Sony Bravia 8 (XR80) vs Sony X85L

The Sony Bravia 8 performs commendably in terms of HDR brightness, reaching a peak of 880 nits. This level is sufficient to render lighting effects effectively in most scenes. In tested clips from Life of Pi and Sicario 2, the television demonstrated vibrant, detailed imagery that captured the atmosphere of these films beautifully.

However, challenges arise in scenes with consistently high brightness, such as in The Meg, where the display's limitations become apparent. In these situations, OLED technology can struggle, with brightness levels dropping to around 450 nits, which can be less satisfying when intense illumination is needed throughout a scene. Despite this, the Sony Bravia 8 remains a strong contender, offering excellent DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage and 74% BT.2020 coverage. These attributes result in rich, accurate colours and fine details, enhancing HDR content and providing an enjoyable viewing experience.

The Sony X85L TV offers solid HDR performance with a brightness level of 750 nits, which is sufficient to enjoy vivid effects. In scenes of moderate difficulty, such as the first, third, or fifth test scenes, a brightness of around 600 nits allows one to fully experience the HDR effect. Unfortunately, in more demanding segments, such as the scene from the movie Sicario 2, the TV shows its limitations. Drops in brightness to 250 nits make the HDR effect lose its impressive quality and resemble regular SDR instead. Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting the very good coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette at 95%, which definitely deserves praise and positively affects the overall image quality.

The best factory mode on the Sony Bravia 8 television is IMAX Enhanced, offering the most cinematic experience, though it isn't perfectly calibrated. The TV attempts to replicate cinematic settings as accurately as possible, but some issues are evident. Starting with white balance, both for SDR and 4K content, there is a noticeable blue dominance, making the image appear too cold and lacking in natural warmth. Colour Checker tests reveal a shift towards cooler tones, affecting colour accuracy and making the image feel less lifelike.

Regarding brightness and contrast, the gamma shows a significant drop towards the end of the spectrum, meaning dark details may become too shadowed, and bright areas too intense, causing a loss of subtlety and detail. This is particularly noticeable in the sky, as seen in the comparison image. Additionally, the EOTF curve is considerably above the reference value, making bright elements overly intense. As a result, users may experience an unnatural image, with bright parts losing detail and negatively impacting the overall viewing quality.

The Sony X85L television was tested in IMAX Enhanced mode, which, although associated with world-class cinema, does not guarantee an image that aligns with the director's vision. The main issue is the white balance – there is a noticeable strong dominance of blue color and significant lack of red. As a result, the image becomes unnaturally cool and appears artificial. The color reproduction errors were confirmed by the Colour Checker test, which showed significant discrepancies – colors were "scattered" like shots from a rifle, and only a few samples hit the target values. This clearly shows that the precision of color reproduction leaves much to be desired.

The brightness of the image is one of the positive features of the TV. The gamma for HD content is at an acceptable level, although there are minor errors, but generally, it is quite good. However, the brightness characteristics for 4K materials remain an issue, controlled by the EOTF curve. It is evident that very small, bright elements of the image are too dim, which is a result of the limited number of dimming zones due to the design of the television.

The calibration process of the Sony Bravia 8 television resulted in significant improvements in image quality. The white balance was notably enhanced for both SDR and 4K HDR content, with minimal errors in the middle section of the graph. Gamma calibration was one of the biggest improvements, eliminating previous dips that had impacted brightness stability and the reproduction of detail in dark areas. The EOTF curve was also corrected, making bright elements appear more natural and improving the overall tonal balance.

However, the most attention should be given to colour reproduction, where some issues persist despite calibration. Sony has omitted the CMS system in this model, which would allow for more precise colour control. As a result, the Colour Checker test for 4K content still reveals significant colour inaccuracies. Despite these limitations, calibration is still recommended, as the improvements in brightness and contrast are noticeable and greatly enhance the overall image quality.

Thanks to the use of calibration tools offered by Sony X85L, the image quality has been significantly improved. After calibration, the white balance for HD content is much more stable, making colors look more natural and the image gains authenticity. Although it is not perfect, these changes allow viewers to enjoy a more realistic representation of colors, eliminating the earlier cool tone. The gamma, which already performed decently, has been adjusted to an even better version. As a result, tonal transitions and brightness are more consistent, positively affecting the depth and detail of the image.

As for 4K content, despite efforts, the white balance still struggles with a deficiency of red, which can result in overly warm colors in some scenes. Synthetic tests showed that the EOTF curve in HDR is quite stable, with a slight boost in mid-bright scenes. However, in real film materials, the TV can still be too bright with fine, light details, which is a result of the limitations of large local dimming technology.

Nonetheless, calibration has brought significant benefits, particularly in color accuracy, improving overall image quality and providing a more natural and cohesive directorial vision.

The fluidity of tonal transitions in lower-quality materials on the Bravia 8 is lacking. Unfortunately, the gentle gradation function, which was available in previous models, is missing, which is a significant drawback. The digital noise reduction feature can improve tonal transitions, but it often removes fine details, such as clouds in scenes from The Martian, which may not be to everyone's taste. On the other hand, the digital processing in the Sony XR80 is quite effective. In test scenes, it performed well without noticeable flaws, and the branches in the background remained smooth without jagged edges. This indicates that the Bravia 8 is capable of handling complex low-resolution image details with relative ease.

In terms of smoothing tonal transitions, the Sony X85L television does not offer any dedicated enhancement options, which is a downside. On the other hand, image scaling performs quite well – the television adds a bit of artificial sharpness, which can make details such as tree branches more pronounced, although sometimes with noticeable jaggedness. This type of effect may appeal to some viewers who prefer a more detailed image.

The Sony Bravia 8 offers a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, ensuring smooth viewing of dynamic content such as sports and games, with sharp and fluid motion. For more demanding users, the Sony XR80 features an advanced motion smoothing system, divided into three settings: Smoothness (Film), Smoothness (Camera), and Clarity. The first two settings adjust the level of blur and smoothness, while the Clarity setting will be discussed in more detail below. Each of these parameters can be customised to suit individual preferences, allowing users to fine-tune the settings for the optimal viewing experience.

The Sony X85L, equipped with a 120 Hz panel, will meet the expectations of a wide range of users – from sports and gaming fans to movie buffs. Movie enthusiasts will surely appreciate the presence of one of the best motion smoothing systems, Motionflow. This system offers adjustment via smoothness and clarity sliders – smoothness is responsible for motion fluidity, eliminating stutter, while clarity enhances the sharpness of fast scenes, reducing blur.

The Sony Bravia 8 has greatly improved its compatibility with consoles compared to earlier models. It supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing and can sync with graphics cards for smooth visuals. The Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) reduces input lag, a crucial feature for fast-paced games. Additionally, Dolby Vision with low latency enhances HDR effects, offering stunning visuals during gameplay.

The Sony XR80 also includes a Game Bar, which provides quick access to settings and monitoring tools during gaming. A notable feature is the option to enable a virtual crosshair on the screen, giving players a potential advantage in shooter games.

However, there are some drawbacks. The TV lacks support for 1440p@120Hz resolution, which would benefit users with less powerful graphics cards. Furthermore, the Sony XR80 has only two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is typically used for connecting an audio system via eARC, limiting the number of available ports for next-gen consoles.

Sony X85L offers quite a solid set of features for gamers, making it an attractive choice for gaming enthusiasts. First and foremost, the TV has a 120 Hz panel, translating to smooth and dynamic image display, ideal for both fast-paced action games and more demanding sports titles. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, allowing for the full utilization of next-gen console capabilities. Additionally, the Sony X85L supports VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) technology, which helps reduce stuttering and artifacts during gameplay, providing a fluid experience. The TV also supports G-Sync, which is particularly beneficial for gamers using NVIDIA graphics cards, allowing for screen refresh rate synchronization with GPU performance, eliminating the tearing effect. It is worth mentioning the Game Bar feature, which facilitates quick access to essential gaming-related settings such as VRR, brightness levels, and display modes, making it convenient and useful during gameplay.

However, there are certain limitations. The TV does not support HGiG, which may be a downside for some gamers, as HGiG optimizes HDR effect rendering in games, providing a more authentic visual experience. Additionally, while Dolby Vision mode is available, it is not practical for gaming due to very high input lag.