TCL C6KS / C69KS / Q6CS vs Sony BRAVIA 2 II (S25M2)

And how does the issue of HDR look? Here the C6KS performs quite well and – as is becoming a recurring theme in this review – identically to the C6K model. The maximum brightness generated by this television is around 600 nits. In bright scenes, this translates to a really solid, cinematic effect, and generally, the video materials look good here. However, one must remember the specifics of the dimming algorithm in this model. When very small, bright points (e.g., stars) appear against a dark background, the television can dim them quite significantly. The goal is simple: to eliminate blooming and maintain the best possible black levels. It’s a reasonable compromise. Most viewers will definitely appreciate deep, “true black” more than additional micro-details that could cause grayness on the screen. Such is the nature of local dimming technology in this price range, and one must be aware of it. It’s also worth noting that the TCL C69KS (C6KS) has an additional PFS coating, which is marketed under the tagline of QLED technology. Thanks to this, the colors are saturated and vibrant – our measurements showed that the coverage of a wide color gamut reaches 92% here.

Sony Bravia 2 II is not a very bright TV and unfortunately that is immediately apparent in HDR. In our measurements brightness stayed around 300 to 330 nits, which is definitely too low for the brightest parts of the picture to look truly impressive. In practice HDR here does not differ that much from ordinary SDR. Bright highlights, the sun, or lamps are of course visible, but they lack the intensity you would expect from HDR material. The Bravia 2 II therefore performs much better with regular SDR content, and it is in that use case that its limited brightness will be least noticeable.

Color gamut coverage

Sony Bravia 2 II also doesn't impress when it comes to colors. The TV doesn't use any additional gamut-expanding filter, such as the quantum dots found in QLED TVs or a PFS phosphor layer. In our measurements DCI-P3 coverage was about 78%, and the very wide BT.2020 around 57%. That's definitely too little to talk about truly saturated colors in HDR content. More intense reds, greens, or turquoise hues will simply be less striking than on TVs with an expanded color gamut. The Bravia 2 II therefore fares much better with standard Rec.709, the gamut used for movies, series, and TV in SDR.

Unlike the more expensive C6K model, the tested C6KS does not have an option labeled Filmmaker Mode in the menu. Is this a reason to cry? Absolutely not. Our tests have shown that in practice, in terms of color reproduction, the absence of this specific label makes virtually no difference. The best available Film/Cinema mode here offers nearly identical picture characteristics to the aforementioned Filmmaker mode in the more expensive model. So we get a very similar image, just under a different name. So if you were wondering whether paying extra for the C6K gives you better colors – the answer is: no, in both cases the base is the same and requires slight adjustments.

Out-of-the-box color reproduction in Cinema mode was really good, at least for ordinary SDR material. The Bravia 2 II had a slight tendency to boost reds, so some colors skewed a bit warmer, at times with a faint pinkish tint. However, it wasn't a major fault, and during normal viewing the picture still looked quite natural. There was a bit more going on with image brightness. Looking at the gamma trace, you can see Sony doesn't stick exactly to the reference value. The darkest parts are slightly lifted, while as brightness increases the gamma gradually rises and a larger portion of the image becomes darker than it should. That said, the difference isn't large enough to seriously interfere with everyday viewing. Overall, SDR straight out of the box performs pretty well.

The situation is much worse in HDR. We already mentioned the limited color gamut, but the Bravia 2 II also manipulates image brightness quite aggressively here. The EOTF curve sits below the reference for a large part of the range, which means the TV renders most midtones and brighter parts of the scene darker than the source material intends. Only toward the very end of the range does the curve flatten out, as the panel reaches the limits of its capabilities. Combined with a peak brightness of around 300 nits, this results in HDR that not only lacks punch but can simply look too dim.

Thanks to the white balance adjustment, the tendency of the C69KS to distort colors has been effectively reduced, leading to a very good final effect. After calibration, we won't see excessive warmth in SDR scenes or overly cool tones in HDR. However, it's worth noting the brightness characteristic. In SDR content, there are hardly any objections – the image looks very good, especially in older films, television programs, or materials from YouTube. It is much more difficult to evaluate the performance of the television in HDR. Analysis of the EOTF curve suggests correct behavior, but its practical variant shows certain limitations. The C69KS can overly brighten the smallest elements of the frame, while at other times it can dim the entire scene. Calibration has therefore brought clear benefits in terms of color reproduction, but certain limitations arising from the operation of local dimming and the way it is controlled by the C69KS cannot be avoided, as we also saw in the C6K test.

Calibration did a lot for the Bravia 2 II, especially with SDR content. Above all, we were able to even out the white balance and tidy up the gamma, which now sticks much closer to reference values. As a result, the picture no longer has the previous pink tint, and the brightness of individual areas is much better balanced. You can also see this in the color errors, which dropped to a very low level after calibration (with minor issues in the most saturated reds).

We also partially tamed the Bravia 2 II in HDR, particularly in how the TV manages image brightness. However, there is one thing no calibration can fix: the panel's inherent limitations. The narrow color gamut means the TV physically cannot reproduce the most saturated colors present in HDR content. On top of that, the IPS panel's low contrast leaves darker scenes veiled by a grayish glow, causing colors to lose some of their depth. So we can improve how the Bravia 2 II uses its capabilities, but unfortunately we can't overcome the panel's fundamental limits.

C69KS handles upscaling quite well. The tested 576p material looks surprisingly decent – a significant amount of detail is preserved, and the algorithm adds a subtle "rounding" effect to sharp edges, making the image appear more cohesive. However, the smoothing of tonal transitions is lacking. The television practically cannot improve them, leaving the image in a somewhat raw state. With older materials, this can be simply exhausting, as the lack of additional processing highlights all imperfections.

Upscaling in the Bravia 2 II performs quite well, and in that respect the TV maintains the standard Sony has accustomed us to. Lower-resolution content is sensibly scaled to 4K, with the image slightly smoothed and without over-sharpening edges. It’s a different story when it comes to improving content with visible compression. That’s handled by the "Digital Noise Reduction" feature, which on the "High" setting can indeed smooth out some ugly tonal banding. The problem is it does so fairly aggressively, removing a lot of fine detail along with the imperfections, including natural film grain. Moreover, when there’s more motion on screen its effectiveness drops significantly and the improvement becomes minimal. So we generally avoided using this feature in everyday viewing.

C69KS offers a simplified motion improvement panel in movies, allowing you to adjust the intensity of the effect using a slider. This makes it easy to match the smoothness to your own preferences. The possibility of using higher refresh rates is also a plus – even though the panel operates natively at 4K at 60 Hz, lowering the resolution to 1440p allows you to enable 120 and 144 Hz modes, both on consoles and PC. This sounds like great news, but in practice, the image at these settings suffers from significant motion blur. The effect is noticeable enough that the overall experience feels simply mediocre and loses its appeal in everyday use.

The Bravia 2 II uses a 60 Hz panel and, given its capabilities, handles motion quite well. However, keep in mind this is a basic panel, and its limitations are already noticeable, especially with sports. The TV cannot interpolate 50/60 fps content to a higher refresh rate, so it can't further improve the sharpness of fast-moving objects. For movies and series, you get a standard motion smoother that can reduce the characteristic judder of material shot at 24 fps.

If we overlook the smearing and lack of native 4K at 120 Hz, the C69KS impresses with how well it performs during gaming. We get everything you can expect from a gaming television: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic switching to game mode (ALLM), Dolby Vision Gaming mode, and a reasonably functioning HGiG. The TV can also operate at 120 and even 144 Hz at lower resolutions, allowing for smoother gameplay on console or PC. Additionally, there is a clear Game Bar that lets you quickly glance at key settings during gaming. As a result — despite a few limitations — the C69KS can be a truly successful screen for gamers.

The Bravia 2 II is not a TV particularly well suited for gaming, and the feature list makes that clear pretty quickly. You basically only get automatic low-latency mode (ALLM) and a simple Game Bar where you can view basic signal information and change a few settings. But that's where the list of advantages ends. The TV doesn't support VRR or 120 Hz (not even at lower resolutions), and on top of that it has problems with a proper implementation of the HDR HGIG format. It can, of course, be used for occasional console gaming, and thanks to low input lag controls stay responsive, but if you're mainly looking for a TV for gaming, the Bravia 2 II will simply be a very limited choice.