This Sony Bravia is my pick for best TV for the money

What’s the deal?

Best Buy has slashed the price tag on each Sony Bravia X90L size option. The 55-inch display has gone from $1,170 down to $900, while the 85-inch TV is now $1,700 instead of $2,000.

Why this deal is ZDNET recommended

• What the Sony Bravia X90L lacks in eye-popping specs, it more than makes up for in real-world picture performance and Sony upscaling technology, which delivers great video for movies, sports, cable, and streaming.
• Regarding the features you’ll love for daily use, the X90L has an excellent remote that feels premium, is just the right size, includes backlighting, and has a good balance of just the right number of buttons. The X90L also has Google TV built-in.
• The closest rivals to the Bravia X90L are the TCL QM8 and the Hisense U8 Series, both of which cost a little less than the Sony and have impressive specs.

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 you can buy. I also consider it one of the most underrated TVs available. And with the 2025 TVs soon hitting the market, you can save on just about every size of this excellent 2023 model, from $200 off the 65-inch to $3,000 off the 98-inch. 

I’ve seen all of the best 2024 TVs from Sony, Samsung LG, TCL, and Hisense as well as several events since then. When I had to replace an 8-year-old 55-inch TCL TV that died, I chose a 65-inch Sony X90L because I think it has the best picture for the money right now and comes with a couple of extra advantages.

Also: I changed these 5 TV settings to quickly (and easily) improve its picture quality

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 two of its popular 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 nicer remote than either the TCL or Hisense TVs (although recent models are starting to emulate the Sony remote). All three TVs cost around $1,000 ($900 to $1,300 steet price) for a 65-inch, and the Sony is the best among the three. 

Since Sony has had a long partnership with Google, the X90L also has an excellent implementation of Google TV. This makes the X90L’s software interface much friendlier to use than Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s webOS, which can 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 upgrade 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.

Also: Two flagship LG OLED TVs released at CES 2025: Specs, best new features, and more

Sony has the most advanced picture processing of all five major TV brands. That means it doesn’t oversaturate and overbrighten 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 budget TV makers (Hisense and TCL) and can often compete with more expensive models from premium vendors like the aforementioned Samsung and LG. 

For gamers, this TV has a dedicated game mode, HDMI 2.1, VRR, and Auto HDR Tone Mapping when connected to the Sony PS5. It also has a game menu so that 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. It also 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 was brighter.

Of course, Sony’s products often carry a 10% to 20% price premium because of the Sony brand name, so it’s important to look for sales and deals like the ones we’ve highlighted from Best Buy, Amazon, or others. 

If you have a little more to spend, I’d recommend upgrading to an OLED because the Sony A80L, the Samsung S90C and the LG C3 are all 2023 TVs you can pick up on sale. The cheapest among these is the 42-inch LG C3, which costs about $925.