I put the Sony Bravia 3 II through its paces — and it's an easy recommendation under $1,000

Shelling out for one of the best TVs is a luxury in this tough economy — thankfully almost every manufacturer has a budget or mid-tier offering. For Sony, that’s the Bravia 3 II, a mid-range LED TV that sits above the entry-level Bravia 2 II and replaces the Bravia 3 that came before it.

We’ve already reviewed the Sony Bravia 9 II flagship True RGB TV as well as the step-down Sony Bravia 7 II, but the Bravia 3 II recently made its way to our New York City test lab. Overall, it’s a great TV where Sony’s excellent processing meets a direct-lit LED panel at a midrange price point starting around $900. But is that good enough when you could also go with a cheaper Roku, Vizio, or an Amazon Fire TV?

After spending some time with this TV, and putting it through our extensive lab testing, the answer to that question is a resounding yes, especially if you’re planning on putting this TV in your living room for daytime viewing. Nighttime viewers — or folks with a dedicated, lighting-controlled space like a home theater — might want to keep the other aforementioned Sony TVs at the top of their shopping list instead.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Pricing and availability

You can buy the Sony Bravia 3 II today from Sony’s website and other retailers like Best Buy. Pricing starts at $569 for a 43-inch model and goes all the way up to $1,999 for a 100-inch model. Our 65-inch review unit’s MSRP is $900, but it can be found on sale for $849.

Pricing for the full range is below.

• 43-inch: $599 | Sale: $569
• 50-inch: $699 | Sale $669
• 55-inch: $799 | Sale $699
• 65-inch: $899 | Sale $849 [TESTED]
• 75-inch: $1,999 | Sale $1,049
• 85-inch: $1,599 | Sale $1,499
• 100-inch: $3,099 | Sale $1,999

The 65-inch Bravia 3 II is $100 cheaper than the older Bravia 3 when it launched in 2024 for the price of $999, but that TV is now harder to find.

It’s worth noting that Sony’s TVs — even at this entry-level price — are more expensive than their competitors. For example, you can pick up a 65-inch Roku Select Series for $449, or the Vizio Mini-LED Quantum 4K Smart TV for $398. Those other options might tempt you with their lower sticker price, but choosing another brand means passing up on Sony’s excellent picture processing.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Design

The Bravia 3 II is a simple, super clean-looking TV that is easy to set up. The 65-inch model has a decent size footprint of 57 x 35.56 x 11.87 inches with the stand, and weighs about 46 pounds without it.

Bezels are also thin, coming in around a quarter of an inch. You have about 2 inches of space under the front bezels of the TV, and there’s very minimal branding aside from a Sony logo on the bottom left.

The middle of the TV has a chin for the light sensors, power button, and a microphone slider button to mute the TV’s voice control features — a surprising feature that the more expensive Bravia 7 II also has onboard.

The feet, which have a plastic bottom and metal top, slide into slots at the bottom of the TV and are secured with screws with little effort. Unfortunately, those feet must be placed at either the right or left side under the panel, and can not be center-mounted.

You’ll need a wide entertainment center for this set, or you can wall mount using the 300mm x 300mm VESA mount on the rear. The rear of the TV isn’t too busy — it’s all plastic, all-black, and nothing fancy. Ports, though, are split into two areas and are a little surprising.

You’ll find four total HDMI 2.1 ports on this TV, something even Sony’s Flagship TVs don't have, making this an excellent companion for gaming consoles. HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 sit on the right side of the TV, directly below the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports.

HDMI 3 and 4, meanwhile, are tucked towards the middle in a little cove, and face downward. The eARC port is attached to HDMI 3, which is convenient for soundbars. The other mix of ports in that area are the Digital Audio Output, RF port, Ethernet port, and the RS-232C input.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: How we test

Testing TVs for Tom’s Guide is an in-depth process. In our New York City test lab, my lab assistant and I personally test every TV across SDR and HDR benchmarks using the 10% window method. For color accuracy, we switch the TV over to Filmmaker Mode, usually the “best” mode on the TV first. We also disable any intrusive ambient light sensors that could skew our meter’s readings.

For our tools, we use the Jeti spectraval 1501-HiRes spectroradiometer to profile the Klein K10-A colorimeter. Once profiled, these work with the Murideo 8K-SIX-G Metal pattern generator and a Tom’s-Guide specific workflow in Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate software which helps us determine the TV’s overall brightness and color accuracy across HDR and SDR.

For testing gaming performance, we use a Leo Bodnar 4K Video Signal Lag Tester. This tool is used on the screen in the TV’s Game Mode to measure how responsive the TV really is. Once all technical lab testing is done, and we’ve tested the majority of the TV’s remaining picture modes, we put the TV through subjective testing using a curated selection of films and shows, both on streaming services, and on our lab’s Blu-ray player.

Visit our “How we test TVs” guide for a more in-depth explanation on the process.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Performance

The Bravia 3 II uses Sony's XR Processor, which is the same processor family found in the company's more expensive flagship TVs. Needless to say, it does the job excellently, helping optimize color, contrast and fine detail.

I noticed this in action across all the HDR content I watched, including Project Hail Mary on Amazon Prime and Top Gun Maverick. The opening 10 minutes of Project Hail Mary has some dark scenes but plenty of beautiful shots of the space ship's interior. The Bravia 3 II brings out lots of details as Grace plays with the ship’s various machines. Finer details, like the skin tone in Grace’s face looked natural and even the bright objects in the cold metallic ship have pop and life to them.

But this is still an LED TV, however, and Sony’s image processor does not overcome the limits of the panel on the TV itself, particularly with black levels. Without local dimming, darker scenes and select darker colors don’t have a lot of depth. For example, I noticed that when Grace looked out of the spacecraft window, the deep darkness of space had more of a dark grayish look.

For a more controlled test, I turned to watching Top Gun: Maverick on our lab’s 4K Blu-ray player. As with Project Hail Mary, the movie looked surprisingly good in regular room lighting. The bright outdoor shots in the movie’s opening made the TV look better than its price — and brighter than my measured 520 nits in Professional Mode might show.

I noticed the fine details I never caught before: the drops of sweat on Tom Cruise’s hands as he worked on his jet, and as the bright sunlight shimmering on the fuselage on an airplane as the camera panned to it in the hangar.

But, again, the lack of deep blacks that a Mini-LED or QLED TV might have are still present. As Tom Cruise got dressed and put on his pilot outfit, the blacks in the fabric looked slightly dull. Scenes still remained enjoyable though, just you will not get the reference-grade HDR brightness and accuracy you might get on the Bravia 9 II or more premium TVs.

Conversely, SDR performance is solid, especially with New York Mets MLB replays, and regular cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants on YouTube.

For SDR content, I watched about 20 minutes of a 45-minute-long Pure Happiness at the Krusty Krab video. On YouTube. Switching the Bravia 3 II to Vivid mode, I was blown away. It was my favorite way of testing the TV.

Spongebob’s skin popped with a bright vibrant yellow that I’ve never seen before, even on an OLED TV. The blues in a cabinet in the Krusty Krab’s kitchen, and the turquoise in Squidward's skin looked incredible. Even the red in Mr. Krabs’ shell jumped off the screen and appealed to my eyes right away.

This episode looked really bold and bright, and it was not what I expected out of this TV. Sony’s image processing really wins here, producing a more polished picture than I’ve seen from many budget TVs from Roku, Amazon and Vizio.

Of course, Vivid mode is designed to push brightness higher. It doesn’t go for the pure color accuracy which is where Professional mode is better. But the extra brightness really helps make cartoons, or animated series, and even sports look great on this TV.

I also switched the TV over to Standard mode and watched MLB highlights of a New York Mets game. The green grass of the MLB diamond looked alive. The “road gray” color in Kodai Senga’s Mets uniform was also great. I could make out the fine folds in his uniform as he threw out the final pitch to get his first career save.

Overall, there were a few snags with the black levels, but I was impressed with the Sony Bravia 3 II’s performance.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Test results

As the lab results show, the 65-inch Bravia 3 II performs well for a direct-lit LED HDR TV. I measured 520 nits on a 10% window, which beats out the older 43-inch Bravia 3 (448 nits) — though that is a smaller size which impacts benchmarks. It also completely outperforms budget entry options like the Roku Select Series QLED (334 nits).

It, however, does not rival the Vizio Mini LED Quantum (781 nits), which has a different technology and the dimming zones this TV lacks. The flagship True RGB beast like the Bravia 7 II (2,077 nits) also won’t come close to it, but shows just how much more you can get for extra money.

Out of the box, the Bravia 3 II’s 2.12 Delta-E score in Professional Mode beats both the older Bravia 3 (3.49) and competing models like the Vizio Mini LED (4.63) This shows its strong color accuracy.

Not a lot of content is mastered for Rec 2020 coverage, but the Sony Bravia 3 II covers 74.06% of that gamut. That is a big jump from its smaller predecessor (69.81%). It is also ahead of the Roku QLED (64.50%), and the Vizio Mini LED (71.37%). For the more common UHDA-P3, it covers 94.62% of UHDA-P3, putting it third in the group, but these small percentage differences are not something your eyes will likely notice.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Gaming

I was happy to see that the gaming experience on the Bravia 3 II’s game mode was smooth as butter — which is impressive, considering its sub-$1,000 price. Like the more expensive Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II, the TV supports Auto HDR Tone Mapping with PlayStation 5, along with VRR and ALLM support. This lets you skip the HDR optimization and auto applies the best settings for the TV’s HDR gaming features.

Yet unlike the more expensive Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II, this TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, meaning you can use up to four gaming consoles at 120Hz. For a gamer like me, that’s heaven. It is honestly very baffling to me why this TV has this many HDMI 2.1 ports and some of Sony's flagship TVs do not.

To test the gaming performance, I booted up Pragamata on our lab’s PlayStation 5. The game looked visually incredible, and played great. I experienced no lag in this game, where input timing is key. My quick inputs on the Triangle, Square, Circle buttons perfectly aligned with the hacking sequence needed to shoot enemy crusher robots in the Solar Power Plant sector.

Sony also includes the PS Remote Play app on the TV pre-installed. I have to admit, it was nice remoting into my own PS5 and playing a game like Gran Turismo 7 that we do not own on the lab’s console.

A dedicated Game Bar can also be summoned by pressing the “. . .” button on the remote when in the TV’s game mode. This gives you controls for VRR, Motion blur reduction, a Black equalizer, and the option to add a Crosshair. These are nice-to-have features at this TV’s price point.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Sound

For audio testing, I watched the music videos for Post Malone’s “Sunflower” as well as Shaboozy’s “Highway”. The Bravia 3 II sports "X-Balanced" speakers in a "Bass Reflex" enclosure. There's no subwoofers or surface drivers, so I would suggest pairing this TV with a soundbar if you plan to do anything beyond watching movies or TV shows.

On the first music video, I noticed how clear Post Malone’s vocals sounded. There was a lack of sub bass, but with the volume turned up to around 30%, I didn’t hear any distortion.

With Shaboozy’s music video, I heard the thump from his deeper voice, but the finer details from acoustic guitar was somewhat muted.

My recommendation? Check out our list of the best soundbars to pair this set’s impressive performance with a more formidable piece of audio equipment.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Smart TV and remote

We’ve reviewed almost a dozen TV this year with Google TV and the Bravia 3 II adds another tally to that list. Compared to what you'll have with a Roku TV or ad-ridden and privacy-last Vizio TV, Google TV is minimalist, clean and easy to use.

Everything you need is up front in a clean and easy to navigate experience, from settings, to inputs to TV shows and movies. The TV’s Google Gemini integration will have your back, too and will make finding what you’re looking for easy in a more human-friendly way.

Sony is recycling the remote from the Bravia 7 II on this year’s Bravia 3 II. It is a plastic remote, with a speckled design. It’s a bit big in the hands but still super comfortable to use.

There’s the usual suite of buttons for navigation, apps like Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, voice control, and settings and menu. The remote can also be found using the power button on the TV. You also can program your own app to the star button on the remote.

Sony Bravia 3 II review: Verdict

The Sony Bravia 3 II is a surprising TV. It brings Sony’s flagship-level image processing to a basic LED panel to help make your favorite TV shows and movies look great when the lights are on. It might not match Mini-LED or QLED TVs for brightness or black levels, but it’s still great for the everyday TV viewer.

The Bravia 3 II will be a solid purchase thanks to its gaming performance. It is great for gamers with its four HDMI 2.1 ports, its sleek Google TV interface, and a smart design. If you're buying a 65-inch TV primarily for daytime living-room viewing and gaming, this is the one for you.

If you want cheaper, sub-$500 options, the aforementioned Roku or Vizio models are good first ports of call, while the more-expensive Bravia 7 II will deliver better color and brightness. As a jack-of-all-trades, though, the Bravia 3 II is a good all-arounder.