Sony BRAVIA 9 Mini LED QLED 4K HDR Google TV (2024)

Sony’s 2024 Bravia 9 uses near-pixel level mini-LED light control that rivals OLED’s pixel level light control. While also being magnitudes brighter. Photo on the right shows the new mini-LED control backlight.

Great TV overall. Excellent Build quality and packed very well. We set this up next to our 77″ Samsung S89C QD OLED and for a mini led tv this Sony LED is still beautiful to watch. Where this TV fell short (and why we returned it), the Sony has the same anti glare filter that some of the higher end Sony LED tv’s have used in recent years which produces rainbow reflections across the screen from our recessed lighting behind us. We don’t always watch TV with all the lights off so this was poor in comparison to the QD OLED we had right next to it. Picture quality excellent, but with the reflection handling it didn’t work for our room. Also, we streamed the same YouTube TV source to each TV using 4K Firesticks and the TV didnt upscale any better than our S89C. Both TVs were updated with the settings dialed in, so I can say with confidence that they were almost identical in their processing ability from poor quality low bitrate content. For less than half the cost, 2″ larger than the Sony, and QDOLED tech, the S89C is what we decided to keep.

Understanding Sony’s history with LCD this display is best described as incredibly fortunate to inherit the respective strengths of the Z9D and Z9K. The raw power of Z9K is here but not without being held check by the signature control of the Z9D.

The backlight master drive has been overhauled with tiny led drivers that operate with 22-bit bandwidth achieving fine steps in luminance. Local dimming zone count is greatly increased.

This is a TV for people who have been around the block and fully understand what they desire in terms of image quality. OLED vs Bravia 9 it all depends where you are comfortable with making a compromise against the HX3110 reference monitor; you will take accept a compromise either way.
OLEDs have the advantage of microcontrast, but are still lacking with respect to HDR impact and proper APLs. To drive a OLED properly would burn it up in less than a year. Shadow detail can be argued either way; OLEDs still struggle to properly step out of black which means some amount detail is entirely lost and LCD doesn’t have enough control to avoid slightly lifting.

If you consider yourself a movie lover first and foremost then this is your baby. It’s wonderfully filmic.

I want to start by mentioning that I typically don’t buy the most up-to-date electronics. I can usually make the stuff that’s slightly older work well so I see no need. I haven’t purchased a TV for my living room in 8 years. Then I had the opportunity to review this TV so I decided to give it a go.

First thing is, it’s huge. I had a 55″ before and that 10 additional inches (measured as the diagonal of the screen) is quite a significant size difference. It’s about as big as is realistic for my living room (yes, there is such thing as a TV that’s too large).

Setting this up is a 2 person job. One thing that Sony does is make it easy to get out of the box. You open the top, remove the foam, then lift the box up. It’ll slide off the base. There are supports to keep the TV standing up. You don’t need to put this upside down and dump it out. You have the choice, when adding the legs, of putting them on mounts toward the sides of the TV or closer to the middle. I chose the middle because the stand I have is not as wide as the TV.

It has several covers so you can basically cover up everything in the back (close expose wires, the leg mounts, etc.). Adding the legs on is a bit of a project, it’s easier if you have one person hold it up off of the floor while someone else slides them on, then you add the screws to secure them.

Setup is relatively straight forward but takes a bit of time. There are several steps and it’s very much like setting up a new mobile device. I will say that if you are concerned about privacy, you’ll want to go into the TV settings after the setup and further refine your settings. The microphones are in the middle bottom on the front of the TV (the included instructions indicate where they are) so if you don’t want it picking up sound, you can place some type of sound proof foam or something over them to muffle.

The next thing to do is to go into the apps and remove anything you’re not going to use. It comes preinstalled with a bunch. For me, I don’t need most of them so I decided to clear up some space.

Now, how does it work? Well, wonderfully! The speakers aren’t boom-boom but I didn’t expect them to be. They’re better than the built in ones on my other TV so I don’t really care. If you really want the full theater experience though, you’ll probably want some high end sound system. I don’t really care. They’re pretty good.

The image is incredible. This thing upscales. I’ve never had a TV that does that. I watched a movie from the early 80’s that I’ve seen many times and it never looked so good. That’s probably the most amazing part. The image is incredible.

As far as connectivity, I use the built in ethernet. I avoid WiFi for numerous reasons. Wired is nice and dependable, far more secure, and there is little interference (note, I’m using a shielded cable, which helps).

My wife and I are absolutely thrilled with this TV. It’s an amazing difference from what we were using before.

As filmmakers work with increasingly higher dynamic range, displaying such content accurately has grown problematic. OLED produces incredible blacks on the low end but struggles to reproduce & sustain correct brightness – especially across large surface areas. LED panels can sustain high brightness, but historically struggled in the blacks.

Taking this challenge head on, Sony developed an entirely new type of Mini LED backlighting tech which incorporates thousands of discrete 22-bit drivers to not only control each dimming zone, but also to individually turn each LED on & off & adjust for luminance. The result is not only wider dynamic range with deeper blacks & brighter brights, but also greater detail in the shadows & highlights — all displayed with rich color which is second to none.

The first implementation of this tech was on Sony’s BVM-HX3110 TRIMASTER HX 4K Professional Master Monitor – a $25K display used by Hollywood studios for color grading & mastering films. With Bravia 9, Sony attempted to match their master monitor as closely as possible, so viewers can see it exactly as the director did.

Living with Bravia 9 for a week, I’d say they succeeded.

Out of the box, a quick switch of the Picture Profile to “Professional” shifted the color close to perfect. A quick demo watching Dune Part 2 really allowed Bravia 9 to show its prowess. On even the very best OLED panels (including Sony’s own previous flagship), the panels fail to correctly render the bright, almost white desert skies on Arakis leaving them greyish by comparison to the more faithful rendering on the Bravia 9.

Something to point out is people talk a lot about brightness, but more brightness is useless if not properly controlled, and Sony’s proprietary back light tech helps Bravia 9 control with finesse allowing for correct brightness both across the entire frame & in specular highlights with virtually no blooming. Black levels are equally rich & impressive.

Because of such wide contrast, Brava 9 looks as good watching with the blinds open on a sunny afternoon as it does for late night viewing with the lights down.

Although I’m pairing Bravia 9 with a discrete 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos surround setup, the TV audio itself is quite good (even boasts a bit of mid bass) & would make a formidable center channel for Sony’s own Bravia Theater Quad wireless surround system.

I highly recommend Bravia 9 to discerning movie fans & videophiles, but equally to sports fans.

Bravia 9 is a TV that can do it all & raises the bar for all others.

Good not great like all the hype. This TV not much better than my 75X95K. The 75X95K had a cleaner screen no Dirty Screen Effect that I could ever detect. The Bravaia 9 75″ is fair for DSE as also noted on Rtings that the panel they had showed poor DSE. The Barvia 9 certainly does have more DSE than the 75X95K and for the price a little disappointed. The quality and their Quality Control of Sony Panels have differently gone down. It is a panel lottery but I thought Sony had it under control. All things change. Also there is blooming let no one kid you. Not as bad as the 75X95K but with all the hype this TV is not worth the money. Maybe the best LCD TV, so they say, but not worth it. Maybe $2999.99 or less would be a better price for this 75″ TV. This TV does have a very clear picture and good sounding speakers for a TV. I have 60 Days to return it show I am just going to wait and watch it. If it does not wow me I will get another Brand for less money and maybe a better panel with a lot less Dirty Screen Effect. Sorry Sony, I always owns a Sony TVs at least 15 of them but you are way too expensive and other TV manufactures have caught up or maybe even passed you in the TV world. I will not recommend this TV for the panel quality and also for the price. You are not getting what you pay for. An average picture quality rating is worth about $1500.00 for a 75″. Not $3500.00!!!!!

My new Bravia 9 75” replaced a 12-year-old 55” Samsung, so nearly any new TV would be a massive upgrade, but regardless of that fact, the new Bravia 9, which is Sony’s new flagship model, and debatably the ultimate replacement for the master series’ Z9D, is an incredible TV for a mini-LED model.

The picture quality on the Bravia 9 is a game-changer, especially in its brightness levels and color contrast. Keep in mind – this is NOT an OLED TV – but the level of blacks are so deep and dark, that I am having a hard time telling the difference. Should you get this or an OLED, like the LG’s G lineup (G3/G4) or even Sony’s own Bravia 8, or the A95L? I think it depends on your use case. If you’re viewing TV mostly in a dark room, where the light can be controlled, then definitely go for an OLED. In my case, I have a fairly bright living room where this new TV resides, but do have the ability to control the light – however, I felt like the Bravia 9 would work best. I had a G4 77” inch on order but canceled it as I got buyer’s remorse with the much higher price tag. Is it a better TV? Probably. But in my use case, the Sony B9 is a game-changer for me.

It was easy to set up with two people – Sony boxes their TVs in a nice way that makes things simple. Set up once the TV is on is straightforward as well. HDR content in 4k is incredible! Upscaling SDR content is its one downside, as it seems to struggle and be grainy, but could be made better by tweaking picture settings, I’m sure. The B9’s audio is quite something as well. Sony has somehow worked some strange, voodoo magic into the back of the TV and the sound is nearly as effective as a proper soundbar. However, I have a full-scale Sonos system with a 5.1 surround and a subwoofer, so it wasn’t needed in my use case, but you won’t need a lot in addition to the stock speakers within the TV itself – they can act as a sufficient middle set should you want to add additional audio output. The integrated viewing settings for colors and brightness that Sony has included for Netflix and Amazon videos are also a nice touch, and gaming on my PS5 on this TV is an awe-inspiring experience.

My only real complaint at the time of this review is that Best Buy lowered the price on the 75” by $500 a week after I purchased my own. I am planning on contacting them to see if they will give me a rebate, post-purchase. Hopefully, they will honor it.

Get the Bravia 9 and don’t listen to the negative reviews out there that are mostly LG OLED fanboys that shaking in their boots that something like a mini-LED can do what this TV can do. It is an incredible TV and I am so far very happy with my purchase.

So far, stellar TV living up to the hype. Replacing a XBR-65X900E which I still have just move to another room. At first, made the switch to LG G3 and was excited to go OLED but anything dolby vision and some HDR was just disappointedly too dark and crushing black scenes, and yes TV was calibrated. Was just about to swap it out for the Sony A95L but so glad I waiting the short wait for the Bravia 9! Muuuuch better shadow detail, overall picture brightness and yes, almost no blooming. Matter of fact you almost have to purposely look for it. Out of the box settings are pretty solid and looking forward to the calibrated settings to be release soon. Trust your gut like I did. You wont be disappointed. BTW 4000 Nits capable! Thats double any OLED with clarity remaining intact.

This tv is reslly impressive. I got the 65 inch. Once it was in the wall I realized I should have gotten the next size up. But I am very happy with it. The sound from this tv is very very good. The brightness is very impressive. I appreciate the Earc connection on the back. The remote is backlit too and rechargeable via the usb c. Watching a simple 4k demo video on youtube is very impressive. Lots of detail. Definitely would buy again.

This is my first 4K television and it looks great. With all the latest technology connections I am now going to need to update my AV receiver to take full advantage of its capabilities. The TV speakers are the best I have listened to but a surround sound system sounds much better.

I haven’t done any gaming on this as I mostly stream movies and shows.