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This Sony Bravia is the best TV you've never heard of. Here's why you might want to buy one
Sony Bravia X90L TV
The Sony Bravia X90L is one of our picks for the best Sony TVs you can buy, and for good reason. Its color accuracy, precision brightness, 120Hz smooth motion, and 4K image processing make it one of our most recommended TVs overall. I consider it one of the most underrated TVs on the market.
I've seen all of the best 2024 TVs from Sony, Samsung LG, TCL, and Hisense at CES 2024 and at several events since then. And when I recently had to replace a 7 year-old 55-inch TCL TV that died, I replaced it with a 65-inch Sony X90L because I think it has the best picture for the money right now, and it comes with a couple extra advantages as well.
If you're in the market for a TV, this summer is going to be an excellent time to buy while the 2023 TVs like this one are going on sale as the new 2024 TVs are about to start replacing them on the shelves for the fall. For example, at the end of May, Best Buy had the X90L 65-inch for $200 off, the 75-inch was $400 off, and the 98-inch was $1,000 off. Amazon had some similar deals at the same time.
I'd recommend that you keep an eye out and don't miss a deal on the outstanding Sony Bravia XR X90L TV -- especially if you were considering a TCL QM8 or Hisense U8K. All three of these TVs are around $1,000 -- $900 to $1,300 street price -- for a 65-inch, and the Sony is the best of the three.
Also: The best TVs of 2024: Expert tested
While the Sony Bravia XR X90L doesn't blow you away on the spec sheet -- it's an LED TV with a full-array backlight -- the real-world performance and usability make it one of the best buys on the market, based on ZDNET's testing. This Sony TV is technically in the same category as its very popular 2023 rivals, the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8K. However, while those are Mini LED TVs and look like they should be better TVs on paper, the Sony X90L has better color accuracy, plenty of brightness, and a much nicer remote than either the TCL or Hisense TVs.
Since Sony has had a long partnership with Google, the X90L also has an excellent implementation of Google TV, which makes the X90L's software interface much friendlier to use than Samsung's Tizen and LG's webOS, which can both be overly complicated and frustrating to navigate.
With the X90L, you also get Sony's excellent picture processing to upscale content to 4K, which is especially helpful if you're watching older content or YouTube videos and it's stronger than anything offered by Hisense and TCL. And if you're looking for a TV to watch movies, the X90L nearly rivals expensive OLED and high-end QLED TVs that cost almost twice as much. If you're upgrading from a TV that is at least 4-5 years old, you will be blown away by the picture quality of X90L -- and it will require a lot less tuning out-of-the box than other TVs.
Of all the five major TV brands, Sony has the most advanced picture processing and that means that it doesn't over-saturate and over-brighten the image the way Samsung, LG, TCL, and Hisense models sometimes do. Again, that means Sony TVs often have a better picture than higher-spec'd rivals from the budget TV makers (Hisense and TCL) and can often compete with more expensive models from the premium vendors (Samsung and LG).
Also: Mini LED vs. OLED: What's the difference, and which TV should you buy?
For gamers, this TV has a dedicated game mode, HDMI 2.1, VRR, and it has Auto HDR Tone Mapping when connected to the Sony PS5. It also has a game menu so you can fine tune the settings to your preferences.
The Sony X90L isn't as bright as its Mini LED rivals from TCL and Hisense -- or even its 2024 successor, the Sony Bravia 7 -- but it still takes advantage of Sony's advanced backlight system to brighten specific parts of the image and it does an excellent job of revealing the details in the shadows of dark movies and shows. I'm using the X90L in a bright room and have never had an instance where I wished the picture were brighter.
Of course, Sony's products often carry a 10% to 20% price premium because of the Sony brand name, so it's important look for sales and deals like the ones we've highlighted from Best Buy and Amazon.
If you have a little more to spend, I'd recommend considering an upgrade to an OLED because the Sony A80L, the Samsung S90C and the LG C3 are all 2023 OLEDs you can pick up on sale for around $1,600 for a 65-inch this summer.
When will this deal expire?
Deals are subject to sell out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We're sorry if you've missed out on this deal, but don't fret -- we're constantly finding new chances to score savings and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com.