Sony Bravia 7 II Review: RGB Mini-LED With OLED-Like Contrast

OLED plays a smaller role in 2026 than it used to, and the reason is a new stage of LCD: the RGB Mini-LED. Where Samsung and LG call it "Micro-RGB", Sony and Hisense say "RGB Mini-LED", but the principle is shared — a three-colour backlight with separate red, green and blue light sources, promising more colour, higher peak brightness and stronger contrast than a conventional LCD. Sony fits this backlight to its two best 2026 LCDs: the flagship Bravia 9 II and the second-in-line Bravia 7 II. Independent lab testing of the 65-inch model (K-65XR75M2) found a worthy successor to a very good predecessor, with one clear regression. This review is based on that laboratory test, not our own hands-on trial.

Six screws assemble the set, and although the frame and back are mostly plastic it feels premium, thanks to a slim, solid central foot and a two-part metal stand. A rear speaker array carries trios of bass, mid and treble drivers. Setup runs through Sony's take on Google TV, whose stand-out is a sound-calibration step using a microphone built into the remote, steering the audio to your seat. The test also praised Google TV's cross-provider watchlist — Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ favourites lined up together — and found its full-screen ads less intrusive than those on rival platforms.

The headline strength is SDR brightness. In the accurate Professional mode the Bravia 7 II already cleared 500 candela per square metre at brightness level 35 of 50, which — paired with the glossy panel's good anti-reflection — makes it ideal for bright living rooms. (Out of the box the Professional mode is set very dark at level 4; the test recommends level 35.) The regression is peak HDR brightness: where the old Bravia 7 hit a huge 2,064 cd/m² on a 10 percent window, the 7 II managed 840. That matters less than it sounds — unlike OLED, Mini-LED reaches its maximum on larger bright areas, so the 7 II pushed close to 1,000 cd/m² on 50 and 75 percent windows, and most scenes sit brighter than that 840 figure. Small highlights such as muzzle flashes still look more brilliant on an OLED, and a Showroom "Brilliant" mode with local dimming on High can reach 1,973 cd/m² if authenticity is not the priority.

Contrast is where the Bravia 7 II gets closest to OLED. A low black level and high SDR brightness yield dynamic contrast up to 50,000:1, and to the naked eye the blacks are indistinguishable from OLED — only in punishing test sequences does faint blooming reveal a backlight is present. The zones dim so precisely, and the panel is so evenly lit, that the test tipped its hat. Anyone weighing true OLED instead can compare our LG OLED77C6 review.

Colour is strong: full coverage of sRGB and the DCI-P3 HDR gamut, and a solid 80 percent of the future-facing BT.2020 — behind LG and Samsung on paper, though BT.2020 content is still scarce. Where Sony's decades of production experience tell is image processing. Colour gradients — sunset skies, smoke and fog — are rendered cleanly with little banding, and upscaling of sub-4K material avoids both smoothing and over-sharpening. Occasional mild clipping in HDR is largely cleaned up by Dolby Vision, which the set supports (HDR10+ is absent) and which adapts scene by scene to keep highlights and shadow detail intact. Five accurate picture modes — Cinema, Professional, IMAX Enhanced and calibrated Netflix and Prime Video presets — cover the purist, with motion smoothing best left at the gentle "Smooth (Film) 2".

For gamers the news is mixed. Input lag is a low 10.4 milliseconds, but only two of the four HDMI ports handle 4K at 120 hertz — a little stingy for 2026 — with the other two capped at 60. Sound comes from six rear-firing drivers whose centre sits about head height, keeping voices tied to the picture; they produce clear audio with decent bass, but cannot match the screen-vibration system of Sony's pricier OLEDs. A dedicated soundbar from our best soundbars guide is the obvious upgrade.

The Sony Bravia 7 II is a worthy successor to the Mini-LED Bravia 7, impressing with strong SDR brightness, natural colour and OLED-like contrast, and setting the standard once more for image processing, local dimming and backlight uniformity. Its peak HDR brightness does not quite reach the older model despite the new RGB backlight, and the HDMI 2.1 count stays at just two — the two real caveats on an otherwise excellent bright-room television. It sits comfortably among the picks in our best 4K TVs guide, and comes in sizes from 50 up to 98 inches.