lcd panel panel tv brands

Flat-panel displays are thin panels of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying text, images, or video. Liquid crystal displays (LCD), OLED (organic light emitting diode) and microLED displays are not quite the same; since LCD uses a liquid crystal that reacts to an electric current blocking light or allowing it to pass through the panel, whereas OLED/microLED displays consist of electroluminescent organic/inorganic materials that generate light when a current is passed through the material. LCD, OLED and microLED displays are driven using LTPS, IGZO, LTPO, and A-Si TFT transistor technologies as their backplane using ITO to supply current to the transistors and in turn to the liquid crystal or electroluminescent material. Segment and passive OLED and LCD displays do not use a backplane but use indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive material, to pass current to the electroluminescent material or liquid crystal. In LCDs, there is an even layer of liquid crystal throughout the panel whereas an OLED display has the electroluminescent material only where it is meant to light up. OLEDs, LCDs and microLEDs can be made flexible and transparent, but LCDs require a backlight because they cannot emit light on their own like OLEDs and microLEDs.

Liquid-crystal display (or LCD) is a thin, flat panel used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. They are usually made of glass but they can also be made out of plastic. Some manufacturers make transparent LCD panels and special sequential color segment LCDs that have higher than usual refresh rates and an RGB backlight. The backlight is synchronized with the display so that the colors will show up as needed. The list of LCD manufacturers:

Organic light emitting diode (or OLED displays) is a thin, flat panel made of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. OLED panels can also take the shape of a light panel, where red, green and blue light emitting materials are stacked to create a white light panel. OLED displays can also be made transparent and/or flexible and these transparent panels are available on the market and are widely used in smartphones with under-display optical fingerprint sensors. LCD and OLED displays are available in different shapes, the most prominent of which is a circular display, which is used in smartwatches. The list of OLED display manufacturers:

MicroLED displays is an emerging flat-panel display technology consisting of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. Like OLED, microLED offers infinite contrast ratio, but unlike OLED, microLED is immune to screen burn-in, and consumes less power while having higher light output, as it uses LEDs instead of organic electroluminescent materials, The list of MicroLED display manufacturers:

LCDs are made in a glass substrate. For OLED, the substrate can also be plastic. The size of the substrates are specified in generations, with each generation using a larger substrate. For example, a 4th generation substrate is larger in size than a 3rd generation substrate. A larger substrate allows for more panels to be cut from a single substrate, or for larger panels to be made, akin to increasing wafer sizes in the semiconductor industry.

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The Samsung QN90B QLED is the best TV with an LED panel we"ve tested. It"s an impressive TV with amazing picture quality and a great selection of gaming features. It uses a Mini LED backlight, with way more dimming zones than most LED TVs, which allows for greater control over the local dimming feature for better dark room performance, with less distracting blooming around bright objects. It also gets exceptionally bright, meaning it can handle lots of glare in a bright room.

Unlike most high-end LED TVs, it"s also a good choice for a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains consistent when viewed at an angle thanks to Samsung"s "Ultra Viewing Angle" technology. It also has a great selection of extra features like a built-in Tizen smart interface that"s easy to use and has a ton of apps available to download, so you can easily find your favorite shows. It"s also excellent for gaming, as it supports 4k @ 120Hz gaming from the new-gen consoles, and it supports a variable refresh rate to reduce tearing.

Back in 2016, to determine if the TV panel lottery makes a significant difference, we bought three different sizes of the Samsung J6300 with panels from different manufacturers: a 50" (version DH02), a 55" (version TH01), and a 60" (version MS01). We then tested them with the same series of tests we use in all of our reviews to see if the differences were notable.

Our Samsung 50" J6300 is a DH02 version, which means the panel is made by AU Optronics. Our 55" has an original TH01 Samsung panel. The panel in our 60" was made by Sharp, and its version is MS01.

Upon testing, we found that each panel has a different contrast ratio. The 50" AUO (DH02) has the best contrast, at 4452:1, followed by the 60" Sharp (MS01) at 4015:1. The Samsung 55" panel had the lowest contrast of the three: 3707:1.

These results aren"t really surprising. All these LCD panels are VA panels, which usually means a contrast between 3000:1 and 5000:1. The Samsung panel was quite low in that range, leaving room for other panels to beat it.

The motion blur results are really interesting. The response time of the 55" TH01 Samsung panel is around double that of the Sharp and AUO panels. This is even consistent across all 12 transitions that we measured.

For our measurements, a difference in response time of 10 ms starts to be noticeable. All three are within this range, so the difference isn"t very noticeable to the naked eye, and the Samsung panel still performs better than most other TVs released around the same time.

We also got different input lag measurements on each panel. This has less to do with software, which is the same across each panel, and more to do with the different response times of the panels (as illustrated in the motion blur section). To measure input lag, we use the Leo Bodnar tool, which flashes a white square on the screen and measures the delay between the signal sent and the light sensor detecting white. Therefore, the tool"s input lag measurement includes the 0% to 100% response time of the pixel transition. If you look at the 0% to 100% transitions that we measured, you will see that the 55" takes about 10 ms longer to transition from black to white.

That said, even if you"re really looking for it, you won"t really feel the input lag difference between these three TVs, as the threshold for noticing a difference in input lag is around 15 ms for most people.

All three have bad viewing angles, as expected for VA panels. If you watch TV at an angle, most likely none of these TVs will satisfy you. The picture quality degrades at about 20 degrees from the side. The 60" Sharp panel is worse than the other ones though. In the video, you can see the right side degrading sooner than the other panels.

While we didn"t test these TVs for gray uniformity, black uniformity, or out-of-the-box color accuracy, these can also vary between individual units due to manufacturing tolerances. Still, we can make some assumptions that the experiment bears out:

It"s unfortunate that manufacturers sometimes vary the source of their panels and that consumers don"t have a way of knowing which one they"re buying. Overall though, at least in the units we tested, the panel lottery isn"t something to worry about. While there are differences, the differences aren"t big and an original Samsung panel isn"t necessarily better than an outsourced one. It"s also fairly safe to say that the same can be said of other brands. All panels have minute variations, but most should perform within the margin of error for each model.

There has been a significant shift in the global display industry lately. Apart from new display technologies, the display world is now dominated by players in Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan. And rightly so, the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers come from all these countries.

STONE Technologies is a proud manufacturer of superior quality TFT LCD modules and LCD screens. The company also provides intelligent HMI solutions that perfectly fit in with its excellent hardware offerings.

STONE TFT LCD modules come with a microcontroller unit that has a Cortex A8 1GHz Standard 256MB. Such a module can easily be transformed into an HMI screen. Simple hexadecimal instructions can be used to control the module through the UART port. Furthermore, you can seamlessly develop STONE TFT LCD color user interface modules and add touch control, features to them.

In this post, we list down 10 of the best famous LCD manufacturers globally. We’ll also explore why they became among the reputable LCD module manufacturers in the world.

Samsung is the world’s largest semiconductor and consumer electronics manufacturer by revenue. The electronics giant is well-known for its smartphones and home appliances, but the company also manufactures LCD, LED, and OLED panels.

Probably the most in-demand and popular display panel product for Samsung is their OLED technology. Most of its current smartphones use their trademark Super AMOLED displays. The technology allowed Samsung’s smartphones to be ultra-thin, with better image brightness, and less energy consumption.

Samsung now produces panels for smart TVs. With their ever-evolving technological expertise and high-quality products, the company shows no signs of slowing down as one of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers.

Stone provides a professional product line that includes intelligent TFT-LCD modules for civil, advanced, and industrial use. Furthermore, Stone also creates embedded-type industrial PCs. The company’s products are all highly-reliable and stable even when used with humidity, vibration, and high temperatures.

Stone Technologies caters to a wide range of clients and industries, being among the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers. The company’s products are used in the following industries:

Originally, LG Display was a joint venture of mother company LG Electronics and the Dutch company Phillips. They dedicated the company to creating active-matrix LCD panels. Another joint venture called LG. Phillips Displays was created to manufacture deflection yokes and cathode ray tubes.

LG Display has risen above the rest because of its world-class module products. Because of this, the company caters to a massive range of famous clients including Hewlett Packard, Apple, Sony, Dell, Acer, and Lenovo. LG Display also creates LCD modules and similar display panels for the company’s television product range.

Innolux Corporation is another famous LCD module manufacturer. This company was established in 2003 and is currently based in Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan.

The company is a well-known manufacturer of display panels in Taiwan. Innolux supplies TFT-LCD and LED panels, open cells, and touch modules for the following products:

What makes Innolux stand out from other LCD module manufacturers is the company’s commitment to its humanistic qualities. Innolux believes that they are in the business to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of their customers. This is then achieved by creating world-class products that satisfy its clients.

Sharp is a Japanese company founded in 1912. It is now based in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The company produces various kinds of electronic products including mobile phones, LCD panels, calculators, PV solar cells, and consumer electronics. Sharp has produced TFT-LCD products as early as the 1980s.

For the regular public consumers, Sharp produces a variety of smart TVs and LCD TVs marketed under the Aquos brand. The company’s television line-up boasts of impressively high-quality technology. The TVs are equipped with technologies that support 4K and 8K UHD display, allowing for a great high-resolution viewing experience.

BOE Display is among the leading display manufacturers in the world. The company started in 1993 and is currently based in Beijing, China. Apart from display panels, BOE also manufactures smart systems using IoT technology.

The company proudly utilizes high-end technologies to create world-class display solutions. For instance, AU’s production lines can manufacture a variety of display applications in a full panel size range. The manufacturing lines also support:

Sustainability is among the ultimate goals of AU Optronics. The company takes steps to integrate green solutions into their products for more sustainable development. This commitment to sustainability, among other strong qualities, makes AU Optronics one of the best LCD manufacturers in the world.

Most of these products use TFT-LCD panels alongside other technologies to create ultra-high-definition images. Also, modern Toshiba display products incorporate IoT and artificial intelligence for a smarter product experience.

Kyocera is a Japanese LCD manufacturer. The company started in 1959 as a fine technical ceramics manufacturer but gradually added consumer electronics products to its offerings.

The Japanese company acquired Optrex Corporation in 2012. The acquisition paved the way for creating an R&D center and more production, sales, and marketing bases. Hence, Kyocera’s global LCD business boomed even more.

The company also operates factories, R&D centers, and marketing facilities in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Oceania continents. Kyocera has a vast worldwide reach that makes it one of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers.

To wrap all this up, we listed 10 of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers. These are all highly-respected companies that built their reputations and climbed up the ladder of LCD module manufacturing. Their quality products, dedication to their craft, and excellent customer service truly make them among the world’s best display solutions providers.

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In both LCD and OLED displays, producing these cells – which are highly complex – is by far the most difficult element of the production process. Indeed, the complexity of these cells, combined with the levels of investment needed to achieve expertise in their production, explains why there are less than 30 companies in the whole world that can produce them. China, for instance, has invested more than 300 billion yuan (approximately $45 billion USD) in just one of these companies – BOE – over the past 14 years.

Panox Display has been involved in the display industry for many years and has built strong and long-term partner relationships with many of the biggest OLED and LCD panel manufacturers. As a result, we are able to offer our clients guaranteed access to display products from the biggest manufacturers.

LG Display was, until 2021, the No. 1 display panel manufacturer in the world. Owned by LG Group and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, it has R&D, production, and trade institutions in China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Europe.

Founded in 2001, AUO – or AU Optronics – is the world’s leading TFT-LCD panel manufacturer (with a 16% market share) that designs, develops, and manufactures the world’s top three liquid crystal displays. With panels ranging from as small as 1.5 inches to 46 inches, it boasts one of the world"s few large-, medium -and small-sized product lines.

AUO offers advanced display integration solutions with innovative technologies, including 4K2K ultra-high resolution, 3D, ultra-thin, narrow bezel, transparent display, LTPS, OLED, and touch solutions. AOU has the most complete generation production line, ranging from 3.5G to 8.5G, offering panel products for a variety of LCD applications in a range of sizes, from as small as 1.2 inches to 71 inches.

Now Sharp is still top 10 TV brands all over the world. Just like BOE, Sharp produce LCDs in all kinds of size. Including small LCD (3.5 inch~9.1 inch), medium LCD (10.1 ~27 inch), large LCD (31.5~110 inch). Sharp LCD has been used on Iphone series for a long time.

Beside those current LCDs, the industrial LCD of Sharp is also excellent and widely used in public facilities, factories, and vehicles. The Sharp industrial LCD, just means solid, high brightness, super long working time, highest stability.

Since its establishment, Truly Semiconductors has focused on researching, developing, and manufacturing liquid crystal flat panel displays. Now, after twenty years of development, it is the biggest small- and medium-sized flat panel display manufacturer in China.

Truly’s factory in Shanwei City is enormous, covering an area of 1 million square meters, with a net housing area of more than 100,000 square meters. It includes five LCD production lines, one OLED production line, three touch screen production lines, and several COG, LCM, MDS, CCM, TAB, and SMT production lines.

Its world-class production lines produce LCD displays, liquid crystal display modules (LCMs), OLED displays, resistive and capacitive touch screens (touch panels), micro camera modules (CCMs), and GPS receiving modules, with such products widely used in the smartphone, automobile, and medical industries. The LCD products it offers include TFT, TN, Color TN with Black Mark (TN type LCD display for onboard machines), STN, FSTN, 65K color, and 262K color or above CSTN, COG, COF, and TAB modules.

In its early days, Innolux attached great importance to researching and developing new products. Mobile phones, portable and mounted DVD players, digital cameras, games consoles, PDA LCDs, and other star products were put into mass production and quickly captured the market, winning the company considerable market share.

Looking forward to the future, the group of photoelectric will continue to deep LCD display field, is committed to the development of plane display core technology, make good use of global operations mechanism and depth of division of labor, promise customers high-quality products and services, become the world"s top display system suppliers, in 2006 in the global mobile phone color display market leader, become "Foxconn technology" future sustained rapid growth of the engine.

Founded in June 1998, Hannstar specializes in producing thin-film transistor liquid crystal display panels, mainly for use in monitors, notebook displays and televisions. It was the first company in Taiwan to adopt the world’s top ultra-wide perspective technology (AS-IPS).

The company has three LCD factories and one LCM factory. It has acquired state-of-the-art TFT-LCD manufacturing technology, which enables it to achieve the highest efficiency in the mass production of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display production technology. Its customers include many of the biggest and most well-known electronics companies and computer manufacturers in Taiwan and overseas.

TCL CSOT – short for TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (TCL CSOT) – was founded in 2009 and is an innovative technology enterprise that focuses on the production of semiconductor displays. As one of the global leaders in semiconductor display market, it has bases in Shenzhen, Wuhan, Huizhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and India, with nine panel production lines and five large modules bases.

TCL CSOT actively produces Mini LED, Micro LED, flexible OLED, printing OLED, and other new display technologies. Its product range is vast – including large, medium, and small panels and touch modules, electronic whiteboards, splicing walls, automotive displays, gaming monitors, and other high-end display application fields – which has enabled it to become a leading player in the global panel industry.

In the first quarter of 2022, TCL CSOT’s TV panels ranked second in the market, 55 inches, 65 " and 75 inches second, 8K, 120Hz first, the first, interactive whiteboard and digital sign plate; LTPS flat panel, the second, LTPS and flexible OLED fourth.

EDO (also known as EverDisplay Optonics) was founded in October 2012 and focuses on the production of small- and medium-sized high-resolution AMOLED semiconductor display panels.

Tianma Microelectronics was founded in 1983 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1995. It is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the production of liquid crystal displays (LCD) and liquid crystal display modules (LCM).

After more than 30 years of development, it has grown into a large publicly listed company integrating LCD research and development, design, production, sales, and servicing. Over the years, it has expanded by investing in the construction of STN-LCD, CSTN-LCD, TFT-LCD and CF production lines and module factories across China (with locations in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan and Xiamen), as well R&D centers and offices in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

JDI (Japan Display Inc.) was established on November 15, 2011, as a joint venture between the Industrial Innovation Corporation, Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba. It is dedicated to the production and development of small-sized displays. It mainly produces small- and medium-sized LCD display panels for use in the automotive, medical, and industrial fields, as well as personal devices including smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

Although Sony’s TVs use display panels from TCL CSOT (VA panel), Samsung. Sony still produces the world’s best micro-OLED display panels. Sony has many micro OLED model such as 0.23 inch, 0.39 inch, 0.5 inch, 0.64 inch, 0.68 inch, 0.71 inch. Panox Display used to test and sell many of them, compare to other micro OLED manufacuturers, Sony`s micro OLEDs are with the best image quality and highest brightness (3000 nits max).

As if buying a new TV wasn’t already complicated enough, we’re about to introduce you to yet another thing to think about. A thing, moreover, that TV brands (accidentally or otherwise) don’t tend to talk about, despite experience showing time and time again that it can have a profound impact on picture quality.

Contrary to what you may think, not all LCD TVs are built around the same core panel technology. They can actually have at their hearts one of two really quite different technologies: VA or IPS.

Each, as we’ll see, has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages – so much so that we personally think the type of panel a particular TV uses should be presented right at the top of its specifications list, rather than typically left off altogether. Especially as some brands have been known to actually mix and match VA and IPS panels at different screen sizes within the same TV series.

The VA initialism stands for Vertical Alignment. This name is derived from the way VA panels apply voltage to vertically aligned liquid crystals that have been mounted perpendicularly to the panel’s glass substrate, making them tilt as required to let the necessary amount of light through for each image frame.

The main advantage of VA panels is contrast. Their perpendicular crystal alignment provides greater control over the light passing through each pixel, meaning dark scenes and dark areas look less grey / enjoy better black levels.

The extent to which this strength is exploited can vary greatly between different manufacturers, and depends on any number of secondary factors. The type and position of LED lighting a particular VA screen might be using can have an impact, for instance. There are multiple variations on the VA theme available from different manufacturers, too. As a basic principle, though, black levels and contrast are consistently and often considerably better on LCD TVs that use VA panels.

Because of their ability to control light better, high-end VA panels generally deliver more brightness in real world conditions than IPS ones do. This further enhances their contrast capabilities, and arguably makes them more consistently able to do fuller justice to the wider light range associated with high dynamic range technology.

Being able to deliver dark scenes with relatively little overlying low-contrast greyness additionally means that VA panels tend to achieve more consistent colour vibrancy and toning.

VA panels for use in LCD TVs come from a number of panel manufacturers, including Samsung Display (which makes a so-called SVA variant) and AU Optronics (which makes an AMVA variant). TV brands are able to buy in panels from these and other VA panel manufacturers as they see fit.

Samsung Electronics is the most consistent user of VA panels in its LCD TVs. In fact, until recently pretty much every Samsung TV at every price level used a VA panel. For the past couple of years, though, IPS panels have unexpectedly cropped up in one or two parts of Samsung’s TV range, including 2021’s high-end QN85 series.

Sony predominantly uses VA panels on its most premium TVs, but it also habitually mixes IPS and VA panels across its wider mid-range and entry level LCD ranges. The same goes for most of the other big brands, too, including Panasonic and Philips.

IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. Like VA panels, IPS panels work by manipulating voltage to adjust how liquid crystals are aligned. Unlike VA, though, IPS panels orient their crystals in parallel with (rather than perpendicular too) the glass substrates present in every LCD panel, and rotate their crystals around to let the desired amount of light through rather than tilting them.

By far the biggest and most talked about advantage of IPS technology is its support for wider viewing angles. In fact, one way of identifying IPS panels has traditionally been to look for quoted viewing angles of 178 degrees.

When we talk about wide viewing angle support in relation to LCD TVs, we’re talking about how much of an angle from directly opposite the screen you can go before the picture starts to lose contrast, colour saturation and, sometimes, brightness.

With VA panels the angle you can watch them before the picture starts to deteriorate sharply can be really quite limited – as little as 20 degrees off axis. While we’d say the 178-degree claims for regular IPS panels are rather exaggerated, you can typically sit at a significantly wider angle than you can with VA and still enjoy a watchable picture.

The VA/IPS viewing angle situation is muddied a little by the introduction into a few high-end VA TVs of wide angle technologies based around filters or sub pixel manipulation. These technologies can be associated with other problems, though, such as reduced resolution, and can still struggle to suppress backlight blooming around stand-out bright objects with LCD TVs that use local dimming backlight systems.

Traditionally IPS panels have been associated with – on high-end screens, at least – wider colour gamuts than VA panels can readily manage. They retain this colour gamut better, too, when viewing the screen from an angle. This is why many professional designers, for instance, have tended to prefer IPS technology to VA. There can be some pretty extreme variance in the range of colour supported across different IPS price points, though, and improvements in premium VA solutions – especially the widespread use of Quantum Dot technologies – have largely evened things up, at least at the premium end of the VA market. In fact, with dark scenes, at least, IPS’s issues with black levels and ‘grey wash’ effect can give good VA panels a colour advantage.

There was a time when IPS technology was considered to have an edge over VA when it comes to response time, leading to less motion blur and improved gaming reaction times. These days, though, we’re seeing pretty much identically low input lag measurements (between 9.4 and 10.4ms) from both VA and IPS TVs.

As with VA, there are different variations on the basic IPS theme made by different panel manufacturers. LG Display is by far the biggest manufacturer of IPS LCD panels for TVs, but AU Optronics also makes them, as well as, more surprisingly, Samsung – though some of the non-LG Display IPS products seem to be more focused on PC monitors than TVs.

Given how dominant LG Display is in manufacturing IPS LCD panels, it’s not surprising to find that pretty much every LCD TV LG Electronics makes features an IPS panel at its heart. Other TV brands that use IPS panels on at least a few of their TVs each year include Panasonic, Philips, Sony and Hisense. In fact, the only big brand that has tended to shun IPS is Samsung (perhaps because of arch rival LG Display’s dominance of the IPS market).

As noted earlier, it can be frustratingly difficult to determine whether a TV is using VA or IPS technology. Sometimes it is mentioned in the specifications list on a manufacturer’s website – but more often it is not.

If you’re able to actually get your hands on an LCD TV, try knocking gently on its screen. If it’s an IPS panel it will feel solid and the picture will only be slightly affected – or completely unaffected – by the impact of your knocks. If it’s a VA panel, the picture will distort quite noticeably around points of impact.

It’s tempting to assume that any TVs with obviously low contrast are IPS while any screen with a narrow viewing angle is VA. As well as depending on having a wide experience of lots of panels, though, there’s just too much variation in the high and low-end fringes of each technology for this approach to be reliable.

Arguably your best bet is to check out a TV model you’re interested in on an industry website called Displayspecifications.com(opens in new tab), which includes usually reliable information on the core panel of pretty much every TV released.

You might want to consider IPS TV if your room layout means one or more viewers regularly find themselves having to watch the screen from a wide angle (though don’t forget that a small number of high-end VA TVs feature wide viewing angle technology). IPS’s black level limitations tend to be less obvious in bright rooms too, if that fits with the sort of environment your TV is likely to be used in for the majority of the time.

Our long experience of testing VA and IPS TVs, though, has led us to conclude that in general, the sort of person most likely to be turning to us for buying advice will be happier with an LCD TV based on VA technology.

VA’s ability to deliver typically much deeper, more convincing black levels and more HDR-friendly contrast helps them deliver a much more consistent and immersive modern AV experience. Especially if you’re the sort of person who likes to dim the lights for serious movie or TV viewing nights.

The Hisense U8H matches the excellent brightness and color performance of much pricier LCD TVs, and its Google TV smart platform is a welcome addition. But it’s available in only three screen sizes.

The Hisense U8H is the best LCD/LED TV for most people because it delivers the performance of a much pricier TV yet starts at under $1,000, for the smallest (55-inch) screen size. This TV utilizes quantum dots, a full-array backlight with mini-LEDs, and a 120 Hz refresh rate to deliver a great-looking 4K HDR image. It’s compatible with every major HDR format. And it’s equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs to support 4K 120 Hz gaming from the newest Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Add in the intuitive, fully featured Google TV smart-TV platform, and the U8H’s price-to-performance ratio is of inarguable value.

Chief among the U8H’s many strengths is its impressive peak brightness. When sending it HDR test patterns, I measured an average brightness of 1,500 nits, with peaks just north of 1,800 nits (a measurement of luminance; see TV features, defined for more info). To put that into perspective, consider that the 65-inch version of our budget 4K TV pick (the TCL 5-Series) typically costs around half as much as the 65-inch U8H but achieves only around 30% to 40% of its brightness. On the other side of the coin, the 65-inch version of our upgrade pick (the Samsung QN90B) costs almost twice as much as the 65-inch U8H, but it achieves only nominally higher brightness. Adequate light output creates convincing highlights and image contrast and (when necessary) combats ambient light from lamps or windows. It is a necessity for any TV worth buying—especially if you hope to watch HDR movies or play HDR games—and the U8H simply outpaces most TVs in its price range (and some in the next price bracket up, too).

Key to this functionality is the U8H’s employment of mini-LED backlighting with local dimming, which allows this TV to produce very bright light while still maintaining satisfyingly deep black levels that are typically free of blooming (or light bleed that’s visible around bright objects against a dark backdrop). This not only ensures impressive image contrast, it also makes the U8H a viable choice for most rooms, whether they’re brighter than average or dimmed down like a movie theater.

That’s not to say the U8H has pixel-precise light control—it’s not an OLED TV, after all—but it does a terrific job most of the time. In fact, in our tests, the U8H bested last year’s upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90A, in certain scenarios: The intro to Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix features the filmmaker against a pitch-black backdrop. Though last year’s QN90A failed to maintain perfect control over dimming elements during this scene (the black backdrop brightened distractingly once a sufficient amount of brighter content appeared on screen), the U8H did not. (For the record, the newer QN90B also passed this test.) The U8H’s mini-LEDs also help the screen look uniformly bright: Although the U8H is still not as good as an OLED TV in this respect, it shows very little indication of being a backlight-driven display, even during tricky scenes with large swaths of dim lighting.

The U8H’s brightness, black-level integrity, and local-dimming abilities make this an excellent TV for watching HDR content. The U8H is capable of playing HDR content in all of the major formats (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG), but when it comes to impressive HDR, what’s under the hood is much more important than format compatibility. The most crucial thing for good HDR is high brightness and deep color saturation, and the U8H’s quantum dots achieve the latter. It’s not as simple as just having quantum dots, however: While many TVs (even the budget options) have quantum dots nowadays, what is often not taken into account is that brightness directly affects color saturation. For example, both the 2022 TCL 6-Series and the Hisense U8H are equipped with quantum dots, mini-LED backlights, and local dimming. But because the U8H is notably brighter than the 6-Series, it also achieves a higher total color volume. During our color-volume testing, the U8H exhibited color ranges at more than 100% of the DCI-P3 color space (the range of color needed to properly display HDR content), and it is capable of roughly 10% more total color volume compared with the 6-Series.

What does this mean in real-world terms? It means that the Hisense U8H truly excels as a modern 4K HDR TV, whether you’re watching the latest episode of Rings of Power or playing Overwatch 2. While watching HDR content side by side on the U8H and on our upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90B, I was truly surprised by how similar they looked at times, given that our upgrade pick is much more expensive. That said, though the U8H achieves impressive results where light output and color volume are concerned, it also exhibited some occasional video processing and upscaling issues (see Flaws but not dealbreakers), which videophiles and AV enthusiasts may take umbrage with. But in general, the picture quality punches well above its weight, metaphorically speaking.

And thanks to Hisense’s inclusion of Filmmaker Mode, it’s easy to rein in the U8H’s brightness abilities for a more-subdued and filmic experience in a darker room. Our measurements revealed that this mode has a very accurate white balance, mostly accurate colors (green is a bit oversaturated, but not egregiously so), and a perfect “dark room” gamma (which controls how quickly the video signal transitions from dark to light). Additionally, the TV’s 120 Hz refresh rate means it can play Blu-ray discs at 24 fps without the judder that’s usually present on TVs with 60 Hz refresh rates.

The TV’s higher refresh rate also reduces motion blur in faster-moving sports and allows for smoother, more stable motion in games. Two of the four HDMI inputs support 4K gaming at 120 Hz. The U8H measured low input lag while playing in 4K resolution, and Hisense’s helpful GameZone setting in the picture menu allowed me to confirm the presence of 120 Hz playback and variable refresh rate during games.

The onboard Google TV smart platform is another feather in this TV’s cap. As usual, however, it will be much more satisfying to use if you have a Google account and already take advantage of Google’s connected services, like Photos. The experience of navigating the TV’s smart features—scanning QR codes to sign into apps, using the onscreen keyboard, and browsing your Google Photos to set a photo as a screensaver—was very satisfying in terms of responsiveness and speed. Powering on the TV and booting into an app took just seconds. The included Bluetooth remote is also equipped with a handy “Hey Google” button, allowing you to pull up Google’s assistant and use voice commands to search for content or set a reminder. If you have multiple users with their own Google accounts, you can designate separate profiles (attached to a Gmail account) so that each user can customize the experience to their liking, as well as access their own Google Drive or Photos. While some reviewers have reported instances of momentary freezing while using the U8H’s platform, I didn’t personally experience any instances of slowdown that were egregiously worse than with any other smart-TV platform.

In terms of design, the Hisense U8H is not as svelte as our upgrade pick, but it’s plenty sturdy and doesn’t look or feel cheap. Two narrow, metal feet jut out from beneath the panel and steadily hold the TV. They can be attached in two separate spots, either closer in toward the middle of the panel or out toward the edges, to account for different-size TV stands. The feet are also equipped with cable organization clasps—a nice touch for keeping your TV stand free of cable clutter. Though the TV is primarily plastic, its bezels are lined with metal strips, providing a bit more durability in the long run. I moved it around my home, and it was no worse for wear, but we’ll know more after doing some long-term testing.

The Hisense U8H has some difficulties with banding, or areas of uneven gradation, where transitions that should appear smooth instead look like “bands” of color (sometimes also called posterization). Like many current 4K HDR TVs, the U8H uses an 8-bit panel rather than a 10-bit panel, which affects the color decoding and color presentation process. This is usually relevant only with HDR video and games. When playing games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I saw a few instances where the content wasn’t rendered correctly and displayed ugly splotches of color on the screen. However, this almost always occurred during static screens (such as a pause menu or loading screen); I rarely spotted it during actual gameplay. Hisense has stated that it would address the problem in a future firmware update, but at the time of writing it was still present. This is a flaw that may give dedicated gamers pause, but we don’t consider it to be a dealbreaker for most people.

I also saw occasional instances of banding with TV shows and movies, though they were few and far between. The U8H isn’t the best at upscaling sub-4K content, so videos with a 1080p or lower resolution looked a little soft. You can get better overall video processing and upscaling by springing for our upgrade pick (this is one reason it’s more expensive, after all).

Although the UH8 TV has four HDMI inputs, only two of them are fully HDMI 2.1–compatible. And one of those is designated as the eARC input (intended as an audio connection for a soundbar or AV receiver connection). So if you’re pairing an external audio system with the U8H, you may have only one input remaining that can support HDMI 2.1 features like 4K 120 Hz playback, variable refresh rate, and auto game mode; this could be a dealbreaker if you own more than one current-gen gaming console. If you’re in that boat, you may want to splash out some extra dough for our upgrade pick. Additionally, folks using pre-HDMI source devices—like the five-cable composite connector with green, red, blue, and red/white audio inputs—should be aware that this TV requires an adapter to allow those devices to connect, and an adapter is not included in the box.

Finally, like most TVs that use vertical alignment (VA) LCD panels, the U8H has a limited horizontal viewing angle, which may be a bit annoying if you’re hoping to entertain a large crowd. Our upgrade pick uses a special wide-angle technology to address this.

For gaming, use the game picture mode (the TV should switch into this mode automatically when paired with the newer game consoles), and then go into the Gaming submenu to make sure the right settings (VRR) are enabled. We recommend leaving the HDMI setting in “auto,” unless you notice that your game console is incorrectly identified.

Choosing a new TV can be tricky. With so many options, where do you start? If you need help, check out this buying guide to the best OLED & LED flat-screen TVs.

Not only did they offer better picture quality, but these types of TV were thinner, lighter and easy to mount on the wall – and started the trend for larger and larger screen sizes.

But while the plasma TV was a little bulkier and more expensive, many believed it to have the best picture quality, so it was more popular with enthusiasts and home theater buffs.

Unfortunately, you’ll come across this quite a bit in the world of TVs – using new names and branding to make existing technology sound fresh and exciting.

Generally, an LED TV offers better value and a wider choice of screen sizes, whereas an OLED TV is more expensive, but many consider it to have the best picture quality.

Edge Lighting: the lights are arranged around the edge of the screen, directing the light across the back. They are also known as edge-lit TVs. The main advantage is the panel is usually cheap, thin and light. The main disadvantages are reduced black levels and inconsistent lighting across the screen.

Back Lighting: the lights are positioned in rows directly behind the screen. These TVs are also called backlit, direct-lit or full-array TVs, although full-array TVs have lights arranged in blocks rather than rows. Their main advantage is better contrast by using local dimming – where the screen can switch off the light in dark areas of the picture. One disadvantage of local dimming is that it can cause a ‘halo’ effect when a bright image appears on a dark background.

In short, a VA panel will have the best picture quality, especially when viewed straight-on in a dark room, i.e., it is better for your home theater TV.

However, an IPS panel will give a better picture in a living room with wider viewing angles, where people watch from various locations around the room.

They are all based on LED backlights, so they are all technically LED TVs, but it makes it more confusing for consumers when they see another new form of television released.

Currently, the biggest downside of these TVs is they are considerably more expensive than standard LED TVs, and you need to decide if the improved performance is worth the extra money.

To date, typical OLED TV screens are known as WOLED panels, aka White OLED or WRGB OLED, and these work in a different way to the RGB OLED screens used in phones and other mobile devices.

WOLED panels use white pixels and an RGB filter to make the colors, creating a fantastic image, but they can’t match the maximum brightness of LED TV screens.

Brightness: OLED TVs aren’t generally as bright as LED TVs, which may be a problem if you regularly watch your TV in a room with plenty of ambient light.

Burn-in: unlike temporary image retention, screen burn-in means a static image or logo stays on the screen permanently. It’s unlikely to be a problem if you watch varied content, but using an OLED TV as a computer monitor or regular gaming screen is not recommended.

In most situations, image retention is unlikely to be permanent (called screen burn-in) and will fade quickly, but this can prove annoying as you must consider this when using your TV daily.

Burn-in is more likely to be a problem if the screen is used regularly for gaming where there are static logos or banners – or if you watch the same TV channel with fixed-position logos.

However, QD-OLED TVs use a blue OLED layer with a quantum dot red and green pixel layer, effectively merging OLED and QLED techniques to create an even better image.

For LED TVs, screen sizes range from a dinky 15-inch model to put in your kitchen to a giant 85-inch beast to use as the centerpiece of your home theater.

The bottom line is that there isn’t a right or wrong answer when choosing the best TV screen size for your room – only whatever suits your circumstances, space and personal taste.

The article about understanding TV viewing distance investigates this in more detail and also includes calculators for working out your ideal viewing distance and TV size.

However, these picture settings will usually be too much in a home environment, and the TV may not look as good when you take it home and dial the settings back a bit.

However, the picture is often not as bright as the best LED TVs, so an OLED will work best in a darker room, e.g., watching a movie with the lights down.

There are different versions of HDR. HDR10 is the most common, but others include Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), and HDR10+. These are all independent of each other and are different technologies. Some newer TVs will support all the current versions of HDR, but if you want a particular version of HDR, make sure that the TV you buy supports it.

HDR movies and TV shows are slowly becoming more widespread, but there are limited ways to access HDR content. Ultra HD Blu-ray, streaming services and some broadcast TV shows are starting to provide HDR content, like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube HDR, Apple iTunes, etc.

Having an HDR-capable TV may not be enough to see HDR content. You’ll be fine if you only use the TV’s built-in apps. But if you use external devices, your complete chain will need to support the same version of HDR.

HDR images on a supported TV make a big difference in picture quality, and you can get some ‘WOW’ moments while watching some movies and documentaries.

If you are in a particularly geeky mood today or just have too much time on your hands, you can see more detail in the article; what is a TV refresh rate?

In an ideal world, you will install the TV in your room and sit directly in front of it. You may be close or further away, but you will watch the TV screen front-on.

Historically, LCD and LED TVs have always had problems with the viewing angle, and if you want an LED TV that looks good from the side, look out for one made with an IPS panel.

One of the strengths of QLED TV technology is to improve the viewing angle over standard LED TVs, and you may find an improved viewing angle with these – although still not as good as an OLED TV.

So, if you play some 480i standard definition content, a 1080p or 4K TV will upscale the video, so it displays correctly on the higher resolution screen.

However, if your TV supports HDMI ARC, you may be able to use this to send audio back to your speaker system – in which case, you won’t need to use any digital audio outputs.

However, many people will use a separate speaker system for home theater and may not use the onboard speakers at all, so it doesn’t matter what the TV speakers sound like.

The simplest way of wiring this is to use a stereo amplifier you already own for the sound. You will just need to wire the audio output of your TV to the amplifier.

Another popular way to improve your TV’s sound is installing a soundbar, which is a more straightforward solution if you think installing an amplifier and speakers is too scary.

You will need to connect the TV to the internet to use these services – either Wi-Fi or ethernet cable – so make sure the TV has the correct internet connection options for your circumstances.

Your TV may also allow you to stream content stored elsewhere on your home network, which is done via a standard called DLNA – although it may be called something different depending on your model.

Your TV will be the DLNA client, and it will be able to ‘see’ content stored on a server within your network – like a PC or NAS. You can then play this content on your television.

You will also get several TVs from the same manufacturer with only slight differences in features – and it can be tricky to see the changes between the two models.

You should also be aware that a TV’s model number may differ worldwide. Check the exact model number in your country, as it may be different in other parts of the world.

Now, it may be that the TV for this year has a new feature you simply must have, or the performance has improved so much that it makes no sense to buy the old version.

It’s not a night and day difference from the best OLED TVs made in the standard way – because current OLED screens still give a fantastic picture – but you will see the difference in some scenes, and it really can look mind-blowing.

The smart TV platform is Tizen, which isn’t the best. But it’s functional and offers a fairly standard interface for accessing apps and other online content.

While it uses the same QD-OLED panel as the Samsung S95B, the outstanding Sony video-processing engine might give it the edge over the Samsung on pure picture quality.

You get the same perfect black levels and excellent contrast ratios of a standard OLED TV, but you also get improved brightness and color volume, which makes 4K HDR images look even better.

However, as with the Samsung S95B QD-OLED TV, black levels are reduced slightly in bright conditions as these screens don’t have the same polarizing filters as the excellent LG OLED TVs.

If you watch your TV with people sitting in different locations around the room, the viewing angles of this TV are excellent, as you would expect from any OLED TV.

So, if you are used to having a 70 or 80-inch TV on the wall, you might want to wait until next year’s models are released, when there will likely be more options.

This TV has been engineered to meet the high standards required for IMAX Enhanced products, ensuring it will deliver one of the best pictures available.

The LG C1 is part of the fantastic range of LG OLED televisions. If you simply want the best picture on a modern flat-screen TV, then this should be high on your list.

The LG C1 4K OLED TV produces a picture that must be seen to be believed. With self-lit pixels and no backlight, you can get the deepest of blacks, and this TV can display a stunning image.

These are like VRR and synchronize the refresh rate of the TV screen with the output of a computer graphics card, and the result is reduced input lag and a much smoother gaming experience.

LG’s ThinQ AI technology is another helpful feature of these TVs. This is available across many LG products and allows interactive control via the LG ThinQ app and voice control.

There is support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and AirPlay2. So, if you are already invested in these technologies, you can easily use these to control your TV.

This year’s model has an upgrade to the new WebOS 6.0 smart TV platform. WebOS has always been one of the best around, and version 6.0 doesn’t change this.

Fortunately, even though they now also make OLED TVs, Samsung continues to build great QLED TVs, offering outstanding picture quality plus all the other benefits of LED screens.

So, if you feel that an OLED TV isn’t quite right for you – but still want a TV with incredible picture quality – this TV offers one of the best pictures you can get in a modern flat-screen TV.

The QN90B can also produce a brighter image than most OLED TVs, making it ideal for reproducing HDR pictures and creating bright areas that pop out in a primarily dark scene.

The main difference between the two is that the QN95B comes with the One Connect box, an external interface for connecting all your devices to the TV.

The QN90B supports HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG, which is standard in all Samsung TVs, but unfortunately, there is still no sign of Dolby Vision, which is an annoying omission.

The larger models with the Ultra Viewing Angle layer have excellent off-axis performance for an LED panel, while the two smaller screens suffer accordingly.

This TV has four HDMI 2.1 inputs placed in a recess at the back of the screen, which is plenty for avid gamers and for future-proofing when more devices have higher resolutions and refresh rates.

Of course, what has really helped is that they have been producing some excellent TVs at very competitive prices. So, if you want a very good TV without paying too much, then Hisense is a brand to check out.

However, you will only get the best from this TV if you sit straight on. Being a VA panel, the viewing angles aren’t the best when you are watching the screen from the side.

This is something that you should always consider before buying a TV. The way that you will use the TV in your room should have a big impact on the TV that you buy.

If you will be watching this TV in a bright room with plenty of ambient light, then you should have few problems with this screen. The screen is good a reducing glare and the bright picture will also help in this regard.

If you were hoping to get a small TV for your room, then you will need to look elsewhere. The H9G only comes in two screen sizes – 65-inch and 55-inch.

Therefore, it will be a good choice for a home theater screen and as your main TV for watching movies and sports – but not ideal if you just want a TV for casual viewing in the kitchen or bedroom.

This TV is very responsive and will therefore be a good value for many gamers. The only possible downside here is the lack of support for Variable Refresh Rate, G-Sync and FreeSync.

The smart TV platform on the H9G is the Android TV platform. It’s not my favorite interface for accessing apps and online features – but it is fairly simple to use and does the job.

Currently, there are two main TV types – OLED and LED. Generally, an OLED TV offers the best picture quality and viewing angles – so it would often be a better choice for a home theater screen and movie viewing. However, LED TVs work better for more general viewing and have more screen sizes and cheaper options. Ultimately, one isn’t necessarily better than the other, and either might be more suitable depending on your requirements.

It’s difficult to determine a single best TV brand as TVs come in various types, prices, and with different features. As a rough generalization, the best OLED TVs are produced by LG and Sony, and the best LED TVs are made by Samsung, Sony, Hisense and TCL. However, there are several excellent brands in all TV categories, which may vary depending on where you are, so you need to look deeper into your options to find the best brand.

A 4K TV is currently the most widespread type of television. So, although 4K content is still relatively limited, the chances are that your new TV will be 4K regardless. Lower resolution 1080p Full HD TVs are still available in smaller, budget models, but it’s only worth getting one if the lowest price is your only consideration.

For most people, it’s probably not worth investing in an 8K TV at present. There is very little native 8K content available, so most things you watch will be upscaled to 8K and will not have any extra detail. Plus, you will need to sit so close to see the additional detail in an 8K picture; most people won’t want to do this anyway. If you have a game console that can display 8K content, you might decide that an 8K screen is worth it, but for movie and TV viewing, the extra cost of an 8K screen is unlikely to be worthwhile at the moment.

Cleaning a TV screen is a simple process that you should do regularly to maintain performance and picture quality. In most cases, all you need is a dry microfiber cloth to wipe away dust and fingerprints. You can use distilled water for more stubborn areas, but never use any liquids with chemicals like alcohol or ammonia. Learn how to clean a TV screen without streaks for more detailed step-by-step instructions.

The global LCD TV (Liquid Crystal Display Television) market was dominated by Samsung and remained so in 2021 with a market share of over 19 percent by sales volume. LG Electronics takes second place with close to 13 percent in the same year, to beat TLC, one of the well-established brands in this segment.Read moreMarket share of leading LCD TV manufacturers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by sales volumeCharacteristic202120202019----

TCL. (March 11, 2022). Market share of leading LCD TV manufacturers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by sales volume [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 24, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1266996/global-leading-manufacturers-lcd-tv-market-share-sales-volume/

TCL. "Market share of leading LCD TV manufacturers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by sales volume." Chart. March 11, 2022. Statista. Accessed December 24, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1266996/global-leading-manufacturers-lcd-tv-market-share-sales-volume/

TCL. (2022). Market share of leading LCD TV manufacturers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by sales volume. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 24, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1266996/global-leading-manufacturers-lcd-tv-market-share-sales-volume/

TCL. "Market Share of Leading Lcd Tv Manufacturers Worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by Sales Volume." Statista, Statista Inc., 11 Mar 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1266996/global-leading-manufacturers-lcd-tv-market-share-sales-volume/

TCL, Market share of leading LCD TV manufacturers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, by sales volume Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1266996/global-leading-manufacturers-lcd-tv-market-share-sales-volume/ (last visited December 24, 2022)

Because OLED TVs are newer and generally more expensive, the average buyer is looking at LED/LCD TVs right now. And although there are several features and specifications to consider while shopping—the brand name, HDR compatibility, and refresh rate, just to name a few—there’s one important hardware spec that isn’t widely advertised: LCD panel type.

LED/LCD TVs are so called because of the two things that make up their displays: an LED (Light Emitting Diode) backlight and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel for that backlight to shine through. LED backlights vary between a variety of implementations, but modern LCDs generally come in one of two panel technologies: IPS (In-Plane Switching) and VA (Vertical Alignment).

Unlike other hardware specifications (which are usually listed on the side of a TV box or on the manufacturer’s website), information about a TV’s LCD panel type is a bit more inside baseball. But panel type has a far greater impact on a TV’s performance than you might expect—it affects contrast, color, and viewing angle as well.

Individual pixels in an LCD display are made up of liquid crystals activated by voltage. How the display arranges its crystals is part of what sets IPS panels apart from VA panels.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) panels are a common display type for both the best computer monitors and TVs. Without getting too far down the rabbit hole, let’s talk a little about how IPS panels distinguish themselves from other types.

Every non-OLED TV on the market today is an LCD TV powered by LED lighting. Individual pixels in an LCD display are ma