Sony’s Bravia 7 II: A Bold New Addition to Gaming Displays

The initial lineup of RGB LED TVs is vying for a top spot in the television market. To stand out, they must surpass OLED TVs in brightness and color performance (since they can’t match OLED’s contrast) and outshine standard LED TVs in all aspects, especially given their higher price tags. Enter the Sony Bravia 7 II, launched alongside the flagship Bravia 9 II. Both models combine RGB LED backlighting with Sony’s renowned processing capabilities.

RGB TVs like the Bravia 7 II utilize red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a uniform blue or white LED backlight. This design enables RGB LED TVs to produce a wider range of vibrant colors without heavily relying on color filters. Sony’s individual control of each LED allows for precise color mixing.

The main concern with RGB LED technology is color crosstalk, where one color can bleed into adjacent colors. This occurs because the red, green, and blue LEDs illuminate a zone that contains multiple pixels. If most pixels in that zone are meant to be red, the backlight will emit red light, and the color filter must then delineate the correct colors for the other pixels. Occasionally, this can lead to slight color interference, particularly with lighter shades or white.

In testing, instances of color crosstalk were most noticeable in test patterns. During my evaluation of the Bravia 7 II, I observed this effect, such as a green rectangle creating a subtle halo around it, affecting various colors, not just green. However, test patterns are designed to highlight flaws. In regular viewing, I encountered color crosstalk only a few times, none of which were significant. The most apparent instance was with the app tiles on my Apple TV, where the blue from the Prime Video tile slightly bled into the white text, and the NASA app tile’s emblem had a hint of red in the text.

When watching movies and shows, color crosstalk was minimal. I could nitpick about minor shifts in color during specific scenes, like the red hues in Snoke’s throne room affecting his skin tone in a few frames of *The Last Jedi*, but in reality, it was inconsequential. Throughout *The Last Jedi*, *Mad Max: Fury Road*, and the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, I was fully immersed without being distracted by color crosstalk.

In Professional picture mode, the Bravia 7 II delivers stunning visuals across all content. Color crosstalk is virtually a non-issue, and colors and grayscale in SDR are impressively accurate, though red can be slightly oversaturated. HDR light grays are a touch brighter than expected, but this is hardly noticeable, and colors remain vibrant. The Bravia 7 II boasts a peak brightness of 2,200 nits. While it doesn’t quite reach the brightness of the TCL X11L or last year’s LG G5 OLED, it provides ample brightness for typical living room settings. Given that most content is still mastered at 1,000 nits, the Bravia 7 II has plenty of brightness to spare.

One of the advantages of RGB backlighting is its ability to display a broader color spectrum, and in testing, the Sony achieved 88 percent of BT.2020. However, since there’s limited content that utilizes this full range, the impressive potential is mostly theoretical unless you’re watching something like *Planet Earth II*, which is specifically mastered for it. The vibrant greens of Ecuador’s jungles and the striking blues of hummingbirds are visually stunning, and while the Sony is more accurate overall compared to the Hisense UR9, the difference is less impactful until more content is available in BT.2020 rather than P3.

In Professional mode, the Sony offers an intriguing option to switch the backlight from color to white light. If the slight color bleed on the Apple TV app tiles is bothersome, this switch eliminates the issue. However, it also reduces color gamut coverage from 88 percent to 73 percent of BT.2020 and down to 91 percent of P3. The inclusion of this option is curious, as its practical applications seem limited beyond demonstrating the performance differences between color and white backlight LEDs.

Beyond picture quality, the Bravia 7 II features some interesting design choices. The pedestal stand, for instance, incorporates a lenticular screen that cleverly hides cables while maintaining a mostly transparent appearance, making for a fun and nerdy cable management solution.

On the downside, the decision to limit only two HDMI inputs to support 4K at 120 Hz, with one being the eARC port, feels outdated. Other manufacturers are now offering this support across all HDMI inputs, making this a missed opportunity for Sony. While it’s not a dealbreaker, it can be inconvenient if you plan to connect multiple high-refresh-rate devices.

The Bravia 7 II also has a fairly reflective screen. While it doesn’t produce the same intense rainbow effects seen on some TCL and Hisense models, it doesn’t do much to mitigate reflections. If you’re concerned about ambient light, the Bravia 9 II features a non-glare, low-reflection panel, albeit at a higher price point.

Speaking of price, Sony has a history of pricing its TVs higher than competitors, and the Bravia 7 II continues this trend. The 65-inch model I reviewed is priced at $2,600, which is $600 more than the Hisense UR9 and $500 more than the Samsung R85H. While I haven’t had the chance to closely evaluate the R85H, I can confidently say that the superior accuracy and processing of the Sony Bravia 7 II justify the higher cost.

If I could control the lighting in my room, I might still lean towards an OLED like the LG C6. Regardless of the RGB backlight technology, the Bravia 7 II remains an LCD TV. While it manages blooming well, it can’t compete with the pixel-level control and deep contrast that OLEDs offer.

As more RGB LED TVs hit the market and undergo testing, we’ll gain a clearer understanding of their performance with real content and whether color crosstalk is a genuine concern or just marketing hype from competitors. One thing is clear: either color crosstalk isn’t a significant issue, or Sony has effectively mitigated it with its processing. Despite minor drawbacks like the reflective screen and limited HDMI 2.1 support, the Bravia 7 II stands out as an excellent TV with a stunning picture.

How I test TVs
I set up each TV in my living room on my home theater credenza. I stream movies and shows through the TV’s apps and from an Apple TV, play discs on a Magnetar UDP900 MkII 4K Blu-Ray player (including the Spears & Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark disc) and movies from a Kaleidescape Strato E player, and play games on my Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. This is done at different times of the day and under various lighting conditions, with curtains open, lamps and overhead lights on, or blackout curtains drawn to keep the room dark. While I am a certified ISF Level 3 calibrator, I do not calibrate the TVs before measurement, as most TV owners don’t bother. Therefore, it’s crucial to assess how well the TVs perform out of the box, with minor adjustments anyone can make.
For measurement, I use Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software, a Murideo 8K Seven pattern generator, an X-rite i1 Pro 3 spectrophotometer, Portrait Displays’ C6 HDR5000 colorimeter, a Konica Minolta LS-100 luminance meter, and Leo Bodnar 4K lag tester.