Sony Bravia 7 Review

The Bravia 7 we have on test is the 75in monster. It looks big and bold yet understated. The build quality is top notch and the set is heavy thanks to the full array Mini LED panel. Sony’s One Slate design makes the bezels almost disappear and you can hardly notice them when the set is on. It’s a great design worthy of a flagship even though the Bravia 7 isn’t on the top spot in Sony’s stable. 

The stand is another thing of beauty and clever engineering. You can perch up your telly in four different positions to accommodate a soundbar either in the middle, which cleverly hides the stands behind the soundbar, or let the stands be at either ends and place the soundbar in between them. The other two options are for flexibility of shelf sizes to properly accommodate the telly. It’s one of the few tellies in the market that looks stunning even when on the stand.

The highlight of the Bravia 7 is of course the newly adopted Mini LED panel but you can read more on that in the next section. The Bravia 7 runs on the Google TV OS which pretty much is a staple now. It has tremendous support for apps and the UI is as intuitive as taking a breath. The Bravia 7 feels extremely responsive and switching from one app to another is seamlessly done via the slick remote.

The Bravia 7 gets a new Amazon Prime Calibrated mode that uses the data on the cloud to adjust the colours and the lighting to a certain degree. This is done not only on certain selected movies but also on live sports and the difference is pretty noticeable. We like what we see. You also get the Sony Pictures Core app along with the Netflix Calibrated mode that offers up similar features and changes to the overall picture quality.

In terms of connectivity the Bravia 7 has four HDMI ports out of which only two support 4K at 120Hz with one of them being an eARC port as well. Compared to other sets like the LG G4, this is a drawback. The G4 supports 144Hz on all four ports. It’s a decent set for gaming on consoles, but if you have a high end PC, the LG is the better choice for gaming.

The first thing you notice is the substantial bump in brightness compared to Sony’s prior sets. The Mini LED panel gets plenty bright for a pleasurable viewing experience. That being said, we still feel LG’s G4 takes it a notch further when we do side-by-side comparisons. However Sony presents the picture in a vastly different way. Things are not overly vibrant and objects don’t seem to pop out at you in an unnatural manner as found in some OLED panels. This is thanks to Sony’s XR Triluminos Pro tech that makes all the difference here.

There’s a sense of naturalness and subtlety in the Sony’s presentation which we believe is a result of Sony’s use of the new XR Processor. We view Jack Ryan in the Amazon Prime Calibration mode and are thoroughly impressed with how the Sony handles the darker scenes in the series. Especially during the scene in season 3, inside the navy ship Roosevelt, the dark corridors and ships interiors had great detail and things weren’t overly sharpened, which makes the overall picture look more natural and film-like.

Even some difficult scenes from All Quiet On The Western Front appear to have unbelievable realism. The flamethrower scene is one particularly difficult to get right in terms of a balance of contrast and detail but the Bravia 7 nails it. In fact some may prefer the subtle nuanced image more than that of the unnatural looking pop of an OLED but that is a subjective choice.

We don’t like to switch on any motion processing during our testing but tinkering with the Bravia’s settings didn’t leave us disappointed. There’s no soap opera effect to speak of and when the processing is on, it doesn’t feel artificially boosted like it does on many other sets.

The panel itself and Sony’s magic metadata reading voodoo makes the Bravia’s portrayal of the image quite good, but it still has a few issues that we noticed. Off-axis viewing severely impacts the image quality so you’ll have to enjoy the set from the sweet spot if you want to get the best experience. Another thing to note is that the panel is prone to a few room reflections, so placing it next to a window or such wouldn’t be ideal.

The Bravia 7 supports Dolby Atmos and the entire suite of DTS Digital Surround. With two tweeters and two bass reflex ports, the Bravia 7 gets loud enough to fill a large room. It sounds great on its own, especially thanks to certain modes like Voice Zoom 3 that enable you to enhance dialogues and such, but an accompanying Sony Soundbar with surrounds is a must, especially when the picture quality is that good.

The gamble of not going for an OLED panel might just pay off if Sony manages to efficiently put forward its point of including the collective experience that Sony has into the final product. The calibrated modes and the overall result suggest there is proof in the pudding but the changes are subtle, the likes of which only cinephiles might truly appreciate. However, there is no doubt that the Bravia 7 is a great contender. It manages to put forward a natural, nuanced picture with vibrant colour and some great contrast and detail to go with it. Even in the audio department the Bravia 7 alone manages to hold its own. The 55in Bravia 7 costs Rs. 1,82,990 which is considerably cheaper than the LG G4 55in which retails at Rs. 2,39,000 yet is capable of providing a natural, nuanced image that seems to have chiseled its own identity and a good one at that.