As the Managing Editor for TVs and AV at Tom’s Guide, one of my favorite aspects of my job is assisting people in selecting the ideal TV for their living rooms. I personally witness nearly forty TVs a year at industry events, private demos, and at-home tests, where I observe how industry breakthroughs impact everyday viewing. I take great satisfaction in the rigorousness of our thorough testing routine.
What then does the managing editor of TVs at Tom’s Guide look for when evaluating the top TVs? Great picture quality, rich sound, simplicity of setup, and all of the modern smart features are what I want. I take considerable care to examine every lens’s contrast, brightness, black levels, color saturation, and color quality.
What are the top TVs on the market right now? The Hisense U8N, which replaced the highly acclaimed Hisense U8K from the previous year, has taken the top slot. Although LG’s C4 OLED and Samsung’s Aquos display is equally impressive, the U8N provides the best value in terms of price and performance. Over the course of three months—a very long time in the realm of TV testing—I tested this TV for myself, and each time I turned it on, I was continuously amazed.
Be sure to come back often as this list will change slightly each month as we have even more TVs scheduled for review over the next four months before the year ends. Searching for the greatest offers? Make sure you bookmark this page before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, since the retailer links will automatically show you the greatest deals.
TV Terminology
Even while the list above can help you get an idea of which TVs we think are the best overall, you still need to consider things like the resolution, sound output, screen brightness, screen size, and/or supporting HDR formats. Most people might be able to use a 65-inch OLED TV, but if you want to adjust for ambient light in the room, you could need a 50-inch ultra-bright TV, so an OLED TV might not be ideal for you.
Do you need a short lesson on TV technology? This is a quick overview.
Screen sizes:
When purchasing a TV, this is most likely the best place to start. If you want to mount the TV on the wall, measure the area on the wall that you want to occupy. 80% of the TVs on the market may be swiftly and simply eliminated with the measurement of length, width, and diagonal. Measure the width of the space where the TV will sit if it will be in a cabinet or on a stand before you go shopping. For a chart to help you determine which size TV you’ll need for your space, check out our What size TV should you buy? guide.
Brightness:
It’s a general belief that the brighter the room, the larger the TV you should get. Why? Ambient light, however, has the potential to distort color saturation or, worse, cause glare on the screen. In the end, the type of TV you purchase will determine how much glare there is (OLED TVs with glass screens are more reflective than, say, QLED TVs with anti-glare screens), but as a general rule, OLED TVs perform better in rooms with controlled lighting, while bright LED-LCD TVs perform better in rooms with higher ambient light levels. In our comparison between OLED and Mini-LED TVs, we go into great detail on brightness and why it matters.
Panel type:
Although panel technology is constantly evolving, it may be roughly divided into two groups: backlit screens such as Mini-LED, QLED, and LED-LCD TVs, and self-emissive displays such as OLED and QD-OLED. Although pixel fading might be a problem, OLED screens have superior color saturation and contrast. LED-LCD TVs are frequently quite bright, but they also have an issue called Dirty Screen Effect (DSE), which causes slightly varying colors in each pixel, resulting in uneven images. The newest generation of TVs are QD-OLED models, which have some advantages above conventional OLED models.
Resolution:
4K resolution is what you truly want unless you’re buying a small TV (less than 40 inches). The quantity of pixels on the screen is known as resolution. The overall clarity of the picture increases with the number of pixels (and processor quality). Every TV will have a resolution of either Full HD, 4K, or 8K.
Refresh Rate:
You may have noticed odd marketing jargon like Motion Rate 240 or 480, or something equally absurd, if you’ve ever looked at a TV box. These are meaningless. They sort of do, but it’s intentionally hidden. There are now two native panel refresh rates found on all TVs on the market: 60Hz and 120Hz. These figures indicate the speed at which a TV scans and changes each pixel in a second. One second is 60 times at 60 hertz. One second has 120 repetitions at 120 Hz. If you intend to watch sports or play games and want smoother motion, you want a higher number.
Ports:
More ports are usually preferable so you never have to physically remove and re-plug HDMI cables in order to move from your Blu-ray player or streaming device to your game console or another device. While three ports are typical, higher-end TVs typically include four HDMI ports. Additionally, make sure that at least one of them is HDMI 2.1; you can do this by consulting our list of the top HDMI 2.1 TVs. (Are you still unclear? Take a look at TV ports explained: What are the purposes of all those HDMI, USB, and other connections?
Smart software:
These days, practically every TV is smart. This implies that they are pre-installed with a smart platform of some kind, be it Roku TV, Google TV, WebOS, Tizen, or another one. Make sure you familiarize yourself with each one’s strengths and limitations before making a purchase, as they vary.
Price:
Lastly, you must include the cost in your calculations. Unfortunately, nicer TVs do tend to cost more. Like PCs, more costly TVs have greater features and specifications, so if you want to pay less for a TV, you usually have to give up something. The favorable tidings? Smaller 4K TVs (42-, 43-, and 50-inch models) can be found for less than $500, saving you money on the best soundbars or streaming devices to match your set.
The best TVs you can buy today
1. Hisense U8N ULED TV
Available Screen Sizes: 55, 65, 75, 85 inches
Screen Type: Mini-LED
Refresh Rate: 120 Hz
HDMI ports: 4 HDMI (2 HDMI 2.1)
Size: 57.2 × 35.9 × 14.8 inches
Weight: 56.2 pounds
What you need to know
The top slot on the list belongs to the Hisense U8 series, which is not surprising considering that its predecessor, the Hisense U8K, occupied this position for the majority of last year. However, the increase in brightness is what sets the Hisense U8N apart from its predecessor. If you think that TVs typically appear too dim and are difficult to see, you’re more than covered with this TV’s over 3,000 nits of HDR output. It is also incredibly vibrant in terms of color, second only to a Sony TV that costs three times as much.
To put it briefly, the U8N provides performance that would normally cost $2,000 for less than $1,000.
So why did I not give it a perfect five stars? Yes, for two reasons. In terms of post-image processing, Hisense just cannot compete with Sony, Samsung, and LG. While some firms’ motion processing and upscaling aren’t too bad and often look excellent when all is said and done, other companies’ processing methods are far superior. Additionally, there are only two HDMI 2.1 connectors available.
Design:
I utilized a 65-inch model for my experiments. It’s not the lightest or thinnest TV at 56.2 pounds, but that’s to be anticipated from any non-OLED TV. Make sure you have an M6 VESA mount, standard 600 x 400, before mounting. The two provided legs that are included in the box can be used to simply position it on top of an entertainment center.
Performance:
The Hisense U8N is impossible to see and not be impressed. Because of the light sensor included in, it not only achieves the ideal brightness in every situation, but it also has incredibly vibrant colors. Matthew Murray, Head of Testing at Tom’s Guide, tested the Hisense U8N in our lab and found that it could match or even outperform the considerably more expensive LG C4 OLED in certain important parameters including SDR brightness and color saturation. It is impossible to overstate how amazing this is.
I was only unable to award it a perfect score due to its motion processing and upscaling capabilities. Though not horrible by any means, actors’ features on the Hisense U8N may appear somewhat softer due to concealed pores, and clouds lack true definition and have softer edges. Even to the untrained eye, motion blur surrounding moving objects can be clearly seen due to its poor motion processing. Lastly, even the slightest latency may be noticeable to dedicated gamers. Although input lag of less than 20 milliseconds is hardly undetectable to the human eye, some TVs offer a somewhat more immediate experience.
Smart TV:
We sincerely hope you will find Google TV to be a pleasant smart TV platform. It offers access to all the major streaming services and does an amazing job of surfacing new and recommended content for you to view. Better yet, unlike an Amazon Fire TV, it doesn’t actually force you to choose one service over another. The slowness you can experience when switching between streaming apps is the only possible drawback.