Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is unimaginable

The Sony Bravia 9 II is probably the most anticipated new TV in years. It’s a tremendous RGB LED TV. I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the brand new Bravia with my son, who has been entering into the roleplaying sport however had by no means seen the film. The landscapes of Faerûn regarded pure and actual, whereas the magic forged by the Red Wizards of Thay was vibrant and colourful. Specular highlights in HDR actually pop. I noticed it with Xenk’s glowing sword as he fought within the Underdark in Honor Among Thieves, but in addition within the explosions as Furiosa flees throughout the desert in Mad Max: Fury Road and the solar reflecting off the waves in The Meg.

The Bravia 7 II I reviewed in May was already a formidable RGB LED TV. The Bravia 9 II has extra dimming zones and an anti-reflective display screen, and it will get brighter than the 7 II, however the 65-inch 9 II can also be $1,000 costlier, and the value distinction will increase as display screen dimension goes up. So, is Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 II value the additional cash?

Sony confirmed off an early prototype of its RGB LED backlight know-how at its Tokyo headquarters again in early 2025, and even at that stage, it was spectacular. Every time there’s a brand new show know-how, Sony’s flagship TVs are typically one of the best, thanks partly to the corporate’s industry-leading processing and upscaling. The Bravia 8 II is the newest in a string of top-tier Sony QD-OLED TVs, and the unique Bravia 9 was one of the best mini-LED when it launched in 2024. So with RGB LED TVs the massive TV story of 2026, expectations are excessive for the Bravia 9 II.

Like the Bravia 7 II (and a number of the brand new high-end TVs out this yr), the Bravia 9 II makes use of RGB LEDs for its backlight. Instead of the blue backlight that LED TVs have been utilizing for years, it has clusters of particular person purple, inexperienced, and blue LEDs that mix their gentle to create a wider vary of colours than these blue LED TVs have been able to.

The Bravia 9 II has the identical processor because the 7 II. They each have the identical superior lenticular stand — the good TV stands I’ve seen in a very long time — and each have HDMI 2.1 on simply two of their 4 ports. Maybe subsequent yr Sony will meet up with the remainder of the excessive finish and eventually supply 4 HDMI 2.1 ports.

The Bravia 9 II can also be pretty much as good as or higher than the 7 II in grayscale and colour efficiency (though it has the identical subject in SDR mode with reds being oversaturated and never as vivid as they need to be). In Professional mode, the TV’s gamma and EOTF monitoring is even higher than the 7 II, so shadows are suitably detailed and pictures have correct depth. Colors like sky blue, foliage, and particularly pores and skin tones all look great. And whereas grayscale measures (and appears) a bit of blue, I wasn’t bothered by it in something I watched.

The Bravia 9 II can get vivid: I measured highlights in HDR at 3,800 nits, and a full-field white display screen at 885. The Bravia 7 II maxed out at 2,200 nits for highlights, though it has practically the identical full-field brightness at 848 nits. So for the whole lot however the brightest of specular highlights, the 2 Sony RGB LED TVs have comparable real-world brightness. There are TVs that get brighter — such because the TCL X11L — however with the overwhelming majority of content material on the market, the 9 II is lots vivid with each HDR and SDR (in the event you flip it up from its default in Professional mode, which is ready for dark-room viewing, or change to the marginally much less correct Cinema mode).

The image processing algorithms additionally management how effectively it makes use of its brightness and colour and assist to set Sony’s picture high quality aside from different TVs. With the curtains open and daylight beaming by means of the home windows, I watched a handful of World Cup video games from an ATSC 3.0 antenna, and the Bravia 9 II’s picture element was simple to see.

In addition to the image efficiency, a couple of options distinguish the Bravia 9 II from the 7 II.

The most noticeable improve is the anti-reflection display screen, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Bright lamps or home windows are lowered to a dim glow that’s extremely troublesome to see when something is taking part in on the TV. Even when the TV is off, gentle reflections on the display screen don’t draw my consideration. The impact degrades the extra off angle you get, nevertheless it wasn’t distracting till near 70 levels off axis, which is a fairly extreme angle to observe TV at, even with an enormous group of buddies over.

It additionally has extra dimming zones than the 7 II. More dimming zones permit for a finer management of backlight transition from gentle to darkish elements of the display screen, and normally result in much less blooming (the place vivid gentle bleeds right into a darkish part subsequent to it). That is generally true on the Bravia 9 II. From straight on, or barely off angle, the 9 II handles blooming very effectively. There’s a slight glow round subtitles or a really dim haze round fireworks. The blooming was a bit extra distinguished on the far ends of my 8-foot sofa, nevertheless it’s higher than the Bravia 7 II or different RGB LED TVs (though not higher than the TCL X11L mini-LED TV). It’s nonetheless an LED TV, and there’ll all the time be some extent of blooming.

When I stood extra off angle subsequent to my sofa, although, the blooming bought worse — and never simply round subtitles. I seen each white and colour bleeding into neighboring colours. Apple TV has a Peanuts display screen saver, which is generally Snoopy doing issues on or round his doghouse. From an off angle, I might see the white from his physique lengthen into the yellow background. I wouldn’t recommend the Bravia 9 II primarily for giant teams, as buddies at one aspect will get a special viewing expertise than these towards the center. This isn’t one thing I bear in mind seeing on the Bravia 7 II, and for the reason that accentuated blooming occurs off axis, I’m wondering if it’s associated to the anti-reflective coating on the display screen.

Even with the minor off-angle points, there isn’t any query that the Sony Bravia 9 II is one of the best RGB LED TV obtainable. Its nice colour accuracy, excessive gentle output, and anti-reflective display screen make it one of the best bright-room TV obtainable. But the 65-inch pattern I had in for evaluation, which is the smallest obtainable dimension, is $3,600, whereas the Bravia 7 II is $2,600 at 65 inches, and is out there in sizes as small as 50 inches. Even the 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED is $3,000.

I liked my time with the Sony Bravia 9 II, and I’m certain anybody would take pleasure in having one of their home. Even so, there are different TVs I want, even inside Sony’s personal product line. The Bravia 8 II, which will get you the pixel-level management solely an OLED can ship, could be my first selection. Contrast continues to be king to our eyes, and OLED nonetheless leads in that class. If you really need an RGB LED TV and don’t need to splurge on the 9 II, the Bravia 7 II will get you a lot of the approach there (with out the anti-reflective display screen). The one use case the place the Bravia 9 II wins out is in an area the place reflections are a serious concern. There’s no denying the Bravia 9 II is a good achievement in LED TV efficiency. But I’m nonetheless going to advocate an OLED for most individuals.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge