Have the 85". It is seriously breathtaking. I find myself often thinking, "My GOD this is beautiful" whenever I watch anything. Very satisfied with the purchase.
@@chrisjohnson7255 Standard is way brighter. I still prefer professional for the accuracy in dark scenes though. But the calibrated modes for Netflix and Amazon Prime, or Sony Core with IMAX calibration is mind blowingly vivid. Same with anything you can watch that is Dolby Vision enhanced. Eye candy!
@@mediumrarepotato7385 so I looked at the 65” and there is a notable difference between the two sizes, it will make your head wonder if you should like just get the Bravia 7 or X90L, it still wins but like , 85” is the wow moment , especially cinema mode, I will not stop talking about cinema modr
Dang, the quality of the writing on your stuff is next level. Presentation and production are first rate too. Well done. As for the TV, I think you captured the essence of what makes it worthy: bright room performance + great sound. Why the sound? Well, living/family rooms are generally bright and people who put their TV in those spaces probably don’t want a standalone audio system because of the expense, aesthetics, or space required for them. Very smart of Sony to recognize this market and make a product that suits it.
Great review. One of your best TV reviews and this is the one we’re waiting for. You’ve explained conundrum of the back light very well with the star lights.
I work in the film industry and I think the brightness and color of these displays is mind blowing. Some of the EIZO and SONY BVM broadcast monitors I've used in the past which costs thousands of dollars look so basic and lame compared to these things. Its kind of game changing for us because you can author amazing new color and materials and surfaces in content which was never visible before. I think one example is diamonds or metallic armor on characters look almost like real diamonds on this screen or real metal.
Which country are you in? I ordered my 75" B9 last Saturday, and the retailer tells me that Sony have failed to deliver the stock to their store on time (due in last Tuesday).
@@badex3301, I would surmise that if you're frequently doing a lot of acute off axis viewing, then an OLED is likely your best bet. For me I always watch directly on axis, so it's a non issue for myself.
Caleb you are right this TV was never really gunning for OLED. It's ambition was to keep up with the mastering monitor. To do that it had to try and combine the strengths of both OLED and LCD and they actually succeeded to a greater degree than we probably could have expected. HDR impact, color volume, and shadow detail are the standout traits to my eye. I think many people can buy this TV and be happy for a LONG time! Also excited to see where Sony, Hisense, TCL will take MiniLED from here. This feels kind of like the start of a new era with seemingly way more potential for MiniLED than was ever previously unlocked.
If Sony can improved on this Bravia 9 and take mini Led a notch further close to a micro led with and no worries about burn in and dimming I stop by BB and seen the 85” B9 and was like wtf I was impress let’s face it micro led is 10 years out if we are lucky before they become affordable this Bravia 9 will not disappoint and hold us down for years to come I own a s95b qd-Oled B9 blow it out the water for its versatility day/night gaming/sports/movies no dimming no burn in , hard press to get one or wait for 2025 just around the corner for 2nd gen Bravia 9 with all hdmi 2.1
It looks amazing in person. Despite the naysayers (usually weird OLED fanboys) I applaud Sony for taking some risks and doing this (it's not even like Sony stopped making the OLED TVs 🙄). Why shouldn't there be more options and ways of making a TV? The results are ultimately what matters. And clearly Sony pulled that part off.
@@SLICK8116 yes. Which part of what I said was difficult to get? Do you not understand what the word "risk" means? Or are you a blind OLED fanboy? Risks as in going against the grain. When you go against the grain .....in this case the trend and belief that it's OLED or nothing......then you are taking a risk. Because if you make your flagship TV with an older display tech then you better make damn sure that it is able to compete. That is a risk. Because you can't know how the market will react. Or if you will end up looking ridiculous. By any definition.....they took a risk with the Bravia 9. And I stand by what I said. I think any company should do it. It's clear that there are many ways to make a TV. And what display tech will work best depends on everyone's particular use case. The belief that gets pushed by certain people that only an OLED display is somehow valid is ridiculous. I bet you haven't even seen the Bravia 9 in person.....have you?
I bought the 75" Bravia 9 as soon as it came available at my my local Best Buy. I had considered the G4 from LG and the Samsung S95D. The Sony is very bright in my sun filled family room! The color is vibrant! I highly recommend the Bravia 9!!
so many questions not answerd :( - Glare / Reflactions - Off-Axis viewing - DSE / Vignetting - Color banding - Shadow detail - Motion smoothing in movies and shows, not just sport - Low bitrate content - Black bar handling in various ARs - Native contrast from the VA it self - Motion resolution - Game-Mode respons times - Did the blooming look as worse as on YT or how much less in person - how much more or less cinema-like does it look vs. A95L in various movies - what size was this and could the 85" be better becaus of more zones - you started the HDMI2.1 conversation but never finished it - how it looks against an Z9D - how's the brightness differance against an S95D in various real life content - is it possible to shrink down picture size with that game feature also for movies and shows (eg. for low res YT content or DVDs), and how is the picture quality then ...
@@martinpratley4632 Not in the UK it hasn’t, it is actually the new Bravia 9 that has dropped by £500. I’ve been closely monitoring the prices for months
@@rufdymond , only they can say why. But unless space is the problem, the larger sizes will benefit from the bigger screen and increased dimming zones for a QD-LED, so the already very good 65" version will look better at 75" and 85" and unlike OLED, the price difference is more minimal. So I wouldn't have gone for the 65" version anyway, but I can understand that space accommodation might be an issue for some people. I'd have gone for the 85" version if I had the space, thankfully I can fit the 75" one.
Great review - thank you for not going too far down the OLED beater rabbit hole. Really insightful and well thought out review. I bought the 75inch version at the end of May have been generally amazed at the picture. Yes, blooming exists but you really have to look for it. Brightness is insane, but the best thing overall is the control. Motion is brilliant and coupled with the brightness and backlight control, it's tough to explain but there's a realness and weight to the objects on the screen. A joy to watch. Though, It's not without issues and there are a few things other potential buyers should be aware of that most reviewers haven't touched on. Important because at this price...I was expecting a lot and it does miss in a few areas. 1. This is probably just a touch of OCD from me, but the Google TV OS doesn't use any local dimming settings, there's close to 0 vibrancy with a slight wash to everything. Not an issue in apps and their content or connected devices, but it's bizarre to have such a capable TV and when switching to another connected device running Google/Android TV the experience is night and day. A little...eyebrow raising. 2.This won't affect the vast majority of people, but be warned the built in ethernet is 10/100mbps, not gig. It does support 1gig ethernet over USB and has Wifi 6, but you wont get a speed over 350mbps from either (at least I can't). It seems there's some type of limit. Not an issue as this is a more than capable speed for the vast majority, if not all content currently available. I absolutely needed to use an adaptor as the lag loading content on DAZN or TSN was crazy with built in ethernet (Wifi is poor where the TV is so can't rely on that). 3. Not an issue limited to the Bravia 9 or Sony TVs - please don't expect apps running on Google TV to be able to decode Atmos with Dolby TrueHD content (the streaming standard of DD+ is supported of course) but if you use something like Plex on an Nvidia Shield and are hoping to lose a box under the TV, that may not happen. If you want Dolby TrueHD playback, you'll need to use a device connected to HDMI 1 or 2, which for me was a disappointment (I should have researched better) as I wasn't accounting for my Nvidia Shield taking up one of the two 2.1 HDMI ports. 3. This is the most problematic issue right now - there seems to be a brightness/luminance timing bug on HDR content (not SDR or Dolby Vision). The affect is similar to the raised brightness levels Caleb focused on, but is out of sync with content on the screen. At times a bright window or the sun in a scene will cause the brightness to jump a second after the scene has changed on the screen. I've also experienced this where the brightness jumps very slightly ahead of the picture on screen. Restarting the TV or changing the mode sometimes fixes things, but it always comes back for me. I would hope this will be fixed with an update, but Support won't acknowledge a bug or commit to a fix. Caleb, if you're reading did you experience this or have you heard anything from Sony etc? 2024 TVs across the board are brilliant, though the way I see it, we're still just about searching for TV nirvana. On the OLED side of the fence you have amazing black levels with great brightness. On the Mini-LED side we now have amazing brightness with great back levels. If you want a high end TV that's better for blacks, go G4, if you want one better for brightness, go Bravia 9. Don't get drawn into the Mini-LED/OLED wars, it's just a choice and both are great. OLED is no longer the standard, it's an option - also appreciate that both of these TVs are crazy expensive and this way of thinking wont apply for all TVs and scenarios.
Hopefully Sony can fix #4 (you said 3 twice). But you can eliminate that behavior if you disable tonemapping in HDR10. Excellent post btw I am also greatly enjoying this TV!
Hey, I just ordered my Bravia 9 85inch. Just wondering do I need to have my apple box connected to HDMI 2.1 port to get it's benefits or can I just put it in a regular 2.0?
@@logicwins3492 Not at all. I can't complain about uniformity at all. After a few months of use, the only thing I notice is haloing specifically in scenes where a darker grey is the background with a lighter colour as the foreground. I'll also say no other family members notice - I'm looking for such things. It's genuinely a beast of a TV.
Sony's #1 mistake was making an LCD their flagship at an OLED price. Thank you for including audio performance & pixel response. Color & pixel response time are another "you can't get here from there" problem with LCD. Sony should've given us a Bravia 10 close to the A95L's price but with a current generation QDOLED and the processing and adherence to standards that Samtron just can't seem to muster. Yet I salute Sony for building the best LCD ever.
Sony likely delayed the A95L successor because if they release the A95M, it’d have the same processor. Mediatek is preparing the next generation processor so Sony is likely waiting to put that in the successor next year
A95L and Bravia 9 are sonys benchmarks for picture quality, i really dont know what sony can improvise more in upcoming tvs. Still they will do something. Nothing is perfect yet for them. As of now even in end of 2025 or 2026 i would satisfy with bravia 9 purchase if prices fall more.
@@balaciscoI don’t know if Apple dual oled tech in the new ipad pros is from Sony, given their documented relationship with Vision Pro, but I think this is what they could do next on their premium oleds, seeing 1000 nits on fullscreen on my oled ipad is really impressive.
@@andreiga76 dual tech OLED came from apple itself but the manufactured by Samsung. Sony is more experienced in small size OLED but with high res like camera EVF
With OLED tvs having a chance of burn in i don't even want to take the risk. My TV is generally on at least for 8 hrs. sometimes more on a daily basis. Im retired so yes i do watch alot of TV. I watch alot of CNN and don't want to even risk the possibility of burn in. From reviews of OLED that I've seen usually they say an OLED should only be on for 4-5 hrs on a daily basis. That wouldn't work for me. I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on an OLED when your viewing time is so limited. Thank you Caleb for this stellar review and now I'm convinced the Bravia 9 is right for me.
I was sold on the Bravia 9 as soon as you said, "No burn-in risk!" I watch a lot of programs with static images onscreen such as ticker symbols. Thanks.
First off, probably my most favorite thumbnail. That face! 😁 Even through the lens of this video, the Bravia 9 looks like an amazing TV. The picture quality looks stunning. This was a very thorough review Caleb. Well done and well done Sony!
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
I've had my 75" since the first week it was available to buy and I'm loving every minute of it. Best TV I have ever owned by far. I even owned the A95L for a week and prefer the Bravia 9 over it. Excellent TV!!
@@Icipher4it’s just a brighter punchier TV with nearly the same contrast as an OLED. My last 4 TVs have been OLED and I just got tired of the dim picture. The A95L, while the brightest of the OLEDs is still in my opinion quite a bit dimmer than the Bravia 9. Like Caleb says in the video, the Bravia 9 knows where to put the brightness. The contrast is sooo good that I forget I’m not watching an OLED. I like how this TV gets so bright and maintains such great contrast. Before this TV I would have considered myself an OLED fanboy. Not anymore.
Hello Caleb. Your review just confirmed my decision to purchase the Bravia 9 85". I have been without a TV since February 2024, and shall have to wait until around December 2024 to purchase the Bravia 9. It's been tough, but good things come to those who wait. Really appreciate all that you do. Keep up the Great Work. Kind Regards From Mark UK
Great review Caleb! I've viewed the Bravia 9 numerous times at our local Best Buy with particular interest in the 85" size...A true & brilliant marvel it is ...OLED-like blacks with amazing color saturation & vividness...I can see great detail in the dark, shadowy scenes more so than ANY oled set...The 85" is currently still on sale @ a very good price of $4,799 ... Don't think it'll go much lower than that around the holidays, maybe down to $4,500 range..
Caleb, I fully agree with you on the sound of this TV. I've had this TV in my family room for two week now. It's probably the best built-in sounding TV since I owned a Sony rear-projection LCD TV. It's not enough to convince me to get rid of my AVR but enough to at times not recognize when the sound is coming from the TV and not my AVR. I have no regrets in owning a Bravia 9.
I'm curious if you have an AVR why is any sound ever coming out of the TV at all? I have an AVR and it's all set up to run through it and the TV sound output is always off. It would be weird to have sound coming from the TV as well as through speakers hooked up to an AVR. Curious what your use case is.
@@AdamJakowenko My AVR's automatic power shutoff (power savings) is configured to turn off if there is no input over a certain amount of time. There are times the AVR powers down with the TV still on and when that happens the TV detects no AVR and defaults back to the TV speakers.When the AVR is switched back on the sound reverts back to the "audio system" of the AVR instead of the speakers. They are never on at the same time (although the Bravia 9 can be configured to be a "center speaker" I don't have it configured as such).
For those wondering what is the picture diffrence between the bravia 9 and the A95L this is how I would describe it. For the A95L the image is very colorful looks like its painted onto the screen, For the Bravia 9 the image has a sort of realism that make you feel like its a window and not a tv.
Same here. I want the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip on my new TV (coming on 2025 TVs)which will allow these TV's to finally have full range 48Gbs, 4x HDMI 2.1a ports and have very good AI upscaling support on the new chip to clear up the image on older lower compressed images such is often seen on RUclips etc (I hate macro blocking and on say a TCL TV I see it big time) Also support for WiFi 6e and 7 and 165Hz VRR gaming. It's hard to wait another year but this new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip is worth that wait for me anyway.
I've had a Bravia 9 75" for several months now, and I am more and more impressed with it as time goes on. LCD TVs tend to fall short in certain areas, especially gaming and high-contrast content, but the Bravia 9 nails both of these aspects in visual quality. No other display I've seen gets close. Yes, OLED has better response time in gaming, but normal gamers don't feel it, and if you're a pro gamer, you should be getting an OLED PC monitor instead (even lower latency). The Bravia 9 is a do-it-all display.
Gaming has been great. I haven't noticed any VA smear or any issues. I play using VRR too and it's smooth and really responsive. Playing Horizon forbidden West with the HDR. Chefs kiss. It's really nice. I played some BF 2042, MW3 COD shooter and its smooth and really fast. I know OLED has better pixel response time. But I never find myself thinking I need more. It's snappy, colorful, contrasty and smooth. For me at 85" it comes in as doing everything really really well and some parts even better. Can only imagine a few more generations of this with improvements. How good it will be. So in 5 years or so with a big leap again I will upgrade.
I like how a TV remembering which input you were on is considered a novel feature now when pre-smart TVs have always had these. My trusty 25+ yr old Panasonic TV does this.
Thanks for putting in the work on this thorough review. I especially like the credits/stars test. Starry skies are particularly difficult for non-OLEDs, so it was great to see how it handled that.
I own the 85" version. Only for about 2 weeks or so. I am a physical media (4 LYFE!!!) collector. Watching high quality Dolby Vision content on this TV is beyond shocking. Shoot...watching anything on this TV is shocking (I was the crappy stream of Hercules and Xena for crying out loud), but wow. Popped in The Batman from 2022. The TV handles the dark blacks and shadows without inking and the highlights...holy crap! Can't wait for my calibrator to come out and make it perfect. Shoot, I think it's darn close, but hey...don't wait, CALIBRATE!
I'm in Europe, where the 65" model is unavailable, which really sucks. I guess my only real option is to wait 2 or 3 years until a different brand makes a Mini-LED TV which can actually compete with the Bravia 9. On the plus side, with 2 or 3 years of saving up I could end up being able to actually afford a TV this expensive. :D
I am going for a LG G4 65" this year. And my family has been using Sony TVs for decades. No way I am putting a 75" TV in my 50m² apartment though. No idea why Sony is doing this, especially when larger sizes are more popular in the US because people usually got a larger apartment or house over there.
What about its viewing angle? I saw somewhere that it is using a VA Panel which usually suffers significant loss in brightness and contrast based on the viewing angle. Can you please share your experience on it?
I have a 65in SAMSUNG QN90A NEO QLED TV and love it. I think Mini-LED is a good balance between standard LED TVs and OLED TVs. Incredible brightness, vibrant colors, and impressive contrast with the only major downside, in my view, being the halo/bloom effect. However, this blooming only seems to be noticeable (to me) when there is white text on a black background or a scene with very minimal but intense light being shown. For the mid level price of most Mini-LED compared to the higher prices of OLEDs and newer QD OLED TVs is a good trade off. Obviously this is a bit too expensive to fit into that happy medium but, still an impressive piece of tech nonetheless.
Man I know OLED is impressive with blacks and contrast but even my 85" x90L shows no distracting blooming and has been incredible looking with most content and it's the 'budget' full array led Sony. 🤷
@@KuranghiAs long as you haven't spent your fortune on these products, you're not missing anything. In fact, they are missing your wallet for sure. Stay away from these sales force.
@@paulc5389 See for yourself - Brian Tech's comparison video at 13:13 - both sets in professional mode. The background is clearly visible in both color and detail for the B9, not so for the A95.
my first choice was the QN95D until i heard from reviewers that Sony was the best in up scaling . Any thoughts you can share it would be a great help.. Greetings from The Netherlands.
Got my Bravia 9 85" arriving next Friday, was blown away at its SDR brightness when put back to back with Sony a95L SDR with same content. No contest, night and day, even the sales guy was like wtf. 😂
I have a 75in, and I love it. It caught my eye viewing the G4 at Best Buy. It has a more cinema 🎥 like picture than the G4. I kept going back between the 9 and G4. The Bravia 9 speakers and remote won me over. And the plastics panels really looks great.
@@Edin8140Yes! the G4 is an incredible tv, but i had both for almost 3 weeks side-by-side. Knowing how to use settings is also important, the B9 let’s you also use Rec.2020 in SDR.. At the end the high color volume did it for me. Example the sun is shining in spider-man ps5. G4 did great, but the B9 lit the entire scene as the sun was really shining on all the buildings and the pavement. In sdr the same, you just have know how to dial in the settings as most people don’t know
Finally! Great review. Now we'd love to see this compared to the Bravia 7 side-by-side to let us see for ourselves if the 9 is worth the massive price difference. Also... Tems! It seems that you also have a nicely eclectic taste in music.
I think it is for any TV enthusiast. I've seen the 7 in person and I think most people would be more than satisfied with it if the 9 didn't exist. It's almost as bright, has great color, Sony processing, and near OLED like contrast in most scenes. It's just in those really challenging situations where you can tell that having 3x more dimming zones and a more sophisticated backlighting system takes the 9 to another level
Bravia 7 degrades pretty quickly as you move off angle. Not good for wider seating positions. I can’t speak to the Bravia 9 viewing angle, so take that for what it’s worth.
Couldn't be happier with my purchase of the B9 from Value Electronics AND the calibration and tune in I received. Well done team and thanks! Now I'll go eat Ramen for 2 years...
I also get my 85" BRAVIA 9 from Value Electronics who also sent their technicians to deliver and wall mount the TV in our Family Room. We are loving Sony's 85" BRAVIA 9 TV! Great service from Value Electronics.
@@VideoEnthusiast-id9di Oooooo how did you get their techs to do this...must be a local perk right? I woulda opted for that but I'm several states away. Anyway, the shipping was awesome so I can't complain much...nice job!
I have noticed the typical LED problem of the faint blackness around the edging but I concur with the comments, just an amazing TV. I have a small living room so I had to get the 65 inch, but even with the smaller 65 inch, I feel the brightness blowing me away, just amazing!
Would love to see this TV in with my own eyes. I loved my 75X940E for it's brightness now have a 83A90J it's not as bright but the per pixel control and perfect blacks are a big +. The Bravia 9 is way better with dimming so I can imagine it looking amazing with that extra brightness compared to oled.
Thank you, finally. An amazing broadway, oscar and grammy presentation all in one. Depth, effectiveness and enlightenment came out lucid. I now feel like a Bravia 9 graduate, Thanks DT, Caleb, Zack and the support team unseen. great job! love this TV. Lets see what happens black friday with the price.
Hey Caleb, question about the TV’s gaming performance with regard to VRR. When VRR is enabled, does it disable local dimming? I have the X900 from a couple of years ago which supports VRR but when that mode is enabled it disables local dimming which is a pretty significant trade off. People always tell me to get an OLED, but for viewing environment reasons it’s just not feasible for me. Thanks!
@vgnvideogameninja2930 the quality of the local dimming does go down tho. There is tons more blooming on top of the regular lcd issues and the ones Caleb mentioned in the video as well
@@Time-Travelling-Lesbian Actually this isn't so. The quality of the local dimming looks exactly the same whether VRR is enabled or not. No blooming to be found at any time. Perhaps Caleb got a bad unit, but nobody else I've talked to that own B9 has had the problems you're talking about either. Edit: then again, I've got an 85" B9 and Caleb reviewed a 65". They do not have the same performance, so I guess that's a possible explanation for the different experience with it.
Hi Caleb, I try to uncover one tiny bit piece of information from all of your great reviews: Is the Bravia 9 with the Sony QUAD speakerset the ultimate combo > Is it worthwhile using the Bravia 9 as center channel with the QUADS or is a A95L + QUAD speakerset just as good when it comes down to the sound?
I almost never comment here, but I just want you to know your work is appreciated. I haven't watched this yet, but I appreciate your information on the deep specs. Honestly when it comes to a TV for me, it it doesn't have a game mode that supports less than 4ms response time, I'm a pass. I really also care about upscaling now, since I watch so much youtube and youtube is shit in quality. I don't know if you're aware, and this may be a question I'm not 100%. But when it comes to HRD10+ and Dolby Vision, it doesn't matter if the TV supports these formats as long as the TV is going over 1400 Nits or so. From my understanding, those formats only come into play for the picture to be as good as possible when the original content exceeds the peak nit value of the tv.
I’ve had the 75 inch Bravia 9 for a week now and it exceeded all my expectations. I’m even thinking about returning the Sony bar 8 because the speakers on the Bravia 9 are incredible and might even be louder than the bar 8.
Though having the Bar 8, you could pair it with a Sony SW5 sub woofer and the Dolby ATMOS sound track should hit as low as sub 35Hz. The TV speakers use it as a center driver.
After watching this, I'll definitely I'm getting one. 75" since appropriate. Now I have to wait till Costco sells it...save some bucks. Thank you for a wonderful review.
It'd probably cost the better part of $10,000. Way too expensive to manufacture and very few people would buy it. They'd undoubtedly lose millions doing that
@@vikingsfan2218 They sell plenty of all the other sizes despite being way more expensive than the competition. I'm sure they'd do just as well with an expensive 98".
Great video to go along with the others you and others have done. Last weekend my cousin and I took a look at the 75" Bravia 9. I brought along with me a couple of disks to test out: Buffy S1E1 on DVD (see how bad it can look) and House of Dragons S1E1 on 4K (which looks washed out to just dark on dark on my OLED 65") The sales people hadn't changed any settings on the B9. The demo they had playing looked exceptionally good - very close to the QD-OLED they had setup next to it. QD-OLED probably looked a bit better but not significantly so. Testing Buffy - the B9 looked horrible. Smearing, after images, soap opera, loss of details. It didn't look that much better on the QD-OLED - heck, my OLED at home looked way better. I had them tweak a couple of settings like turning off motion flow. This helped a lot but not enough to sell me. House of Dragons 4K looked much better than on my OLED. More detail, better contrast. I went back a few days later wanting to tweak the settings further (based on what Rtings has on their website). I didn't set go through and make all the settings but after making the ones I could the Buffy episode looked vastly better. Still lots of grain, some Smearing but the it was watchable. Given the video quality of the media it was very good. I also brought along a GotG 4K movie which looked extremely good. For me, I don't care about viewing angles and don't game, brightness/contrast/blacks/colour look pretty darn close to OLED. And for less money I could get a 75" B9 instead of the 65" A95L. My current OLED is about 8 or 9 years old, has burn in, used a lot, contrast isn't as great as it use to be and I've used it a lot. For my use case, the Bravia 9 will be a good fit. Is it perfect? No, there is no perfect TV. My suggestion is to physically see the TV's you are interested in. If you stream, have the store stream, if you play games, have them hook up a device, or if you watch DVD/BD/4K physical media then bring a good, bad, and ugly quality movie. Do a rough calibration and see if it is satisfactory. I'm no expert, just a guy that enjoys watching movies and doesn't want to be distracted by a huge amount of blooming, smearing, Soap opera. Whichever TV works best for your use case, enjoy it. My Bravia 9 will be coming soon.
Hi, thanks so much for the review. Keep up the great work was that the 65 inch that you reviewed? I would imagine the 85 inch would do even much better if that's the case.
17:50 Ouch. Imagine spending 3000 dollars on a TV and then noticing that. And for the record, I do not think that is a particularly challenging scene, I think that is a pretty basic scene.
And clearly, you didn't understand as well what Caleb has said regarding this TV. It's NOT trying to be an OLED, rather, it aims to mix the best of LCD and best of OLED in one TV, that is well within the consumer-level pricing segment. You point out this one weakness of Mini-LED, yet when it comes to shear highlights and full-screen white content brightness and control, you don't call out OLEDs that even cost 4000 dollars or more but are no match for this TV's insane full-field white brightness and sustainability. Obviously for dark rooms, OLEDs are still the way to go because you don't need the extra high peak brightness of Mini-LEDs in such environment, but in more general and a broader selection of environments, Mini-LED provides the best versatility and longevity than even your LG OLED TV, which is claimed to be the longest lifespan OLED of any consumer OLED TV right now.
Which part of the explanation did you not understand? Its a preference thing. Dont like it? Buy OLED or get an LCD with mad blooming. Also... basic scene? For real? Sky full of stars is like the most worst case scenario you can get.
I had an awful experience where I bought the A95L and then had its aggressive dimming algoithm for sports making sports unwatchable. Ill never buy OLED again, I could not believe a 3000 dollar set was unable to view sports on
Excellent review as always Caleb! Only thing not addressed by you or most reviewers is the reflection handling. Due to the x-wide filter this thing throws rainbows across the entire screen thus forcing some to watch in a dark/darker room and thereby reducing some of the allure of the B9. Pretty much the only reason why i haven't upgraded from my A80J. Until the anti-reflective coating is addressed i'm sticking with OLED.
Do it bro, I got mine a week ago. This is hands down the best tv to buy In 2024, colors are amazing and so wide that even the best woled will never reach lol. QD OLED is the best tech money can buy
I had one for two weeks, best picture and colors I ever saw, but its hdmi inputs were buggy and wouldent connect to my soundbar. I blame it on the new chipset they used and not working all the bugs out before relasing it (it did piss me off and I ended up getting the lg g3) I hope they might of fixed these issuses with a firmware update. I stress though best picture and upscaling ive ever seen(youtube tv), colors were the best ive ever seen, apl though was dimmer than my g3 and im sure the g4. Enjoy & good luck!
Thank you for the great review. Did you get a chance to test the S-CENTER feature when using it with the Quad? Is it a miss like on past Sony TVs and better left out?
Thanks Caleb. You have helped validate my decision to order the 85inch B9 during a TV sale (22% soundbar bundle discount) here in Australia. In the end, the TV itself came to < 4K which I thought is pretty good for a flagship 85 inch mini-LED.
I bought it last week and returned it yesterday and went for a a95L. I honestly thought I could get over the color shift when viewing off axis and the blooming and no inky blacks but I just couldn’t. I can’t believe all that would not come with its price point.
Your comment is very telling: once you go OLED you can't switch back... you like those dark colors and high contrast. But I still am going to try the B9 anyway cause I am worried about the burn in and then 85" vs 77"
To each their own. Give it a try then you’ll see what I’m talking about. I’ve had oled for years, burn in is not a problem if you’re just watching cinema or game here and there. Burn in is only a problem when an image is standstill. Don’t go by that narrative just to avoid it. It really is true, once you go oled you notice lcds are just blah.
i agree with you with that price point and can't compete with oled, it's kinda BS for that display quality sony need get humble with $ 2000 price tag, this is far from A95L.
You never bought it in the first place so there was nothing to return. You also didn't buy an A95L. As an 85" B9 owner, there's no blooming to be seen and the blacks are just as inky as on my 77" A95L. B9 has superior brightness for better HDR though and way better shadow detail.
@@vgnvideogameninja2930coping mechanism at its finest. B9 is good tech but like I said I returned it due to the fact it’s not worth its price. Off angle viewing experience is horrible compared to a95l. Blooming is an issue so I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds like someone lied about testing it.
I'm debating between Bravia 7 and Bravia 9 because the price difference is big Can you explain the differences between them and whether the price difference is worth the investment. I mainly watch football in a lighted room. Today I have a Sony OLED TV and it has problems with burning pixels, so I want to switch to a TV with mini LED technology thanks
I have an A95L and looked at the Bravia 9 at Best Buy (they had an A95L next to it in the Sony area) and on the demo material there I spotted blooming around logos and I just can't do that anymore after having an LG CX since Nov. 2020 and getting the A95L in April. My home theater is in the basement with dim lighting, so running it in Dolby Vision Bright mode is awesome.
Audio quality doesn’t surprise me. I have the 77” A80j (Costco A80 OLED model). The screen speaker gimmick isn’t a gimmick at all. The sound quality is fantastic. It’s clear and rich. I prefer it over my whole Sony sound system when casually watching video like on RUclips or watching random tv shows. Obviously it isn’t a full-blown home theatre good. But it does magic by making sounds actually sound like they are coming from the screen where the sounds are. It’s pretty cool. And it is, IMO, perfect for built-in TV Audio. If only Sony didn’t tune it down so much when using it as a center channel in a Sony sound system setup..
Have the 85". It is seriously breathtaking. I find myself often thinking, "My GOD this is beautiful" whenever I watch anything. Very satisfied with the purchase.
Can you talk about the difference between standard and cinema mode, the guy at Best Buy showed off the difference briefly and my jaw dropped.
@@chrisjohnson7255 Standard is way brighter. I still prefer professional for the accuracy in dark scenes though. But the calibrated modes for Netflix and Amazon Prime, or Sony Core with IMAX calibration is mind blowingly vivid. Same with anything you can watch that is Dolby Vision enhanced. Eye candy!
@@chrisjohnson7255 if you care more about bright saturated picture and less about accuracy then standard is for you.
Can you buy me the 65”
@@mediumrarepotato7385 so I looked at the 65” and there is a notable difference between the two sizes, it will make your head wonder if you should like just get the Bravia 7 or X90L, it still wins but like , 85” is the wow moment , especially cinema mode, I will not stop talking about cinema modr
That is one of your best reviews ever. Easily digestible, clear but not shallow. Great job!
Even with the hold your shorts comment. Loved it.
@@GTS-Olivier after digesting, did you shit it out?
@@GTS-Olivier 🤣😂😅cringe
Thanks for finally getting it out. Can’t wait to see one in person
FINALLY! Been waiting for this and the Bravia 7 reviews! Thank you!
Dang, the quality of the writing on your stuff is next level. Presentation and production are first rate too. Well done. As for the TV, I think you captured the essence of what makes it worthy: bright room performance + great sound. Why the sound? Well, living/family rooms are generally bright and people who put their TV in those spaces probably don’t want a standalone audio system because of the expense, aesthetics, or space required for them. Very smart of Sony to recognize this market and make a product that suits it.
Great review. One of your best TV reviews and this is the one we’re waiting for. You’ve explained conundrum of the back light very well with the star lights.
Watching this video on my 75" Bravia 9. This is everything I imagined it would be.
I work in the film industry and I think the brightness and color of these displays is mind blowing. Some of the EIZO and SONY BVM broadcast monitors I've used in the past which costs thousands of dollars look so basic and lame compared to these things. Its kind of game changing for us because you can author amazing new color and materials and surfaces in content which was never visible before. I think one example is diamonds or metallic armor on characters look almost like real diamonds on this screen or real metal.
how are viewing angles? i think this is what really sets OLED apart.
Me too
Which country are you in? I ordered my 75" B9 last Saturday, and the retailer tells me that Sony have failed to deliver the stock to their store on time (due in last Tuesday).
@@badex3301, I would surmise that if you're frequently doing a lot of acute off axis viewing, then an OLED is likely your best bet. For me I always watch directly on axis, so it's a non issue for myself.
Caleb you are right this TV was never really gunning for OLED. It's ambition was to keep up with the mastering monitor. To do that it had to try and combine the strengths of both OLED and LCD and they actually succeeded to a greater degree than we probably could have expected. HDR impact, color volume, and shadow detail are the standout traits to my eye. I think many people can buy this TV and be happy for a LONG time! Also excited to see where Sony, Hisense, TCL will take MiniLED from here. This feels kind of like the start of a new era with seemingly way more potential for MiniLED than was ever previously unlocked.
If Sony can improved on this Bravia 9 and take mini Led a notch further close to a micro led with and no worries about burn in and dimming I stop by BB and seen the 85” B9 and was like wtf I was impress let’s face it micro led is 10 years out if we are lucky before they become affordable this Bravia 9 will not disappoint and hold us down for years to come I own a s95b qd-Oled B9 blow it out the water for its versatility day/night gaming/sports/movies no dimming no burn in , hard press to get one or wait for 2025 just around the corner for 2nd gen Bravia 9 with all hdmi 2.1
It looks amazing in person. Despite the naysayers (usually weird OLED fanboys) I applaud Sony for taking some risks and doing this (it's not even like Sony stopped making the OLED TVs 🙄). Why shouldn't there be more options and ways of making a TV? The results are ultimately what matters. And clearly Sony pulled that part off.
Risks😅😂
@@SLICK8116 yes. Which part of what I said was difficult to get? Do you not understand what the word "risk" means? Or are you a blind OLED fanboy?
Risks as in going against the grain. When you go against the grain .....in this case the trend and belief that it's OLED or nothing......then you are taking a risk. Because if you make your flagship TV with an older display tech then you better make damn sure that it is able to compete. That is a risk. Because you can't know how the market will react. Or if you will end up looking ridiculous. By any definition.....they took a risk with the Bravia 9. And I stand by what I said. I think any company should do it. It's clear that there are many ways to make a TV. And what display tech will work best depends on everyone's particular use case. The belief that gets pushed by certain people that only an OLED display is somehow valid is ridiculous.
I bet you haven't even seen the Bravia 9 in person.....have you?
@@Sabundy u make a strong argument, but why take such effort with a troll. He she is laughing that u fell for typ fanboy antagonist trigger.
Looking forward to picking up the 75'' Bravia 9 next month. Thank you for this wonderful review of the TV. Well worth the wait 😃👍
Horrible buy😅
I bought the 75" Bravia 9 as soon as it came available at my my local Best Buy. I had considered the G4 from LG and the Samsung S95D. The Sony is very bright in my sun filled family room! The color is vibrant! I highly recommend the Bravia 9!!
so many questions not answerd :(
- Glare / Reflactions
- Off-Axis viewing
- DSE / Vignetting
- Color banding
- Shadow detail
- Motion smoothing in movies and shows, not just sport
- Low bitrate content
- Black bar handling in various ARs
- Native contrast from the VA it self
- Motion resolution
- Game-Mode respons times
- Did the blooming look as worse as on YT or how much less in person
- how much more or less cinema-like does it look vs. A95L in various movies
- what size was this and could the 85" be better becaus of more zones
- you started the HDMI2.1 conversation but never finished it
- how it looks against an Z9D
- how's the brightness differance against an S95D in various real life content
- is it possible to shrink down picture size with that game feature also for movies and shows (eg. for low res YT content or DVDs), and how is the picture quality then
...
That's not his thing. Watch the 3 hour live streams people like KG and Brian put out.
@@MrUpscaleman It should be his thing... after making us wait nearly 2 months for this shallow review!!!
@@MrMjolnir009, he uses too many unnecessary words. Probably trying to make the videos longer.
@@PietroPizzi No wonder he wants us to spend $$$ and find those out ourselves. His pocket money will keep coming 😉
@@MrUpscaleman I did. But I hoped for a better one of him. Because his and Theos opinion are the only ones I "trust".
An 85 inch Sony Bravia 9 being £1000 (in the UK) CHEAPER than last year’s 77 inch Sony A95L is wild. The A95L price just refuses to go down! 😤
77 A95l has just dropped £500 on sony website so gonna pull the trigger
@@martinpratley4632 Not in the UK it hasn’t, it is actually the new Bravia 9 that has dropped by £500. I’ve been closely monitoring the prices for months
There's a 10% off deal on the A95L and Bravia 9.
I will never understand why Sony decided not to sell the 65” version of the Bravia 9 in the U.K. - it makes no sense.
@@rufdymond , only they can say why. But unless space is the problem, the larger sizes will benefit from the bigger screen and increased dimming zones for a QD-LED, so the already very good 65" version will look better at 75" and 85" and unlike OLED, the price difference is more minimal. So I wouldn't have gone for the 65" version anyway, but I can understand that space accommodation might be an issue for some people. I'd have gone for the 85" version if I had the space, thankfully I can fit the 75" one.
Great review - thank you for not going too far down the OLED beater rabbit hole. Really insightful and well thought out review.
I bought the 75inch version at the end of May have been generally amazed at the picture. Yes, blooming exists but you really have to look for it. Brightness is insane, but the best thing overall is the control. Motion is brilliant and coupled with the brightness and backlight control, it's tough to explain but there's a realness and weight to the objects on the screen. A joy to watch.
Though, It's not without issues and there are a few things other potential buyers should be aware of that most reviewers haven't touched on. Important because at this price...I was expecting a lot and it does miss in a few areas.
1. This is probably just a touch of OCD from me, but the Google TV OS doesn't use any local dimming settings, there's close to 0 vibrancy with a slight wash to everything. Not an issue in apps and their content or connected devices, but it's bizarre to have such a capable TV and when switching to another connected device running Google/Android TV the experience is night and day. A little...eyebrow raising.
2.This won't affect the vast majority of people, but be warned the built in ethernet is 10/100mbps, not gig. It does support 1gig ethernet over USB and has Wifi 6, but you wont get a speed over 350mbps from either (at least I can't). It seems there's some type of limit. Not an issue as this is a more than capable speed for the vast majority, if not all content currently available. I absolutely needed to use an adaptor as the lag loading content on DAZN or TSN was crazy with built in ethernet (Wifi is poor where the TV is so can't rely on that).
3. Not an issue limited to the Bravia 9 or Sony TVs - please don't expect apps running on Google TV to be able to decode Atmos with Dolby TrueHD content (the streaming standard of DD+ is supported of course) but if you use something like Plex on an Nvidia Shield and are hoping to lose a box under the TV, that may not happen. If you want Dolby TrueHD playback, you'll need to use a device connected to HDMI 1 or 2, which for me was a disappointment (I should have researched better) as I wasn't accounting for my Nvidia Shield taking up one of the two 2.1 HDMI ports.
3. This is the most problematic issue right now - there seems to be a brightness/luminance timing bug on HDR content (not SDR or Dolby Vision). The affect is similar to the raised brightness levels Caleb focused on, but is out of sync with content on the screen. At times a bright window or the sun in a scene will cause the brightness to jump a second after the scene has changed on the screen. I've also experienced this where the brightness jumps very slightly ahead of the picture on screen. Restarting the TV or changing the mode sometimes fixes things, but it always comes back for me. I would hope this will be fixed with an update, but Support won't acknowledge a bug or commit to a fix. Caleb, if you're reading did you experience this or have you heard anything from Sony etc?
2024 TVs across the board are brilliant, though the way I see it, we're still just about searching for TV nirvana. On the OLED side of the fence you have amazing black levels with great brightness. On the Mini-LED side we now have amazing brightness with great back levels. If you want a high end TV that's better for blacks, go G4, if you want one better for brightness, go Bravia 9. Don't get drawn into the Mini-LED/OLED wars, it's just a choice and both are great. OLED is no longer the standard, it's an option - also appreciate that both of these TVs are crazy expensive and this way of thinking wont apply for all TVs and scenarios.
Hopefully Sony can fix #4 (you said 3 twice). But you can eliminate that behavior if you disable tonemapping in HDR10. Excellent post btw I am also greatly enjoying this TV!
Glad you're enjoying your set, but how's the uniformity? Do you notice any "dirty screen effect" when watching content?
Hey, I just ordered my Bravia 9 85inch. Just wondering do I need to have my apple box connected to HDMI 2.1 port to get it's benefits or can I just put it in a regular 2.0?
@@MeT-6 Nice! Hope you're enjoying it - if you still need an assist, yeah you'll need to use an HDMI 2.1 port to get the most our of the Apple TV.
@@logicwins3492 Not at all. I can't complain about uniformity at all. After a few months of use, the only thing I notice is haloing specifically in scenes where a darker grey is the background with a lighter colour as the foreground. I'll also say no other family members notice - I'm looking for such things. It's genuinely a beast of a TV.
Sony's #1 mistake was making an LCD their flagship at an OLED price. Thank you for including audio performance & pixel response. Color & pixel response time are another "you can't get here from there" problem with LCD. Sony should've given us a Bravia 10 close to the A95L's price but with a current generation QDOLED and the processing and adherence to standards that Samtron just can't seem to muster. Yet I salute Sony for building the best LCD ever.
The price will tumble down by the end of the year and by March 2025. There will be a new line and this model will be on clearance !
Sony likely delayed the A95L successor because if they release the A95M, it’d have the same processor. Mediatek is preparing the next generation processor so Sony is likely waiting to put that in the successor next year
A95L and Bravia 9 are sonys benchmarks for picture quality, i really dont know what sony can improvise more in upcoming tvs.
Still they will do something.
Nothing is perfect yet for them.
As of now even in end of 2025 or 2026 i would satisfy with bravia 9 purchase if prices fall more.
@@balaciscoI don’t know if Apple dual oled tech in the new ipad pros is from Sony, given their documented relationship with Vision Pro, but I think this is what they could do next on their premium oleds, seeing 1000 nits on fullscreen on my oled ipad is really impressive.
@@andreiga76 dual tech OLED came from apple itself but the manufactured by Samsung. Sony is more experienced in small size OLED but with high res like camera EVF
You had us wait so long for this review….. and it was worth the wait ;) thanks!
With OLED tvs having a chance of burn in i don't even want to take the risk. My TV is generally on at least for 8 hrs. sometimes more on a daily basis. Im retired so yes i do watch alot of TV. I watch alot of CNN and don't want to even risk the possibility of burn in. From reviews of OLED that I've seen usually they say an OLED should only be on for 4-5 hrs on a daily basis. That wouldn't work for me. I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on an OLED when your viewing time is so limited. Thank you Caleb for this stellar review and now I'm convinced the Bravia 9 is right for me.
I'm sorry that you watch CNN 😭
I was sold on the Bravia 9 as soon as you said, "No burn-in risk!" I watch a lot of programs with static images onscreen such as ticker symbols. Thanks.
All you had to do was a Google search to see that this TV isn't OLED.
No need to wait for this channel to say no burn-in risk.
🤣🤣🤣
@@PSYCHOV3N0M It wasn't just the burn-in. I wanted a TV with a picture quality as close to oled as possible.
OLED burn-in takes effort to happen. Someone has to be super careless with modern OLEDs in vivid mode
Exactly! Burn-in is an important issue to consider!
@@joek6207 Still not acceptable to baby sit something that expensive.
First off, probably my most favorite thumbnail. That face! 😁
Even through the lens of this video, the Bravia 9 looks like an amazing TV. The picture quality looks stunning. This was a very thorough review Caleb. Well done and well done Sony!
Another excellent TV review that perfectly matches our findings on Sony's new flagship BRAVIA 9 ! Thank you Caleb!!
@@Pete_or_Peter4Long same feelings here
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
@@valueelectronics9390 Coming from a plasma is the Bravia 9 better than an Oled at motion for watching tv? I’ve always thought Oled has judder to it that coming from a plasma really bothers me and also is the Bravia 9 better at resolving shadow detail than an Oled? Those two things are what has kept me with plasma all this time.
Been waiting for this review.
And what did you find out really than learning about some technical bs
@@Sas-wk9ljquite a lot…including the issue with the entire screen getting brighter due to on-screen text😂
@@Freakyguy666 lol
Caleb, super review. Beautifully explained. Maybe your best yet. Can tell you put a lot of thought into it 👍
Too bad this wasn’t in 55 inch.Hope you do a Bravia 7 review.
Not worth your time if you can afford something at this magnitude you have to have 65inb or up to make it a worthwhile purchase
Some of us don't want a 65 inch man
@@brawrrrXO 65" isn't available in Europe though.
Phenomenal review! Hope you have Bravia 7 in the works
Are you going to do a review on the Bravia 7? (K75XR70)
@@kodeewarriner6801 yes, even comparison with 7, 8 and 9!
By the time he does nobody will care about it. He's too slow getting these reviews out (of which he promised to do).
I've been waiting for your take on this for so long🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤
a TV for gaming, no burn in risk. that is a guaranteed win, for me.
Gaming looks soooooooo good on it too. Best looking HDR I've ever seen for gaming.
You don't get fast response times so trash
@@Alanleme12345 Relax, not all of us are geeky gamers
@@madpistol do you have a PS5? Is this the best tv for gaming? I know a lot of people don’t like oled for gaming since it doesn’t get super bright.
@@cd4playa1245 I do, and the Bravia 9 is excellent for PS5. Been playing Horizon Forbidden West for the last couple of weeks, and it is jaw dropping.
Caleb is truly the man. These reviews are always fire.
I've had my 75" since the first week it was available to buy and I'm loving every minute of it. Best TV I have ever owned by far. I even owned the A95L for a week and prefer the Bravia 9 over it. Excellent TV!!
What do you prefer about the B9 compared to A95L?
How’s the glare from light? Heard it was terrible and spread the lights across the screen. That’s a deal breaker for me
As well as the side viewing angles lifting the contrast 😢
Terrible opinion
@@Icipher4it’s just a brighter punchier TV with nearly the same contrast as an OLED. My last 4 TVs have been OLED and I just got tired of the dim picture. The A95L, while the brightest of the OLEDs is still in my opinion quite a bit dimmer than the Bravia 9. Like Caleb says in the video, the Bravia 9 knows where to put the brightness. The contrast is sooo good that I forget I’m not watching an OLED. I like how this TV gets so bright and maintains such great contrast. Before this TV I would have considered myself an OLED fanboy. Not anymore.
Hello Caleb.
Your review just confirmed my decision to purchase the Bravia 9 85".
I have been without a TV since February 2024, and shall have to wait until around December 2024 to purchase the Bravia 9.
It's been tough, but good things come to those who wait.
Really appreciate all that you do.
Keep up the Great Work.
Kind Regards
From Mark UK
Great review Caleb! I've viewed the Bravia 9 numerous times at our local Best Buy with particular interest in the 85" size...A true & brilliant marvel it is ...OLED-like blacks with amazing color saturation & vividness...I can see great detail in the dark, shadowy scenes more so than ANY oled set...The 85" is currently still on sale @ a very good price of $4,799 ... Don't think it'll go much lower than that around the holidays, maybe down to $4,500 range..
As usual another great review with many critical points highlighted.
Caleb, I fully agree with you on the sound of this TV. I've had this TV in my family room for two week now. It's probably the best built-in sounding TV since I owned a Sony rear-projection LCD TV. It's not enough to convince me to get rid of my AVR but enough to at times not recognize when the sound is coming from the TV and not my AVR. I have no regrets in owning a Bravia 9.
Agreed. Although we do have a great DA sound system connected, when we first got our 85" B9 we did check out its speakers and were really impressed.
I'm curious if you have an AVR why is any sound ever coming out of the TV at all? I have an AVR and it's all set up to run through it and the TV sound output is always off. It would be weird to have sound coming from the TV as well as through speakers hooked up to an AVR. Curious what your use case is.
@@AdamJakowenko My AVR's automatic power shutoff (power savings) is configured to turn off if there is no input over a certain amount of time. There are times the AVR powers down with the TV still on and when that happens the TV detects no AVR and defaults back to the TV speakers.When the AVR is switched back on the sound reverts back to the "audio system" of the AVR instead of the speakers. They are never on at the same time (although the Bravia 9 can be configured to be a "center speaker" I don't have it configured as such).
For those wondering what is the picture diffrence between the bravia 9 and the A95L this is how I would describe it. For the A95L the image is very colorful looks like its painted onto the screen, For the Bravia 9 the image has a sort of realism that make you feel like its a window and not a tv.
Glad I’m not looking until next year. Thanks for the review, as always.
Same here. I want the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip on my new TV (coming on 2025 TVs)which will allow these TV's to finally have full range 48Gbs, 4x HDMI 2.1a ports and have very good AI upscaling support on the new chip to clear up the image on older lower compressed images such is often seen on RUclips etc (I hate macro blocking and on say a TCL TV I see it big time) Also support for WiFi 6e and 7 and 165Hz VRR gaming. It's hard to wait another year but this new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip is worth that wait for me anyway.
I've had a Bravia 9 75" for several months now, and I am more and more impressed with it as time goes on. LCD TVs tend to fall short in certain areas, especially gaming and high-contrast content, but the Bravia 9 nails both of these aspects in visual quality. No other display I've seen gets close. Yes, OLED has better response time in gaming, but normal gamers don't feel it, and if you're a pro gamer, you should be getting an OLED PC monitor instead (even lower latency). The Bravia 9 is a do-it-all display.
Gaming has been great. I haven't noticed any VA smear or any issues. I play using VRR too and it's smooth and really responsive. Playing Horizon forbidden West with the HDR. Chefs kiss. It's really nice. I played some BF 2042, MW3 COD shooter and its smooth and really fast. I know OLED has better pixel response time. But I never find myself thinking I need more. It's snappy, colorful, contrasty and smooth.
For me at 85" it comes in as doing everything really really well and some parts even better. Can only imagine a few more generations of this with improvements. How good it will be.
So in 5 years or so with a big leap again I will upgrade.
What distance are you from the 85"?
Yes, finally! Thanks for the review!
I like how a TV remembering which input you were on is considered a novel feature now when pre-smart TVs have always had these. My trusty 25+ yr old Panasonic TV does this.
Thanks for putting in the work on this thorough review. I especially like the credits/stars test. Starry skies are particularly difficult for non-OLEDs, so it was great to see how it handled that.
Love my 85” Bravia 9. Really is a stunning TV and was everything my family and I wanted in a TV.
Lies😅
An excellent review, everything I needed to know.
I own the 85" version. Only for about 2 weeks or so. I am a physical media (4 LYFE!!!) collector. Watching high quality Dolby Vision content on this TV is beyond shocking. Shoot...watching anything on this TV is shocking (I was the crappy stream of Hercules and Xena for crying out loud), but wow. Popped in The Batman from 2022. The TV handles the dark blacks and shadows without inking and the highlights...holy crap! Can't wait for my calibrator to come out and make it perfect. Shoot, I think it's darn close, but hey...don't wait, CALIBRATE!
How are the viewing angles? This may be a contender as I'm looking to purchase the 77-inch LG G4, and no one has reviewed the 85 inch version.
@@davidross7255terrible!
@@davidross7255 Really good. I am not a calibrator or a tech professional, but off center, colors are vibrant and depth is still superb.
Great presentation, B9 is the new Z9D, its phenomenal, thanks for sharing, Caleb!
I'm in Europe, where the 65" model is unavailable, which really sucks. I guess my only real option is to wait 2 or 3 years until a different brand makes a Mini-LED TV which can actually compete with the Bravia 9. On the plus side, with 2 or 3 years of saving up I could end up being able to actually afford a TV this expensive. :D
Yeah so many asking for 65inch, Absolute stupidity by Sony.
Similar to here Australia . Both countries sell 85 inch only. Sony doesn’t sell phones here anymore. Ridiculous
I am going for a LG G4 65" this year. And my family has been using Sony TVs for decades. No way I am putting a 75" TV in my 50m² apartment though. No idea why Sony is doing this, especially when larger sizes are more popular in the US because people usually got a larger apartment or house over there.
Thank you for a great, detailed and well researched review!
What about its viewing angle? I saw somewhere that it is using a VA Panel which usually suffers significant loss in brightness and contrast based on the viewing angle. Can you please share your experience on it?
I have a 65in SAMSUNG QN90A NEO QLED TV and love it. I think Mini-LED is a good balance between standard LED TVs and OLED TVs. Incredible brightness, vibrant colors, and impressive contrast with the only major downside, in my view, being the halo/bloom effect. However, this blooming only seems to be noticeable (to me) when there is white text on a black background or a scene with very minimal but intense light being shown. For the mid level price of most Mini-LED compared to the higher prices of OLEDs and newer QD OLED TVs is a good trade off. Obviously this is a bit too expensive to fit into that happy medium but, still an impressive piece of tech nonetheless.
Man I know OLED is impressive with blacks and contrast but even my 85" x90L shows no distracting blooming and has been incredible looking with most content and it's the 'budget' full array led Sony. 🤷
The contrast ratio is crazy🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Can you link the timecode for when he mentions the contrast ratio please?
@@Kuranghi 16:54
@@PSYCHOV3N0M He doesn't give the contrast ratio at that timecode. What am I missing?
@@KuranghiAs long as you haven't spent your fortune on these products, you're not missing anything. In fact, they are missing your wallet for sure. Stay away from these sales force.
Well done, Mr. Caleb! Enjoyable, as always!
I actually prefer the B9 to the A95L due to better shadow detail and better whites (snow, beach sand, etc.)
We do too. We've got the B9, A95L and G4 and the B9 is the overall favourite here.
@@vgnvideogameninja2930 what the? You have all 3 TVs at your home?
@@gosman949 We do!
@@paulc5389 See for yourself - look e.g., at Brian Tech's comparison of the two at 13:13 - both in professional mode.
@@paulc5389 See for yourself - Brian Tech's comparison video at 13:13 - both sets in professional mode. The background is clearly visible in both color and detail for the B9, not so for the A95.
Great review!..... Now waiting for that Bravia 7 review... :D
Seems like QD-OLED is still king. My A95K from 2022 still holding up. Interested in what comes after the A95L.
Nah. Bravia 9 is king. I've got A95L (QD-OLED) and LG G4 (WOLED MLA), along with my 85" B9. B9 looks the most impressive out of them all.
my first choice was the QN95D until i heard from reviewers that Sony was the best in up scaling . Any thoughts you can share it would be a great help.. Greetings from The Netherlands.
Caleb, it looks like you reviewed the 65" version of the Bravia 9?
Also, did you experience any serious DSE in your review model?
Massively appreciate more visual comparisons/showcases of issues than in most of your reviews.
Got my Bravia 9 85" arriving next Friday, was blown away at its SDR brightness when put back to back with Sony a95L SDR with same content. No contest, night and day, even the sales guy was like wtf. 😂
What distance are you watching from?
@@noybiznatch 12ft
I have a 75in, and I love it. It caught my eye viewing the G4 at Best Buy. It has a more cinema 🎥 like picture than the G4. I kept going back between the 9 and G4. The Bravia 9 speakers and remote won me over. And the plastics panels really looks great.
It looks great, BUT I feel like you would have been harsher on a lot of the 'mini issues' / comprises had it been another TV.
Super great review!! Can’t wait Bravia 8 and Bravia 7 review!
Returned 77G4 for the 75B9. Couldn’t be happier!
Really?
@@Edin8140Yes! the G4 is an incredible tv, but i had both for almost 3 weeks side-by-side. Knowing how to use settings is also important, the B9 let’s you also use Rec.2020 in SDR.. At the end the high color volume did it for me. Example the sun is shining in spider-man ps5. G4 did great, but the B9 lit the entire scene as the sun was really shining on all the buildings and the pavement. In sdr the same, you just have know how to dial in the settings as most people don’t know
@@Edin8140 Really. It's because B9 > G4.
@@vgnvideogameninja2930reviewers complains about poor viewing angle on B9, does it mean it doesn't bother you? Thanks
Finally! Great review. Now we'd love to see this compared to the Bravia 7 side-by-side to let us see for ourselves if the 9 is worth the massive price difference. Also... Tems! It seems that you also have a nicely eclectic taste in music.
Yes. I've seen both.
I think it is for any TV enthusiast. I've seen the 7 in person and I think most people would be more than satisfied with it if the 9 didn't exist. It's almost as bright, has great color, Sony processing, and near OLED like contrast in most scenes. It's just in those really challenging situations where you can tell that having 3x more dimming zones and a more sophisticated backlighting system takes the 9 to another level
Bravia 7 degrades pretty quickly as you move off angle. Not good for wider seating positions. I can’t speak to the Bravia 9 viewing angle, so take that for what it’s worth.
Couldn't be happier with my purchase of the B9 from Value Electronics AND the calibration and tune in I received. Well done team and thanks! Now I'll go eat Ramen for 2 years...
I also get my 85" BRAVIA 9 from Value Electronics who also sent their technicians to deliver and wall mount the TV in our Family Room. We are loving Sony's 85" BRAVIA 9 TV! Great service from Value Electronics.
@@VideoEnthusiast-id9di Oooooo how did you get their techs to do this...must be a local perk right? I woulda opted for that but I'm several states away. Anyway, the shipping was awesome so I can't complain much...nice job!
@@PorshaHomeTheater They don't actually own a Bravia 9.
I have noticed the typical LED problem of the faint blackness around the edging but I concur with the comments, just an amazing TV. I have a small living room so I had to get the 65 inch, but even with the smaller 65 inch, I feel the brightness blowing me away, just amazing!
Would love to see this TV in with my own eyes. I loved my 75X940E for it's brightness now have a 83A90J it's not as bright but the per pixel control and perfect blacks are a big +. The Bravia 9 is way better with dimming so I can imagine it looking amazing with that extra brightness compared to oled.
Thanks Caleb! Great review! From Down Under!
Not having a 55 inch option is a mistake. Not everyone has room for massive screens
Thank you, finally. An amazing broadway, oscar and grammy presentation all in one. Depth, effectiveness and enlightenment came out lucid. I now feel like a Bravia 9 graduate, Thanks DT, Caleb, Zack and the support team unseen. great job! love this TV. Lets see what happens black friday with the price.
Hey Caleb, question about the TV’s gaming performance with regard to VRR. When VRR is enabled, does it disable local dimming? I have the X900 from a couple of years ago which supports VRR but when that mode is enabled it disables local dimming which is a pretty significant trade off. People always tell me to get an OLED, but for viewing environment reasons it’s just not feasible for me. Thanks!
I've owned an 85" Bravia 9 for a few weeks and the answer is no. When VRR is enabled it doesn't disable local dimming. Remains the same.
@vgnvideogameninja2930 the quality of the local dimming does go down tho. There is tons more blooming on top of the regular lcd issues and the ones Caleb mentioned in the video as well
@@Time-Travelling-Lesbian Actually this isn't so. The quality of the local dimming looks exactly the same whether VRR is enabled or not. No blooming to be found at any time. Perhaps Caleb got a bad unit, but nobody else I've talked to that own B9 has had the problems you're talking about either.
Edit: then again, I've got an 85" B9 and Caleb reviewed a 65". They do not have the same performance, so I guess that's a possible explanation for the different experience with it.
Hi Caleb, I try to uncover one tiny bit piece of information from all of your great reviews: Is the Bravia 9 with the Sony QUAD speakerset the ultimate combo > Is it worthwhile using the Bravia 9 as center channel with the QUADS or is a A95L + QUAD speakerset just as good when it comes down to the sound?
Any plan to review TCL qm7 98 inch? seam like the best bang for the buck TV of 2024 with price vs performance
I almost never comment here, but I just want you to know your work is appreciated. I haven't watched this yet, but I appreciate your information on the deep specs. Honestly when it comes to a TV for me, it it doesn't have a game mode that supports less than 4ms response time, I'm a pass. I really also care about upscaling now, since I watch so much youtube and youtube is shit in quality.
I don't know if you're aware, and this may be a question I'm not 100%. But when it comes to HRD10+ and Dolby Vision, it doesn't matter if the TV supports these formats as long as the TV is going over 1400 Nits or so. From my understanding, those formats only come into play for the picture to be as good as possible when the original content exceeds the peak nit value of the tv.
I’ve had the 75 inch Bravia 9 for a week now and it exceeded all my expectations. I’m even thinking about returning the Sony bar 8 because the speakers on the Bravia 9 are incredible and might even be louder than the bar 8.
How’s the side Viewing angle? Heard the contrast lifts from off center as well as light Reflections that are being spread across the screen
@@Jordanfiend361 no issues with glare or viewing angles but my angles are under 30 degrees
Though having the Bar 8, you could pair it with a Sony SW5 sub woofer and the Dolby ATMOS sound track should hit as low as sub 35Hz. The TV speakers use it as a center driver.
After watching this, I'll definitely I'm getting one. 75" since appropriate. Now I have to wait till Costco sells it...save some bucks. Thank you for a wonderful review.
Wish they made a 98 inch version, just like with the 90L model.
I'd splurge on a 400" version if they'd make it.
It'd probably cost the better part of $10,000. Way too expensive to manufacture and very few people would buy it. They'd undoubtedly lose millions doing that
Not having a 98 in their 24 line up is so disappointing. Basically everyone else does..
LOL, that would be end game stuff. I would love to peek the price tag on something like that. 100" Z9D was 100k a long time ago.
@@vikingsfan2218 They sell plenty of all the other sizes despite being way more expensive than the competition. I'm sure they'd do just as well with an expensive 98".
Great video to go along with the others you and others have done.
Last weekend my cousin and I took a look at the 75" Bravia 9. I brought along with me a couple of disks to test out: Buffy S1E1 on DVD (see how bad it can look) and House of Dragons S1E1 on 4K (which looks washed out to just dark on dark on my OLED 65")
The sales people hadn't changed any settings on the B9. The demo they had playing looked exceptionally good - very close to the QD-OLED they had setup next to it. QD-OLED probably looked a bit better but not significantly so.
Testing Buffy - the B9 looked horrible. Smearing, after images, soap opera, loss of details. It didn't look that much better on the QD-OLED - heck, my OLED at home looked way better.
I had them tweak a couple of settings like turning off motion flow. This helped a lot but not enough to sell me.
House of Dragons 4K looked much better than on my OLED. More detail, better contrast.
I went back a few days later wanting to tweak the settings further (based on what Rtings has on their website). I didn't set go through and make all the settings but after making the ones I could the Buffy episode looked vastly better. Still lots of grain, some Smearing but the it was watchable. Given the video quality of the media it was very good.
I also brought along a GotG 4K movie which looked extremely good.
For me, I don't care about viewing angles and don't game, brightness/contrast/blacks/colour look pretty darn close to OLED. And for less money I could get a 75" B9 instead of the 65" A95L. My current OLED is about 8 or 9 years old, has burn in, used a lot, contrast isn't as great as it use to be and I've used it a lot.
For my use case, the Bravia 9 will be a good fit. Is it perfect? No, there is no perfect TV.
My suggestion is to physically see the TV's you are interested in. If you stream, have the store stream, if you play games, have them hook up a device, or if you watch DVD/BD/4K physical media then bring a good, bad, and ugly quality movie. Do a rough calibration and see if it is satisfactory. I'm no expert, just a guy that enjoys watching movies and doesn't want to be distracted by a huge amount of blooming, smearing, Soap opera.
Whichever TV works best for your use case, enjoy it. My Bravia 9 will be coming soon.
Are you going to compare it to the Hisense U8N?
Which size?
65
B9 > U8N
I hope they make some high quality monitors, with this much attention to Mini-LED.
I would like to see this tv compared to the new Hisense U9N and see if the Sony is worth the extra money.
it isn't. only for big egos
@@ricome169 It is tho. B9 >>>> U9N
Hi, thanks so much for the review. Keep up the great work was that the 65 inch that you reviewed? I would imagine the 85 inch would do even much better if that's the case.
17:50 Ouch. Imagine spending 3000 dollars on a TV and then noticing that. And for the record, I do not think that is a particularly challenging scene, I think that is a pretty basic scene.
Yeah. They did that to avoid blooming. That’s insane.
And clearly, you didn't understand as well what Caleb has said regarding this TV. It's NOT trying to be an OLED, rather, it aims to mix the best of LCD and best of OLED in one TV, that is well within the consumer-level pricing segment.
You point out this one weakness of Mini-LED, yet when it comes to shear highlights and full-screen white content brightness and control, you don't call out OLEDs that even cost 4000 dollars or more but are no match for this TV's insane full-field white brightness and sustainability.
Obviously for dark rooms, OLEDs are still the way to go because you don't need the extra high peak brightness of Mini-LEDs in such environment, but in more general and a broader selection of environments, Mini-LED provides the best versatility and longevity than even your LG OLED TV, which is claimed to be the longest lifespan OLED of any consumer OLED TV right now.
@@troy5568 nah.... he just asking with those BIG CHUNKY MONEY $$$ vs DNA Defect on LED, it's kind of BS
Which part of the explanation did you not understand? Its a preference thing.
Dont like it? Buy OLED or get an LCD with mad blooming.
Also... basic scene? For real? Sky full of stars is like the most worst case scenario you can get.
I had an awful experience where I bought the A95L and then had its aggressive dimming algoithm for sports making sports unwatchable. Ill never buy OLED again, I could not believe a 3000 dollar set was unable to view sports on
Excellent review as always Caleb! Only thing not addressed by you or most reviewers is the reflection handling. Due to the x-wide filter this thing throws rainbows across the entire screen thus forcing some to watch in a dark/darker room and thereby reducing some of the allure of the B9. Pretty much the only reason why i haven't upgraded from my A80J. Until the anti-reflective coating is addressed i'm sticking with OLED.
Sony Bravia 9 vs LG G4 head to head
Yeah, in Cinema mode or Post calibration. I don’t like when they compare “vivid”
StoptheFOMO already compared S95D, G4, Bravia9 against HX3110.
It would be great to compare it to last years model - the X95L so that we can see the improvements and the premium increase over that model.
I think I'm still gonna go for the A95L QD-OLED
Do it bro, I got mine a week ago. This is hands down the best tv to buy In 2024, colors are amazing and so wide that even the best woled will never reach lol. QD OLED is the best tech money can buy
I had one for two weeks, best picture and colors I ever saw, but its hdmi inputs were buggy and wouldent connect to my soundbar. I blame it on the new chipset they used and not working all the bugs out before relasing it (it did piss me off and I ended up getting the lg g3) I hope they might of fixed these issuses with a firmware update. I stress though best picture and upscaling ive ever seen(youtube tv), colors were the best ive ever seen, apl though was dimmer than my g3 and im sure the g4. Enjoy & good luck!
Great review Caleb, thanks!
A95L - best OLED TV
Bravia 9 - BEST miniLED TV
SONY KING.
1 - Incorrect
2 - Correct
So so
Right, he’s supposed to say, “Best QD-Oled”…😂@@pabloeduardodelvillarvalen8097
@@pabloeduardodelvillarvalen8097 A95L IS the best QD OLED and QD OLED is the BEST OLED.
Which is the best OLED then?? Let's see your answer fam. @@pabloeduardodelvillarvalen8097
@@pabloeduardodelvillarvalen8097 which is best OLED then??
Awesome review Caleb
Went with the TCL 98”. Couldn’t be happier.
Which model?
@@Pete.across.the.street Prob QM8
Yes you could. See Sony's massively better processing
It's bigger, but certainly not better.
@@vgnvideogameninja2930 why would it matter if something is better or not if he's happy with it?
Thank you for the great review. Did you get a chance to test the S-CENTER feature when using it with the Quad? Is it a miss like on past Sony TVs and better left out?
@@sapkan7879 also interested in this...
Given the 85” B9 has ~DOUBLE the number of Dimming Zones, this review of the 65” might not be applicable to the top of the line 85” B9!
Thanks Caleb. You have helped validate my decision to order the 85inch B9 during a TV sale (22% soundbar bundle discount) here in Australia. In the end, the TV itself came to < 4K which I thought is pretty good for a flagship 85 inch mini-LED.
That glow with the subtitle is a dealbreaker for me. Imo for the price i would go oled
Camera exaggerates it.
@@NexGenTek did you have it? elaborate me
@@hebralee3623 I have it now. There is basically no blooming I can watch this in a pure dark room or bright room and it’s spectacular
@@hebralee3623 Yes I have the 85
In person on the 85" at least, there's no glow around subtitles. B9 > than most OLEDs. It's on par (and better in some ways) with A95L, G4 and S95D.
I've never been so impressed with a MINI LED, the Sony OLED Demos even look good on it. This TV is remarkable.
I bought it last week and returned it yesterday and went for a a95L. I honestly thought I could get over the color shift when viewing off axis and the blooming and no inky blacks but I just couldn’t. I can’t believe all that would not come with its price point.
Your comment is very telling: once you go OLED you can't switch back... you like those dark colors and high contrast. But I still am going to try the B9 anyway cause I am worried about the burn in and then 85" vs 77"
To each their own. Give it a try then you’ll see what I’m talking about. I’ve had oled for years, burn in is not a problem if you’re just watching cinema or game here and there. Burn in is only a problem when an image is standstill. Don’t go by that narrative just to avoid it. It really is true, once you go oled you notice lcds are just blah.
i agree with you with that price point and can't compete with oled, it's kinda BS
for that display quality sony need get humble with $ 2000 price tag, this is far from A95L.
You never bought it in the first place so there was nothing to return. You also didn't buy an A95L. As an 85" B9 owner, there's no blooming to be seen and the blacks are just as inky as on my 77" A95L. B9 has superior brightness for better HDR though and way better shadow detail.
@@vgnvideogameninja2930coping mechanism at its finest. B9 is good tech but like I said I returned it due to the fact it’s not worth its price. Off angle viewing experience is horrible compared to a95l. Blooming is an issue so I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds like someone lied about testing it.
I'm debating between Bravia 7 and Bravia 9 because the price difference is big
Can you explain the differences between them and whether the price difference is worth the investment.
I mainly watch football in a lighted room. Today I have a Sony OLED TV and it has problems with burning pixels, so I want to switch to a TV with mini LED technology
thanks
The bravia 7 would be fine tbh. It's bright enough that the brightness isn't a issue
I have an A95L and looked at the Bravia 9 at Best Buy (they had an A95L next to it in the Sony area) and on the demo material there I spotted blooming around logos and I just can't do that anymore after having an LG CX since Nov. 2020 and getting the A95L in April. My home theater is in the basement with dim lighting, so running it in Dolby Vision Bright mode is awesome.
BS
Great review as always. Any plans on doing a Bravia 7 review since it’s the more budget friendly option?
How does it do on viewing angles vs oled?
if he do that ofc the biggest downside, the price will absolutely ridiculous
Brightness Loss
46°
Black Level Raise
33°
Gamma Shift
17°. Source: Rtings
Audio quality doesn’t surprise me. I have the 77” A80j (Costco A80 OLED model). The screen speaker gimmick isn’t a gimmick at all. The sound quality is fantastic. It’s clear and rich. I prefer it over my whole Sony sound system when casually watching video like on RUclips or watching random tv shows. Obviously it isn’t a full-blown home theatre good. But it does magic by making sounds actually sound like they are coming from the screen where the sounds are. It’s pretty cool. And it is, IMO, perfect for built-in TV Audio. If only Sony didn’t tune it down so much when using it as a center channel in a Sony sound system setup..