1. The list in brief
2. Best overall
3. Best budget TV
4. Best mid-range TV
5. Best picture quality
6. Best 8K TV
7. Best cheap OLED TV
8. Best TV for sports
8. Most immersive
9. Best TV for sound
10. How we choose
11. How we test
It isn't easy to find the best TV. In recent years, several of the biggest names in TV tech, including LG, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung, have all tried to claim the top spot in home entertainment. That's great news for us, with more and more fantastic TVs packed with features and mind-blowing picture quality available to buy. But with so much choice, how do you find the best TV for you?
We've put together this guide because we know that buying a new TV can be overwhelming. Here, we've focused on all-round excellence. So if you're looking for very high-performance gaming TVs, we'd suggest you also check out our best gaming TV guide.
Are you buying with a particular price tag in mind? There are plenty of great TVs in our best TVs under £1000 guide. That's because that part of the TV market is incredibly competitive. High-end features that would have cost more than your house just a few years ago have made their way into sets costing less than 1K.
We've reviewed every kind of TV over the years, from the first flat-screens to the original OLEDs to today's best 85-inch TVs. And that means we know which features really matter and how they will deliver the most bang for your TV-buying buck. No matter how much you want to spend, what you want to watch or where you want to watch it, you should find the best TV for you in this guide.
Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team to watch the latest movies on gorgeous TVs as well as listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and has been writing about the latest TVs and soundbars since 2017.
The quick list
Want to cut to the chase and find out which TVs are the best? Below, you’ll find a roundup of our choices. You can also jump to a more detailed review of every pick, along with our price comparison tool to help you find the best deals.
The best TV for most people
The LG C2 does it all. Excellent OLED image quality, high-end gaming features, a big range of sizes, great smart TV software, and decent sound – all for a reasonable price.
The best cheap TV
This offers the best image quality you can get for such an affordable price. It's Samsung's highest-end non-QLED TV from its 2022 range – simple, but high quality.
High-end, great value
This TV's suite of HDMI 2.1 gaming tech and contrast-boosting features mean it's a great all-rounder. Elite picture processing provides refined images for its price.
The best TV for sheer picture quality
Sony has combined its awesome processing with an advanced QD-OLED screen to create this TV. Detail, motion and contrast are elite, but so is the price.
The best for 8K detail
The Samsung QN900B's stunning picture quality with exceptional color and brightness takes 8K to a whole new level, and it really can look better than 4K.
The best budget OLED
After an entry-level OLED TV that doesn't skimp on quality and is kind on the wallet? Then LG's A2 is your best buy – although it isn't very bright.
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The best bright TV for daytime sports
Samsung's QN85B hits far higher brightness levels for watching on sunny days than most similarly priced sets. It also handles motion well, making it ideal for those who game.
Ambilight is like nothing else
This is an excellent OLED TV in its own right. The Philips 807 set includes Ambilight, which makes the screen feel even bigger than it is by spreading light on the wall.
The best TV for sound
Looking for a TV that offers genuinely immersive Dolby Atmos sound? The Panasonic LZ2000 may be expensive but its premium sound quality is far above the rest.
The best TVs of 2023
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The best TVs for most people
LG's C2 OLED remains in the top spot on our list of the best TVs, even after its successor has been released. That's because its price has dropped so much, making it the overall best band-for-buck, even when a new-and-improved version is around.
Its Alpha a9 Gen 5 processor offers excellent object enhancement and dynamic tone mapping, and you’re getting ‘virtual surround sound’, with the TV upscaling stereo content into 7.1.2-channel sound. While we weren’t convinced by the claims of virtual surround sound, the audio performance is good for a thin TV, and a number of different sound modes means you should be able to find an audio profile that suits your needs.
In addition to fantastic picture quality, the C2 OLED includes four separate HDMI 2.1 ports, which is extremely rare, and means it's the perfect companion for the PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S – as well as being great for movies.
The LG C2 isn’t flawless, however. Off-axis color saturation does diminish a bit when you move to the left or right of the screen when compared to the new QD-OLED models, and LG doesn't support either the IMAX Enhanced or HDR10+ format.
Read the full LG C2 OLED review
The LG C3 is the latest version of LG's mid-range OLED set, new for 2023. It replaces the LG C2 above – but right now, we rate the C2 as the better buy, because the differences in the picture quality and features are fairly subtle, but the C2 is now available for much cheaper prices. So while stocks of the C2 last, or while the C3 remains at such a higher price, we think most people will find the C2 better value.
However, make no mistake that the C3 is an excellent TV in every way. Our full review said that it's "already a contender for top TV of 2023", thanks to its impressive performance across the board. We said that contrast is great for the price, HDR images look rich and realistic, detail on the 4K screen is superb, and we didn't even feel the need to touch the 'HDR Expression Enhancer' image-boosting feature. Natural was more than good enough.
It's not as bright as some of the TVs here, reaching 820 nits of peak HDR brightness in our tests – the Samsung S95C absolutely crushes it for OLED performance, and the mini-LED TVs (including the cheaper TCL Roku TV) also have no trouble beating it. But the mini-LEDs don't have the same control of black tones, and the Samsung S95C costs a lot more. For movie lovers, no equivalent TV does it better.
The webOS smart TV software has been updated for 2023, and it's a big improvement – it's much easier to find what you want to watch, and for image-quality tinkerers to access their favorite settings from a smart 'Quick Menu'.
And like the LG C2, it's just phenomenal for gaming. If offers just 9.2ms of input lag, and four HDMI 2.1 ports, all with support for 4K 120Hz, Dolby Vision gaming, and VRR.
Read our full LG C3 review
The best cheap TV
The Samsung BU8500 is the company's highest-end TV from its 2022 range that doesn't include the more expensive QLED technology that Samsung is famous for. But that means you save a bunch on the price, and the image quality overall is still pretty much unbeatable at this level.
Detail with 4K images is sharp and impressive, colours are punchy, contrast is even and reasonably deep considering it doesn't have an advanced dimming backlight, and its highly responsive for gaming.
Samsung smart TV platform makes it fairly easy to find what you want – we're not the biggest fans of the new full-screen design, but it works fine. And the BU8500 even looks a cut above other TVs with a relatively sleek design, rather than the basic chunky frame you tend to get from low-price models.
The sound quality is really its biggest weakness – you can certainly hear what's happening, but it's not rich or deep. A cheap soundbar would go a long way when paired with it, but that's true of all cheap TVs.
Read our full Samsung BU8500 review
The best mid-range TVs
As Sony’s next-to-flagship LCD TV, the X90K series delivers impressive performance for the price. Its full-array LED backlight features local dimming for deep blacks, and its LCD panel has quantum dots for enhanced brightness and color.
If you're looking for an extremely bright TV, this probably isn't the set for you: mini-LED models such as the TCL 6-Series or Samsung QN85B are much brighter than the LED setup here. And if you want the exquisite blacks of an OLED display, that technology still has the edge. But there's lots of important features here including an ATSC 3.0 tuner, excellent gaming features including 4K 120Hz and a great Google TV interface.
The X90K series is a very good overall value. It’s only slightly more pricey than the company’s X85K series models, while offering a full-array local dimming backlight – a feature the X85K series lacks, and one that provides a strong performance boost. The X90K sets are also half the price of Sony’s step-up X95K models, which have the primary advantage of mini-LED backlighting for higher peak brightness and improved contrast.
This may well be the best value TV in Sony's current line-up. It might not quite match the brightness and contrast of its more expensive siblings, but it delivers very good AV performance, does a great job with movies and sports. It's also particularly good if you have a PlayStation 5, thanks to its Auto HDR Tone Mapping feature and ability to switch processing modes for different game genres automatically.
Read our full Sony XR X90K review
The Samsung Q80B is a high value yet mid-range 4K QLED screen. During our testing we decided it would be a perfect TV for everyday viewing, as well as console gaming, which is why it makes our best TV list as a top mid-range display.
It's positioned slightly below Samsung's Mini LED Neo QLED models, which means it offers a more conventional full array backlight but doesn't offer the black level performance or the HDR precision of its more expensive stablemates.
But we found that there's a lot to love here, especially the four HFR (high frame rate) compatible HDMI inputs, useful Game Bar user interface and a polished smart home interface – only serious home cinephiles are going to feel shortchanged, everyone else will love this Samsung TV.
It's not a TV we'd only recommend for gaming, but there are plenty of features that are bound to appeal to gamers, like the prominence of Samsung’s Game Hub, a full page portal to streaming games services, and the fact QLED is impervious to screen burn, which translates nicely to anxiety free gaming sessions.
It's not the best TV on our list, but it's good if your budget is middling and you want a reliable TV that's great for TV shows, movies and gaming.
Read our full Samsung Q80B review
The best TV for picture quality
The Sony Bravia A95K QD-OLED TV is a stunner of a flagship 4K TV. Beautifully designed and offering high-brightness HDR with extreme color depth, it makes full use of its innovative QD-OLED panel.
The Sony A95K is bright for an OLED, and enjoys huge color vibrancy. It can deliver sensationally deep, vivid reds and glorious greens. It's also very bright. Where most OLEDs aren't ideal for watching in brightly lit rooms, this Sony is up there with the best LED models.
The way Sony’s latest picture processing engine gets so much quality out of its new Quantum Dot OLED panel at the first time of asking is mesmerizing, giving AV fans the closest thing yet to a professional mastering monitor in your living room.
In so many ways, Sony’s QD-OLED A95K is ahead of the game. When it comes to picture quality, we found that during our testing this TV has the headroom to lift performance above and beyond the mastering norm, and provides a level of visual future-proofing we’ve not seen before. Unleashed, it is astonishingly good. However, right now it's also rather expensive, and if you're watching streaming services rather than Blu-Rays you might not get the benefit of its impressive QD-OLED panel.
We should also note here that the Samsung S95C featured below has a next-gen QD-OLED panel that's much brighter, and is superior in some ways, no question. But Sony's image processing and support for Dolby Vision HDR (the most popular advanced kind) makes this the cineast's choice, still.
Read our full Sony A95K review
The Samsung S95C is groundbreaking. It's the brightest OLED TV we've reviewed so far, by a long way – in our testing, it beat previous QD-OLED screens by 40% for peak HDR brightness. We measured it at 1,400 nits – compare that to the 820 nits of the LG C3 and you can see why it's so interesting… and expensive. It's so much brighter, which means it can look closer to real life – and there's an even bigger difference between bright and dark.
That's an astonishing improvement for OLED TVs, and it's not the only thing astonishing here. In our full review, we said the Samsung S95C is "particularly effective in taking high dynamic range video to a whole new level of enjoyment, drama and realism, but also feeds gloriously into the S95C’s colors, unlocking new levels of color volume and purity, even in bright color areas, we’ve never seen before on an OLED TV".
It's also packed with gaming features and HDMI 2.1 connectivity, and we measured a best-in-class 9.2ms response time when gaming. Even the sound is pretty good, though you really should pair this with a proper sound system of some kind.
So why isn't it even more strongly recommended in our list? It's such a shame the lack of Dolby Vision support means we could be getting even better HDR tones from compatible sources, the motion presets didn't handle the 24fps of film as well as we'd like, and Samsung's smart TV platform is more 'fine and functional' than truly 'smart'. But the contrast is like nothing you've ever seen, and overwhelms all objections.
Read the full Samsung S95C review
The best 8K TV
8K might feel a bit like overkill to some, but there's no doubt in our mind that the Samsung mini-LED QN900B Neo QLED 8K TV is on another level of performance. The set offers stunning picture quality, exceptional color and brightness, terrific sound and outstanding blacks – all in a package that's unmatched in terms of design.
For the uninitiated, Samsung's 'Quantum' mini-LEDs are 1/40th the thickness of a regular LED, meaning thousands of smaller LEDs can be packed together in a much tighter fashion, allowing for far more accurate dimming zones and black levels that are much closer to what you get from OLED.
This has one of the most advanced mini-LED screens so far, and the magic trick here is combining it with Samsung's Multi-Intelligence AI upscaling, which can take 4K images and make them look closer to 8K resolution, so there's real benefit in the higher resolution. Put simply, the QN900A is consistently able to produce images that look better than their source.
Getting there costs a lot of money, though, so this certainly isn't for everyone – and Samsung smart TV platform isn't the best, either. And you will be relying on upscaled 4K, remember, because there's practically no 8K content out there, and anything lower than 4K won't look quite as strong. But feed this TV the right high-quality movies and you'll get an amazing experience, beyond what equivalent 4K TVs can do.
Read our full Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K TV review
The best budget OLED TV
LG’s A2 series is the company’s entry-level OLED sets, but LG hasn't scrimped on the essentials. The picture quality is very strong and delivers the impressive contrast and color we've come to expect from OLED TVs. And while the A2 is not as bright as its more expensive siblings, it still delivers perhaps the most cinematic images you can get for the price, as long as you're not watching in a bright room.
Other than the panel's brightness, the main difference between the A2 and the likes of the LG C2 is that the A2 doesn't have the same gaming features, such as 120Hz refresh rates and HDMI 2.1 support. The HDMIs here are version 2.0b with Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). If you're buying a TV for gaming, you'll definitely want the C2.
It also has less advanced image processing than the LG C2 – but it's still at a good level compared to other TVs in the same price range. For movie lovers, the LG A2 offers a lot of bang for your buck. LG's webOS interface is nicer than most, if a little busy, and the subtle contrast is exactly what you hope it would be from an OLED set.
Read our full LG A2 OLED TV review
The best TV for sport
The Samsung QN85B is a mini-LED TV (Samsung calls this Neo QLED), and it's apparent in the slim screen and its high levels of peak brightness for an affordable price, which is a huge part of why it's our pick for sports lovers. With much higher brightness across the whole screen than OLED delivers, it can punch through reflections in bright rooms much better than a lot of other sets, so no matter when you watch, you can still see what's going on.
It can handle motion and upscaling from lower resolutions well too, so you generally get the most clarity in everything you're watching, making it easier to follow what's going on. The speakers all around the edge give a bigger sound than most TVs, and are especially suited to that stadium sound. And it's not just about sports – this is a good option for movies and general TV too, no question.
We also recommend this TV for gamers, because the Samsung QN85B has HDMI 2.1 features across all four of its HDMI sockets and works well with next-gen consoles. But it's not just a gaming TV.
A lot of TVs beat this on image quality or price – but the Samsung should still be a tempting option, because its processing is a cut above the more budget options, and the better-looking TVs tend to be even more expensive, or not as bright.
Read our full Samsung QN85B review
The most immersive TV
The Philips OLED807 is one of the few TVs that we can confidently call glamorous. This is Philips' latest OLED TV and it's eye-catching in a whole bunch of ways. It has an incredibly thin screen and high-quality metallic finish offset to spectacular effect by Philips’ Ambilight technology.
If you've not heard of Ambilight before, then it's a kind of lighting tech that uses rear-mounted LEDs to cast coloured light onto the wall behind the TV that can match the pictures you’re watching. During our testing, we found the effects uncannily accurate, and it makes the picture feel even bigger and more involved than just the set can manage.
But the 807's picture quality might be even more striking than its design—and that's saying a lot. It uses one of OLED manufacturer LG Display’s latest EX panel designs, which delivers up to 30% more brightness than regular OLED panels, and it pushes this panel hard with Philips’ latest picture processing engine. The result is some of the most vibrant pictures we've ever seen—although the Samsung S95B is brighter still at the same price, but its pictures are less refined.
Gamers will be happy thanks to support for 4K 120Hz signals, variable refresh rates and automatic low lag mode switching. Although the LG C2 in the top spot of our guide will give you more gaming support, as well as less setup time, at a similar price. Although it is weaker in sound and doesn't look as nice as the Philips OLED807, well at least in our opinion.
Read our full Philips OLED807 review
The best TVs for sound
While TVs aren't known for their sound quality, the Panasonic LZ2000's 360° Soundscape Pro audio performance is on par with an upper mid-range Dolby Atmos soundbar. As we said in our review: "The soundstage is wide and high, and front articulation from the Technics-tuned LCR soundbar array is outstanding."
A unique feature of the LZ2000 is that it has beam steering technology, which means that you can choose which direction sound is emitted from the front sound system. By using an onscreen graphic, you can steer the noise output to your preferred direction, allowing for a tailored listening experience – some people can hear things louder than others, for example. We gave its audio performance a five out of five.
As part of Panasonic's OLED range, the LZ2000 also offers pixel perfect imagery thanks to its Master OLED Pro panel, which is brighter than almost all other OLED TVs, including the LG C2 (but not the Samsung S95C). Both its picture and sound are handled by an HCX Pro AI processor, which ensures it delivers an optimized performance for the viewing room's environment. While the LZ2000 does justify its high price tag, it may be a sticking point.
Read our full Panasonic LZ2000 review
The Sony A80K is a mid-range OLED TV that delivers a top-tier audio performance thanks to Acoustic Surface Audio+, which uses five actuators – three behind the screen and two at either side – to vibrate the display to produce a full-range sound that's bigger than what you expect from slim TVs.
In our review, we were "surprised at how clear dialogue was and how loud the speakers could get without sounding strained". With such impressive built-in audio, we think this could easily satisfy anyone that doesn't want to fork out for a separate audio system. Although, that's not to say that a Dolby Atmos soundbar wouldn't have improved the audio performance further – but it means you only need to add something if you want to get serious.
Where the Sony A80K also shines is its picture quality. With rich colour reproduction, deep blacks, detailed shadows and good HDR brightness (for an affordable OLED TV), it stands above the rest. It also offers solid next-generation gaming features, including 4K/120Hz video input, variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM).
Read our full Sony A80K review
How to choose the best TV for you
How we choose the best TVs
There are plenty of reasons why you might want a TV built specifically for one purpose. Maybe you'd like to find the best TV for sport or the best gaming TV. But if you want to simply find the best TV on the market right now—and don't mind paying for it—there are plenty of excellent displays to choose from.
In our guide above, we've selected the best TVs you can buy right now. We picked these TVs based on a few key criteria. The first is picture quality, we wanted to be sure images were clear and sharp, no matter whether you're watching 4K content or upscaled content.
We also wanted to see impressive brightness. Bright images aren't the be all and end all of a great TV, but you need to know your new display will perform well in a variety of lighting environments.
Value for money is another key consideration. Sure many of the TVs in this list are pricey, but there's a difference between an expensive TV and one that really lives up to that price. Several of the TVs above might be eye-wateringly expensive, but if you have the money to spend, we promise they're worth it.
Extra features are a bonus, like the Philips OLED807's Ambilight technology. This isn't a must-have, but it does upgrade your watching experience considerably, so we were sure to highlight the added features that we believe you'll genuinely value.
There's so much to considering when you're choosing the best TV for you, but these are a few of the top considerations we had in mind during our reviews and our selection process for this guide.
How to pick the best TV for you
Looking for the best TV? There are plenty of things to consider before you take the leap. We recommend kicking off with the basics and deciding on your budget.
Yes, you might be able to bump up your budget a little if you find the perfect TV—or find a great deal in the Black Friday sales—but it's a good idea to set a limit to begin with so you don't fall in love with the unrivalled images and features of a TV that's well above your price range.
At this stage, also consider size. We recommend that you literally measure the space you have in your living room. And remember, just because you can squeeze a huge TV into your available space doesn't mean it'll be well-suited. You'll want to think about viewing angels, brightness and whether you'll be able to put a bit of distance between you and the screen so you can enjoy it properly.
What next? Well, it's a good idea to check out the HDR capabilities of any new TV—we've detailed these under each of the best TVs in our guide—and the smart TV platform each offers. It's also worth considering sound. If you're willing to spend extra cash on a soundbar, you don't need to agonise about audio. However, if you'd like an all-in-one cinema system, consider an OLED TV that delivers great audio as well as a fantastic picture.
What can smart TVs do?
Smart TVs are internet-connected televisions. That means you can use them to browse through your favorite streaming apps as well as do a few other things such as control smart home devices or browse the internet. A TV that does not have smart capabilities is often referred to as a ‘dumb’ TV because it requires a set-top box or streaming stick to use streaming apps – but there aren't many of these for sale now!
Which brand is best for TVs?
There's no one brand that does TVs better than the others, but there are definitely some TV makes that excel in certain areas more than their rivals.
As you can probably tell from our list above, LG, Samsung, Sony and Philips tend to be the top-performing brands at the premium end, though all bring out a wide range of models each year.
The LG C2 is at the top of our best TV guide right now with an outstanding picture and although it's expensive, it's excellent value for money. This brand certainly makes excellent OLED TVs – in fact, LG Display makes the OLED panels for most other brands. We like that LG offers a wide range of TVs, including different budgets and sizes – the C2 goes from 42 inches all the way up to 83-inches. LG's webOS is one of our favorites, an easy to use operating system that feels intuitive.
Samsung uses quantum dot technology to bring you brightness and excellent contrast. Like LG, Samsung offers a huge variety of TV sizes and prices. Samsung's smart TV software is Tizen, which we think is good overall. The brand also offers some extras, like its One Connect box with some TVs, and styles that are a little unique – take a look at the various iterations of Samsung's The Frame TVs.
Sony is another major player in the TV space. Its screens boast stunning picture quality and build quality. Although, like other brands in this list, there's a wide range across the board. One interesting difference about Sony is its really pushed its Cognitive XR processor, a processing chip added to its TVs from 2021 that boosts vision and audio performance.
Philips TVs don't top our list, but they always feature strongly. Their screens are reliable and bright with some notable cool additions, including Ambilight, a system that projects lights onto the wall behind a TV display. Premium Philips TVs also have a considerable audio boost thanks to a partnership with Bowers & Wilkins.
Of course you shouldn't feel hemmed in by these four brands – Panasonic offers excellent premium TVs with a focus on image quality in particular, and Hisense and TCL offer great value in the mid-range and affordable end of the market.
Which brand of TV is most reliable?
Again, there's no one answer to this question, particularly in terms of which brand to go for. But one thing worth considering in regards to longevity is the kind of TV tech that's being used.
For example, OLED TVs do have the possibility of image retention, also known as 'burn-in'. It's where a ghost of a still image stays on the screen – such as a clock or logo from 24-hour news channels. However, these days burn-in is much less of an issue than it used to be. Then again, LED TVs are probably still the better choice for anyone concerned about long-term reliability, since there's no chance of it at all.
Which is better, OLED or QLED?
This is one of the biggest and more contentious TV tech questions of the moment. Luckily we've covered all of the details in our OLED vs QLED guide.
However, if you're looking for a summary we'd say that QLED is a great option for brightness if you'll watch in bright, sunlit conditions; whereas OLED TVs offer better viewing angles and superior contrast for gorgeous movie-like images, as long as you can control the lighting.
Is LG better than Samsung?
Both LG and Samsung are excellent TV brands and you can't really go wrong with either. However, there are some areas where one TV maker could be a better option than the other.
An LG TV tops our best TVs guide, but Samsung is the market leader for sales overall. If you're looking for the most impressive picture quality out there, regardless of price, nothing currently beats LG's OLED panels for color and contrast.
But Samsung TV's are incredibly bright, particularly in more affordable models. We also love Samsung's lifestyle sets, like The Frame QLED 4K TV (2022), for combining performance with style. And its cheaper TVs, like the Samsung BU8500, are truly excellent value for money.
Is OLED better than 4K?
Luckily, you don't need to decide whether to go with OLED or 4K – you can have both! 4K refers to the resolution (ie, the number of pixels on the screen), while OLED refers to the panel technology (ie, what the pixels are made from).
So you can have 4K screens that are OLED (almost all of them are, apart from some pricey 8K OLED TVs), and you can have 4K screens that are QLED, mini-LED or other tech.
How we test the best TVs
The best TVs are chosen by our writers and editors based on a few main criteria: their overall picture performance including contrast, color saturation and motion handling, as well as their feature set, design and smart TV platform. We're looking for TVs that are well-built and have the technology to last for the next few years.
Obviously, there is a level of subjectivity that goes into the review process, however we strive to maintain fairness across brands by testing the same type of content on each screen (HD/SDR, 4K/HDR, games, movies and music) and reporting what we've found the experience to be like.
We test the brightness and color range using a colorimeter, and we ensure that we test 'out-of-the-box' as well as after calibrating the screens ourselves, so that we can tell you what you'll get if you don't tweak at all, as well as what the TVs are capable of in the right hands.
Like our readers, our writer's and editor's room layouts differ and may cause slight disparities in testing, however we make every attempt to question our assumptions and troubleshoot our issues with performance in every review.
