So for the last year and a half I have been using the Sony Bravia 8 Tv in my main home theater set up, and now we have the Sony Bravia 8 Mark 2, which does bring some small but very important upgrades. Now the reason why I like sony tv’s so much is because I find that they give you better color accuracy, they give you better gradients, and since they are just using google tv, the operating system stays fast and snappy even after a few months. So lets checkout the Sony Bravia 8 Mark 2 and lets see whats new from the original Bravia 8.
Now when it comes to pricing, the Sony Bravia 8 mark 2 has a retail price of $3,500 for the 65 inch model which is the one that we have here. However this tv also comes in a 55 inch version. But more importantly, Sony has actually been putting out some very big deals and bundles when it comes to their home theater stuff, so if you want to pick this tv up it’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel, then you can also watch some of the related videos in the description down below.
Now one of the biggest critiques that I had about the Bravia 8 was that its front panel was very glossy. Before I got the Bravia 8, I was actually using the Sony X90L, which is an LED tv put more importantly, its front panel wasn’t as reflective. So it was a good tv to use in a bright room with lots of natural sun light. But with the Bravia 8, since this screen was so reflective, it was very hard to use while in a bright room.
However, with the Bravia 8 Mark 2, this front panel isn’t as glossy as the original Bravia 8. Now this front panel isn’t as matte as the front panel found on the Sony X90L… but its a good half way point between the X90L and Bravia 8. So with the Bravia 8 Mark 2, you’re going to have an easier time watching TV with this screen while in a bright room than with the Bravia 8 cause reflections aren’t going to be as intense.
Now when it comes to the actual picture quality of this TV, since this is an OLED tv, the Bravia 8 mark 2 is going to give you pitch blacks unlike an LED tv like lets say the Bravia 7 or the aforementioned Sony X90L. And since the Bravia 8 mark 2 is able to give you those pitch blacks, thats going to mean better contrast in your images, which is going to mean that your movies are going to pop more than they would with an LED tv.
And personally I do prefer Sony tv’s over Samsung or LG tv’s cause I feel Samsung tv’s just like to lean towards a cooler color pallet, as in they always have a hint of blue… and with LG tv’s they tend to have a little too much saturation, so colors are usually over exaggerated. Where as with Sony’s tv’s their colors are usually more accurate, but also they give you better color gradients, which is going to give you a more life like picture.
Now the original Bravia 8 also has these same characteristics as the Bravia 8 mark 2… however, the main difference between the Bravia 8 and Bravia 8 Mark 2 is that the Mark 2 actually has better peak brightness than the original Bravia 8. So this means two things, first off first of you’re going to have a brighter screen which is going to mean better viewing in a bright room, or if you’re someone that watches tv in a blacked out room, then you’re just going to have brighter screen, which is feel is great…
But also, since the Bravia 8 Mark 2 has better peak brightness than the original, the Mark 2 is going to be able to keep details and gradients in brighter lite subjects. Where as with other tv’s or with LED tv’s brighter subject areas will just get washed out… or if you’re in a dimly lit scene, and theres a very bright light source, or stars, then those bright points are going to be much better defined and brighter than on the original Bravia 8.
Honestly, if you already have the Sony Bravia 8, then there isn’t a huge need to run out an upgrade, however if you’re planning on getting the Bravia 8 mark 2, then you’re going to have an OLED Tv that gives you very accurate colors, life life gradients, and peak brightness almost as good as the Sony Bravia 9. And basically, the Bravia 8 Mark 2 is brighter than the Original Bravia 8, and you’re going to have better definition in the brights than you would with the original Bravia 8.
Now when it comes to ports, the Bravia 8 Mark 2 is the same as the original Bravia 8. The Bravia 8 Mark 2 has a total of 4 HDMI ports, 2 of which have support for 4K at 120 hertz, but they all have support for 1080P at 120 hertz and 4K at 60 hertz. Basically if you’re going to plug in your playstation, you want to plug it into HDMI port 4. Cause HDMI 3, this is your E ARC port, so this is where you want to plug in your sound bar. And if you are going to use a soundbar with this tv, then you do want to use a Sony soundbar like either the Bravia Bar 8, Bravia Bar 9 or the Bravia quad, so that you can take advantage of acoustic center sync.
Now what acoustic center sync is, you’re going to be able to use your TV’s built in speakers in conjunction with your sony sound bar, so you’re tv is going to act as a center channel. Now you can use this tv with an soundbar out there, but if you use a third soundbar like something from bose or sonos, then you wont be able to use your TV’s built in speakers as well, which I preonsally really feel is a shame. Cause having that additional center channel is really helpful especially when it comes to hearing dialog.
And also keep in mind, acoustic center sync is a feature that you will only find on Bravia 7 TV’s and up. If you have a Bravia 5 or below, this tv’s dont have acoustic center sync. But also, another really cool thing about the Bravia 8 mark 2 is that you can actually have your audio playing from two systems at the same time. So you can have your TV’s audio coming out of your sound system, but you can also have your TV audio playing through a pair of headphones or neck band at the same time, and I feel that this is super useful cause if you have someone that is hard of hearing, they’ll still be able to watch whatever youre watching. Or if you want you can just have your audio playing through your headphones which is great for late night viewing without disturbing your house hold.
Now like I mentioned at the beginning of this video, besides picture quality, ones of the reasons why I like Sony tv’s so much is cause they are just using google tv as their operating system. Now I know that theres a whole lot of privacy concerns when it comes to TV’s, but at least with google tv, I have found that ad placements are much less intrusive than the ad placements found on other TV brands out there… especially Samsung and LG, but more importantly, I have found that google tv stays snappy and fluid for much longer than other tv’s.
With both my Samsung tv’s and LG TV’s, which I also regularly use, their operating systems are constantly having issues, specifically apps crash or they refuse to open which means I have to regularly restart those tv’s, where as with all of my Sony tv’s that are using Google TV, they just work, the only thing that I wish sony did on the Bravia 8 mark 2 was increase the on board storage. Cause both Bravia 8 Tv’s have 32 gigs of on board storage. So I would really like to see them increase it to at least 64 gigs, so even if you’re streaming apps get updates, your tv still operate smoothly.
And finally when it comes to gaming on this tv, like I mentioned earlier, you do want to plug in your playstation into HDMI port 4 so that you can get 4K at 120 hertz… but the thing that I really like with Sony’s tv’s is that you can also adjust the size of you screen for gaming. And this is super useful if you’re playing at shooter game cause there is such a thing as a too big screen.
And also, since this is a Sony TV, as long as your playstation is on the same wifi network as this tv, you’ll actually be able to stream games to this tv, while your playstation is in another room. However, this is something that you should only use if you’re playing a casual open world game. When you’re steaming your playstation 5 games, I have found that the picture quality just isn’t going to be as good, and also there is a slight delay… So this is not a set up that you want to use if you plan on playing a ranked games online.
So with all of that being said, the Sony Bravia 8 Mark 2 is a great OLED tv to consider. The main upgrades that is has over the Original Bravia 8 is that its front panel is a little less glossy so you’re going to get less reflections in a bright room, and this tv gets a little brighter than the original. But it doesn’t just get brighter, it also has better peak brightness, so bright objects are going to pop more than on the oringal and you’re going to have better detail in the bright areas as well. Now this isn’t a huge upgrade over the original, but it is a welcomed one. But nonetheless since this is an OLED tv you’re going to get pitch blacks, and great contrast. And since this is a sony tv, your color are going to be more accurate and you’re going to get deep gradients, which means a more life like picture. And from a usability standpoint, since the Bravia 8 Mark 2 is using google tv, this operating system stays smooth and snappy, so switching between your streaming apps is super convientne.