2024 was another great year if you love TVs. Both QLED QLED and mini-LED sets have continued to improve at pace, while OLED continues to dominate our picks of the best TVs thanks to the brightness-boosting excellence of both quantum dot and MLA tech. There’s simply never been a better time to own a quality smart TV.
Over the past 12 months, Samsung’s sterling output has impressed us more than any other manufacturer, while we’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of the best 4K projectors. It’s not all been sunshine and roses, though. With another 365 days in the book, 8K has yet to impact the market.
Thankfully, the biggest TV winners of 2024 easily outnumber the losers of the year just gone.
Winner: Samsung dominates our best TVs picks
The stranglehold on the high-end TV space that Samsung has developed over the last few years is pretty remarkable. The South Korean firm wasn’t content with regularly churning out the best mini-LED TVs, oh no. Instead, it went and stole the crown in the OLED market thanks to its QD-OLED panel tech.
A third of our top 9 best TV list is currently dominated by Samsung – more than any other manufacturer. Not only does the Big S continue to body the opposition with QLEDs, but it’s amazingly stolen the mantle from LG in the OLED space – quite the shocker, seeing as LG is wholly responsible for putting the premium TV tech on the map.
There’s simply no denying the dominance of Samsung. From the unbeatable value of the Samsung S90C to the high-end dream performance of the Samsung S95D (our TV of the Year), the current king of TV manufacturing is the iconic South Korean brand. Over to you, LG.
Winner: Projectors rise again
The best projectors of 2024 were no longer only for obsessive cinephiles with gargantuan walls. With an increased focus on affordability and less intimidating form factors, projectors feel like a genuinely viable alternative to high-end TVs for the first time in years.
New high-end models from Epson, Sony, and Samsung dominated TechRadar’s Best of CEDIA Expo 2024 awards, with the Epson QL7000, a model capable of 10,000 ANSI lumens brightness, offering a projector alternative to massive 100-inch-plus TVs and micro-LED video walls for those who don’t want to watch in a dark theater room.
On the affordable and portable side of the spectrum, new projectors like the LG CineBeam Q offered up design sophistication and 4K resolution in an under-$1,000 model, while the Anker Nebula Mars 3 combined high brightness and 2.5-hour battery life in a rugged, roadworthy case.
Companies are taking note, too. A recent tvOS beta for the exceptional Apple TV 4K included support for a wider range of projector-friendly aspect ratios, including 21:9 and 32:9.
Projectors are having a moment. Here’s hoping it lasts through 2025 and beyond.
Winner: OLEDs continue to astound
Traditional W-OLEDs have long been our favorite TV type, and the gap between LCD and the best OLED TVs has only become more cavernous over the last year with brighter forms of ‘organic light-emitting diode’ tech.
The sensational Samsung S95D shows that quantum dot tech is now firmly established as the OLED technology to beat. Thanks to its effective anti-glare coating and a hugely impressive peak HDR brightness of 1,868 nits, it’s capable of showcasing pictures that are almost as bright as the best mini-LED TVs while also delivering better contrast through its perfect black levels.
Not that QD-OLEDs don’t still face stiff competition. The LG G4 floored us with its dazzlingly vivid images that get incredibly bright thanks to the set’s second-gen MLA (Micro Lens Array) technology. The Panasonic Z95A with its ‘Master OLED Ultimate’ MLA panel is also a stunner.
This trio of sets leaves us in no doubt about OLED’s vice-like grip on the high-end TV market, though Sony’s new flagship Bravia 9 with its innovative XR Backlight Master Drive with High Peak Luminance tech gave a strong indication that mini-LED tech is making inroads in the premium TV space.
You don’t necessarily have to blow your life savings to own a terrific OLED TV. The LG B4 is one of the best budget OLEDs we’ve ever reviewed, and thanks to its quartet of HDMI 2.1 ports and new Dolby Vision Filmmaker mode, it’s fantastic for both gamers and movie lovers.
2024 was the year of OLED. We’d be surprised if every year until 2034 wasn’t, too.
Loser: 8K… again
Until we’re all forced to have Minority Report-mandated cornea upgrades, the long-touted 8K future of TVs should probably be shelved for the time being.
Though the recently released PS5 Pro is trying to make 8K console gaming a thing, the likelihood of Sony's expensive new machine moving the needle in terms of 7,680 x 4,320 gaming (if you’re down with your pixel count lingo) is extremely unlikely.
The Samsung QN900D is our current choice for the best 8K TV, and it’s unquestionably a fantastic television. Yet at the time of writing, it’s also an unessential one, because the best streaming services, Blu-rays and video games aren’t yet at the level to deliver 8K at the price point people are interested in or demand.
Until the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Sony with its PS5 Pro take 8K seriously, even the most fanatical of TV fans should keep hold of their 4K sets.
Winner: You still can’t beat 4K Blu-ray
Despite the best efforts of Disney and Best Buy to either reduce or flat-out stop support for 4K Blu-rays, our beloved Ultra HD discs aren’t going anywhere quite yet.
2024 was another strong year for 4K Blu-rays. When a movie transfer is done correctly on the format, it still looks comfortably crisper than on streaming services and also has superior audio quality.
This year spoiled us with some incredible 4K transfers, even if the movies themselves couldn’t quite match up with the image quality. Despite not being great films, the likes of Alien: Romulus and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes look absolutely pristine on one of the best 4K Blu-ray players. As for Dune: Part 2, the sweeping sci-fi epic continues Denis Villeneuve’s incredible run of drool-worthy 4K transfers.
When it comes to 4K Blu-ray vs streaming, the scoreline continues to read ‘Discs 1- Internet 0’.
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