Sony Bravia 8 MK2 vs Samsung S90H (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 Samsung S90H in the WOLED variant is still an exceptionally bright TV for its price class, although it is slightly dimmer compared to the QD-OLED version. The difference is not as pronounced as in last year’s F series, where gaps could reach as much as 500 nits. Here the specs of both panels are very close, and differences in peak brightness are only about 100–150 nits. In small-area measurements, the S90H on the WOLED panel easily reaches levels close to 1500 nits. That headroom lets it portray HDR dynamics phenomenally—specular highlights, reflections or explosions have the right punch, just as the creators intended in the post-production studio. As with most OLED displays, when a very bright scene fills the entire screen, the protection systems that safeguard the panel kick in and brightness naturally falls to around 700 nits. It’s worth stressing that this is still an excellent result on the market, often noticeably better than many Mini LED screens in the same segment.

Color gamut coverage

The biggest difference between the two S90H variants lies in color reproduction and saturation. This stems directly from the different construction of the WOLED panel, which uses an additional white subpixel. As a result, colors at very high brightness don’t achieve quite the same intensity, and the volume of the wide color gamut is somewhat more limited than with QD-OLED. That said, in everyday use these differences will be hard for most viewers to notice. Our measured DCI-P3 coverage on the WOLED panel reaches nearly 99%, which means that in the vast majority of real film scenes both variants will deliver almost identical images. The true gap only appears in rarer, particularly demanding productions that use the ultra-wide BT.2020 gamut. Due to the WOLED panel’s design, coverage of that standard is about 15% lower compared to the S90HAT with a QD-OLED panel, so the brightest, heavily illuminated HDR colors may appear a bit less vivid.

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.

In Filmmaker mode, which we strongly recommend enabling right out of the box, the S90H offers very good factory color tuning. Colors are natural and faithful to the filmmakers' intent, without the intrusive oversaturation found in more aggressive profiles. However, as is usually the case without full calibration, there can be unit-to-unit variation. In our test the white balance lacked a bit of the blue component, causing the image to lean slightly toward warmer, yellowish tones. This was most noticeable in bright scenes, such as the snowy sequences from Star Wars. Additionally, the gamma curve ran slightly low, around 2.2, which resulted in a slight boost to shadow detail. In HDR mode the tuning was a bit better, showing only a slight undersaturation in the red region.

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.

After full calibration it can safely be said that the S90H in the WOLED version looks almost perfect. In SDR mode color reproduction errors drop to ultra-low levels, and Delta E values very rarely exceed 2. That's a phenomenal result, so if you care about perfectly faithful color reproduction it's definitely worth considering calibration. The calibrated HDR mode also performs very well, in which the white balance was stabilized and earlier deviations eliminated. After professional tuning it's really hard to find anything to criticize, because the TV delivers an image with almost exemplary naturalness and dimensionality. The slightly lower rating in this category compared with the QD-OLED variant is solely due to the previously described saturation limitation in extremely bright scenes; the tuning options and color fidelity themselves are at the highest level.

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.

When it comes to reducing posterization, Samsung has kept the same solutions as last year’s models. The dedicated gradient-smoothing function works quite well and can effectively mask unwanted tonal transitions, which can be useful on a WOLED panel that is somewhat prone to banding. However, keep in mind it acts aggressively. This mechanism, aside from removing artifacts, can clean up fine film grain and slightly soften detail. Ultimately it’s a matter of compromise, but if you care about an absolutely faithful reproduction, it’s safer to leave this option off.

There’s also no breakthrough in scaling. The S90H uses the same NQ4 Gen3 processor as its predecessor, so the quality of upscaling was almost identical. The chip sharpens lower-resolution material very well, extracting a satisfying level of detail. Samsung still hasn’t dealt with the old overscan issue. With some older recordings or archival material the image edges can be slightly cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s a shame the manufacturer still hasn’t eliminated it.

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.

In terms of motion handling, the S90H is simply excellent. This year's panel offers a refresh rate boosted to 165 Hz, though in practice the benefit will be realized mainly by gamers connecting a powerful PC. For movies, TV series, or sports broadcasts, such a high refresh rate makes no difference and the picture looks exactly the same as at the standard 120 Hz. Regardless of the source, the OLED panel's lightning-fast response time does its job, so motion is clean and the ghosting or smearing seen on LCD screens simply doesn't occur here.

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.

Players should feel at home with the S90H, because in that respect Samsung left few reasons to complain. The TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, each of which supports VRR, ALLM, and high refresh rates. There's also the Game Bar, a handy menu that lets you quickly check key parameters and change settings without leaving the game. Importantly, Samsung has also improved HGiG. In last year's models it could cause issues when used with a console, but in the S90H it now works as it should. What sets it apart from the competition is primarily Game Motion Plus. It's a special motion-smoothing mode designed for games, which works best with titles running at 30 or 60 frames per second. Motion becomes noticeably smoother, while latency remains at a reasonable level. In our measurements it was under 50 ms, so you can still play comfortably. That's important, because on many TVs turning on a similar smoothing mode causes such a large increase in input lag that controls start to feel noticeably sluggish. Samsung has managed to find a good compromise here. There's still no Dolby Vision Gaming, but in practice Game Motion Plus may prove to be a far more useful feature.