You’re standing in the middle of a Best Buy or scrolling through endless Amazon listings, and you see it: the sony 65 in tv. It looks great. The colors are popping, the design is sleek, and the brand name carries that old-school weight of quality. But then you look at the price tags and the model numbers—Bravia 7, Bravia 8, the new Bravia 8 II, and the monster flagship Bravia 9. Suddenly, a "simple" upgrade feels like a research project.
Honestly, Sony doesn't make it easy. They aren't the cheapest. They aren't always the "brightest" on paper. But they have this weird, almost cult-like following for a reason.
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The Reality of the Sony 65 in TV Lineup
If you’re looking for a 65-inch screen, you’re in the "sweet spot" of the market. It’s big enough to feel like a theater but small enough to fit in a standard living room without looking like you're trying too hard.
Right now, in early 2026, the landscape has shifted. We aren't just talking about "OLED vs LED" anymore. Sony has basically split their high-end 65-inch offerings into two distinct camps: the Bravia 8 II (QD-OLED) and the Bravia 9 (Mini LED).
The Bravia 8 II is the one people are losing their minds over. It uses a Quantum Dot OLED panel, which is a fancy way of saying it gets way brighter than the OLEDs of three years ago while keeping those perfect, inky blacks. If you’re a movie nerd who watches in a dark room, this is the gold standard.
But then there's the Bravia 9. It’s a Mini LED. Usually, LED is the "cheaper" option, but not here. Sony decided to make their Mini LED the flagship because it can hit over 2,700 nits of peak brightness. It’s basically a localized sun in your living room. If you have a bright room with massive windows, the OLED will struggle. The Bravia 9 will just laugh at the glare.
What Most People Get Wrong About the "Sony Tax"
You’ve probably heard of the "Sony Tax." It’s that extra $300 to $500 you pay compared to a Samsung or LG with similar specs.
Is it a scam? Not really.
It comes down to the XR Processor. Think of the panel as the engine and the processor as the driver. While other brands might push for "raw power" (meaning just making the screen as bright as possible), Sony is obsessed with processing. Their XR chip tries to mimic how human eyes focus. It identifies the main subject in a scene—say, a character's face—and clears up the texture and detail right there while subtly softening the background.
It’s the reason a 1080p Netflix stream of The Bear looks like native 4K on a sony 65 in tv but might look a bit "digital" or noisy on a budget set. Their upscaling is, quite frankly, still the best in the business.
Gaming on a 65-Inch Sony: The PS5 Factor
If you’re a gamer, especially a PS5 owner, Sony has some "secret sauce" features. They call them "Perfect for PlayStation 5" features.
- Auto HDR Tone Mapping: The TV and the console talk to each other the second you plug them in. It automatically optimizes the HDR settings so you don't have to spend twenty minutes clicking through those "adjust until the symbol disappears" menus.
- Auto Genre Picture Mode: It knows when you’re playing a game and switches to Low Latency mode. When you switch to a Blu-ray or Netflix, it jumps back to Cinema mode.
But here is the catch. And it’s a big one.
Sony is still stingy with HDMI 2.1 ports. Even on their $2,000+ models, you usually only get two "full speed" HDMI 2.1 ports. One of those is also your eARC port. So, if you have a PS5, an Xbox Series X, and a high-end soundbar, you’re basically playing musical chairs with your cables. It's annoying. LG gives you four ports on almost all their OLEDs. Sony just... doesn't.
The Sound: Do You Actually Need a Soundbar?
Most thin TVs sound like garbage. It's just physics; you can't fit a good speaker in a 1-inch thick frame.
Sony’s OLEDs (like the Bravia 8 and 8 II) use something called Acoustic Surface Audio+. They basically put little "actuators" behind the glass that vibrate the entire screen to make sound.
It’s a trip. When someone on the left side of the screen talks, the sound actually comes from the left side of the glass. For a 65-inch screen, it makes a huge difference in immersion. You can skip the soundbar if you aren't a total audiophile, though a dedicated system will still beat it for bass.
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Which One Should You Actually Buy?
Don't just buy the most expensive one. That’s a trap.
- The Budget(ish) Choice: Look for the Bravia 7. It’s Mini LED, it’s plenty bright, and it has the same brain (processor) as the flagship. You’re getting 90% of the performance for 60% of the price.
- The Movie Buff Choice: Get the Bravia 8 II. The colors are just more "correct" out of the box. Sony’s "Professional" mode is legendary for being accurate to what the director saw in the editing suite.
- The Living Room King: If your TV sits opposite a window, get the Bravia 9. It’s the only way to beat the sun without closing the curtains.
Actionable Next Steps
Before you pull the trigger, measure your stand. A sony 65 in tv usually has a "four-way" stand, meaning you can tuck the feet in or out, or raise them up to fit a soundbar.
Check your current HDMI setup. If you have more than two consoles/high-end devices, you’ll need to budget for an HDMI 2.1 switcher or a modern receiver.
Lastly, wait for the "Big Game" sales in February or the spring refresh in April. Sony prices are notoriously sticky, but these are the two windows where you can often shave $500 off the MSRP of a 65-inch model.