In the ongoing battle for supremacy among TV panel technologies, Sony’s latest 2024 season of Bravia TV releases is making clear the advances made and the advantages offered by premium Mini LED backlighting. Sony’s new flagship range, the Bravia 9, is exclusively Mini LED, and it goes brighter – and blacker – than ever.
Sony also retains OLED TV technology, for its Bravia 8 range. In comparison with Mini LED, OLED panels have certain inherent advantages in being front-emissive, and they’re therefore able to achieve absolute blacks more easily than backlit technologies.
But the numbers don’t lie – Mini LED is now achieving far higher brightness, and also higher dynamic range than OLED can muster, and that’s a combination which makes Mini LED better suited to any scenario other than a darkened room. Australian homes in particular favour open and bright sun-lit spaces, where Mini LED’s combination of brightness, contrast and eye-popping colour – especially in the large screen sizes available for Sony’s Mini LED Bravias – can really bring big-screen cinema-quality images to your home.
A new light
You might say that Sony’s new TVs have their own built-in movie director in the shape of the company’s XR Backlight Master Drive. This considers every frame of content, then uses a high-precision level of control to optimise the front panel together with Mini LED’s vast arrays of tiny discrete backlights. The control system leverages new silicon developed specifically for Sony’s latest generation of Mini LEDs, and algorithms that benefit from the company’s expertise in supplying professional mastering monitors to the film industry. This degree of control maximises the brightness peaks and the dynamic range available for the highest-quality Dolby Vision and HDR10 releases.
In addition, Sony’s XR Motion Clarity is renowned for delivering smooth-moving images without blur or judder, regardless of the content or its delivery method, while retaining the quality of the original image, without halos or posterisation.
The flagship Bravia 9 Mini LED range, in 75-inch and 85-inch sizes, not only brings Mini-LED brightness that’s able to shine brightly in any room regardless of ambient light, there’s also Sony’s X-Wide Angle technology which will benefit those in larger rooms particularly, with the ability to maintain contrast, clarity and colour even for viewers sitting far outside the central sweet spot. Errant reflections and glare are also dampened down by the Bravia 9’s X-Anti Reflection layer, which completes these stylish TVs with their ‘Seamless Edge’ bezels.
Watch movies and shows as the creators intended
If you’ve ever become lost in the expert settings of your TV, wondering whether to punch up the gamma or wind down the contrast, you will very much appreciate Sony’s innovative implementation of Studio Calibrated modes in its latest Bravia TVs (OLED and Mini LED both).
Studio Calibrated modes are tailored to key streaming providers, knowing exactly how their streams are delivered, and so optimising their delivery automatically – so there’s no need for deep menu diving in order to achieve the perfect picture.
Bravia Series 7, 8 and 9 all have a Netflix Calibrated Mode and a Sony Pictures Core Calibrated Mode, with this second mode optimising an ultra-high-quality Sony Pictures Core streaming service that aims to deliver 4K Blu-ray-like quality at up to 80Mbps (assuming your internet connection can oblige). Sony Pictures Core is also home to largest collection of IMAX Enhanced movies, and Sony Bravia TVs are certified by IMAX, meaning they will faithfully reproduce these movies with stunning accuracy.
Bravia series 7, 8 and 9 also add a special Prime Video Calibrated Mode to automatically optimise content arriving from Amazon’s video streaming service. This is highly useful user-friendly functionality, and with clear scope to expand.
In ensuring the perfect delivery direct from the streaming provider, Sony is handing its XR Backlight Master Drive the best possible input signal on which to perform its Mini LED magic, and so deliver the clearest pictures and the best possible HDR performance, in addition to the brightness and brilliance of the underlying screen technology.
Google TV brings it together
As every viewer knows, a good TV requires not only the best possible picture, but also ease of use. Sony is employing the Google TV OS throughout its 2024 ranges, with the familiar and smart interface bringing together Google’s exceptional range of apps, and also making Google Assistant available to control your TV by voice, and much more besides, including Chromecast and Apple HomeKit integration. Google TV is an acclaimed interface to a world of streaming content, the perfect partner to Sony’s technology within.
First class audio – and gaming too
The new Bravias also continue Sony’s innovative delivery of TV sound, including a new up-firing Beam Tweeter in the Bravia 9 to complement two frame tweeters and to deliver real height content from Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks, as well as through Sony’s 3D Surround Upscaling. Another great pairing, to expand on the Bravias’ built-in sound systems, might be one of Sony’s latest soundbars, designed to link seamlessly with Bravia TVs and so provide the bigger sonic presentation deserved by one of the latest large-screen Bravias.
As for gamers, it’s no surprise to find Bravia TVs optimised for perfect performance with PlayStation consoles, as well as having wider gaming credentials.
From the set to the screen
As a company involved in every aspect of filmmaking – from the shoot to the screen – Sony is clearly well-placed to bring those movies right into the home. Sony’s new 2024 Bravia TVs first optimise your content, then deliver world-leading control to achieve industry-leading performance from both Mini LED and OLED technologies. Combining top TV processing with the granular control and peak brilliance of Mini LED, Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 range delivers movies and all manner of programming in literally a new light. It’s a genuinely premium presentation that’s ideal for large-screen family viewing – the full package, to bring the cinema home.
