ZDNET Highlights
- Sony’s flagship TV delivers great picture and audio quality.
- There’s a lot of flexibility with fine-tuning image and audio settings.
- The screen isn’t as bright as competing models, making the TV less ideal in brightly lit locations.
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Sony is one of the top names in OLED TVs, and with good reason. Their flagship models consistently deliver high quality picture and audio as well as premium features. I had a chance to check out the Bravia 8 II in our test lab in Louisville, pitting it head-to-head against models from Samsung, LG, and even TCL to see how well it holds up.
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The first thing I noticed about the Bravia 8 II is that the screen is very deep right out of the box, especially when set next to the Samsung S95F and the LG G5 OLED.
Every picture mode, even Vivid, was very blurry and shadowy, making it a little difficult to see in bright environments. Sony seems to have designed this particular OLED with dark home theaters and living rooms in mind, but, fortunately, you can change the brightness settings in the main menu and apply them to either the single picture mode or all TV settings. This is one of the biggest features of the Bravia 8 II.
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You can also fine-tune things like color temperature, sharpness, and contrast to get a custom picture setting that works best with your space. While adjusting the settings for the test lab, I really appreciated how easy it was to navigate Sony’s TV menus and how quickly I could make changes.
This especially came in handy when I was switching between movies and games; With just a few menu options, I can easily tweak settings to get the most out of my movies and games.
With the help of both Dolby Atmos and Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, the BRAVIA 8 II gives you rich audio that really follows the on-screen action and helps separate left and right channels for music streaming to give you a more immersive experience. You can also set up custom equalizer profiles for everything from streaming music to watching local news.
Setting up the Bravia 8 II was quick and simple. All you need is a Google account to access streaming apps and the home screen. The TV’s build is quite slim – not as thin as the Samsung S95D OLED – but you’ll still be looking for a second person to help you move the screen around to avoid cracking or other damage.
Also: I tested the Samsung S95F OLED for a week, and it ruined the way I watch TV
During our Calman color accuracy tests, the Bravia 8 II had a slight blue shift in all picture modes, but it wasn’t enough to affect color accuracy or picture quality. This is most noticeable when watching black-and-white movies, such as casablancaBecause everything will feel like it’s had a cool blue filter applied to it. You can counteract this with the integrated blue-light filter mode, which adds a warmer filter that I really like as it makes colors feel more vibrant, especially in older media.
The dedicated game mode has three picture settings: Standard, FPS and RTS, each of which includes different input latency, refresh rate, color and sound settings to suit your favorite titles. The difference between the three settings isn’t noticeable to the average console gamer, but streamers and tournament players may appreciate being able to tweak the settings to record content or practice for an event.
The Bravia 8 II boasts exclusive VRR support for PlayStation 5 as well as low-latency response times. I tried a variety of titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and Ghost of Tsushima. While each game looked amazing on the OLED screen with bright colors and sharp contrast, I couldn’t really feel a difference in frame rates or latency compared to the TCL QM8K, which I also set up as a comparison (and supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro).
Action felt absolutely seamless on both TVs, and response times were about the same, but the Bravia 8 II was the best of the week in terms of picture and audio.
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If you’re switching to Google TV, using the platform is almost as simple. If you already have a Google account, like Gmail, you can use it to sign in to your TV’s operating system, making it easier to keep track of usernames and passwords. It also helps track your favorite apps and media across devices, so you can start watching a movie in one room and return to it later on another Google TV.
Switching from streaming to gaming on the PS5 was also incredibly simple, with the TV able to automatically detect when the console was connected and turned on. And unlike my Hisense U8N, which automatically switches inputs once the console is turned on, the Bravia 8 II launches a small preview tile on the home screen.
This is great for when pets and kids accidentally turn on your console in the middle of a movie or if you’re not quite ready to switch inputs.
ZDNET’s shopping advice
Sony Bravia 8 II This is a high-end OLED TV, with a premium price to match. However, if you’re willing to spend the extra money to get premium features like Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, you’ll get a TV that not only looks great, but will last for at least several years to help keep your home theater at the forefront of entertainment. For those reasons, the Sony Bravia 8 II has been recognized by ZDNET’s Editors’ Choice.
While the PS5-exclusive VRR and low-latency features are appreciated, the Bravia 8 II is geared more toward movie lovers than gamers – most of whom will undoubtedly enjoy the studio-calibrated picture, IMAX Enhanced mode, Dolby Vision HDR, and Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound.
