Review: Sony Bravia 7 Mini LED TV

It’s a great time to buy a new TV. Never in my years as a reviewer have I been flanked by so many fantastic options, from the brightest OLEDs ever made to mid-tier mini LED TVs that perform more like premium models. You can easily spend a mint on a killer flagship display, but with so many choices, you can tailor a great buy to your needs and budget—and save a lot of cash in the process.

Sony’s Bravia 7 lands as an intriguing new entry in this bountiful TV landscape. As a mini LED TV powered by Sony’s new XR Backlight Master Drive technology, it offers many of the performance qualities for which Sony’s top TVs are praised at a price just below most premium models. This TV looks great in a variety of settings thanks to flashy brightness, sharp and clear picture processing, and naturalistic colors that bring your favorite content to life.

There’s one notable flaw that holds the 7 back from loftier aspirations: really bad side-angle viewing. That’s something we used to expect from even the best LED TVs – giving OLED models a real leg up over their backlit counterparts – but newer premium models like Samsung’s QN90 and Sony’s own X93L offer screen tech that improves the issue. The Bravia 7 does not, limiting the allure of an otherwise posh package.

Simple Setup and Settings

Hoisting the 65-inch Bravia 7 review model from its box took some muscle, as it weighs in at around 60 pounds, thanks in large part to its potent mini LED full-array backlighting system. Its checkered backside is reminiscent of flagship models like the A95L (8/10, WIRED Recommends), while chrome bezels at the side give it a touch of style.

From the front, the Bravia 7 looks more utilitarian than many competitors, due in part to its use of feet stands instead of a pedestal, but the trade-off there is a versatile setup. Locking the feet in place is remarkably simple, and with four stand positions, you can largely tailor their height and width to your console and/or soundbar size. Larger soundbars may need to be set atop the slender feet, which isn’t ideal but works in a pinch.

The remote is ergonomic, and I like that it’s made from mostly recycled materials. On the downside, it’s not backlit, and its old-school battery requirement is a step down from options like Samsung’s latest solar remotes or Roku’s USB-C-powered Voice Remote Pro.

Once you’ve got the TV up and running, Sony’s version of Google TV makes everything from loading streaming services to customizing Google Assistant a breeze. There are personalization options like adding your Google Photos as backgrounds. The hardest part is scanning for over-the-air channels, which seemed to take eons (it was just a few minutes).

You’ll find it equally easy to get a great picture, with little need to fine-tune the settings. If you want a slightly brighter image without any changes, the Cinema mode is great. I mainly used the Professional mode with a few tweaks like raising the backlight for daytime viewing, and Dolby Vision Bright mode for Dolby Vision HDR. (I used the latest Spears and Muncil benchmark discs with a Panasonic DP-UB9000 Blu-ray player as part of my testing.) To get the best brightness, you’ll want to turn off the Eco mode and disengage the optical sensor below the Picture settings.

If you’re more hands-off, the TV offers some advanced auto-calibration features, including the new Prime Video auto-calibration which pulls metadata from videos. It looks pretty similar to the Professional mode for filmlike content such as Jack Ryan or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but when I put on the new Patton Oswalt game show The 1% it brightened the image significantly without looking oversaturated or washed out. I couldn’t test the feature for sports on Thursday Night Football, but it already seems among the best such options I’ve tried.

Solid Spoils

The Bravia 7 is fairly well appointed elsewhere, especially for gaming. The TV offers class-standard features like HDMI 2.1 support for VRR (variable refresh rate) at up to 120 Hz to provide tear-free gameplay, and ALLM (auto low latency lode) for speedy response. Sony’s game bar lets you add crosshairs and optimize several options on the fly, including a split-screen mode to watch YouTube walk-throughs onscreen. PlayStation 5 owners can also access Auto Genre Picture Mode and Auto HDR Tone Mapping to further optimize performance.

One notable drawback is, like the much pricier A95L, only two of the TV’s four HDMI ports support 4K at 120 Hz, one of which also harbors HDMI eARC for connecting a soundbar or other audio device. Cheaper options like Hisense’s U8N offer two discrete HDMI 2.1 ports, while step-up models like LG’s C4 OLED and Samsung’s QN90D and S90D OLED offer four. Inputs aside, I love using the TV for gaming. Its pristine clarity is almost distracting, evoking fine details like gold rivets glowing in the sun on a worn leather shoulder brace.

The 7’s built-in audio system is serviceable, thanks to dual woofers, dual side-mounted tweeters, and features like Voice Zoom 3 digital optimization designed to pinpoint dialog, but it’s also rather thin and sharp. I recommend buying an outboard audio device like one of our best soundbar or best bookshelf speaker picks for sound on par with the visual experience.

Other key Bravia 7 features include support for multiple HDR modes, including Dolby Vision, HLG, and HDR10 (but not its more advanced HDR10+ version), streaming over AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, and the new Eco Dashboard 2 for deep-dive energy monitoring.

Punch, Poise, and Positioning

I was immediately impressed by the Bravia 7’s accurate yet engaging picture, and in most respects, I only grew more enamored with it over time. There’s a beautiful subtlety to the way Sony’s top TVs handle everything from fine details and colors to dark corridors and gleaming HDR. The Bravia 7’s mix of quantum dots for expansive colors, advanced mini LED backlighting for excellent control, and Sony’s latest XR picture processing help it to lean into that legacy with sweet results.

The 7 doesn’t offer the full-throttle, hair-on-fire brightness of lauded value options like the Hisense U8N (8/10, WIRED Recommends) or TCL’s latest QM8 (which I have yet to test). The 7 taps out around 2,000 nits, but that kind of brightness is still plenty potent for SDR (standard dynamic range) and HDR content alike. Laser shots in sci-fi films blaze, explosions pop, and nature scenes like sparkling coral reefs are rendered with sun-drenched realism.

Part of that realism has to do with how the Bravia 7 handles colors. Vivid shades like the rainbow of tropical fish in Netflix’s Our Planet or the exploding gelatinous balls on Ego’s planet from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume II feel both richer and more lifelike than the sometimes psychedelic colors found in cheaper competitors. HDR highlights like the sun gleaming off the bleak icy terrain in Assasin's Creed Valhalla are entrancing.

The 7 also handles sharpness and fine details with more finesse, tact, and clarity than mid-tier TVs. Little nuances like the glittering sand on Maui’s remote island in Moana surface effortlessly, bringing more immersion and depth to your favorite scenes. Sony’s effective but subtle motion smoothing keeps tough camera pans and stuttering images relatively clean without bringing on the soap opera effect, again giving the TV a premium feel.

The TV struggled a bit when upscaling some 720p HD content, especially basketball. It had trouble keeping up with the NBA Finals from ABC's 720p broadcast, seeming to lose track of multiple frames as I followed the ball. It performed better for the Stanley Cup on the same channel, even accounting for the noise around HD images, while 1080p films and shows generally looked great.

The Bravia 7’s screen also struggles some with in-room reflections, though it still manages to serve up impressive shadow detail in tough scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or the “Mines of Mandalor” episode from The Mandalorian. When watching in the dark, there seemed to be a bit more “haloing” (or light spillage) around ultrabright objects on dark backgrounds than the near-perfect Hisense U8N backlighting, but it never became distracting.

Well, until I moved off to the side, where much of what I praised above came undone. More than even some budget models, the Bravia 7 straight-up struggles from the side. Colors drain to near Wild West sepia tones as you move left or right, while the solid backlighting control seen from dead on gives way to massive, messy blobs of light.

On some level, it’s easy to write this issue off as a common compromise for a powerful backlit TV. But at $2,000 for the 65-inch model on sale, you’re paying nearly twice as much for less brightness than the capable U8N, even if it doesn't look as good. At the other end, Samsung's QN90C (8/10, WIRED Recommends) mini LED TV provides similar spoils as the Bravia 7 with much better side-axis viewing, as do relatively bright OLEDs like Samsung's S90 and LG's C-series from this year and last. Sony's Bravia 8 and last year's A80L OLEDs are dimmer, but still worthy alternatives. All these models are currently priced within shouting distance of the Bravia 7 (some well below), which puts the TV in a tight spot.

For my money, it makes sense to invest in a step-up OLED TV, even if you spend a bit more. For tighter budgets and brighter rooms, a much cheaper mini LED rival like the powerful U8N or TCL QM8 may be the better play. That said, if you’re mostly watching from the center of the room, the Bravia 7 is a lovely-looking TV at an approachable price.