Home Theater Geeks 482 Transcript
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00:00 - Scott Wilkinson (Host)
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I answer a question from Dan, who wonders about the Sony 2025 TV lineup and whether he should get a Bravia 7 or 5. Stay tuned.
00:16 - Leo (Announcement)
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00:33 - Scott Wilkinson (Host)
Hey there, scott Wilkinson, here the home theater geek. In this episode I'm going to answer a question from Dan, who writes I always enjoy your show, even when it's a little over my head. I had already heard the Sony TV announcement, but I appreciated hearing your more detailed explanation and thoughts. When they say the Bravia 7 and 9 are carried over, does that mean they have the exact same specs and nothing inside has changed? No one has reviewed the Bravia 5 yet, but I'm wondering what the difference is between the 5 and the 7. I understand that the 7 has quantum dots and mini LEDs, which sounds better to me, other than price. If somebody is looking for a mid-priced TV, would there be anything wrong with going with the 7? If the 5 is a lesser screen, would there be any reason to look at the 5 for its inside technology? I have a 55-inch X90L, which I love, but I'm looking to get a larger TV. But I'm looking to get a larger TV. I had been considering the Bravia 7 or the new TCL QM7K because of its enhanced viewing angle, what they call a WHVA screen. Well thanks, dan. I'm sorry if the show goes over your head at times. I do try to make things as understandable as possible, and I will continue to endeavor to do that. Regarding models carried over from year to year, they are generally the same, exactly the same hardware. The only thing that might change is the firmware, the software that gets installed in the TV, and that can happen several times over the year that a TV is introduced and even beyond, so it's not just when a new model year comes out, so that's going to happen whenever you buy a TV.
02:44
Now, as you rightly point out, the Bravia 7 is a QLED TV, which means that it uses red and green quantum dots with blue mini LEDs in the backlight, and the combination of the blue from the LEDs and the red and green quantum dots makes white. Now, when I reported on Sony's 2025 lineup in episode 477, I said I said that the Bravia 5 is also QLED, relying on reports that said so at the time, but it's not labeled as such on Sony's site, so I have to believe that it's not quantum dot based. It is mini LED. It uses mini LEDs, but those LEDs are blue combined with phosphors to make a white light. Now, qled TVs LCD TVs that use quantum dots in their backlight generally have a better color gamut and larger color volume and are generally brighter. So that is a pretty significant advantage. Gamut and larger color volume and are generally brighter. So that is a pretty significant advantage. And so I would have to say that the Bravia seven is probably brighter than the Bravia five. Almost certainly it has more dimming zones. They're both are fault full array local dimming. They're both mini LED TVs, which by definition, that's part of what that means. But I'm sure the Bravia 7 has more dimming zones than the Bravia 5. It's one reason why the Bravia 5 is down a step in the line but, as we're going to see in a minute, that does not necessarily track with the pricing. Now, they both have the same XR processor video processing from Sony, which is excellent, and they both have XR master backlight drive which controls the backlight, which is excellent, and they both have XR Master Backlight Drive which controls the backlight, which is also excellent. So you know, is there any difference between them? Well, other than brightness and number of local dimming zones, maybe not.
05:19
Let's take a look at the most recent pricing from Sony. I got this straight off of Sony's website on May the 10th, and so you see here that it says size and then the Sony site price, and I've highlighted the Bravia 7 and Bravia 5. The ones in red were introduced in 2025. The ones in black were introduced in 2024 or earlier. But let's just take a look at the Sony 7, bravia 7 and Bravia 5. Look at that. At 55 inches they're the same price. I don't get that and I checked it twice. I checked all these prices twice because I couldn't really believe it. But it's true, at least on the Sony site. As of May the 10th, the 55-inch both the 7 and the 5 are $1,400. Even more amazing, the 65-inch Bravia 7 is less expensive. It's $150 less than the 65-inch Bravia 5. That's really astonishing to me. I don't get it. The 75-inch Bravia 7 is $200 more than the Bravia 5, as is the 85-inch $200 more, which isn't really very much. Now, if you want a super big TV, the 98-inch is only available in the Bravia 5 line and it's $6,500. Okay, well, that's pretty expensive, but you get a 98-inch TV, which is huge, but, as you can see here, other than the 95, 98 inch, you know they are very comparable in price and the 65 inch is even cheaper.
07:10
Now you said you had a 55 inch X90L and you wanted to get something bigger. So I assume you're going to go for a 65 or a 75. And in that case, yeah. Given that the Bravia 7 is only $200 more than the Bravia 5 in the 75-inch and less expensive in the 65-inch, I'd say go for the Bravia 7, which, as I said before, is presumably brighter and has more dimming zones. It uses quantum dots, which is a better technology than the conventional blue LED plus phosphors. So that's really the answer to that question. I'd definitely buy a Bravia 7, even though it's a 2024 model. It's still got Sony's best technology in it.
08:06
Now you also mentioned the TCL QM7K, which is also a fine TV. But I have to say, given the choice between TCL and Sony, I would go with Sony. They just have superb processing, great manufacturing. They calibrate the brightness, the uniformity of every single TV coming off the line. They just do a great job. I didn't look up the TCL's price. It's probably less than the Sony, but if you've got the budget, the Sony Bravia 7, to me seems like an obvious choice. So I would say, go for it and enjoy. Thanks for writing in Now. If you have a question for me, you can send it along to htg at twittv and I will answer as many as I can right here on the show. And, as you know by now, all of Twit's shows are available on YouTube for free, but with ads. If you want to go ad free, join the club. Go to twittv, slash club twit to join Club Twit and get all of Twit's programming, including home theater geeks, without ads. So I hope you'll do it. Until next time, geek out.
