Important points of ZDNET
- The lack of eye-catching specifications for the Sony Bravia X90L is more than making up for it with real-world photo performance and Sony Upscaling Technology, offering the perfect video for movies, sports, cables and streaming.
- When it comes to features you use every day, the X90L feels premium, has a good remote control with the right size, backlight included and a good balance of the right number of buttons.
- The X90L includes Google TV.
- The closest rivals to the Bravia X90L are the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8 series, both of which are slightly lower than Sony and have impressive specs.
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Sony Bravia X90L Currently it’s $300 Best Buy and Amazon For a limited time only, for the 65-inch model ($899).
Sony Bravia X90L It is one of our picks of the best Sony TVs you can buy and for good reason. Its colour accuracy, precision brightness, smooth movement of 120Hz and 4K image processing make it one of the most recommended TVs you can buy. It also considers it to be one of the most underrated televisions available. And with the 2025 TV on the market, you can save almost every size of this great 2023 model.
I’ve seen a lot of the best newest TVs, including Sony, Samsung LG, TCL, Hisense and a few more. When I had to replace my 8-year-old 55-inch TCL TV, I opted for the 65-inch Sony X90L. Because it boasts some extra benefits as I think it now has the best photos for money.
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The Sony Bravia XR X90L won’t blow you off with a spec sheet – it’s a LED TV with a full ray backlight – real performance and usability make it one of the best purchases on the market, based on ZDNET’s tests. This Sony TV is technically in the same category as the two popular rivals. TCL QM8 and Hisense U8K.
However, they are mini LED TVs and look like better TVs on paper, but the Bravia X90L is better color accuracy, sufficient brightness, and better remote than the TCL or Hisense TV (although recent models are beginning to emulate the Sony Remote). Needless to say, the Sony display can be the best of these three models.
Sony has a long partnership with Google, so the X90L also has a great implementation of Google TV. This makes the X90L’s software interface extremely gentler to use than Samsung’s Tizen or LG’s Webo.
With the X90L, you get content that upscales Sony’s excellent image processing to 4K. This is especially useful if you’re watching older content or YouTube videos, and is stronger than what Hisense and TCL have to offer. And if you’re looking for a TV to watch movies, the X90L will almost rival expensive OLED and high-end QLED TVs, which cost almost twice as much. Upgrading from a TV from at least 4-5 years ago will blow you away to X90L quality. It needs to be adjusted more quickly than other TVs.
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Sony handles cutting-edge image processing for all five major TV brands. This means that images like Samsung, LG, TCL, and Hisense models are not oversaturated and run from time to time. Again, Sony TV often draws better pictures than the higher experts of budget television makers (Hisense and TCL), and often competes with more expensive models from premium vendors such as Samsung and LG mentioned above.
For gamers, this TV has dedicated game modes, HDMI 2.1, VRR, and Auto HDR tone mapping when connected to a Sony PS5. There is also a game menu where you can fine-tune the settings to your liking.
The Sony X90L is not as bright as the mini LED rival from TCL and Hisense, or the 2024 successor, The The The Rivals Sony Bravia 7 – But it still makes use of Sony’s advanced backlighting system to brighten certain parts of the image. It also does an amazing job of revealing details of the shadows of dark movies and shows. I’m using an X90L in a bright room and there was no instance I wanted the photo to be brighter.
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Sony products often have a 10% to 20% price premium due to the Sony brand name, so it’s important to look for sales and deals that we highlighted from Amazon.
If you are spending a little more, I recommend upgrading to OLED. Sony A80L, Samsung S90C and LG C3 All 2023 OLED screens are also on sale. The cheapest of these is the 42-inch LG C3, which starts at $890.
Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites for free I recommend ZDNET Newsletter.
This story was first released on May 31, 2024 and updated on July 3, 2025.
