For the last decade, buying a TV generally meant picking a side: an OLED television for deep blacks and incredible dark‑room contrast, or an LED‑based set (now usually QLED or Mini‑LED) with the luminance to handle bright, sun‑soaked living spaces. Having both in a single set simply wasn’t on the table.
While OLED TVs have gotten brighter over the years, and LED technology has found ways to improve its contrast levels, both technologies have struggled to fully match each other’s strengths to deliver a perfect, all-in-one solution.
Sony’s True RGB series effectively bridges that gap — and more. With its new Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II televisions, Sony’s cutting-edge display technology has delivered a major leap forward in terms of colour accuracy, brightness and black levels.
Below, we break down how Sony’s True RGB technology pairs high peak brightness with deep contrast and rich colour volume. We also look at what sets it apart from competing RGB displays, making it an ideal, compromise-free choice for all kinds of viewing needs – from midday sports to dark movie nights and beyond.
What makes Sony True RGB different from standard LED and OLED TVs?
Traditional LED TVs rely on a single-colour backlight system made up of blue or white LEDs which shine light through colour filters, while many high-brightness OLEDs use an extra white subpixel to boost luminance. However, both methods can result in colours that look pale and washed-out.
Sony is taking a different approach with its Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II televisions. Instead of traditional single-colour backlights, these models feature clusters of individually controlled red, green and blue LEDs directly within the backlight matrix, delivering pure colour and huge peak brightness straight to the display, while still maintaining OLED-like contrast in bright rooms.
How is Sony’s True RGB technology superior to other RGB TVs?
Sony’s True RGB technology primarily sets itself apart due to a more sophisticated backlight control system. Although all RGB televisions use red, green and blue LEDs for backlighting, not all of them are managed equally well. Some RGB TVs struggle when it comes to processing mixed colours, often defaulting to a white backlight in order to avoid colours bleeding into each other — this flaw effectively limits colour saturation and negates the whole purpose of having unfiltered access to native reds, greens and blues. To make matters worse, the use of a white backlight can also result in increased light blooming around bright objects. In other words, these RGB TVs are essentially inheriting all the weaknesses of a traditional LED TV.
Sony’s True RGB avoids these shortcomings by pairing its RGB Backlight Master Drive Pro engine with an updated XR Processor. These work together to keep the backlight locked in full-RGB mode 100% of the time, delivering dead-on colour accuracy while aggressively cutting down on local blooming. It’s for this very reason that Sony chose the name 'True RGB' for this new backlight technology — to distinguish its implementation from those of competing brands which fall back on white backlighting.
Sony True RGB offers the best colour accuracy for movies and TV
In an effort to bring the best colour accuracy for both movies and TV shows into your living room, Sony’s Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II TVs arrive factory-calibrated straight out of the box, delivering near-perfect creator intent without the need to hire a professional calibration technician.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Sony knows a thing or two about colour accuracy. Beyond owning a major movie studio (Sony Pictures), the company’s BVM-series mastering monitors have become the industry-standard used by Hollywood colourists to grade high-budget films and shows, and now Sony is bringing that exact same colour science to consumers via the Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II.
Sony’s True RGB televisions are also superb for watching sports
Sony’s True RGB technology gives sports fans a massive home-field advantage by solving the two biggest hurdles of watch parties: daytime glare and motion clarity.
Because the backlighting systems on Sony’s new Bravia TVs are capable of massive luminance, the viewability of your game won't fall prey to the typically sun-drenched Aussie living room. Additionally, Sony's X-Wide Angle Pro tech massively improves off-angle viewing, keeping contrast deep and colours vibrant for every seat in your living room. Sony’s flagship TV for 2026, the Bravia 9 II, also boasts a special anti-glare treatment called Immersive Black Screen Pro which almost completely absorbs ambient light, effectively making reflections a thing of the past.
Once the game is underway, Sony's True RGB works in tandem with the updated XR Processor and XR Motion Clarity to keep high-velocity action crisp while minimising blur. Whether it’s a spiralling football, a fast-break down the court, or fast-moving camera trying to keep up with a golfer's massive drive, the TV's backlighting system is able to synchronise with the panel’s refresh rate to keep the ball and the players razor-sharp. This precise control also pays off in pure colour accuracy, making sure that team jerseys match their real-life counterparts perfectly, and the field looks like natural, pristine grass instead of neon green.
Sony’s True RGB technology lets HDR content shine
Sony’s True RGB technology provides the perfect ingredients for HDR by ditching traditional single-colour backlights in favour of those native red, green and blue LEDs. By eliminating restrictive filters and emitting pure colour directly from the light source, Sony’s new Bravia TVs are its brightest ever, and can push toward 4,000 nits in a 10% window — and although Sony doesn’t publish official brightness numbers, independent testing by reviewers (including our own) has consistently measured it at that level.
For context, most 2026 flagship OLEDs peak at around 2,400–2,900 nits, and when it comes to full‑screen brightness, the Bravia 9 II delivers roughly double that of the brightest OLED currently available. This ensures colours remain vibrant and accurate at any brightness level, delivering an exceptional HDR viewing experience.
And because all of those red, green and blue LEDs can be individually controlled, the Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II are able to render incredibly natural skin tones — something that most TVs struggle with in high-contrast conditions. Standard backlights tend to oversaturate faces at high brightness levels, resulting in a flushed or artificial appearance. Sony’s True RGB technology, on the other hand, mixes its primary colours right at the backlight level, ensuring that skin tones appear truly lifelike under all lighting conditions.
The level of backlight control afforded by Sony’s True RGB technology also allows the Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II to virtually eliminate many of the common bugbears brought about by traditional LED televisions, such as haloing and blocky colour banding. Because Sony’s backlights are able to natively match the actual colour of any onscreen object, light bleed is kept to an absolute minimum and can naturally blend in to become practically invisible. Combined with the high-bit processing of Sony’s updated XR Processor, Sony’s True RGB panels can produce smoother transitions between shades, drastically reducing blocky or harsh steps between colour gradients.
By introducing natively controlled red, green and blue LEDs, Sony’s True RGB technology finally eliminates the trade-off between high brightness and deep contrast. This, along with powerful updated XR processors, allows the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II to deliver a truly compromise-free experience, ensuring cinema-grade, artifact-free performance in any lighting condition.
To find out more about Sony's groundbreaking True RGB TVs, please visit the official Australian Bravia product pages:
- Sony Bravia 9 II True RGB TV range — from AU$5,999
- Sony Bravia 7 II True RGB TV range — from AU$2,699
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