The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch (K98XR50) is the largest size of the TV available. Even though it sits in the middle of Sony's 2025 LED lineup, it's actually the highest-end Sony TV available in this size range. Unlike its predecessor, the Sony X90L, which utilized a standard LED panel with minimal dimming zones, the new model features a Mini LED backlight and a significant increase in dimming zones. It utilizes Sony's XR processor, which is found in most of their TVs, and runs version 12 of the popular Google TV OS. It supports Dolby Vision, DTS audio passthrough, and you can use its built-in speakers as a center channel when paired with compatible Sony soundbars and receivers. For gamers, it has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports for up to 4k @ 120Hz with either G-SYNC or HDMI Forum VRR. We purchased and tested the 98-inch model, and this review focuses solely on that size. However, it's also available in 55, 65, 75, and 85-inch models. We also reviewed the 65-inch model for those who are looking for something smaller.
Our Verdict
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is good for mixed usage. It looks good in reference conditions, with bold blacks, vibrant colors, and decent enough HDR brightness for highlights to pop out. The TV retains its image quality well in a bright room, and its high brightness in SDR helps it easily overcome glare from indirect lighting. However, direct reflections are very distracting on the screen. It comes equipped with modern gaming features that pair well with modern consoles, and pixel transitions are fairly quick for an LED model, resulting in minimal motion blur. Unfortunately, its narrow viewing angle means it's not ideal for wide seating arrangements, but since the screen is so large, you can fit more people directly in front of it.
Excellent SDR brightness helps it overcome glare from indirect lighting.
Superb upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing.
Colors are vibrant and lifelike.
Struggles with reflections from direct sources of light.
Narrow viewing angle.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is good for a home theater. The TV has decent black levels overall, so blacks look deep in most scenes, and there's only some minor haloing around highlights. However, its dimming algorithm struggles with more precise highlights, so blacks look grayish in scenes with small areas of brightness. It has very good HDR color volume and decent enough HDR brightness to make highlights pop out in most scenes, so most HDR content is impactful. The TV has great SDR color accuracy out of the box, but its only decent HDR color accuracy means enthusiasts will likely want to get the TV calibrated. Finally, the TV has excellent processing, which is great when the quality of your content is suboptimal.
Superb upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing.
Colors are vibrant and lifelike.
Remarkable PQ EOTF tracking means HDR content has accurate brightness.
Very good SDR color accuracy before calibration.
Good contrast with minimal haloing around highlights.
Regularly falls back on its native contrast ratio, making the image look a bit washed out in dark scenes with complex highlights.
Visible stutter in shots with slow camera movements.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is very good for use in a bright room. It boasts excellent SDR brightness, allowing it to easily overcome glare from indirect lighting. However, it does an inadequate job of handling direct reflections, so any light sources that are facing the screen are very visible, especially during darker scenes. Fortunately, the TV's black levels and color saturation remain mostly unaffected by ambient lighting, so you get solid image quality in a well-lit room.
Excellent SDR brightness helps it overcome glare from indirect lighting.
Blacks stay deep and colors remain vibrant in a bright room.
Struggles with reflections from direct sources of light.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is very good for watching sports. The TV is bright enough to overcome glare from indirect lighting, but it does an inadequate job handling direct reflections, so it performs best in a well-lit room where there are no light sources directly facing the screen. It has excellent image processing, so low-quality feeds are cleaned up well, and low-resolution streams still look sharp enough to enjoy. The TV's uniformity is decent, but the corners of the screen are slightly darker than the rest, which is noticeable in bright, uniform sports like hockey. Even though it has a narrow viewing angle, the size of the TV allows for more people to be directly in front of the screen, making it suitable for wide seating arrangements.
Excellent SDR brightness helps it overcome glare from indirect lighting.
Superb upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing.
Colors are vibrant and lifelike.
Struggles with reflections from direct sources of light.
The corners are dimmer than the center of the screen and there's some dirty screen effect.
Narrow viewing angle.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is good for gaming. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so it pairs well with modern consoles. The TV's pixel response times are quite quick for an LED model, so although there's some noticeable motion blur in fast-paced games, it's not too distracting. The TV's input lag is low, especially at 120Hz, so gaming feels snappy. Image quality is good overall, resulting in deep blacks, vibrant colors, and sufficient HDR brightness for highlights to stand out in HDR games.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR support.
Colors are vibrant and lifelike.
Low input lag for responsive gaming.
Good contrast with minimal haloing around highlights.
Regularly falls back on its native contrast ratio, making the image look a bit washed out in dark scenes with complex highlights.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch has good brightness. The TV's SDR brightness is excellent, so it easily overcomes glare from indirect light sources. It has decent enough HDR brightness to take advantage of content mastered at 600 and 1000 nits; highlights stand out well in darker scenes and well-lit scenes don't look dim. However, the TV isn't bright enough to properly display the rare HDR content mastered at 4000 nits.
Excellent SDR brightness helps it overcome glare from indirect lighting.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch has decent black levels overall. The TV has good contrast and lighting zone precision, which leads to deep blacks in most scenes. However, due to the way its dimming algorithm works, dark scenes with very small highlights are washed out. It also has disappointing black uniformity, so purely dark scenes are a bit cloudy.
Good contrast with minimal haloing around highlights.
Disappointing black uniformity leads to haloing and cloudiness in dark scenes.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch has good colors overall. The TV has good SDR color volume and very good HDR color volume, so it displays a wide range of dark and bright colors in all types of content. Its color accuracy is very good in SDR out of the box, but its HDR color accuracy is only decent, so those chasing the most accurate colors will likely want to get the TV calibrated.
Colors are vibrant and lifelike.
Very good SDR color accuracy before calibration.
Very cool color temperature in HDR out of the box.
Note: We're in the process of improving our tests related to image processing, but this score should give you a general idea of how a TV performs overall with its image processing capabilities.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch has excellent image processing overall. It boasts superb upscaling capabilities for low-resolution content, and it excels at removing artifacts in heavily compressed content, such as YouTube. Its gradient handling is good overall, but there's some visible banding in grays and bright greens. Finally, the TV's remarkable PQ EOTF tracking ensures it respects the filmmaker's intent regarding HDR brightness, so the image isn't too dark or too bright.
Superb upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing.
Remarkable PQ EOTF tracking means HDR content has accurate brightness.
Only minor banding in some color gradients.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch has good responsiveness in its dedicated gaming mode. It has modern features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, so you can take full advantage of the features offered by your Xbox, PS5, and Switch 2. The TV's pixel response times are acceptable, so fast motion appears a bit blurry. However, it actually performs quite well for an LED model, resulting in less blur than on many similar TVs.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR support.
Low input lag for responsive gaming.
Only two HDMI 2.1 ports.
We're in the process of fixing the way we evaluate a TV's overall motion handling. This section is currently broken, and the score isn't indicative of how well a TV handles motion overall.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Nov 25, 2025:
Added a link to our new Best 98-100 Inch TVs recommendation article in the Popular TV Comparisons section.
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Updated Nov 12, 2025:
We bought and tested the Hisense 100U8QG and added a comparison to the HDR Brightness section.
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Updated Nov 07, 2025:
We added a link to our article that compares the 65-inch model to the 98-inch model in the Differences Between Sizes and Variants section.
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Updated Nov 06, 2025:
We recounted the TV's local dimming zones and determined that it has 720 zones, and not the 640 zones we originally reported. We've updated the Lighting Zone Transitions section with the correct information.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch (K98XR50), and these results are only valid for this specific size. If you're interested in one of the smaller sizes, check out our review of the 65-inch model. You can also take a look at our in-depth article that compares the 65-inch model to the 98-inch model.
There are no known variants of this specific size, unlike some of the smaller models.
| Size | US Model |
|---|---|
| 55" | K-55XR50 |
| 65" | K-65XR50 |
| 75" | K-75XR50 |
| 85" | K-85XR50 |
| 98" | K-98XR50 |
Our unit was manufactured in May 2025, as seen on the label.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is a good TV overall. Like most Sony TVs, it excels particularly in image processing, while also offering a solid combination of vibrant colors, deep blacks, and good overall brightness. The TV is a solid choice if you're looking for a massive TV to play video games on, as it features modern gaming capabilities, low input lag, and fast enough pixel response times, resulting in minimal motion blur. It's a tempting option for a home theater due to its size, but it often falls back to its native contrast ratio in scenes with complex highlights, so blacks in some dark scenes aren't nearly as dark as they could be. If you're after the very best image quality for the price of this model, you can get 83-inch OLEDs like the LG C5 OLED for around the same cost, so it really comes down to whether or not you're willing to forgo some image quality for one of the largest TVs on the market.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best 98-100 inch TVs, the best TVs for movies, and the best TVs for gaming.
The TCL 98QM8K is better than the Sony BRAVIA 5 98. The TCL delivers much better picture quality, with higher peak brightness, better contrast, and more vibrant colors. The TCL also has a better range of gaming features, including a higher maximum refresh rate. This comes at a cost, though, and the TCL is significantly less accurate than the Sony, especially when it comes to HDR tone mapping.
The LG C5 OLED offers better image quality than the Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch. The LG display produces inky blacks, even in scenes with complex highlights, making it look superior in a dark room. The LG also gets significantly brighter in HDR, meaning highlights stand out more in HDR content. On the other hand, the Sony is brighter in SDR, so it overcomes more glare from indirect lighting. The LG is the better option for gamers due to its nearly instantaneous pixel transitions, which lead to much clearer motion when gaming. The LG is the better TV by a significant margin, so consider the Sony only if you really want a massive model but can't afford the incredibly high price tag of a 97-inch LG C5.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98-inch is better than the smaller sizes of the Sony BRAVIA 5. The 98-inch model is brighter overall, so it overcomes more glare in well-lit rooms and displays brighter highlights in HDR content. The largest size also offers a significant increase in contrast, resulting in deeper blacks. Furthermore, the 98-inch model has faster pixel response times, resulting in less motion blur in fast-paced video games. Outside of those things, the two sizes perform very similarly overall. Check out our in-depth comparison between the 65-inch and 98-inch sizes for more information.
The Sony BRAVIA 5 98 is a bit better than the Samsung 100QN80F. The Sony isn't quite as bright as the Samsung, but it has significantly better contrast and local dimming, with much less haloing around bright highlights and subtitles. The Sony also has much better colors, and they don't desaturate in light scenes.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
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