Mini-LED TVs are cheaper than ever; you can get a very decent TCL or Hisense model for well south of a thousand bucks. So why would you pay more for a Sony with similar specs? The new Bravia 5 QLED has a wide array of dimming zones and identical processing to Sony’s top models, in addition to supporting Nvidia G-Sync for gaming.
Great processing and some pretty sweet Sony-exclusive streaming software mean that the Bravia 5 is actually a very competitive TV for a thousand bucks, even if it doesn’t quite beat similarly priced OLEDs on sale. It’s not the best value you’ll find, but Sony is known for quality, and you get what you pay for.
If you've been looking for a new screen, especially a large one, and you like watching movies on discs or via your own media server, this Sony model might be the one for you.
Being Bravia
Photograph: Parker Hall
Whether it’s headphones, TVs, or a Walkman, it doesn’t matter what you buy from Sony: You can expect a shockingly convoluted naming system. Sony has now decided all its TVs should be Bravias. The new Sony Bravia 5 replaces the old Sony Bravia X90L, where it sits between the Bravia 2 II (yep) and the Bravia 3, and below the Bravia 7 and 9 QLED models. Don’t bother worrying about the Bravia 8 II, which is an OLED.
This screen looks like the vast majority of modern TVs, with thin bezels, two relatively center-mounted legs (good for smaller TV stands), and 4 HDMI inputs (two HDMI 2.1) on the left-hand side of the display. Setup was made especially easy by the fact that the legs click into the bottom of the screen without the need for a screwdriver. This is the type of elegant design choice you expect from a Sony TV, as opposed to more affordable brands.
One thing I’m not in love with is the remote. It’s a boring hunk of plastic without the solar charging of Samsung’s, the point-and-shoot ability of LG’s, and the backlight of TCL’s. It has nice rubbery buttons, but I do miss a backlit remote in dark rooms, and I hate AAA batteries.