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TELEVISIONS

As TV tech marches on, sets are becoming visually more impressive. This year’s best TVs are stunning

The Bravia 8 II boasts increased brightness and colour volume

Screen image: Getty Images, Fotograzia

Sony Bravia 8 II £1899

The Sony Bravia 8 II is a truly exceptional TV. Its combination of sizzling brightness, vibrant colours through all degrees of light, terrific shadow detail and razor-like sharpness combine to produce an image with regularly astonishing dynamism, depth and realism.

The latest QD-OLED panel combines with Sony’s processing and custom heatsink to push the set 25 per cent brighter than its A95L QD-OLED predecessor. With this increased brightness comes increased colour volume, and Sony claims to have also engineered big improvements to dark gradation (essentially very dark shading).

Sony’s XR Processor powers an ‘AI scene recognition system’ which apparently “detects and analyses data with flawless accuracy, then optimises the picture for ultimate realism”. The TV supports Dolby Vision and Atmos, and is IMAX Enhanced certified, plus the standard HDR10 and HLG HDR formats are supported. The Bravia 8 II features the Google TV platform – the app selection is excellent and each delivers its content in the expected formats.

There are still just two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, and one of those has to double as the eARC port. That will leave just one top-specification input for gamers with more than one console or PC.

One of the Bravia 8 II’s greatest strengths is how easy it is to get looking its best. For a supremely authentic picture, simply pick Dolby Vision Dark for Dolby Vision content or Professional for everything else.

The upgrades offered by the Bravia 8 II are clear and appreciable. The first of these is the noticeably brighter peak highlights, but there’s more to it than that. The Bravia 8 II’s bright colours are more vibrant than on the Bravia 8 and brighter than the A95L. Colours maintain their natural vibrancy in low-light areas, too, and there’s far more shadow detail from the Bravia 8 II than either of the other sets. But what’s most impressive is how all of these elements combine with Sony’s new AI processing to make the image look so much more solid and three-dimensional. There’s volume and roundedness to objects and people.

The Bravia 8 II uses Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ consisting of two actuators and two subwoofers and represents one of the best built-in TV sound systems currently available. The actuators vibrate the screen itself in order to make sound. This ties the audio and video spatially in a way that rival solutions can’t match.

There’s excellent detail, too, and enough dynamic nuance to convey the emotion in an actor’s performance. Bigger dynamic shifts are also handled well. It isn’t the last word in bass depth, but it’s weightier than many rivals and, more importantly, is very controlled in the low frequencies.

Simply put, Sony’s Bravia 8 II is one of the very best TVs available right now.

The 42in C5 provides a very cinematic picture for its screen size

Screen image: Getty Images, Fotograzia

LG OLED42C5 £1049

LG’s C-Series OLED TVs have a strong track record for offering near-flawless feature sets, and this year’s C5 does not disappoint. Exceptional picture quality is also the promise, and again, this 2025 version delivers as we had hoped.

The new model comes with a few promised improvements to peak brightness. This is apparently due to the inclusion of LG’s latest Brightness Booster Engine tech which, when paired with the clever processing provided by the TV’s new LG Alpha 9 Gen 8 chipset, boosts peak brightness more efficiently.