lcd screen 55 inch brands

55" is a very popular TV size and these are the models that we feel comfortable in recommending for 2019 also based on availability. In our review testing lab we look for consistency in a brand and model series in many categories such as Picture Quality attributes from all resolutions and in a dark or light room environment. We look for good features, gaming performance, and aesthetic appearance with a solid working platform from the menu interface and remote control.

For $500 this TV is a fantastic deal on an edge lit LED TV. At 55 inches you get your best value of any size TV due to a plethora of competition. It"s got HDR, great processing and 4K resolution and good aestheticsFull Review

You still get lots of great built in picture technology and LG"s latest AI ThinQ Smat TV hub with teh UK6300 series. Plus an incredible price of $500 for a 55" LG TV. Full Review

It"s a toss up between this and the X800e Sony for best value. Both great choices. At 55 inch you get your best value of any size TV due to a plethora of competition. It"s got HDR, great processing and 4K resolution and good aesthetics.Full Review

It"s a toss up between this and the X800e Sony for best value. Both great choices. At 55 inch you get your best value of any size TV due to a plethora of competition. It"s got HDR, great processing and 4K resolution and good aesthetics.Full Review

You can replace this model with the other LG OLED 55 inch model as well for best quality. The stunning black levels and picture quality of OLED TVs is the best with perfect side angle viewing.Full Review

The UN55HU8550 4K LED TV from Samsung is their top of the line TV that has the standard flat design. The HU9000 above it gets the curved design and a few more picture quality features. An important thing to note is the flat design keeps the price down. You still get some of the best picture quality from an LED TV, and it"s 4K.

The UN55H6400 offers a few extra features over the H6350 below it. The small step gets you some pretty hefty feature upgrades. 3D functionality and the new touch remote for 2014. The touch remote adds voice control, which we found to work pretty well last year.

The 55LB6300 has plenty of picture quality features, though many were dropped that are on the LB7200 above this one. Still, the LB6300 is a solid buy for value TV shoppers. The IPS panel is one of the most important picture quality features due to all the benefits it brings. We"ve seen these in Panasonic LED TVs before, and the improvements are excellent. Side viewing anlges are improved as well as light flowthough.

The Samsung UN55H6350 replaces the F6300 series from last year. There aren"t too many upgrades from last year. Some of the most important include the quad core processor for speedy Smart Hub functionality and thinner bezels around the screen. The only differences between this one and the the H6400 series above it are the lack of 3D playback and the Smart Touch remote.

Vizio"s 55-inch entry into the basic lineup of LED TVs has seen some attractive upgrades for 2014. The price is one of those attractive features as well. The E550i-B2 features full-array LED backlighting instead of the edge-lit variety we have seen in the past. The 55 inch size has 12 zones of Active dimming for enhanced contrast.

New for 2013, the UN55F8000 LED TV focuses on many of the same aspects as the 8000 series from last year. The Smart TV functionality recieved a major overhaul with voice and getsture controls greatly benefiting. The LED backlighting is very powerful, so contrast is very strong. Standard definition programming also looks great on this LED TV.

The 55LA7400 is a direct replacement of last year"s 55LM7600. Picture quality on the LA7400 is very strong with great dark shadow detail which is not overshadowed by good black performance. Passive 3D performance is some of the strongest out there. For those mainly interested in 3D playback, this is a great choice.

The F7100 is a few steps down from the top tier F8000. This one has found the right balance between features and value. It is the replacement for the ES7100 from last year. The picture quality on the UN55F7100 is almost as excellent as the F8000 series (we"ve reviewed them side by side) and the key to this is that it has the same panel with clear coat screen and similar contrast.

The 55 inch Vizio M551d LED edge-lit TV is a fantastic value for the size class. It"s got everything a top of the line TV from other manufactures have. Passive 3D, 240Hz processing, local dimming, an updated appearance, and tons of smart TV functionality.

The 55LA6200 replaces the LM6200 series from last year and has a pretty similar feature set. The Magic Remote is an optional accessory and the Cinema Screen design is missing. Otherwise, the full LG Smart TV platform, great passive 3D, and the solid picture quality are present.

Though it is edge lit and not full array (LED) local dimming like some of the other top LED TVs out there for 2012, we know this TV is a top performer from our thorough review of its predecessor (the 55D8000) and from the new features such as Micro Dimming (a local dimming design from edge lit LED) and the new Smart Interaction feature which promises to be fun if nothing else. The 2D and 3D picture quality and design components leave nothing to be desired either.

The UN55ES6580 is a more value oriented offering from Samsung which has great picture components like the Micro Dimming technology, dual core processor, and 480Hz frame rate conversion speed while foregoing the top end features that add lots of cost such as the top end design, and smart interaction feature. Of course, you still get a very attractive TV, active 3D, and all the Smart Internet TV options.

The KDL55HX750 has one small difference from the top end 55HX850 in that it has a 480Hz equivalent refresh rate compared to 960Hz in the 850. It also has less zones of local dimming � but the fact that it has full array local dimming at all is pretty miraculous as this is a difficult technology to produce and it does a great job of establishing screen uniformity and avoiding problems with off angle viewing. Picture quality is the name of the game and the looks are nice too.

This 55" LED TV from Panasonic has full 1080p active 3D to each eye and high speed scanning. The 55DT50 has edge lit rather than full array local dimming. The looks are also stunning with a .25" silver frame similar to LG and Samsungs.

The next model down from LG is the 55LM8600 which has almost all the top end features but the full array local dimming. It is passive 3D like all of LG"s 3D LEDs but has super side viewing angles an that incredible appearance from the .2� framing bezel. I"m personally not a fan of the stand, too avant-guarde for my living room.

It"s easy to recommend the 55LM6700 from LG. It has many of the best less flashy features and is the lowest priced model from LG to have the super high tech looking .2� framing around the screen that is so attractive. It also has passive 3D, 120Hz processing (which is so close to 240Hz you probably would not notice the difference. It also has the new dual play passive 3D gaming enabled along with full Internet Smart TV options. You get it all for a great price since there are some higher end LG"s with hyped up features.

The UN55D7000 uses a 1080p, 240Hz LCD panel with LED edge lighting, the edge lighting is capable of local dimming for increased contrast in dark scenes and better contrast than LED or LCD televisions with constant back lighting.

Samsung"s D7000 LED backlit (via edge lighting) LCD TV is clearly one of their best, with top end features and a slightly lower price point than the D8000. It"s available in 60 inch, 55", and 46" sizes and has great attributes in the clear coat 3 dimensional screen with active 3D TV.

"I"m a big fan of the appearance of this TV. It has a piano black satin finish rather than high gloss which looks refined and expensive. The framing bezel is only an inch thick and the bottom of the panel remains minimalistic and does not have the gray strip from last year. The EX720 is only 1.68" deep and that includes a small flange that sticks out from the back bottom. 95% of the TV is only 1" in depth." - Robert Wiley, see the full review of the Sony KDL-46EX720

The UN55D6300 is another in the extensive 6 series lineup of LED edge-lit LCD televisions. The picture quality is a strong highlight, especially for an edge-lit model and for the first time we weren"t diving for the remote to shut off the 120Hz feature. It is decidedly better on the 2011 Samsung LEDs and this is the first year we don"t recommend turning it off for all viewing. When viewing some sources it is noticeable but for the most part it"s a huge improvement.

Everyone is on the the latest and greatest 3D TVs and LED TVs, but dont underestimate some of these excellent little LCD TVs for delivering the best value (along with plasma) in the marketplace. From past reviews and viewing at CES we know that this TV has a strong picture performance.

Adoption of the Toshiba 55TL515 will be interesting as the TV has lots of compelling features but in Toshiba"s passive 3D format and edge lit local dimming. Viewing angles on the TL515 are superior to that of the SL417 due no doubt to the enhanced local dimming technology employed during viewing.

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).

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 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.

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.

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.

In recent years, 55-inch TVs have become a sweet spot when it comes to the television market. A TV of this size can comfortably fit in a variety of spaces, from large living rooms to compact dorm rooms. It’s one of the most common sizes across manufacturers’ offerings, so this class offers just about any configuration you could want. Whether you’re looking for a TV with the best OLED picture quality, or are more concerned about gaming, we’ve researched and selected the best 55-inch TVs for every occasion.

What’s great about 55-inch TVs is their size is flexible enough to fit in spaces that are large and small. I live in a small one-bedroom apartment and a 55-inch inch TV fits perfectly in our living room. It’s big enough for me to absorb what I’m watching without feeling like I need to squint to enjoy the details.

It’s recommended you sit about 7-and-a-half feet away from a 55-inch TV for the optimal viewing experience. That recommendation isn’t an exact science since everyone’s eyesight is different, but this calculator goes into much more detail into the data behind the optimal viewing distance for the size TV you buy. Resolution used to be an issue when buying a large TV because sitting too close would make the pixels visible. With 4K resolution as the norm, however, that isn’t much of a problem anymore.

Picking the right size TV for your space is only the first step. You’ll want to be mindful of screen technology (OLED or QLED), price, and a wide array of specs. From display resolution to refresh rate to connectivity, there are a wide variety of things to consider.

LCD, LED, OLED, QLED, ACDC (kidding), these acronyms can get confusing, especially in the TV space where technology has progressed rapidly. Most TVs available today either offer OLED or QLED displays and, despite their similar-sounding names, they offer important differences you need to know about.

OLED stands for “organic light-emitting diode,” and is distinctly different from LCD. OLED is emissive, which means the pixels emit their own light. TVs equipped with OLED technology can turn these pixels on an individual basis, which means the picture can produce “true blacks” and better highlights. Best of all, when shadows and highlights rub shoulders, you won’t get any light bleed from an OLED panel, which traditional LCD technology struggles with.

Meanwhile, QLED stands for “quantum dot light-emitting diodes,” and is a transmissive layer that complements traditional backlit LCD panels. The quantum dot layer enhances the screen’s color, brightness, and contrast, resulting in improved picture quality compared to older LCD and LED sets. There are some TVs that feature QLED displays with Mini-LED backlighting, which is a separate display technology that enables “local dimming.” This makes it possible for your TV to enhance or reduce its brightness in specific areas for improved contrast.

If you plan to play a lot of video games and watch a lot of sports, you’ll want a TV with a higher refresh rate. Why? Refresh rate refers to how many times your TV can redraw the on-screen image each second. TVs with a refresh rate of 120Hz or above—as opposed to the standard 60Hz—will provide viewers with smoother on-screen motion. That’s exactly what you want because it means smoother animation in modern video games and a more fluid picture when watching sports. Unless it’s curling, a 60Hz TV should be fine for that.

The LG C1 regularly appears on best-of lists and it ranks as our top overall pick for best 55-inch TV thanks to its terrific display and plentiful features. To top it off, the 55-inch version is available for a good price all things considered.

Let’s be clear: Outdoor TVs can’t match the fidelity and picture quality you’d get from the other 55-inch TVs mentioned above. But the Sunbrite Veranda is still no slouch and will offer an enjoyable viewing experience. The TV features an LED backlight that cranks up the brightness to compete with the ambient light bouncing around outdoors. And although it can’t match the same contrast and vibrancy as what’s in your living room, an outdoor setting makes them less relevant anyway.

I’ve owned a 55-inch TV for nearly 10 years and I’ve never considered it to be too small. Would I mind something bigger? Certainly not, and I even have thoughts on the best 65-inch TVs, but I have no complaints about my TV’s size. I sit at the recommended distance from the TV, so I’m able to see details without squinting. The size also doesn’t feel like it’s dominating my living room, allowing me to admire its picture when it’s on and ignore it when it’s off. It strikes a good balance and is a good size for spaces large and small.

A 55-inch TV is a good jumping-off point for most people, whether you’ve moved into your first apartment or are going off to college. As we’ve said, it’s a nice in-between size that’s flexible enough to fit spaces large and small.

The good news is a TV in this size range features all the bells and whistles you could ever want, from high resolution to displays to support for next-gen gaming. As we said in our roundup of the best 65-inch TVs, it comes down to the details: How many HDMI 2.1 ports do you need? Do you want OLED or QLED? Whatever you decide, our picks above are among the best.

High-end 4K models cost about half of what they did a few years ago, and excellent mid-range models (55- and 65-inch class) are available for much less than $1,000. We’ll give you our top picks, followed by an in-depth guide to the specs and features you’ll encounter when you shop.

Samsung’s best 4K UHD LCD TV delivers terrific image quality, particularly when it comes to HDR, and it serves up a quartet of 120Hz-enabled HDMI ports plus a nifty remote that can be charged via RF harvesting. We were annoyed by Samsung’s convoluted Smart Hub TV interface, which requires too many clicks for our taste. That said, the QN90B is the best-looking 4K LCD TV you can buy right now.

TCL is rapidly gaining—and deserving—a reputation for building affordable smart TVs that deliver incredible value. It’s 55-inch 6-series is certainly no exception, combining quantum-dot color with mini-LED backlight technology to build a set with great color, brightness, and the Roku TV operating system. We like it a lot.

CRT TVs were around for more 50 years and were still being improved when they fell out of favor. LCD TVs aren’t nearly that mature, and you’ll still find the occasional entry-level models with color and contrast issues. Color and contrast have nonetheless improved drastically in the last few years, and the improvements have trickled down almost to the lowest rung on the ladder. OLED remains at the pinnacle, but remains expensive to manufacture. I’ll talk more about LED versus OLED in a bit.

The best news, to expand on my previous point, is that top-end technology (quantum dots, mini-LED) has filtered down to the mid-range (defined as $750 to $1,250 for a 65-inch-class set). We haven’t seen one that quite puts it all together yet, but TCL’s 6-series come darn close. Too close, certainly, for the big three (LG, Samsung, and Sony) to remain comfortable.

Even better, nearly all the high-end 4k UHD 65-inch-class TVs that cost $600 to $10,000 or more a few years ago have dropped to below $3,000. Even Samsung’s 8K UHD QN800A-series can be hand for $3,500 (65-inch class). LG’s 8K UHD OLED—the 88-inch-class model OLED88Z9PUA—is something to behold, but it costs $30,000. Ouch. Then again, if your entertainment center is big enough to require an 88- to 120-inch-class television, that price tag might worth the experience.

Screen size: 65-inch TVs are the hot commodity these days, but only you know which size TV fits best in your living space. Personally, I prefer 43-inchers. Go figure.

You can save a lot of money—$600 to $900 on a top-of-the-line set—by downsizing to perhaps 55-inches and sitting a bit closer. How close? 1.5 times the stated size of the TV is the recommended distance.

Note that the number of backlighting zones and other technologies aren’t always exactly the same across all sizes. Read the fine print carefully (if it even exists), as a 55-inch unit might not offer quite the performance of the 65-inch sets companies like to send to reviewers.

LED-backlit LCD versus OLED: There’s a luxuriousness to the image that OLED TVs produce that appeals to many, including myself. Because each sub-pixel is its own light source, when a pixel is switched off, you get near perfect black. LED-backlit LCD TVs bleed light around and through the LCDs, which are not perfect shutters.

Even the best LED/LCD TVs can’t match the blacks of OLED. (Mini-LED gets closer—see below). On the other hand, they can generate much higher peak brightness, which compensates with most material and really makes HDR pop.

The main drawbacks of OLED as a technology are a relatively limited lifespan, and burn-in; i.e. ghosts of previous images remaining on screen. LG claims 100,000 hours to half brightness for its TVs: That’s where 500 nits becomes 250 nits, and that number of hours is calculated based on the TV displaying standard dynamic range material. HDR content will shorten an OLED’s lifespan.

Viewing angle: While most TVs look great when viewed head-on, not all look that great when viewed from an angle. So, if you’re planning to host Super Bowl parties or other events where people will watch from oblique angles, make sure you check into this aspect. Anti-glare coatings, as well as the type of LCDs used: IPS (In-Plane Switching), TN (Twisted Nematic), VA (Vertically Aligned), etc., can affect the image when viewed from other than purely perpendicular.

Backlighting: Two basic types of backlighting are used in LED-backlit LCD TVs: array and edge lit. As previously discussed, every element in an OLED (or micro-LED) panel is its own backlight.

Array backlighting is simply a grid of LEDs placed directly behind the screen. It’s an advanced type of what was once referred to as direct backlighting. Edge lighting, as you’ve probably guessed, places the light source around the edge of the display. The photons emitted by the source are redirected by various means (tunnels, light pipes, reflective materials, et al) to the filter and LCD layers of the display. Edge lighting has generally been relegated to entry-level TVs.

Array backlighting produces better blacks than edge lighting, though how much better depends on a number of factors, such as the quality of the LCDs (some leak less light than others), the algorithms used to darken the zones (the individual lights or light groups), and the material being displayed. Array backlighting can also produce significantly more brightness than edge lighting, which comes in handy for HDR.

Mini-LED is the latest development in LED/array backlighting. TCL was first to market with it, but Samsung’s latest TVs also feature the technology. Basically, the LEDs are much smaller, there are far more of them, and they’re placed much closer to the filter and LCD layers, reducing bleed and deepening blacks while simultaneously increasing brightness. It’s not quite OLED, but it’s a lot closer than normal array or edge LED backlighting.

That said, 100,000 backlights doesn’t mean 100,000 dimming zones. Vendors are free to group them as they see fit. We’ve seen anywhere from 600 zones (Samsung’s 55-inch QN90F) to several thousand in TCL’s 8 Series.

Screen uniformity: With very bright scenes, cheaper TVs will suffer cloudy areas due to either poor anti-glare coating or uneven backlighting. Poorly designed TVs might show dark areas, generally in the corners, where the backlighting doesn’t reach. These problems have been mitigated the last few years, but they’re still something you should look for—and avoid.

All things being equal, you have twice as many redraws to play with on a 120Hz set as on a 60Hz set, and motion will nearly always look smoother with a higher refresh rate. Case in point: the best LED-backlit LCD sets all have 120Hz hardware refresh rates. Look for the hardware refresh rate.Or ask; it can be hard to find.

As far as the remotes on their own, LG’s Magic Remote is the gold standard, with an honorable mention to the Roku remote. I love the look and feel of Samsung’s One Remote and its clever rocker channel and volume buttons, but too many common functions are off-loaded to the onscreen interface. It requires a lot more clicks than the others.

YouTube is also a good source for HDR, 4K UHD, and even 8K UHD content to test TVs with. It’s often highly compressed, but generally indicative. There are even “zone counters” for counting the number of zones in the array backlighting. Watch the small white block move along the edge of a black screen and each time it dims (or brightens—your choice) it has traveled over a new zone.

The best 55-inch TVs in 2023 are the most commonly purchased tellies for most people. While we"ve covered the best TVs in our other dedicated feature, here we"re focused on those dream living room options that deliver a truly cinematic experience at home – but don"t decimate your bank balance.

If you’re specifically wanting to go for one of the best OLED TVs then we"ve got another list for that too. Or if 55-inches feels too big for your home then take a look at our best 48- to 50-inch TVs guide instead. We have more information at the end of this article about what to look for.

anel technologies, whether Mini LED-backlit LCD panels, QD-OLED new-entries, or traditional OLED types. All make for fantastic viewing experiences, and at all kinds of price points.

The best 55-inch TV right now in our opinion is the Samsung S95B. This QD-OLED set brings vibrant colours and massive brightness all for a very fair price indeed. It"s a great balance and a great return to OLED for Samsung.

The best 55-inch TV for most people is the LG OLED C2. This is a great OLED set and it"s very fairly priced, which massively adds to its appeal. Seeing as LG produces the panels for all its rivals, image quality is akin to other same-year competitor sets too, so no compromises.

The best 55-inch TV for saving money is the Samsung BU8500. We described it as "superb for the price", because 4K quality this good for this little is unrivalled in our view. It"s "Crystal UHD", not Mini LED or OLED, so it"s less refined, but it"s that much cheaper to justify it.Today"s best Samsung S95B 55-inch, LG OLED55C2 and Samsung UE55BU8500 deals

As we said in ourLG C2 review(opens in new tab), this is one of the best TVs(opens in new tab) on the planet today. With support for all the latest standards and four HDMI 2.1 ports for game console compatibility the specification is as impressive as the visuals, and even the sound is pretty good for a flat-screen TV. However we would recommend that you add one of the best soundbars(opens in new tab) – as you just won"t get much of a spatial audio effect from this TV without one.

While its screen tech won’t compete with some of the priciest options on this list, the Sky Glass is a 4K QLED TV with a decent 55-inch display and it packs in a powerful soundbar with Dolby Atmos surround sound support.

A 55-inch TV may initially sound too big, but once you consider recent tech and design trends, you might change your mind. For a start modern TVs are much thinner, and not just the OLEDs.

A 55-inch HDR TV will only be 2 or 3cm deep, and minimalist designs, shrinking bezels and hidden speakers mean both OLED and LCD TVs are primarily a screen with no extraneous design features, and less thick edges. As a result you may be able to fit a 55-inch 4K TV into a space previously occupied by a smaller but older model.

For small living rooms, 55 inches will likely be the upper limit of what will fit, and it is worth taking some measurements to be sure. But it can give you an epic cinema screen feel if you"re sitting around 10 feet away.

In larger living rooms, where you may be sitting further away, it"s basically the standard size you should be aiming for if you"re sitting around 14 feet from the screen. Any more than that, and you should take a look at the best 65-inch TVs(opens in new tab), though these do come with a price hike (and, of course, are notably bigger).

The top-quality 55-inch 4K TV market is dominated by OLEDs and high-end QLED TVs (or equivalent LCD technology). As a result, you can expect the LCD screens to use a direct LED backlight with local dimming, which help them get closer to the deep black range that OLED offers.

If you go down the price ladder, you"ll lose the OLED panels, and the LCD panels will become simpler, with fewer dimming zones in the backlight, before moving to edge-lit LED panels as you go more budget. These will still offer strong brightness and colours, but won"t be as capable when it comes to dark scenes.

Before you dive in to the individual models, it pays to understand the two basic technologies used in today’s televisions: LCD TVs, which are also called LED TVs for the LED backlights that illuminate the screen, and OLED TVs, where each pixel generates its own light.

There are far fewer OLED TVs on the market, and they tend to be more expensive, though prices have dropped over the past couple of years. OLED sets do a great job of displaying the blackest parts of an image, so the deepest shadows can really look black, as in real life, rather than gray. OLED TVs also have essentially unlimited viewing angles, so the picture still looks great even if you’re not viewing the screen head-on.

However, most TVs are LCD sets. While they generally can’t deliver OLED-like black levels, they get better every year, especially models that use full-array backlights, where the LEDs are spread across the entire rear panel instead of just along the edges. These models include a feature called local dimming, which divides the backlights into zones that can be dimmed or illuminated separately, depending on the scene. This can help improve black levels.

Typically, only pricier TVs have full-array backlights with local dimming. Other sets are edge-lit, with the LEDs positioned on the sides of the screen. Some of these sets also include local dimming, but it tends to be less effective than in sets with full-array backlights. The best LCD TVs can create very bright, vivid images.

Tizen is Samsung’s own Linux-based smart TV OS that 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 Xbox, and GeForce Now for streaming games.

Samsung has stayed away from 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).

For 2023, Samsung’s forging ahead with their QD-OLED displays, announcing at CES 2023 their latest S95C lineup they’re branding simply as “OLED.” They’re available in 55- and 75-inch sizes, as well as a massive 77-inch model that we recently got our hands on for review. Samsung’s microLED TVs are also coming down in size and price and its primary money maker, its mini-LED Neo QLED lineup, has gotten a redesign too, and we’ve already had some time with the new stable.

Another South Korean company, LG may not be as massive as Samsung, but thanks to its OLED TV display technology, it’s had minimal competition when it comes to top-of-the-line picture performance with its unrivaled contrast and black levels, but new screen tech like QD-OLED is making headway.

Last year we saw some stunning OLED Evo TVs hit the market from LG, including our top pick for the best TV, the 65-inch LG G2 Evo Gallery OLED, and the well-reviewed LG C2 Evo OLED. In 2023, however, not only did LG announce some pretty interesting new TVS with the 97-inch LG Signature OLED M that transmits audio and video wirelessly from what they call a Zero Connect box, and the transparent OLED T television, but had to also throw down its answer to Samsung’s QD-OLED, with its latest OLEDs, the evo G3 Gallery Edition with its bolder and brighter microlens (MLA) array, but the latest lineup of its popular C3 OLED TVs, too.

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.

For 2023, however, TCL is starting from scratch, ditching the numbered 1-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 8-, and 6-Series nomenclature for a much more pared-down two-bucket categorization: the high-end QLED-powered Q Series and the more affordable S Series. The big guns for 2023 will be TCL’s flagship QM8 Series, a mini-LED QLED lineup that will come in 65-, 75-, 85-, and, (gulp) 95-inch varietals.  The non-mini-LED Q7 Series range is the next step down and will likely be more affordable, and there will also be an additional Q6 Series tier as well. We’ll update this post with more information as we get it.

Chinese manufacturer Hisense has been steadily making moves in the TV market over the years, licensing Sharp’s brand name(and buying its North American factory outright in 2015), buying Toshiba’s business in 2017, and making TVs under all three names for the U.S. market. Hisense had a rocky start but found a rhythm in making value-conscious Quantum 4K panels. In fact, their quality has improved so much that one of the latest versions, the 65-inch Hisense U8H, is on our list of the best TVs for its amazingly bright image and class-leading black levels.

With all of those OS choices, buyers can pick the smart platform they like, with plenty of options for budget-friendly purchases. And like TCL, Hisense uses mini-LED QLED (Hisense calls it ULED) technology for its best TVs, including the above-mentioned 2022 U8H Google TV which has excellent contrast and vivid color, that comes close to many of the best models from Samsung, Sony, and LG. 2023 will see the U8H elevate into the new U8K models, which are even brighter, listing 1,500 nits, and have a new anti-glare screen and a built-in 2.1.2 Dolby Atmos audio system among other improvements. Hisense’s step-down models, the U7H and U6H series TVs, are also beautiful and beautifully priced and are both getting an upgrade this year making the leap from standard LED backlighting to mini-LED with the U7K and U6K series.

Lastly, new for 2023, is a new flagship Hisense, the 85-inch ULED X, a mini-LED QLED monster with more than 5,000 local dimming zones and a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. Dolby Vision, Wi-Fi 6e, NextGen TV, and AMD’s Freesync Premium Pro are some of the other features that are helping push Hisense forward this year, too. Like TCL and Vizio, Hisense’s TVs are priced to afford, making you sometimes wonder why you’d even pay more for the big players.

Before 2017, all of Vizio’s Smart TVs ran a system that required users to download an application on their smartphone or tablet, which would be used to cast any content to the screen. In a nutshell, they were designed for mirroring. SmartCast updated that system by automatically curating a wide selection of apps without the need to download anything. That includes major streamers from Disney+ to Netflix, plenty of individual channel apps, and a wide variety of niche apps. It’s particularly easy to use in a field where smart TV platforms aren’t always the most user-friendly.