Sony's 98-Inch Bravia 5 Mini-LED TV Review

Tom's Guide

In this video, Kate gives you a close-up look at the new Sony Bravia 5 Mini-LED TV in a massive 98-inch configuration. Sitting below the Bravia 7 in the list of the best Sony TVs for 2025 TV, the Bravia 5 looks to lock in customers with a wide variety of size options, as well as modern Mini-LED backlight technology that's beginning to trickle down from the Bravia 9. Although we don't know pricing and availability yet, Kate gives her impressions of what to expect from the Bravia 5 when it does eventually hit the market.

Transcript

00:00A few weeks ago, I was at Sony's Tokyo HQ, and while I've already talked about this in my Bravia

00:048 Mark II hands-on, go check out that video if you haven't already. Today, we're looking at

00:10something a little different, the Bravia 5, a new sort of more mid-range Sony mini-LED TV that takes

00:16over from the X90 series. And unlike the Bravia 8 Mark II, which tops out at 65 inches, the Bravia

00:225 goes all the way up to 98 inches, and that's the version I saw in person.

00:30At its core, the Bravia 5 is powered by Sony's XR processor and the XR backlight master drive,

00:35which together are promising better contrast, depth, and detail compared to the X90. It also

00:42has up to six times more dimming zones than before, which is a massive jump in backlight control

00:47possibilities. If you've been following Sony's mini-LED evolution, this takes what they did with

00:53the X90L and addresses significant improvements when it comes to blooming in areas of high contrast.

00:58In side-by-side comparisons, which I wasn't able to record for you, but I can talk about,

01:03dark scenes looked richer with less of that milky-gray effect, and brighter areas had more

01:08precise light control. Sony has always prioritized creator intent, and it shows here. Even in dynamic

01:15mode, which most TVs oversaturate, the Bravia 5 handled colors naturally, especially greens,

01:21which can sometimes look too neon in this type of picture setting. Sony's color tuning keeps

01:26everything balanced, and while I still wouldn't recommend watching movies in a dynamic or vivid

01:30mode, it was nice to see how well it controlled oversaturation. Speaking of picture settings,

01:36one new feature is an ambient light sensor that adjusts cinema mode or the filmmaker mode based

01:41on your room's brightness. So just to make sure that the HDR settings look as they should

01:45in a bright room, in a dim room, it'll adjust automatically to maintain the most accurate picture

01:50possible. I also got to see a demo highlighting how the backlight moves with objects on screen,

01:56refining luminance in real time. It's sort of similar to the demo that I showed you guys back

02:01in the Bravia 9 last year, but now we're seeing that same level of refined backlight control start

02:07to trickle down to what's going to be a more affordable Sony TV. I know that looking at this 98-inch TV,

02:14it's giving premium, it's giving pricey, but if we're talking about the scope of Sony's TV collection,

02:20the Bravia 5 still sits one step below the Bravia 7, and here's what that means. Whereas the Bravia 5

02:27has contrast booster 10, the Bravia 7 has contrast booster 20, which means even better backlight

02:32control and higher peak brightness when you go that one step up. The Bravia 7 also has a more

02:38advanced audio system than the Bravia 5, with a stronger center channel for clearer dialogue.

02:42So we already had the Sony Bravia 7, now we have the Sony Bravia 5, but what's important to remember

02:49is that the Bravia 9 is remaining the company's mini-LED flagship this year. One area to me that

02:55really reminded me of this is off-angle viewing. If you're sitting directly in front of the screen

03:00on the Bravia 5, it looks fantastic, but if you're watching a little bit from the side, you're going to

03:05start to notice a drop in color and contrast. That said, Sony is working on RGME mini-LED technology

03:11that vastly improves off-angle viewing performance to the point where it's almost at the level of

03:16OLED. I explained how Sony RGB mini-LED works in a previous video here on this channel, so make sure

03:22you go check that out. The Sony Bravia 5 takes Sony's mini-LED technology to the next level in the

03:29brand's mid-range category, delivering way better contrast, smarter backlight control, and a big screen

03:35cinematic experience, especially in that 98-inch version that I've saw and that you've seen here

03:41in this video. How much will that actually cost? Sony hasn't quite said yet, but will soon, and as

03:46soon as we know, I'll put the info in the description of this video, so go check there for more info.

03:52If you liked this video, consider subscribing to the channel and turning on notifications. We've got

03:56plenty of TV content coming down the line that you won't want to miss, trust me. That's it for me,

04:01I'll catch you next time.

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