the best quality tv display screens free sample
Wholesalers on Alibaba.com have a wide range of functions and such a curved monitorphone. LEDs are an excellent choice for smart watches as they are wireless and have a built-in Light-emitting Diode (LAG)) for the convenience of large-sized ones, LEDs are equipped with all the functions as a curved monitorphone, and it has a built-in media player and the possibility to see a difference in the second-hand TV of the choice. LED smart watches are wirelessly designed and allow the user to see the image in all, and they"re looking great for them.
With all the advantages and disadvantages, lcdds are essentially a good choice for those who see the TV starting from 4k smartphone. Nowadays, in addition to the wholesale models, lcdds are essentially a good option for those that don ’ t have the capacity of a device.
Figuring out which screen to use for your digital signage can be overwhelming—there are seemingly endless numbers of brands, sizes, and features, which makes it difficult to
The Hisense H9G is a flagship 4k LED TV that offers impressive performance. It provides good value for its price and competes with many other high-end, more expensive options in 2021. At $699.00 USD this display punches well above its weight class and
can compete with displays running into the $2000.00+ price point. The Hisense H9G series is a beautifully crafted TV line that delivers accurate colors, an impressive contrast ratio, and a wealth of Android features for under $1,000.
The Sony X800H is a 4K LED television with HDR and Dolby Vision. It features Sony"s Triluminos Display technology for broader and more vibrant colors, along with the X-Reality PRO engine that helps upscale HD content to 4K. The Sony X800H is a nice
upgrade over its predecessor. It has an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, making it a great choice for digital signage use. This TV delivers one of the best 4K images you"ll find in this price range.
Simple, reliable, and cost-effective, the Samsung DC-E Series showcases a sleek design and excellent 1080p Full HD image quality. At $805.00 USD the DC-E series is one of the most affordable commercial displays on the market today, offering great value
The Samsung PM-H Series takes performance up a notch from DC-E series, with a 1080p Full HD display and built for 24/7 run-time the Samsung PM-H Series gets you the connectivity you need and delivers an impressive picture quality. The 60 Hz refresh rate
will help smooth out fast-moving video, while the display"s 500 cd/m² of brightness and 4000:1 contrast ratio will help your advertisements be seen clearly, even in daylight. Coming in at $1,963.00 USD this 55” display is a great option
Create beautiful imagery at a cost-conscious price point with the new fully commercial NEC C Series displays. A modern and contemporary design with a mere 45mm depth and improved visual aesthetics allow for the smooth and stylish integration of these
Failover Capabilities via Custom Input Detect functionality will allow peace of mind as the display will automatically switch to a secondary or tertiary source if the primary source fails
The 55” NEC E557Q is one of the best digital signage options available. This commercial-grade display is ideal for education, corporate and other digital signage applications. Compared to previous generation displays, this model’s 4K UHD resolution and LED direct backlighting allows for higher visual acuity, reduced power consumption and localized dimming that gives a higher dynamic contrast ratio. With a price tag of $1,149.00 USD, this 55” NEC has everything you need in a commercial digital signage display.
While there many many brands and models to choose from, these solid options provide all the features you need in a digital signage display and are a good representation of some of the choices available on the market today.
Of course, budget and use case will be the key factors in deciding which display is right for you, and the more money you are willing to spend, the more likely you are to find a screen that can be powered for 24 hours a day and is better suited to bright environments.
If you want great art for your Frame TV but don’t want to pay for it, these are my top hacks on how to get free art for the Samsung Frame TV and install it fast and easy (with 5 free digital downloads to get you started!).
What’s so unique about the Samsung Frame TV as a smart TV, in particular, is that it’s really thin and can be mounted completely flush onto a wall (with the “brains” of the TV being housed in a separate box elsewhere). So, when you set it to display digital art (with or without matting) on the screen in “art mode,” it appears like a regular piece of art in a picture frame instead of a TV.
I purchased them from Walmart, but if you are still browsing the internet for your Samsung Frame TV, three other retailers where you can also take a look at the current prices are:
(And after we spent more time than I can properly quantify learning and implementing the best way to mount our Samsung Frame TVs, we created our very popular guide to installing the Samsung Frame TV.)
While you can buy beautiful art via Samsung’s art store (around the price of $20 each) or even shop for a digital download for your Frame TV on Etsy, the purpose of this post is to teach you some easy tips on how to get free art for the Samsung Frame TV.
I recommend using high-quality images so they don’t appear pixelated, and then cropping and/or re-sizing them to fit the dimensions 3840 pixels x 2160 pixels, which is the proper size for art for the Samsung Frame TV.
You can also create your own images digitally in the software of your choice. Again, I personally use Canva to do this, but you can also use the free art converter tool from Deco TV Frames.
In Canva, I simply click “create a design,” and then enter the dimensions 3840 pixels x 2160 pixels. A bunch of seasonal templates then pop up. You can also search for templates or create an image with whatever words, images, and other images you choose.
Of note, if you don’t want a graphic like the one above, Canva also has tons of free photographs you can use. To create the image below, I set my dimensions, clicked “photos,” searched “landscape,” and picked a pretty one that popped up. Feel free to download it and use it:
This is a great option if you are looking for something that looks like a painting. However, you can also get great, high-quality photographs this way.
Note:You can also do this using Samsung’s Smart Things app, but I find the app to be extremely glitchy, so I recommend a different way of installing art on the Samsung Frame TV below.
1. As discussed, first you will need to download art or a photo and crop/re-size it to 3840 pixels x 2160 pixels in Canva or another photo editing software like the Deco TV Frames free art converter tool. (In Canva, I simply click “create a design,” then enter the dimensions 3840 pixels x 2160 pixels. Then, I upload my image and add it to the blank template.)
7. You can also modify the brightness, color tone, etc., under “Settings” on the top right of the screen. I recommend toning down the brightness to get the art to look more real as opposed to digital.
The Deco TV Frame fits right on top of your Samsung Frame TV for easy installation and the most gorgeous appearance of ACTUAL artwork — not a TV! We truly feel theSamsung Frame TV is simply not complete without a Deco TV Frame, and that it’s worth every penny. It’s something that *sparks joy* for us on a daily basis.
Now you know how to get free art for the Samsung Frame TV plus how to install it! I hope you also enjoy the 5 free digital prints I provided above to get you started.
The best budget flat-screen TV we"ve tested is the Hisense U6H. It"s a great TV for most uses, with excellent contrast, outstanding black uniformity, and a decent local dimming feature, meaning it looks great in a dark room as blacks look deep and uniform. However, there"s more blooming than the Mini LED backlight of the Hisense U8H. It has decent reflection handling and is plenty bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room. It has impressive upscaling with lower-resolution content, has great gradient handling, and can display a very good wide color gamut.
It"s an impressive gaming TV with a great response time, resulting in clear motion with just a bit of blur behind fast-moving objects. It has low input lag for a responsive gaming experience. Unlike the more expensive models on this list, like the Hisense U8H, it"s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn"t support advanced gaming features like variable refresh rates or HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, so it"s better suited for casual gamers that prefer impressive visuals over the best motion handling.
Undoubtedly, the TV you purchase is the priciest part of your digital signage deployment. Crucially, you must select one of the best TVs for digital signage so as to ensure top-notch image quality and clarity. After all, in order to attract the attention of customers, visitors or teams, you need a TV that displays crystal clear images and videos with vibrant colors. Most importantly, whether you want big-ticket commercial-grade digital signage displays or affordable Smart TVs, you will find the perfect display that fits your budget and use case. Just browse the list we put together for you and make a purchase you won’t regret.
If you’re just starting out and want to test the benefits digital signage brings your business before investing in high-end screens, start with these. Firstly, they’ll make less of a dent in your budget, and secondly they might just be the best TV for digital signage if you want less high-end deployments.
Similarly, this TV offers the same value for money as a digital signage screen, with a price tag of $400-$500. With this model, you get features that include 1080p Full HD for a super clear, super smooth viewing experience. Additionally, you get touchscreen capabilities, which might prove useful for more interactive customer experiences.
Although priced slightly higher at $699-$799, it offers 4K resolution along with top-notch color quality and great contrast ratio. Specifically, with this kind of contrast ratio you get rich blacks that look amazing even if you want to set up a digital signage display in darker locations. Certainly, this feature benefits businesses in the entertainment industry, such as escape rooms, or in low-light pubs. Similarly, museums have certain exhibition areas that require a darker ambiance.
All three TVs can operate 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Therefore, if you run a business such as a retail store, restaurant or even need screens for office lobby TV display software, the hours these TVs can display content covers your signage needs.
For businesses that want to invest in more sophisticated TV technology as they incorporate their digital signage deployment into their marketing strategy, we chose a few options to help you out. Commercial digital signage displays offer professional, robust and reliable solutions that operate 24/7 for serious signage usage.
Although commercial signage displays come with higher price tags, they offer a great solution for enterprise settings such as offices, airports, hotels and more. For example, these organizations require robust, reliable screens that often display content 24/7. Especially when they’re paired with lobby TV display software, businesses get guaranteed, consistent top image quality and reliability. Also, many come with an embedded digital signage player, so you don’t need external hardware. Additionally, commercial-grade TVs have a longer lifespan.
Firstly, this brand and model includes a number of helpful features within the more low-end $1,000-$1,200 price range. Of course, 4K resolution is a given. However, you also get an HTML5 browser which makes it easier to turn your TV into a digital signage screen. Also, its wide angle view means that customers that go to your shop or restaurant can see everything on your screen, even when they’re not standing right in front of your TV.
Most importantly, this model offers one more affordable commercial-grade digital display option for $1,200-$1,400. But with features like backlight, 4K Ultra HD, thin bezels, and a USB port for 2V/5A power delivery, you get enterprise-grade tech at a reasonable price. Backlight works great for venues that have different light levels throughout the day. Specifically, it adjusts the TV’s lighting source so as to optimize image quality for viewers. Also, thin bezels means you get a small TV frame and a bigger screen. Crucially, it makes creating impressive digital signage video walls much easier.
With a price tag of $1,300-$1,500, you get a number of features that help you deploy your digital signage solution. Specifically, this model offers features such as 4K, WebOS and WiFi. Crucially, WebOS allows you to pair it with a number of digital signage apps and software, such as Web Players. Although it comes with its own digital signage content management system, WebOS offers the option to use another company’s digital signage solution.
Firstly, you’ll need digital signage software as a content management system (CMS). A CMS lets you quickly and easily upload, edit and display media on your screens throughout locations, totally online. Also, it helps you schedule content, so you can display the right content at the right time and on the right screen so as to appeal to specific customers or visitors. Furthermore, you’ll need external hardware as a media player that you connect to your TVs. On the other hand, some TVs have pre-installed media players that you can use instead of external hardware.
Most software lives on the cloud, which means you access your digital signage software online by simply signing up and logging in. Also, you do all your digital signage uploading and editing on your own laptop or PC, no matter where you are, without going to each TV. Most companies offer both monthly and annual subscriptions. Or you can try software before subscribing. Just find the best free digital signage software for you. Similarly, you have to find the best digital signage hardware to go with the software you choose and the type of your deployment.
There are a number of TVs that work great for digital signage. Most importantly, you’ll find models that fit both your budget and the kind of features you need for your business. Crucially, you must decide whether you want to go with more affordable, retail TVs or commercial-grade TVs designed specifically for digital signage. The choice is yours and must meet your business needs.
Most innovations begin as simple ideas in the minds of problem solvers. This one, was actually the result of a mistake. Upon purchasing his first home, Kevin Hancock, decided to go about wall hanging his new flat screen TV when he made a simple calculation error to determine the ideal height of the outlet to go by behind the TV. The result was the outlet was still partially visible above the TV!
Modern TVs are more complicated than ever before. If you’ve found yourself browsing one of our guides and felt stumped by some of the acronyms or tech specs, we’ve summarized the most common terms below:
LCD: LCD stands for liquid crystal display, and it’s the most common kind of television besides OLED (defined below). LCD TVs shine an LED backlight through a panel of liquid crystal, a malleable substance that reacts to electricity, opening or closing when jolted. In LCD TVs, the liquid crystal opens to allow the backlight through or closes to block it. The specific details of the opening/closing are dependent upon the arrangement of the pixels: The most common LCD arrangements are Vertical Alignment (VA) and In-Plane Switching (IPS), with the former tending to produce higher contrast and the latter tending to produce wider viewing angles. All so-called “LED” TVs are really LCD TVs, as are all current QLED and ULED TVs.
OLED: An organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, TV creates light inside each individual pixel without using a backlight and can dim each pixel individually all the way down to black, which LCD TVs can’t do. This tech gives an OLED TV an infinite contrast ratio and other benefits to help create an overall better-looking image, although at considerable additional cost. You can read more about OLED technology in this article.
Mini-LEDs: Every LCD TV made today currently uses LEDs to produce the light that shines through the LCD panel. Most TVs use LED lights that pass through a diffuser to light up the entire LCD screen. Mini-LEDs, which some TVs use, are much smaller than traditional LEDs, so TV makers can install more of them and thus create more zones of local dimming, which means less blooming or halos around bright objects. Mini-LEDs are completely different from micro-LEDs, an available (though very expensive) technology that employs individual red, green, and blue LEDs to produce an image without needing an LCD panel at all.
Nits: Also called candelas per square meter (cd/m²), this unit of luminance measures how much light a TV can produce. Previously, TVs could output 200 to 300 nits, and standard dynamic range (SDR) content was graded and mastered with 100 nits as the standard. With high dynamic range (HDR), content is mastered with 1,000, 4,000, or 10,000 nits as the standard; so, the more nits an HDR TV can display, the more accurately it can display the highlights in HDR material without having to reduce the brightness of the highlights or clip them.
Wide color gamut: Ultra HD content has a wider color gamut than standard HDTV content; right now, most UHD content is mastered with the same DCI/P3 color gamut used in theatrical cinema (the ultimate goal is the even larger Rec. 2020 color gamut). This expanded color gamut allows a TV to display richer reds, blues, and greens than ever before. Some TVs use quantum-dot technology to produce this wider color gamut.
Quantum dots: Quantum dots are a color-enhancing technology primarily found in LCD TVs (though some 2022 OLED TVs now have them as well). Chiefly employed as a filter that’s painted onto a substrate, quantum dots are microscopic nano-crystals that, when struck with blue light, produce very vivid red or green light (depending upon the size of the crystal). Quantum dots are the primary technology that allows LCD TVs to produce the wide color gamut required to display HDR content properly, as they greatly increase the color saturation of red and green.
Refresh rate: All digital displays (including TVs) have what’s called a refresh rate, measured in hertz (Hz), shorthand for cycles per second. A TV’s refresh rate refers to how quickly it displays new incoming video information on a nanosecond-to-nanosecond basis. While there are many possible refresh rates, most TVs come with either a 60 Hz refresh rate (meaning 60 screen refreshes per second) or a 120 Hz refresh rate (120 screen refreshes per second). Ideally, a TV will have the highest refresh rate possible, but there are diminishing returns for higher refresh rates during many types of content. A 120 Hz TV has advantages when watching 24p content or mitigating judder (definitions below), and tends to produce less input lag when playing video games, but it won’t provide advantages for most forms of cable TV or streaming content. In 2022, some manufacturers introduced 144 Hz TVs meant to appeal specifically to gamers, but the majority of TVs still have 60 or 120 Hz refresh rates.
Judder: This term refers to a slightly jerky motion that can occur when 24p film content appears on a TV with a 60 Hz refresh rate. In such situations, to make 24 frames match up to the 60 Hz display, half of the frames appear two times and the other half appear three times. This display technique causes judder, which is most noticeable on panning shots. Some 120 Hz displays avoid this effect by repeating each film frame five times, while some 60 Hz panels run at 48 Hz to show each frame twice.
Motion smoothing: Motion smoothing, sometimes called MEMC (Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation), refers to a TV’s ability to intelligently create new frames to create smoother-looking or less juddery motion. Most modern TVs can artificially increase their refresh rates to smooth out fast or difficult sequences, but the efficacy of this motion smoothing is often dependent upon the TV’s native refresh rate. Motion smoothing is also the cause of the “soap opera effect,” where cinematic/24p content looks more like a daytime soap opera due to the insertion of unnecessary frames. The best TVs come with multiple motion smoothing presets, and some even allow the user to fine-tune the degree of judder reduction and frame interpolation employed. When used correctly, motion smoothing can make content like sports and nature documentaries look more realistic, but we prefer it be turned off for content like premium TV, movies, and video games.
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.
If you’re watching in a darker room and want the most accurate picture you can get—preserving the director’s intent—select the U8H’s Filmmaker Mode as your picture mode. In a brighter room, we recommend the Theater Day picture mode. In either case, you should go into the backlight settings, disable the automatic light sensor, and set the backlight to your personal preference. This is true whether you’re watching SDR or HDR content.
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.
Everyone wants a big-screen TV these days, but bigger doesn’t always mean better, especially if you’re tight on space. Get a too-small set though, and it might leave your living room looking pretty sparse. Thankfully, we’re here to help. With a little bit of math, measurements, and planning, there’s a formula for finding the best big-screen TV for your space.
Viewing Angle:Imagine you’re walking into a movie theater, and want to grab the seats where you can see the entire width and height of the screen straight-on. Right up front would be the worst option, while somewhere towards the back is best. Scaled down, the same goes for your home setup — and especially if you’ll be viewing your set from a slight angle.
A big screen may seem like the most immersive, but it’s not worth it if your eyes still can’t take it all in from far back. And that’s just for your personal prime viewing spot. Consider other people’s perspectives, and if they’ll be able to take in all the action from their seating angles too. This can also help narrow down your choices even further. An OLED screen, for example, may be a better option if family and guests will frequently be sitting around the room for movie night and needing to the screen from all directions. Otherwise, if it’s just you in a central spot, a QLED might be the way to go.
Room Size and Measurements:As you sit farther and farther away from your screen, the amount of light that hits your eyes diminishes significantly, while inching closer increases it. Sitting farther requires more “nits” — a measurement of brightness in LED TVs, and an average set can range from about 200 to 500. But thanks to 4K, we can now sit closer to our sets without seeing pixels.
To get an idea of the right size screen for your room, measure the distance from the spot where your TV will be to where you’ll be sitting. Then divide by 2 or 2.5. You can also re-create the “screen” with tape on the wall, then sit back and see if it’s a comfortable view. Your natural eye-line should be at the center to bottom third of the screen’s height, and your eyes and head shouldn’t need to be shifting up, down, and side to side to take it all in.
It’s also important to keep in mind the dimensions of the entire set, not just the screen size. The height, width, and depth are always listed, so make sure to measure your entire space or surface area and be certain that it will fit the TV’s base and back, stand, and feet. Same goes for the actual space of the picture within the screen itself, and not just the screen size, as this can be misleading. A 55-inch screen, for example, can really be more like a 52-inch picture, when you factor in bezels and borders.
It might be safer to err on the side of a smaller screen rather than going larger, since there’s always going to be a limit of how far back you can move your sofa.
Lighting:Sitting too far back in a dark room can also cause “eye-fatigue,” since your pupils start to dilate in order to compensate for the darkness with just that single bright screen image in the center of your vision. After a few hours, or even a few minutes, it can range from simply irritating to a full-on headache. This is where lighting can help, specifically what’s called “bias lighting” — a soft source of light that illuminates the area right behind your display. Bias lighting can take a lot of the heavy lifting off your eyes, help avoid strain, and allow for a more comfortable viewing experience without diminishing quality.
Though it doesn’t look as cool as colored lights, a white light is the best option for bias lighting (about 6400K), as specific colored lights can actually desensitize your eyes to that color and alter what you’re seeing on the screen, particularly for smaller sets.
External Speakers: As TV sets get flatter and thinner, there’s less and less room inside for quality speakers, and sometimes there are no speakers at all. While dropping even more cash on an external soundbar can be frustrating, it makes a world of difference, not just for audio, but for placement of the set too. With powerful speakers, and enough space, you can safely sit far back and not miss a single sound detail. It’s actually necessary to sit farther away, about 10 feet, especially with powerful tower speakers that are designed to blast sound far and wide, as opposed to smaller speakers that would start to distort and sound muddy if you’re too distant.
QLED vs. OLED:Both types of TVs are capable of 4K, but the tech that’s lighting up the picture is what the big difference is. QLED’s pixels are lit from the back or sides for a much brighter display, while OLED pixels are each individually lit, meaning that they light up only when the picture calls for it, and are otherwise off — or “absolute black.”
A big OLED screen will provide plenty of luminosity for full HD. Sitting up to 8 feet away is ideal, but sitting a significant distance away may strain your sight if the set’s brightness can’t get bright enough to compensate. An OLED looks good from most any angle too, while viewing a QLED from an odd angle could cause colors to be washed out and overall darker. It’s rare, but OLEDs are also prone to “burn-in,” which can leave an imprinted image on the screen if left on pause for too long.
OLED TVs are built primarily by LG and Sony using organic materials. But if you have your heart, and eyes, set on the best QLED set, that makes choosing your options a lot easier, as only a few manufacturers in the market make them, including Samsung.
OLEDs generally don’t go below 55 inches, so for the smaller end of the spectrum, it’ll most likely be an LED TV — still perfectly viewable, but with a lower pop of color, and different back-lighting.
Budget: It all comes down to what fits your wallet first. Don’t just go for the biggest screen your bank account will allow, as you’ll often be sacrificing picture quality for size, and that’s not a good look. The right-priced set may even work to your advantage: For example, a screen for a small office doesn’t necessarily need the extra purchase of external speakers, as the built-in speakers might be more than enough in an enclosed space.
We’ve chosen a few different-sized models here to help get you started seeing the bigger picture for finding the best-sized big-screen TV set for you.
If you’ve really got the space for a big screen, it doesn’t get any better than Hisense’s L5G Laser TV. You can choose between a 100-inch and 120-inch screen, depending on your space and budget.
What is a ‘Laser TV’ you might ask? Well, it’s an easy way of getting a big-screen TV at a comparably lower price than other 100-inch TV competitors on the market. Hisense uses an ultra-short throw projector and a 100 to the 120-inch screen to ‘build’ this TV. The projector sits right below the TV and since it’s powered by laser lighting, you don’t have to worry about the lamp light running out or worry about the sub-par picture quality most projectors deliver.
In fact, the reason we like Hisense’s L5G is for its bright, clear and vivid picture, which looks great when you’re streaming sports, games or your favorite TV shows. The TV seems well-lit even in a bright room — my TV resides by my window, as is the curse of New York City studio apartments. Installation does take a bit of time so keep that in mind (it works better if you’ve got two people assembling).
As for features, you’ve got Android TV built-in, meaning you can stream from your favorite apps or access Google Assistant with ease. There’s built-in Dolby Atmos too, and you can really see this come to life when you’re streaming something like The Dark Knight or The Avengers. There are three HDMI ports, an audio port, three USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port — offering multiple connectivity options. Finally, there’s also a built-in tuner, just in case you prefer cable TV.
We loved the ambient light rejecting screen, clear 4K resolution and surprisingly deep contrasts on this Hisense Laser TV. If you’re looking for a mega large screen TV and have the space and the budget, the Hisense L5G is for you.
Amazon’s latest Omni QLED series TV functions as a large-screen Alexa-enabled device when not in use. This means it can detect when you walk into the room, display your family photos, and can even display artwork, just like Samsung’s Frame TV. You’ve got 4K picture quality and a QLED display for rich, bright pictures.
As far as big-screen TVs go, your smart home won’t find a better smart TV than the Fire TV, thanks to the built-in Alexa connectivity that lets you control all your content with just your voice. Whether you want to watch Netflix, Hulu, or another one of your apps, you can do it all right from the Fire TV.
Gamers, say hello to the best big-screen TV for playing your favorite games. This LG OLED C2 series set boats over 8 million deeply detailed pixels that are independently lit across the screen depending on what’s on your screen. In other words, all your games, shows, and movies look bright, clear, and lifelike, no matter what room you set it up. But it’s a true gaming-friendly smart TV that features a fast response time, a Gaming Optimizer you can easily switch on to view your settings in one spot, as well as its own “Auto Low-Latency Mode.”
The bottom line: No more worrying about a slow TV set, this LG can keep up with any game, all day long, and it looks really damn good at the same time. The smart LG TV has built-in Alexa, and easy access to your preferred streaming apps.
This 2022 Sony TV release checks all the boxes for a new big-screen TV that you can use for everyday streaming. More specifically, it’s a smart Google TV everyone should add to their home theater. The reasons? First, you can use Google Assistant to stream your favorite series on Netflix, Disney+, or, say, HBO Max.
It comes in a variety of sizes, including 55, 65, and 75 inches, though the 65-inch size is currently marked down online for a 10% savings. But the Sony TV can also produce a realistic, impressive display that features over a billion colors, while the TV’s 4K HDR Processor X1 ensures that everything from the big game to your gaming all looks clear, without any lag.
Samsung’s Frame TV set the bar high when it first hit the electronics space. Groundbreaking then, groundbreaking now, the Frame TV is the world’s best-designed big-screen TV because of how it can transform your living space into its own digital art gallery. Samsungdid announce the 2023 Frame TV, but it’s not available yet, nor has a release date been announced. That said, there are barely any differences between the 2022 and 2023 models, with the latter including a few more customizable options if that interests you.
When you’re not streaming something, you can switch it to display the art of your choice, whether it’s one of your own images or something you pick from the company’s store. It’s also the top customizable TV, meaning you can change out the bezel on the Frame TV to a style that fits your home’s style.
It looks great on the wall, but what’s happening on-screen looks just as great, with its QLED display for a bright, colorful streaming experience. It’s available in 55, 75, and 85 inches (as well as smaller sizes).
The future of CES 2023. Huge OLED screens and completely wireless sets are among the amazing developments we saw. We"re not sure when these advancements will hit the stores, but when they do, they"ll certainly be expensive.
Luckily, there are plenty of good TVs that are available right now at reasonable prices. That"s because the reviewed side by side, is designed to help you find the best TV for you, from high-end
For the last five years, the TCL 6-Series has been our favorite TV for the money, and the 2022 version -- also known as the R655 series -- is no exception. This TV has an excellent image thanks to mini-LED tech and well-implemented full-array local dimming that helps it run circles around just about any other TV at this price. It improves upon the previous R635 series with improved gaming extras and a new center-mount stand that you can elevate to make room for a soundbar, although the new 85-inch size has standard legs. And finally, the Roku TV operating system is our hands-down favorite.
Note that in addition to the R635, which this TV replaces, other versions of the 6-Series were released in 2021 and remain on sale. The R646 series uses the Google TV operating system but otherwise has similar specifications to the R655 models reviewed here. The R648 series has 8K resolution and is significantly more expensive.
The C2 represents the pinnacle of picture quality at a price that"s admittedly high, but not too crazy. It beats any non-OLED TV on this list, including the Samsung QN90B below, with its perfect black levels, unbeatable contrast and superb off-angle viewing. It also has superb gaming features, making it the perfect companion to an Xbox Series X or S, PlayStation 5 or both. The C2 comes in a variety of sizes as well, although the bigger models are expensive.
Improvements over the C1 from the previous year include carbon-fiber construction for up to 47% lighter weight -- the 65-inch version we reviewed weighs just 37 pounds with its stand, compared to 72 pounds for the 65-inch C1 -- as well as some additional tweaks to game mode and a new "always ready" feature.
The picture quality of the TCL 4-Series Roku TV was a step behind the Vizio V-Series in our budget TV test, but the differences between the two are slight enough that you"d really have to have them set up side by side to notice anything at all. The 4-Series lacks the Dolby Vision, Bluetooth connectivity and AMD FreeSync with a variable refresh rate, all of which the Vizio offers.
The 4-Series" advantage over the Vizio is that it comes with the excellent Roku Smart TV system built in. That makes it a great choice for those looking for a one-stop smart TV solution, without having to add an external streaming device.
Looking for a high-end TV with spectacular image quality, but don"t want an OLED? The Samsung QN90B is your best bet. This TV uses QLED TV tech augmented by mini-LED for a brighter image than any OLED TV. The spectacular contrast of OLED still won out in our side-by-side tests, but the QN90B QLED screen comes closer than ever.
Among midpriced models we liked the TCL 6-Series just a little better in our side-by-side comparison, but this Hisense is a strong contender. Its excellent image quality is anchored by best-in-class brightness that improves its bright-room picture quality and makes HDR TV movies, shows and games really pop. It"s actually brighter than the TCL with better contrast, but the TCL"s slightly more accurate image gave it the edge overall. The Hisense uses Google TV instead of Roku, and unlike the TCL, the U8H includes an ATSC 3.0 tuner. Frankly, you can"t go wrong with either one.
The Vizio MQX is one of the least expensive TVs to feature full-array local dimming, which lets it reproduce TV shows, movies and games with enough contrast and pop to do HDR justice. The MQX has fewer dimming zones than more expensive TVs like the TCL 6-Series and Hisense U8H, but it offers 16 zones on the 50-inch, 30 on the 65-inch and 42 on the 75-inch, which is more than enough for excellent overall picture quality, with bright highlights, dark black levels, punchy contrast and accurate color.
Unlike the M7 from 2021, the MQX has a true 120Hz refresh rate, which allows compatibility with 4K/120Hz signals from game consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and worked well in our tests. Vizio supports both major HDR formats, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, in the M-Series. If you can"t save up for the TCL or the Hisense but want a better picture than the TCL 4-Series or Vizio V-series, the Vizio MQX is an excellent happy medium.
Samsung is the brand that sells more TVs than anyone, and one of its most popular is the Q60 series. Its sleek QLED screen design stands out compared with the other TVs on this list -- even though the ultrathin OLED models are sleeker -- and it offers better features, image quality and more sizes than models like the TCL 4-Series and Sony X80K. The TVs listed in this article are all superior values, but if you want a Samsung TV and can"t afford the QN90A, this is a great choice.
When we compared the best budget TVs side-by-side, the picture quality of Vizio"s V-Series clearly emerged as the leader of the pack. The Vizio offered the most balanced and accurate picture during our comparisons, and it comes with some useful extras such as Dolby Vision support, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth compatibility and variable refresh rate for potentially smoother gaming. The biggest downside of the Vizio is its smart TV platform, Vizio SmartCast. It"s crowded, slow and littered with ads for platforms such as Tubi and Kidoodle TV. Even when you factor in the cost of adding a new streaming device, however, the V-Series remains the best overall entry-level TV that we tested.
Our TV reviews follow a rigorous, unbiased evaluation process honed over nearly two decades of TV reviews. Our primary TV test lab has specialized equipment for measuring light and color, including a Konica Minolta CS-2000 spectroradiometer, a Murideo Sig-G 4K HDR signal generator and an AVPro Connect 8x8 4K HDR distribution matrix. We use Portrait Displays CalMan Ultimate software to evaluate every TV we review. In every CNET TV review, three or more similar TVs are compared side by side in various lighting conditions playing different media, including movies, TV shows and games, across a variety of test categories, from color to video processing to gaming to HDR. Our reviews also account for design, features, smart TV performance, HDMI input and gaming compatibility and other factors.
We"ll post the answers to commonly asked TV questions below. If you have any others, feel free to reach out on Twitter (@dkatzmaier), or by clicking the little envelope icon on my CNET profile page. Doing so will let you send a message straight to my inbox.
Prices vary widely by size and features, from less than $100 for basic 24-inch TVs to more than $2,000 for big OLED models. TVs last a long time, however, so we think it"s worthwhile to spend a little extra beyond the bare minimum to get a bigger screen, better picture quality or better features. With that in mind, here"s some ballpark prices that will get you a very good TV in 2023.55-inch: $700
You could pay (much) more or less. The fact is just about any TV will produce a picture decent enough to satisfy most viewers. Most complaints you read in user reviews aren"t about picture quality. Instead they"re about ease of use, smart TV menus or sound (or a broken TV).
In our opinion bigger is better, and your money is best spent on large screen sizes rather than a slight upgrade in image quality. The answer also depends on room size and seating distance: If you have a big room and sit farther away, you"ll want a bigger TV.
In our reviews, OLED TVs, which use organic light-emitting diode technology, have always had better picture quality than LED TVs, which are basically LCD TVs that use LED backlights. The main reason is that OLED TVs can produce a perfectly dark shade of black with no stray illumination of blooming, which leads to better contrast and pop. LED TVs can get brighter, however, and usually cost less than OLED TVs.
At CNET our favorite is Roku for its simplicity, but different systems like Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung and LG have different strengths, in particular for voice commands. In any case, we don"t consider the built-in smart TV system that important because you can always connect a streaming device to any TV.
Most TVs sound terrible, because their thin cabinets don"t have room for decent-size speakers or bass. If you want to get good sound you should buy an external audio system. Even an inexpensive soundbar will deliver much better audio quality than a TV"s built-in speakers.
Most of us don"t have gargantuan budgets for a new TV, but we do want to buy one that will last. For that, our favorite TV at the moment is the 2020 TCL 6-Series (9/10, WIRED Recommends). It"s a beautiful 4K TV that marries advanced technology like quantum dots (great for bright colors) and local dimming (for deeper blacks) with a built-in Roku interface. TCL is known for competitive pricing, and this 6-Series is no exception, providing the image quality we"d expect from LG and Samsung models that cost nearly double the price. It even has Dolby Vision support, our favorite high-dynamic-range format, which provides exceptionally vivid colors.
The included Micro-LED backlighting is the star of the show, providing exceptional contrast and nearly none of that annoying "halo" effect when you look at bright objects on dark backgrounds. We expect new TCL models—which will have even better gaming performance—to begin hitting shelves later this year, but we don"t yet have formal release dates, which means this is still a good buy for now.
★ Another alternative: TCL makes a significantly more expensive 8K version in larger sizes. Given the lack of 8K content and the fact that it"s much pricier right now, we still recommend this 2020 model.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your old TV, you’ve got plenty of options. In fact, most TV brands on the market offer a number of impressive models with cutting-edge picture technology, incredible smart features, and myriad connections for all of your AV equipment. But when it comes time to buy, is there one brand that stands above the rest?
Let’s examine all the TV makers worth looking at, and why big brands like Samsung and LG are so good at what they do. And whether you’re looking for the absolute best TVs on the market, the best TVs under $500, or something in the Goldilocks Zone like the best TVs under $1,000, you don’t want to waste your time. We’ve put together a guide to all the best TV brands of 2022, so when the time comes to upgrade, you’ll know where to start your search.
Note: Televisions chosen for this list are representative of makes and models available in the U.S. market. Further, TVs included in this guide were chosen primarily for their picture performance, with other considerations such as operating system or audio performance as secondary considerations.
South Korea’s Samsung is the de facto market leader in the world television space, leading competitors like LG and Sony by a wide margin in terms of overall sales. That’s partly a result of the company’s size (Samsung ranks 18th on the Fortune 500), but mostly it’s because Samsung makes great TVs with a focus on accessibility.
Technically, it’s called Samsung Smart TV Powered by Tizen, but let’s just go with Tizen. Like Samsung’s best smartwatches, the company’s TVs run on a Tizen-powered user interface called Eden 2.0. For clarity, we’ll refer to it as Tizen, the UI’s building blocks.
Tizen places all your apps in a row along the bottom of the Smart Hub (read: home screen). It’s got all the popular streaming apps as part of a 2,000-plus app library, and it has a neat feature that activates when you select an app, showing you popular sub-categories (like Netflix shows or Spotify playlists) for that app. There’s also a Tizen Gaming Hub which supports Google’s Stadia platform, Xbox, and GeForce Now for streaming games.
Perhaps most impressive is how Tizen works with the Samsung app family, including SmartThings, Smart Connect, and Smart View. You can use those to mirror content from your phone — even iPhones — to your TV or send TV playback directly to your phone (only on Samsung phones). If you’ve got compatible smart home devices, you also can use the TV as a control hub.
Also, Samsung’s newer models — QLED and otherwise — offer some cool features like importing app logins from your phone to save time, and the Samsung One Connect box, built to simplify messy cable nests behind TVs (and to enable cleaner wall-mounting).
Samsung has so far avoided producing OLED displays like those of LG. So, instead of striking a deal to use LG’s panels, Samsung branded its own LCD tech “QLED.” For a detailed breakdown, check out our QLED TV versus OLED TV comparison, but the general gist is this: QLED uses quantum dots to enhance performance by producing a purer, full-spectrum white light than LEDs are capable of on their own. In practice, QLED televisions are brighter (better for bright rooms) than less-expensive LCD TVs, and unlike OLED, can be more affordably built into large displays (100 inches and beyond).
2022 also saw Samsung announce its expected QD-OLED TVs, which use an advanced blue light source that acts as a hybrid between QLED and OLED. We are starting to see these TVs show up in the wild now, including the stunning Sony A95K QD-OLED, and the Samsung S95B OLED, if you are looking for an OLED-like upgrade from your current set. Like other major brands, 2022 also saw Samsung unveil a new MicroLED TV line, a major LED upgrade using the latest technology for super-tiny LEDs that can achieve higher brightness levels and very accurate dimming.
Another South Korean company, LG may not be as massive as the tried-and-true Samsung TV, but thanks to its OLED TV display technology, it has minimal competition when it comes to top-of-the-line picture performance.
WebOS — currently in its sixth iteration, WebOS 6.1 — completely revamps the LG smart experience. Where past models relegated apps to the bottom of the display (similar to Samsung Tizen), LG’s WebOS 6.1 sets utilize the entire screen for apps and other recommended web content. LG’s Magic Motion Remote has also been redesigned to support voice commands for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, along with a Magic Explorer feature that lets viewers get additional info about the show or movie they’re watching, from what actors appear in the series or film to notable trivia.
As with Tizen, WebOS allows users to screen share (using Miracast), though that ability is limited to Android devices and Windows computers. The previous 5.0 update added VR capability to WebOS, in case you’ve got any 360-degree videos or photos you’d like to view, as well as support for additional devices like the Google Stadia.
It should be noted that there’s been a change in how LG will be naming its versions of WebOS going forward, and will now correspond with the year in which they’re released. LG TVs released in 2022 now come with WebOS 22, which is mostly the same as version 6 but adds profiles, smart speaker capabilities when the TV is turned off, and other new features.
OLED — Organic Light Emitting Diode — is the premier display technology today. OLED TV panels are capable of reaching black levels never before seen, with better contrast across the board, and because the pixels themselves light up, OLED televisions boast quicker response times (and less input lag) than other types of displays, and the picture integrity is stunning at any viewing distance. To see how OLED stacks up against regular old LED, take a look at our OLED vs. LED comparison.
In 2021, LG introduced OLED Evo, an improvement on OLED technology that helps increase brightness by more than 20%. 2022 is seeing even more OLED Evo TVs hit the market, including the new and well-reviewed LG C2 Evo OLED, making LG the best place to get your OLED upgrade.
Sony, standing as the last great Japanese TV heavyweight in the U.S. (sorry, Panasonic, Toshiba, and JVC), doesn’t market as many proprietary technologies as Samsung or LG, but it has all the tech it needs to create awe-inspiring TVs.
Google TV — versions of which run on many other devices, like the Amazon Fire TV family — isn’t quite as slick as WebOS, but it’s arguably more powerful. Unlike WebOS and Tizen, the Google TV home screen is laden with apps and suggestions, and you can scroll down for even more. Sony’s 2021 catalog was the first generation of sets to switch over to Google TV, an overhaul of the Android TV OS that features a faster, more intuitive user interface, complete with recommended and sponsored web content.
Google TV also has built-in support for Google Assistant (via a microphone in the remote or in your phone) and Chromecast, for both video and audio. Plus, as with Tizen, Google Smart Lock can automatically sync logins from your mobile device to your TV. You also have the ability to create separate profiles with Google TV for each person in your home. And, if that’s not enough, you can download the Logitech Harmony app to control your smart home devices from the couch.
Sony is one of a handful of companies offering OLED televisions (the list has recently expanded to include Panasonic, Philips, Hisense, and Vizio) thanks to a deal with LG allowing Sony to build TVs using LG panels. Due to the Cognitive Processor XR chip, Sony’s Bravia flagship TVs offer greater contrast, improved sound, low input lag, and faster web performance than we’ve ever seen. Sony’s newer TVs also offer VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for gaming, particularly with the PlayStation 5.
In 2022, Sony also announced a push into mini-LED technology, announcing its first mini-LED TVs like the Z9K series. We’ve already seen mini-LED technology crop up in other devices like some Apple iPads. It’s a more affordable version