that the results are surprisingly similar to last year's model. Don’t take this the wrong way: the contrast for an LCD TV with local dimming is genuinely solid. In most scenes, bright elements are separated from dark ones with almost surgical precision, and the effect can be impressive. But when more demanding shots appear on the screen—those that ruthlessly test the backlighting capabilities—it becomes clear that the hardware has its limitations.

Therefore, one could say that in terms of black levels and contrast, the Bravia 5 does not so much disappoint as it rather fails to meet the hopes that the initial announcements raised. We were counting on at least slightly better performance than its predecessor, and we got “only” good contrast. And that “only” is the key word here—because good contrast in Sony’s version still means a level that most competitors could be proud of.

TCL P8K is an example of a television that shows that even in the lower price range, you can still find solid contrast. The VA panel does a really good job here – a measurement around 6000:1 might not sound impressive, but in real scenes, it creates an effect that simply pleases the eye. In the darkness of the forest in "The Revenant" or in the futuristic shots of "Oblivion," you can see the depth and separation of lights that is hard to expect from a device in this price range. The P8K can render darkness without the feeling that everything is drowning in gray. The Direct LED backlighting also works in its favor. Of course, there’s no local dimming here, but the system can dim the entire screen when a scene requires it or slightly brighten it to bring out details in bright areas. It’s a bit of an analog approach to contrast – simple but effective. This was clearly visible in the test pattern of the legendary Pioneer Kuro: the television prioritized bright spots, and the background lost some depth, but it still maintained a decent appearance. Of course, there’s no perfectly pitch-black black here. In a dark room, you can see that the black leans towards blue, but despite that, the overall presentation is just good. In normal home conditions, the contrast is more than enough to feel the cinematic atmosphere.

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.

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K is around 300 nits, although in actual movie scenes, the TV maintains more around 250 nits. These values cannot be considered sufficient for achieving a full HDR effect – they are more akin to a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we won’t see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments when the screen truly “blinds” you, as is the case with more expensive models. The image is somewhat flattened, and the differences between light and shadow are more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall impression. One of them is the coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut at around 93–94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), colors gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, although the typical “wow effect” associated with HDR brightness is lacking here, the image can still impress with its saturation and vibrant tones, making movie scenes pulse with colors and avoiding a heavily faded appearance.

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.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the start. We noticed that the television tends to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat lowered, which made the image appear slightly "washed out," lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most evident in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness curve clearly deviated from the reference values. As a result, the darker parts of the image looked too gloomy, while the brighter sections didn't always reach the proper level of luminance. A second noticeable issue was a slight oversaturation of blue – the television stubbornly boosted this color, which caused some parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a slight purple tint. This is not a major flaw, but to a discerning eye – noticeable. Fortunately, most of these errors could be corrected during calibration. You can see the results of this adjustment in the graphs and photos below.

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 TCL P8K showed a completely different face. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level color reproduction in both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly balanced. The gamma values for SDR material also finally look as they should – the image has the proper depth and no longer appears washed out. The only remark that can still be made about the P8K concerns its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes slightly boosting it, sometimes smoothing it out, which means the effect is not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colors look stunning, and their accuracy is truly surprising. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1-2, which is a result that significantly more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

Gradient transitions are nothing more than the way a television handles the blending of colors and shades – from light to dark, from saturated to pastel. If the device has issues with this, characteristic "stepping" is visible instead of smooth transitions, and the image loses its naturalness. It is during these moments, when instead of getting immersed in a movie, we start glancing at the screen thinking: "hey, something is off." Fortunately, in the Sony Bravia 5, such situations are virtually non-existent. This is a huge advantage, as nothing detracts our attention from the plot or the excitement of sports. The television performs best in bright scenes, where color transitions are smooth, and color blends are almost invisible. The effect is so good that sometimes one might get the impression that the image was painted in one brushstroke. Of course, there were some minor hiccups. In darker scenes, certain imperfections can be noticed – slight stepping or minimal gradation issues. For that, the Bravia 5 received a few negative points from us. Nevertheless, in the vast majority of situations, the television performs excellently and emerges from this test with flying colors.

The television handles color blending exceptionally well – gradients are smooth, free of visible bands or unpleasant jumps. This is best seen in classic test scenes, such as shots from the movie Kingsman or The Martian, where most televisions reveal their weaknesses. The P8K maintains consistency and subtlety in colors, creating an image that is pleasant and natural to perceive.

Minor imperfections only appear in extremely dark shades or on gray palettes – that’s the moment when even significantly more expensive models start to struggle. However, in everyday viewing, this is of no importance. In the overall assessment, the TCL P8K really excels at color blending, offering a smooth, harmonious image free from artifacts.

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 TCL P8K performs somewhat worse when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower quality materials. The television does offer a feature to smooth out unwanted bands, but its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it’s hard to say there’s a real improvement – at times the effect is even the opposite of what was intended, as the feature can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurriness on the screen.

On the other hand, upscaling, or scaling the image to 4K resolution, looks significantly better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well – HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing manner without excessive loss of sharpness. There are indeed slight "hard" edges typical of this class of equipment, but this can easily be adjusted with the sharpness slider according to personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfactory, especially considering the price range in which this model is located.

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.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a 144 Hz refresh rate, which in itself is already a significant advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and video gamers – the image is smooth, and movements of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is only suitable for sports. On the contrary – it can maintain the right dynamics in movies as well, without introducing an artificial effect of "theatricality," as long as we set the parameters wisely. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called "Motion Clarity," which features two sliders: blur reduction and flicker reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity but may cause a slight soap opera effect. The second, on the other hand, limits flicker and improves sharpness in motion, although it may slightly darken the screen. Appropriately adjusting these two parameters allows for a really good balance between natural movement and fluidity. The 60 Hz panel is good for dynamic content, although more demanding users will notice that it is not a top-tier display in terms of motion clarity.

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.

Although the TCL P8K is a budget TV, it certainly can’t be said that it’s not suitable for gaming. On the contrary – this is a screen that can pleasantly surprise any gamer. It features two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing us to easily output 4K at 120 Hz. For those gaming on PC, they will also appreciate the fact that the TV can even operate at 240 Hz refresh rate in lower resolution – a small thing, but it’s nice. In addition, there’s a full set of gaming-specific features: automatic game mode, Game Bar for quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the picture is smooth, the response is quick, and the TV communicates well with next-gen consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn’t have to mean giving up fun. Definitely not when it comes to gaming.

When it comes to input lag, the Bravia 5 deserves a round of applause. Results around 7 ms at 120 Hz content are simply outstanding – it's hard to imagine a player complaining about such responsiveness. Even at 60 Hz, where the delay increases to around 15 ms, we're still talking about values that absolutely do not spoil the fun and can't be felt in practice. Moreover, Sony has finally tamed the Dolby Vision mode. In the X90L, it was practically unplayable – delays rose to levels as high as 150 ms. Meanwhile, in the Bravia 5, input lag remains at the same low level as with other content. This is a huge improvement and further proof that this TV can truly be called "gamer-friendly."

In terms of delays, the TCL P8K performs quite well. In game mode at 4K and 60 Hz, the input lag is around 22 ms, and at 4K and 120 Hz, it drops to 13 ms. These are values that make the TV respond quickly, and there’s no noticeable “lag” between the controller and the screen.

In this category, the Bravia 5 deserves an exemplary rating. The ideal clarity of fonts thanks to 4:4:4 chroma support makes working with a computer on this television a pure pleasure. Whether we're opening Excel, browsing documents, or simply surfing the web – the text is sharp, clear, and free from that characteristic “haze” that can effectively diminish the joy of use in many televisions. The letters look just as they should: clear, sharp, and readable even up close.

We also have good news for PC gamers. The Bravia 5 has no problems handling 120 Hz; it works with both Nvidia and AMD cards, supporting G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro technologies. The result is that the image is not only smooth but also free from tearing or micro-stutters that can spoil the experience even in the best-optimized games. So you can confidently connect a powerful computer and enjoy gaming on a large screen – without compromises, without frustration, and with full comfort. The only thing we can nitpick about is the lack of additional modes for gamers with higher refresh rates.

The TCL P8K works great as a computer monitor as well. The readability of fonts is at a very good level, and working with documents or browsing the web is simply comfortable. The only slight drawback occurs at 144 Hz refresh rate in 4K – dark text on a light background can slightly lose sharpness. The problem disappears when switched to 120 Hz, so it's worth keeping this in mind for daily use. Besides that, it's not just a screen for work, but also a great monitor for gamers. The 144 Hz refresh rate (and even 280 Hz at a lower resolution) combined with G-Sync type synchronization guarantees very smooth gameplay. Of course, we will truly appreciate its full capabilities only with a sufficiently powerful computer, but the potential of the P8K in this role is really significant.

Bravia 5 uses a classic VA panel, which means one thing – viewing angles are not its strongest point. For owners of smaller sizes, this will not be a problem, as sitting directly in front, the picture looks great. However, with larger sizes, especially 85 inches, the situation becomes less comfortable. It’s enough to sit slightly off-center on the sofa to notice small imperfections: the image starts to lose saturation, contrast weakens, and blacks take on unwanted grays. It’s a pity that Sony did not decide to use additional coatings that can bring the capabilities of VA panels closer to those of IPS panels. Such solutions exist, and some competitors use them. Here they are missing, so one must consider that Bravia 5 best showcases its strengths when viewed directly.

The Achilles' heel of the TCL P8K is undoubtedly its viewing angles. The VA panel used has its advantages in terms of solid contrast, but unfortunately loses a lot when looking at the screen from the side. Colors clearly fade, saturation drops, and the overall image takes on a cooler, faded hue. In practice, this means that the best picture is achieved when sitting directly in front – any significant deviation results in a noticeable loss of quality.

Bravia 5 is a device that performs really well in challenging lighting conditions. The high brightness ensures that even in the middle of the day, with the blinds wide open and sunlight streaming through the windows, the picture remains clear and sharp. There’s no sensation that we’re watching a “washed-out” screen. The satin coating of the panel also plays a significant role in effectively reducing light reflections. Yes, some reflections do appear, but they are not strong enough to interfere with viewing. They are more like subtle glows that can be noticed when we deliberately look for them, rather than a real problem on a daily basis. This means that the Bravia 5 will perform well not only in the evening in a dimly lit room but also in bright living rooms where other televisions can falter. Therefore, it can be said that it is a “universal light model” – suitable for both evening screenings and for watching news or sports in full sunlight.

TCL P8K doesn't quite like bright sunlight. With a brightness level of around 300 cd/m², it's hard to expect it to perform well in a living room with large windows and no curtains. In such conditions, the image loses some sharpness, and darker scenes can fade into reflections of light. Fortunately, the screen has a satin coating that handles reflections well and saves the situation in typical home conditions. In the evening or in a slightly dimmed room, the television looks very good. It's just not a device that prefers to sit across from a south-facing window.

GoogleTV and SmartTV features

Sony Bravia 5 runs on Google TV, and it must be admitted that it is one of the best-optimized systems specifically for this brand. The interface runs smoothly, there are no annoying bugs or strange translations, and navigating the menu does not feel like walking through a minefield. Indeed, there are moments when the system stutters a bit—as if it has its “weaker moments”—but these are so rare that they do not spoil the overall impression. We have full support for AirPlay, voice search with the help of Google AI assistant, and the possibility of downloading virtually any app we can think of. The only downside in testing turned out to be the screen mirroring feature, which theoretically should work with laptops and phones, but in practice proved to be almost useless—on Windows and Android, it was impossible to obtain a stable image.

User features

On the side of classic features, Bravia 5 stands solidly and practically. A big plus is the presence of two remotes—one is a slim, modern smart remote, while the other, although working via infrared, has a traditional numeric keypad. This way, we can always choose which one fits the situation better. The EPG, or electronic program guide, is clear and allows you to program recordings to a USB drive—a seemingly simple solution, but extremely useful. Additionally, the television supports the connection of various devices: from an amplifier or soundbar via HDMI eARC, to headphones and other wireless accessories via Bluetooth. This is a setup that makes the television not just a screen, but a well-thought-out home entertainment center.

SmartTV: Google TV

TCL P8K operates based on the Google TV system, which is the heart of the entire device. This is where you can see the biggest advantage of this model over many competitors in a similar price range. The system is clear and easy to use, and it is also very well optimized. We can easily use the screen mirroring feature or the built-in Chromecast, which allows quickly streaming images from the phone to the large screen. However, the biggest asset is the Google Assistant, which responds swiftly and truly understands commands—even those spoken imprecisely. Additionally, the library of apps on Google TV is a true treasure trove—you can install practically everything, from major VOD platforms to less-known music or sports apps.

Classic features

As for classic TV features, the P8K doesn’t have much to boast about. The remote is simple and convenient, with a large number of buttons, and the presence of Bluetooth allows you to connect wireless headphones or a speaker. And that's basically where the list of conveniences ends. You won't find USB recording, PiP functions, or even working teletext here. TCL has clearly focused on modern content and internet features, rather than traditional solutions known from older receivers. This TV is meant to shine in the world of apps and streaming—and it does exactly that.

Bravia 5 handles multimedia playback from USB quite efficiently. In practice, almost everything works – movies, music, photos – although we did encounter some minor issues. Some subtitles can cause problems, as can exotic photo formats, which were not always recognized correctly. However, this is standard in the world of TVs, and it's hard to take offense at it seriously. A significant advantage is the fact that thanks to Android, we are not limited to the system's player. Simply installing an external app, like VLC, eliminates all restrictions. This is the advantage of this system – the manufacturer does not confine us to their ecosystem, but rather gives us the freedom of choice.

Playback of files from USB on the TCL P8K is quite decent. The television handles most popular video formats without any problems, as well as subtitles and audio files. Issues may arise only with less common codecs or unusual file containers that the built-in player simply does not recognize. Fortunately, in the case of Google TV, this is no trouble at all – in just a few moments, you can download an external player such as VLC, MX Player, or Kodi, and the problem disappears.

Bravia 5 positively surprises in terms of audio. The sound is pleasant, with a slightly noticeable bass thanks to the proprietary Bass Reflex speakers. The overall output is loud, clear, and decidedly above average for a television – 40 W of power in a 2.2 configuration is an impressive result in this class. The placement of the speakers on the sides of the housing also plays a significant role here, allowing the sound to spread across the room and providing a sense of space. However, one shouldn't get carried away with optimism. It is still not at the level of even the simplest soundbar. The Bravia 5 performs excellently in everyday use, but for those who enjoy powerful sound and a cinematic effect, additional audio equipment will be a must – just like with nine out of ten televisions available on the market today.

For a television in this price range, the TCL P8K can really surprise with its sound. The 2.1 system branded by Onkyo, along with the subwoofer located at the back of the enclosure, offers surprisingly pleasant, deep bass and quite a wide soundstage. The sound is warm, and with the right material, it can even give the impression that the audio gains depth and character – something rarely expected from a television at this price. It performs quite well for music. However, it’s not perfect. The P8K is not one of the particularly loud televisions – during testing, we noticed a strange tendency to automatically lower the volume, even with the volume slider set to maximum. It seems to be the action of some internal limiter designed to protect the speakers (or our ears). It’s a shame because the potential in this setup is significant, and without this limitation, the sound could be even fuller.

Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs TCL P89K / TCL P8K

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

Daytime performance

Panel details

TV features

Classic features:

Smart features:

GoogleTV and SmartTV features

User features

SmartTV: Google TV

Classic features

Playing files from USB

Apps

Sound

Acoustic Measurements