Sony’s first RGB TV is a statement piece | The VergeSkip to main contentThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.The VergeThe Verge logo.TechReviewsScienceEntertainmentAIPolicyNotificationsNotificationsHamburger Navigation ButtonThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.NotificationsNotificationsHamburger Navigation ButtonNavigation DrawerThe VergeThe Verge logo.Login / Sign UpcloseCloseSearchTechExpandAmazonAppleFacebookGoogleMicrosoftSamsungBusinessSee all techReviewsExpandSmart Home ReviewsPhone ReviewsTablet ReviewsHeadphone ReviewsSee all reviewsScienceExpandSpaceEnergyEnvironmentHealthSee all scienceEntertainmentExpandTV ShowsMoviesAudioSee all entertainmentAIExpandOpenAIAnthropicSee all AIPolicyExpandAntitrustPoliticsLawSecuritySee all policyGadgetsExpandLaptopsPhonesTVsHeadphonesSpeakersWearablesSee all gadgetsVerge ShoppingExpandBuying GuidesDealsGift GuidesSee all shoppingGamingExpandXboxPlayStationNintendoSee all gamingStreamingExpandDisneyHBONetflixYouTubeCreatorsSee all streamingTransportationExpandElectric CarsAutonomous CarsRide-sharingScootersSee all transportationFeaturesVerge VideoExpandTikTokYouTubeInstagramPodcastsExpandDecoderThe VergecastVersion HistoryNewslettersArchivesStoreVerge Product UpdatesSubscribeFacebookThreadsInstagramYoutubeRSSThe VergeThe Verge logo.Sony’s first RGB TV is a statement pieceNotificationsNotificationsComments DrawerNotificationsCommentsLoading commentsGetting the conversation ready...TechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechGadgetsCloseGadgetsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GadgetsReviewsCloseReviewsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReviewsSony’s first RGB TV is a statement pieceWhile the tech is still new, Sony’s Bravia 7 II proves that RGB LED TVs are capable of serious performance.If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.by John HigginsCloseJohn HigginsSenior Reviewer, TVs & AudioPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by John HigginsMay 27, 2026, 4:00 PM UTCLinkShareGiftIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.The Bravia 7 II is one of two new RGB LED TVs from Sony.John HigginsCloseJohn HigginsPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by John Higgins is a senior reviewer covering TVs and audio. He has over 20 years experience in AV, and has previously been on staff at Digital Trends and Reviewed.The first wave of RGB LED TVs are fighting for their spot in the TV hierarchy. They need to outperform OLED TVs in brightness and color (because they’ll never match OLED’s contrast), and they need to outperform regular LED TVs in everything (because their price is so much higher). It’s now time for Sony to take a swing with the Bravia 7 II, which is out alongside the flagship Bravia 9 II. Both pair RGB LED backlighting with Sony’s always top-notch processing.RGB TVs like the Bravia 7 II use red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a field of all-blue or white LEDs for the backlight. This allows for an RGB LED TV to display more, and brighter, colors without as much reliance on its color filter. Sony drives each LED individually, giving its TV fine control of the color mix.8Verge ScoreSony Bravia 7 II RGB LED TV$2600$2600The GoodGreat color accuracyCool lenticular screen standThe BadPricier than competitorsOnly two 4K/120Hz HDMI$2600 at Sony (65-inch)How we rate and review productsThe biggest potential drawback of RGB LED technology is color crosstalk, which is when one color bleeds into the color next to it. It happens because the red, green, and blue LEDs provide light for a zone that includes multiple pixels. If the majority of those pixels are supposed to be red, then the backlight will create red light and rely on the color filter to carve out the correct colors for the remaining pixels in that zone. But sometimes that red will slightly affect the pixels that aren’t red, especially if they’re a lighter color or white.Sony Bravia 7 II specsDisplay type: RGB LEDHDR formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLGOS: Google TVHDMI inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.1 (one with eARC); 2 x HDMI 2.0Audio support: Dolby Atmos, DTS: XGaming features: 4K/120Hz, ALLM, VRRSizes available (inches): 50, 55, 65, 75, 85, 98So far, examples of color crosstalk are most apparent in test patterns, and while running the Bravia 7 II through a barrage of tests, I could see evidence of it. A green rectangle would subtly create a halo into the space around it — and it happened with a bunch of colors, not just green.But test patterns are designed to bring out flaws. And apart from those unusual conditions, I only saw color crosstalk on a handful of occasions, with none of them being significant. The most noticeable was with the app tiles on my Apple TV. The blue of the Prime Video tile slightly crept into the white of the text, and on the NASA app tile the emblem’s text had a red tint.In movies and TV shows, there was little crosstalk to be found. I could nitpick and wax poetic about the red of Snoke’s throne room causing a minor shift to his skin tone in a few frames of The Last Jedi when I paused and inspected the pixels from a foot away, but the reality is it doesn’t matter. When I sat back and watched, there wasn’t a point during The Last Jedi, or Mad Max: Fury Road, or the F1 Canadian Grand Prix where I felt pulled out of the action by color crosstalk.In fact, in Professional picture mode, the Bravia 7 II produces a beautiful picture with all content. Along with color crosstalk essentially being a non-issue, colors and grayscale in SDR are remarkably accurate, apart from some inaccuracies in red, which is oversaturated. Lighter grays in HDR are a bit brighter than they should be as well, but it’s not too noticeable, and colors look vibrant. The Bravia 7 II is also capable of 2,200 nits of brightness. It doesn’t match the TCL X11L light cannon, or even the LG G5 OLED from last year, but it’s plenty of brightness for an average living room. And since the majority of content is still mastered at 1,000 nits, Sony’s latest still has plenty of brightness headroom.The Bravia 7 II handles blooming well, but it’s still an LCD display so it doesn’t match OLED.The TV gets bright enough for a lit room with great specular highlights.One of the benefits of RGB backlighting is the ability to display more colors, and in testing, the Sony measured 88 percent of BT.2020. There’s a limited amount of content that actually uses those colors, so while the potential is impressive, it won’t matter unless you’re watching something like Planet Earth II that’s specifically mastered for it. The green jungles of Ecuador are lush and verdant, and the shimmery blues and cyans of hummingbirds pop off the screen. It looks similar to the Hisense UR9 on those scenes, although overall the Sony is far more accurate. Still, until we get a lot more movies and TV shows that are mastered in BT.2020 instead of P3, there’s little benefit.When using Professional mode on the Sony, there’s an interesting menu option available that allows you to change the backlight from using color to white light. If the slight color bleed on the Apple TV app tiles bothers you, switching it from color to white will remove the problem. But doing so also affects the color gamut coverage, decreasing it from 88 percent to 73 percent of BT.2020 and down to 91 percent of P3. The inclusion of the option is curious, as I’m not sure what a useful application for it is apart from the novelty of seeing the performance difference between color and white backlight LEDs.Beyond picture performance, the 7 II has some cool, and some not so cool, design choices. Starting with the cool is the pedestal stand, which incorporates a lenticular screen on its front that causes cables hanging behind it to disappear from view while still presenting a mostly transparent look. It’s a nerdy and fun solution to cable management.The pedestal stand includes a slot in the back to gather cables together at the middle of the TV.When the lenticular screen cover is put in place, it causes the cables to visually disappear while allowing light and color to pass through.A not so cool choice was to still only have two HDMI inputs support 4K at 120 Hz, one of which is the eARC port. As other TV manufacturers are including support across all four inputs, this is a miss from Sony. It doesn’t make or break a TV, but if you’re planning to connect a soundbar or AVR to the eARC HDMI port and want to connect more than one game console or PC for high refresh rate gaming, it’s not possible.The Bravia 7 II also has a pretty reflective screen. Reflected lights don’t cause as dramatic a rainbow effect as I’ve seen on TCL and Hisense TVs, but the screen doesn’t mitigate the light much. The Bravia 9 II has a non-glare, low-reflection panel, so if you have a room with lamps or ceiling lights you’re concerned about, that’s the better choice — for at least an extra $1,000.Which brings us to the cost. Sony has always priced its TVs a bit more than other manufacturers, and that trend continues. The 65-inch Bravia 7 II for my review is $2,600. That’s $600 more than the Hisense’s top-end RGB LED TV, the UR9 (once Hisense slashed the price after release), and $500 more than the Samsung R85H. I haven’t had a chance to closely look at the R85H yet, but I can say even for $600 more, the accuracy and far better processing of the Sony Bravia 7 II is worth it over the Hisense.The Bravia 7 II’s battery-powered remote is light and easy to use, but isn’t backlit.Two HDMI 2.1 and two HDMI 2.0? It’s 2026, Sony. They should all be 2.1.If I could control the daytime light in my room, I’d probably still opt for an OLED like the LG C6. Regardless of the RGB backlight tech, the Bravia 7 II (and every other RGB LED TV) is still an LCD TV. It handles blooming well, but can’t compete with the pixel-level control and deep contrast an OLED provides.As more RGB LED TVs come out and get evaluated, we’ll have a better idea of how they perform with actual content and if the color crosstalk concerns are real or marketing subterfuge from competitors. But one or two things is certain: either color crosstalk isn’t an issue, or Sony has figured out a way to make it a non-issue with its processing. Even though there are nitpicks like the reflective screen and limited HDMI 2.1, the Bravia 7 II is an excellent TV with a beautiful picture.Photography by John Higgins / The VergeHow I test TVsI set up each TV in my living room on my home theater credenza. I stream movies and shows through the TV’s apps and from an Apple TV, play discs on a Magnetar UDP900 MkII 4K Blu-Ray player (including the Spears & Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark disc) and movies from a Kaleidescape Strato E player, and play games on my Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. This is done at different times of the day and under different lighting conditions, with curtains open, with lamps and overhead lights on, or with blackout curtains up to keep the room dark. While I am a certified ISF Level 3 calibrator, I do not calibrate the TVs before measurement, as the overwhelming majority of TV owners don’t bother. So it’s important to know how well the TVs perform out of the box, with minor tweaks in the menu anyone can do.For measurement, I use Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software, a Murideo 8K Seven pattern generator, an X-rite i1 Pro 3 spectrophotometer, Portrait Displays’ C6 HDR5000 colorimeter, a Konica Minolta LS-100 luminance meter, and Leo Bodnar 4K lag tester.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.John HigginsCloseJohn HigginsSenior Reviewer, TVs & AudioPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by John HigginsGadgetsCloseGadgetsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GadgetsReviewsCloseReviewsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReviewsSonyCloseSonyPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All SonyTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechTVsCloseTVsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TVsMost PopularMost PopularJony Ive’s Ferrari looks nothing like a FerrariGoogle Health is here, but a lot of people want their Fitbit app back insteadUber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’You’re about to feel the AI money squeezeNvidia has retired its GeForce Control Panel app after 20 yearsThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. 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Sony’s Bravia 7 II represents a significant attempt by the company to introduce RGB LED televisions into the market, positioning it as a statement piece that leverages Sony’s advanced processing capabilities. This development occurs as RGB LED TVs compete to establish themselves in the television hierarchy, needing to surpass OLED technology in brightness and color, while also outperforming standard LED TVs given their higher cost. The Bravia 7 II utilizes red, green, and blue LEDs for its backlight, which allows for finer, individual control over color mixing compared to traditional systems, enabling the display of more and brighter colors with reduced reliance on color filters (Higgins).

The performance evaluation of the Bravia 7 II highlights several technical considerations. A potential complication inherent in RGB LED technology is color crosstalk, which involves one color bleeding into adjacent pixels. This occurs because the red, green, and blue LEDs generate light across a zone that includes multiple pixels, and the system relies on color filters to define these colors. Although testing revealed some instances of crosstalk, these were generally not significant when viewing cinematic content; for instance, viewing movies and television shows did not reveal disruptive color shifting during action sequences. Nevertheless, color crosstalk was observable in specific scenarios, such as test patterns and interface elements on applications like Apple TV, where color bleeding was noted in text or emblems.

Despite potential crosstalk issues, the overall picture quality of the Bravia 7 II is considered excellent, particularly in professional picture modes. The display demonstrates remarkable accuracy in colors and grayscale in standard dynamic range, while colors appear vibrant. The television achieves a color coverage of 88 percent of the BT.2020 standard. In terms of brightness, the TV reaches 2200 nits, providing ample light for a living room, and it effectively handles blooming, although it remains an LCD display and cannot match the deep contrast capabilities offered by OLED technology.

The flexibility of the backlight system is further demonstrated through software options. In professional mode, an option exists to switch the backlight from color to white light, which effectively mitigates color bleed on application tiles. However, this adjustment necessitates a trade-off in color gamut coverage, reducing the coverage to 73 percent of BT.2020 and 91 percent of P3. This choice highlights the inherent tension between maximizing color fidelity and eliminating artifacts.

Beyond display performance, the design incorporates several noteworthy features. The pedestal stand includes a lenticular screen at the front, which functions as a novel solution for cable management by allowing cables to disappear from view while maintaining transparency. The TV also supports multiple high-refresh-rate inputs, including two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which supports eARC, and two HDMI 2.0 ports, which is noted as a point where Sony could improve by supporting HDMI 2.1 across all inputs. The screen itself is reflective, which, while not causing dramatic rainbow effects like some competitors, does not mitigate reflected light to the same extent as the non-glare panel found in the more expensive Bravia 9 II model.

The pricing of the Bravia 7 II, which is $2600 for a 65-inch model, places it above competitors such as the Hisense UR9 and the Samsung R85H. Despite this premium cost, the review suggests that the superior accuracy and advanced processing capabilities of the Sony unit justify the expense over alternatives. Ultimately, the Bravia 7 II remains a high-quality LCD television, demonstrating that RGB LED technology is capable of serious performance, pending further evaluation regarding color crosstalk and the evolution of content mastering standards.