Sony Bravia 7 review

Sony is Vigorously promote mini LED TVsThat’s harder than one might think when its Bravia 8 OLED TV launches at the same time as last year’s A95L QD-OLED TV. With its incredible new driver technology, Sony has put the ultimate high-end OLED in the same flagship class as the Bravia 9 mini-LED. OLED panels are expensive to produce, but that doesn’t mean you have to choose a cheaper panel when picking out a big, expensive TV.

The Bravia 7, on the other hand, is your primary 4K QLED TV. It’s not as cheap as some products Best 4K Mini LED TV You can buy it, but it’s pretty good, even if it’s not the brightest on the block. Pricing starts at $1,700 for the 55-inch model, and if you choose the 85-inch model, the MSRP is $3,300.

In the latest Bravia series, Sony’s push for mini-LED is both subtle and obvious. If you buy a Sony TV, you can get a larger 4K mini-LED for the same price as a smaller OLED. That’s what we reviewers prefer to point out, but Sony positions its TVs similarly. This is why Sony promotes XR backlight Masterdrive technology on LCDs, which is not available on Bravia 8. TCL is also producing mini LED TVs Equivalent or better than similar OLED,

Can Bravia 7 beat OLED? No, not exactly. The overall quality of the Bravia 9 is better, but the last time I saw one in person was in April. Once you choose a color closer to the mid-range, you’ll see small differences in color contrast and black depth. The Bravia 7 is easily one of the top contenders in the high-quality 4K QLED space in 2024, with some great HDR settings. Can it be comparable to QD-OLED? Not completely.

Still, it’s a very solid attempt. The black is very close to ink deep. watching a movie is like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse The color selection on the Bravia 7 is impeccable and a treat. Still, it’s not as bright as the Bravia 9, which you’ll notice if you sit in front of Sony’s more expensive products long enough. An already dark movie, like a horror movie mrs webb It might just feel a little extra muddy. I also noticed some pretty big viewing angle issues that can hamper the experience if you’re not paying full attention to the screen.

You can easily compare the overall image quality of the Bravia 7 to the Samsung QN90D 4K QLED, which is hundreds of dollars cheaper. It’s a Google TV, so you can live with that, but Sony still has room to grow by fixing its settings menu. It doesn’t perform as well on non-Sony gaming products as it does on PlayStation.

Sony Bravia 7 settings and usability

Why can’t we have multiple 4K HDMIs?

The Bravia 7’s setup isn’t much different than any other large TV, except for the feet that plug into the bottom of the monitor. This is because if you have a smaller cabinet or need more space to place the soundbar, you can place the legs in the center and sides of the screen. I shook the TV but everything seemed solid. The back of the Bravia 7 is about 2.5 inches long, so consider that if you plan on hanging it on the wall.

The first thing you’ll notice is that while there are 4 HDMI ports, only one supports 4K with 120 Hz eARC/ARC. This can be annoying if you have multiple game consoles or players that support 4K high refresh rates. It also needs to be said that the power cord is on the other side of the TV box, with two USB-A, four HDMI and Ethernet, which is quite annoying. You’ll probably want to plug everything into the same outlet, but you’ll probably need an extension cord specifically for your TV. The plug in the box is not long enough to reach the outlet.

Getting good image quality is another story. The TV’s preset IMAX Enhanced Image mode is fine for most situations, and then Pro mode is fine for most other types of content. It takes a lot of effort to find and turn off the damn motion smoothing setting, but at least you can pin Picture Settings to the quick settings menu on your remote. Image and sound menu. Afterwards, I realized that the brightness and graininess of my photos had decreased. I quickly learned that the automatic ambient light setting is located deep inside “Ambient Optimization Pro” under the “Picture and Sound” menu.

Sony likes to put a lot of buttons and options in the menus, but I wish the company would clean up its user interface so that it’s easier to turn off all these unnecessary options that greatly affect the viewing experience. It would be nice if you could adjust more of these settings using the Bravia Connect app, but all it does is act as a secondary remote for quick access to voice zoom, picture mode, and brightness settings.

Sony Bravia 7 isn’t as ambitious as Bravia 9 claims to be. It’s not on par with the best OLED screens, but it still has excellent contrast.

This is a Google TV, and despite its many shortcomings, after dealing with those issues it feels like a simple, painless setup. LG QNED 90T and its frustrating user interface. There’s also some other Sony-exclusive gear in the Sony tab on the homepage, like PlayStation Remote Play on Android TV and some Bravia how-tos that might be useful.

You’ll love this TV when you use other Sony products, Just like PlayStation 5. When a single eARC HDMI is plugged in, the TV automatically detects it and automatically enables the game menu and game-specific image quality options. You can turn on settings like black equalizer to eliminate shadows or add crosshairs directly to the middle of the screen. You can also directly view the current resolution and refresh rate. If you want to watch YouTube while gaming, there’s another picture-in-picture option. This may not be the most important thing to most people, but it’s convenient to know that it exists.

Sony Bravia 7 picture quality and sound

Looks good, but not from any angle

This TV isn’t as exciting as the larger Bravia 9 due to its over-the-top dimming zones and driver technology. However, Sony says this similar mini-LED TV uses the same lighting control technology and has fewer dimming zones, so you don’t get as much color clarity as more expensive models. Essentially, Sony says you’ll get the same image quality as last year’s previous-generation flagship, the X95L, but at a fraction of the cost of the previous-generation X90L model and with more zone control.

What any of this means in practice is pretty fuzzy, but for the price, the image quality is still pretty good. Sony likes to brag about your Sony Pictures Core app, whose 4K HDR movies are the equivalent of physical Blu-ray DVDs. I watched both on TV, and yes, the 80 Mbps streaming from the Core was generally very good, and I didn’t notice any questionable blooming.

The game is just as exciting, although in games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivors, I need to increase the HDR brightness and black point to get maximum visual effect. This is the standard mode that turns off the black equalizer in the game menu and turns on the visual effects. FPS mode greatly increases overall brightness but renders colors to a cartoonish degree.

You’ll also find that the Bravia 7’s viewing angles aren’t great. Move a few steps away from the lines and the image will appear washed out. I was only 30 to 40 degrees off center and then I saw a drop in image quality. Another big issue that quickly became apparent was the reflectivity of the screen. When viewed during the day or when lights are shining nearby, a large amount of glare is produced.

So this TV wants you to be in perfect viewing conditions; otherwise, it falters. It’s not hard to get your couch to look directly at the TV, and if you have a large 4K TV, you may have a living room space without much of a spotlight on the TV itself. However, I found it performed better than the Bravia 7 on cheaper TVs.

The dock speakers on Sony TVs are nothing to write home about. They work well, but have very little bass, and are only effective until you get a high-quality sound system or soundbar. Sony claims that with the Bravia Bar 8 or 9 you’ll get an interesting soundscape where sound comes from both the TV speakers and the Bar, but I couldn’t test this. I have also used bravia theater university It comes with Sony’s latest Mini LED, but if you want a high-quality audio setup, you can find a separate speaker system.

Despite some controversy, the Bravia 7 is still a solid entry in a crowded market

There’s no perfect TV out there, but there are plenty of good 4K mini-LEDs out there that you’ll want to minimize in terms of features and price. The Bravia 7 inherits a lot of the good stuff from the Bravia 9, including part of the backlight driver, but I wouldn’t say it’s of significantly better quality than other flagships released this year.

If you’ve loved Sony’s TVs in the past, you’ll feel right at home on this new beautiful screen. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shop, you may be able to find the best deals. It’s not a perfect TV, but if you play Sony games (literally, in the case of the PlayStation), then you’re going to have a great time with excellent picture quality. Just don’t expect flagship heights on mid- to high-end TVs.