TCL P755 vs Sony Bravia 9 (XR90)

The TCL P755 delivers an average HDR experience, with a maximum brightness of just under 300 nits. This limitation affects the intensity of bright areas in HDR content, reducing the contrast impact, as bright elements may appear less pronounced. However, the TV compensates with an impressive 93% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which brings vibrant, saturated colours that enhance the quality of HDR content. Despite the brightness cap, the extensive colour range enriches hues, providing a more lifelike and visually engaging viewing experience.

The brightness performance of the Sony Bravia 9 is exceptional. Each scene reaches over 1500 nits, and the television can shine even brighter during movie playback. This level of brightness provides an extraordinary viewing experience, allowing for immersive interaction with high-quality video content. Thanks to its extensive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, the image is vibrant, and when combined with such high luminance, it almost feels alive. With its impressive peak brightness, viewers can fully appreciate the colour range, even in the most challenging scenes involving dynamic lighting changes. The Bravia 9 also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats, further elevating the viewing experience.

In Cinema mode, the colour reproduction on the TCL P755, while set to the best factory configuration, falls short of ideal accuracy. The primary issue is the white balance, where the red component is notably elevated and the green is reduced. This imbalance shifts colours towards red, making them appear unnatural, particularly in scenes featuring white or neutral tones. This issue is highlighted in the Colour Checker test, which shows a discernible red bias affecting the realism of the image and diminishing the perception of colour depth.

Examining contrast performance, the gamma graph analysis reveals notable inconsistencies, especially in darker areas, where values dip below the target level of 2.4. Consequently, shadows and darker sections are displayed brighter than intended, impacting overall contrast. Furthermore, the EOTF (Electro-Optical Transfer Function) curve, essential for accurate brightness representation, veers slightly above the reference curve. The data shows a boost in brightness up to around 50% before a gradual levelling off. This creates excessive mid-tone brightness, which can lead to loss of detail and some distortion in brighter scenes, ultimately affecting the clarity and immersion of the viewing experience.

The "IMAX Enhanced" factory mode has remained the best option in Sony televisions for years, and it was used throughout the entire testing process. While it aligns closely with the reference compared to other predefined settings, improvements could be made for a better viewing experience.

In SDR materials, the gamma shows a noticeable boost, which leads to over-contrasting the image. Additionally, the beginning of the graph deviates significantly from the reference, resulting in merged details in the darker areas, creating an unpleasant uniform blotch. The EOTF curve in HDR content, on the other hand, appears mostly correct, with only minor deviations from the reference.

However, the most prominent issues affect the white balance. There is a persistent green colour dominance, leading to problems with grey tones and overall colour misalignment. This imbalance in the white balance gives the image an unwanted greenish tinge, negatively impacting the overall visual quality.

Post-calibration, the TCL P755 delivers a markedly improved colour performance for SDR content. The colour curves now align closely with ideal values, with a more consistent gamma stability across the range. While a slight drop at the beginning of the gamma curve persists, the accuracy in colour reproduction is significantly enhanced. The Colour Checker test reveals most colour samples are now under an error threshold of 2, showcasing much-improved colour fidelity with only minimal deviations, resulting in colours that feel notably more authentic to life.

HDR content benefits from these calibration adjustments as well. White balance corrections lend a more natural tone, with colours appearing more balanced overall. The EOTF curve, while nearer to the ideal reference line, still features a mild brightness elevation at the start, which can cause minor distortions in exceptionally bright scenes. However, overall tonal quality and detail resolution have both improved. Tone mapping also performs more effectively, enhancing detail in bright regions while maintaining better image accuracy.

In summary, while calibration does not bring flawless performance, it makes a substantial difference in the P755’s visual quality. Following these adjustments, the television provides a more accurate, realistic viewing experience in both SDR and HDR content, smoothing out many of the previous colour inconsistencies for a more visually engaging result.

The colour reproduction after the calibration process on the Sony Bravia 9 is nothing short of excellent. Regardless of the signal, whether SDR or HDR, the image comes remarkably close to the director's intended vision. Nearly every flaw in the image has been meticulously modelled and corrected to a high degree.

This impressive result can be attributed to the advanced tools available for calibration, which Sony has been offering in its televisions for years. Notable tools include the 2- and 20-point grayscale calibration and a very comprehensive CMS (Colour Management System). These features allow for precise adjustments, ensuring that the colours and overall image quality are as accurate and faithful to the source material as possible.

The "Gradual Smoothing" function on the TCL P755 performs effectively, reducing visible boundaries between shades of the same colour and creating smoother tonal transitions. Unfortunately, this feature is unavailable in HDR mode, which can impact the quality of tonal gradations in high dynamic range content.

In terms of image scaling, the television shows some limitations. There are visible edge cut-offs, especially noticeable around figures and tree branches, which result in some detail blurring and a reduction in overall image sharpness. This is particularly noticeable when viewing lower-resolution content. Additionally, SD-quality images display a slight crop at the top and bottom, which may further impact viewing for standard-definition content.

When analysing the quality of tonal transitions and image scaling, especially for lower-quality materials, the improvement after activating the function for tonal transitions is clear. By default, the quality is quite average, but once the function is turned on, even at the lowest setting, the results are among the best we've seen. This feature can be enabled without worrying about negative side effects, such as film grain blur.

Sony's "XR" processor, which the brand has been touting for several years, lives up to its reputation for image scaling. The image quality is incredibly sharp while maintaining a very natural look. This reinforces that Sony's processing technology is one of the best available, particularly when handling lower-resolution content.

The TCL P755 delivers satisfactory, though not flawless, motion smoothness. It includes a "Flicker Reduction" feature for films, allowing users to fine-tune motion smoothness on a scale from 1 to 10. This setting offers flexibility in tailoring the image to cinematic or more theatrical preferences, adjusting for a slower or faster appearance according to personal viewing taste.

The maximum refresh rate of the Sony Bravia 9 is 120 Hz, the minimum for those primarily watching sports or other high-motion content. This refresh rate ensures the image remains sharp and smooth, even during fast-paced scenes. For more demanding users, Sony has implemented an advanced motion smoothing system, divided into three distinct segments: Smoothness (Film), Smoothness (Camera), and Clarity. These settings can be adjusted to various degrees, allowing users to fine-tune the picture to their preferences. For example, a setting with slight smoothing can be used to avoid the "soap opera effect," delivering a more natural and cinematic viewing experience. This level of customisation ensures that viewers can find their ideal balance between smoothness and clarity.

The TCL P755 comes equipped with gamer-oriented features like ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), Dolby Vision for gaming, and a Game Bar. ALLM automatically activates low latency mode to enhance response times and reduce input lag, while VRR syncs the screen refresh rate with the console's frame output, minimising screen tearing for a smoother gaming experience. Dolby Vision for gamers brings improved colour and contrast for compatible games, and the Game Bar allows easy access to essential settings like response time.

However, the 60 Hz panel limits the display to this refresh rate across resolutions, which may impact the fluidity in high-motion games. The absence of G-Sync also affects PC gamers, as gameplay on computers lacks this technology's extra smoothing. Notably, HGiG mode, meant to optimise HDR game visuals, is not fully functional on this model, which slightly detracts from the HDR gaming experience.

The Sony Bravia 9 television is equipped with four HDMI ports, but what is puzzling for a device of this class is that only two of them operate in the 2.1 standard. Despite this, it should not detract from the fact that nearly all features work excellently, providing a positive experience when using them. Games running in HDR10 or Dolby Vision benefit from low input lag, ensuring a comfortable gaming session. The solid implementation of the HGIG mode is a noteworthy feature, as, after proper calibration, it closely aligns with Dolby Vision.

Sony introduced the GameBar feature to its televisions last year, a standard for many manufacturers. This feature allows for quick adjustment of settings without exiting the game. Its implementation has been seamless, offering conveniences such as a crosshair grid, black level adjustment, and reducing the screen to gaming monitor proportions.

The Sony Bravia 9 will find its fans, particularly among PlayStation enthusiasts. It is a natural pairing since the console and the television share identical capabilities. However, more broadly speaking, despite the minor issues with Dolby Vision in games, the Bravia 9 remains a very good television for gaming overall.