Sony Bravia 9 (XR90) vs Samsung The Frame 2026 (LS03H)

The brightness performance of the Sony Bravia 9 is exceptional. Each scene reaches over 1500 nits, and the television can shine even brighter during movie playback. This level of brightness provides an extraordinary viewing experience, allowing for immersive interaction with high-quality video content. Thanks to its extensive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, the image is vibrant, and when combined with such high luminance, it almost feels alive. With its impressive peak brightness, viewers can fully appreciate the colour range, even in the most challenging scenes involving dynamic lighting changes. The Bravia 9 also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats, further elevating the viewing experience.

The Frame 2026 is genuinely a bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches about 650 nits and, importantly, similar values are maintained regardless of the type of scene being displayed. So it doesn’t matter much whether we’re watching a very bright full-screen shot or just a small bright element occupying part of the screen. The backlight always has a lot of power, so bright portions of the image are strongly illuminated. That gives The Frame a solid foundation for HDR. Bright highlights can stand out, and the picture doesn’t look flat or too dark. Unfortunately, this is not a solution without compromises. Because it lacks local dimming, the TV cannot darken the blacks next to very bright elements.

This is clearly visible, among other things, in scenes 2 and 4 from our test procedure. Bright areas look intense, but at the same time the blacks around them become noticeably lifted. The picture loses depth as a result, especially when watching in the evening. For that reason The Frame performs best with HDR in bright and moderately bright scenes. There the high backlight brightness works in its favor. In darker shots the situation is the opposite.

Colors

The Frame also performs well in terms of color. It’s a QLED TV, so it can display a wide color gamut and show richly saturated colors. DCI-P3 coverage is around 94%, and BT.2020 about 72%. Those are good numbers and you can see them while watching. Colors are vivid and do not look washed out. It looks best in bright, colorful scenes. Animations or cartoons with lots of saturated hues can look really good on The Frame. In such material the TV shows one of its stronger points.

The "IMAX Enhanced" factory mode has remained the best option in Sony televisions for years, and it was used throughout the entire testing process. While it aligns closely with the reference compared to other predefined settings, improvements could be made for a better viewing experience.

In SDR materials, the gamma shows a noticeable boost, which leads to over-contrasting the image. Additionally, the beginning of the graph deviates significantly from the reference, resulting in merged details in the darker areas, creating an unpleasant uniform blotch. The EOTF curve in HDR content, on the other hand, appears mostly correct, with only minor deviations from the reference.

However, the most prominent issues affect the white balance. There is a persistent green colour dominance, leading to problems with grey tones and overall colour misalignment. This imbalance in the white balance gives the image an unwanted greenish tinge, negatively impacting the overall visual quality.

To evaluate the out-of-the-box colors we chose Filmmaker Mode. If you’re encountering it for the first time, it’s a mode designed to present a movie or series as faithfully as possible. The TV then turns off most additional picture enhancers, and the colors and luminance characteristics are meant to be as close as possible to what the content creators intended. I have to admit that the The Frame 2026 already performs quite well in this regard straight out of the box. The biggest deviation is visible in the white balance. As brightness increases, blue starts to drop off and green increases slightly. As a result the image shifts toward warmer tones. White is therefore not perfectly neutral, and in some scenes you can notice a slightly warmer overall cast.

The luminance response — gamma or EOTF — looks good. Across most of the range they stay fairly close to the target, though in the darkest parts of the image there is a larger deviation. In practice, some details emerging from black may therefore appear a bit more pronounced. That said, it’s not a flaw that jumps out during normal viewing. Overall, Filmmaker Mode is a good starting point here. However, the factory image is a bit too warm and not all hues land exactly where they should.

The colour reproduction after the calibration process on the Sony Bravia 9 is nothing short of excellent. Regardless of the signal, whether SDR or HDR, the image comes remarkably close to the director's intended vision. Nearly every flaw in the image has been meticulously modelled and corrected to a high degree.

This impressive result can be attributed to the advanced tools available for calibration, which Sony has been offering in its televisions for years. Notable tools include the 2- and 20-point grayscale calibration and a very comprehensive CMS (Colour Management System). These features allow for precise adjustments, ensuring that the colours and overall image quality are as accurate and faithful to the source material as possible.

After calibration we mainly managed to remove that warmer cast and better even out the white balance. We also smoothed the brightness response a bit, which made the image more neutral and predictable. However, there are things calibration won't fix. It's mainly the behavior of the blacks, which stems from the backlight design itself and the lack of local dimming. In some scenes blacks will therefore still be slightly lifted, and you'll just have to accept that. That's more a characteristic of this model than something that can be fixed with settings. HDR is also somewhat limited. Samsung doesn't give full freedom to work across the widest color gamut, so not all colors can be reproduced perfectly. In normal viewing you probably won't notice it, but it's worth being aware of.

When analysing the quality of tonal transitions and image scaling, especially for lower-quality materials, the improvement after activating the function for tonal transitions is clear. By default, the quality is quite average, but once the function is turned on, even at the lowest setting, the results are among the best we've seen. This feature can be enabled without worrying about negative side effects, such as film grain blur.

Sony's "XR" processor, which the brand has been touting for several years, lives up to its reputation for image scaling. The image quality is incredibly sharp while maintaining a very natural look. This reinforces that Sony's processing technology is one of the best available, particularly when handling lower-resolution content.

As with many of Samsung’s newer TVs, this one also uses the NQ4 AI processor, only the older, second-generation version. And you have to admit it handles digital image processing quite well. Lower-resolution material is sharpened effectively, and after upscaling to 4K it still looks natural. The TV can also somewhat "tidy up" weaker sources, like older recordings or lower-quality broadcasts. That doesn't, of course, mean it will suddenly turn poor footage into 4K, but at closer viewing distances the difference compared with simpler models with weaker processors is easy to spot. Edges are clearer, and fine details don't get lost as much to signal compression.

Samsung also offers a few additional image-enhancing features, but as usual it's best to use them sparingly. At stronger settings, noise reduction can very effectively reduce posterization, but it also noticeably interferes with the image. The picture then simply starts to look very artificial, for example by heavily smoothing characters' faces. So it makes the most sense with really poor sources when various types of noise are seriously distracting.

The maximum refresh rate of the Sony Bravia 9 is 120 Hz, the minimum for those primarily watching sports or other high-motion content. This refresh rate ensures the image remains sharp and smooth, even during fast-paced scenes. For more demanding users, Sony has implemented an advanced motion smoothing system, divided into three distinct segments: Smoothness (Film), Smoothness (Camera), and Clarity. These settings can be adjusted to various degrees, allowing users to fine-tune the picture to their preferences. For example, a setting with slight smoothing can be used to avoid the "soap opera effect," delivering a more natural and cinematic viewing experience. This level of customisation ensures that viewers can find their ideal balance between smoothness and clarity.

Samsung again used a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz here. Refresh rates up to 120Hz primarily offer more headroom for material with a lot of motion. The TV can use additional motion interpolation systems that can improve smoothness in sports and other fast-moving content. However, a high refresh rate alone does not solve everything. The Frame still uses a VA panel, which has a relatively slow response time, and consequently fairly pronounced motion blur. With fast-moving objects, especially on a dark background, motion trails are easy to notice. There's also a slight doubling of edges, which can be visible even with the additional motion processing systems turned off. We already saw similar behavior in last year’s The Frame 2025, and it’s a pity Samsung hasn’t fixed that element. The 144 Hz itself provides a good foundation, but the panel’s response time still limits this TV.

The Sony Bravia 9 television is equipped with four HDMI ports, but what is puzzling for a device of this class is that only two of them operate in the 2.1 standard. Despite this, it should not detract from the fact that nearly all features work excellently, providing a positive experience when using them. Games running in HDR10 or Dolby Vision benefit from low input lag, ensuring a comfortable gaming session. The solid implementation of the HGIG mode is a noteworthy feature, as, after proper calibration, it closely aligns with Dolby Vision.

Sony introduced the GameBar feature to its televisions last year, a standard for many manufacturers. This feature allows for quick adjustment of settings without exiting the game. Its implementation has been seamless, offering conveniences such as a crosshair grid, black level adjustment, and reducing the screen to gaming monitor proportions.

The Sony Bravia 9 will find its fans, particularly among PlayStation enthusiasts. It is a natural pairing since the console and the television share identical capabilities. However, more broadly speaking, despite the minor issues with Dolby Vision in games, the Bravia 9 remains a very good television for gaming overall.

In terms of gaming features, The Frame is practically on par with Samsung's top TVs. When you connect a console the TV automatically switches to game mode thanks to ALLM, so you don't have to change settings manually each time. There's also VRR, which matches the display's refresh rate to the frames being produced by the console or PC. During drops in smoothness this helps avoid the characteristic screen tearing. The Frame of course supports 4K at 120 Hz, so you can take advantage of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X in games that offer higher frame rates. HGiG also works correctly. With HDR set up properly on the console the TV doesn't try to brighten the image on its own, so bright effects in games are shown as they should be. Samsung also includes a Game Bar. It's a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. There you can check things like VRR and the current frame rate, and quickly change the most important gaming settings. For PC use the options are even greater, since the mentioned Full HD mode allows raising the refresh rate up to 240 Hz. There is really only one feature missing that Samsung has already spoiled us with, and that's Dolby Vision Gaming. Xbox owners will notice this the most, because that console can use Dolby Vision in games. There's one more thing worth mentioning that applies specifically to this model. Its One Connect module has only one HDMI 2.1 port, so that's the only port you can use for a console or PC if you want 4K 120 Hz. Fortunately Samsung didn't tie that port to eARC. You can therefore connect a soundbar separately (3) and still have a full HDMI 2.1 port available for the console.