Home Theater Geeks 477 Transcript
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00:00 - Scott Wilkinson (Host)
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I talk about Sony's 2025 TV lineup. So stick around. Podcasts you love From people you trust. This is TWIT. Hey there, scott Wilkinson. Here, the home theater geek. In this episode, I'm going to talk about Sony's 2025 TV lineup, which they just announced at a special event in Tokyo, no less. Sadly, I didn't get to go, but many of my colleagues did, and what they reported on was pretty cool. So let's check it out.
00:53
Some of the 2024 models will carry over from last year and they will include the Bravia 9, which is their flagship mini-LED QLED LCD TV Alphabet soup, I know, but that's what it is. The Bravia 8, which is another mini LED QLED using quantum dots, a step below the Bravia 9, and the Bravia 3, which is a standard conventional LED TV with no local dimming. So it's more of an entry-level type product. But they introduced three new models that are going to slip in between those models that are continuing on from last year. The first one is called the Bravia 8 Mark II A little bit unfortunate nomenclature there. I'll talk about that in a minute. This one is a QD OLED, a quantum dot OLED using the latest QD OLED panel said to have 25% more peak brightness than their previous QD OLED, the A95L, and 50% more peak brightness than the Bravia 8 from last year, their conventional OLED. However, the Bravia 8 Mark II is only available in 55 and 65-inch sizes. The A95L last year's actually 2023's QD OLED will still be available, at least for a while, and it's available in 55, 65, and 77-inch sizes. Sony claims that the Bravia 8 Mark II will be more affordable than the A95L, but no pricing has been announced yet. Now I have to say I'm still glad I got the 77-inch A95L. I would be having some buyer's remorse right about now if the Bravia 8 Mark II came in a 77-inch size, but I really wanted a 77, so I was really happy to. I am still really happy to have that A95L.
03:28
Now, as I mentioned a little bit a moment ago, the model naming convention is a little strange. Bravia 8 and Bravia 8 Mark II. They're both OLED, one WRGB, the other QD OLED, and I've seen a lot of online speculation that Sony still considers the Bravia 9 to be its true flagship, which would mean that they didn't want to call their new QD OLED the Bravia 10, which would have elevated it at least psychologically above the Bravia 9, and they still want the Bravia 9 to be the flagship. I disagree with this decision. The only real advantage that Bravia 9 has over QD OLED is a greater peak brightness. That's really the only thing. And QD OLED has the advantage over all LCDs in a wider off-axis performance. Go off-axis from the center of the TV picture still looks great With all LCDs that's less true Now.
04:45
The company has been talking about a new technology they're going to release in a product in 2026 called RGB LED, and that will certainly be their flagship, so maybe that'll be the Bravia 10. I'll be talking about RGB LED in a future episode, explaining what that is. It's pretty cool. It's still based on LCD technology and so has the inherent limitations of LCD, but it's a lot better than current flagship LCD TVs. Now I watched one video from Digital Trends. My colleague Caleb Dennison. There, who I respect very much, appears to be Sony's convention to number the LEDs or the LCDs with odd numbers and the OLEDs with even numbers. Okay, but calling the new QD OLED Bravia 10, as I said before, would psychologically elevate it above the 9, which they didn't want to do, I'm sure. So I'll be talking about RGB LED in a future show, so watch out for that.
06:11
Ok, the second new model that they introduced is called the BRAVIA 5. It's a new, lower cost mini LED QLED LCD using quantum dots, and it uses the same processing as the more expensive models, which is called XR Master Backlight Drive At least the processing used to drive the backlight, which is really really good. Sony does an excellent job with this, and so it's top of the line, and rightly so. It's top of the line, and rightly so. This model, bravia 5, features variable refresh rate, game mode, dolby Vision, up to six times the number of dimming zones as the X90L, which is a couple of generations ago, depending on screen size. It comes in screen sizes of 55 up to 98 inches, which is the largest of the new models offered by Sony. They say it'll be less expensive than the Bravia 7, undoubtedly with lower peak brightness and fewer dimming zones, but still I'll bet it's going to be a really really good performer.
07:28
Okay, and finally, at the very bottom of the list, shall we say, is the Bravia 2 Mark II. Now, this is an entry-level Sony TV Conventional LED backlight, no local dimming, much like the Bravia III. I didn't even know they had a Bravia 2, to tell you the truth. So I'm not sure where the Mark 2 designation comes from. Other US news outlets are not even discussing this model, so maybe it's not for the US market, but it is in Sony's press materials from that Tokyo event. So maybe it's only European or Asian, I'm not sure. It's going to be a very low-end TV, an entry level into Sony.
08:15
Now I put together a spreadsheet of the entire Sony lineup, so let's take a look at that. You can see I've marked the new models in red here so you can distinguish them from last year. And the Bravia 8 Mark II, bravia 5, and Bravia 2 Mark II. They haven't announced prices yet but they did announce sizes, so we have those here. And the Bravia 8 Mark II will be less than the Bravia 9, maybe more than the Bravia 8, I would guess. So you can kind of interpolate between these two. For example, the 65-inch Bravia 9 is $2,700, which is down from when it was introduced last year by a few hundred bucks, and the 65-inch Bravia 8 is $1,700. So I'm going to guess that the Bravia 8 Mark II 65-inch is going to be in the $2,000, $2,200 range, something like that. It's a guess. It's a guess. Similarly, the Bravia 5 is between the 7 and the 3, so it's going to be less than the 7 and more than the 3. I suspect that's going to be a real hot item. It is not quantum dot, but it is mini LED, but it is mini LED. So, for example, let's take a look at the 65 inch Bravia seven is 1500 bucks and the 65 inch Bravia three is 700'm guessing. So you know that I think is going to be a really good seller and I'm going to be able to recommend that one pretty highly.
10:14
Now I wanted to say something about the processing. Sony is the only TV company that also produces content. Sony Picture Studios and its processors for its TVs are geared toward showing you what the content creators intended, which is always my goal as well. That's what I want a TV to show me is exactly what they saw on their monitors when they were mastering and finishing up the product, and they do a really good job of it. Sony's processing is second to none, in my opinion, and it's one reason why Sony TVs are more expensive than their direct competitors like LG and Samsung. Now there's something really important that Sony shared with the journalists who were in Tokyo and they in turn, shared with their audiences, caleb Dennison at Digital Trans. I talked about him before he talks about it in his video on his trip to Sony and the TVs that they introduced.
11:21
And it's this Sony takes the time and the effort and the money to essentially adjust or calibrate each and every TV that comes off the line, at least in terms of color uniformity, screen uniformity. So if a TV comes up, a TV comes off the line, a camera takes a picture of it. It's showing a gray test pattern. Camera takes a picture of it, areas that are not uniform, it blotches that are maybe darker or lighter. Uh, the TV gets adjusted until they disappear and that's all very uniform. This is amazing. They also in their picture modes at least the higher-end TVs have a professional mode which is very close to fully calibrated, color-wise and grayscale-wise. So this is a lot of effort that they go to, and it's another reason why Sony TVs cost more. Caleb calls it the Sony tax. And they do this all the way down to the Bravia 3. I don't know about the Bravia 2 Mark II, but at least to the Bravia 3, we know that they do this and everything above it, and that's really, really good. It's why Sony TVs are usually rated better and why they're more expensive, as I said. So that's something to keep in mind when you're shopping. So, as you can see, sony has a pretty impressive lineup of TVs, and they may cost a bit more, but in my opinion, they're definitely worth it if you can pump up the budget to afford one. I think that Bravia 5 is, in particular, going to be in a real sweet spot, so looking forward to seeing them in person. This is very good. So that's it for Sony's 2025 TV lineup.
13:29
Now, in some episodes, I answer questions from you, the listener and the viewer. So send them along to HTG at twittv and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And, as you know, all episodes of Home Theater Geeks are now available on YouTube for free, of course, with ads. If you want to go ad-free, join the club. Go to twittv slash club twit to join up and get all of twits podcast programming for free. Well, for the cost of the club, twit ad free, which is really good. I appreciate that very much. So, until next time, geek out. Thank you.
