u/WOLVEXS

I upgraded from the 75” Bravia 9 to the 85” Bravia 9 II, but ended up returning it because, to me, it was actually a downgrade.

2 big issues for me personally that made me return the tv.

1. The biggest issue is the new matte coating.

While it reduces reflections better it also washes out the image during daytime reflections, the new matte coating diffuses the light into a larger area of the screen rather than concentrating it more intensely into a smaller area. Is this better?
Depends on your lighting situation, for me it wasn’t.

The trade off is the Bravia 9ii doesn’t have that reflective rainbow streak people complain about online personally it’s never bothered me due to how the light hits my room but I found that the new matte coating made the blacks look a lot more lifted and washed out, it didnt have the same OLED 3D pop or depth/contrast that the original bravia 9 has.

2. Gaming was another disappointment.
   Motion was noticeably worse, with a lot of smearing/ghosting.

At first I thought my TV was defective I even rebooted the tv, but I’m guessing it’s related to the new RGB backlight implementation since both TVs use the same chipset. Maybe Sony can improve it with firmware, but I didn’t want to wait and hope.

The only real improvement I noticed was color volume.
The Bravia 9 II does produce richer colors, but the difference is subtle and I only noticed it on certain HDR movies most which were animated ones but you have to have the TVs side by side for comparison.

Also I didn’t mention the speakers and stand which are a nice upgrade too but I wall mount my tv and I use an external audio system so those upgrades didn’t apply to me.

Overall the Bravia 9 II just wasn’t worth the upgrade.
I regret not buying a 85” Bravia 9 went it went on sale a couple months ago before being discontinued.

I really wish more reviews came out showing comparisons between the 2 TVs but to my surprise there hasn’t been any in depth reviews and most of the reviews ive seen on the Bravia 9ii alone have been from reviewers who were gifted the tv for free by Sony so I’m not sure if that has something to do with it.

I want to stick with Sony and don’t really feel sold by any other TVs at the moment but this year’s “upgrade” left me pretty disappointed. I’m not sure if Sony will come out with a Bravia 10 but in the meantime it looks like I’ll be sticking with my Bravia 9 till then.

I upgraded from the 75” Bravia 9 to the 85” Bravia 9 II, but ended up returning it because, to me, it was actually a downgrade.

2 big issues for me personally that made me return the tv.

1. The biggest issue is the new matte coating.

While it reduces reflections better it also washes out the image during daytime reflections, the new matte coating diffuses the light into a larger area of the screen rather than concentrating it more intensely into a smaller area. Is this better?
Depends on your lighting situation, for me it wasn’t.

The trade off is the Bravia 9ii doesn’t have that reflective rainbow streak people complain about online personally it’s never bothered me due to how the light hits my room but I found that the new matte coating made the blacks look a lot more lifted and washed out, it didnt have the same OLED 3D pop or depth/contrast that the original bravia 9 has.

2. Gaming was another disappointment.
   Motion was noticeably worse, with a lot of smearing/ghosting.

At first I thought my TV was defective I even rebooted the tv, but I’m guessing it’s related to the new RGB backlight implementation since both TVs use the same chipset. Maybe Sony can improve it with firmware, but I didn’t want to wait and hope.

The only real improvement I noticed was color volume.
The Bravia 9 II does produce richer colors, but the difference is subtle and I only noticed it on certain HDR movies most which were animated ones but you have to have the TVs side by side for comparison.

Also I didn’t mention the speakers and stand which are a nice upgrade too but I wall mount my tv and I use an external audio system so those upgrades didn’t apply to me.

Overall the Bravia 9 II just wasn’t worth the upgrade.
I regret not buying a 85” Bravia 9 went it went on sale a couple months ago before being discontinued.

I really wish more reviews came out showing comparisons between the 2 TVs but to my surprise there hasn’t been any in depth reviews and most of the reviews ive seen on the Bravia 9ii alone have been from reviewers who were gifted the tv for free by Sony so I’m not sure if that has something to do with it.

I want to stick with Sony and don’t really feel sold by any other TVs at the moment but this year’s “upgrade” left me pretty disappointed. I’m not sure if Sony will come out with a Bravia 10 but in the meantime it looks like I’ll be sticking with my Bravia 9 till then.

Am I the only one disappointed by the first impressions of the Bravia 9 II?

For the last couple of years, there was constant hype around RGB Mini LED. Everywhere you looked, people were calling it the next big thing in TV technology. The expectation was that Sony would deliver something revolutionary a major leap forward that could challenge OLED while fixing some of OLED’s weaknesses.

Now that the Bravia 9 II is finally here, it honestly feels more like a refresh than a true next generation tv.

A few things that stand out to me:
The price is incredibly high, many thought RGB would make it a bit more affordable than oled but it’s actually more expensive.

Sony went with a matte screen coating instead of glossy. Yes, it helps with reflections, but matte coatings inevitably impact perceived picture quality. Blacks don’t look quite as deep and rich compared to a glossy display.

We’re still only getting 2 HDMI 2.1 ports on Sony’s flagship TV. Meanwhile the cheaper Bravia 3 has 4 of them.
Still limited to 120Hz instead of 144Hz+ like some cheaper TVs
Brightness is improved, but most content hasn’t even tapped out the Bravia 9’s capabilities.

Color volume is better, but now you can see color blooming instead of the traditional white blooming. Blooming hasn’t disappeared it’s just changed forms.

Don’t get me wrong, it still looks like an incredible TV, yes it’s better than the Bravia 9 before it but after years of hearing that RGB Mini LED would be revolutionary, I think many people expected a much bigger leap.

To me, this feels less like a complete redesign and more like when a car company refreshes the next model year with a few upgrades and some new features. Nice improvements? Sure. Revolutionary? Not really.

Curious what everyone else thinks.
Did the Bravia 9 II live up to the RGB Mini LED hype, or were your expectations higher?