Sony Bravia 7 (XR70) vs Samsung S85F (WOLED)

Since we know that the television performs well with contrast, let's check how it fares in terms of HDR effects. The luminance graph shows the very high capabilities of this model – 1500 nits is truly an impressive result. HDR effects are particularly striking in scenes where most of the screen is covered in light, as seen in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th test scenes. Minor shortcomings, typical of this technology, are still noticeable with very small light effects, such as in the scene from the movie "Sicario 2," where brightness drops to 500 nits. Although these are not stunning results, they can be considered decent. Additionally, it is worth praising the television for its high coverage of a wide color gamut – DCI-P3 at 96%, which allows for vibrant, saturated colors.

For most of the time, let's say in 90% of film scenes, viewers won't see practically any difference between the S85F versions. When small but very strong light points appear on the screen – a lantern in a dark alley, a gunshot, the sun breaking through the clouds – this WOLED panel (like the smaller S85F) performs wonderfully. Our measurements showed peak brightness at around 750 nits. We can confidently state: this is an excellent result that guarantees fantastic HDR effects. The problem arises in a very specific, uncomfortable situation for any OLED. We're talking about the moment when the entire screen has to shine at full power brightly. Examples include a slide with a white background, a ski jump scene, or our test sequences (5) from the movie The Meg. And here, unfortunately, the results diverge quite significantly to the detriment of the WOLED panel variant. Our measurement equipment was able to measure a maximum of about 250 to 300 nits of brightness in such conditions. Just to be clear: the same model on a QD-OLED panel in the same test is almost twice as bright. The second issue: colors. And here we also have to be honest – QD-OLED has a design advantage. Why? It’s simple. QD-OLED creates colors from three components (red, green, and blue) and does not need an additional white subpixel. The WOLED panel we are testing uses this white subpixel mainly to boost overall brightness. The effect is that QD-OLED is able to show a slightly wider color palette, and the colors are a bit "cleaner." But let’s be clear: it’s not that the colors on this WOLED panel are bad! On the contrary, they are actually very good. Coverage of the DCI-P3 film palette at 97% and 71% for the wider BT.2020 palette is still a high standard. We just have to honestly admit that this few percent advantage in color coverage is on the side of QD-OLED technology and may be noticeable in very specific moments.

The IMAX Enhanced mode on the Sony BRAVIA 7 television is definitely the best mode available on this model, although it is not without its flaws, as its name might suggest. The biggest issue is white balance – both in HD and 4K HDR content, there is a noticeable dominance of red color, which makes the image take on pinkish shades. This is particularly evident on the tested snow screen, where the pinkish hue becomes very noticeable. Errors in the Colour Checker test also confirm these deviations – although they are not catastrophic, there is a tendency to lean towards warmer tones. As for brightness characteristics, gamma remains at a decent level with a slight bump but without major issues. However, the biggest challenge is 4K materials. It is clear that the EOTF curve is significantly above the reference chart, which causes the image to become too bright.

When it comes to factory color reproduction, our test sample in SDR mode suffered from a slight deficiency in red and yellow color. This resulted in a subtle yellowish tint visible in the shades of white. However, this is not the biggest problem with the S85F. Similar to the QD-OLED panel variant, the biggest issue with this model is the way it presents HDR content. When we look at the EOTF curve graph, it is easy to see that the television has quite significant problems with overly brightening the image. This causes the final picture in many scenes to become very unnatural.

Sony BRAVIA XR70 offers a wide range of tools that allow for customizing the picture to personal preferences, which has enabled us to make significant adjustments to the settings. The white balance has been free of the issue of red hue dominance – snow no longer ends up with pink shades, which was previously noticeable. Although one can detect minor deviations at the end of the white balance chart concerning a drop in blue color, they are acceptable and hard to notice in everyday use. The Colour Checker test confirms that color reproduction errors are no longer as pronounced and rarely exceed a value of 2, which is a very good result. As for brightness, gamma, while not requiring significant improvement, has been slightly adjusted. However, the most notable change has been observed in the EOTF curve – the television no longer has issues with overly brightening the entire image in 4K content. However, upon closer analysis and enabling EOTF characteristics in films, certain limitations of the television arise due to the previously discussed dimming algorithm. Some small elements may be slightly more illuminated, but these errors are so minor that most users will not notice them. Overall, the calibration results are very, very positive.

After calibrating in Filmmaker mode, we managed to eliminate most of the unwanted effects. In SDR content, the television performs exemplary, and its color reproduction errors do not exceed a value of 2, which is an excellent result. A bit worse, although still very good, are the HDR quality contents. While we were able to eliminate a significant unnaturalness in the image caused by too high a positioning of the EOTF curve, the most discerning observers may notice that it is not perfectly aligned. It runs slightly below the reference curve, which would suggest that the S85F has slight issues showing all the details in the image. We must point out right away that it is highly unlikely that an average viewer would notice any shortcomings in the image. The final effect after calibration is rated as exemplary.

Since we know that the television performs very well with high-quality materials, it is worth checking how it fares with lower-quality content. Here the television shows its potential, and the applied graphics processor works really well. On the test board with the light bulb, there are no visible issues with color transitions, and the smooth gradation function works very well – we recommend setting it to "Medium".

When it comes to digital processing, or so-called upscaling, the television sharpens the image quite a bit, which leads to slight aliasing, for example on branches in the background, but it does not remove desired details. Nonetheless, the overall appearance is truly attractive and may appeal to most users. However, if we prefer a softer, more plastic image, this effect can be reduced in the settings by adjusting the sharpening level to our personal preferences.

The processing of tonal transitions (gradients) in the S85F is at a high level. The television effectively handles posterization (the "stepping" effect of colors), even with heavily compressed materials, such as from streaming services. However, using this feature requires making a certain compromise. We noticed that the noise reduction algorithm is quite aggressive – even at the lowest setting, it can eliminate natural film grain, which for many viewers is part of the film's aesthetics. The "Standard" setting seems to be the golden mean, not causing visible loss of important details, so we can recommend it. However, we advise against using the "High" level, which removes not only noise but also desired details, such as texture or structure of objects on the screen.

The scaling (upscaling) process of lower resolution content works very well in the S85F. The image is sharp and clear. The only minor imperfection we observed is occasional, slight aliasing on the edges. The television also still exhibits characteristics typical of this manufacturer, such as active "overscan" (slight magnification of the image). This should be kept in mind, especially when watching older materials, as it may result in a minimal cropping of the original frame.

The Sony BRAVIA 7 television with a 120 Hz panel will satisfy most users in terms of motion smoothness. Additionally, Sony offers the Motion Flow feature, which allows for the selection of three different picture settings, adjusting them to personal preferences: Smoothness – Film: This setting improves motion smoothness, giving the image a more cinematic or theatrical character. Smoothness – Camera: This setting provides even greater smoothness, useful when watching dynamic scenes such as sports broadcasts. Clarity: This setting focuses on minimizing noise and motion artifacts, resulting in a more stable and clear image.

The S85F is a model with impressive speed. The use of a 120 Hz OLED panel ensures that dynamic scenes, both in games and during sports broadcasts, meet expectations: smoothly, sharply, and without loss of clarity. A key role here is played by the instantaneous pixel response time, which is a natural advantage of OLED technology. Transitions between frames are instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. Moving objects, like a ball on the field or a car in a chase scene, are clear and devoid of the characteristic motion blur typical of LCD panels (the so-called "tail").

Sony Bravia 7 has significantly improved its capabilities for cooperation with consoles compared to previous models. The TV supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing, and it is compatible with graphics cards, ensuring smooth display. The auto low latency mode (ALLM) effectively reduces input lag, which is crucial in fast-paced games. Dolby Vision with low latency additionally provides impressive HDR effects that look great during gameplay.

Sony Bravia 7 also offers a Game Bar feature that provides quick access to settings and allows monitoring of parameters during gameplay. An interesting option is the ability to enable a virtual crosshair on the screen, which can give a slight advantage in shooting games. However, compared to the Bravia 9 model, the HGIG feature in the Bravia 7 does not perform as well, which may be noticeable for more demanding gamers – especially since the HGIG mode is becoming more popular in the gaming world as the preferred method for reproducing HDR effects.

A downside is the lack of support for 1440p@120 Hz resolution, which could make gaming easier for users with less powerful graphics cards. Additionally, the Sony Bravia 7 is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is often used to connect an audio system via eARC, limiting the number of available ports for connecting next-generation consoles.