Sony Bravia 9 TV hands-on — this could be the best Mini LED TV of the year
The Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV is bright — like, seriously bright. Thanks to the development of what the company claims to be the world's smallest LED driver, the Bravia 9 emerges as Sony's flagship 4K set for 2024 with big promises of picture excellence.
You might be thinking 'Bravia 9' sounds much more straightforward than the alphabet soup used for Sony product naming in the past. Although the lineup hasn't totally transitioned to this new branding (the award-winning Sony Bravia XR A95L QD-OLED TV is being carried over from last year) it implies Sony wants to become more approachable to average customers.
And if you were to see the Bravia 9 in person like I have ahead of the Sony 2024 TV lineup reveal, you'd want to approach it. From first impressions, this TV's rich precision has the power to pull you in and make what your watching look all that more realistic. It also proves Sony is truly taking Mini LED technology seriously to rival the likes of Samsung's Neo QLED TV lineup. But will that be enough to make the Bravia 9 one of the best TVs of the year?
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV: Cheat sheet
What is it? The Bravia 9 is Sony's flagship Mini LED TV for 2024.
When is the release date? Expect an official release date in the coming weeks.
What sizes does it come in? The Bravia 9 is available in 65-, 75-, and 85-inch sizes.
How much does it cost? The Bravia 9 starts at $3,299.
Which smart TV platform does it use? Google TV.
What is the standout feature? A 50% brightness bump compared to the previous generation.
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV: Price and availability
The Sony Bravia 9 was announced alongside the rest of the new Sony TVs for 2024. This year's family notably features a rebrand, in which the TVs are labeled by number, with the numbers ascending from least to most premium. The Bravia 9 Mini LED TV is the highest offering of the lot, as reflected in part by the price.
The set comes in 65-, 75-, and 85-inch sizes starting at $3,299. That lands the Bravia 9 among the priciest TVs Tom's Guide will review this year.
The Sony A95L QD-OLED TV that was named the best 4K TV of 2023 will remain available. In terms of more traditional OLED technology, the new Bravia 8 introduces about a 30% thinner build compared to last year's A80L OLED TV.
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV: Design
The Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV's design is simple, yet modern-looking. It's easy to appreciate the titanium silver bezel, which wraps the sides of the screen but doesn’t create a lip on the panel, providing a bezel-less look. Meanwhile, a four-way stand offers versatile setup options based on what best suits your space.
Like most Sony TVs, the Bravia 9 features a checkerboard pattern on the back and a port array that can be concealed by a detachable panel. Speaking of the port array, only two of the Bravia 9's 4 total HDMI ports are HDMI 2.1. A full array of 2.1 ports is a standard for other premium OLED TVs and QLED TVs, for comparison.
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV: Features and performance
In some ways, Sony's previous-gen Mini LED TVs didn't seem to have the same finesse as some of the brand's other TVs. It didn't give Samsung's Neo QLED-branded Mini LED a real run for it's money. But the Bravia 9 looks to shakes things up.
That's all thanks to a new backlight driver developed by Sony's microprocessor division that the company says is the world's smallest Mini LED driver to date. By decreasing the size of the Mini LEDs, Sony can increase the number of LEDs and number of local dimming zones, resulting in 320% more zones than the previous-gen X95L.
More zones means more refined control, meaning the a picture can get brighter in the right spots without the risk of blooming or blowing out parts of the picture it shouldn't. Sony peeled back the panel layers to show us how these Mini LEDs essentially recreate the intended image in the backlight with a level of detail other Mini LED backlights on the current market cannot. This reflected when watching some sample footage, where the brightest parts of the picture really seemed to pop with an impressive degree of realism.
With the help of this new technology, the Bravia 9 can reach a peak brightness that's 50% greater than before while also using up to 20% less power. We saw a demo that showed this Mini-LED TV is even more power efficient than an OLED one.
Otherwise, in the sound department, the Bravia 9 has features like 3D surround upscaling, as well as Acoustic Center Sync (with a compatible Sony soundbar) and Voice Zoom 3. Voice Zoom 3 effectively increases or decreases the prominence of vocals. Once again, it seems sound is the underrated reason to buy a Sony TV.
Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV: Outlook
Sony has a Mini-LED TV that's going to give Samsung a run for its money. With a 50% brightness boost and a sharp increase in local dimming zones, the Bravia 9 seems like it's going to be among the TVs to beat this year. That said, we need to get it on our testing bench to gather our own intel on whether the numbers back up Sony's bold claims.
