Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs LG OLED C6 (WOLED)

Thanks to its new QD-OLED panel, the Sony Bravia 8 II can reach an astronomically high brightness of around 2000 nits, which translates into near-reference quality for movies and series mastered in HDR. In test material like Life of Pi or Sicario 2 the effect is simply stunning, with details in bright areas remaining perfectly visible and nighttime scenes impressing with depth and contrast. It is not perfect, though. Compared with its toughest rivals, the Bravia 8 II shows a noticeable drop in brightness on full-screen, very bright frames. If you compare peak spot luminance with 100% white luminance in HDR mode, the Bravia 8 II can appear two to three times dimmer than the LG G5 or Samsung S95F models. In the scene from The Meg this was especially apparent, as the screen became noticeably dimmer than competing TVs. Despite this shortcoming, the Bravia 8 II’s results still place it among the market leaders. Its absolutely top-tier color gamut coverage deserves praise, with DCI-P3 at nearly 100% and BT.2020 close to 90%. These figures let HDR content reach its full potential and deliver cinema-like experiences at home.

The HDR effect on the LG C6 is really very good. LG Display's new WOLED panel primarily brought a significant increase in brightness. In our unit we measured around 1,500 nits and, importantly, the TV can show similar values in many normal movie scenes. That gives HDR the proper impact. Bright highlights, lamps, or sunlight can be really strong, and most HDR movies simply look very impressive. Of course it's still an OLED, so brightness drops in scenes with a lot of white. The fifth scene of The Meg illustrates this well, where the C6 reached about 600-700 nits. That's still a very good result, but it also shows the new panel hasn't removed all the limitations typical of OLEDs.

Colors

When it comes to color, there is also little to complain about. The C6 covers about 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut and roughly 75% of BT.2020. In practice the colors are very saturated and, importantly, stable regardless of the scene. That's worth emphasizing, because not every TV behaves the same in this respect. In some RGB Mini LED models color saturation can depend more strongly on image brightness. Today a wider color gamut is mainly offered by QD-OLED TVs and new SQD models with a new generation of quantum dots. However, the C6 still performs very strongly here and is able to generate appropriately saturated colors in most movie scenes.

Out of the box the Bravia 8 II performs really well. In its best IMAX® Enhanced mode the TV renders colors pleasantly and naturally, though "good" here doesn't mean "best in class." The white balance definitely needs adjustment, as skin tones tend to shift slightly toward pinkish/cooler hues in both SDR and HDR content. We also noticed that the EOTF curve has a tendency to brighten the darkest parts of the picture. This likely comes from the manufacturer's desire to reveal as much detail as possible even in deep shadows. Is that a good approach? It's hard to say for sure, but one thing is clear: it's not an ideal solution.

Right out of the box the LG C6 is pretty well set up, especially if you choose Filmmaker mode. In SDR material the white balance is decent, although as brightness increases it starts to lack a bit of red. The picture becomes a little cooler as a result, but it’s not such a big difference that it stands out during normal viewing. More happens in the brightness response itself. Gamma is a bit low and instead of holding at 2.4 it sits closer to 2.1–2.2 over much of the range. In practice the C6 slightly brightens midtones. Shadows are therefore more readable, but the image loses some depth compared with how it should look in a dark room. In HDR the situation is a bit more interesting. The start of the grayscale looks very good, but from about 20–30% brightness the white balance starts to drift more and more. As brightness rises there’s more red and a noticeable lack of blue. In the brightest highlights the difference is already significant and also affects reproduction of some colors. The EOTF curve itself is handled fairly well over most of the range. The C6 only has a tendency to slightly brighten the image, which we also saw during our film comparisons. The largest deviation appears around the brightest highlights, where the TV begins to adapt the signal to the panel’s capabilities. So the out-of-the-box Filmmaker mode in HDR isn’t perfect, but overall it performs well. The biggest room for improvement is the white balance, especially at high brightness.

After calibration we mainly managed to eliminate the excessive cooling of the image caused by too strong a boost in blue. Reds became deeper and skin tones took on a natural, healthy look. Actors who had previously seemed "cold" now appear on screen much livelier and more convincing. One thing hasn't changed, however: analysis of the EOTF curve still shows the Bravia 8 II tends to brighten the darkest parts of the image. It's hard to say whether that's an intentional choice by the manufacturer or a result of the panel design and software. In practice this means scenes that filmmakers intended to remain in deep shadow can reveal more detail than intended. Despite that, the picture after calibration is clearly better — warm, natural colors and realistic skin tones simply make watching on the Bravia 8 II more pleasant to the eye.

LG TVs have been very receptive to calibration for years, and the C6 is no exception. After adjustment the white balance was set almost perfectly, and most color errors dropped to values below 3, often even around 2. In practice this means very accurate color reproduction in both SDR and HDR. An interesting detail appeared only with the HDR brightness characteristic. On a classic EOTF chart everything looks nearly ideal, and at first glance it would be hard to find fault. Only when we measured the TV’s behavior using filters based on actual movie scenes did it become clear that the C6 has a slight tendency to artificially boost image brightness.

It’s not a huge difference and many people may even see it as a positive, because HDR looks a bit more impressive this way. From the standpoint of fidelity to the source material this isn’t ideal — some scenes are simply a touch brighter than the filmmaker intended. Interestingly, this is somewhat unusual for LG. In previous generations, the brand’s TVs typically stuck very closely to the reference tone curve after calibration. With the C6 we’re still very close to the standard, but that subtle boost in brightness is indeed noticeable in films and series.

Upscaling and digital image processing are a real showcase for the Bravia 8 II. Sony has long been regarded as a master in this field, and this only reinforces that reputation. The company's proprietary XR processor can extract almost the maximum from lower-resolution sources, whether broadcast TV or an old DVD, the picture looks sharper, with more detail and better depth. Sure, if you feed it exceptionally poor-quality material (like our archival photo of the model), you won't get miracles, but for everyday viewing there's little to complain about.

The smooth gradation feature also performs very well. On the "Medium" setting it effectively smooths tonal transitions, eliminating banding in color and gray gradients while preserving film grain and fine image detail. It's precisely that balance between subtlety and effectiveness that keeps Sony TVs among the best on the market in this category.

The LG C6 has taken a really big step forward here. The TV uses the same processor found in the flagship G6, and in terms of image processing the two models are very similar. That’s a big plus, because in this area LG’s processor this year performs excellently. The "Smooth Gradation" feature works especially well. With heavily compressed material it can effectively hide ugly tonal transitions and artifacts that often appear, for example, in lower-quality streaming. It’s best to leave it set to "Low." Then the improvement is clear, and the TV doesn’t yet start blurring fine details. Higher levels smooth the image more, but can already remove some of the natural texture of objects on the screen. The upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is sharpened properly, edges look clean, and the processor quite effectively rebuilds fine details. In this regard the C6 is already very close to LG’s best TVs, and the differences compared with the G6 are small.

When it comes to motion handling, the Bravia 8 II is basically a done deal. The OLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate naturally delivers a very clean, sharp picture in fast-moving scenes, so there's little to complain about. What deserves special praise, though, is one of the best motion smoothing systems on the market. It lets you precisely tailor motion in films to your preferences, from subtle smoothing to an almost "theatrical" look, without the risk of artificial judder, image tearing, or annoying artifacts. It's one of those features you'll appreciate both when watching movies and during sports.

The LG C6 features a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz, which is great news especially for gamers using a powerful PC. For movies, sports, or consoles we'll of course use up to 120 Hz, but even then it's hard to fault the motion clarity. As you'd expect from an OLED, the panel's response time is almost instantaneous. Moving objects therefore don't leave the characteristic smears you still see on LCD TVs. This is particularly noticeable in sports and fast-paced games, where the picture remains very clean even during dynamic motion.

For movies and TV, LG also provides the TruMotion motion-smoothing system. In the user settings you'll find two separate sliders. De-Judder is mainly for low-frame-rate content, that is primarily 24 fps films and series. It can slightly reduce the characteristic judder, or be set higher if you want a much smoother image. De-Blur is useful for higher-frame-rate material, mainly sports broadcasts and 50/60 fps television.

Sony really learned from previous years, and with the Bravia 8 II it has put together a package of gamer-focused features that’s hard to call anything but "almost perfect." It includes everything you expect at this level: VRR, ALLM, Dolby Vision Gaming mode, HGiG, and even a handy Game Bar that lets you quickly check parameters and change settings without leaving the game. Also a plus is how smoothly and seamlessly these features work, with no delays and no odd stuttering. You just launch a game and everything looks as it should. Unfortunately, it’s not without a few caveats. The manufacturer still gives us only two full-bandwidth HDMI ports, so if you have a console, a PC, and another device like a soundbar connected via eARC, you’ll be swapping cables. It’s also surprising there’s no support for 1440p at 120 Hz, which is particularly important for Xbox players. Overall, though, this is one of those TVs you can comfortably place at the center of a gaming-focused living room and enjoy gameplay without major compromises.

LG has focused heavily on gamers for years, and the C6 really lacks nothing important. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz from consoles, and when connected to a PC it can run up to 165 Hz. It also offers VRR from 40 to 165 Hz, ALLM, and properly working HGiG. A big plus is Dolby Vision support for games, so the Xbox Series X can use that format without sacrificing game mode. The package is rounded out by a Game Bar that lets you quickly check key signal parameters and change settings without leaving the game. In terms of features, the C6 is one of those TVs that’s really hard to find fault with. Whether you play on PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming TV is available here.