As a Batman fan, I was disappointed to learn last week that The Batman Part 2 has been delayed until February 18, 2028, another four-month wait to add to add to its last (delayed) intended release date of October 1, 2027. This latest holdup is actually the fourth time the long-awaited sequel to The Batman has been delayed, with its initial release originally set to be October 2025.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to enjoy Batman content at home while we eagerly await The Batman: Part 2’s 2028 release. From Christopher Nolan’s iconic Dark Knight Trilogy to the awesome Batman: The Animated Series, there are tons of choices. And there’s no better way to enjoy Batman’s many adventures than with a 4K Blu-ray. I’m a 4K Blu-ray fan and collector, so I’m always testing the latest releases for the Blu-ray Bounty and finding new discs to test the best TVs and best soundbars.

Below, I’ve picked three of my favorite Batman-related 4K Blu-rays, not just because they’re my personal picks, but because they’re also great examples to show what 4K can do, especially for your home theater.

The Batman

Where else to better prepare for The Batman: Part 2 than with its predecessor, The Batman. Matt Reeve’s The Batman follows Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattison) in his second year as Batman, where he must face The Riddler (Paul Dano), a revolutionary who uses a series of riddles and puzzles to test Batman, as Riddler plans to expose Gotham’s corrupt government and elite.

The Batman has become one of my main 4K Blu-rays for testing TVs. Due to its low brightness, some TVs can really struggle to accurately display the movie, compromising its dark tones. But, there’s also plenty of excellent-looking scenes with powerful contrast, balancing light and dark tones, that can really show off a TV.

The opening 20 minutes of the movie itself is all a big demo-reel for contrast. From the dark subway platform illuminated by overhead lamps as Batman fights a gang of thugs, to where we first see Bruce decoding Riddler’s clues in the Batcave, The Batman delivers truly dynamic and strong contrast, which I've found look superb on the best OLED TVs in particular.

There’s also a chance to show a display’s shadow detail, with plenty of scenes making use of shadows to create a captivating image. The aforementioned subway scene is one of these, with truly dark shadows creating a foreboding atmosphere that fits the gloomy tone of the movie.

There’s excellent detail throughout, with crisp textures that look refined and lifelike. Close-up shots show scars, wrinkles and stubble on people’s faces with impressive clarity, and texture in environments, like Mayor Mitchell’s house or the Batcave, are given a near-3D level of detail.

The Batman is an audio showcase as well as a visual one. The Batmobile chase has become a reference scene I use for showing off a sound system. The ignition of the Batmobile’s engines deliver room-rattling, powerful bass that through a subwoofer can create some serious roar. The 4K disc uses a Dolby Atmos soundtrack that creates an immersive and detailed sound.

As the Batmobile chases Penguin across a busy freeway, serving traffic and blaring horns are accurately mapped to the action. As Penguin fires a spray of bullets at the Batmobile, the sound glides around a surround system, as I found when using soundbars such as the talented Samsung HW-Q990H. There are plenty of Atmos effects too, as rain regularly falls throughout the movie, effectively using the height channels of any sound system.

The Dark Knight

Arguably the most popular Batman movie ever made, The Dark Knight is the second movie in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. It’s one that’s stuck with me ever since I saw it as a teenager in theaters in 2008. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a couple of years into his time as Batman and he faces his biggest challenge yet, when he squares off with the unpredictable and chaotic Joker (played brilliantly by Heath Ledger).

Unsurprisingly, where this disc shines is in its IMAX sequences. These IMAX scenes show impeccable detail and crisp, 3D-like textures. In the opening bank heist scene, every detail is refined, from the creases in the robbers’ masks, to the texture in buildings of the densely packed city. Oh, and don’t be surprised when the ratio changes from widescreen to fullscreen: that’s normal for IMAX on home media.

Black tones and shadow detail are excellent during the film's night scenes too (of which there are plenty), and they look superb on an OLED TV. Contrast is also strong, particularly during the prison escort scene. As trucks move under the freeway, the overhead lights balance well with the dark, shadowed areas of the tunnel to create dynamic contrast.

This disc is also an audio powerhouse. With a DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack, there’s some fantastic detail. During the tunnel escort scene, the whir of Batman’s bike riding through the tunnel is mapped perfectly to every channel. As perspective changes, so does the sound. Bullets are precise, flying from the front to rear channels when the movie is from Batman’s point-of-view, and every individual effect is audible, such as flying debris and swerving tyres.

Bass throughout the movie is truly powerful. Bullets have serious impact and the roar of the Batmobile’s engines delivers tightly controlled, but hefty low-end that reverberated through our testing room when I watched.

The score is a showcase in and of itself, with superb separation across different channels of the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar I was using. In the opening scene, the scratching strings came from the left rear, the ticking sound from the right, and the heavy bass exploded from the subwoofer. Crucially though, every element was perfectly balanced, within the score itself and with all the action.

Batman Forever

This pick will raise eyebrows, I’m sure. But, honestly, Batman Forever is the Batman movie I grew up with and despite its very corny nature, I enjoy it. It scratches the exact part of my brain that occasionally craves a nostalgic Batman fix. The movie follows Batman (played by Val Kilmer) as he does battle with the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) as they attempt to take over Gotham.

While this may be a surprising choice for a lot of people, this is a seriously good-looking 4K presentation. Batman Forever uses a lot of bold and vibrant colors, and in 4K, they really pop on screen. The green of the Riddler’s gaudy outfit and the purple of Two-Face’s injured side compliment each other well. There’s also a lot of neon-esuqe lighting used in the movie, with light tubes, red detail on Two-Face’s minion’s guns and the shimmering greens of Riddler’s hideout and event space. All these colors have a gorgeous punch that looks sharp and dynamic throughout the movie.

Shadows are used a lot, with characters often standing over lamps or in shaded rooms to create strong contrast in images. The LG G6 OLED on which I watched this movie in our testing room celebrates these rich and inky dark tones, with the leather of Batman’s armor showing nice depth, but also balancing well as the light reflects off it. Shadow detail is excellent too, with textures in dark areas on screen legible (yes, even the strange texture of Batman’s armor). Skin looks realistic in the many close-up shots used, too.

This 4K disc also supports Dolby Atmos. There’s some excellent use of height channels throughout, with the sound of helicopter Two-Face uses to escape in the intro coming from overhead as I watched. Explosions have plenty of meat to them, producing some lovely low-end rumble during the movie’s more action-packed scenes. The sound of the Batmobile’s engines firing is another great demo for the powerful bass in the mix.

More subtle details are also fully audible. The sound of Batman’s batarang as he throws it is precisely mapped, with the sound eagerly following its trajectory. Bullets have great punch to them, and again these are accurately posited within the surround channels. Speech is consistently clear throughout too, even during the most chaotic scenes. You might not necessarily expect this movie to be such an audio showcase, but it really is.

• Nearly 400 4K Blu-ray users shared info about player problems
• There's a huge gap between the best and worst in the poll
• Panasonic will be happy; Sony not so much

One of the things I like best about Reddit is the way people share their experiences of particular products: whether it's a kitchen knife, a portable AC or a Gibson guitar I know I'll be able to find sage advice on what to buy and what to watch out for. And now the good people of r/hometheater have come together to talk about the best 4K Blu-ray players and their reliability.

The poll was carried out by r/hometheater poster "requieminadream" and generated nearly 400 responses — almost double the number of previous poll respondents — from r/4KBluray, r/Bluray, r/PhysicalMediaMatters, the AVS Forums, and the Blu-ray.com forums. And there are some very clear differences between different firms' Blu-ray devices.

Requieminadream very kindly summarized the results in a sentence: "The Sony UBP-X700 is still the problem child, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is still champ, and the pricey UB-9000 posted the cleanest numbers (small sample though)."

But there were some interesting discoveries in the detail too, so it's definitely worth looking at if you're considering a pre-owned 4K Blu-ray player purchase, or just which one seems to make people the happiest long-term.

The 4K Blu-ray Standalone Player Reliability Poll numbers ARE IN! from r/hometheater

Which 4K Blu-ray players are the best?

One of the reasons I like Reddit wisdom is because with few exceptions, reviewers can't spend years with the products they test — so the reviews of my car don't know about the software issues that drive me wild and sometimes require a reboot at traffic lights, and the reviews of my router don't know about its tendency to misbehave every few weeks.

It's the same with Blu-ray players: even the most in-depth review won't be able to tell you if a player's likely to pack up in year two or three. (Though one exception is our Panasonic DP-UB820 review, written by our TV Hardware senior writer James Davidson, because he wrote us a fresh review based on combining using it in our test room and having used it daily for several years beforehand.)

But in general, polls like this are a brilliant resource.

By a large margin, the Panasonic DP-UB820 is the community's favored player: 43.4% of respondents have one, and its problem rate was around half that of the Sony UBP-X700. The rate of serious issues was very low, at just 8% — backing up what James had said, when he called it "the workhorse of the 4K Blu-ray player world".

The "problem child" that emerged from this latest poll is the Sony UBP-X700. Of the 103 Sony users, some 77.7% reported some issues over time; recurring and/or serious issues were 23%. The number one complaint is freezing during triple-layer transitions, which is something that has long been discussed on Blu-ray forums.

The poll shows another interesting pattern, which is problems over time. For the Sony, issues became more common over time — but for the Panasonic the pattern was of any failures showing up early, but better long-term reliability.

The other players in the survey came in between the two extremes, but some of the best results were from "other" players including games consoles and more niche Blu-ray products.

Satisfaction with those products was exceptionally high, with the PS5 getting a significantly higher rating than the Xbox. That's all the more striking given the Sony X700's performance: the PS5 is a more premium product and that seems to be reflected in its reliability — alas, we shouldn't expect any more PlayStations to arrive with a disc player.

I should make clear, as the original Redditor did, that in some cases the sample sizes for ownership in these polls is pretty low, so we should take the results with a pinch of salt. However, the Panasonic UB820 and the Sony X700 were the best-represented, and are the two most popular players, so their data is arguably the most useful anyway.

• Filmmaker mode in reverse: Creator Original embraces your TV's processing power
• Initially limited to 2026 C6, G6 and W6 OLED TVs
• Rolling out by the end of July 2026

LG Electronics has partnered with Prime Video to launch a new picture mode in select LG TVs. The new mode, called Creator Original, will initially be exclusive to three 2026 models: the LG C6, LG G6 and LG W6 series televisions.

The launch will be centered around the Masters of the Universe movie, which will be coming to Prime Video. And if you don't mind feeling very silly indeed, you can declare "I have the POWER!" into the LG Magic Remote for LG Smart TVs with webOS 23 or later to bring up content relating to the movie release.

Creator Original is the more interesting addition, though. It promises to deliver more control to creators than Filmmaker Mode, because it takes the opposite approach: instead of removing your TV's image processing and enhancement as much as possible, Creator Original embraces it, but with rules.

What is Creator Original on LG OLED TVs?

According to LG, Creator Original will enable TV and movie studios to set key parameters such as shadow detail and color balance, and to control how how motion processing and noise reduction are being used in your TV's processing, all to deliver the creator's preferred visuals, in theory.

In the case of Masters of the Universe, LG says that enables its TVs to "faithfully reproduce every glowing sword clash, shadowy Skeletor lair and explosive battle across Eternia."

Interestingly, Creator Original's pitch sounds remarkably similar to what Dolby is planning with Dolby Vision 2. Dark area handling and control over motion handling control are key features of DV2, which has the same goal as Creator Original: making the most of the capabilities of high-powered TVs without sacrificing accuracy by putting control in the hands of movie makers, and using data in the file to tell the TV what to do.

However, Creator Original won't have the bi-directional tone mapping and certain other features of Dolby Vision 2 Max, which also has a new and improved image quality engine behind it.

But still Creator Original looks like it may tick the most interesting boxes of DV2, and it has one big advantage over it: it looks like it's going to arrive first.

Dolby Vision 2 currently has one streaming partner, Peacock, and one filmmaking partner (StudioCanal), and there's no sign of a launch date as yet, though in discussions with Hisense and TCL we've learned that it's expected before the end of the year.

In contrast, LG says that Creator Original Mode for Prime Video "is scheduled to roll out by the end of this month," meaning July 2026, and if Prime Video adds support across more of its enviable Amazon Studios and MGM library, that could be a strong range of movies that use it. Of course, the fact that it only works on three TVs is a bit of a limitation.

When we asked LG if it has any plans to support Dolby Vision 2, it said that it would wait to see how support for the format evolves — but said we shouldn't expect current TVs to get it. So if you're thinking of buying the LG C6 or G6, this might be the best you can do for these kinds of next-gen image features.

As for the movie itself, we rather enjoyed it: in our Masters of the Universe review we said "it's the unrelentingly fun popcorn movie that [we] had expected recent Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu to be."

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As TechRadar’s AV tester, I’m always on the lookout for new 4K Blu-rays to test the best TVs and best soundbars with. While I have a pretty healthy catalog, with some top-notch discs, as a 4K Blu-ray fan, it’s exciting to check out new discs to keep testing fresh.

Last month, I tested the Speed Racer 4K Blu-ray and it was a powerhouse. Not only did it deliver staggeringly vibrant colors, but it also had a superb Dolby Atmos soundtrack that demonstrated power and precision, particularly during race sequences. It was one of my top discs of the June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, and it’s easily one of the most impressive I’ve tested.

This month, a new disc has caught my eye: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The second entry in the new Mario Bros set of films, first started in 2023 with The Super Mario Bros., I’m anticipating that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will have bright, crisp visuals and, hopefully, a great Dolby Atmos soundtrack.

While this was one of my most anticipated discs of July 2026, a first impressions Reddit thread on r/4K Blu-ray from user u/nacthenud got me even more hyped. Not only did they rate the movie’s HDR performance, but also mentioned it in the same breath as Speed Racer. So, I decided to check out how the disc fared on our reference LG G6 OLED TV, one of the best OLED TVs I’ve tested this year.

Phenomenal colors

From the moment The Super Mario Galaxy Movie starts, it’s clear just how stunning the 4K disc’s color reproduction is. As Princess Rosalina reads a bedtime story to the Lumas, the small creatures dazzle on screen. Every color, including yellow, green, red and so on, look natural and punchy in equal measure. Thanks to the high HDR highlight brightness, coupled with Dolby Vision support, the Lumas really popped on the LG G6’s screen. If your TV has high brightness with good highlights, you’ll be rewarded in this scene alone.

Soon after, as Rosalina battles Bowser Jr. in his giant robot, the sparkle from her magic, which comes out in vibrant blues, pinks and purples, shimmers on screen. This is also true later as the yellow Luma turns into a star, with the glittery stardust jumping on screen. Again, it’s another showcase of how impactful HDR highlights can look.

Later, as we see Mario and Luigi meet Yoshi for the first time, the 4K presentation gets to show the authenticity of its colors. Yes, Mario’s red jumpsuit and the green of Luigi’s overalls and Yoshi’s skin are striking, but the colors look realistic too. While I expected the colors in this movie to explode on screen as I’d seen in animated flicks like Elemental, these particular colors reminded me more of the lifelike colors I’d seen in The Wild Robot, exhibiting the wonderful depth and realism I liked in the latter.

In complete opposition to that, the neon signs of the games in the casino Peach and Toad arrive at really burst with color. This is where the G6’s highlights and peak brightness were really tested, and it did a great job. If you have a TV with high peak brightness, then again you’ll be rewarded. The same is true with the gold detail on the furnishings around Peach’s castle, as they sparkle as well.

Peach and Rosalina’s dresses are highlights in themselves, really delivering that candy-colored pop alongside the shimmer they both seem to produce. While they’re colors aren’t as natural as the Mario Bros and Yoshi, they’re accurate for the movie and really deliver a nice impact.

Dolby Atmos power

While I anticipated this disc to be a showcase for color, I didn’t expect it to be such a perfect audio powerhouse. Bass is frequently hefty, pushing the limits of the subwoofer of the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar I was using. As Bowser Jr’s robot stomps towards Rosalina, the rumble from the Q990C’s subwoofer rattled the room and reverberated through the floor. Later, as Fox ignites the engines of the Arwing, this produces some meaty bass, akin to the igniting of the Batmobile’s engine from The Batman, my go-to audio testing scene.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack here is also very precise. As Luigi launches fire in a panic in a cave, the flames’ trajectory was accurately mapped to the front channels, travelling from right to left across the soundbar. In another scene, as Peach and Toad first fly into space, the sound of the twinkling flight path of the trail behind them is not only mapped accurately, but clearly audible among the rousing, horn-led score, showing the soundtrack’s excellent balance.

Surround and height channels are also fully utilized. During the climactic space battle, as Fox pilots the Arwing towards Bowser Jr’s ship, the Arwing travels around the whole ship. This was mapped with real precision first to the front channels, then the rear right, to the rear left and back again, creating a fully immersive feel. It reminded me of the time-bending music sequence in Sinners, which also moved around each channel.

Throughout, there are numerous scenes where characters fly through space, using the star to move from galaxy to galaxy. These are a great demonstration for Atmos, with overhead flight paths actually coming from overhead. The same was true with Fox’s Arwing. As it avoided Bowser’s minions in the space battle, anytime the Arwing moved to the top of the screen, Atmos rendered accurate overhead flight.

Another reference disc

After watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it’s definitely entering my testing rotation. Not only does it deliver on color and sound, but animation is crisp throughout, with clean-looking animation. Contrast is also powerful, with the dark blues of space contrasting well with the stars, Lumas and even the bright outfits of the main characters.

There are also plenty of bright scenes that will show off a TV’s HDR highlights and brightness, plus there’s some lovely shadow detail. Any scenes with strong light, such as Mario and Luigi with their flames in the cave, or at sunset as Peach gets frustrated, there’s strong shadows cast that look realistic.

This really is a superb 4K disc, and if you’re looking for a bold, colorful and dynamic movie to show off your home theater system, this is one to consider.

Samsung S99H review: Two minute review

Sitting at the top of Samsung’s 2026 TV lineup, the Samsung S99H is a flagship OLED TV that delivers excellent performance, particularly when it comes to picture, and a full set of features both for smart TV and for gaming. This could easily be one of 2026’s best TVs.

The S99H has a full list of features. Its NQ4 AI Gen 3 Processor comes with a stack of AI tools for picture, such as AI Motion Enhancer Pro and AI 4K Upscaling Pro, AI tools for sound such as Adaptive Sound Pro, and other AI tools for content recommendation. All of these fall under the Samsung Vision AI banner.

Picture quality on the S99H is superb. It delivers the highest brightness to date from a flagship OLED TV, along with vibrant, accurate colors, crisp textures and powerful contrast. Its anti-reflection screen is effective at eliminating reflections and while its Filmmaker Mode is a little dim in bright conditions, its Movie mode is a great brighter alternative.

Motion handling is mostly smooth and natural for both movies and sport, and while there are some hints of black crush in certain movies I tested, the S99H’s picture is still up there with the best OLED TVs.

The Samsung S99H delivers solid overall built-in sound. Its accuracy and precision are its strengths, with an excellent connection between the action on screen and the sound. The bass is punchy, there’s some nice impact and the soundstage can be wide. Still, this level of picture quality deserves a fuller sound, so I’d recommend one of the best soundbars or speakers.

Design is arguably the S99H’s most controversial topic this year. A new silver frame around the TV, called the FloatLayer Design, has been added and I personally found the frame to be distracting. While meant for wall-mounting, the extra width may cause space issues for some people and the handsome central pedestal stand of its predecessor has been replaced by two plastic feet. The One Connect Box has been removed, with ports returning to the TV itself — but you can connect Samsung Wireless One Connect Box to add more HDMI ports.

The S99H is a phenomenal gaming TV. Carrying four HDMI 2.1 ports that support 4K 165Hz, full VRR, HDR10+ gaming and ALLM, and boasting an ultra-low 9.5ms input lag at 60Hz, performance is smooth and the picture always looks great. Easily one of 2026’s best gaming TVs.

One UI Tizen is the S99H’s smart TV platform. It supports all major streaming apps, delivers pretty smooth performance and is easy to navigate. While there are some quirks that I found frustrating (namely auto-playing Samsung TV Plus), it’s still a good smart TV platform. Its Vision AI companion can be useful for those who enjoy AI, and while it doesn’t quite measure up to LG’s webOS, it’s still solid.

The 65-inch S99H I tested costs £3,199, which is a premium price for most people. It does justify its price with the level of performance and features that it offers and while the rival LG G6 is currently cheaper (up to £500 cheaper depending on sales), I expect the S99H’s prices will start to drop soon enough. In the meantime, last year’s Samsung S95F is available at a fraction of the cost, and is a great-value buy while it lasts.

Samsung S99H review: Prices & release dates

• Release date: June 2026
• 55-inch price: £2,399
• 65-inch price: £3,199
• 77-inch price: £4,299
• 83-inch price: £5,899

The Samsung S99H is the flagship OLED in Samsung’s 2026 TV lineup. It sits above the mid-range Samsung S90H and budget Samsung S85H. The 65-inch model I tested launched in June 2026 at £3,199

In the few weeks since its release, prices have remained the same. The S99H’s launch prices are cheaper than both its predecessor, the S95F, and the rival G6. However, the G6 has been out for longer, so its prices have dropped.

Samsung S99H review: Specs

Samsung S99H review: Benchmark results

Previous

1 / 4

Next

Brightness measurements

Taken using a colorimeter and test pattern generator. Click the test name for measurements and select the chosen test from the dropdown menu.

HDR Filmmaker ModeHDR Standard ModeSDR Filmmaker ModeSDR Standard Mode

Samsung S99H

HDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

2739

HDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

449

LG G6

HDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

3004

HDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

451

Samsung S95F

HDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

2132

HDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

390

01,0002,0003,0004,000

10% window

HDR Filmmaker Mode Data

Product	HDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window) (10% window)	HDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen) (10% window)
Samsung S99H	2739	449
LG G6	3004	451
Samsung S95F	2132	390

Samsung S99H

HDR Standard Mode (10% window)

2831

HDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

463

LG G6

HDR Standard Mode (10% window)

2469

HDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

385

Samsung S95F

HDR Standard Mode (10% window)

2135

HDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

380

07501,5002,2503,000

10% window

HDR Standard Mode Data

Product	HDR Standard Mode (10% window) (10% window)	HDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen) (10% window)
Samsung S99H	2831	463
LG G6	2469	385
Samsung S95F	2135	380

Samsung S99H

SDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

220

SDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

219

LG G6

SDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

559

SDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

390

Samsung S95F

SDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window)

256

SDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen)

137

0150300450600

10% window

SDR Filmmaker Mode Data

Product	SDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window) (10% window)	SDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen) (10% window)
Samsung S99H	220	219
LG G6	559	390
Samsung S95F	256	137

Samsung S99H

SDR Standard Mode (10% window)

229

SDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

229

LG G6

SDR Standard Mode (10% window)

648

SDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

559

Samsung S95F

SDR Standard Mode (10% window)

372

SDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen)

199

0200400600800

10% window

SDR Standard Mode Data

Product	SDR Standard Mode (10% window) (10% window)	SDR Standard Mode (Fullscreen) (10% window)
Samsung S99H	229	229
LG G6	648	559
Samsung S95F	372	199

HDR color gamut

Closer to 100% is better. Taken using a colorimeter and test pattern generator.

Samsung S99H

UHDA-P3

99.97

BT.2020

89.2

LG G6

UHDA-P3

99.3

BT.2020

83

Samsung S95F

UHDA-P3

100

BT.2020

89.3

0255075100

HDR Filmmaker Mode Data

Product	UHDA-P3 ()	BT.2020 ()
Samsung S99H	99.97	89.2
LG G6	99.3	83
Samsung S95F	100	89.3

Picture accuracy

A lower score is better. Taken using a colorimeter and test pattern generator.

SDR Delta-E

Samsung S99H

1.6

LG G6

1.4

Samsung S95F

2.61

0123

SDR Delta-E Data

Product	Value
Samsung S99H	1.6
LG G6	1.4
Samsung S95F	2.61

Input lag

Lower is better. Taken using a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI Video Signal Lag Tester.

Samsung S99H

4K 60Hz

9.5

1080p 120Hz

5

LG G6

4K 60Hz

8.9

1080p 120Hz

4.6

Samsung S95F

4K 60Hz

9.5

1080p 120Hz

0

012345678910

ms

HDR Filmmaker Mode Data

Product	4K 60Hz (ms)	1080p 120Hz (ms)
Samsung S99H	9.5	5
LG G6	8.9	4.6
Samsung S95F	9.5	N/A

The Samsung S95F does not have a 1080p 120Hz results as its results were registered before we started taking the 1080p 120Hz measurement

Samsung S99H review: Features

• NQ4 AI Gen 3 processor
• OLED Glare Free screen
• AI enhancements including AI Football Pro mode

The flagship Samsung OLED has typically used a QD-OLED panel in its 55-77-inch sizes in the past. Based on my testing measurements, I am certain that the 65-inch model I tested does use a QD-OLED panel, though Samsung doesn't confirm this either way. The 83-inch model will use an LG W-OLED panel, because QD-OLED panels don't come in that size.

The S99H features an anti-reflection, matte screen, called OLED Glare Free by Samsung, that is designed to reduce mirror-like reflections, and keep reflections from a light to minimum.

The S95H uses Samsung’s own NQ4 AI Gen 3 processor, which provides visual AI-based enhancements such as AI Motion Enhancer Pro, 4K AI Upscaling Pro and Auto HDR Remastering Pro, as well as the introduction of AI Soccer Mode Pro, designed to provide the best picture and sound for Soccer. AI audio enhancements include AI Sound and AI Sound Controller Pro.

For HDR support, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG are once again supported, but there is still no support for Dolby Vision. For enhanced audio formats, Dolby Atmos is supported, but not DTS.

The big design change with the S99H, compared to last year’s S95F, is the addition of a wider, silver frame, which Samsung calls a FloatLayer Design, which adds a couple of extra inches all around the TV. As a result, the One Connect Box is gone and ports have returned to the rear panel of the TV itself.

It’s worth noting that, as well as the four HDMI 2.1 ports on the rear panel, Samsung says that its Wireless One Connect Box can be added in addition to the other ports, giving you a total of eight HDMI 2.1 ports (four built-in, four on the optional box).

For sound, the S95H features a built-in 4.2.2-channel, 70W speaker system that supports Dolby Atmos: the same core specs as last year’s S95F. Sound features include Object Tracking Sound+ (OTS+), Adaptive Sound Pro and Active Voice Amplifier Pro.

Gaming is well covered, with four HDMI 2.1 ports built-in that support 4K at up to 165Hz, full variable refresh rate options including AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync, HGiG, HDR10+ gaming and auto low latency mode. There’s also a Game Hub where cloud-based applications such as Xbox and Luna can be accessed.

Samsung uses its own Tizen smart TV platform on the S99H, which features the aforementioned picture and audio AI tools as well as Generative Wallpaper and Art Mode, the latter of which is the same found on the brand’s The Frame art TVs.

Tizen supports a vast array of apps including Netflix and Prime Video, as well as UK based apps including BBC iPlayer and ITVX. For antenna/satellite based programming, Samsung uses its own Samsung TV Plus platform, rather than Freely or Freeview.

• Features score: 5 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Picture quality

• Spectacular colour display
• Effective anti-glare matte screen
• Strong contrast and inky black tones

The S99H boasts some strong brightness results, clocking in at 2,739 nits in Filmmaker Mode and 2,831 nits in Standard for peak HDR brightness. I used Movie mode for some of my testing, and this registered at 2,751 nits peak HDR. This is a big jump over 2,132 nits and 2,135 nits the S99H’s predecessor, the S95F, registered in the same HDR Filmmaker and Standard modes respectively.

Even fullscreen HDR brightness has had a nice boost, registering 449 nits in Filmmaker, 460 nits in Standard and 450 nits in Movie. This is a jump over the 380 nits and 390 nits the S95F achieved in Filmmaker and Standard mode.

The S99H’s has an anti-reflection, matte screen. If you’re viewing in a bright room, with unavoidable light, the S99H should be near the top of your shopping list. While I preferred the LG G6 over the S99H for actual content in bright rooms, the S95H is still the better TV for eliminating reflections outright.

The S99H demonstrates effective upscaling of SDR sources. Watching a mix of reality shows and Wimbledon via Samsung TV Plus, the S99H did a good job sharpening textures and giving colours a richer look. With HD sources, detail upscaling looked realistic and definitely had a 4K-like level of detail.

I tried out the Auto HDR Remastering Pro tool, and while it did boost brightness and sharpen textures, it all looked too artificial for my liking.

Moving to HDR sources, I first tested the S99H’s colour reproduction. Watching Speed Racer, a recent addition to my 4K Blu-ray testing rotation, the S99H delivered bright, bold colours that accurately captured the cartoon-style colours of the movie. Close-up shots of Speed Racer show vibrant reds in the interior of his cockpit and his ‘M’ logo, while later scenes show gorgeous, bright blues of clear skies and neon-like greens of a field in a schoolyard.

Comparing the S99H to the G6, I did find that the S99H made some reds a little pale and orange in appearance at times, but viewed in isolation, the S99H’s colors still looked superb. Moving to La La Land, Mia’s yellow dress was punchy, but accurate on the S99H and the gradient of pinks and purples in the sunsets looked realistic, but still lively.

It’s no real surprise that colors looked bold on the S99H, as I measured its HDR colour gamut coverage at 89.2% of the BT.2020 colour space and 99.97% of the DCI-P3 colour space: both outstanding results.

For darker movies, it was important to get the right picture mode for the situation. I found The Batman was too dim to watch in the default Filmmaker Mode with the lights on in our testing lab, but Movie mode worked fine. In a darker room however, Filmmaker Mode worked.

Throughout The Batman, the S99H’s strong contrast shone through, aided by its punchy highlights from its newfound brightness and rich black tones. Whether Batman stood in a dark subway or the camera cut to a ceiling-high, wide-angle shot of the Batcave, there was an excellent balance between light and dark tones.

I found during my testing that in Filmmaker Mode, the S99H was prone to black crush during the darker parts of the movie, resulting in detail loss. Batman’s armour in the aforementioned subway scene is obscured, as the S99H prioritises deeper blacks. This wasn’t as true in a ‘brighter’ dark movie, such as Alien: Romulus, where detail is more preserved, but there were still hints of black crush.

The S99H’s textures are crisp and 3D-like, no matter the content. Skin, clothing and objects all look lifelike, especially in HDR. I actually found I preferred the look of the S99H’s skin tones better than the G6 in my comparison of the two.

Finally, motion. The S99H demonstrated good motion throughout my testing, but I found it was best to set motion to 3 blur and 3 judder. Any higher, and motion looked artificial and unnatural. Going back to Speed Racer, the S99H did a good job handling the fast racing sequences as cars swerved from side-to-side. I did find there was some judder as commentators panned across the screen, but I found this on every TV I’ve tested with the disc so far.

I tried out the S99H’s AI Football Mode Pro and it was somewhat effective. The commentary was clearer and louder, the picture was more detailed and motion was smoother. If you don’t want to use any AI tools, then Standard picture mode with judder and blur set to 3 worked well.

• Picture quality score: 5 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Sound quality

• 4.2.2 channel, Dolby Atmos
• Great accuracy and clarity
• No DTS support

The S99H features a 4.2.2 channel, 70W speaker array and supports Dolby Atmos. There is however no DTS support. Along with its two sound modes, Standard and Amplify, there are AI Sound tools such as Adaptive Sound Pro and Active Voice Amplifier that can be used to adjust sound.

Watching Speed Racer with the S99H set to the Amplify sound mode, the S95H demonstrates solid bass and power, accurately delivering the rumble and revving of engines. Collisions as cars battle during races also have good impact, along with clear speech, even during the most hectic of races.

The S99H’s Object Tracking Sound+ (OTS+) is superb for delivering precise sound placement. When Speed Racer grinds a rail in the opening race, the sound was clean and audible, despite other loud effects.

Trying out the S99H’s AI Sound mode, it adds some width to the soundstage, giving more volume to more subtle effects. However, I personally found that the AI Sound was a little more compressed and some power was compromised, so I preferred the default Amplify setting.

While overall the S99H’s built-in speakers did a good job, I still felt the sound was contained to the screen's width, and while there was some good delivery of Atmos effects, they again were lost in the mix. For a TV with this picture quality, I’d still recommend a soundbar at least for the full cinematic experience.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Design

• Extended silver frame will be divisive
• Stand replaced with feet
• No One Connect Box included

Arguably the biggest talking point for the S99H this year is the physical design changes compared to last year’s S95F. The most notable is the FloatLayer Design, a silver frame that surrounds the TV, giving it a floating, 3D look. This is going to be a controversial addition and for some, it will mean a re-think on where to put the TV, since it adds width and height.

Personally, I’m not a fan, as I find the silver to be a bit distracting and when viewed off-centre, the frame looks odd.

The black, metal, pedestal stand from the S95F has been replaced by two plastic grey feet. While these feet are sturdy and easy to install, I still feel it’s a downgrade for a premium TV. The TV’s bezel is still sleek and ultra-thin, however, and gives it a high-quality feel (but is slightly spoiled by the frame behind it).

The other big change is the removal of the One Connect Box, an external box that housed the TV’s connections and processing. Now, the ports have returned to the rear panel on the TV itself.

For some, this will be welcome news. The S99H is compatible with the Wireless One Connect Box too, so if you liked the external connections, this is still an option you can add on — and not only that, the box can work in tandem with the TV’s built-in connections, meaning a potential eight HDMI 2.1 ports. Who needs an AVR?

The SolarCell remote returns once again, and while there’s been no real changes or additions to it, it’s still a light, sleek, USB-C and solar rechargeable remote that’s probably one of the better remotes on the market.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Smart TV & menus

• One UI Tizen smart TV platform
• Vision AI features
• Home, Gaming, Art Hubs

The S99H uses Samsung’s own One UI Tizen smart TV platform, with the headline this year being the Samsung Vision AI Companion, which can be used to find related content to what you're watching, and answer general questions you may ask AI. Microsoft Copilot is supported.

Along with supporting major streaming apps such as Netflix and Prime Video, it also supports major UK streaming apps such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX. Samsung does not include Freely or Freeview, instead opting to use its own Samsung TV+ system for live streaming channels.

Tizen uses a number of different hubs as a way to organise relevant apps and content. Home houses streaming apps and content recommendations based on your viewing. Game houses all things gaming, including cloud based apps from the likes of Xbox. Daily hosts apps for office and health use, while Art hosts the Art Store, where artworks can be downloaded to be used as screensavers.

Art mode is a new addition, and basically means you can turn this into an artwork display, just like Samsung's The Frame TV. This may explain the new frame-like design. The Art mode costs a monthly subscription for access to all artworks.

Tizen is intuitive enough and easy to use. There is a space at the top of the home screen for banner ads, but this is common on most smart TV platforms nowadays. One thing I did find frustrating was that whenever I lingered on the home screen, Samsung TV+ would autoplay and overwrite whatever I was doing. There seemed to be no way to turn this off, short of deleting the app.

There are a good number of picture settings present, as well as AI-based tools for picture and sound settings.

• Smart TV & menus score: 4.5 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Gaming

• Four HDMI 2.1 ports
• FreeSync and G-Sync supported
• 9.5ms input lag time

The S99H is an excellent TV for gaming. Across its four HDMI 2.1 ports, it supports 4K 165Hz, full VRR including AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, HDR10+ gaming and ALLM. It also features a Game Hub, where gaming related content and cloud based gaming apps such as Xbox and Luna are supported.

The S95H’s gaming performance is smooth and responsive, thanks to its ultra-low, measured 9.5ms input lag time. As I dashed around a desert battlefield in Battlefield V playing at 4K 120Hz, snapping between targets and diving for cover, there was never any sign of judder from the S99H, which expertly handled the chaos.

With its strong colours, high brightness and powerful contrast, the S99H looks great while gaming too. During the same desert mission in Battlefield V, it did a superb job capturing the relentless heat of the African sun. Detail in weapons and textures of environments were crisp and refined throughout gaming as well.

• Gaming score: 5 / 5

Samsung S99H review: Value

• Premium OLED price
• Rivals are currently notably cheaper
• Great features and performance for the money

As a flagship OLED TV, the S99H carries a premium price tag. The 65-inch model I tested costs £3,199. This is £200 less than the launch price of last year’s S95F, which is some welcome news. However, the S99H’s main rival, the LG G6, costs £2,999 at the time of writing and has dropped to £2,699 at times. For £500 cheaper, the G6 is better value, but it does have the advantage of an earlier release date (April 2026). I am sure the S99H’s prices will drop in a similar fashion over time.

While the S99H is a premium price, it delivers the features and performance to justify it. It’s worth noting there is a slightly cheaper Samsung S95H model available (£3,299 for 65 inches) which looks similar to last year’s S95F. Do not confuse this model with the Samsung S95H model available in the US and Australia — that's actually the same TV as this S99H model.

Samsung told me the major differences between the UK S95H and the S99H models are no frame, lower brightness from the panel, and Wi-Fi 5 on the S95F vs the S99H’s Wi-Fi 6. However, those definitely aren't the only differences, because the S95H uses the One Connect Box too. We have asked Samsung if there are differences in the type of OLED panel used, and it refused to say. In any case, while the frame will be controversial, the higher brightness and better Wi-Fi are the extra £100, in my opinion.

At the time of writing, if you want a flagship Samsung OLED, a 65-inch S95F is still available for roughly £1,899, and while the S99H is an upgrade, the S95F is easily the best value option right now. Once the S95F goes out of stock, the S99H’s prices should lower and it’ll be a more-than-worthy successor.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Samsung S99H?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

How I tested the Samsung S99H

• Reviewed in our TV testing room in varying lighting conditions
• Tested using both SDR and HDR sources
• Measurements taken using Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software

The first step in testing the S99H was to determine its best picture modes. I settled on three: Filmmaker Mode for dark-room movie viewing; Movie for bright-room movie viewing and Standard for sports and daytime TV.

After this, I began by testing the S99H's picture quality using both SDR (broadcast TV) and HDR (4K Blu-ray and streaming), focusing on colour, contrast, detail, upscaling and motion.

I also tested the S99H's sound quality using reference scenes from Speed Racer among other movies, and I tested its gaming performance using Battlefield V on Xbox Series X.

Once subjective testing was completed, I moved onto taking objective measurements. I did this using a Klein K-10A colorimeter (profile with a Jeti Spectral 15VA Spectroradiometer), a Murideo Six G 8K Metal test pattern generator and recorded measurements using Portrait Displays' Calman colour calibration software.

I started with brightness measurements, using white window patterns in sizes 1-100% in both SDR and HDR. The two primary results I focus on are peak (10%) and fullscreen (100%) brightness.

Next, I measured the S99H's colour and greyscale accuracy in SDR, and then measured its HDR colour gamut coverage, using the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 colour spaces, hoping for a result of over 95% in the DCI-P3 space.

We recently introduced two new tests into our measurements. The first is the HDR EOTF, which shows the accuracy a TV in both light and dark areas, suing 1,000, 4,000 and 10,000 nits targets. Then, there is the Spectral Power Distribution test, which measures how a TV handles colour recreation.

My final test was to measure the S99H's input lag using a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI Input Lag Tester. I measured both 4K 60Hz and 1080p 120Hz results in milliseconds (ms).

• First reviewed: July 2026
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• Users says they've observed LG gaming monitors automatically installing unwanted software on PCs
• LG's terms of service warn that conversations may be "captured and processed" on TV with the latest version of webOS
• The terms say you must now warn guests they may be recorded "in compliance with applicable wiretapping… laws"
• Update 22 July 2026: LG has issued a statement to TechRadar about the claims of unwanted installations and privacy concerns

Update: LG has issued the following statements to TechRadar regarding the following story.

"LG Electronics reiterates that McAfee is not installed automatically and is never installed without the user’s explicit consent. The LG Monitor App Installer is distributed through Microsoft’s official Windows distribution process, which included McAfee as an option. McAfee will be installed only if a user actively chooses to proceed with the installation and provides consent. Under no circumstances is McAfee installed automatically or without user authorization. The LG Monitor App Installer does not access, collect, or transmit any customer personal data.

"LG Electronics (LGE) reaffirms that LG TVs do not collect, record, or store ambient conversations. Voice recognition is an optional, user-initiated feature that processes voice data only when activated by the user to fulfill a specific request. Customers can use Smart TV features without enabling voice recognition. LGE is committed to protecting customer privacy and ensuring transparency in how user data is handled."

The rest of the story is as originally published, with some notes highlighting LG's response above.

How smart should a smart TV be? According to LG's latest TV terms and conditions, the answer is "not quite smart enough to comply with wiretapping laws", because that's now your responsibility if LG captures the voice of a guest in your house through its AI voice services. Though the situation with LG monitors appears to be even more dramatic.

As Gamers Nexus reports, some LG monitors appear to be installing adware on Windows PCs without asking for permission: in addition to the LG Monitor App Installer, they also install McAfee Scam Detector. (Update: LG disputes the Gamers Nexus' claim McAfee is installed without the user's consent.)

LG's own app requires full access to all system resources, which potentially includes all your online activity, logins, hardware, location and more (Update: LG says that it does not collect or transmit any personal data) — while McAfee has a long history of being installed on devices as 'bloatware', and people are not reacting positively to suddenly finding it on their PC. (Update: LG says that it can only be installed with the user's consent.)

Comment from r/LGOLED

There may be a perfectly innocent explanation for all of this, but when big tech firms keep getting caught doing bad things because they thought they could get away with it, it's no wonder people are assuming the worst.

Comment from r/hardware

The bit that's causing consternation regarding smart TVs is part 6(d) of the new LG Electronics terms of service, headed Voice Recognition and Privacy Compliance.

As Notebookcheck's Hannes Brecher notes, the section states that it's your responsibility "to obtain all necessary consents from any third parties whose voices may be captured by the Product and to notify household members and guests that their voices may be captured and processed, in compliance with applicable wiretapping, eavesdropping, and privacy laws."

There are three ways around that. One, you can turn off all microphone-based features. Some people won't mind that, but they can be useful — especially asking it for settings you don't know how to find.

Two, you can avoid installing the latest software — but that means you won't get any security updates, which are important (to protect your privacy, ironically, among other things).

Or you can disable your TV's connection to the internet so it can't send information back, but that obviously makes it less useful, and will also disable the voice controls anyway.

I think the terms and conditions are an attempt at corporate ass-covering rather than something sinister: the preceding paragraph talks specifically about when "a product with voice recognition functionality is used" and it's possible that "family members, guests, children, and bystanders" might be overheard; if you're choosing to activate AI-based voice features then of course voices are going to be captured and processed in order for those features to work.

At the same time, it does seem broad enough to let LG use people's voices as AI inputs, rather than just accidental capture. And in the context of what LG's doing with PC monitors (not to mention AI training's very, ahem, casual relationship with consent and copyright), that's a worry — and people online increasingly have no tolerance for anything like this, as the responses on Reddit and Gamers Nexus' original YouTube video have shown.

Comment from r/hardware

• McIntosh MX124 AV processor launches for a cool $15,000 (about £11,079 / AU$21,423)
• 13.4 audio channels to 7.4.6 or 9.4.4 speaker configurations in Dolby Atmos and DTS:X Pro
• 7x 8K HDMI inputs and extensive additional connectivity, plus Dirac Live

If you're looking for an AV processor so future-proof that your grandkids will want to inherit it, McIntosh Labs may have just the thing. The new MX124 A/V Processor is designed for "today's "most advanced home cinema systems" according to the company, and comes with extensive connectivity options, as you'd expect.

As you'd expect from McIntosh, it's a tough-looking thing, and to my eyes it resembles something from a 1960s recording studio or NASA control center. But while it may look a little retro on the outside, what's inside is bang up to date.

Its 13 surround channels with four inividual subwoofer outputs support speaker configurations of up to 7.4.6 or 9.4.4, and it has superb wired and wireless connectivity for your AV components.

McIntosh MX124 AV processor: key features and pricing

The McIntosh MX124 A/V Processor is designed to sit at the center of a reference-spec home theater system, handling the audio and video sources and routing the audio to the appropriate amplifiers via its balanced or unbalanced outputs.

It has seven HDMI inputs and three outputs, including one with eARC for your TV, and all the HDMI inputs support 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 120Hz. They're compatible with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG and IMAX Enhanced, and they also support HDCP 2.3, Rec.2020, 4:4:4 Color Spacing, Dynamic Lip-sync, 3D Video Passthrough, ALLM, VRR and Quick Frame Transport.

There are four dedicated digital audio inputs, one balanced and eight unbalanced analog stereo inputs, component and composite video inputs, and dual analog stereo outputs to accommodate two additional listening zones.

For streaming, the MX124 supports AirPlay, Bluetooth, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon Ready, supporting hi-res audio streaming at up to 32-bit/192kHz.

The MX124 also features Dirac Live Room Correction and Bass Control, with licenses included for both. It can also deliver Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room calibration if that's your preferred option.

As this is a premium AV product, it's been designed with professional installation in mind, and it's certified Connects With Control4 for simple and efficient setup and pre-configuration. It features RS232 for automation control and is suitable for rack mounting.

McIntosh didn't include pricing details in its official announcement but retailers are listing the new MX124 with a price tag of $15,000 (about £11,079 / AU$21,423). And as I mentioned above, that's excluding amplification.

If you're looking for something more affordable, you might prefer to take a look at Denon's two new affordable entry and mid-range AVRs, or Yamaha's two new budget AVR options.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

• Loewe's Antares is a 4K OLED TV with triple tuner, HDMI 2.1 and 144Hz VRR
• Selection of wall mounts, floor stands, rotatable table stands and speakers
• From £2,500 (about $3,350 / AU$4,799)

German luxury brand Loewe has unveiled what it calls its "most individual Smart OLED TV to date," the Loewe Antares. It's a 4K TV with a modular design that enables you to personalize it to suit your particular preferences.

The Antares TV features interchangeable aluminum onlays with a range of fabric colors, and flexible setup options including a universal table stand, multiple floor stands including a motorized stand, and several wall mount options. The table stand can rotate and offers three height positions.

The TV has Loewe's Invisible Sound integrated speaker system, but you can specify it with lots of beefier options. You can add the Loewe Soundbar Antares, which is a front-firing 80W soundbar designed specifically for these TVs, and/or an optional subwoofer.

You can also specify your Antares with other Loewe audio products including the multi.room amp, Klang subwoofer, We.BOOST wireless surround sound system and the we.BOOST center speaker, though the TV itself can be the center speaker in the wireless surround system if you prefer.

Loewe Antaras: key features and pricing

Each Antares TV has a 4K OLED panel that's been "individually calibrated before leaving the factory" according to Loewe. Loewe is one of the few companies that gets raw OLED panels from LG Display and finishes the manufacturing itself, but the company confirmed that this is an OLED EX panel with Double Rate Driving technology, which suggests it's the same panel tech used in the five-star (albeit cheaper) LG C6 OLED TV, plus whatever finishing touches and calibration Loewe has added.

There's support for both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive when it comes to HDR. There's a dual-channel, triple-tuner setup with USB recording, parallel TV viewing and timeshift functionality, and the OS is a customized version of Vidaa OS, with key streaming apps, Apple AirPlay, Miracast and Matter on board.

For gamers there's HDMI 2.1 support, with 144Hz VRR at 4K, and a dedicated low-latency gaming mode. There are multiple sizes here, from the compact 42-inch to the range-topping 77-inch.

As you'd expect from Loewe these are premium priced TVs. Prices start at £2,500 (about $3,350 / AU$4,799) and rise to £4,000 (about $5,370 / AU$7,675). The Loewe Antares soundbar is £300 (about $400 / AU$575).

At the moment this is a UK-only release, though Loewe told TechRadar that a US launch is being considered, but isn't confirmed yet.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

If you're looking to add more 4K Blu-rays to your collection, then Disney's Summer Days, Movie Nights 4K Blu-ray sale has arrived at the perfect time, where it's 2 for £30 on discs including titles from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and 20th Century Studios. The same 2 for £30 sale is also live at HMV.

I regularly test 4K Blu-ray as part of our monthly Blu-ray Bounty feature, where we test the best new 4K releases. I've picked six discs from the sale that all featured as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, so I know just how good they look and sound.

First up is Alien: Romulus, one of my reference discs for testing contrast and black tones on the best TVs. Its also excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack is immersive and spine-chilling too.

The Sound of Music is one of the best restorations I've seen, with spectacular colours and detail. Edward Scissorhands is another disc that delivers superb colour reproduction, surpassing my expectations completely.

If you want action-packed titles with brilliant Dolby Atmos soundtracks, Master and Commander delivers pinpoint-accurate sound, while Fantastic Four: First Steps delivers the power you'd want from a superhero flick. Finally, Tombstone looks crisp and offers a fantastic DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack that will show off your surround setup.

For my thoughts on each disc, scroll further down the page.

My picks from Amazon's 2 for £30 4K Blu-ray sale

Alien: Romulus

Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows a crew of scavengers who come across a derelict space station called Renaissance, where they encounter hostile aliens.

Alien: Romulus delivers a truly stunning picture in 4K. Its inky black levels and high-contrast scenes look superb on the best OLED TVs, and it's a real showcase for 4K detail. Textures are crisp, with impressive intricate detail in objects and environments that show just how good modern movies can look in 4K. When I want to test a TV's backlight and contrast, this is one of the first discs I reach for.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack featured is incredible. While the more powerful moments, such as gunfire or the sound of engines igniting, have real impact, it's the detail that impresses. The sound of face-hugger feet is so precisely mapped, it had me looking around our testing lab when I first tested it, as their path came from the rear channels with astonishing accuracy. The movie's more visceral moments, as characters meet their demise, can be particularly realistic.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

The Sound of Music

One of cinema's most iconic musicals, The Sound of Music follows Maria (Julie Andrews), a nun who is sent to take over as the nanny of the Von Trapp family children, set in pre-WWII Austria.

The Sound of Music is one of the best examples of a 4K restoration I've seen. Textures have been cleaned up beautifully, and the breathtaking cinematography of the Austrian landscape has never looked more detailed. Really though, it's the colours that stand out the most here. Green fields and blue skies have serious pop, and other colours such as red, yellow and orange are delivered with real vibrancy. One of my reference discs, the market scene, in particular, is brilliant.

Never has the movie's legendary soundtrack sounded better than here. The Dolby Atmos mixes are all perfectly balanced between the score and vocals, and speech is crystal clear throughout. Songs like 'Do Re Mi' and 'My Favourite Things' sound clean, with superb depth and clarity.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands follows the story of Edward (Johnny Depp), an artificial humanoid with scissors for hands, who is taken in by a suburban family, where he falls for the family's daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).

When I first tested Edward Scissorhands on 4K, I didn't expect to be wowed by the disc's colours as much as I was. The gothic nature of the movie is juxtaposed with the vibrant, often garish, colour scheme of the neighbourhood, and these colours are superb in 4K. The bright, multi-coloured houses are vivid, and if your TV has good colour reproduction, you'll be rewarded. Textures have also been refined here to give everything a lifelike look.

The disc's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is excellent. It shows real depth by accurately capturing subtle effects like the clicking of Edward's scissors. Danny Elfman's unmistakable score, with big horns balanced with delicate bells, is delivered with plenty of gusto and detail.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is the tale of the HMS Surprise, a British ship during the Napoleonic Wars in 1805, as they pursue the French ship Acheron. It stars Russel Crowe as Surprise's Captain Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin, the ship's surgeon.

Where Master and Commander's 4K disc shines is with its Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Naval battles deliver room-shaking power as cannons fire, with intricate details such as splintering wood coming through clear in the mix. In several scenes, as cannonballs flew through the ship, I found myself looking around the room, following its trajectory as it was mapped with incredible accuracy.

The 4K presentation looks amazing, too. Night scenes deliver deep black tones with some strong contrast, as lamps balance with said dark tones. The crew looks lifelike, and the vast ocean looks stunning in 4K. Colour, while sparing, has some nice pop, whether it's the red of blood or the gold details on ships.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Set in a 1960's, futuristic world and based on the Marvel superhero family, The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows the Fantastic Four as they must protect Earth from Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Starring Pedro Pascal (Mr Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (The Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing).

The 4K disc of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has brilliant picture quality, accurately delivering the alt-1960s aesthetic. The bright blues and whites of the team's uniforms pop on screen, but the oranges and yellows of decor and civilian clothing look great too. A big-budget Marvel movie, textures are refined and 3D-like and look top-notch on 4K.

As you'd expect from a Marvel movie with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, this disc sounds fantastic. There are plenty of room-rattling explosions that deliver punchy bass and impact. Anytime the Human Torch flies overhead, height channels are utilised perfectly and will sound great through an Atmos system.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Tombstone

Tombstone follows Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russel), a retired lawman who moves to the town of Tombstone and ends up as its de facto sheriff after a gang of outlaws wreaks havoc. The movie also stars Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, and Bill Paxton.

Tombstone looks stunning in 4K. A fantastic restoration means textures are clean and crisp, demonstrating almost 3D-like levels of depth and detail. Colours are bold and punchy throughout, and black tones are rich, whether it's the night sky or the Earp group's clothes.

The disc's DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack is excellent too. Gunfights deliver precise sound mapping, as bullets fly around and ricochet off buildings. Galloping horses offer plenty of rumble that will let your subwoofer flex its muscles, and even subtle sound effects like spurs on boots as people walk have nice detail.

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Manhattan Aero review

The Manhattan Aero might just be the streaming device you’re looking for. Especially if you want live TV without an aerial, as well as must-have streaming apps, 4K playback and user-friendly software.

The Manhattan Aero is a small streaming box packed with just about all of the essentials for UK viewers — more than 450 channels via Freely, as well as Netflix, Prime Video and all that good stuff. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection and a TV, and you're good to go. But is it actually worth buying? Here are my thoughts after a few days testing it out for myself.

Let me start by saying that the initial setup process for the Aero is extremely simple and speedy. Just hook the device up to your TVs HDMI port, plug it into the power, and you’ll be able to get started. From here, I followed some basic setup instructions, connected the box up to my network, and landed right on the home page.

Navigating through various menus is also incredibly easy with the included remote, which — in spite of a fairly plasticky and basic build — is responsive and effective in use. It comes with all the expected buttons, as well as shortcuts to certain streaming apps, and a voice control option too.

Voice controls are very intuitive on TiVo OS (which is what the Aero uses), and if you want some inspiration for what to watch, it’s a great tool. For instance, I tried saying: ‘show me films about cats’ and got an accurate selection of feline-related flicks.

Let’s loop back to the Manhattan Aero’s OS, though, and discuss TiVo for a minute. I’ve used this before on TVs like the Bush 43UT24SB, and I’m a fan. It’s pretty similar to a lot of the competition, and you can quickly find whatever channel or app you need without a hitch. Loading varying apps and channels is quick, and you can easily customize what apps you want to see on the homepage in the settings menu.

Speaking of apps, it’s worth noting that some of the heavy hitters are actually missing on TiVo. For instance, Apple TV+, Paramount+, NOW TV and Sky Go are all absent. These apps are available via devices like the Apple TV 4K set-top box, though.

Anyway, you may be wondering by now: how does the Manhattan Aero perform? Pretty well, actually — although you’ll need broadband speeds of at least 10Mbps to enjoy live TV and streaming at their best (Ethernet connectivity is available if needed). When watching broadcast TV, the Aero did a great job with all kinds of content. For instance, I watched a bit of Wimbledon, and the vivid green of the court jumped out, while finer details on players’ clothing were easy to make out.

News and the usual daytime TV channels also looked just about as good as on my Sky Glass Gen 2 TV, which uses Wi-Fi to show its channels too, rather than a dish or aerial. It’s also worth noting that the Aero supports HLG HDR, as used by BBC iPlayer.

With streaming apps, the Aero remains a strong performer, but there are a couple of sacrifices you’ll have to make. Namely, there’s no Dolby Vision support — no problem for Samsung TV owners, but something I would’ve liked to have seen, since pretty much all other TV brands use it.

There is, however, HDR10+ (and HDR10) compatibility, which is used on services such as Netflix and Prime Video — and the Aero supports AV1 natively for HDR10+ content, which is necessary for Netflix to work in this format. When watching Kung Fu Panda 4 in HDR10+, I thought it looked fantastic — colours looked punchy and accurate, textures were well-defined and sharp, and contrast was solid too.

I did experience a bit of judder while watching the movie, and motion appeared to be choppy at first. But after messing around with my TVs settings and activating the Aero’s Auto Frame Rate option, I was able to solve this, and experience the sort of quality I’d typically expect from Netflix and other streaming apps when built into the set.

When it comes to audio, there’s basic Dolby Audio support, and you can also enjoy Dolby Atmos content if you have a compatible soundbar or speaker system or similar connected up to your TV. You can also use one of the box’s USB-C ports to play stored media files, which is a welcome inclusion and not you'll find on much of the competition.

One question I’ve seen a few people ask about the Aero, is whether it can record TV programs — like you’d be able to do with a Sky Q box, for instance. The answer to this one is no — but that’s not a strike against Manhattan’s streaming box. And that comes down to one key thing: Freely is delivered as an internet stream rather than a broadcast signal, and broadcasters don’t allow such content to be recorded. It’s still worth bearing in mind, however, if recording is a must for you.

Before we wrap up, there are a few other things worth noting. There’s CEC volume control on offer here, which enables you to control the volume of your connected display and audio devices (like soundbars) using the Aero's remote with any extra setup needed, something that is pretty practical.

You can also connect Bluetooth devices, such as headphones, to the Aero, which is great if you don’t want to distract someone else while watching your favorite shows, if your TV doesn't support this option.

You can even connect wireless game controllers and play a few mobile style games — a feature I didn’t expect to see. In fact, Blacknut Cloud Gaming is arriving to the Aero shortly, giving gamers more options. Google Cast is also available if you want to beam content across from your phone.

So, is the Manhattan Aero worth the money? At £89.99, I think it is. There are cheaper options out there, such as the Roku streaming sticks, which can also plug into your TV’s USB port for a more discreet look, but these don’t offer Freely — the big selling point of the Aero.

Alongside its intuitive TiVo platform with handy voice commands, solid array of apps, and impressive picture quality, I’d argue that the Aero offers plenty for the price you pay, and if you have a TV devoid of smart apps or want access to loads of channels without the hassle of an aerial or dish, it’s a very practical device.

Manhattan Aero review: price & release date

• Released in February 2026
• Priced at £89.99

The Manhattan Aero released in February 2026 and is available with a wide range of UK retailers. However, there’s no stock available at Amazon right now — this may change in the future, though, so we’ll update this article accordingly if we see an increase in availability.

The streamer is priced fairly affordably, coming in at £89.99 — that's much less than the Apple TV 4K, though is more than the likes of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

Should I buy the Manhattan Aero?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Manhattan Aero review: also consider

How I tested the Manhattan Aero

• Connected to my Hisense 4K mini-LED TV
• I watched broadcast TV as well as content on streaming services
• Used across multiple days at home in everyday life

I spent a few days testing the Manhattan Aero streamer, testing it out at home to enjoy live TV and content via my usual streaming apps. I had it hooked up to a HDMI port on my Hisense U7K TV, which is a 4K mini-LED set.

During the testing period, I made sure to cycle through various channels when watching broadcast TV in order to assess performance for sports, news, movies, and more. However, I also dipped into apps like Netflix, where I watched content in 4K HDR10+, as well as Disney+ and YouTube.

More generally, I’ve spent years testing all kinds of gadgets here at TechRadar, including everything from Dolby Atmos soundbars like the JBL Bar 1300MK2 through to TVs like the Sky Glass Gen 2. I was also familiar with the TiVo interface before commencing this review, having used it extensively while testing the Bush 43UT24SB.

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• First reviewed: July 2026

We always caveat our VPN speed tests by saying something like "but you only need around a 30 Mbps connection to stream 4K video". The trouble is that it's not always as simple as that when you're watching a UHD stream – particularly for an event as popular as the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The best VPNs offer ultra-fast network speeds that can handle ultra-high definition 4K video streaming – but network traffic spikes can bring this to a standstill.

Events like the World Cup cause traffic surging with some popular ISPs, VPNs, and the streaming services themselves struggling under the capacity stresses of having so many users demanding bandwidth at once. The results are often buffering or a reduction in video resolution at the least. Hence why your 4K football match might look a lot rougher than it should.

Server congestion can also cause packet loss, where packets of data sent through a network are unable to reach their destination, resulting in dropped frames or stuttering.

The solution is a two-parter. Firstly, you want to find a VPN with support for high-speed WireGuard connections that can remain stable under pressure from congestion. Secondly, switch your stream to 1080p, rather than 4K, in order to reduce the bandwidth you require. This should keep frame rates high and buffering to a minimum.

If you’re looking for a new VPN to keep up with the World Cup or watch other major events in 4K, our Norton VPN review found a solid choice with average Wireguard speeds of 1010mbps. What’s more, Norton VPN is currently available for up to 60 per cent off:

If you’re just not willing to step down to 1080p, you might want to look into using a Smart DNS service instead of a VPN. This will allow you to spoof your location on a less crowded server (i.e your home network), but won’t encrypt your data or hide your IP address.

And if Norton VPN just doesn’t float your boat, there are other options on the market. Norton is still slower than many of the best VPNs: ExpressVPN (1177mbps), NordVPN (1249mbps), and Proton VPN (1475mbps) all boast faster speeds. And for those on a budget, Surfshark still reigns as our pick for the best cheap VPN.

Here at TechRadar, I test some of the best 4K Blu-rays each month as part of the Blu-ray Bounty. This is where we look at the latest 4K releases from that month and judge whether they’d be a worthy addition to your collection, focusing solely on the video and audio quality of each disc.

Every so often, a disc wows me so much that I add it to my rotation for testing the best TVs and best soundbars. 4K Blu-ray is my go-to source for AV testing, as it delivers a higher video bit rate, resulting in better picture quality than streaming, and uncompressed soundtracks for the best audio.

Some of the discs from the near-100 discs I’ve tested as part of the Blu-ray Bounty that have joined over the years include Wicked, The Mask, The Sound of Music and Dark City, to name just a few.

As part of the most recent June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, there’s another disc that will definitely be joining the testing rotation, as it performs at a reference-quality level. And that disc is Speed Racer.

Breathtaking color

My go-to 4K Blu-rays for color testing have been Wicked and The Sound of Music. Wicked features an oversaturated, candy-color style that really generates a lot of pop on the right screen, while The Sound of Music delivers still-vibrant but more authentic and realistic colors.

Speed Racer falls in Wicked’s camp, but takes it to another level. Throughout the movie, there are some seriously vivid colors. Red is a prominent feature throughout the movie, as it's the color of Speed Racer’s ‘M’ logo and the interior of his car, both of which are often front and center on screen. It’s also the color of the Racer garage at home and Papa Racer’s shirt, which he wears throughout the movie.

When I tested the Samsung S95H/S99H and LG G6 side-by-side, both TVs interpreted the red differently: the G6 gave it a much deeper red hue, while the S95H/S99H made it look paler, almost orange in some places. Both of these TVs, likely to be two of the best OLED TVs I’ll test in 2026, captured the visual punch of this red, but it was useful to see how each TV interpreted the color.

There are plenty of scenes where a single color dominates. As the Racer family arrived at Royalton Industries, there were a lot of bold purples, including the airship's color, the walls, and even the transport. On the OLEDs I tested the disc on, these purples had a beautiful richness to them that again was displayed in different ways by the S95H/S99H and the G6, with the latter again adding that bit more depth.

This trend continued throughout the movie, whether it was the neon greens of a grass field in a flashback, the fantastic pink/purple/orange gradients in the sky during sunset or the lush blues of the sky during daytime race sequences (or Speed’s iconic blue and white shirt.) Even the white of the Mach 5 / 6 and Speed’s helmet had a glorious clarity to them, really dazzling on the S95H/S99H and G6.

The use of color is fantastic in Speed Racer, and if you have a TV with Dolby Vision, you’ll be rewarded with the most breathtaking colors, some of the best I’ve ever seen on a 4K Blu-ray. But it’s not just color reproduction where this disc is useful.

A Dolby Atmos showcase

When it comes to testing soundbars and TV audio, my go-to 4K Blu-rays have been The Batman, namely the Batmobile/Penguin car chase scene for its detail and bass, and Top Gun: Maverick, for its all-around expansive Dolby Atmos soundtrack.

Speed Racer has proved to be a far more compelling disc, audibly, than I ever thought. While I anticipated some hefty bass from the car’s engines, I didn’t anticipate the level of detail and sound mapping I would hear.

During the opening race, there are plenty of demonstrations of pinpoint accuracy as cars swerve wildly through the corners of the winding track. The sound of squealing tires demonstrates excellent directionality and is fully connected with the action on screen. As a car moves from side to side on screen, you can be sure to hear it in the front channels.

One moment in this scene, in particular, really grabbed my attention, though. As Speed makes his way around the track, he has to grind the rear axle of the Mach 5 against the edge of the track and as I was watching, I heard the sound of a grind come through crystal clear in the left rear speaker of the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar I was using (an 11.1.4 channel Dolby Atmos system comprising of a soundbar, subwoofer and two rear speakers). This was the moment that made me realize just how precise and detailed the Dolby Atmos mix of this disc is.

There’s good use of Atmos effects and height channels too. As Speed uses his spring-loaded chassis to jump over a rival racer, a cut to said rival’s cockpit reveals a burst of not only bass but also the sound of the wind from the Mach 5 as Speed flips over. This sounded immersive, clean, and incredibly precise. There are plenty of helicopter sequences too, which are great for showing what Atmos can do.

There were plenty of highlight moments throughout the movie, but it is the race sequences that showcase the clarity and depth of this Dolby Atmos soundtrack. But there’s one final area where this disc is a perfect testing disc.

Always in motion

Motion handling is a key component of any TV. If a TV can’t accurately handle fast-moving images, then action movies and sports won’t look good. While motion interpolation settings, such as judder and blur reduction, can reduce these, they can introduce unwanted side effects, such as the ‘ghosting’ of a ball in a soccer game (where a trail of the ball appears as it travels across the screen).

I anticipate that Speed Racer is going to act as somewhat of a ‘torture test’ for some TVs (like The Batman can be due to its low brightness), as there are not only plenty of fast-paced driving sequences with plenty of quick shifts in direction, but one other real challenge: slow panning shots.

Frequently throughout the movie, commentators from various countries slowly track across the screen from side to side, and even on the S95H/S99H and G6, which have proven to have great motion handling with the right settings, these shots still struggled at times. The commentators sometimes showed judder as the TV’s tried to interpolate the motion, meaning this is something I’ll be using in future tests. With these panning shots, however, there is sometimes natural judder.

Again, though, it’s the fast-paced race sequences that can make or break a TV’s motion. Chaotic driving as cars swerve to avoid debris, smash into one another, or pull a tight turn can look unnatural if a TV’s motion isn’t right. Too much blur and judder reduction, and it’ll look artificial; not enough, and it’ll look like a juddery mess.

Speed Racer really is one of the best Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos 4K Blu-rays I’ve ever tested and is a triple threat disc for color, motion and sound, so if you’re a regular reader of our TV and soundbar reviews and comparisons here at TechRadar, expect to see Speed Racer appear very soon.

The Samsung S95F was our pick for the best OLED TV for bright rooms in 2025, thanks to its anti-glare matte screen that eliminates reflections, and its high brightness. These combined to make even dark movies viewable in really bright rooms on it: something most other OLED TVs just couldn’t achieve — even the S95F’s rival, the LG G5.

It remained the king until the LG G6 arrived this year. While the G6 still shows some mirror-like reflections when the screen is turned off, the brightness of these reflections is toned so far back that they don't really distract any more when you're viewing something.

You can now watch movies — even the super-dark The Batman — in Filmmaker Mode in bright conditions without distraction, but with the deep black tones OLED is famed for retained. When I compared the G6 with the S95F, I actually picked the G6 as the new king of bright-room OLEDs.

Fast forward a few months and the Samsung S99H (known as the S95H in the US — it's the same TV with a different name) has arrived in our testing lab. It has the latest version of Samsung's anti-reflection matte layer, so can it reclaim the crown as the best option for bright-room viewing? I've already compared the S95H/S99H with the G6 where I focused on other picture quality elements such as dark-room viewing and colors, and they came out basically even. So let's see how they compare in bright conditions.

Out-and-out reflections

The first area I decided to test was both TVs' reflection handling capabilities. This meant which TV was the outright most effective at eliminating mirror-like reflections caused by lights and objects.

Using the overhead lights in our testing lab, after getting the right angle, it was pretty clear the S95H/S99H was the superior model. Looking at the screen, the light from the overhead light is reduced to haze and the actual shape of the light is illegible: perfect if you’ve got pesky lights or windows in your bright room that you can’t hide, and that your eye is drawn to involuntarily focus on.

On the G6, the shape of the light, and the light itself, was still legible. It was certainly an improvement over its predecessor, the LG G5, as the latter had a pretty reflective screen — but there was no doubt that the overhead light was still visible.

Even looking at the shut-off, blank screen, you could see objects, such as other TVs we store in the same room, on the screen of the G6. The S95H/S99H on the other hand had absolutely nothing on screen, other than the haze of light from overhead. So for pure reflection-killing, the S95H/S99H is best.

Black level performance

Watching a movie is a more complicated story, however. With both TVs set to Filmmaker Mode, and watching the dark-tone torture test that is The Batman, the G6 did a better job maintaining black levels and delivering more impactful contrast than the S95H/S99H.

In a scene where Batman stands in a dark subway platform, having just defeated a gang of thugs, the first thing that was apparent was the S95H/S99H’s Filmmaker Mode was very dim compared to the G6. Due to the low perceived brightness and the raised black tones of the mate screen, large parts of the scene were illegible, with Batman himself partly obscured in black and the detail in the walls at the back of the platform not as clear as they were on the G6. The G6 also has better shadow detail, with more of Batman’s suit and the creases in the thug’s black jackets more legible too.

Switching to Alien: Romulus, it was the same story. As the crew approached the Nostromo, the blackness of space was much inkier and deeper on the G6. The S95H/S99H had a hazy gray sheen over it from the matte screen, which affected the integrity of the black tones. It also meant the rings around the moon didn’t have quite as much punch as the G6.

I found it odd that there was such a perceived brightness difference between the two as when I measured their brightness, the gap wasn’t as big as the real-world viewing suggested. The S95H/S99H clocked in at 2,739 nits of peak HDR brightness (10% window) in Filmmaker Mode, while the G6 clocked in at 3,004 nits. While 250 nits is nothing to sniff at, the pictures on screen suggested a bigger gap.

In fact, fullscreen HDR brightness was about as close as it gets. In the same HDR Filmmaker Mode, the S95H/S99H hit a measured fullscreen brightness of 449 nits, while the G6 hit 451. The human eye can’t perceive that little difference, yet in person, the G6 had the more complete picture.

In fact, watching in a darker room, the S95H/S99H delivers a richer, stronger picture. The same subway scene from The Batman shows deeper blacks and looks more accurate to the movie’s gloomy tone. On the G6, I found that its brightness hampered it slightly. While it did demonstrate good shadow detail, its brightness affected the quality of the darker tones on screen, and the image just wasn’t as satisfying as on the S95H/S99H.

In fairness to both TVs, some settings tweaks can solve some of the issues above. On the G6, dropping contrast from 50 to 49 takes away some of that over-brightness, while switching Tone Mapping from the default Static to Active on the S95H/S99H in Filmmaker Mode adds some brightness, although the image doesn’t feel as accurate then. But for these tests, I kept both TVs in their default settings.

The better TV for bright rooms

Honestly, both these TVs are fantastic for bright-room viewing. They both do a great job of eliminating reflections and delivering excellent picture quality despite being in a bright room. OLED’s nemesis has always been bright rooms and reflections, and it’s great to have two TVs that can handle the light. You can’t go wrong with either of these TVs for bright rooms and they’re both excellent OLED TVs.

If you have a bright room, either of these TVs would work. Your choice may depend on your circumstances. If you know you'll be watching a lot with light flooding in during the day, the S95H/S99H is the better option for keeping reflections to an absolute minimum. If you can control the light in your room more, the G6 is probably the better option.

For me, if I had to pick one TV for bright-room viewing, I’d go for the G6. While the S95H/S99H is seriously good at dealing with pesky reflections, and is an improvement over the superb S95F, I favored the G6’s richer black tones in brighter rooms.

Although the G6 isn’t as complete at removing mirror-like reflections, so there are some present in darker scenes, it’s effective enough to make watching darker movies in a bright room feel less like a chore than it did on its predecessor, the G5 — but with the contrasty feeling you want from an OLED TV.

There's always a trade-off with choosing a bright-room TV of reflection reduction versus preserving the image accuracy. Last year, the balance fell in favor of Samsung's matte display. This year, the G6’s better black level performance combined with drastically lowering the impact of mirror-like reflections is enough to make it my pick for bright rooms — but the Samsung S95H/S99H is a brilliant TV for light rooms still.

• 25 million viewers watch the first-ever 4K livestream beamed from the Moon
• 260Mbps transfer speeds send video more than 250,000 miles
• AWS GovCloud has an important role in NASA simulations

Amazon Web Services – the biggest cloud hyperscaler with a market share equaling the combined share of both Microsoft and Google – just helped to enable the first-ever like 4K video stream from the Moon.

The company transmitted video footage from the Orion spacecraft by laser, with an estimated 25 million people watching the coverage across NASA+, YouTube and Amazon’s own Prime Video platform.

Not only is this the first time 4K video has ever been transmitted from the Moon to Earth, but it’s also major news for video transmission by laser optics instead of conventional radio.

AWS enabled 260Mbps transfer speeds via laser

Key to supporting the video transmission was NASA’s Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) – a laser-based terminal more than 20 years in the making that supports up to 260Mbps transfer speeds. In other words, fast enough for real-time 4K video and other crucial mission data.

Generally, streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video would recommend having internet speeds of 15-20Mbps to stream 4K video. With NASA and AWS opening up 260Mbps, more than enough buffer was available to continue transmitting other key telemetry, voice communications, mission data and other files.

Unlike traditional radio systems, optical communications promise much higher bandwidth and are better suited to transmitting much larger datasets, thus they are expected to become increasingly important as space exploration pushes new boundaries.

In this case, laser transmissions were received by Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, Australia, and NASA’s White Sands Complex in New Mexico was responsible for processing and distributing signals. “AWS, NASA, and ANU partnered and stood up the connection in a matter of weeks, for the cost of a laptop,” the company declared.

All in, the video was transmitted an estimated quarter of a million miles, “connecting viewers to the farthest humans ever to travel from Earth.”

But Amazon’s partnership with NASA runs even deeper than this, with the company hosting the official NASA+ streaming platform using AWS Elemental services.

Amazon plays a crucial role in NASA’s trajectory

Besides video, Amazon’s cloud infrastructure also proves instrumental to other core NASA operations. Its flight sciences team at the Johnson Space Center runs tens of thousands of trajectory simulations for every launch opportunity, producing as much as 2-5TB of data per launch window.

Amazon proudly proclaimed that these simulations run on AWS GovCloud (US), enabling maximum security for sensitive data. Using a technique known as cloud bursting, NASA is able to “scale into hundreds of additional Intel-based cloud instances on demand,” allowing it to retarget and optimize trajectory in near real-time.

Mission control aside, Amazon’s huge video streaming success lays out the framework for future space missions, including the upcoming Artemis IV lunar landing which NASA hopes to get into the hands of 250 million live viewers.

Attention 4K Blu-ray fans! Arrow Films has a huge sale on its 4K Blu-rays, with up to 50% off some discs. You can check out the sale at Arrow Films' site, and there are tons of participating retailers, including Amazon in the US and HMV and Amazon UK in the UK. While stock is slim of some discs, between the different retailers, you should be covered.

• Arrow Films US: Browse the full sale
• Arrow Films UK: Browse the full sale
• Amazon US: See all discounted Arrow discs
• Amazon UK: See all discounted Arrow discs
• HMV: See all discounted Arrow discs

While there are loads of options in the sale, I've picked my top discs, all of which I've either personally tested as part of our monthly Blu-ray Bounty column, or some that we even own ourselves at TechRadar.

One of my favorites is Dark City, a disc that looks superb on the best TVs, with rich contrast and black tones. Next is Arrow's version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which is the best the iconic Western has ever looked, with impressive textures and bold colors.

Speaking of bold colors, Heathers is great for showing off your display's color reproduction, as is The Mask, one of my reference discs for testing color and for testing the best soundbars.

For our full thoughts on these discs, check out below. These are just our top picks of discs we've tested ourselves, but there are tons of discs in the sale to check out.

Our top picks from Arrow Video's 4K Blu-ray sale - US

Our top picks from Arrow Video's 4K Blu-ray sale - UK

Why I've picked these discs

Dark City

Dark City follows the story of John (Rufus Sewell), a man who wakes up with amnesia to find himself under investigation for murder and being hunted by a group of strange beings known as the Strangers.

Dark City looks superb in 4K. Arrow's restoration delivers crisp, realistic textures and inky black levels, plus, there are plenty of high-contrast scenes that really shine on the best OLED TVs. There's a reason this disc has entered my testing rotation.

The disc has both Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtracks. Speech is clear throughout, and while there aren't any scenes that will really test your home theater, the score's deep, rumbling bass will at times get your subwoofer working.

Heathers

Heathers follows the story of Veronica (Wynona Ryder), a high-schooler part of a popular clique of girls called Heather. Veronica begins to date a rebellious, new student called J.D (Christian Slater), who eventually starts to kill students he doesn't like.

The Arrow restoration of Heathers does an excellent job capturing the oft-gaudy aesthetic of the 1980s. Colors are bold and vivid (especially the Heathers' outfits), and there's plenty of refined detail in people's clothing. Textures have been cleaned up nicely, making everything, including people's hair and skin, look lifelike.

This disc comes with three soundtrack options: DTS: HD 5.1 MA; Stereo 2.0 and mono. I used the DTS: HD 5.1 MA in my testing, and it was clean and clear throughout. There aren't many showcase moments, but still, speech is clear, sound is mapped well and there is some impact to effects like gunshots.

Westworld (1973)

Westworld is about an interactive theme park inhabited by androids, where patrons can live out the fantasy of life in the Wild West. Eventually, the androids turn on both the staff and visitors of the park. The movie stars Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin.

Westworld looks excellent in this restoration from Arrow. Intricate details, such as the parts of a gun, are defined and realistic, while skin looks true-to-life. Colors are also big and bold in places, such as the red of the brothel's walls. Cinephiles will be happy with the level of film grain retained, too.

There are multiple soundtrack options available, including 4.0, 2.0, 1.0 and 5.1. Using the 5.1 for testing, there's some nice detail, demonstrated by the ricocheting bullets which are well mapped to the surround channels. There's a nice, wide soundstage to give different sounds room to breathe, and speech is clear too.

The Mask

The Mask tells the story of Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey), a bank-worker who discovers a supernatural mask that turns him into a super-powered being. The movie helped launch Carrey's movie career, and was the big-screen debut for Cameron Diaz.

While this 4K disc does have fantastic picture quality, (more on that in a sec), really it's the Dolby Atmos and DTS: HD 5.1 MA soundtracks that shine. As the Mask tornadoes around Stanley's bedroom, through the right sound system, the ensuing chaos is precise and accurately mapped, with refined detail. This is true throughout, whether the Mask jumps around or uses cartoon-ish violence. A seriously-impressive sounding disc.

Visually, The Mask looks great too. Color reproduction is this Arrow disc's main strength, with the Mask's yellow suit looking bright and vivid throughout. Textures have a 3D-like level of detail and there's plenty of scenes with strong contrast and deep black tones.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

One of the most iconic Westerns ever made, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly follows the Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood), as he, a bandit named Tuco (Eli Wallach), and a mercenary 'Angel Eyes' (Lee Van Cleef) all try to find buried Confederate gold through uneasy alliances and betrayals.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly looks sensational in Arrow's 4K restoration. Detail is organic and lifelike, particularly in close-up shots, that show every scar, bit of stubble and dirt in full clarity. Color really pops on screen when used, and the movie's darker scenes show rich, inky black tones and powerful contrast.

There are DTS: HD 5.1 MA and DTS: HD Mono MA soundtracks on offer. The 5.1 soundtrack is immersive, with precise effects, such as ricocheting bullets, and there's a good hit of bass during scenes with explosions and the rumble of horse's hooves. Speech is clean throughout and the movie's legendary score is balanced and beautiful.

The Warriors

The Warriors, an adaptation of Sol Yurik's novel of the same name, follows the story of a gang in 1970s New York named The Warriors. They find themselves framed for murder, and must make their way back across New York and home to Coney Island, while being hunted by thousands of members from rival gangs.

The Arrow version of The Warriors is excellent. Textures have been uplifted and given a much crisper look, but there's still plenty of film grain, to capture the movie's gritty tone. Colors have plenty of punch, shown best in the opening scene by the different gang's colorful uniforms. Contrast is also strong, and there's plenty of scenes to show this, especially in the gloomy subway platforms.

This Arrow disc contains a Dolby Atmos soundtrack (unlike the Paramount release which only has a 5.1 mix) and it's all the better for it. The soundstage is wide and immersive, effects are clear and there's good impact and accurate sound mapping throughout. The best scene to showcase this is as the Warriors fight the Punks in a subway station bathroom.

Thief

Thief follows the story of Frank (James Caan), a professional safecracker trying to escape his life of crime. It was Michael Mann's (Heat, Collateral) feature film directorial debut.

Another fantastic restoration from Arrow, Thief looks brilliant in 4K. There's plenty of scenes with rich, powerful contrast, and a good amount of film grain present for cinephiles. Detail, such as skin, hair and clothing, all look refined and lifelike.

There are DTS: HD 5.1 MA and stereo 2.0 soundtrack options on offer. I used the DTS: HD 5.1 MA for my testing and there was plenty of nuanced detail, such as the whirring of the sale drill, that were delivered clearly. Tangerine Dream's excellent score is balanced, with big, bold synths and fantastic clarity.

Tremors

Tremors is about a tiny Nevada town being terrorized by a mysterious underground menace, and it's the definition of a cult classic. It's got a really tight script, and ekes all of its production value from being filmed out in beautiful mountains, mixed with some fantastic practical visual effects.

It's a beautiful transfer that uses HDR to deliver nuanced skies, bright highlights in the sun, and the most ridiculously orange blood and monster bits you've ever seen.

The latter is also delivered in gloriously strong detail and texture, as is the dirt of the countryside as it slides around when a Graboid shifts underneath it. There's a nice grainy softness, but this really makes the most of its 4K upgrade. It sounds great too, but it's the visuals I appreciated most, especially when it comes to admiring the monster effects.

The Samsung S95F was our TV of the Year last year, thanks to its excellent picture quality, effectiveness in a bright room and superb gaming capabilities. It edged out the LG G5, the S95F’s flagship rival, for the honors — but needless to say, both these models were top-tier performers and contenders for our list of the best TVs. So I've been relishing testing their successors side by side.

I’ve already tested and reviewed the LG G6, the G5’s successor, and it earned five-stars in my LG G6 review. It’s one of the best OLED TVs I’ve tested this year, especially for bright room viewing (more on that later).

Now, the S95F’s successor — which is called the Samsung S95H in the US, and the S99H in the UK (and there is a separate model called the S95H in the UK, which is different to the US' S95H. Clear? Great…) has arrived in our test room, so I put the S95H/S99H and G6 side-by-side to see which flagship OLED comes out on top.

Colors

Color reproduction on both these TV’s predecessors has been superb in the past, so I was keen to see how the two new models would fare. I started with Speed Racer on 4K Blu-ray, which I recently reviewed as part of the June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, and boy, does it have some impressive colors.

With both TVs set to their respective HDR Movie modes (called Cinema Home on the G6) colors are bold, punchy and vibrant on both TVs, perfectly delivering the hyper-saturated, cartoon-esque look of the movie.

Colors practically exploded on screen on both TVs. Looking closer, the G6 has deeper, richer colors which add a more 3D-like effect to the picture, while the S95H/S99H’s are on the more natural side. Blues, greens, purples and yellows appear more true-to-life on the S95H/S99H, while the G6 opts for dazzle.

One thing I found very interesting however was how each TV rendered red. In some scenes, I noticed that the S95H/S99H made these red details look more orange, while on the G6 they had a much more candy-apple red look that felt more accurate to the movie. This was clear in a scene with the red shelves, walls and floors of the Racer family garage, shown above.

In the close-up shot of Speed Racer during a race shown above, the red of his seat and the M logo on his helmet was deeper and bolder on the G6, looking a little pale on the S95H/S99H. For any red tones, I preferred the G6’s saturation: for this movie at least, in these modes.

For the record, in terms of measurements, the S95H/S99H scored 2.2 SDR color accuracy and 99.97% UHDA-P3 and 89.3% BT.2020 HDR color gamut coverage, to the G6’s 2.3 SDR color accuracy, 99.3% UHDA-P3 and 83% BT.2020 color gamut coverage (measured after its most recent update as of July 3rd 2026). So, these two generally measured about the same in these major areas.

When it came to skin tones, I found myself drawn to the S95H/S99H. The G6 clearly favoured red in Cinema Home, hence the deeper reds in objects. To some, the skin tones of characters on the S95H/S99H may have looked a little washed out, but I found the highlighting red tones in people’s faces, such as their cheeks, during close-up shots to be a little distracting.

Switching to La La Land, with both TVs in Movie mode, the more natural colors worked in the S95H/S99H’s favour. At the spring pool party, Mia’s yellow dress was vibrant on both screens with some gorgeous visual pop, but the yellow looked more authentic on the S95H/S99H. In the background, the green bushes were deeper on the G6, which gave them a nice, rich look, but again I felt the softer green of the S95H/S99H suited the movie better.

Later on, a close-up shot of Mia, the G6 again showed off the red tones in her skin, while on the S95H/S99H, her skin tone was uniform, more lifelike. In the ‘City of Stars’ scene, as Sebastian walks along a pier at sunset, both TVs accurately delivered the gradation of the sky, which goes from purple, to orange, to pink, accurately and while the G6 again had that richer look, the S95H/S99H had a bit more punch in the paler tones.

Contrast and dark room viewing

Moving onto darker movies, I started with The Batman, my reference disc for darker scenes. The Batman is a very dim movie (mastered at a max of around 400 nits) so it can be tricky for any TV to accurately display.

As both TVs have effective reflection handling layers (more on that below), I tried out the movie in Filmmaker Mode in a brightly lit room — and of the two, the G6 better preserved richer black tones with crisper textures and contrast. The S95H/S99H was much dimmer, and although the matte screen blocked mirror-like reflections, the movie was harder to watch.

Switching to Movie mode on both TVs, it then became a much closer call. Watching the subway scene, as Batman stands on a dark subway platform, both TVs delivered strong black levels with good shadow detail. The S95H/S99H had the more uniform picture of the two overall in Movie mode.

Switching to darker viewing conditions, and switching back to Filmmaker Mode, the differences between each TV was much more apparent. While both TVs still delivered strong contrast, shown in scenes with bright lights against dark backgrounds such as the Batcave and the crime scene at Mayor Mitchell’s house, the S95H/S99H actually delivered noticeably deeper blacks.

In some cases they were too deep, as it did exhibit some black crush, which resulted in loss of shadow detail. In the same subway scene from before, the background became mostly ineligible on the S95H/S99H. On the G6, these same details were preserved, but the picture was much brighter and the darker areas on screen weren’t as satisfying. Despite the black crush, I found myself drawn to the S95H/S99H’s more uniform picture.

Next I switched to ‘brighter’ movies with dark scenes, and went back to having brighter conditions in the room. In Fight Club, back in Filmmaker Mode, the G6 had the more impactful contrast and richer black tones.

As Marla and the narrator talk in a dimly-lit shop, the S95H/S99H’s matte screen created a haze effect across the screen, affecting some dark tones and made textures look a little softer. The G6’s glossy screen had crisper textures and deeper blacks with more impactful contrast. But switch to Movie mode and, again, it was a toss up as to which looked better.

Using a scene from space in Alien: Romulus in Movies modes, both TVs delivered rich black tones with a good amount of white stars dotted throughout, something some cheaper TVs I’ve tested can’t reproduce as cleanly. Again, in Filmmaker Mode, the G6 was the more engaging picture with the inky blacks, but the S95H/S99H did a better job handling reflections on this occasion, while still delivering powerful contrast. So let's dig more into reflections and visual punch.

Brightness and reflections

OLED TVs are getting brighter. Once struggling to hit over 1,000 nits HDR peak some years ago, this is easily surpassed now, on both flagship and mid-range models.

I measured the S95H/S99H as hitting 2,739 nits HDR peak brightness (10% window) in Filmmaker Mode, as well as 449 nits of fullscreen HDR (100% window). In HDR movie mode, the S95H/S99H hit 2,751 nits peak and 450 nits fullscreen.

The G6 in the same modes, after a re-test with a new firmware update, hit a staggering 3,004 nits peak (10%) and 451 nits fullscreen brightness in HDR Filmmaker Mode. In HDR Cinema Home, the G6 hit 2,207 nits peak and 365 nits fullscreen brightness.

How did this translate into real-world scenes? Using some snow scenes from the Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark, both TVs, set to Filmmaker Mode, showed punchy white tones with plenty of vibrancy, but the G6 had that little bit more depth in some areas. Generally, however, the S95H/S99H had the brighter picture in larger white areas, during a shot of a snow-covered ground or a white sky.

In movies, going back to Speed Racer, Speed’s white Mach 5 car and helmet appeared brighter on the S95H/S99H, especially in Movie mode, which makes sense based on the 500 nits peak HDR difference between the S95H/S99H and G6 in that mode.

However, the G6 again had that satisfying glint that drew the eye more. In daytime scenes, the S95H/S99H again showed higher overall brightness, especially in lighter colors like green and yellow. But, the G6’s richer colors sometimes gave it a perceived sense of higher brightness through its boldness.

In another scene from Fight Club, again in Movie mode, as the narrator stands over an overturned car in the day, the clear, blue sky was noticeably brighter on the S95H/S99H. The G6 still showed good brightness, but it wasn’t as impactful as the S95H/S99H.

I’ve touched on bright-room conditions and reflection handling above, and both these TVs are impressive on this front. The S95H/S99H’s anti-glare screen does an excellent job at eliminating mirror-like reflections, turning them to a haze. While it would beat every other OLED TV in brighter rooms, the G6 is more than a match for it.

When I compared the LG G6 to last year's Samsung S95F for their reflection handling, I preferred the G6, as it did a better job delivering inkier, richer black tones while still eliminating most reflections.

The S95H/S99H is brighter than the S95F, and while this does mean its overall picture quality next to the G6 is improved, delivering more powerful contrast, I still prefer the G6 for bright rooms… in Filmmaker Mode.

In Movie mode, however, it again becomes a very tight call, edged by the G6 for me. I just preferred the preservation of contrast over the out-and-out reflection handling.

Which do I prefer?

In these tests, the LG G6 proved to have bolder colors, with better black levels and punchier highlights in brighter conditions (still with great reflection handling). The Samsung S95H/S99H showed better skin-tone accuracy, better contrast balance and black tones in dark room viewing, and higher perceived fullscreen brightness.

Deciding between these two TVs is no easy task. Both deliver outstanding picture quality, with their own strengths, and superb gaming experiences. It's never been a closer contest. So torn am I between the two, I’m saying you can’t really go wrong with either. It will come down to price and what you’re looking for — though while I've only focused on picture here, I do know that a lot of people are put off by the huge frame on the S95H/S99H, and that might make the difference.

If you want Dolby Vision HDR, bolder colors and better contrast with richer black levels in a bright room, go for the G6. If you want HDR10+, a more accurate-feeling picture out-of-the-box in a dark room, and a TV that beats the most challenging reflections, go for the S95H/S99H. Honestly, both TVs can do pretty much everything.

If I had to choose one today, it would be the LG G6. Not only does it have the better black level performance in brighter rooms, but right now, it's cheaper in the UK (where I am) and Australia, with a 55-inch G6 costing $2,299 / £2,099 / AU$3,499, while the S95H/S99H 55-inch costs $2,199 / £2,399 / AU$3,999. If I were in the US, or if the prices switch here, I could easily change my mind: it's that close.

Last month in June 2026 proved to be yet another packed month for 4K Blu-ray releases and July is looking just as busy. Despite the long list of discs on my radar, I’ve narrowed it down to my top four I’m most looking forward to, hopefully, testing.

I’ll be looking to test these discs as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, our monthly column where we test the latest 4K releases on their picture and sound quality, to see whether they’re worth adding to the bursting shelves of a 4K blu-ray collection.

4K Blu-ray is my bread-and-butter source for testing the best TVs and best soundbars, as it offers the best bitrate for picture and uncompressed audio for sound. I’m also a collector myself, so I’m always looking for new discs I can add to my collection!

In my June 2026 most anticipated article, my picks were Speed Racer, Bullet In The Head, EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert and Hoppers. Three out of the four featured in the June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty (Hoppers sadly didn’t arrive, but I’ll hopefully feature that another time) and while they were all great, the real highlight was Speed Racer, which was an audio showcase and an outstanding looking disc (check out the Blu-ray Bounty for my full thoughts).

Hard Boiled (Arrow Video)

Hard Boiled stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector “Tequila” Yeun, a detective in pursuit of a Triad syndicate who gets involved in an operation involving an undercover officer. This is arguably director John Woo’s (Bullet In The Head, The Killer, Mission Impossible 2) most iconic movie.

Having recently reviewed Arrow’s recent restoration of Bullet In The Head, I’m excited to see what it can do with Hard Boiled. Where I’m hoping this disc’s strengths will lie is in its Dolby Atmos mix. Hard Boiled is a gritty, action-thriller with plenty of gunfights and a good Atmos mix should deliver plenty of impact, bass and a real sense of immersion, with ricocheting bullets covering the latter.

The Bullet In The Head restoration had rich colors, crisp textures and strong contrast, so I’m hoping for more of the same here. While I’m expecting it to have the haze that I’ve now clocked in a few early-90s Hong Kong cinema movies, I still think Hard Boiled has the potential to look great, especially as it supports Dolby Vision, which should work wonders for textures, detail and contrast.

• US release date - N/A: (Hong Kong Cinema Classics version released November 4, 2025)
• UK release date - 27th July

Alice in Wonderland (1951) (Disney)

Alice in Wonderland, based on Lewis Carroll’s novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, tells the story of a young girl called Alice who ends up in a strange, fantastical world where meets odd characters such as the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and the evil Queen of Hearts. (This is a cheeky addition as this disc was actually released on 29th June, but I’m going to hopefully test it as part of the July Blu-ray Bounty!)

4K can do wonders for animation, especially when it comes to detail and colors. Alice in Wonderland has plenty of seriously bright colors and I expect Wonderland to look truly brilliant in 4K. The disc comes with Dolby Vision HDR support, which is only going to make colors pop even more. The 4K restoration will hopefully add more depth and texture to the picture as well.

As for audio, there’s no support for Dolby Atmos which is a bit of a shame as it would’ve been nice to get the full immersive experience as Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Thankfully, there is a DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack included and in recent discs I’ve tested this has proved to be just as good. There’s plenty of moments throughout the weird and wonderful Wonderland that should sound fantastic on 4K.

• US release date - May 6, 2025
• UK release date - 29th June, 2026

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

The sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie follows Mario and his crew — Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and Toad — head to space to save Princess Rosalina from the clutches of Bowser and his son, Bowser Jr.

I’m expecting crisp, slick animation and of course boat-loads of fantastical colors from this disc on 4K. With Dolby Vision support included, I’m anticipating some seriously impressive color reproduction, whether it’s the red of Mario’s iconic suit or the green skin of Bowser and Yoshi, this disc could be a new reference disc for TV testing. As the movie takes the gang to space, there’s also a chance for some strong contrast between the deep blackness of space and any bright stars along the way.

Equipped with a Dolby Atmos track, I’m expecting an immersive soundtrack that will provide some excellent detail during the movie’s more action-packed sequences. Plus, with several flight sequences, as the character’s fly through space, I’m hoping for some real utilization of the height channels to give a wide, full sound. I can imagine this disc is going to deliver an impressive audio experience that I’m looking forward to trying out through our Samsung Dolby Atmos soundbar.

• US release date - June 16, 2026
• UK release date - 20th July, 2026

Hairspray (1988) (Criterion Collection)

Directed by John Waters, Hairspray (the original, 1988 movie) tells the story of teenager Tracy Turnbald, as she aims for fame as a dancer on a local TV show. Set in the 1960s, Tracy also rallies against racial segregation, which gets in her trouble with adults and authority figures.

As this is a release from Criterion, I’m expecting an excellent restoration job. I’ve tested a ton of Criterion’s 4K releases and all of them have looked fantastic. As Hairspray is set in the 1960s, there’s a potential here for some truly bold visuals, especially with color. Decor and outfits should really pop on screen, capturing the sometimes-garish, saturated aesthetic of the time period.

There are two soundtrack options on the 4K disc of Hairspray: DTS-HD 2.0 and 5.1 MA. This isn’t the remake from 2007, which is based on the 2002 stage musical, so I’m not anticipating many showcase audio moments. However, as the movie does involve music and dancing, there could be some nice, clean sound mixes, especially with DTS-HD 5.1 MA supported.

• US release date - June 23, 2026
• UK release date - July 20, 2026

July 2026 highlighted releases

Below, I’ve picked some highlight releases for July 2026. Both US and UK releases are featured here, with release dates noted. These release dates may vary by region, with some titles already available or yet to be released until later this year depending on where you are. 4K Blu-ray is region-free, so you should be able to order from wherever.

July 6/7

• To Live and Die in LA
• The Protector
• Double Impact
• The Magic Faraway Tree (2026)
• The Drama (US - UK July 13)

July 13/14

• Obsession
• Hud
• The Usual Suspects
• Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (US - UK July 27)
• Michael
• The Mummy (2026)
• Red Sun
• The Crying Game
• Full Contact

July 20/21

• Falling Down
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
• Pleasantville
• Anyone But You
• Hairspray (UK)
• The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (UK)
• Excalibur (UK)
• Mortal Kombat II (UK - US July 28)

July 27/28

• Hard Boiled (UK)
• Strictly Ballroom (UK)
• Soylent Green
• Stranger Things: Complete Series
• X: The Unknown (UK)
• Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

You've bought one of the best TVs or best projectors. You've invested in one of the best soundbars, or a stunning home theater speaker system. Life is good. So what should you watch to make the most of your system? What are the best Blu-rays to show off your setup?

Our resident disc enthusiast, Senior TV Hardware Writer James Davidson, tests out new Blu-ray releases every month in his Blu-ray Bounty column, to see which ones really impress when it comes to visuals and immersive sound. Now that we're halfway through the year, he's picked out his six favorite discs released in 2026 that most impressed him — and that's against some hot competition.

We're not judging the movies themselves, that's obviously subjective. What we're interested in is how well they'll show off your TV or home theater setup, and how happy these particular presentations make you as a result.

• Criterion has a 50% off sale in the US right now! See the range here

Speed Racer

The Wachowski sisters' dazzling sci-fi adventure Speed Racer is undergoing something of a revival right now, fuelled by positive posts on social media praising its visual extravagance; at the time of release there was disappointment that the sisters had made a sci-fi sports action comedy based on a 1960s manga.

But Speed Racer comes from the same incredibly inventive brains that birthed The Matrix and it's mind-blowing in its first-ever 4K HDR presentation. This has instantly entered our library for testing TVs as a new reference disc for colors and motion handling.

"Speed Racer looks astounding on 4K Blu-ray," James says. "Where it really shines is in its color reproduction. Colors are bold, vibrant and punchy throughout, taking on an almost neon-like level of saturation, which perfectly suits the movie. Whether it’s the pulsing lights of the racetrack or the 1960s-inspired clothing and decor of the neighborhood, the colors seriously pop on screen."

It's particularly good for showing off your OLED TV if you have one thanks to its deep blacks and neon brights, while its Dolby Atmos soundtrack is "ridiculously detailed."

Fight Club

The 4K edition of Fight Club had a short theater release before arriving on Blu-ray, and it's had a bit of a mixed reception: while as James says it's excellent on 4K — "Textures have been upscaled well, and appear extra crisp. Close-up shots of characters' faces show fine details such as skin marks and hair with real clarity. While colors don’t play a major role in the movie, any that do have nice pop while still looking realistic" — there's been some disappointment that the audio isn't in Atmos, and that there was some fudging to elements in the movie itself.

The soundtrack is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. It's a great presentation that sounds fantastic, and while it's a shame it doesn't have the extra native height you'd get with Atmos, it doesn't stop this from being one of the showstoppers of 2026.

Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia is one of cinema's most iconic epics, and the 4K Blu-ray version is simply stunning. "Presented in Dolby Vision, the sheer majesty and scope of the movie’s cinematography is accurately delivered with breathtaking detail," James says. "Epic landscape shots reveal intricate textures, while close-ups of characters show weather-beaten skin and Lawrence’s sand-coated hair down to the finest margin."

The soundtrack is great too, with choices including Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD MA 5.1. We particularly liked the Atmos version, which is spacious and detailed with plenty of gusto. "Ricocheting bullets, the trotting of camel’s feet and even the wind are pinpoint and accurately mapped to the action on screen," James says, praising the "incredibly hefty" bass that delivers "huge rumble from the explosions and machine gun fire."

Ben-Hur

Here's another iconic epic, and like Lawrence of Arabia the 4K version of Ben-Hur is a "staggering 4K Blu-ray," James says. At the time it was the largest-scale movie ever released, and the restoration "upscales textures to an almost modern-day look, with accurate, lifelike skin tones and refined details such as rocks, grass, and buildings throughout. Colors are rich and vibrant: from the reds of the Roman soldiers' capes to the glorious blue sky, every color pops on screen."

He continues: "Soldiers' gold uniforms gleam in the sunlight, and the sand-colored buildings of Jerusalem dazzle without ever over-exerting the brightness. Even the movie’s darker scenes display rich blacks with powerful contrast. As the slaves row the ship, the dark tones of the walls contrast with the light from the torches beautifully."

The audio restoration is as ambitious and impressive as the visuals. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is clean, refined and powerful, with excellent use of the surround channels in the busy market scenes and the famous chariot races. The hooves in the latter are a great workout for your subwoofer, James says.

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma was released in 1957 and is today considered a classic Western, following rancher Dan Evans as he escorts an outlaw to his trial in Arizona. Criterion's restoration of the original movie is absolutely superb, James says. "Textures have been beautifully cleaned up — every weather-beaten wrinkle on people’s faces is fully restored — and looking almost modern. The movie is in black and white, and dark tones are deep while white tones are bright, with a full range of gray tones in between. Cinephiles will be happy with the amount of film grain retained, though it’s more obvious in the movie's exterior scenes."

You have two audio choices here: monoaural, as originally released, and DTS-HD MA 5.1. The original mono soundtrack has been cleaned up beautifully, but the real fun is in the 5.1 version. "There’s solid bass from the rumble of galloping horses, good surround details during gunfights with ricocheting bullets, and even a wide soundstage, letting the soundtrack breathe," James says. "Speech is also crystal clear."

Dead Man

Dead Man may look like it's from the same era as 3:10 to Yuma, but it's from 1995: director Jim Jarmusch chose to shoot entirely in monochrome, and the Criterion restoration delivers "dazzling whites, such as highlights in the sun, and inky blacks, such as Blake’s hair and shadowed areas within forests. Contrast is strong, with a perfect balance between light and dark tones." Detail is excellent, especially in close-up scenes, delivering "an exceptional looking disc."

There's no surround sound with this release; the audio is DTS-HD 2.0. However, what it lacks in channels it makes up for in the form of Neil Young's superb score, played solo on electric guitar and delivering "plenty of chugging and twangy Western-sounding riffs that are detailed and clear." Dialog is perfectly clear and effects such as gunfire are accurately positioned.

Welcome to the June 2026 edition of the Blu-ray Bounty. This is where we review the latest 4K Blu-ray releases each month, judging each disc on its video and audio quality, to see if they’ll make a worthy addition to your collection. If you’re new to Blu-ray Bounty, you can check out previous editions here.

We’re big fans of 4K Blu-ray here at TechRadar, and some of us are even collectors ourselves. As TechRadar’s TV tester, I use 4K Blu-ray to test the best TVs and the best soundbars, as it offers uncompressed video and audio for the best picture and sound you can get at home.

In last month’s May 2026 edition of the Blu-ray Bounty we looked at five discs, including the highly anticipated Fight Club, as well as Some Like It Hot, Wuthering Heights, Leaving Las Vegas and Point Blank.

This month, we’re looking at seven discs, including one that’s getting a lot of buzz as 'reference-level'. As always on the Blu-ray Bounty, we’re not talking about the movies themselves, just the disc's picture and audio quality.

We’ll be using our usual setup consisting of the LG G5, one of the best OLED TVs of 2025, the Panasonic DP-UB820, the best 4K Blu-ray player on the market, and the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar system.

As I'm based in the UK, these releases are based on UK release dates, so don't be surprised if any of these titles are already out where you are, or if one of your picks isn't listed — it might just be coming to where you are later.

Speed Racer (Warner Bros.)

Speed Racer tells the story of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch), a young man who becomes a racecar driver, following in his older brother’s footsteps, in order to save his family's business. Based on the manga series of the same name, the movie also stars Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman.

Speed Racer looks astounding on 4K Blu-ray. Where it really shines is in its color reproduction. Colors are bold, vibrant and punchy throughout, taking on an almost neon-like level of saturation, which perfectly suits the movie. Whether it’s the pulsing lights of the racetrack or the 1960s-inspired clothing and decor of the neighborhood, the colors seriously pop on screen. On the LG G5 I used, there was a gorgeous depth and richness to said colors.

Black tones during night races are inky, textures are incredibly crisp, especially in people's skin and hair, and even the cartoon-ish CGI of the crowd and cars on the track is slick and sharp. The disc also really pushes the boundaries on motion, with the swerving cars and constantly changing camera angles serving as a showcase for your display’s motion handling.

Sound-wise, this is a seriously impressive disc. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is lively, engaging and ridiculously detailed. During the opening race, the bass of the Mach 5’s was powerful but tightly controlled, and the hum of passing engines through the wind was crystal clear through the HW-Q990C’s rear speakers.

There’s ample room in the Atmos mix too, giving every element a chance to breathe. The mapping of sound is impressive too. As Speed grinds his car on the edge of the track in the opening race, I heard the movement of this through the left rear channel clear as day, despite all the bass from the subwoofer, and the speech and other effects through the front channels.

EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert (Universal Pictures)

From Baz Luhrmann (director of the 2022 Elvis biopic) comes EPiC Elvis Presley In Concert, which features never-before-seen archival footage of Elvis’ early performances as part of his legendary Las Vegas residency, as well as archive interviews with Elivs telling his own story.

The disc has a DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack that sounds superb. While Elvis’ narration, made of clips from interviews, is clear, as is the audio of the behind-the-scenes studio sessions, it’s the live performances on stage that sound most impressive. The drums are punchy but beautifully intricate, giving the subwoofer a real workout. Elvis’ vocals are powerful, detailed, and delivered with real clarity. The bass is refined and clearly audible, and guitars are bright and clean. This is a perfectly balanced mix that sounds excellent, regardless of the track. Highlights include Polk Salad Annie and Burning Love.

While visuals aren’t the main feature of this disc, the restored footage looks brilliant. Textures are smooth and crisp, with close-up shots of Elvis’ face even picking out his stubble. Colors are bold and bright, perfectly capturing Elvis’ flashy on-stage costumes and his often colorful offstage outfits . There’s a nice punchy brightness to the picture as well, with highlights on bejeweled, sequin-encrusted costumes really glinting on screen. Naturally, there’s some film grain present from the cameras used at the time, but most shots have been cleanly restored.

Bullet In The Head (1991) (Arrow Video)

Bullet In The Head, directed by John Woo, follows Ben, Paul and Frank, three friends who flee Hong Kong after murdering a member of a rival gang. They become smugglers in Saigon, Vietnam, at the height of the Vietnam War in 1967. The movie stars Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung and Waise Lee.

Visually, this is a solid restoration from Arrow. While the movie still has the grainy, sometimes hazy look you’d expect of early-90s Hong Kong Cinema, textures have been cleaned up well, especially in skin and faces, with more intricate detail such as hair looking refined. Colors can appear bold, whether it's the red of Ben’s T-shirt or the brightly colored buildings in Saigon. Black levels are deep during night-time scenes, and there's some nice contrast during scenes in the market, or when the trio are at the Bolero club in Saigon.

There are three soundtrack options with this disc: Cantonese Mono and Dolby Atmos, and English Mono. The Atmos soundtrack is a more spacious extension of the mono, but it does add more volume and depth to the audio. Speech is clearer in the Atmos mix, and other sounds, such as punches and crashes during fight scenes, have more impact. Gunshots in shootouts have good clarity, and while they don’t quite utilize the rear channels as well as other movies I’ve watched, there’s still some nice power on display. Bass from explosions is also tightly controlled.

Body Heat (Criterion Collection)

Starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, Body Heat follows lawyer Ned (Hurt) and Matty (Turner), the wife of a businessman named Edmund (Richard Crenna) as Ned and Matty begin an affair and plot to murder Edmund in order to get his fortune and run away together. The movie was inspired by the 1944 movie Double Indemnity (which I reviewed for the November 2024 Blu-ray Bounty).

Visually, this is another top-notch restoration job from Criterion. Textures look realistic, particularly in skin and in finer details such as hair. As the movie has such a sweltering setting, sweat features regularly and really shows off the level of detail present. Colors are punchy, with more intricate objects such as a red matchbook on Ned’s desk really popping. There are a number of night scenes showing rich black tones, as well as strong shadows cast by bright lights across the character's bodies and faces.

The disc comes with both DTS-HD Stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround soundtrack options. Opting for the 5.1 surround, speech is clear throughout the movie and there are some nice details present, such as the chirping of crickets, which come through the rear channels during some night sequences. The other main component of the soundtrack is the dramatic, string-led score which does a good job utilizing the full surround channels.

Avatar: Fire & Ash (20th Century Studios)

The third movie in the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire & Ash continues to follow Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) on Pandora, who must now face challenges from an aggressive, new Na’vi tribe. The movie also stars Sigourney Weaver, Steven Lang and Kate Winslet, with the former two appearing in all three of the current Avatar movies.

Avatar: Fire & Ash is visually impressive. The animation is slick, with crisp textures and detail such as the Na’vi’s braids and skin looking 3D-like. Colors are bold and vibrant, whether it’s the blue of the Na’vi themselves or the seas of Pandora and the rich reds of the warpaint of the Mangkwan. Environments are striking, with lush, green trees and fields, with textures in cliffs and rocks showing intricate detail. Night-time scenes show inky blacks and when fire is added to the mix, it shows the discs' strong contrast.

The Dolby Atmos mix included here is excellent for showing off a home theater system. Any sequences where creatures such as the Nightwraiths fly overhead delivers impressive height, with their flight paths accurately mapped. Gunshots have real weight to them, especially with automatic weapons, creating a real thud through both the soundbar and the subwoofer. Speech is clear throughout, even in the most chaotic battle scenes. During these battle scenes, whenever an arrow is fired, it’s extremely detailed, coming through the rear channels crystal clear. Like some other modern blockbusters I’ve tested, this is a great Atmos soundtrack.

Five Easy Pieces (Criterion Collection)

Five Easy Pieces tells the story of Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson), a piano prodigy turned oil rig worker who returns home to his rich, estranged family and attempts to reconnect upon hearing about his father’s ailing health. The movie also stars Karen Black as Rayette, Robert’s girlfriend.

Criterion delivers another great restoration here. Colors really pop on screen, shown in people’s brightly-colored clothing. A scene at the bowling alley near the opening of the movie shows this, with almost every patron’s clothing looking vivid. Textures, such as the grime on the oil rigger’s faces and frown lines in Robert’s forehead, look lifelike and detailed. There’s plenty of film grain present and it’s more pronounced in some scenes than others (namely outdoor, daytime scenes), so cinephiles will be happy.

For audio, there’s only a mono soundtrack present. This won’t be an audio showcase for your home theater system, but speech is clear and other effects, such as Robert slamming himself against his car-seat, have some impact. The best part of this audio mix is whenever someone plays the piano, namely the scene where Robert plays Chopin’s ‘Prelude, Op. 28, No.4’, as it sounds bright, clean and detailed. This is a well-restored audio mix.

36 Hours (AKA Terror Street) (Hammer)

36 Hours (released in the US as Terror Street) tells the story of Major Bill Rogers (Dan Duryea), a US pilot who is framed for the murder of his estranged wife Katherine (Elsie Albiin) while he tries to visit her in London. He then has 36 hours to solve her murder so he can return back to the States.

This is a great restoration from Hammer. Textures have been cleaned-up well, making people and their clothing look incredibly lifelike. Contrast is strong throughout, with deep blacks, punchy whites and a full range of gray tones to create a dynamic image. There is the occasional shot where textures can appear fuzzy, but it's rare and considering the age of the movie, it’s surprisingly good-looking throughout. There is grain present, which will please cinephiles, but again there’s been a surprisingly thorough clean-up job here.

There are two options for soundtracks here: mono and DTS-HD 5.1 MA. The mono mix is louder and more direct, but the 5.1 mix has a warmer, cleaner sound that fits the tone of the movie. Dialogue is controlled and clean in all parts of the movie and the melodramatic score is bright and bold, using the rear channels to great effect. Other effects such as gunshots and punches have some solid impact to them as well.

• A new 4K restoration of Hammer's Dracula is coming to theaters and Blu-ray in October 2026
• Uncensored and with new footage believed to have been lost forever
• Pieced together from 'the best original archival materials sourced from around the world'

Here's a tale to really sink your teeth into: Hammer Films has "painstakingly restored" (pun intended, I assume) the original 1958 Dracula, adding "long-lost" footage and delivering an uncensored cut in full 4K. It'll be coming to movie theaters and home entertainment in October 2026.

This isn't a remaster. It's a resurrection. It features footage that was believed to be lost for over six decades, and which was only ever seen by Japanese cinemagoers in the 1950s. The recovered material is "from the best original archival materials sourced from around the world" and has never been released in the US or UK, nor available for home viewing in either country.

Dracula was the second on-screen pairing of Peter Cushing, who plays Dr Van Helsing, and Christopher Lee, who plays… I'm just checking my notes here… Dracula.

Fangs for the memories

There have been many Dracula movies, but the 1958 one delivered the definitive Drac: as Hammer Films says, Lee's portrayal introduced "the bloodshot eyes, predatory fangs and visceral physicality that became the blueprint for modern vampire mythology and whose influence can still be seen across horror cinema today."

It's hard to overstate Dracula's influence. Everything you'd expect from a Dracula movie — the fangs, the heaving bosoms, the wooden stakes, the suggestion that some women might actually enjoy having their necks bitten by a charismatic count — features here, and the film has frequently been included in rankings of the best films and horror films of all time.

As director Terence Fisher explained to our friends at SFX Magazine, this was the movie that made vampires sexy. "My greatest contribution to the Dracula myth was to bring out the underlying sexual element in the story… At the moment he bites it is the culmination of a sexual experience."

As you can see from the still images above, the restored version looks absolutely spectacular. And the film itself is a masterpiece. As Empire wrote in its retrospective review, "It was garish, it was sexy and it was never afraid to be gory. And with its spectacular ending — in which The Count's flesh peels away and crumbles to dust when caught in the first rays of the morning sun — Dracula created one of the classic images of horror cinema."

According to the wonderfully named John Gore, CEO of Hammer Films and executive chairman of John Gore Studios, “Bringing Dracula back to audiences in 4K goes far beyond a piece of film restoration work. This is the recovery of a piece of British film history that audiences believed had been lost forever. Seeing Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing together again in such extraordinary detail is a reminder of just how powerful this film remains nearly seventy years after its original release.”

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• Hundreds of TV episodes and movies will be removed from PlayStation Store accounts on 1 September
• People had bought the movies and shows
• No apologies, let alone compensation, from Sony

One of the best things about Blu-ray discs is that you don't need to worry that Sony will sneak into your home in the middle of the night and take them away.

Unfortunately you can't say the same about digital purchases: Sony is scrubbing hundreds of movies and TV show episodes purchased on the PlayStation Store from people's collections with no compensation. Come September, they're gone.

The list of affected movies and shows is on the Sony website and includes the remastered Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Gomorrah, the Rambo movies and many more. The problem is the end of a licensing agreement between Sony and StudioCanal, a major producer and distributor of movies and shows.

As Sony explains, from September 1, 2026, "you will no longer be able to access your previously purchased content from StudioCanal, and it will be removed from your video library."

To add insult to injury, the notification ends with the PlayStation slogan: "Play has no limits".

As you can imagine, this has gone down very well with movie fans.

Why is Sony removing people's purchases?

Sony's arrangement with the film production company StudioCanal has ended, and that means Sony no longer has the rights to sell those TV shows and movies. The fact that people have bought them is irrelevant to Sony, because in the terms and conditions that absolutely nobody reads it says that you're buying a license to view a show or movie, not to own it.

Since the news broke, my social media has been full of people saying the same thing: Sony's move is a pretty great advert for digital piracy. And it's definitely upset a lot of movie fans, such as Quelonious on r/movies who vowed: "I will never buy streaming movies again", although that poster is sticking with Blu-ray rather than flying a pirate flag.

"If I were you I wouldn't make digital purchases for movies," Rewdyroo writes on the same subreddit, noting that "you aren't buying the movie. It functions more like a lease and if the license for the movie that whatever service you bought it from runs out your digital movie also goes away, no refund. I've had it happen on Amazon and will never purchase a digital movie again."

Mildmichigan spoke for many: "This should be illegal. If I buy something digitally, and the platform loses distribution rights or whatever then I should be grandfathered in."

We've discussed this before, because it's a key reason to keep buying Blu-rays: Blu-rays are yours forever. But it's an issue with all kinds of digital media, going back to the days of Microsoft's PlaysForSure digital music, which sold audio files that died when Microsoft shut down the servers. Whether it's a streaming catalog or GTA 6, if it's not on physical media you can't ever be sure that it's yours forever.

(Is now a good time to mentioned the Criterion's 4K Blu-rays are 50% off at the moment in the US?)

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• The Sopranos: The Complete Series is a limited edition 4K Blu-ray release
• 86 episodes over 28 discs including 2 bonus Blu-rays
• December 2026 (US), $149.99

One of the greatest TV dramas of all time is coming to 4K Blu-ray. The Sopranos: The Complete Series box set is available for pre-order in the US and Canada, and will be released at the end of 2026.

This far from the first Sopranos box set: in addition to the DVD box set I've got on the shelf, there was a Blu-ray box in 2014, plus a 25th anniversary Blu-ray box set in 2024, which included The Many Saints of Newark as well. So this is the first time it's all available in 4K.

This edition delivers a brand new and currently untitled featurette with Sopranos creator and writer David Chase. That featurette is on one of the two bonus discs that also include hours of extra material including a two-part documentary, seven behind-the-scenes featurettes, and all of the bonus content previously released on The Sopranos: Complete Series Blu-ray release. And it's all delivered in hardcover lay-flat book packaging.

For fans of the show, this looks like the ultimate release: the best-looking, most pristine way to see one of the most influential TV shows ever.

Why The Sopranos in 4K is a must-have mafia drama

The Sopranos tells the story of depressed mob boss Tony Soprano, who's going to therapy in secret because he knows that if word gets out about his "weakness", he's a dead man walking. It's as much about family as it is about mafia families, and it features stellar performances throughout.

During its run the show amassed multiple well-deserved awards including 111 Primetime Emmy nominations and 21 wins, 5 Golden Globe awards, and Emmys for cast members James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Drea de Matteo, and Joe Pantoliano.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I tell you that The Sopranos began a golden age of TV drama. Without The Sopranos, there would be no Breaking Bad, Mad Men or any of the other premium shows we love so much.

It was pivotal in shifting the view that TV was inferior to cinema, and that our relatable protagonists couldn't be awful people. And it was really, really, really good: the writing, the performances and the cinematography were all superb.

While much of the praise for The Sopranos centers on the cast, and rightly so, the work of cinematographer Alik Sakharov was crucial too. The cinematography was groundbreaking in how it contributed to the story, and there's a fascinating article about it on No Film School. And if that's the kind of thing you find interesting, then this new 4K box set was made for you.

The Sopranos 4K Blu-ray box set has a release date of 8 December 2026 in the US and a recommended price of $149.99.

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Been on the lookout over Prime Day for some 4K Blu-ray deals? I've been searching through them and have picked offers on discs I've tested as part of our Blu-ray Bounty feature, so I know these discs are worth your time.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Amazon Prime Day can be a great time for 4K Blu-ray sales and this time is no different. Some highlight discs I've found include Sinners, which is both a picture and audio showcase, especially for Dolby Atmos. There's also Se7en, a fantastic-looking movie with plenty of richly detailed scenes that show off 4K's clarity, which look great on the best OLED TVs.

Sunset Boulevard looks excellent on 4K and shows what new life it can bring to older movies. My final highlight here is F1. If you're looking for a disc to show off your sound system, be that one of the best soundbars or a full surround setup, this is an awesome disc.

Prime Day deals for 6 4K Blu-rays I've tested - US

Prime Day deals for 6 4K Blu-rays I've tested - UK

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Back-to-school tech: 48% off laptops, headphones & tablets
• Cheap TVs: Samsung, Sony & LG from $89.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Smartwatches: up to $250 off Garmin & Apple
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & De'Longhi
• Fans: from £20
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

It's Amazon Prime Day (well, week), and it's great news for physical media fans: there are tons of great deals on 4K Blu-rays, regular Blu-rays and DVDs. It includes big box sets and individual movies — there's way more there than I could hope to summarize here.

• Amazon US: See all 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Prime Day deals
• Amazon UK: See all 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Prime Day deals

So on this page, I've specifically picked out movies that I know to be excellent home theater showcases, either through spectacular visuals, super-immersive soundtracks, or both.

And I've limited the price to options under $15 in the US, and £17 in the UK, since that seems to be the sweet spot right now, though there are some excellent movies cheaper than that. You'll find the US options just below, or click here to jump to the UK options.

Options include modern showpieces such as Sinners, beautifully restored classics such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, and not reference-quality discs including Blade Runner 2049.

If you want more Prime Day options beyond movies, you can look at our on-going Prime Day live blogs, constantly updated with new deals and price changes — here's our US Prime Day live round-up, and here's our UK Prime Day UK live round-up.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Amazon's 4K Blu-ray sale — see all options

• Amazon US: See all 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Prime Day deals
• Amazon UK: See all 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Prime Day deals

US 4K Blu-ray deals

UK 4K Blu-ray deals

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Back-to-school tech: 48% off laptops, headphones & tablets
• Cheap TVs: Samsung, Sony & LG from $89.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Smartwatches: up to $250 off Garmin & Apple
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & De'Longhi
• Fans: from £20
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

• 'The Closet' is a faithful recreation of the famous Criterion Closet
• Browse in full 3D (the correct option) or in list view (boo)
• Connects to the Criterion Channel for easy streaming

If you've always wanted to browse the Criterion Closet but haven't been able to because (a) it's in New York and (b) you're not a famous actor, then Redditor olievans has just the thing for you: the entire Criterion Closet in virtual 3D form, explorable right in your web browser.

You can can take a look at The Closet right in that link. It features 1,327 Criterion editions, all shelved in the order of their spine numbers, and you can pull each disc box out from the shelf to inspect the design more closely. You can also filter the collection by decade, director, country, language and more — the physical version can't do that.

If you're not familiar with the Criterion Closet, it's a library of the special-edition disc sets released the film distributor Criterion, which been releasing much-coveted discs with beautiful art, great extra features, and often unique high-quality restorations since the age of Laserdisc.

Since 2010, the real Closet has been a place where directors, actors and other well-known faces — from Martin Scorcese to Charli XCX — are filmed picking their must-see movies from the range.

Why it's fun to be in the Closet

The Closet is available in two flavors: a full 3D reproduction of the iconic closet, and in list form. The list is more functional but a lot less fun because you don't get the surprise of finding This Is Spinal Tap immediately next to The Seventh Seal.

The website is a really fun way to browse one of the world's best movie collections, and while there are a few issues — it's not really obvious how to get your mouse cursor back, so on my Mac I had to press Esc twice to return to the home page and escape the closet — it's beautifully done and the closest thing you'll get to the real thing without first getting some IMDb credits under your belt.

What I really like about this is the discovery element. The Criterion Collection is very wide-ranging, and that means you never know what's going to be next on the shelf: Paris, Texas (number 501) is followed by the Australian thriller Revanche (502) and the historical German romance Lola Montès (503).

That makes it feel very much like the Blu-Ray equivalent of crate digging for exotic vinyl records: the Criterion Closet is full of surprises.

A note from the Editor

Hello! Matt Bolton, Managing Editor for TechRadar's home theater coverage here. As a Blu-ray collector, I've decided to take the opportunity I'll never have in real life and give you my Criterion picks — as in, these are ones I actually own. I'm not going to give you a whole spiel about each one, don't worry — but I'll highlight why

• Anora — a chunky collector's edition, and the best way get a 4K version
• Blow Out — essential for the DTS-HD Master sound, and the 4K restoration
• I Know Where I'm Going — the first 4K restoration of a B&W cinematography classic
• In The Mood For Love — one of my favorite movies, in the highest quality
• Lost Highway — the only way to get it in 4K Dolby Vision with a new DTS-HD sound restoration
• Moonage Daydream — the only way to get this in both Dolby Atmos and uncompressed sound, shockingly
• The Power of the Dog — the only way to get it in the higher bit rate of Blu-ray
• The Red Shoes — one of the most incredible-looking movies of all time, in its best-ever restoration
• Thief — the best-looking version of Michael Mann's grittiest movie

Thinking of buying a new TV?

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Prime Day is here, and one of the most popular products is, as always, TVs. I lead TechRadar's TV and home theater team, and I've worked with our dedicated deals editors and TV hardware writers to pick the best Prime Day TV deals this year.

• Browse the full Amazon US Prime Day sale
• Browse the full Amazon UK Prime Day sale

There haven't been as many really good Prime Day TV deals this year as I expected, but when they're good, they're often really good. I'm talking a five-star Samsung S90F OLED TV for just $1,199 (was $2397.99) in the US, or a 55-inch Samsung S84F OLED TV for just £683(was £899) in the UK.

We've got cheaper models than that, smaller models, and larger models — much larger in some cases. Here are the deals, presented in size order and price order. If you're in the UK, you can skip to those deals here.

Today's best TV deals in the US

Today's best TV deals in the UK

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

I test 4K Blu-ray for a living, and while I test and recommend brand new discs each month as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, I thought I'd offer some recommendations from my own personal collection, covering a wide range of genres.

Starting off with The Batman, I use this disc for testing the best TVs because it's visually striking and sounds fantastic (especially the Batmobile scene). Next up is The Lord Of The Rings, which almost needs no introduction. Epic in every sense, 4K is the best these iconic movies have ever looked and sounded.

In a similar gloomy vein to The Batman, The Crow (1994) is crisp, refined and super impressive on 4K, with gorgeous black levels.

Switching up genres, La La Land is a brilliant musical with vibrant colors that will pop on the best TVs, plus a catchy soundtrack that sounds excellent through a surround system. For another colorful, but action-packed movie, Ready Player One is another 4K disc that looks and sounds superb.

To see what 4K Blu-ray can do for classic movies, Double Indemnity is a prime example. With revitalized textures and strong contrast, this movie gets a new life on 4K.

These are just six discs from my growing collection that I recommend if you want to see what 4K can do. There are plenty of other choices out there, but hopefully this can get you started or fill some gaps in your collection!

6 discs from my personal 4K Blu-ray collection

• Kaleidescape launches the first 8K movie player certified by the 8K Association
• But the new 4K Cinematic format for higher-quality 4K is the exciting bit
• $4,995 (about £3,777 / AU$7,180)

Kaleidescape makes some truly spectacular 4K video players, and now there's an 8K version. It's "the world's highest-fidelity movie player," says chairman and CEO Tayloe Stansbury. "It brings movie lovers closer to the filmmaker's intent, with cleaner detail, true-to-life color, and a more natural presentation that dramatically improves the viewing experience of any display."

It's also a world first. The Kaleidescape Strato K is the first 8K movie player that's been certified for 8K by the 8K Association.

That's good, but the fact that it's the first such accreditation points to the problem with 8K. Buying 8K hardware right now is a bit like being the first person in the world to buy a fax machine: who are you going to send faxes to? Similarly, with 8K movie players and 8K TVs, what 8K movies are actually there for you to watch?

That means the Strato K, while impressive, is a bit of a gamble: you're buying hardware in the hope that the 8K movie trickle will become a flood, and I'm just not sure that rain is ever coming.

So the most important new feature might not be the 8K support, but instead a new format that Kaleidescape calls "4K Cinematic".

Kaleidescape Strato K: key features and price

Kaleidescape's 4K Cinematic is a format designed to deliver even better 4K picture quality, and it does that by using less compression. Movies are encoded at around 110Mbps using the HEVC codec. Kaleidescape says that's compared to around 60Mbps for 4K Blu-Ray, and around 17Mbps for standard 4K streaming services.

It's worth noting that those figures aren't the maximum bitrates for the formats — for example Blu-Ray can go up to 144Mbps, though 80Mbps is a more standard ceiling — but are the bitrates typically used in commercial releases.

In addition to the higher bitrate, 4K Cinematic uses 4:4:4 chroma sampling rather than the 4:2:0 of most commercial movie releases, meaning more accurate colors and less 'banding' or other color artefacts.

The downside of those higher bitrates is that you'll need a lot of storage: as FlatpanelsHD notes, the player only has 1TB of storage – equivalent to around seven 4K Cinematic titles, as those are 1.5x the size of normal 4K movies. Like other Strato players it's really intended to be teamed up with the firm's Terra servers.

Kaleidescape will label the higher-quality movies as 4K Cinematic in its movie store and on the Stratos K interface to differentiate them from standard 4K versions. Prices will be from around $10 to $30, and the initial raft of titles includes Top Gun: Maverick, F1: The Movie, Superman, Project Hail Mary, Dune: Part Two; Sinners, Predator: Badlands, Mortal Kombat II, Avatar, Tron: Ares, Thunderbolts, and others.

4K Cinematic supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X — but Dolby Vision isn't supported by the Stratos K player in 8K movies, which are SDR or HDR10. The maximum frame rate for 8K is 30 fps via HDMI 2.1.

The Strato K has a recommended retail price of $4,995, which is $1,000 more than the five-star 4K Strato V. We are really looking forward to seeing what the new movie format looks like…

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If you're looking for the very best Dolby Atmos movies to show off what your that home system you've lovingly researched and chosen can do, then there's a smart list of the 'top 100' options available on a site called Hello Atmos.

This top 100 was curated by the creator of Hello Atmos in order to find the 'consensus' list of the movies that get recommended the most often. It's based on published reviews and lists of great Atmos movies (including ours), plus community recommendations from platforms like Reddit, in the many many threads where people ask for recommendations.

It's all pulled into an algorithm designed by the app's creator, Adrian Wrona, to rank the movies based on how strongly they're recommended, and resulting in the top 100 list.

You can read the full list just below, or see it on the Hello Atmos site, which also includes where you can stream the movies in your country (though it's TechRadar's stance that uncompressed audio from the best 4K Blu-ray players is the only way to really show off your system).

While like any best-of lists there's plenty of opportunity for an argument — is Blade Runner 2049 still a better showcase than Dune? Why isn't Dredd higher up the rankings? — it's a great and eclectic guide to some of the best sounding spatial audio soundtracks, with details of who did the mixing, which is a nice touch.

We've written about Adrian before; another tool on Hello Atmos scans your Apple Music or Spotify playlists to identify which ones are available in Atmos, which is great if you want to really explore spatial audio for music.

The 100 best Dolby Atmos movies, as rated by Hello Atmos

1. Blade Runner 2049
2. Dune
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Ready Player One
5. The Batman
6. Top Gun: Maverick
7. Dune: Part Two
8. Gravity
9. Ford v Ferrari
10. A Quiet Place
11. The Matrix
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
13. Pacific Rim
14. 1917
15. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
16. Edge of Tomorrow
17. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
18. Fury
19. Midway
20. Saving Private Ryan
21. Deepwater Horizon
22. Bohemian Rhapsody
23. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
24. A Quiet Place Part II
25. Civil War
26. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
27. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
28. Twister
29. Godzilla vs. Kong
30. Roma
31. No Time to Die
32. Transformers
33. Hacksaw Ridge
34. Oblivion
35. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
36. Prey
37. Alita: Battle Angel
38. TRON: Legacy
39. Baby Driver
40. Warfare
41. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
42. Godzilla Minus One
43. Gran Turismo
44. John Wick: Chapter 4
45. Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague
46. Kong: Skull Island
47. Ambulance
48. Twisters
49. Unbroken
50. John Wick

51. Avengers: Endgame
52. Jurassic Park
53. Apocalypse Now
54. Blade Runner
55. First Man
56. Man of Steel
57. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
58. The Fifth Element
59. Soul
60. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
61. Black Hawk Down
62. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
63. John Wick: Chapter 2
64. Dredd
65. Star Trek Into Darkness
66. Deadpool
67. Nope
68. Sinners
69. Brave
70. Doctor Sleep
71. WALL·E
72. F1
73. War of the Worlds
74. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
75. Us
76. Alien: Romulus
77. Everest
78. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
79. Avatar: The Way of Water
80. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
81. 6 Underground
82. Avengers: Infinity War
83. Ballerina
84. Aquaman
85. Titanic
86. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
87. The Guns of Navarone
88. Aliens
89. Nosferatu
90. Uncut Gems
91. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
92. Back to the Future
93. Suspiria
94. Overlord
95. Top Gun
96. Sicario
97. 300
98. Evil Dead Rise
99. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
100. A Quiet Place: Day One

Over the past few years, I’ve often written about the state of 4K Blu-ray (and the state of physical media in general), and while sales numbers are often very doom and gloom, I’ve remained hopeful over its potential and popularity.

We’re big 4K Blu-ray fans here at TechRadar. Some of us (myself included) are collectors, and as TechRadar’s TV tester, they’re my primary source for testing the best TVs and best soundbars. In November 2024, I started the Blu-ray Bounty, a monthly column in which I review the best 4K Blu-rays each month, judging their picture and audio quality.

Since then, I’ve tested over 90 4K Blu-rays, and while most have proven to be real winners, some totally stood out from the pack. Some have even been good enough to become reference discs for when I’m testing TVs. So, as a celebration of Blu-ray's 20th anniversary(!), I've decided to whittle down those 90-plus titles to my all-time top 10.

Just to be clear: this isn’t an all-time best 4K Blu-ray article, just the best ones I’ve tested for Blu-ray Bounty. So, if your favorite is missing, don’t be surprised! The list is also in alphabetical order as I didn’t have the heart to rank them!

Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios)

First on the list is Alien: Romulus. First featured in the December 2024 Blu-ray Bounty, Alien: Romulus delivers plenty of high-contrast scenes with powerful dynamic range, rich dark tones and punchy highlights. On the best OLED TVs, this disc looks staggeringly good, especially any exterior shots of space. There’s also plenty of awesome detail, with close-up shots of the character's faces showing every mark and facial feature with real clarity.

The disc’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack is also spine-chillingly realistic. The movie’s dramatic moments have plenty of impact, complete with hefty bass. The movement of face huggers is scarily well-mapped too. As they moved around the floor, their scuttling sounds had me looking nervously around our testing lab a few times when playing through our Samsung HW-Q990C Dolby Atmos soundbar. A perfect disc for a scary movie night with your home theater system.

Dark City (Arrow Video)

Dark City first featured in the July 2025 Blu-ray Bounty and has become an excellent reference disc for testing contrast. Inky blacks are featured throughout, and there are plenty of scenes with strong contrast as characters stand in front of desk lamps to cast detailed shadows, creating a nice noir vibe. Once again, the 4K remaster means people’s skin and object detail is refined, really showing off what 4K can do.

The disc features both Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtracks, and while this disc isn’t the audio showcase some of the other entrants on this list are, it’s still detailed and powerful, with a tense score and foreboding bass.

Double Indemnity (Criterion Collection)

Double Indemnity featured in the debut November 2024 Blu-ray Bounty, and it’s stuck with me ever since. It was my first experience of what 4K Blu-ray could do for an older, black-and-white movie. And it’s still one of the best examples of this that I’ve tested to this day. Contrast is fantastic, with a great range of black, white and gray tones, and textures have been restored to give them a true-to-life look that’s downright impressive — especially with Dolby Vision supported. While there may be some better restorations of black-and-white movies out there, this is a personal pick, as it really does showcase 4K’s capabilities.

Audibly, the movie only supports a monaural soundtrack, but again, it remains faithful to the original and still sounds great. Speech is clear throughout, and there’s a nice balance between the movie’s more dialogue-heavy and more action-packed scenes.

Fight Club (20th Century Studios)

Featured in the May 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, Fight Club finally came to 4K Blu-ray for the first time, and while there were some controversial changes made by director David Fincher, it’s still the best this movie has ever looked. Textures and detail have been refined beautifully, giving everything a fresh, crisp look. Contrast is striking, delivering deep blacks in the movie’s darker scenes, and whenever colors are featured they look punchy and accurate. Whenever there’s a close-up, it really shows off the disc’s clarity. This is another personal favorite, as I’ve waited a long time for this one to arrive — and it was worth the wait.

The disc features a DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack, and while Dolby Atmos would have been nice, the 5.1 MA is still excellent. There are plenty of crushing, realistic impacts during fight scenes, with sometimes gruesome-sounding detail. But it’s the sense of direction and accuracy that really impresses — in the opening scene where the camera moves around the parking garage, the sound was mapped accurately to our testing soundbar.

Lawrence of Arabia (Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Lawrence of Arabia is another fantastic example of what 4K Blu-ray can do for classic movies. Featured in the February 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, Lawrence of Arabia is breathtaking on 4K Blu-ray. The level of detail and sheer scope of Freddie A. Young’s outstanding cinematography is truly brilliant, and balances some wonderful upscaling with plenty of film grain for purists. Detail is refined and textures are realistic, especially people’s skin and features in close-ups. Colors are also extremely rich, whether it’s the blue sky over the desert, the red sashes of the Arab fighters or the dazzling white of Lawrence’s robes. A truly magnificent disc.

For audio, both Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD 5.1 MA are featured. The Atmos soundtrack delivers plenty of scale and scope that perfectly suits Maurice Jarre’s grand score, as well as the movie’s action scenes. Explosions offer plenty of meaty bass, gunfights feel spacious and accurate, and speech comes through cleanly.

The Mask (Arrow Video)

While I anticipated that The Mask would be a good disc for its colors (more on that below), I was pleasantly surprised by how effective a disc it was for audio testing. Featured in the November 2025 Blu-ray Bounty, The Mask supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtracks. Using the Atmos soundtrack, this disc whips up an impressively accurate soundstage, capturing the cartoonish, chaotic nature of the titular character. As he tears around a room in a tornado, the Atmos soundtrack is perfectly placed, with plenty of superb detail.

Visually, The Mask is at its best when The Mask himself is on screen. His gaudy yellow suit takes on an almost neon-like effect that really pops on screen, and works well if you’ve got a display that’s all about color. Elsewhere, textures have been upscaled nicely, giving skin, hair and even clothing a realistic look. There are even a few darker scenes at the Coco Bongo club that can really show off contrast.

Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Sinners first featured in the July 2025 Blu-ray Bounty, and while it’s a good-looking 4K disc, it features here for its audio — and for one scene in particular. During a time-bending musical sequence in a barn, the mix demonstrates pinpoint accuracy in capturing the hip-hop beats blending with blues music as the camera moves around the room. Any scenes involving blues tracks sound excellent, but really, it’s the barn scene that serves as an audio showcase. Elsewhere, action scenes have plenty of nice detail.

Sinners looks brilliant on 4K, accurately conveying the bright summer of Mississippi during its daytime scenes, and balancing these nicely with the rich contrast of its night scenes. Again, detail is really strong here, with textures in the 1930s clothing looking refined and lifelike, and with Dolby Vision supports, colors are deep and vibrant throughout.

The Sound of Music (Disney)

Featured in the October 2025 Blu-ray Bounty, The Sound of Music looks stunning in 4K. Where it really shines is in its color reproduction. The market scene in particular delivers bold oranges, reds and yellows from the fruits and vegetables on display that really pop on the right TV. The greenery of the surrounding hills looks lush too. Upscaling is also fantastic, and textures have been cleaned up nicely, giving everything a 3D-like appearance, especially people.

Equipped with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, The Sound of Music sounds great too. Julie Andrew’s iconic vocals are detailed and powerful throughout, and there’s a wonderful balance between the musical score and the vocals. This is the best way to hear legendary tracks like Do Re Mi at home. This one really does tick all the boxes, both audibly and visually.

Wicked (Universal Pictures)

Wicked’s picture impressed me so much when I first tested it as part of the March 2025 Blu-ray Bounty that it’s become a reference disc I use for testing TVs. It delivers bold, vibrant colors throughout that have plenty of dazzle. Whether it’s the pink of flowers in trees or Glinda’s wardrobe, the green of trees and Elphaba’s skin, or even the white of a clifftop in the ‘Wizard & I’ scene, colors strike the balance between vivid and lifelike expertly. Details are crisp and intricate in every facet, from people’s clothing to the environments of Oz. There are even some high-contrast scenes that look great too. This really is one of my go-to testing discs.

Unsurprisingly, a Dolby Atmos musical sounds truly fantastic as well. The vocals and score balance well with one another, and come through with excellent clarity. There are some real showcase scenes for Atmos, notably the ‘Defying Gravity’ scene. Cynthia Erivo’s vocals are powerful and expertly rendered, even through the fast-paced movement as Elphaba whips around the skies on her broom — and with the right system the effect is truly immersive.

The Wild Robot

The final entry on this list is The Wild Robot, which first featured in the January 2025 Blu-ray Bounty. It’s a gorgeous animation that has fantastic detail, along with phenomenal colors that look both vibrant and natural. The environments have a painted effect that looks lifelike, and this blends really well with the crisp animation of the creatures of the forest and Roz. Both bright and dark scenes look brilliant too, looking both suitably punchy and rich respectively. This is another disc that has entered my testing rotation.

The disc’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack is great for accurately delivering the sounds of nature. Snapping twigs, calling animals and weather effects all combine to create a rich soundscape. Atmos is well utilized too, with birds flying overhead and heavy rain creating an immersive listening experience. There’s also some seriously hefty bass on display during a thunderstorm at the start of the movie.

What are some of your favorite 4K Blu-rays? Let us know in the comments!

Physical home media has gone through a turbulent time the last few years. With the rise of streaming services, demand for physical media over the past few years has steadily declined, with people choosing the convenience of streaming over physical discs.

There's still a dedicated fanbase of physical media collectors, though, and more recently streaming price rises and splintering means people have more interest just owning the stuff they want to watch. I’ve been writing about my hope for the resurgence of 4K Blu-ray, and physical media in general, since 2023. Now in 2026, I’m actually more hopeful than ever. It couldn’t come at a better time either, with the 20th anniversary of Blu-ray’s debut on June 20th, 2026.

I recently spoke to Kath Summersgill, Joint Group Head of Sales at Key Production Group, an agency specializing primarily in physical music and packaging manufacturing with vinyl, cassette and CD. However, the group also works with Blu-ray, both video and audio varieties, and DVD. We discussed the state of Blu-ray production, and physical media in general, and she had some encouraging things to say.

Promising numbers

“We’ve seen an increase in Blu-ray sales of over 10,000%, particularly in Blu-ray Audio” Kath tells me. “That’s over the span of the past eight to 10 years.” For a format that’s been on the decline, that’s an incredibly encouraging number.

Kath then mentions the ERA (Entertainment Retailer’s Association) report from December 2025, which reveals sales revenue for Music, Video and Gaming sales. “Although there was an overall decrease in the physical video format, Blu-ray actually increased by 3%”. While that may not sound like a lot, it’s a positive after some particularly bad numbers.

If you read more into the 2025 ERA report, 4K Blu-ray sales increased 19.5%, which is an extremely encouraging number. The strongest selling disc of the year was Wicked, a disc I regularly use for testing AV equipment and one of the main highlights of our Blu-ray Bounty feature (more on that later).

So, why have 4K Blu-ray sales turned around? For that answer, we’ll have to look to streaming services.

You can't rely on streaming

One of the most frustrating things people have with streaming services is the availability of movies. At one time or another, most people will have experienced a movie leaving a streaming service, only for it to either go to a rival service (that typically you won’t subscribe to) or for it just to disappear.

I’ve even seen horror stories of people buying movies on a streaming service that then also disappear. A Reddit thread in the r/AmazonPrime subreddit is a great example of this, where user u/Electrical_Paper6286 has had it happen “4 times between 2 movies”. Although the movies eventually returned, it’s a sign of how tentative the ‘ownership’ of movies on streaming platforms can be.

It’s one of the key issues affecting people’s trust in streaming services and something that’s driving people to physical media. Kath relates it to vinyl. “We know that vinyl is never ever going to replace streaming, but it exists very happily alongside it. I think that Blu-ray is the same, it offers different things that streaming doesn't. It's very much something that you can have and hold and you can keep and you can play over and over again.”

Kath also points out another issue with online-based movie and music streaming. “[With physical] you're not at the whim of your internet connection speed, or whether or not certain libraries drop certain titles, licence changes”.

This is another frustration. Numerous times I’ve gone to watch a movie on streaming and due to connection issues , it’s either streamed in reduced quality, buffered or just not streamed at all. This isn’t a problem with physical media.

A passionate fanbase

As I mentioned above, I’m a budding collector of 4K Blu-ray. While I don’t have fully stacked shelves (yet), I do have a collector’s edition or two and more than a few steelbooks.

In FilmStories’ article about the ERA 2025 report, they mention that steelbooks and special editions helped the growth in 4K Blu-ray in the UK, with every one in 10 4K Blu-rays released having some sort of steelbook or special edition, and due to their higher prices, they made up £2 of every £10 spent on 4K Blu-ray in 2025.

I tell Kath I’m a sucker for nice packaging and she agrees and she relates it to a recent vinyl release that Key Production Group handled. “We find people are doing this. We did a vinyl release recently with 72 variants and even though the packaging was the same, the color of the vinyl was different.”

(I’m also a sucker for colored vinyl, with a rust-effect Jack White/Dead Weather release from a Third Man Records Vault collection being a particular highlight in my stack.)

While special editions are great, it’s also the work of independent distributors and manufacturers, delivering more excellent 4K restorations than ever, that gets more people to invest in 4K Blu-ray.

The Criterion Collection and Arrow Video are two of the big names, but other organizations such as Kino Lorber, Shout Factory, Boutique Home Video and the BFI are crucial. These companies are producing more sought-after titles and giving them excellent restorations that mean people want to own them in the best possible quality.

In November 2024, I started the Blu-ray Bounty. This is an ongoing monthly column where I test the latest 4K Blu-rays from each month — and since its debut, the column has been growing.

We’re covering more discs than ever, covering a wider range of genres, and I have a feeling it’s only going to get bigger. I’ve produced tons of lists of excellent 4K titles that are perfect for showing off home theater systems, such as this 6 action movies list and 6 classic movies that show what 4K can do. and a good chunk of my reference discs for AV testing came from the Blu-ray Bounty.

I’m also an active user of the r/4kbluray subreddit and this is again one of the most passionate subreddits I’ve come across. Users update each other on releases, give their thoughts and reviews on the latest titles and always showing off their collections in the best possible way.

While it may well have been doom-and-gloom for 4K and Blu-ray in the last couple of years, I for one am hopeful for its future. What better way to celebrate Blu-ray’s 20th anniversary than with some good news.

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• The first HDMI 2.2 products are likely to arrive in 2027
• Massively increased bitrates with 4K 480Hz support, or 10K resolution
• Great for PC gaming, but won't make much difference to TV viewers

HDMI 2.2 is coming, and it could be a very big deal for gamers. That's because it delivers double the bandwidth of HDMI 2.1: up to 96Gbps.

That means HDMI 2.2 is capable of delivering uncompressed 4K at up to 240Hz (current HDMI can only do this using Display Stream Compression, aka DSC) or uncompressed 4K at 480Hz with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, and it can also deliver uncompressed RGB 8K at 60Hz. And using DSC, it's capable of delivering 1440p at rates exceeding 1,000Hz.

There is an important qualifier, though: devices can be HDMI 2.2 certified without delivering the very fastest data speeds, so you'll need to study the spec sheets of any potential purchases.

As FlatpanelsHD reports, the HDMI organization expects the first HDMI 2.2 devices to go on sale in 2027; testing and certification are already taking place.

According to Rob Tobias, CEO and president of the HDMI Licensing Administrator, "We're hearing chip manufacturers will start to sample their FRL2 [Fixed Rate Link, the signalling technology used by HDMI] chips this year. And so we should start to see some 96 or up to 96 gigabit HDMI 2.2 products next year."

Will HDMI 2.2 be a big deal?

The specifications are impressive, though it'll be available in three flavors, all of which are faster than HDMI 2.1: 64Gbps, 80Gbps and 96Gbps.

The performance for gaming is particularly impressive, but we already have DisplayPort 2.1 at up to 80Gbps in many of the best gaming monitors so there isn't a hugely pressing need to upgrade. And HDMI requires licensing fees that are likely to be higher than for DisplayPort.

Chances are if you're into high-end gaming hardware you've already gone down the DisplayPort route, especially if you have a multi-monitor setup, but HDMI 2.2 should mean more choice among premium displays.

HDMI has more benefits in living rooms, thanks to features such as ARC (Audio Return Channel), CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) and ALLM (Auto Low-Latency Mode), so it's conceivable that the PlayStation 6 could embrace the higher bitrates of HDMI 2.2 — although games only rarely achieve the 4K 120Hz that's already achievable over HDMI 2.1, and we're not sure that's going to really change with the PS6.

But some 4K 240Hz games might be possible, and the best gaming TVs might offer the refresh rate to support it, so there may be some benefit for the most hardcore. For most living room uses, though, HDMI 2.1 is probably overkill — it's really best for PC connectivity when it comes to the pure data rate.

However, there's another benefit to HDMI 2.2: LIP, which stands for Latency Indication Protocol. LIP improves sound syncing on home theater setups, such as soundbars or AV receivers — this can be a pretty common problem with even the best soundbars, so we'll be keeping an eye on how well this works.

For most of us, I think HDMI 2.2 is generally something to keep an eye on rather than something to demand as soon as it debuts. HDMI 2.2 has been made with 10K resolution in mind, but the vast majority of commercial and streaming video tops out at 4K.

It's something to think about when buying new AV hardware in the future (there's good chance we'll need to wait for 2028's CES for widespread adoption in TVs), but initially at least, it'll be more about marketing than real-world benefits for most of us.

And bear in mind that HDMI adoption is really driven by the companies that provide the connection hardware.

Even today, not all high-end TVs have four HDMI 2.1 ports, because the most powerful processing chips used by many manufacturers don't support this. Some lower-tier TVs from the same makers do, because those chips have more up-to-date HDMI control elements — it's a bit of a mess. I suspect HDMI 2.2 will have the same kind of slightly chaotic support.

On PCs, we'll be relying on GPUs to support the tech, and new models aren't expected until late 2027 or after that — so there's a good chance of seeing HDMI 2.2 on them. But like HDMI 2.1, it'll probably launch on the highest-end models first.

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I recently visited the Japanese factory where Denon and Marantz make the hi-fi and home theater gear, and the best part of the seeing the facility was getting a demo of the reference home theater listening there, with its 9.4.6 channels of Dolby Atmos sound delivered via $250k of Bowers & Wilkins speaker.

While snooping around the room, the shelving in the corner that houses their disc library naturally caught my eye. Marantz's engineers had already told me that they consider Gravity to be one of the ultimate stress tests for AVRs (you can read why in the piece I linked above), but what else do they keep on hand for testing AV receivers and other gear?

I wanted to make a list to share with the many 4K Blu-ray and home theater enthusiasts out there, looking for fresh demo disc ideas — but given that we had limited time in the room and a major portion of the movies are in Japanese, I took a few photos of the shelves, and came back home to analyze them.

The list is below, and it's in two sections: movies, and concert discs. I excluded anything that isn't a Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray — the shelves were obviously also full of CDs and SACDs (and a few DVDs).

It's not an exhaustive list: I used Google Gemini to help me translate Japanese titles that I couldn't discern myself anyway (I did not need help identifying which disc was Mad Max: Fury Road, naturally), and sometimes its translations were either vague or otherwise uncertain, so I didn't include those titles unless I could verify them another way. And also, I probably missed some because this whole exercise made me go a little stir-crazy.

So if you want to see the shelves and comb through yourself, here they are — but my written-out list is just below.

The list is inevitable in places — Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 are obvious inclusions, and two versions of Interstellar is the normal number of versions of Interstellar to own, in my opinion — but it was also really interesting and surprising in places.

I loved seeing Bridge of Spies in there; I didn't expect Hairspray (2007), but it makes a ton of sense; I'm very curious what makes Taxi 3 specifically a good disc to have; it absolutely rocks that they have RRR, and I can't recommend it enough for your own library; and in contrast to Interstellar, I really don't think anyone needs two copies of Pixels…

The music side includes a fun mix of jazz sets, classical music, movie music and huge stadium events — and with a very healthy dose of metal.

Movies

• 1917
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 28 Years Later
• 9 (Nine)
• A Clockwork Orange
• A Complete Unknown
• A Star is Born (2018)
• Akira
• Alien Romulus
• American Made
• American Sniper
• Apocalypse Now
• Apollo 13
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
• Argo
• Avatar
• Back to the Future Trilogy
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Battleship
• Birdman
• Black Rain
• Blade Runner
• Blade Runner 2049
• Blue Giant
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Bridge of Spies
• Burlesque
• Casino Royale
• Chicago
• Civil War
• Crimson Peak
• Deadpool & Wolverine
• Donnie Brasco
• Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
• Dune (2021)
• Dune: Part Two
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Ford v Ferrari
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
• Get On Up
• Ghost in the Shell
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Gladiator II
• Godzilla vs. Kong
• Gran Turismo
• Gravity
• Green Book
• Hairspray (2007)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
• Hidden Figures
• The Huntsman: Winter's War
• I, Frankenstein
• Inception
• Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures [Doesn't include Dial of Destiny]
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Interstellar
• It: Chapter One
• Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
• Jason Bourne
• John Wick
• Joker: Folie á Deux
• Jumanji: The Next Level
• Lucy
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Man of Steel
• Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
• Mission: Impossible – III
• Moana 2
• No Country for Old Men
• No Time to Die
• Nope
• Oblivion
• Oppenheimer
• Pacific Rim
• Pacific Rim: Uprising
• Paris, Texas
• Pixels
• Pokémon: The Movie
• Quantum of Solace
• Red Tails
• Rocketman
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• RRR
• Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends
• Seven (Se7en)
• Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Sinners
• Sisu
• Skyfall
• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• Spectre
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Spider-Man: Far From Home
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
• Star Trek Beyond
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Superman (2025)
• The Legend of Tarzan
• Taxi 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Tenet
• The Batman (2022)
• The Cell
• The Creator
• The Expendables 3
• The First Slam Dunk
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• The Greatest Showman
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
• The Phantom of the Opera
• The Shallows
• The Sky Crawlers
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie
• Top Gun
• Top Gun: Maverick
• Transcendence
• Transformers: Age of Extinction
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
• Twisters
• Unbroken
• Venom: The Last Dance
• West Side Story (2021)
• Wonder Woman
• X-Men: First Class
• Yowamushi Pedal

Music and concerts

• Adele: Live at the Royal Albert Hall
• Ado Special Live
• Babymetal: Live at Tokyo Dome
• Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7: Wiener Philharmoniker
• Berliner Philhamoniker: The Asia Tour
• Billy Joel Live at Shea Statdium
• Black Sabbath: The End
• Bob James Trio: Feel Like Making Live
• Bob Marley and the Walers Legend
• Bon Jovi Live at Madison Square Garden
• Chihiro Yamanaka: Somethin' Blue Quintet – Live at Blue Note Tokyo
• Chris Botti: Live in Boston
• David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii
• George Mccrae - Love
• Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague
• Harvie S Trio: Too Late Now
• Hit Man David Foster & Friends
• Joe Bonasmassa Live at the Greek Theatre
• John Mayer: Any Given Thursday
• John Mayer: Where the Light Is
• John Williams in Tokyo
• KISS Rocks Vegas
• Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour
• Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same
• Megadeth: Countdown to Extinction
• Metallica: Quebec Magnetic
• Michael Jackson: This Is It
• Misia: Soul Quest World Tour
• MR. BIG – The Big Finish Live
• MTV Unplugged ayaka
• Norah Jones: Live at Ronnie Scott's
• Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up - Live
• Pat Metheny: The Orchestrion Project
• Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
• Prince Sign o' the Times
• Queen: Rock Montreal & Live Aid
• Quincy Jones: The 75th Birthday Celebration
• Roger Waters: The Wall
• Rolling Stones: Shine a Light
• Scorpions: Live in 3D
• Shogo Hamada: On The Road 2015-2016
• Steve Vai: Live at the Astoria
• Sting: Live at the Olympia Paris
• Take Me to the River
• The Beatles: 1
• The Beatles: Get Back
• The Great Jazz Trio Hank Jones – The Legend of Jazz: Live at Blue Note Tokyo
• The Last Waltz
• The Rolling Stones: Hyde Park Live 1969
• Tony Bennett: An American Classic
• Toto: Live in Poland
• Vienna Philharmonic: New Year's Concerts – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021

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• Gemini on Google TV can now adjust audio and video, change modes and fix issues
• Coming to some 2025 and 2026 TCL TVs first
• US-only for now

If like me you've been fairly unimpressed by AI additions to TV interfaces so far, the latest update to Google Gemini might change your mind — because it's something you might use every day. Simply grab the remote or say "Hey, Google" to wake Gemini and you can then control your TV settings by voice.

The feature is rolling out slowly, and the first recipients will be recent TCL Google TV models in the US, including the TCL QM8L. Other TVs and streaming devices will get it in the future too, though Google hasn't given any details of which specific models will get the update.

What can you control with the Gemini TV update?

Google has given four key examples of the kind of thing Gemini will enable you to do.

First and most usefully, you'll be able to change your audio and video settings. Google's examples include "increase the bass" and "set picture mode to 'Sport'" — as we recently said, even though we generally encourage you to keep your TV in a fairly accurate-looking mode, you want different settings to enjoy sport to its fullest.

Secondly, you'll be able to optimize your TV's settings for what you're watching, for example "it's movie night — help make this feel like a cinematic experience". Hopefully there's a less verbose way to do that.

Thirdly, you'll be able to troubleshoot picture and sound issues: "the screen is too dark", or "I can't hear the dialog clearly".

And finally, you'll be able to call up specific menus with commands such as "open display settings".

Google isn't the first to do this by any means — for example LG has voice-based assistants in many of its TVs, and you can ask question about picture problems just like this — but this is by far the slickest solution in terms of it making the useful changes on your behalf, no menus needed.

The first TVs to get the Gemini upgrade will be the 2025 TCL QM9K, and the 2026 X11L, QM8L and RM9L models in the US. Google hasn't given a timeline for other TVs from other manufacturers just yet.

TCL and Google also said that this update would come to a 2026 TV called the QM9L. What's slightly odd about this is that we're not familiar with a TV with that model name, and there's no solid evidence of it online. We've asked TCL for more information.

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Hisense introduced RGB mini-LED to the world in 2025, and while I was impressed by the 116UX (the first RGB mini-LED model) in many ways, I anticipated it would be a high-end tech for some time, sitting at a premium price and size that kept it from competing with the best TVs.

I didn’t anticipate how quickly the new tech would come to more mid-range options, and how many brands would take on RGB (check out our guide here). As luck would have it, a budget RGB model has landed in TechRadar’s testing lab: the 65-inch Hisense UR8.

I’ve also been testing the Samsung QN80H, which uses standard mini-LED, and the timing means I can put the new school RGB against the traditional mini-LED tech.

You’re probably wondering why I’m testing these two side-by-side: surely the new tech is significantly pricier? Surprisingly no: in fact, it’s nearly identical. A 65-inch Samsung QN80F costs $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,199 at the time of writing, while a 65-inch Hisense UR8 costs $1,799 / AU$2,395 (it’s yet to appear at UK retailers). So, can the new tech surpass the traditional?

A quick note on the photos below: the UR8 appears to have a red tint. This is the result of its matte screen interacting with my camera. In reality, there is no hint of this red tint.

Also, we obviously had different sizes of the TVs in, and that can make a difference to the backlights involved. It's what Hisense and Samsung sent us, respectively, so bear this in mind during the comparison — but there's plenty worth talking about by putting them side by side anyway.

Colors

One of RGB mini-LED’s primary sales pitches is how vibrant and bold its colors are and from my experiences so far, its color reproduction is impressive. Samsung on the other hand is known for its own dynamic color reproduction, in both its OLEDs and mini-LEDs.

For this test, I put both TVs in their default HDR Cinema modes and starting with Wicked, I was surprised by what I saw. While the UR8 did deliver some natural colors that appeared accurate (more on that at the end), the QN80H’s colors were much more vibrant.

The pink flowers of a tree and the blue decoration on the walls had much more pop on the QN80H. The UR8’s colors had some nice punch, but fell a little short compared to the QN80H.

There were some instances where the QN80H’s color brightness made things look a little artificial and this is again where the UR8 triumphed, showing some nice richness without going too far. But again, that color pop I was anticipating from the UR8’s RGB tech wasn't really there.

Switching to La La Land, the same was true again. At the Spring party, Mia’s yellow dress was much more vibrant on the QN80H, dazzling on screen. The same dress looked natural on the UR8 but didn’t have that wow factor.

Switching the UR8 to Standard, its colors suddenly had more pop, but looked a bit too artificial for my taste, so I reverted back to Cinema.

This is not to say the UR8’s colors looked bad during testing, but they didn’t have that saturation I expected from an RGB TV, even in scenes where they should have it.

Contrast and backlight control

Switching both TVs to their Filmmaker Modes, I put on The Batman, which has always served as a challenge for some TVs, and while the best OLED TVs can generally handle its low brightness comfortably, mini-LEDs sometimes struggle.

The QN80H demonstrated higher perceived contrast, with deeper dark tones and punchier highlights. Flashbulbs from cameras and lamps on walls in Mayor Mitchell’s house balanced well with shaded walls and corners to create dynamic contrast.

The UR8 still showed good contrast between dark and light tones as well as solid shadow detail, but dark areas took on a more washed-out, gray look. This was evident in the scenes in the Batcave and when Batman stands on the subway platform, where shadowed areas on screen looked too bright.

There was however a way to improve this. In the UR8’s picture settings, I dropped its brightness from the default 50 to 49, and it made a huge difference: the brightness control had been one of the more aggressive I’d seen.

After the tweak, the UR8 had much deeper black tones and stronger contrast. In the interest of fairness, I tried to tweak the QN80H’s settings, but its brightness control was much more subtle. Lowering it took away the impact from the highlights so I left it as is.

A note on the above photos: the QN80H's clouding was not this bad in-person, but this does illustrate the UR8's better backlight control (more on the in a second).

The same experiment with a brighter but still contrast-y movie in Dark City had mixed results. Dropping the UR8 down to 49 brightness resulted in deep blacks, but at the expense of detail.

As John speaks to the desk clerk in the opening scenes, the texture in his black hair was difficult to see, but less of an issue on the QN80H. Both TVs showed some black crush, but the UR8’s was slightly more noticeable. The default brightness showed nice contrast and better shadow detail, but again at a sacrifice to the dark tones.

But one thing that was apparent in my dark room testing was the UR8 had better backlight control and better viewing angles. Unless viewed head-on, the QN80H showed a clouding effect on dark backgrounds where the backlight bled through. The UR8 showed no signs of this and demonstrated no signs of clouding or blooming.

This was also evident in black and white content. Watching Sunset Boulevard, the QN80H showed backlight bleed on the edges of the screen. The UR8 did have a subtle brown tone over some blacks, whites and grays, but it was better than the QN80H.

So when it comes to reducing backlight bleed and wider viewing angles, the RGB panel gets us closer to the excellent performance of OLED in these areas — but not necessarily closer when it comes to contrast overall.

Brightness

Measuring the UR8’s peak HDR brightness in a 10% window, it clocked in at 2,087 nits in Filmmaker Mode and 2,394 nits in Standard. The QN80H registered 1,189 nits in Filmmaker and 1,204 nits in Standard.

Fullscreen HDR numbers are similar between the two, with the UR8 clocking in at 771 nits and 767 nits in Filmmaker and Standard respectively, while the QN80H hit 603 nits and 672 nits in Filmmaker and Standard respectively.

How does the brightness look in practice? That’s where things get interesting. Watching brighter, more colorful scenes, I found that the QN80F seemed to have more impactful highlights. In the end of the ‘Wizard & I’ scene from Wicked, as Elphaba stands over a white cliff, the whites definitely seemed brighter on the QN80H.

In some shots from Spears & Munsil demo footage, brightness seemed to trade off from shot to shot. In the opening snow scenes, whites looked vibrant on both TVs. In a later shot of a lit-up ferris wheel, it seemed brighter on the QN80H. A shot of a white lizard in a darkened studio was far brighter on the UR8 than the QN80H.

This was surprising, considering just how much of a leap there was in measured peak brightness between the two. One shot from Dark City, where John is in the Automat, the overhead lights appeared brighter on the UR8, but it wasn’t as substantial as I’d expected.

One area where the UR8 did succeed was reflection handling, but this was down to its anti-glare layer rather than its brightness.

While the QN80H had its own anti-reflection layer, it wasn’t nearly as effective as the UR8’s, which did a great job at limiting reflections without raising black levels.

Couple this with its excellent viewing angles, and you have a great TV for daytime sports — a timely release with the World Cup arriving. (Unless you're in the UK — what an own goal by Hisense there…)

A step forward, but…

Between these two TVs, it’s a tough call on which one I prefer. While the QN80H has bolder colors and crisper textures out-of-the-box, the UR8 has better viewing angles and better backlight control, resulting in more uniform pictures.

It shows that the next-gen RGB Hisense tech can definitely still learn from the traditional Samsung mini-LED. While the UR8 is decent out-of-the-box, it requires some adjustment (namely in its brightness), and its color accuracy isn’t great (registering a surprising 7.9 delta-E score in Filmmaker Mode, when we aim for a score of below 3…).

But the UR8 is a step in the right direction towards bringing OLED's strengths in viewing angles and uniformity to mid-range mini-LED. For that reason, I’d just about recommend the UR8 in this battle, but the QN80H proves there’s still life in the old mini-LED dog yet — it's a very appealing TV.

• TV component costs are rising, squeezing already thin margins
• A report says advertising in smart TVs has helped avoid price rises
• It also says fierce retailer competition has helped keep prices low

The price of nearly everything electronic has rocketed in recent months, with one particular exception: TVs. And a new report says that there's good news and bad news about that.

The good news is that TVs really have bucked the trend for ever more expensive electronics, which has been ideal for everyone looking for a new World Cup TV.

The bad is that it's because TV firms are keeping prices artificially low as they pivot to making money from advertising on your screens instead.

That's according to market research firm Omnia (via Digitimes), which says that North America provides a particularly clear example of the trend. Because the competition between retailers is so fierce in the TV market, TV firms have been under intense pressure not to raise their prices.

And because TV profit margins have been so low for several years anyway, that means they've been forced to find a different revenue stream: ads.

So we've been experiencing a classic double-edged sword. The TV makers' pivot to throwing more ads at you hasn't been making anyone happy; but it's meant that they've been able to weather component price rises without passing it on to us.

What's the state of the TV market?

People buying TVs for the FIFA World Cup has helped push TV shipments up: they've increased 6% year on year, according to market research firm Omdia.

Pretty much everywhere other than mainland China showed sales growth: 13% in Asia and Oceania, 12 in Latin America and 11% in North America. Omdia suggests that part of the change is the result of Chinese firms aggressively targeting overseas markets to compensate for slowing demand at home.

Those increased sales are happening against a background of increased and still-increasing costs, however. So firms are continuing to move towards what Walmart calls a "content-to-commerce" platform.

By linking streaming activity with advertising on its Vizio platform and Onn TVs, it aims to generate recurring income from advertising rather than being wholly reliant on hardware sales.

When you sell a TV you only get paid once. But you can sell ads on that TV forever. And that's why companies are willing to absorb some small extra costs now, in exchange for making sure you choose their TVs and they can make money long-term from you in the future.

The downside? Well, if prices of components keep rising, TV companies may conclude that they can always serve you more ads in more places… but in the meantime, at least you buy a nice new huge-screen.

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• Apple is cutting out the Apple TV HD (2015) and Apple TV 4K (2017) from tvOS 27
• The second and third-gen Apple TV 4K will be eligible for the update
• Though they'll support the update, it's unlikely they'll be getting AI integrations

Apple previewed a shedload of upgrades at WWDC 2026, and although tvOS 27 didn’t get its own segment during the keynote, Apple hasn’t left it out of the equation — but it will be cutting out some models from the upcoming software update.

If you’re still using the fourth-gen Apple TV HD from 2015, or the first-gen Apple TV 4K from 2017, I hate to break it to you but they won’t be getting the tvOS 27 treatment.

However, these devices will still continue to run tvOS 26. If you own the second-gen second-gen Apple TV 4K (2021), or either of the two iterations of the third-gen Apple TV 4K (2022), these devices will support tvOS 27.

You can also check if your device is compatible with tvOS 27 by checking the model numbers below:

• Fourth-generation Apple TV HD (A1625)
• First-generation Apple TV 4K (A1842)
• Second-generation Apple TV 4K (A2169)
• Third-generation Apple TV 4K (A2843)
• Third-generation Apple TV 4K (A2737)

Generally, Apple has kept most of its streaming devices in the loop with each update, but this marks the first time in four years where the company has cut out Apple TV hardware from a major OS upgrade.

It’s a bit of a shame for users who are still going strong with their devices from 10 years ago, and it's a similar case for the Apple Watches that have been dropped from watchOS 27.

It's also a bit of a downer to see this happen while so many old iPhone models are getting iOS 27, but there’s probably a valid reason as to why Apple has cut out its old streaming devices from the mix.

Comment from r/appletv

The main upgrades across Apple’s OS 27 update are its slew of Apple Intelligence-powered functions and the new Siri AI voice assistant, tools that will unlikely be supported by hardware that came out 10 years ago. Therefore, tvOS 26 is as far as Apple can go with its 2015 and 2017 devices.

However, though the second and third-gen Apple TV 4K streamers will support a handful of new tvOS 27 features, it looks like they’ll be excluded from getting AI upgrades, again because of hardware incompatibility (it runs on Apple’s A15 bionic chip).

With speculation of a fourth-gen Apple TV 4K looming, which is expected to launch later this year, we can only assume that the next-gen Apple TV 4K will be the first native streaming device for Apple’s new AI integrations.

Before you get too disappointed with this, it’s not to say the second and third-gen Apple TV 4K devices are being robbed of new features altogether. Though AI integrations probably won’t be on the cards for these models, Apple’s WWDC keynote briefly showed new performance boosts featuring faster app launches, smoother AirPlay connectivity, and a more responsive Control Center.

Additionally, Smart Downloads are also on the way, though we don’t know how these will work just yet.

Whether you call it football or soccer, the Beautiful Game is the best. As someone whose soul is nourished to an unhinged degree by watching 22 millionaires bashing a synthetic sphere around a field, I’m incredibly excited about the upcoming 2026 World Cup, which kicks off on June 11.

That said, I’m much less enthused by the prospect of huge amounts of people watching the world’s biggest sporting event on the wrong type of TV. Okay, maybe “wrong” sounds absolutely obnoxious to say. I’ll retract that. How about a ‘less than ideal’ type of display?

A huge number of people are buying (or plan to buy) bigger screens for the World Cup, and these days you can get amazingly cheap TVs in giant sizes. These will be LCD TVs with basic backlights (which means a set of LED lights that shines through the pixels, creating the light your eyes will actually pick up), but they're exactly what I want to warn you against.

But a super-cheap LCD is quantifiably the last type of TV I’d want to watch the World Cup on, due to one extremely annoying screen defect you're likely to encounter if you TV is too basic. Let me explain.

The dreaded dirty screen effect

Before I break down exactly what ‘dirty screen’ effect or ‘DSE’ is, I’ll flat out admit I utterly loathe this particular screen quirk that can be particularly obvious on many cheap LCD TVs.

How much do I detest DSE? As a coulrophobe who hates mushrooms and is also deathly afraid of heights, I’d rather go on a date with Pennywise involving a 10-course sampling menu of nothing but portobello-based appetizers atop the CN Tower, before I’d watch a single World Cup match on an LCD display.

What exactly is the dirty screen effect? It’s an issue where inconsistencies in a TV's backlight levels quickly lead to visible onscreen blotches.

These smudgy areas, where particular areas of the panel look darker or lighter than others, are especially easy to spot while watching something with a pretty uniformly colored portion of the screen, and with lot of fast-paced camera pans.

And wouldn’t you know it? Football/soccer has a whole lot of constant back and forth camera swings every time the ball is booted from the center circle to the edge of the opposition’s D.

Dirty screen effect is easiest to identify when watching content where large parts of the screen are made up of a single uniform color. Whether that’s pans across blue skies or across a green field, whenever a camera is swinging from side to side against large patches, DSE will rear its ugly head on lower-quality sets.

What causes the dirty screen effect?

Rather than being caused by a single factor, there are multiple issues that can lead to the dirty screen effect occurring. Though I’ve finally stopped worrying about OLED burn-in thanks to Light-Emitting Diode displays combating the issue through features like pixel cleaning cycles, DSE on huge cheap LCD panels remains as bad as it was on smaller cheap LCD panels a decade ago, because the fundamental problem hasn't changed.

The production process that goes into making LCD TVs is largely to blame for the soccer-ruining dirty screen effect. LCDs use multiple layers and diffuser sheets, which often leads to backlight uniformity issues when panels are being assembled.

If a cheaply-made panel is combined with not having enough LEDs behind the screen to illuminate it all uniformly (you can even end up with parts of the panel's interior casting shadows), you'll end up with some areas being more strongly illuminated than others.

In order to make TVs today so much bigger than they were, but affordable at the price most people want to pay, corners have to be cut — and the quality of panel assembly and backlighting can end up as a casualty.

And yet, giant screens are where you're most likely to notice these issues, because there's so much more space for you to notice the imperfections.

Despite, some folks will be completely oblivious to DSE. I get that. But as someone who is cursed with obsessive eyes that still hates myself for enabling motion smoothing on a TV when switching on sports (but you should do it — as I explained in that article), my peepers are constantly drawn to the lighting defect while watching soccer in a bar.

And trust me, as someone who watched over 60 Arsenal games last season (hoo-boy does that Champions League Final defeat in Budapest still sting), I know a thing or two (times 30) about watching football on subpar screens out in public.

What can you do about it?

Personally, I'd buy an OLED TV. I’ve watched nearly all of my football at home on OLED panels since 2015. If you have the budget for it, and watch to enjoy the World Cup with the best image quality and least distracting visual issues, check out the best OLED TVs. If you go OLED, your eyes will never be bothered by LCD’s biggest deficiency when watching footy/soccer. The LG G5 is a bargain while stocks last, as is the cheaper LG C5. The Samsung S95F, with its anti-reflective screen, is particular good for daytime sports viewing.

However, big-screen OLED TVs are expensive. They're also nowhere near as bright for fullscreen viewing as decent mini-LED TVs, meaning they're more prone to distracting reflections if you're watching during the day (though the Samsung S95F and LG G6 are better for this — but they're still pricey).

So here's some very basic advice: get a mini-LED TV instead of a regular LED TV and you're less likely to have a noticeable dirty-screen problem. All mini-LED TVs use a grid of LEDs across the whole back of the screen with support for local dimming — and more premium sets use much smaller LED and fit in many more of then, which helps with the uniformity of lighting. And they'll pack in more LEDs are larger sizes, to avoid any problems from going big.

If a mini-LED doesn't fit in your budget at the size you're thinking, you should drop down a size, rather than getting a poorer-quality but larger screen. You don't want to spend a whole tournament getting distracted by a strange shadowy effect on the screen.

The cheapest TV TechRadar's reviewers recommend to avoid a major dirty screen effect is the TCL QM6K in the US, or the TCL C6K in the UK. The uniformity on this set still isn't always perfect, but it's as good as you get for the price.

If you step up to the TCL QM7K (US) / TCL C7K (UK) or the Hisense U7N, you're at the point where you're unlikely to notice it.

Going further to the premium Samsung QN90F (which we rate as the best TV for sport), the TCL QM8K (US) / TCL C8K (UK) or the Hisense U8N means you won't need to worry about DSE.

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• Sony Bravia 6 OLED TV appears online, sitting between the Bravia 7 II RGB TV and Bravia 5 LED TV
• Looks like it will come in sizes from 48 to 83 inches
• No official confirmation but it's leaked on Sony's own sites

Sony appears to have leaked a new budget Bravia OLED TV, the Bravia 6 (with a model name A60), in sizes from 48 to 83 inches. Initially spotted by an AVS Forum user (via FlatpanelsHD), the model appeared in Sony databases across multiple countries, although most of the listings have since been removed.

The original AVS Forum post includes screenshots showing the Bravia 6 (A60) as a compatible model for Sony's wall-mount brackets, and details the model numbers and sizes: 48, 55, 65, 77 and 83 inches.

With Sony having launched its 'True RGB' Bravia 9 II flagship TV, there was some speculation that Sony might be moving away from OLED, but the apparent existence of the Bravia 6 suggests otherwise.

While the Bravia 6 is expected to be a budget model, it could be very tempting both to to gamers and home theater fans. It comes in both larger and smaller sizes than the more expensive Sony Bravia 8 or Sony Bravia 8 II OLED — the former comes in 55-77-inch sizes, and the latter is only in 55-65-inch sizes.

It also has four HDMI 2.1-compatible ports, rather than the two you get on Sony's pricier TVs (due to processor limitations).

Sony Bravia 6 A60: what we know so far

The Bravia 6 would be the most affordable OLED TV in the current Sony line-up, slotting in just below the Bravia 8.

According to the listings, the Bravia 6 uses the same MediaTek Pentonic P800 chipset as the Sony Bravia 3 II, which makes sense: it too has four HDMI 2.1 ports. The focus is on "affordability and features comparable to the LG OLED C6", the leaker says.

We don't have pricing or availability, or even confirmation that Sony plans to launch a new OLED TV. However, the fact that it was listed on Sony's own websites rather than on third party sites indicates that it does exist, and is probably coming soon.

If the Bravia 6 launches in 2026, it will be the third OLED Bravia model in the range, alongside the Bravia 8 and Bravia 8 II. The range also includes three models of LED TV including one mini-LED, and two flagship True RGB models, the Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II, although not all models are available in every country — I explained the full Sony 2026 range (without the Bravia 6, obviously)

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June 2026 looks to be another great month for 4K Blu-rays and as one of TechRadar’s resident 4K Blu-ray testers, I’ve picked the four discs I’m most looking forward to reviewing for Blu-ray Bounty.

Blu-ray Bounty is our monthly column where we review the latest 4K releases from each month to see how their picture and audio will show off your home theater system. In our most recent May 2026 edition, we covered five new discs including the hotly anticipated Fight Club 4K release.

Why do we love 4K Blu-ray at TechRadar? Mainly because it’s our main source for testing the best TVs and the best soundbars. It has a higher bitrate meaning a better-looking picture and uncompressed soundtracks, perfect for testing audio.

In last month’s most anticipated 4K discs list, I picked Fight Club, “Wuthering Heights”, Leaving Las Vegas and Some Like It Hot. I got to test all four as part of the Blu-ray Bounty and they all looked great. Below are my picks for the month of June.

As I’m based in the UK, these are based on UK release dates so don’t be surprised if one of them is already available in your region, or doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet.

Speed Racer (Warner Bros)

Based on the popular Manga series, Speed Racer, directed by The Wachowskis (Lana and Lilly, best known for The Matrix) follows the story of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch), an aspiring racing driver who's trying to become a champion to save his family business.

Speed Racer is a visual feast for the eyes and features tons of bold, vibrant colors throughout. With Dolby Vision HDR supported, the neon-like colors should really pop on screen and with a good 4K restoration, details should look extra crisp, adding even more depth to the movie’s picture.

There’s also plenty of fast-paced action to push a display’s motion-handling skills to the test. If this disc looks as good as the Reddit hype suggests it could be, this reference-quality disc could be a new addition to my testing rotation.

Movies about racing typically make for excellent audio testing discs, especially when they support Dolby Atmos (F1 for example). I’m hoping Speed Racer will fit into this group, as it features plenty of dynamic racing scenes that should be immersive thanks to its supported Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I’m expecting screeching tires, plenty of movement to test precision and detail and some nice bass response from the subwoofer.

Release date

• US: May 19, 2026
• UK: 15th June, 2026

EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert (Universal Pictures)

From director Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, Elvis, Moulin Rouge), EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert is a documentary about Elvis Presley. It features archival footage, including past conversations and interviews with Presley, and tons of live performances from the early 1970s.

Where else to go with this one but audio? Elvis has so many iconic hits and is arguably one of music’s best live performers, so iconic tracks from this time period like ‘Suspicious Minds’, ‘Always On My Mind‘ and ‘Burning Love’ (all featured on the movie soundtrack) are sure to sound sensational through a fully-fledged surround sound system.

Interestingly, there’s no Dolby Atmos soundtrack featured, so we won’t be getting the full 3D sound. There is, however, a DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack included, which should sound fantastic and has often featured on some of the best-sounding movies I’ve tested.

Picture-wise, the footage used in the documentary (consisting of unused footage from two concert movies Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (1970) and Elvis: Live On Tour (1972) was shot in 35mm and 8mm film, so expect the 35mm shots to look superb in 4K. There's also support for Dolby Vision and as Elvis’ shows were known for their glitz and glamour, there could be some really nice looking shots featured, with plenty of vivid colors.

Release dates

• US: August 11, 2026
• UK: 15th June, 2026

Bullet In The Head (Arrow Video)

From legendary director John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled), Bullet In The Head tells the story of three friends Ben (Tony Leung), Frank (Jacky Cheung) and Paul (Waise Lee), who flee Hong Kong after killing a member of a rival gang, ending up in Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War.

This disc’s real highlight should be on the audio side. Featuring a lossless mono and Dolby Atmos mix of the original Cantonese (as well as an English mono mix), there’ll be plenty of action-packed scenes throughout to show off a sound system. Think ricocheting bullets from the rear speakers, big explosions to rattle a subwoofer and the drone of helicopters in Vietnam to show off Atmos.

Visually, the disc supports Dolby Vision, so I’m expecting strong contrast with deep black tones as well as vibrant colors, particularly during the scenes in Hong Kong. A 4K restoration should do wonders for upscaling textures and details as well, and based on other Hong Kong 4K releases I’ve seen from this time period, there’ll be plenty of film grain retained for cinephiles.

Release dates

• UK: 22nd June, 2026
• US: N/A (Shout Factory version released January 6, 2026)

Hoppers (Disney/Pixar)

Pixar’s latest entry, Hoppers, follows the story of Mabel (Piper Curada) a college student who transfers her mind into a robotic beaver in order to communicate with local wildlife, unintentionally starting a revolution among said wildlife. The movie also features Jon Hamm, David Franco and Meryl Streep among the voice cast.

Pixar’s animation is often visually gorgeous, so much so that Elemental is still a regular feature in my choice of reference scenes for testing TVs, thanks to its dazzling colors. While Hoppers doesn’t have the same vibrant colors throughout, I’m still expecting some nice colors and crisp animation that will really show off the right displays. With Dolby Vision supported, the animation should look sublime.

Movies in nature are another fantastic way of showing off a sound system, capturing the sounds of wildlife such as chirping birds, rustling trees and cracking twigs. The Wild Robot was a great example of this. With a Dolby Atmos soundtrack supported, I’m anticipating the same from Hoppers and looking forward to testing it out on our Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar.

Release date

• US: June 2, 2026
• UK: 8th June, 2026

Highlighted releases: June 2026

Below is a list of highlight releases for June 2026. Both US and UK release dates are featured here (these are indicated). Release dates may vary by region, with some coming later in the year or already released. Titles featured in my list above are in bold.

June 1/2

• Hoppers (8th June, 2026 UK)
• Five Easy Pieces (8th June UK)
• Charade (22nd June UK)
• The Flintstones (1994)
• Trainspotting (UK)
• Avatar: Fire & Ash (UK, May 19, 2026 US)
• Body Heat (UK, May 19, 2026 US)

June 8/9

• The Burbs
• Notting Hill
• The Chronicles of Riddick
• Steven Spielberg: The Spotlight Collection
• 36 Hours (UK)
• Scream 7 (UK, June 16 US)

June 15/16

• Speed Racer (UK, May 19 US)
• EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (UK, August 11 US)
• Super Mario Galaxy Movie (US)
• Eraser
• Audition (1999)
• A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

June 22/23

• Bullet In The Head (Arrow, UK)
• Labyrinth (Collector's Edition, UK)
• Dark Crystal (Collector's Edition, UK)
• Hairspray (1988)
• Hang 'Em High
• A Simple Plan
• Rush

June 28/29

• Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits! (1994-1998)
• Rush (UK)
• Highlander (UK)
• Mortal Kombat Kollection
• The Money Pit

• Peacock will stream Telemundo's World Cup coverage with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos in AC-4
• Dolby AC-4 codec promises higher sound quality than current streaming codecs
• All 104 matches will be covered

Last month we reported on a blind test that says Dolby's new-generation AC-4 audio codec sounds as good as 4K Blu-ray even at a low streaming bitrate. And now you can hear it as the soundtrack to the World Cup — if you have the right tech and subscriptions.

Dolby and NBCUniversal have teamed up to deliver a world first. Telemundo's live Spanish-language FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage will be streamed on Peacock in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos using the AC-4 codec — according to Dolby, this is "the first commercial deployment of Dolby AC-4 by a video streamer."

All 104 matches will be broadcast using the technology, the first time it's been used for a major sporting event. It's also the first time the technology has been used by a major streaming service.

(If Spanish-language commentary isn't your thing, you might be interested in Samsung's latest TVs and their AI Soccer Mode, which enables you to remove the commentary entirely while keeping the crowd noise — we tested two affordable Samsung 2026 mini-LEDs here.)

Why this World Cup will sound like the future

Sound quality is one area where streaming can be disappointing. The audio codecs used by the major streaming services can't rival the quality of a 4K Blu-yay disc's soundtrack because their audio is too compressed.

AC-4 is more modern, and delivers much higher quality at the same bitrates, and in the double-blind listening test I referenced above, multiple audio pros couldn't tell the difference between AC-4 audio and uncompressed audio. It's up to 50% more efficient than current codecs, apparently.

The use of Atmos with AC-4 means the sound of these World Cup matches should be even more atmospheric, so if you've got a decent speaker setup or one of the best soundbars, it'll be even more fun to hear.

I'm not sure it'll be 100% as "vivid and electrifying as if you are sitting front row for each match without stadium prices" as the marketing blurb claims, but better dyanamic range with Dolby's spatial audio tech should mean it feels genuinely more immersive.

Dolby and NBCUniversal's engineers have spent a year working together to bring Dolby Vision to live sports, and according to NBCUniversal's senior vice president of global video engineering, David Bohunek, “Fútbol fans will love watching Telemundo’s FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Peacock in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with Dolby AC-4 — it’ll be a truly stunning viewing experience they can’t get anywhere else.”

Of course, you'll need to be both a Peacock subscriber and using a TV with support for AC-4 in order to get the full effect. Dolby says that support in TVs is pretty widespread these days, and lists the following partners: "LG, Panasonic, Sony, TCL, Samsung, Sharp, Vantiva, Bang & Olufsen, Hisense, Huawei, Humax, Sagemcom, Skyworth/Strong, SEI Robotics, Innopia, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Liberty Global, Sunrise, SES HD+, Sky, Swisscom, Zattoo, Waipu.tv, PŸUR, Ocilion, Austrostream, TPVision, Vizio, Philips, Kaon, Winston Neweb".

Naturally, you'll to check if your particular devices supports it, using the manufacturer's website (or, more likely, Google).

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Welcome to a slightly delayed edition of the Blu-ray Bounty! In this month’s list, May 2026, we’ll be looking at five new 4K Blu-rays that could make for excellent additions to your growing collection.

If this is your first visit to the Blu-ray Bounty, welcome: you can check out previous editions of the Blu-ray Bounty at the link. In last month’s April 2026 list, we looked at a mammoth 8 discs: Ben-Hur (1959), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Gilda, Crime Story, The Devil’s Backbone and The Blade.

4K Blu-ray is a big deal for us here at TechRadar, as not only is it our primary source for testing the best TVs and best soundbars (thanks to its superior picture quality and lossless soundtracks), but we’re big collectors ourselves: we’re always on the lookout for more discs to add to our collection!

I’ll be using our reference setup to test this month’s discs, which consists of the LG G5, one of 2025’s best OLED TVs; the Panasonic DP-UB820, one of the best 4K Blu-ray players on the market and the Samsung HW-Q990C, an 11.1.4 channel Dolby Atmos soundbar system.

I won’t be writing about the movies themselves here: I’ll only be commenting on their picture and audio and how they could be a great way to show off your home theater system.

Fight Club (20th Century Studios)

Based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club tells the story of an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) who meets a charismatic soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and together they start an underground fight club. Endlessly quotable, it was one of the most controversial movies of the 1990s.

Fight Club looks excellent on 4K. Textures have been upscaled well, and appear extra crisp. Close-up shots of characters' faces show fine details such as skin marks and hair with real clarity. While colors don’t play a major role in the movie, any that do have nice pop while still looking realistic. Tyler’s red jacket shows great color depth, as does the neon sign of Lou’s bar. The 4K disc also delivers strong contrast with deep black tones, accurately depicting the grimy nature of Tyler’s house and the Fight Club basement.

The disc itself doesn’t support Dolby Vision and while this would have potentially added more clarity and stronger contrast, the disc looks great. However, after online discussions of changes made by director David Fincher, I confirmed there have been some alterations. The most notable, which I confirmed from online chatter, is the clean-up of Marla’s face. While some viewers may find this distracting, I still feel the disc looks superb and is the best-looking version of this movie to date.

For audio, there’s no Dolby Atmos soundtrack, as it instead features a DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix. This mix is fantastic. It utilizes surround channels particularly in a very effective way, precisely mapping the sound during moments with fast moving camera shots. One in particular is the opening sequence where the camera drops down through the building, the sound accurately travels with the camera.

Elsewhere, there’s plenty of impact from the front channels during fight sequences, with the low-end providing some added rumble. Speech is clear for the majority of the movie, with the narration nice and clean throughout. I did find some instances where other effects drowned out the narrator’s voice, but this was only a handful of scenes.

Some Like It Hot (Altitude Films/Capelight Pictures)

Starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curts, Some Like It Hot tells the story of two men Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon), two musicians who flee Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. They disguise themselves as women and join touring singer Sugar’s (Monroe) band. A classic comedy, the movie was nominated for several Academy Awards and earned Golden Globe wins for Lemmon and Monroe.

A quick note: this 4K restoration I’ll be discussing is from Altitude films and is mainly targeted for the UK market. There is a Criterion Collection release available (first launched in April 2025) in the US and other regions.

This 4K disc is another great example of what 4K can do for classic black and white movies. With Dolby Vision support, there’s excellent range between deep black tones and bright white tones, with plenty of gray tones in between to create a dynamic, engaging picture. Textures have been upscaled beautifully, meaning skin is clean and crisp, with some parts looking 3D-like in quality. Objects have some nice refined detail as well, with close-up shots of Jack and Joe’s instruments and the handles of a coffin, both in the opening scenes, showing off the 4K restoration’s detail. Cinephiles will be pleased with the amount of grain retained as well.

There are two main audio options included: a PCM, 2.0 mono mix and a DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix. The 2.0 mix is much more direct and loud, with speech at the forefront. I preferred the 5.1 mix as it added some nice detail throughout. Scenes with gunfire mapped ricocheting bullets to the rear channels accurately and musical sequences had a lot more depth in the 5.1 soundtrack. I did need to bump the volume up for louder speech, but it was worth it to get the balance.

“Wuthering Heights” (Warner Bros)

“Wuthering Heights” is Emerald Fennell’s (Saltburn) re-imagining of Emily Brontë’s classic novel of the same name. It follows the story of the Linton and Earnshaw families, both wealthy landowners in the Yorkshire moors. The story in particular centers on the relationship between Catherine (Cathy) (Margot Robbie), the daughter of the Earnshaw family and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), a boy that the family fosters, as the two fall into a forbidden love.

“Wuthering Heights” looks visually striking in 4K. Where it stands out most is in its color reproduction, where intentionally vibrant colors are used throughout. Dolby Vision really makes these colors vivid with plenty of pop, particularly the bold reds that Cathy often wears and the red floor of one of the Linton estate rooms. Whites and blues are another highlight.

There are plenty of high contrast scenes as well, with rich black tones during night scenes and vibrant whites during the movie’s winter section. The movie has plenty of gorgeous cinematography of the surrounding landscapes, which look phenomenally detailed and strikingly realistic. Close-ups of the various cast members also look incredibly refined and intricate.

The 4K disc supports a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, which is punchy and detailed. While you won’t get many action-packed scenes, speech is crystal clear throughout and the movie’s soundtrack, written by Charlie XCX and John Cale, is engaging. Subtle details are accurately delivered too, such as the creaking of the ropes of the swing Isabella pushes Cathy on in one scene.

Leaving Las Vegas (StudioCanal)

Leaving Las Vegas follows the story of Ben (Nicolas Cage), an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who plans to drink himself to death in Las Vegas before striking up a relationship with callgirl Sera (Elisabeth Shue). Cage earned an Academy Award for his portrayal of Ben.

A note that this release is the StudioCanal version released in the UK and Europe. US readers’ most local version is the Shout Factory version released in December 2025.

Leaving Las Vegas was shot in 16mm film as opposed to 35mm — something you’d expect from movies on a lower budget. While this means the overall look of the film is on the softer side, there is definitely some great upscaling in this 4K restoration. Shots of Ben’s face show excellent detail in his pale skin and the dark circles around his tired eyes. Colors also have a nice vibrancy to them, mainly thanks to the neon-clad streets of Las Vegas, which really pop whenever they’re on screen. Ben and Sera’s sometimes brightly colored clothing also looks natural. The movie’s night scenes also present solid black levels too. Overall, a very good restoration.

This disc supports a DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix which is effective. Speech is clearly presented throughout and balances well with other sound effects. The movie’s score, which features a blend of smooth and chaotic jazz, is presented with excellent clarity and is nicely balanced across all channels, evenly spread across the four units of the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar system I was using.

Point Blank (Criterion Collection)

Point Blank tells the story of Walker (Lee Marvin), a man who is left for dead by his partner Mal Reese (John Vernon) after a robbery. Upon recovering, Walker seeks revenge on Reese and others who have wronged him.

This is yet another great restoration from Criterion, a common theme that’s been happening on the Blu-ray Bounty for some time now. Textures have been cleaned up well, with object detail and people’s skin showing the benefits of a 4K restoration. Where Point Blank really shines is with its colors. As it was made in the 1960s, there’s plenty of bold colors throughout to fit the aesthetic of the time period, from the yellow-themed apartment Walker and Chris share to the green office the antagonists use. Colors crucially though are also true-to-life throughout, never looking oversaturated. There’s also some high contrast scenes during the night with strong shadows cast across people’s faces that looked fantastic on the G5 OLED I used for viewing.

There’s only a monaural soundtrack option for this disc and while it would have been nice to have some form of surround option to capture the movie’s more action packed driving and shootout sequences, the monaural is solid. Speech is clear throughout the movie and there’s still some good impact from gunshots and car crashes. It’s also accurately mapped, capturing Walker’s frantic driving as he intimidates a crooked car salesman.

LG B6 OLED TV: Two minute review

The LG B6 is the entry-level OLED TV in LG’s 2026 TV lineup. While it provides a brightness boost over its predecessor, the LG B5, which I rated as one of 2025’s best TVs, the LG B6 doesn’t deliver the full and clear upgrade I was hoping for.

The LG B6 has a full suite of features and still delivers great performance, but as long as the LG B5 remains in stock and is less expensive, the new model is held back from being an unqualified pick by a few issues.

The biggest change over the B5 is the B6’s higher brightness. Bright scenes have more impact, highlights are mostly punchier and colors benefit, looking that little more vibrant. Contrast is powerful and appears stronger thanks to the brightness increase, while textures are crisp, as you’d expect from the best OLED TVs.

However, the LG B6 had more of a green tint than its predecessor when compared side-by-side. This meant that despite its improvements, the B6’s picture wasn’t the full step-up over the B5 that I was looking for — it giveth on one hand, and taketh on the other. Viewed in isolation, the B6 is still a great looking TV, though — the thing about slightly color tints is that your eye gets used to them quickly and then you can just focus on the image.

Much like previous years, the B6’s 2.0 channel speaker system is solid for day to day viewing with clear speech and it is accurate with some solid detail for movies. Bass however is limited and the soundstage is narrow. If you’re after the cinematic experience and want the sound to match the picture, I’d add one of the best soundbars.

The B6 is easily one of 2026’s best gaming TVs. It has a full array of features on all four HDMI ports — 4K 120Hz, full variable refresh rate options, HGiG, auto low latency mode, Dolby Vision Gaming — and has four HDMI 2.1 ports. An 8.9ms measured input lag means performance is smooth with razor-sharp response time, and the picture looks superb while gaming. If you’re looking for a gaming OLED, this is an excellent choice.

The webOS 26 smart TV software doesn’t reinvent the wheel compared to webOS 25, but it didn’t need to. What webOS 26 does is make navigation easier with a new menu layout, more Quick Cards and more customization. While the banner ad on the home screen is annoying, it’s the only wrinkle in webOS 26, which I rate as one of the best smart TV platforms on offer.

But as I alluded to above, while I think the B6 is a great TV overall, the B5 is definitely the better option while it’s available. The 65-inch B6 I tested costs $1,999 / £2,399 / AU$3,295 (with a cheaper B6E option available for £1,799 in the UK).

While this is a decent price and similar to the B5’s launch prices, the B6 doesn’t change enough to recommend it over the B5 if you're buying around its launch time. If it's a great-value entry-level OLED you want, I'd spend less on the LG B5.

If you have the budget right now, I’d definitely opt for the LG C6 (65-inch model priced at $2,699 / £2,599 / AU$3,995) as my preferred choice. It's the best upgrade to LG’s OLED lineup in 2026, and provides even better brightness and picture than the B6, but with impeccable colors.

LG B6 review: Prices & release date

• Release date: May 2026
• 48-inch: $TBA / £1,299 / AU$1,995
• 55-inch: $TBA / £1,599 / AU$2,495
• 65-inch: $1,999 / £2,399 / AU$3,295
• 77-inch: $,2799 / £TBA / AU$TBA
• 83-inch: $4,499 / £TBA / AU$TBA

The LG B6 is the entry level OLED in LG’s 2026 OLED TV lineup, sitting below the mid-range LG C6 and flagship LG G6 and LG W6 (also known as the Wallpaper). The 65-inch model I tested costs $1,999 / £2,399 / AU$3,295 officially, which is the same launch prices as last year’s LG B5.

It’s worth noting that in some regions there are two LG B6 models: the B65 and the B6E. I asked LG what the differences between the two are, and it said the B6E does not have the following features: Precision Picture Master Pro, Precision Sound Master Pro, and it does not have the marble effect design on the back.

Other than this they should be the same, making the B6E by far the better deal, because I don't particular rate these features, LG's suggestion is that they have the same panel and Dolby Vision support otherwise. A 65-inch LG B6E model costs £1,999 in the UK, a full £400 cheaper.

LG B5 review: Specs

LG B6 review: Benchmark results

LG B6 review: Features

• Alpha 8 AI Gen 3 processor is a good mid-range processor
• 4K 120Hz, FreeSync and G-Sync across all four HDMI 2.1 ports
• Higher brightness than the LG B5

The B6 uses a W-OLED panel, much like its predecessor. However, there has been a brightness boost (I’ll get into that below in the Picture Quality section) that would suggest it’s using the new OLED SE panel: a cheaper, brighter WOLED panel that we saw in action in the Panasonic Z86C, which is that company's new entry-level OLED for 2026.

The B6 comes with the Alpha 8 AI Gen 3 processor, which introduces a couple of new picture and sound tools such as the Precision Picture Master Pro and Precision Sound Pro, which both aim to upscale picture and audio respectively. It’s worth noting the B6E, a cheaper B6 model available in some regions including the UK, does not support these features.

The B6 supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos for enhanced audio, but it does not support HDR10+ or DTS, the same as 2025. LG says it currently has no plans to support Dolby Vision 2. The B6 also supports Chromecast and AirPlay 2.

For audio, the B6 has a built-in 2.0 channel, 20W speaker system: the same as the B5 from last year. This year, much like the LG G6 and C6, the number of sound presets has been reduced to four, including AI Sound Pro, and Clear Voice for dialogue enhancement.

The B6 uses webOS 26, which introduces some refined AI features, such as AI concierge which now uses AI companions such as Gemini for lifestyle uses such as planning trips. The menu layout has also been re-ordered in order to prioritize major settings such as Energy Saving and Network.

For gaming, the B6 carries over the same features from the B5: 4K 120Hz, full VRR support including both FreeSync and G-Sync, auto low latency mode and Dolby Vision Gaming, all featured on four HDMI 2.1 ports. Game Optimizer returns with additional settings for gaming, including the Prevent Input Delay option.

• Features score: 5 / 5

LG B6 review: Picture quality

• Brighter than its predecessor
• Crisp detail and strong contrast
• Green tint visible in some scenes

Starting with measurements, the biggest difference between the B6 and last year’s B5 is the boost in HDR peak brightness. The B6 measured 835 nits in Filmmaker Mode, 895 nits in Cinema mode and 740 nits in Standard mode. These are big jumps over the B5’s 668 nits in Cinema mode and 637 nits in Standard mode.

For fullscreen HDR brightness, the jump hasn’t been quite as significant, with the B6 measuring 154 nits in Cinema Home, compared to 131 nits of the B5 in the same mode. In fact, there was even a drop in Standard mode, with the B6 measuring 150 nits compared to the B5’s 172 nits.

Moving to real-world testing, I found myself switching between Filmmaker Mode and Cinema Home depending on the content. Both picture modes looked good, but Filmmaker Mode suited darker, more contrast-y scenes, while Cinema Home looked great with colors and animation.

The B6 did a good job with SDR content. Watching an HD stream of Fight Club on Disney Plus, it upscaled textures to give them a crisper look and added some brightness that delivered stronger perceived contrast compared to some cheaper TVs I’d done this test on.

With lower-resolution content, such as YouTube videos, the B6 did a decent job upscaling textures and boosting colors to give them a better look, but ultimately the image didn’t hit 4K levels. There is a Precision HDR Master Pro setting in the main B6 model (not the B6E) which did sharpen textures when activated, but it was too artificial for my liking.

Watching a desert scene from Lawrence of Arabia, the white sands of the desert did indeed look brighter on the B6 compared to the B5 when I compared the two side by side, showing the brightness boost was real.

In Dark City, as John is in the automat, the highlights from the overhead lights and the yellow walls also looked brighter on the B6.

However, during my B6 and B5 comparison, the scene from Dark City was the first to tip me off on a potential issue with the B6: green tint. The yellow walls of the automat seemed to have a green hue on them on both the B6 and B5, but it was more noticeable on the new model.

The B6 demonstrated strong contrast with deep dark tones in high contrast scenes. It also had a higher perceived contrast over the B5 thanks to the brightness boost. In The Batman, as Batman wanders the crime scene in Mayor Mitchell’s house, the balance between the light tones from the lamps on the wall and the dark tones of the dark-panel wood walls was excellent.

Unfortunately, The Batman also exemplified the green tint issue on the B6 compared to the B5. In the subway scene, the rear walls looked more green on the B6, looking like the gray I expected on the B5. Maybe I got unlucky with my review unit, but it was definitely worth noting as green tint has been a criticism of LG’s OLED TVs before.

The B6 delivers bold, rich colors that benefitted from the new brightness boost. A Dolby Vision stream of Elemental on Disney Plus really showcased them, with the blues of Wade and his family, and the oranges and reds of Ember dazzling on screen. As Ember mends a vase, the purples and oranges of the new vase glistened, showing strong highlights.

In the ‘Wizard and I’ scene, as Elphaba stands under a tree with pink flowers, said flowers popped on screen, but still had great color depth.

The B6 delivered a measured HDR color gamut coverage of 97.4% of the DCI-P3 and 72.5% of the BT.2020 color spaces. While these aren’t bad results (we have a 95% threshold for DCI-P3, and are generally happy with a score above this), these numbers were oddly lower than the B5’s. The B5 had measured results of 99.5% and 74.85% in the DCI-P3 and BT.2020 color spaces respectively.

Viewed in isolation, the B6’s colors and contrast were actually very good but it just seemed a shame that I knew how good the B5 looked in comparison in some scenes. With the added brightness, I was hoping for a bigger picture upgrade.

Outside of this, the B6 showcased excellent textures, striking a nice balance between crisp and natural. Throughout my testing, people’s skin looked realistic while finer details such as hair appeared refined.

Much like the G6 and the C6, the B6 benefitted from using the TruMotion feature. For movies, Cinematic Movement was more than enough, reducing judder in a panning shot of a cliffside cemetery in No Time To Die. With sports, the Natural motion setting worked better, doing more smoothing and judder reduction which worked better.

The B6’s screen is however prone to mirror-like reflections, especially with darker scenes. Even some brighter, more colorful scenes struggled under our testing lab’s overhead lights in Filmmaker Mode. It would be nice to see some more effective anti-reflection measures brought to the B6, as I know it's possible from my review of the LG G6.

• Picture quality score: 4.5 / 5

LG B6 review: Sound quality

• 2.0 channel, 20W speakers
• Decent sound overall but definitely benefits from a soundbar
• Fewer sound modes than last year

The B6 comes with a 2.0 channel, 20W speaker system and supports Dolby Atmos (but not DTS). LG has reduced the number of sound presets from previous years, dropping the number from eight to four.

These four presets are Standard, AI Sound Pro, Clear Voice Pro and Sound Wizard. As my go-to Cinema preset had been removed, I opted for my backup: AI Sound Pro.

Watching the Batmobile chase scene from The Batman, the B6 showcased accurate image mapping, accurately following the direction of swerving traffic and the bullet sprays from the Penguin’s gun.

The same was true playing Battlefield V, as the B6’s speakers did a good job picking out subtle effects such as the crunching leaves underfoot in a forest mission.

Speech was clear enough throughout my testing as well, with most dialogue easily audible over the rest of the soundtrack.

Due to its limited 2.0 channel speaker system however, the sound doesn’t match the picture in quality. Bass felt very contained and while there was some rumble as the Batmobile ignited its engine, it felt thin in places.

The soundstage also felt narrow, never truly extending beyond the confines of the screen. Atmos effects, such as the rain in The Batman, felt limited too. I’d recommend a soundbar if you want sound impact to match the quality of the visuals.

• Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

LG B5 review: Design

• Mostly premium build
• Feet are plastic this year instead of metal
• UK Magic Remote could do with an update

The 65-inch B6 I tested had a mostly premium build and design. It has a trim frame and near bezel-less screen allowing the picture to be the focal point. While it’s a small touch, the marble effect on the rear panel made it feel a little more premium, although it’s again worth noting this is only on the main B6 model and not the cheaper B6E.

One thing I was disappointed to find was that the B6 unit I was testing had plastic feet, compared to the B5’s metal feet. While the plastic feet were more than sturdy enough, it did detract from the B6’s overall premium design.

LG’s Magic Remote hasn’t had many updates in recent years in the UK other than the re-arranging and addition and removal of certain buttons, with the AI button taking center stage this year, and it could do with a refresh.

The US has the sleeker AI Smart Remote, but again when brands like Sony, Philips and Hisense offer more heavy duty, metal remotes, LG’s offering could be a bit more premium.

• Design score: 4 / 5

LG B6 review: Smart TV & menus

• Uses LG's webOS 26 smart TV platform
• Streamlined menus and more Quick Cards for easy navigation to key options
• Ads are annoying, but equivalent to other platforms

The B6 uses LG’s own webOS 26 as its smart TV platform. While webOS 25 was about the introduction of AI features — such as AI Concierge, for content recommendation and information, and AI Search, for advanced content searching — webOS 26 looks at refining menus for easier navigation while adding some new features.

Quick Cards, a place where relevant apps are organized by categories such as Sports, Game and Office, are back and some new ones have been added including Learning.

The Quick Menu, where picture and sound modes can be altered super-quickly without getting deep into menus, continues to be one of the webOS’ standout features.

webOS 26 is also very easy to navigate, with an intuitive menu layout that’s been re-organized for this year to make access to settings such as Energy Saving and Network easier, and these small changes have made navigation even smoother.

Unfortunately, the home page still features a large banner ad space at the very top of the screen which does push down the apps a bit. This is fairly common among modern smart TV platforms however and this is my only real complaint with webOS 26. It’s still one of the best OS on the market.

• Smart TV & menus score: 5 / 5

LG B6 review: Gaming

• 4K 120Hz and full variable refresh rate support
• 8.9ms input lag at 60Hz, 4.9ms at 120Hz
• Excellent features and performance

The B6 comes with a full suite of gaming features including 4K 120Hz, variable refresh rate including both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, HGiG HDR, auto low latency mode, and Dolby Vision Gaming, with all features supported across four HDMI 2.1 ports.

The B6 had a measured input lag time of 8.9ms at 4K 60Hz (in Boost mode), which is a superb result and up there with the very best gaming TVs. It registered a 4.9ms input lag at 1080p 120Hz.

Gaming performance on the B6 is excellent. Playing a mission in Battlefield V, the B6 handled the chaotic gunfights which involved a lot of quick movement and targeting with ease, with inputs feeling very smooth. As I flew around the desert in a plane, the sudden changes in flight path felt effortless and intuitive.

Battlefield V also looked great on the B6, delivering some nice brightness during the desert mission, with the sun on the horizon showing the B6’s strong HDR highlights. Textures were crisp with some nice detail in the weapons and environments as well.

• Gaming score: 5 / 5

LG B6 review: Value

• Great features and good performance
• Not the clear upgrade I wanted
• B5 is the better option while available, C6 is better when prices are close

The B6 is an interesting TV when it comes to value. The 65-inch model I tested costs $1,999 / £2,399 / AU$3,295, while the 65-inch LG C6 step-up TV currently costs $2,699 / £2,599 / AU$3,995, meaning the B6 has a good price gap in US and Australia, but it’s close in the UK — too close, frankly.

There's a good reason to choose the B6 instead of the C6 in the UK and Aus when you're saving that much, but in the UK I'd absolutely choose the C6 given the close prices. That's complicated by the existence of the cheaper B6E, which a 65-inch costs £1,799: excellent value for a brand new OLED that size.

That being said, the B6 isn’t the full upgrade I wanted over the B5, unlike the C6 which is a superb upgrade over its predecessor, the C5. While the B6 delivers higher brightness and still excellent picture quality, it has some picture inconsistencies (particularly the green tint) so you're trading improvements in one area to steps back in another.

As a result, while the B5 is still available, I’d recommend it over the B6. A 65-inch B5 currently costs $999 / £1,199 / AU$2,199, which is a steal for that TV. Stock does seem to be dwindling in some regions already however, and when it disappears, the B6 is worthy of taking its place once it drops in price to the same kind of level.

Ultimately if you want a real upgrade, the C6 is the top dog but if it’s not in your budget, the B6 is still a very good TV.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the LG B6 OLED TV?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

LG B6 review: Also Consider

How I tested the LG B6 OLED TV

• Tested in different lighting conditions over a couple of weeks
• Tested using both HDR and SDR sources
• Measurements taken using Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software

The first steps for my testing was to do some casual viewing to establish which picture modes were the best for the LG B6. I found that both Filmmaker Mode and Cinema Home worked for movies, depending on the type of movie, whereas Standard worked best for sports.

Once this was done, I started my critical viewing using some reference scenes I use for testing, including HDR (4K Blu-ray and streaming) and SDR (DVD, YouTube, broadcast TV) sources. I also used Prime Video and HBO Max to test sports on the B6.

I used these scenes to analyze the B6's picture, focusing on color, accuracy, contrast, detail, motion, upscaling and more. I also used other scenes to test the B6's built-in speakers.

For 4K Blu-ray, I used a Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-ray player and for gaming I used and Xbox Series X.

Moving on to objective testing I used specizlied equipment to take measurements of the B6. This included a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo Six G 8K Metal test pattern generator and Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software to record measurements.

Brightness measurements were taken using both HDR and SDR white window patterns ranging in size from 1-100%, with a focus on 10% and 100% windows, for peak and fullscreen brightness, respectively. I also tested the B6's grayscale and color accuracy, taking an average of the Delta-E values (the margin of error between the test pattern source and what's shown on screen), looking for a result below 3.

I also tested the B5's coverage of the UHDA-P3 and BT.2020 color spaces. Finally, I used a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI Input lag Tester to test the B5's input lag in milliseconds.

I also recorded the B6's HDR EOTF results with 1,000, 4,000 and 10,000 nits targets. I also used a Jeti Spectral 15a to take the B6's Spectral Power Distribution.

You can read an in-depth overview of how we test TVs at TechRadar at that link.

• First reviewed: May, 2026
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• A report claimed LG was in talks with Hisense executives to explore a possible sale of LG's TV business
• The original report has been taken offline to be "reviewed by an administrator"
• LG tells TechRadar that "These reports are groundless"

Today has been a rollercoaster for fans of the best OLED TVs — a major report from Korean business news outlet EBN claimed that LG was exploring spinning-off and/or selling its TV business to Hisense.

However, the original report has now been removed from the EBN website, replaced with just a pop-up message that says the report is down while it's "reviewed by an administrator".

An LG spokesperson told TechRadar "These reports are groundless." LG provided a slightly longer statement to Android Authority that's more forceful: "LG Electronics would like to state that this news regarding the potential sale of its TV business is completely baseless and therefore entirely speculative and misleading."

The original report claimed that LG executives travelled to Beijing to meet executives from Hisense, including discussions of the future of LG TVs and possibly a sale of the entire LG TV business to Hisense.

Maybe this happened, maybe it didn't, maybe it was misreported — LG's denial is firm, but companies often firmly deny things they then go on to do. But if the same were to happen, it would follow a growing trend, making it not necessarily that surprising.

From Philips to Sony to Panasonic… maybe LG?

If LG were considering a full sale or a partnership with Hisense, it wouldn't be the first big TV brand to do so: Sony's partnership with TCL is likely to give Sony's mid-market and budget models a boost, with Sony providing the brand cachet and proprietary technology and TCL bringing its high volume manufacturing efficiencies.

Panasonic has reached a similar arrangement with Skyworth to make its US TVs, and many Japanese TV brands are made under license too, including Toshiba and Sharp.

Philips' TVs have been made under licence for years, with TP Vision making them in Europe and Skyworth making them for the US.

The reason for all this is simple: making TVs is a tough business with fairly low profit margins, so you need to sell tons of TVs to make money. LG's OLEDs do good business, but its LED TVs have struggled to impress, and are nowhere near as dominant as its OLED sets.

TCL and Hisense are grabbing market share across the board thanks to being able to produce really solid mid-range sets that are pretty damn cheap — so much so that Hisense eclipsed LG sales in the premium TV market last year.

This kind of deal could likely boost LG's entry level and mid-range offerings, but there would probably be a lot of resistance to it online from OLED fans, because Hisense doesn't have much love for that tech. (A similar worry is facing Sony fans from the TCL partnership.)

Still, LG says you have nothing to worry about — reports of its TV business' death have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

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• Sony's 2026 TV range has now all been announced
• Three tiers: RGB mini-LED, OLED and LED
• In sizes from 43 inches to 115 inches

Sony has just launched two new Bravia TVs today, with the new Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II replacing the current Bravia 7 and Bravia 9. The new models have RGB mini-LED backlights and fairly hefty prices: the Bravia 7 II starts at £1,899 / $1,599 (about AU$3,560) for a 50-inch model, and this rises to £22,999 / $30,999 (about AU$43,165) for the Bravia 9 II at 115 inches.

Although the two highest-end models simply replace their predecessors, other models in the current Bravia range are a little more confusing: both the Bravia 8 and the Bravia 8 II are available, while there's no Bravia 5 II – just the Bravia 5. And have you ever tried saying the name of the Bravia 2 II out loud to someone? It requires explanation!

It's a little confusing (though only a little by TV-naming standards), but it all makes more sense when you see that the Bravias are broken into three tiers: True RGB mini-LED, OLED and LED respectively. The bigger the number, the further up the list it lives.

Which Bravias are in the Sony range of 2026 TVs?

Let's start with the flagships first.

The Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II are True RGB TVs. The Bravia 7 II is available in 50, 55, 65, 75, 85 and 98-inch versions, while the flagship Bravia 9 II comes in 65, 75, 85 and 115-inch versions.

That makes the Bravia 7 II the first RGB TV from any brand to come in a 50-inch version — previously the smallest was 55 inches — and that puts it right up there against the best OLED TVs if you want a premium TV at a smaller size. Those TVs should be worried: we've seen Sony's RGB tech on multiple occasions and it's very impressive.

The key difference between the Bravia 7 II and the Bravia 9 II is that the latter has a more powerful backlight than its sibling. It's capable of 3,990 nits in Professional Mode. We measured the Bravia 7 II at 2,078 nits in the same mode. Both of those numbers are from testing pre-production models but we'd expect very similar real-world numbers — we expect there will also be fewer dimming zones and other changes in the Bravia 7 II, but we'll need to test the TVs for more detail on that.

Next up there are the two OLED ranges, the OLED Bravia 8 and the QD-OLED Bravia 8 II. They both come in 55 and 65-inch flavors. In the US, the Bravia 8 is also available as a 77-inch TV. Here's our Bravia 8 review, and our Bravia 8 II review, if you want to read about both sets.

And the final tier are the LED TVs; the Bravia 5 is mini-LED, while the Bravia 3 II and the Bravia 2 II are more standard LED tech.

The Bravia 5 comes in 55, 65, 75 and 85 inches; the Bravia 3 II comes in 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 85 and 100 inches, and the Bravia 2 II is available in 43, 50, 55, 65 and 75 inches.

So that's it — you can mostly just use the first number to tell whether something is better or worse than the other models, but sometimes it being a 'II' matters… and sometimes it doesn't.

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After more than a year of teasing, Sony has finally announced its first 'True RGB' TVs, which use an RGB mini-LED backlight. They're called the Sony Bravia 9 II and Sony Bravia 7 II, and I got to see the Bravia 9 II in action.

Sony first showed us its RGB tech back in March 2025, and then showed it to us again in September, and the again a couple of months ago. It's kind of a relief to finally see it in a product that people will be able to buy.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the highest-end model, and will be available in multiple larger sizes, while the Sony Bravia 7 II is notable for being the first RGB TV to come in a 50-inch size, which will make it interesting competition for the smaller options among the best OLED TVs — 55 inches was the smallest size of RGB set we'd seen so far.

They're not cheap, though — here's the size and price breakdown of these TVs (Sony was only able to supply UK prices at the time of writing):

RGB TVs use an LCD panel with lights behind it, like other mini-LED TVs, but the backlight can change color to better match what the pixels in front are supposed to show. Each mini-LED in the backlight includes individual red, green and blue sub-pixels to create the range of hues.

This enables a wider color range within the pixels, and requires less color filtering to do it, so the panels can have fewer layers, which helps with efficiency.

Sony has combined this with its X-Wide Angle Pro wide viewing angle, as well as a new anti-reflective system. Sony refused to give any information about the anti-reflective layer, but it looked to me like a matte element is involved, given the sheen that light created on the screen in my demo room.

The Bravia 9 II has a more powerful backlight system than the Bravia 7 II, but I didn't see them compared in real scenes directly, and Sony doesn't tend to discuss that kind of technical information too deeply.

What I did see was the Bravia 9 II compared to the Sony Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV, the Sony Bravia 9 mini-LED (original non-RGB flavor), and Sony's reference studio monitor that's used for pro film grading — though sadly I couldn't take and share photos of the comparison.

Ever since the Bravia 9 was first announced, which was shortly after Sony rolled out its current studio reference monitor that reaches 4,000 nits of brightness, Sony has been pushing the idea that it wants its TVs to be able to perfectly replicate the HDR experience of the reference monitor.

Sony believes that more movies will be mastered for 4,000 nits of brightness now that there's a suitable 4,000-nit monitor (1,000 nits has been by far the most common mastering level), and so to replicate the full tonal range of these movies properly, TVs should also be able to hit 4,000 nits of peak brightness.

This hasn't been possible in any of Sony's previous TVs, and it's quite obvious when you turn the tone mapping off that you lose a lot of detail in bright highlights when compared to the studio monitor… but Sony's demo showed that the Bravia 9 II lost much less detail in those areas in a direct comparison with all four screens.

It still wasn't able to exactly recreate the reference monitor, but it was by far the closest to recreating the pure reference image for HDR tones — and in color for some scenes, though this was much less clear-cut, with the Bravia 8 II putting in a strong showing in this case, and the Bravia 9 occasionally looking closer in certain scenes.

Sony declined to say what the actual brightness of the TV is expected to be, but happily we've had access to a pre-production unit to be able to measure this ourselves.

The Bravia 9 II is capable of 3,990 nits in Professional Mode (which is the most accurate mode, and is closest to the Filmmaker Mode that we usually like to test in) in a 10% HDR window — so yes, it's basically capable of that promised 4,000-nit paradise.

Even more impressive is its fullscreen brightness in this mode, which we measured at 827 nits — that's around double the fullscreen brightness we got from the similarly priced LG G6 OLED TV.

For comparison, we measured the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED at 1,439 nits in a 10% HDR window and 183 nits of fullscreen brightness. We measured the Bravia 9 (original) at 1,871 nits in a 10% window and 495 nits fullscreen.

We've also had the chance to measure the Sony Bravia 7 II's brightness, and that delivered 2078 nits in Professional Mode in a 10% HDR window, so we can expect the HDR performance of the Bravia 9 II to have clearly strong impact — although the Bravia 7 II actually delivered over 900 nits of fullscreen brightness in our measurements, so it actually beats its big sibling there.

These measurements were taken on pre-production units, as I mentioned, so we'll make sure that the final versions test the same — but they're impressive numbers.

The big question is whether the contrast and dark-tone performance will be as good. It looked strong in Sony's brief demos, but the company is unlikely to have shown me anything that might indicate color bleed from the RGB backlight, so we look forward to digging into that too.

Other things to note about the Bravia 9 II include its use of Sony's Acoustic Multi-Audio+ tech, which means powerful built-in speakers that now include up-firing speakers for more height in Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks.

On the downside, however, the TV still comes with only two HDMI 2.1 ports (out of four ports in total). Sony is basically the only manufacturer launching new high-end TVs with only two HDMI 2.1 ports, and it's frustratingly limiting if you plan to connect a soundbar as well.

I also want to highlight the fun new stand design of these TVs. The main panel of the stand is made from a light-bending material that lets through the tone of what's behind it, but not specific details.

I'm very impressed with my early looks at the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 8 II — they're both very premium TVs, but the 9 II looks like it could compete hard with Samsung to offer the best TV for brighter rooms with its huge brightness and anti-reflection tech, but with Sony's meticulous attention to accuracy.

And I'm really keen to get my hands on the little 50-inch Bravia 7 II, because it could offer the premium competition to the LG C6 at this size. Stay tuned for our full reviews later.

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I think it’s fair to say that Fight Club has been one of the most anticipated 4K Blu-rays in recent years. Although it seemed like it would never launch, in May 2026, the eagerly awaiting disc finally arrived.

Not only was it one of my picks for my most anticipated 4K Blu-rays for May 2026, but it was one of my most anticipated ever. It’s one of those movies that has stuck with me and until now, it has only been available on standard Blu-ray (which has 1080p resolution) or HD on Disney Plus.

There was no better place to try out the 4K Blu-ray than our TechRadar testing labs, with the reference setup that I use for our monthly Blu-ray Bounty column in which we review the latest 4K releases (Flight Club will feature in the May 2026 edition).

The setup is formidable. It consists of the LG G5 (one of 2025’s best OLED TVs), the Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-ray player (one of the best 4K Blu-ray players on the market) and the Samsung HW-Q990C (one of the best soundbars in recent years).

As I fired up the disc, I glanced at the back of the case and noticed immediately that two big features were missing, and for some home theater fans, their absence might just be a dealbreaker.

No Dolby Vision or Atmos: why?

Yes, there is no Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos support for the Fight Club 4K Blu-ray. The disc instead supports HDR10 and a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack. Dolby Vision was apparently left off Fight Club at director David Fincher's request (according to a tweet from Feb 2026 from TheHDRoom on X). For some this may come as a surprise, and a potential disappointment, but there is a potential explanation. We need only look to another 4K title from Fincher’s back-catalogue for a clue.

Looking at the Se7en 4K Blu-ray we had in our testing lab, this doesn’t support Dolby Vision or Atmos either. Again, it offers HDR10 and DTS-HD 5.1 MA instead. Why is this? Well, we know Fincher made changes to the Se7en 4K restoration by using AI, according to a Rolling Stone article from January 2025.

As Dolby Vision uses dynamic metadata to analyze a picture shot-by-shot, this may have interfered with Fincher’s vision for the home release, presumably after making said changes. And thanks to some dedicated work from some Reddit users, we know for a fact that Fincher has made some alteration to the Fight Club 4K compared to the standard Blu-ray. And it’s been controversial to say the least.

Going through changes

Although not quite as drastic as George Lucas’ edits to Star Wars in the 1997 DVD release, Fincher has made some subtle (and a couple of not so subtle) changes to the Fight Club 4K Blu-ray. In a Reddit thread boosted to r/4KBluray by u/Kecofo8180, the top comment features a list of changes compiled by u/PhoneixBee32.

These run from added lens flare to a torch and a clean-up of some ceiling tiles, all the way to the a touch of spot-removal on Marla's face. The list was compiled based on a small selection of 4K Blu-ray vs standard Blu-ray comparison screenshots, meaning there are likely a lot more.

I decided to check out Marla’s appearance to see just how different she looked. Switching between the 4K Blu-ray and a HD stream of the movie on Disney Plus, the clean-up treatment was obvious. In the 4K shot, Marla has noticeably smoother skin with fewer spots and pimples, and the dark circles under her eyes have been reduced in comparison to the shot from the HD stream (see images above). It’s an odd choice considering the HD stream, with the more original look, feels more accurate to Marla’s character.

I also compared a brighter scene where the narrator is confronted by his boss. Looking at the two images, I was intrigued to note that the framing of the scene has been changed. In the 4K, the shot seemed to have been zoomed out — the narrator is fully in frame, as is an ashtray beside him. In the HD stream, his hand is partially cut off, his hair is brushing the top of the frame, and the ashtray is only half in shot.

There are some other tweaks I noticed, but a lot of them are so subtle that you wouldn't spot them unless you were studying the 4K Blu-ray and HD stream/Blu-ray versions side-by-side. Still, for those fans who like their 4K discs unaltered, this isn't welcome news.

Needless to say, there have been a number of Reddit threads discussing the 4K Blu-ray, and the response to these changes has been mixed. u/cheeseholidays commented "I do not understand filmmakers who do this", while u/epicmemetime15 wrote 'The editing of Helena's face is very weird" (referring to Helena Bonham Carter who plays Marla).

Other users have been more forgiving, and positive about how good the actual 4K looks. u/OK_Support2444 said, "Eh, I saw the remaster in theaters and it looked gorgeous" and u/requiuminadream commented, "I think this is looking phenomenal. Few minor tweaks here or there, but the image quality looks outstanding."

Still the best

Despite the alterations, as I was switching between the HD stream and the 4K Blu-ray, the 4K’s HDR strengths were obvious. While I’ll be sharing my full thoughts in the May 2026 Blu-ray Bounty column, I have some initial comments below.

Despite Marla’s smoothed skin, other details such as the whites of her eyes in a close-up shot, or the beads of sweat running down the narrator’s face, really pop thanks to those HDR highlights. The red of Tyler’s jacket is bold but realistic and exterior shots of Lou’s bar look excellent thanks to the vibrant neon signs.

The HDR also really helps deliver high-contrast scenes, including the Fight Club fights themselves, balancing the light tones from the overhead lamps with the dark tones of the dingy, grimy walls and floors.

The 4K disc’s DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack also sounds great. There’s plenty of impact during fight scenes, with punches sounding worryingly realistic, with good bass as people tackle each other to the floor. But it’s the use of the rear speakers that’s really fascinating. During the opening, as the camera pans down from the top floor where the narrator and Durden are to the basement, the sound moves too. With the Samsung soundbar system I was using, the sound shifted from the front channels to the rear channels.

While these are only my first impressions, I can safely say the Fight Club 4K is excellent so far. Yes, Dolby Vision would have been welcome for those dark and high contrast scenes, and Dolby Atmos may have added more to the movie’s meaty fight sequences, but based on my first viewing on our reference system, this is a superb-looking and -sounding 4K Blu-ray.

It seems users are torn, so I decided to stop the comparison and just watch the 4K Blu-ray.

The 2026 World Cup is almost upon us, kicking off on June 11. As someone who obsesses about the beautiful game almost every second I’m awake, I’ve been pondering on how to get my TV best prepared for the biggest sporting event on the planet. (I'm almost as excited as I was finally seeing Arsenal crowned EPL champions after 22 agonizing years…)

It pains me to say this, but I’ve started turning on a picture setting I normally loathe in order to get my eyes fully adjusted before all the balls are kicked across Canada, Mexico and the USA.

The feature in question is motion smoothing. And as someone who typically hates this setting, I must admit I feel more than a little dirty. But the truth is that it genuinely does make watching football on even the best TVs look better.

Now for movies or streamed TV, I’d rather watch Spurs for all eternity than enable motion smoothing. For sports, and specifically soccer though, it’s an entirely different kettle of footy fish.

How does motion smoothing on a TV work?

Motion smoothing is a video-processing technique that adds artificial frames of video in between the 'real' video frames being shown by your TV. This technique is sometimes known as frame interpolation, and it works in a way that isn’t entirely dissimilar to how frame generation operates in graphically demanding PC games.

Manufacturers tend to refer to motion smoothing by different names. With LG sets, it’s often known as “TruMotion”, while Sony prefers “Motionflow”. Regardless of the moniker a TV supplier uses, the underlying tech is basically the same.

If you’re lucky enough to own a high-end TV with an advanced processor, motion smoothing is going to be handled more effectively than on a budget model.

When this feature is enabled, your display’s processor analyzes whatever is happening onscreen. It then subsequently detects and tracks moving objects, makes an educated guess as to where said objects would appear between the frames based on the their speed and direction, and then displays the extra frames live during playback.

Why does sport look better with motion smoothing enabled?

By accurately tracking ball movement and adding artificial frames to smooth out camera pans, motion-smoothing features can make matches easier to follow. For sports with constant camera pans, like ice hockey, soccer and NFL games, this technique can definitely give the impression general play is unfolding in smoother fashion.

This makes onscreen action look smoother, because your eye isn't seeing such a big difference in the ball's movement each time a new image appears, so your brain is filling in the gaps less, and more detail can be perceived.

This is why motion smoothing is particularly well suited to handle fast-paced soccer matches, which we’ll no doubt see plenty of during the tournament’s latter knockout stages. In elite level clashes, the ball moves from side to side at a rapid rate, and if you want to judge whether your player was fouled or not (he clearly was) then you need to see more detail than is present in smeary regular streaming quality.

Though I generally use my LG G3 OLED’s Filmmaker Mode for everyday viewing — a preset approved by directors like Christopher Nolan that blocks TruMotion — when it’s time to obsess over Arsenal, I switch to Vivid and enable motion smoothing lickety-split.

Though the best OLED TVs are pretty good at handling fast-moving action thanks to the display tech’s near instantaneous pixel response times, persistent judder can definitely occur during camera pans — and there can be other visual issues streaming sports as well.

For subpar soccer streams, motion smoothing can help

When it comes to watching football/soccer on TV, the visual experience you’re normally going to experience won’t be anywhere near the quality of streaming a Netflix Original.

The bitrate of the streams will be lower, which means it'll be harder to track the ball in congested penalty areas, because the amount of detail is directly related to amount of data being streamed (all other things being equal).

Here in my native UK, the only real way you can reliably watch high-quality 4K football on a weekly basis is with Sky Sports' UHD offerings. When I had this, I often didn’t bother enabling motion smoothing because the clarity of the on-field images I was watching were exceptional anyway.

Now that I’m “slumming” it with a Now TV subscription on my Amazon Fire TV Stick, I’m sadly living off sub-1080p table scraps. When I watched Arsenal lift the Premier League trophy a few days ago at time of writing, I could barely make out Martin Ødegaard’s handsome Norwegian face as he hoisted the famous trophy above his dreamy head.

Poor image quality is obviously a much bigger issue during matches, and the times I experience distracting judder if I don’t enable motion smoothing on my OLED can be hugely distracting. Without frame interpolation, all of those skittish camera pans as the ball bounces from the halfway line to the edge of the D can sometimes make me feel queasy, particularly on a 720p stream.

While motion smoothing can definitely reduce annoying blur and make it easier to keep up with the ball during intense matches, if your TV lets you tinker with the level of smoothing being deployed, I’d highly recommend you play around with sliders.

On my LG OLED, user settings allow me to tweak TruMotion so that De-Judder and De-Blur parameters are both fixed at 5/10. This gives me a nice balance between onscreen fluidity without making heated on-field action look overly fake.

Motion smoothing is ideal for World Cup viewing, but…

Enabling motion smoothing for certain sports can make the action feel more immersive. Take it from someone who watched a ludicrous 61 Arsenal matches during the 25/26 season.

Once the World Cup kicks off on June 11, you better believe my LG’s TruMotion feature is getting whacked on as soon as Mexico takes to the pitch against South Africa.

But… you definitely shouldn’t enable motion smoothing when watching movies or your favorite shows. Inserting artificial frames into content that was filmed at 24 frames per second will only make big screen blockbusters look about as cinematic as a Real Housewives marathon (leading to the dreaded ‘soap opera effect’).

When 48 teams soon square off for the privilege of lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy though, you should feel no shame for embracing your TV’s frame interpolation techniques.

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• tvOS 27 for Apple TV 4K isn't announced yet, but Apple has revealed some features
• They're focused on accessibility, including changing text size and auto-generating subtitles for videos that don't have them
• Apps that don't use Apple's tech frameworks may not be able to support them, though

We've been banging the drum for improving accessibility on Apple TV for ages, and it looks like tvOS 27 is going to deliver some really useful features later this year.

Even though tvOS 27 hasn't officially been unveiled yet, and won't be until WWDC 2026 on June 8th most likely, Apple has already revealed several new accessibility changes coming to the system. They're things that lots of people may actually want to use, not just those with vision or hearing difficulty.

However, apps that don't use Apple's developer frameworks and prefer their own proprietary tech, such as Netflix's app or the Prime Video app, may not support them.

One of the new features enables you to set the size of text on your TV, which is very handy for people with low or deteriorating vision: it'll adjust the descriptions on the Home Screen, in menus and in apps so that they're easier to read.

It'll work in any apps that support Apple's Dynamic Type feature, so if you can do it on your iPhone apps (where this feature already exists) you should be able to do it on your Apple TV 4K.

Smarter subtitling is coming to Apple TV

One of the most interesting new features is live transcription of videos that don't have subtitles already, such as older movie files or your own home videos. And in the latter case you'll be glad to know that all the processing is happening locally: your videos aren't being uploaded anywhere new to make it happen, it's just using the chip built into the device.

Although we're focusing on Apple TV here, this feature will also come to the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro — the latter seems especially interesting, if the tech inside every turns out to be the basis for some Apple smart glasses.

That's the good news. The bad is that initially the subtitling feature will be limited to English, although more language support will be added later.

Last but not least, any hearing aids with Made for iPhone certification will get more reliable AirPods-style seamless transition between Apple devices across iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS.

That means that if you want the sound from your Apple TV 4K beamed directly into your hearing aid, you could do it with just a couple of clicks, and no fiddly pairing process.

The new features are part of a wider package of accessibility improvements that'll be coming to the next generation of Apple operating systems later this year, and we'll no doubt see at least some of them demonstrated at WWDC 26 next month.

While a lot of people will be considering a visual or audio upgrade to their home setup in time for the World Cup, which kicks off June 11, one football fan's setup is going to make your plans feel… inadequate. It's an elite home theater designed with sports in mind, and it's won two CEDIA awards.

The project is called the Buzzards Road Home Cinema, and it was developed and executed by IndigoZest and Cinema Luxe. It uses a Sony 4K projector, an acoustically transparent screen (where LCR speakers were positioned behind the screen), and a 9.4.4-channel Dolby Atmos sound system.

Driving the system is a Artcoustic CPH1000D digital amplifier, an Anthem MCA 325 v2 power amplifier, and an Anthem MRX 1140 v2 Dolby Atmos AV receiver.

For speakers, Artcoustic made up the majority of the speaker configuration. Artcoustic Spitfire A10 wall speakers, Artcoustic SL 2-1 three-way monitor speakers and Artcoustic SL Architect PAS SPL in-ceiling speakers were used. For subwoofers, there were two Artcoustic Spitfire Sub 3 and two Artcoustic Sub 2 units in use.

For pictures, a Sony 4K projector and a 145-inch Control4 Dragonfly Fixed Ultra AcoustiWeave Projection Screen acoustically transparent screen were installed.

Alongside this, a Kaleidescape Strato 4K UHD Movie Player was installed, a premium alternative to the best 4K Blu-ray players that we’ve used here at TechRadar and it’s legitimately the real deal.

This is a seriously immersive setup with plenty of power and you’ll often find Sony 4K projectors at the heart of a reference setup, like the one I saw at AWE’s headquarters back in 2024. But the AV equipment was only one part of this system.

Football fan paradise

One element crucial to the whole concept was the use of the room for showing football games (particularly Newcastle United).

Paul Laventure, Client Director at IndigoZest, said “Big sporting events are ultimately about shared experience, and that sits at the heart of how these spaces are approached. The ‘perfect’ setup goes beyond just a large screen and great sound; it’s about creating an environment that brings people together effortlessly”.

This was taken into consideration for planning not only the layout of the seating, opting for a more sociable layout to the traditional home theater seating, but also for control. The room's owner wanted to able to switch easily between movie viewing and football, but not just in a boring regular setup.

The installers used Control4, a smart control system focused on multi-unit control from one platform, the add a one-button ‘Football Mode’. Using this not only switches to watching football in the home theater room, but the match is also broadcast around the wider property.

For an added bit of smart control magic, whenever someone calls to the house on its gate intercom, the content on the screen — including live broadcast matches — pauses to make sure “nothing was missed”.

A good-looking room

While cinephiles and home theater enthusiasts may not be too worried about the look of a room, Buzzards Road was designed to be a social space that also reflected the look of the rest of the property. This is where interior designer Sinead Kelly Herbert came in.

Working with the AV team, Herbert worked to implement the best fixtures to make the cinema room feel more welcoming. Bronze lighting fixtures were used, as well as a fiber-optic star ceiling, CNC-cut panelling and a stone-finished bar at the rear of the room.

Alongside this, all the speakers listed earlier, and the projector, are hidden so the room feels as comfortable as possible. The result? “Today, it’s the most-used room in the house — a social space, a sanctuary, and a statement in refined entertainment,” says Laventure.

With all these visual touches and the focus on a social environment for a great atmosphere for football, not to mention the Football Mode and exquisite-looking list of equipment, this sounds like the ultimate World Cup watch party place. Alas most of us will just have to settle for the best TVs and best soundbars.

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