Sony Bravia 2 65-inch 4K TV Review: A Good Option in a Crowded Market

Sony’s Bravia series of smart TVs has existed in the market for a long time. This lineup consists of TVs from the budget to the high-tier premium segment. And, with the outset of the Bravia 7 and Bravia 8 that launched recently, the company’s portfolio keeps widening. Since these TVs offer mini-LED and OLED panels, they come with a premium price tag. However, the Bravia 2 we have here for review, is equipped with a DLED panel and provides a more budget-friendly alternative without compromising much on quality.

Sony Bravia 2 65-inch TV

Rs 78,990
8.1

Design & Build

8.0/10

Display

8.5/10

Performance

8.0/10

audio

7.0/10

UI EXPERIENCE

8.5/10

CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS

8.5/10

VALUE FOR MONEY

8.0/10

What Is Good?

  • Excellent display quality, viewing angles
  • Good colours, presets for picture modes
  • Plenty of ports
  • ALLM for PS5

What Is Bad?

  • Speakers lack bass
  • No Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support

The Bravia 2 65-inch TV is a great choice for people wanting to upgrade to a bigger TV with a 4K output. It comes with the X1 4K Processor, a good set of I/O ports, ALLM for the PS5, and more. I have been using the TV for more than a month, let’s look at the good and bad things in this review.

Price and Availability in India

The Bravia 2 lineup comes in 43 inches, 55 inches, and 65 inches. For today, we will focus on the 65-inch variant. While the TV initially launched for a higher price, the retail price as of writing this review can be seen below. You can purchase the TV from Amazon or Sony’s online store (ShopAtSC).

Platform Price in India
ShopAtSC Rs 81,210
Amazon India Rs 78,990

The prices keep fluctuating, so I recommend waiting for festive offers or keeping an eye out for price drops every few days. Moreover, you should check out retail stores that can give you a good deal with ongoing discounts and card offers.

Design and Build Quality

The Bravia 2 has a subtle and traditional design, making it tough to stand out from the sea of TVs. That’s not to say it doesn’t fit well in my room. In fact, it blends in perfectly, considering the setup, lighting, and furniture colours.

The 65-inch variant easily fills up the wall and makes a statement. Do keep in mind to maintain 6.5-7 feet of distance from the screen for a better experience and fewer headaches. The all-black colourway is a classic TV design, and I prefer it this way. The Bravia 2 has the typical shape of a 65-inch TV, with most of its heft gravitating around its bottom, visually and substantially.

Design Specs
Weight without stand 21.4 kgs
Dimensions (WxHxD) 1463 x 852 x 87 mm
Power input 203W
Box contents TV, stand, remote, and guide

A major chunk of the TV’s chassis is made out of plastic, while the frame is metallic. The TV does carry a considerable weight to it, so it’s advised to ask for help when picking up the TV.

The bezels around the TV are painted in a soft grey hue, giving it a dual-tone finish. It’s not entirely a bezel-less design, like the Haier C11 OLED I reviewed recently, but it’s not intrusive when consuming content. The Sony branding sits on the bottom bezel, just above the white LED indicator. While a mounting kit is not included in the box, Sony will send across installation folks who do carry the bracket upon request. As for the tabletop stands, they are included in the box. The metallic stands are sturdy and can handle the weight of the TV easily.

Ports
HDMI x3 – (one supports eARC/ARC)
Optical port
LAN (Ethernet port)
USB ports x2
Antenna/Cable In

The power port is on the left side of the TV, while all the other I/O ports can be found on the right side of the unit. There’s also an Optical and LAN port on the back side, but these can be hard to reach if you have mounted the TV on the wall. Both the USB-A ports are aligned together, making it tougher to reach if one is being used. Ideally, a different slot for the second USB port would have been the way to go. The TV misses out on a headphone jack, but that’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Display and Speaker Quality

The Bravia 2 65-inch comes with an IPS panel that uses DirectLED running at 4K (3840×2160) resolution with a refresh rate of 60Hz. If you’re wondering what a DLED is, it’s essentially a good-old LED-backlit display but with a more spread-out array of LED lights.

This essentially means the TV has better control of dimmable zones as compared to conventional edge-lit panels that come with skinny little LED strips on the edges of the display. DLEDs are also less susceptible to edge-blooming artefacts because much of the light is dispersed in the middle of the panel. The DLED technology is rather common in the current crop of large 4K TVs. We recently reviewed the Kodak CA Pro and Hisense 65-inch TVs, both of which used the same panel.

Display Specs
Size 65-inch (164cm)
Type DLED (DirectLED)
Resolution 3840 x 2160 (4K)
Refresh Rate 60Hz
Other features HDR 10, HLG, Motionflow XR(MEMC)

What Bravia 2 does differently when compared to the above-mentioned TVs is its processing. The TV uses the X-Reality Pro engine which essentially aims to clean and refine the picture quality of the upscaled image. It also has support for HDR but lacks Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos certifications which is a bummer, considering TVs around the Rs 40,000 price segment come with the same.

While I spent most of my time gaming on the Bravia 2 using the PS5, I also watched a lot of movies and TV shows. Rewatching The Intern was a fun affair with the TV showcasing the vivid and punchy colours from scenes shot outside. The panel gets bright enough with great clarity. The IPS panel has no issues with awkward viewing angles, as I tried watching it from the rightmost area of my room.

TV Shows such as Severance and Better Call Saul looked excellent, especially with the latter during B/W scenes. The TV did not have many problems depicting the darker scenes from movies like The Batman, but if you want a better experience, opting for an OLED display would be a good choice. Older shows such as Friends, Seinfeld, and The Big Bang Theory also look good after upscaling. The processing does its best to minimise the noise, but some of it is still visible if you get too close to the TV.

The default profiles on the Bravia 2 come in the form of Vivid, Cinema, Standard, Game, and more. I mostly stuck to the Standard preset with a minor adjustment in contrast and brightness levels. Sony offers quicker access to these settings using an overlay that appears on the bottom, this made it easier to switch things quicker.

The Bravia 2 also comes with Motionflow XR, which is just Sony’s term for MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation). This technology essentially adds artificial extra frames to the video to help give it a smoother effect. It’s also most commonly known as the Soap Opera effect. This is best kept disabled when watching sports such as Football.

When connected to a PlayStation 5, the TV automatically enables game mode. It also has support for ALLM, which essentially minimises the input lag to a certain level. For this to function, you’ll have to connect the PS5 to the HDMI port with eARC/ARC support. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Astro Bot, and Until Dawn looked splendid on the panel, and the large 65-inch size made the experience even more enjoyable.

While the display section is largely amazing, this is let down by the average speakers. The Bravia 2 is accompanied by a 20W down-firing open baffle twin speaker. At around 80 per cent volume, the speakers got decently loud enough to fill up my small room, but it lacked depth, making the music sound hollow.

Audio Specs
Power Output 10W+10W
Speaker Type Open Baffle Speaker

This was not a major issue when watching funny TV shows, but during movies that needed an impact on certain dialogues, something felt amiss. This might not be an issue for everyone as a couple of my friends thought of it as okay, but if you are someone who appeals to a more cinematic experience — my recommendation would be to pair it with a good-quality soundbar.

Performance and Remote

The Sony X1 4K processor sits at the heart of the Bravia 2. It’s a smart Google TV which runs on Android 11, so it’s pretty much like you are running a 65-inch smartphone. You have the freedom to download apps directly from the store. It comes with 16GB onboard storage, and most of the popular OTT platforms come pre-installed. If you have used a Google TV in the past, the UI will feel like home. The Bravia 2 comes with Chromecast and Apple Airplay support — so casting movies or music from your phone directly to the TV is possible, as long as both are connected to the same network.

While the TV performed smoothly for the most part, there were multiple signs of minor stutters —- especially during startup. After uninstalling a few unwanted apps, the problem seemed to be less apparent, but it did exist. Besides that, all the apps worked well without any uncalled crashes or bugs. That said, the HDMI device link on the Bravia 2 was a bit inconsistent. I have it enabled on my PS5, and ideally, as soon as the console is enabled, the TV should turn on and switch to the HDMI source. This didn’t happen for about 50 per cent of the time.

The included smart remote, a sleek and ergonomic device powered by two pencil batteries, provides easy access to all essential functions. Its well-spaced, clicky buttons offer a premium feel and ensure precise control. It offers hotkeys for Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, and more. It also has a dedicated mute button along with a Google Assistant button for voice commands.

Verdict

The TV market is flooded with multiple 65-inch options. These range from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh and above. While you’ll get a lot of essentials and necessary features from a budget TV, the picture quality and the customer support don’t seem to have an edge on that as yet.

With a current selling price of around Rs 79,000, the Sony Bravia 2 65-inch TV is a good choice if you want to upgrade to a large-size TV that also offers 4K output. If you are eyeing this TV, I highly recommend to look out for discounts.

The display quality is excellent with clear images and good colours. While I would recommend a high refresh rate TV if you want to connect a PS5 to your TV, but inclusion of a gaming mode and ALLM is also a good step for a consumer-focused TV. Where it lacks though is with the average speakers. While the sound clarity and loudness are fine, the missing bass is what gives it a poor score.

The Bravia 2 also skips out on Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos certifications but comes with HDR support. While these shouldn’t really be a dealbreaker, there are cheaper options available in the market that offer this like the Kodak CA Pro, Hisense E6N or the Xiaomi TV X Pro QLED.