Sony Bravia 8 Review: Stunning Picture, Solid Gaming, But Is It Worth the Price?

Sony needs no introduction when it comes to TVs. Sony has been expanding its premium TV lineup in India. Sony launched Bravia 7 QLED TV in July, followed by Bravia 9 and Bravia 8 in August. While the Bravia 9 is a Mini LED TV in sizes 77 and 85 inches, the Bravia 8 is an OLED TV that is offered in 55 inches and 65 inches. This makes Braiva 8 the only OLED TV from Sony in 2024. Will the Bravia 8 be able to win us over? Let’s find out in this review:

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Design & Build

Oh, the Bravia 8 looks premium from every nook and corner. With its thin metallic bezels and a checkerboard patterned back, it screams about its premium price tag. Looking at the Bravia from a side angle, you will notice that it is slimmer than Sony’s OLED flagship from last year. The previous year’s model had a protruding back panel that housed all the I/O ports and speakers. This year, Sony has refreshed the rear panel with a square design that tapers off slightly around corners to ensure a sleeker slide profile.

The TV comes with universal vesa holes for wall mounting. If you decide to mount it on the wall, it will sit flush to the wall. Sony allows you to choose between the wall mount and tabletop stand, which Sony’s installation representative brings with him. I decided to opt for the tabletop stand. The stands are versatile as they offer different setting options.

It sits close to the tabletop, and if you choose the second position, you can fit most regular soundbars. Suppose you select the third setting, which is raised 10 cm from the tabletop. In that case, it ensures you can accommodate any soundbar that is the tallest soundbar available in the market today.

Installing the tabletop stand was easy. Once installed, the TV stood firm on the top table without any wobble. Sony has provided control buttons on the bottom edge of the front panel. You can use these buttons to power the TV on or off and change the volume, channel, or input. Clearly, with its extremely marginal bezels, sleek side profile, and firm footing, the Sony Bravia 8 is one of the best-looking TVs in the market.

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Connectivity, I/O & Remote

The Braiva 8 is well-covered with physical and wireless connectivity options. All the physical connectivity ports are placed on the left side of the panel. It comes with Four HDMI ports, out of which only two support full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. Using these two ports, you can enjoy 4K at 120Hz, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and Auto Low-Latency Mode (ALLM). You can use HDMI 3 to connect your audio system, which supports Arc and eARC.

Besides HDMI, the Bravia 8 also supports legacy connectivity options like coaxial cable, speaker in, S/PDIF optical for audio, and Ethernet for wired internet connectivity. Sony has also given you one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 along with an S-Center, allowing you to use your Braiva 8’s speaker as a center channel when connected to Sony’s soundbars and AV receivers. The TV also supports playback and screen mirroring via AirPlay 2 and Chromecast.

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Hardware and Software

This OLED TV from Sony packs top-tier hardware and a much-refined version of Android TV as software. For the processing, the TV depends on the XR Processor while the panel is a WOLED, where W stands for White. In WOLED, the pixels emit white light passing through a color filter to produce separate red, green, and blue colors. In contrast, a filter sub-pixel lets white light pass straight to ensure brighter whites. This makes the Bravia 8 slightly more colorful than last year’s A80L model we reviewed. Coming back to processing power, Sony’s XR chip is among the best in the business. It is well-regarded for its signal processing, upscaling, and color capabilities.

 The Google TV interface works swiftly on the Bravia 8. It takes a few extra seconds to boot up, but once it’s loaded, it feels more user-friendly than Samsung’s Tizen-based UI interface. Based on your viewing patterns, the Google TV interface recommends various shows and movies for your consumption. Several streaming apps like Netflix, Prime Videos, Disney+ Hotstar, YouTube, and Sony Liv come pre-installed on the TV with a dedicated button on the remote. The’s also Sony Picture Core, where movies and series that are produced by Sony’s production house can be streamed without compression in full quality.

When you scroll through the interface, you will find Eco Dashboard, which updates you on power consumption thus far, and an option to enable or disable the TV’s power-saving features. There’s also the Live Décor feature, which transforms your TV into home décor by displaying screen savers and playing soothing sounds.

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Picture Quality

If you are buying an OLED TV for the first time, the Sony Bravia 8 will sweep you off your feet. The display delivers remarkable blacks and contrast due to OLED self-lit pixels’ properties. But even if you’re no stranger to OLEDs, this TV will still win you over with its incredible color accuracy and sharp, bright highlights. It’s a display made for fans of vibrant, cinematic experiences—without the distractions of blooming or harsh lighting transitions.

During testing, we used both the stock interface and paired it with Apple TV 4K, streaming from Netflix, Sony’s Picture Core, and even a Plex server loaded with Blu-rays. From the action-packed chaos of Mad Max: Fury Road to the vibrant world of Ready Player One, the Bravia 8 handled it all effortlessly. Even older shows like Friends and the classic Ramayana looked fantastic, giving us a glimpse of how well it upscales lower-resolution content.

Without any professional calibration (as most users likely won’t bother in India), the default settings performed impressively. Switching to Professional Mode, however, took things up a notch. Colors were accurate, dynamic range was superb, and there was no unwanted sharpening.

The flight sequence in Top Gun: Maverick looked particularly stunning, with clean, crisp smoke trails against the OLED’s deep blacks. Motion handling was smooth too, as Ready Player One’s intense race sequence played by without any noticeable artifacts.

Unlike the A80L, which has colder tones, the Bravia 8 tends to favor warmer skin tones. I also watched Schindler’s List. It’s a classic movie shot in black and White. For the first time, I noticed fine details in the scenes that I had previously overlooked.

With Dolby Vision on, the picture remains spectacular, though OLED’s inherent dimmer brightness compared to LED TVs is noticeable. The aggressive automatic brightness limiter can be a bit much for some, but the overall picture quality—EOTF tracking, color gamut, and viewing angles—remains exceptional. In well-lit environments, the TV’s outstanding reflection handling and wide viewing angles keep the image pristine, no matter where you’re sitting.

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Gaming

The Sony Bravia 8 is a fantastic choice for gaming, offering an almost instant response time, which means smooth and clear motion with barely any blur. Whether you’re playing fast-paced shooters or racing games, the action looks crisp and fluid. At 60Hz, you might notice a bit of blur, but it’s minor and doesn’t get in the way.

If you own a PS5, the Bravia 8 has some cool features just for you. It automatically switches to low-latency mode when gaming, and it supports Dolby Vision gaming at 4K and 120Hz. Games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales look vibrant and smooth with stunning colors and sharp details. Input lag is not noticeable. Overall, Bravia 8 and PS5 are like a match made in Haven.

Sony Bravia 8 Review: Audio

The Sony Bravia 8 takes a different approach to audio with Acoustic Surface Audio+, where actuators behind the screen vibrate the panel itself, turning the entire display into a speaker. This gives you precise sound placement, so the audio feels like it’s coming directly from where the action is happening on screen.

Sony’s also added an improved tweeter to help with higher frequencies, making dialogue clearer without feeling too sharp. Paired with Voice Zoom 3, it manages to boost dialogue without sounding forced or unnatural, even if you’re using external speakers.

The Bravia 8 supports IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Atmos, and DTS formats which adds some depth to the audio, giving it a more expansive, cinematic feel. But there’s a catch — the bass isn’t very strong. If you want that punchy low-end for movies or music, you’ll probably want to invest in a soundbar.

In short, the audio here is impressive when it comes to clarity and accuracy, but don’t expect booming bass out of the box.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Sony Bravia 8?

Smartprix Rating: 8.5/10

Design and Build: 8/10

SDR Performance: 9/10

HDR Performance: 9/10

Upscaling: 9/10

Audio: 8.5/10

Software: 8/10

Remote: 8/10

The Sony Bravia 8 is a top-tier TV that delivers on both picture quality and gaming performance. Thanks to its excellent HDR and SDR brightness and near-infinite contrast ratio, it shines even in rooms where a light source is right opposite to TV screen. HDR content looks fantastic, and the wide viewing angles make it perfect for group watching.

Gamers will love the super-fast response time and awesome gaming features, making it a perfect fit for next-gen consoles. But, if you’ve got a bunch of gaming devices to connect, having only two HDMI 2.1 ports might feel a bit limiting.

The Bravia 8’s image quality is impressive and may outperform its competitors due to its superior picture processing and upscaling. However, its price is a bit high. You can get similar performance from more budget-friendly options like the LG C4 (₹1,81,990) or Samsung S90D Samsung S90D (₹1,54,490).

That said, Sony has really fine-tuned what matters most — skin tones are more natural, and the enhanced light control adds a beautiful depth to the image. The audio, powered by Acoustic Surface Audio+, also exceeds what most rivals offer.

If you’ve upgraded your TV in the last few years, the Bravia 8 might not feel like a must-have. But if you’re in the market for a premium OLED set, this is one of the best out there.

First reviewed in September 2024.

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