Samsung and LG announced a new 2025 TV at CES a few months ago. But now, the latter is catching up with the imminent arrival of three new Bravia sets, including a refreshed flagship QD-Oled, Midrange Mini LED options and an updated budget alternative.
Before we get into specific models, it must be noted that Sony has not made a full cap overhaul of the entire 2025 lineup after revising the naming plan for all its home theater gear last year. Instead, it introduces a handful of new TVs that will replace the old models with some of the existing ones in the current debris. This means that the Bravia 9 will continue to be the company’s top TV, with everything else in it.
This brings us to the Bravia 8 II, which you may have guessed is the replacement for the Bravia 8 II, which will be Sony's best quality QD-Ol old TV. Like the Bravia 9, it has the company's XR processor that supports AI scene recognition technology to help preserve the details of tricky scenes. The way it works is that by analyzing your content, the TV can compare what is displayed with a reference library of known backgrounds and patterns to help fill any gaps that the source material may not have completely captured.
I had the opportunity to see this AI trick in person, and although the effect is subtle, it certainly makes an impact in a shot with many leaves, rocks or other challenging textures. I also noticed that the Bravia 8 II shows improved tone mapping and more accurate color gradients, resulting in more detailed and realistic images, especially in very bright or dark lenses. Of course, you get great contrasts of those cute deep black guys, and modern QD-Oled panels.
Moving downwards, there is the Bravia 5, which neatly fills the gap between Sony's existing 7 and 3 Series TVs. It features a mini LED panel powered by the company's backlight master driver technology that provides reduced digital noise and improves contrast. The most obvious example I've seen is the almost complete lack of halo or light bleeding when viewing bright objects on a dark background. Another important specification is that the Bravia 5 measures up to 98 inches, making it one of Sony’s largest TVs (including the 83-inch flagship Bravia 9).
Finally, we came to the Bravia 2 II, and the biggest change was the move to a completely straight-lit LED instead of the edge-lit panel like the previous models. In addition to being on the 43 to 75-inch size, this also offers a more vivid color. Like other Sony TVs, its operating system is powered by Google TV, which includes a premium device that boosts old content to 4K. One of the main limitations of the Bravia 2 II is that it has a refresh rate of only 60Hz.
Unfortunately, it will not be available until sometime this spring when official prices and availability for all Sony's new TV stations are available. So if you are currently buying a new set, you may need to stay for a few more months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget
