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Sony's 98-Inch Bravia 5 Mini-LED TV Review
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Jul 1, 2025
In this video, Kate gives you a close-up look at the new Sony Bravia 5 Mini-LED TV in a massive 98-inch configuration. Sitting below the Bravia 7 in the list of the best Sony TVs for 2025 TV, the Bravia 5 looks to lock in customers with a wide variety of size options, as well as modern Mini-LED backlight technology that's beginning to trickle down from the Bravia 9. Although we don't know pricing and availability yet, Kate gives her impressions of what to expect from the Bravia 5 when it does eventually hit the market.
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A few weeks ago, I was at Sony's Tokyo HQ, and while I've already talked about this in my Bravia 8 Mark II hands-on
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go check out that video if you haven't already. Today, we're looking at something a little different, the Bravia 5
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a new, sort of more mid-range Sony mini-LED TV that takes over from the X90 series
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And unlike the Bravia 8 Mark II, which tops out at 65 inches
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the Bravia 5 goes all the way up to 98 inches, and that's the version I saw in person
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At its core, the Bravia 5 is powered by Sony's XR processor and the XR Backlight Master Drive
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which together are promising better contrast, depth, and detail compared to the X90
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It also has up to six times more dimming zones than before, which is a massive jump in backlight control possibilities
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If you've been following Sony's mini-LED evolution, this takes what they did with the X90L and addresses significant improvements
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when it comes to blooming in areas of high contrast. In side comparisons which I wasn able to record for you but I can talk about dark scenes looked richer with less of that milky effect and brighter areas had more precise light control
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Sony has always prioritized creator intent, and it shows here. Even in dynamic mode, which most TVs oversaturate
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the Bravia 5 handled colors naturally, especially greens, which can sometimes look too neon in this type of picture setting
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Sony's color tuning keeps everything balanced, and while I still wouldn't recommend watching movies in a dynamic or vivid mode
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it was nice to see how well it controlled over saturation. Speaking of picture settings, one new feature is an ambient light sensor
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that adjusts cinema mode or the filmmaker mode based on your room's brightness
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So just to make sure that the HDR settings look as they should in a bright room, in a dim room
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it'll adjust automatically to maintain the most accurate picture possible. I also got to see a demo highlighting how the backlight moves with objects on screen
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refining luminance in real time. It's sort of similar to the demo that I showed
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you guys back in the Bravia 9 last year but now we seeing that same level of refined backlight control start to trickle down to what going to be a more affordable Sony TV I know that looking at this 98 TV
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it's giving premium, it's giving pricey, but if we're talking about the scope of Sony's TV
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collection, the Bravia 5 still sits one step below the Bravia 7, and here's what that means
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Whereas the Bravia 5 has Contrast Booster 10, the Bravia 7 has Contrast Booster 20, which means
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even better backlight control and higher peak brightness when you go that one step up
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The Bravia 7 also has a more advanced audio system than the Bravia 5 with a stronger center channel for clearer dialogue
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So we already had the Sony Bravia 7, now we have the Sony Bravia 5
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but what's important to remember is that the Bravia 9 is remaining the company's mini LED flagship this year
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One area to me that really reminded me of this is off-angle viewing
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If you're sitting directly in front of the screen on the Bravia 5, it looks fantastic
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but if you're watching a little bit from the side, you're going to start to notice a drop in color and contrast That said Sony is working on RGB mini technology that vastly improves off viewing performance to the point where it almost at the level of OLED I explained how
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Sony RGB mini-LED works in a previous video here on this channel, so make sure you go check that out
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The Sony Bravia 5 takes Sony's mini-LED technology to the next level in the brand's mid-range
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category, delivering way better contrast, smarter backlight control, and a big-screen cinematic experience, especially in that 98-inch version that I've saw and that you've seen here
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in this video. How much will that actually cost? Sony hasn't quite said yet, but will soon
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and as soon as we know, I'll put the info in the description of this video, so go check there for
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more info. If you like this video, consider subscribing to the channel and turning on
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notifications. We've got plenty of TV content coming down the line that you won't want to miss
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trust me. That's it for me. I'll catch you next time
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