I saw Sony's first 'True RGB' TV in action against a studio monitor and Sony's best OLED TV, and based on early measurements, Sony could finally bring 'reference' HDR performance to your home.

After more than a year of teasing, Sony finally announced its first ‘True RGB’ TVs, which use a mini-LED RGB backlight. They’re called the Sony Bravia 9 II and Sony Bravia 7 II, and I got to see the Bravia 9 II in action.

Sony first showed us its RGB technology in March 2025, and then showed it to us again in September, and the again a couple of months ago. It’s a relief to finally see it in a product that people will be able to buy.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the highest-end model and will be available in several larger sizes, while the Sony Bravia 7 II stands out as the first RGB TV to come in a 50-inch size, which will make it an interesting competition for smaller options among the best OLED TVs – 55 inches was the smallest RGB set size we’ve seen so far.

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They’re not cheap, though – here’s the size and price breakdown for these TVs (Sony was only able to provide UK pricing at the time of writing):

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Sony True RGB sizes and prices
Size	Sony Bravia 9II	Sony Bravia 7II
50 inches	N/A	£1,899 (around $2,550 / AU$3,560)
55 inches	N/A	£1,999 (around $2,689 / AU$3,751)
65 inches	£3,499 (around $4,708 / AU$6,567)	£2,299 (around $3,093 / AU$4,314)
75 inches	£4,299 (around $5,784 / AU$8,069)	£2,999 (around $4,034 / AU$5,628)
85 inches	£5,499 ($7,398 / AU$10,320)	£3,999 ($5,380/AU$7,505)
98 inches	N/A	£6,999 ($9,416 / AU$13,135)
115 inches	£22,999 ($30,943 / AU$43,165)	N/A

RGB TVs use an LCD panel with lights behind it, like other mini-LED TVs, but the backlight can change color to better match what the pixels on the front are supposed to display. Each mini-LED in the backlight includes individual red, green and blue subpixels to create a range of hues.

This allows for a wider range of colors within the pixels and requires less color filtering to do so, so panels can have fewer layers, which helps efficiency.

The backlight of the Sony Bravia 9 II TV is shown, without the pixels

Here’s the original Bravia 9 backlight (left), the Bravia 9 II backlight (right), and what the final image would look like. (Image credit: future)

Sony has combined this with its wide-angle X-Wide Angle Pro, as well as a new anti-reflective system. Sony refused to give any information about the anti-reflective coating, but it seemed to me that it was a matte item, since the lights in the demo room created a glare on the screen.

The Bravia 9 II has a more powerful backlight system than the Bravia 7 II, but I didn’t see them compared directly in real-world scenes, and Sony doesn’t tend to discuss that kind of technical information too deeply.

What I did see was the Bravia 9 II compared to the Sony Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV, the Sony Bravia 9 mini-LED (original non-RGB version), and Sony’s reference studio monitor used for professional film grading, although unfortunately I wasn’t able to take or share photos of the comparison.

Since the Bravia 9 was first announced, shortly after Sony launched its current studio reference monitor that hits 4,000 nits of brightness, Sony has been pushing the idea that it wants its TVs to be able to perfectly replicate the HDR experience of the reference monitor.

Sony believes that more films will be mastered at 4,000 nits of brightness now that there is a suitable 4,000 nit monitor (1,000 nits has been by far the most common mastering level), so to properly replicate the full tonal range of these films, TVs should also be able to achieve 4,000 nits of maximum brightness.

This hasn’t been possible on any of Sony’s previous TVs, and it’s pretty obvious that when you turn off tone mapping you lose a lot of detail in bright lights compared to the studio monitor… but Sony’s demo showed that the Bravia 9 II lost a lot. less detail in those areas in a direct comparison with the four screens.

It still wasn’t able to exactly recreate the reference monitor, but it was by far the closest to recreating the pure reference image for HDR tones, and in color for some scenes, although this was much less clear, with the Bravia 8 II giving a strong showing in this case, and the Bravia 9 occasionally looking closer in certain scenes.

Sony declined to say what the TV’s actual brightness is expected to be, but fortunately we’ve had access to a pre-production unit so we can measure it ourselves.

Sony Bravia 9 II TV shows streaks of purple and red colors

The Sony Bravia 9 II is a beast of brilliance (Image credit: future)

The Bravia 9 II is capable of 3990 nits in pro mode (which is the most accurate mode and closest to the filmmaker mode we usually like to test in) in a 10% HDR window, so yes, it’s basically capable of that promised 4000 nit paradise.

Even more impressive is its full-screen brightness in this mode, which we measured at 827 nits; That’s about double the full-screen brightness we got from the similarly priced LG G6 OLED TV.

For comparison, we measured the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED at 1,439 nits in a 10% HDR window and 183 nits of full-screen brightness. We measured the Bravia 9 (original) at 1,871 nits in a 10% window and 495 nits in full screen.

We also had the chance to measure the brightness of the Sony Bravia 7 II, and it delivered 2078 nits in Pro Mode in a 10% HDR window, so we can expect the Bravia 9 II’s HDR performance to take a decidedly strong hit, although the Bravia 7 II actually delivered over 900 nits of full-screen brightness in our measurements, so it actually surpasses its big brother in that regard.

Sony Bravia 7 II TV shows colorful swirl of red light

The Bravia 7 II looks super rich despite its more limited performance (Image credit: future)

These measurements were taken on pre-production units, as I mentioned, so we’ll make sure the final versions test the same, but they are impressive numbers.

The big question is whether the contrast and dark tone performance will be as good. It looked strong in Sony’s brief demos, but it’s unlikely the company has shown me anything that might indicate color loss in RGB backlighting, so we’re hoping to dig into that as well.

Other things to note about the Bravia 9 II include the use of Sony’s Acoustic Multi-Audio+ technology, which means powerful built-in speakers that now include upward-facing speakers for more headroom in Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks.

However, the downside is that the TV still comes with only two HDMI 2.1 ports (out of four ports in total). Sony is basically the only manufacturer releasing new high-end TVs with just two HDMI 2.1 ports, and it’s frustratingly limiting if you also plan to connect a sound bar.

I also want to highlight the fun new stand design of these televisions. The main panel of the stand is made of a lightweight material that lets in the tone of what’s behind it, but not specific details.

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I’m very impressed with my first looks at the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 8 II – they’re both very premium TVs, but it looks like the 9 II could give Samsung a tough run at offering the best TV for brighter rooms with its huge brightness and anti-glare technology, but with Sony’s meticulous attention to precision.

And I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the little 50-inch Bravia 7 II, because it could offer he premium competition for the LG C6 in this size. Stay tuned for our full reviews later.

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