The good news is that, because we have a testing lab where we can bring all these TVs, we can help you sort out which 4K TVs are the best. Once you have the testing data, you can use upcoming shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday to get the best prices on a great 4K TV without breaking the bank. When shopping for the best 4K TVs, you’re bound to come across terms like high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut (WCG), variable refresh rate (VRR) and a half-dozen others. Unless you’re covering TVs for a living, keeping up with the terminology can be an exercise in frustration. We’ve spent hundreds of hours testing and reviewing the latest TVs to find the best 4K TVs on the market. Whether it’s from brands like LG, Samsung and Sony, or more affordable models from Hisense, TCL and Vizio, we’ve run the tests, researched the specs and watched the movies to help you find the best 4K TV for your money. What you’ll find below is a definitive list of the 4K TVs you should consider buying in 2022.
The best 4K TVs you can buy in 2022
The LG C2 OLED TV is this year’s set to beat. Not only is it the best OLED TV thanks to an impressive display panel, but a premium design, maximum versatility and great smart TV platform hit all the high marks, too. What’s more, this C series lineup is LG’s largest in terms of size options — the configurations span from 42- to 83-inches, all of which sport full arrays of HDMI 2.1 ports. Most also feature LG’s evo OLED panel, which was first introduced on the LG G1 OLED TV and now looks to upgrade the C2’s performance. We can’t say our test results for this LG C2 OLED TV review showed significant improvement, but to be fair, there wasn’t much room to improve. Instead, what makes this one of the best TVs of the year is that it offers fantastic picture quality for the price — exactly what you’d expect from LG’s best-selling OLED TV series. Read our full LG C2 OLED review. The Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TV combines Samsung’s highly refined quantum dot technology with the tight control of mini-LED backlighting, resulting in one of the best TV displays you’ll ever see. Brilliant color and unmatched brightness make for superb performance, and Samsung pairs that with a bounty of smart TV functions and genuinely intelligent features, like a solar-powered remote control that eliminates the need to swap out batteries – delivering eco-friendly design and unbeaten convenience at the same time. The whole thing is packed into a gorgeous 1-inch-thick design that contains a huge array of smart features, potent Dolby Atmos sound and some of the best performance we’ve ever seen. HDMI 2.1 connectivity comes standard, along with gamer-friendly features and impressive 12.6-millisecond lag time for an unparalleled gaming experience. It’s the best TV we saw in 2021, and so a deserved winner of the 2021 Tom’s Guide Award for Best TV, and a second award as the best gaming TV of the year. Read our full Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TV review. The LG G2 OLED is our new favorite 4K OLED TV, thanks to a raft of upgrades over last year’s G1. In our testing, it reached 590.54 nits of brightness, for instance, which is impressive for an OLED TV, if not quite as high as the Sony A80J elsewhere in this list. And performance is excellent all round, with good color accuracy and reproduction, better-than-expected audio and of course the deep blacks we’ve come to expect from OLED. As one of LG’s ‘Gallery’ series TVs, it’s also quite the looker, with a near-bezel-less design, while a full complement of ports adds to the package. In fact, you get 4 HDMI 2.1 sockets here, which, combined with the dedicated gaming mode and the low lag times we measured in our testing, makes it a great choice for gamers. The LG C2, which we’re currently testing, may ultimately prove a better purchase for some people, but until then this is the best OLED TV you can buy. Read our full LG G2 OLED TV review The Sony Bravia XR A80J is absolutely packed with futuristic technologies: this 4K OLED TV has HDR, a 120 Hz refresh rate, ATSC 3.0 tuner, Google TV streaming and Sony’s own Bravia Core service, Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology… the list goes on. Sure, not everyone will need everything here, but it’s nice to have the option. Just as importantly, it also excels at the basics — contrast is superb, colors are rich and varied, viewing angles are impressive and it handles upscaling well. Sound is also excellent and Google TV is a big upgrade on the older Android TV. Against that, the XR A80J requires a little more tweaking in order to look its best; it’s fine out of the box, but to really reach its full potential, you’ll want to play around with various modes. It’s not the cheapest and other sets beat it purely based on picture quality, but as an all-round package the A80J is a great choice. Read our full Sony Bravia XR A80J review. The TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) offers big value for its budget-friendly price, delivering premium picture quality and a great smart TV experience for much less than the competition. As TCL’s best mainstream smart TV, the R635 ups the ante with mini-LED backlighting in addition to QLED. The result is impressive color and brightness, with some of the best HDR performance we’ve seen on anything this side of an OLED display. But TCL doesn’t stop there. THX Certified Game Mode makes the 6-Series one of the best gaming TVs available, even for new consoles like the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. From the design’s smart touches, like cable management in the stand, to the reliably great Roku TV platform, the TCL 6-Series R635 is the best budget 4K TV, and it’s not even close. Read our full TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) review. The TCL 5-Series Google TV (S546) wowed us with its combination of smart TV features, solid performance and great value for your dollar. Building on the foundation of the already-good 5-Series, the move to Google TV gives the affordable 4K smart TV a more premium smart TV platform, one that offers personalized and customizable suggestions, a huge assortment of smart features, and deep Google Assistant integration that makes it a viable center for the entire home of connected gadgets. But it also offers a step up in other aspects of the TV. From color quality to lag times, the 5-Series Google TV is a more polished version of the 5-Series TV, delivering an excellent QLED 4K display, a slick remote control, and a surprisingly wide array of gaming features for a 60Hz TV. For a smart TV that sells for under $1,000 for most size options (and way under that for some of the most popular sizes), it’s easily one of the best TVs on the market. Read our full TCL 5-Series Google TV (S546) review. The Samsung 65-inch Class S95B OLED 4K Smart TV (QN65S95BAF or QE65S95B in the UK) is the company’s first TV to combine OLED with quantum dots, resulting in a QD-OLED TV that promises the best of both technologies: superior color, brightness, and contrast in a single package. That marriage is the tiniest bit rocky, though, thanks to its effects on the set’s blacks (which should be any OLED set’s crowning glory), and the superannuated Tizen operating system that leaves this brand-spanking-new set showing its age right out of the box. That said, with top-tier picture quality, surprisingly good sound, a forward-thinking remote control, terrific gaming capabilities, and an eye-catching design, it’s still an excellent option in 2022. Read our full Samsung S95B OLED 4K TV review. The Sony Bravia X95K Mini LED TV, the brand’s first set powered by Mini LED backlighting, is our top pick from the Sony 2022 TV lineup. It has the kind of HDR performance you crave on movie night, pairing the set’s high luminance and targeted backlight control with plenty of nuance and practical vibrancy. Sony packages it up in a sleek build, complete with multiple stand configurations and a great remote. In out-of-the-box standard mode, the Sony Bravia X95K Mini LED TV covered 99.89% of the Rec 709 color space, which is a nearly perfect reach to the average viewer with an LED TV. The X95K’s best Delta E score came in at an excellent 1.88 in Filmmaker Mode, which isn’t surprising as Sony has long emphasized preserving the filmmaker’s intent in picture processing. Pretty on-brand for a TV manufacturer that’s also a movie studio. We still believe the LG G2 OLED and Samsung’s 2021 QN90A offer slightly better performance for the price, but it’s easy to recommend this Sony to anyone shopping for a non-OLED 4K HDR TV. Read our full Sony Bravia X95K Mini LED TV review. The TCL 5 Series Roku TV does what TCL does best, delivering a surprisingly great mix of features and performance at an excellent affordable price. With even the largest model selling for less than $1000, you get the superb color and brightness of QLED, as well as Roku’s user-friendly smart TV interface, which puts thousands of apps right at your fingertips. In addition to the excellent color accuracy and full color gamut offered by the QLED display, it offers top-of-the-line HDR support, with Dolby Vision in addition to basic HDR10 and HLG formats. With input lag clocking in at 13.1 milliseconds, it’s also one of the best affordable gaming TVs you can buy. And it’s roughly half the price of Samsung’s equivalent QLED TV, making it one of the best values in smart TVs. Read our full TCL 5-Series Roku TV (S535) review. No matter their price range, OLED TVs promise near-perfect black levels and exquisite colors, and that’s exactly what you’re getting with the LG A2 OLED. To wit, the LG A2 OLED offers a decently sized OLED panel with top-notch color, surprisingly good sound, and low input lag. Its smart platform, webOS, is a clean, well-organized interface for navigating the TV and accessing its features and despite it being paired by only 20-watt, downward-firing speakers, there’s no lack of clarity even in hectic scenes where dialogue, action sounds, and music are all blazing at once. Admittedly, you won’t get everything with the A2 that you will with pricier and tonier LG TVs. You’ll have to settle for a lower refresh rate, an older HDMI standard, and lower brightness. But considering that it wasn’t that long ago that OLEDs were unthinkable at the sub-$1,300 price point — to say nothing of the sub-$1,000 price point at which the smallest model can currently be found — those features might be small prices to pay if all you can pay is a small price. Read our full LG A2 OLED review.
How to choose the best 4K TV for you
When it comes to finding a great TV, the best advice is to find the TV that meets your budget, and has the features you want. From smart functions to port selection, we offer plenty of advice in our TV buying guide. Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about features like HDR, the different types of display, and even extended warranties. And if you still have questions about smart TV features and capabilities, check out Smart TVs: Everything you need to know. For the best picture, we recommend getting a set that offers high dynamic range (HDR) support. HDR10 is the base standard, while Dolby Vision is a higher-caliber format. We recommend opting for Dolby Vision support when you have the choice. Port selection is another chief concern. More HDMI ports will let you connect more devices, like game consoles and satellite boxes. And if you have a soundbar, you’ll want to connect it using an HDMI port with eARC for the very best sound. Finally, you’ll want to find a smart TV platform that you like. Companies like Samsung and LG use their own proprietary software, but many use more broadly available software, like Android or Roku TV. According to our guide What size TV should you buy?, you’ll want to position the TV roughly the same distance from the TV as the diagonal measurement of the screen size – 50 inches from a 50-inch TV, 65 inches from a 65-inch TV, and so on. You can expect to pay about $500 for a good budget 55-inch 4K TV. And at least $900 for a 65-inch model. Models with better picture, speakers and features will cost more, and premium 65-inch TVs often cost $2,000 or more.
How we test 4K TVs
Evaluating TVs is about more than just kicking back to watch a movie. That’s why every TV we review is put through a rigorous testing process that measures key standards of picture quality and performance. We lab test every TV, measuring color gamut, color accuracy and brightness to objectively see which sets are the best for these key indicators. We also test for lag time – a key detail for gaming – measuring to the millisecond how long it takes for content to travel from the original source to the screen. We use these results to make numbers-based comparisons about color and display quality. We also spend time with each set for real-world evaluation and see how our lab results translate into more subjective performance. We also compare sets side by side and view samples from the latest movies, specialized test patterns that highlight strengths and weaknesses of each display, and a range of content across several sources. With that information, we can tell you which TVs look best, sound best and offer the best viewing experience. Finally, we evaluate the smart TV functions and apps for each TV, looking at everything from the remote control design to the voice interaction and app store selection. This gives us a good feel for the navigation and ease of use on the TV, and lets us meaningfully discuss which smart TVs may be better or worse than others. If you’ve narrowed down your TV shopping by brand, price range or screen size, check out our picks for the best TVs in each. Best TVs | Best 4K TVs | Best smart TVs for streaming | Best TVs for gaming The best TVs under $1000 | The best TVs under $500 Best TV brands | Best Samsung TVs | Best TCL TVs | Best LG TVs | Best Roku TVs | Best Google TVs | Best OLED TVs | Best QLED TVs | Best 8K TVs | Best HDMI 2.1 TV | Best TVs with ATSC 3.0 | Best TVs with Chromecast The smallest smart TVs | Best 43-inch TVs | Best 50-inch TVs | Best 55-inch TVs | Best 65-inch TVs | Best 70-inch TVs | Best 75-inch TVs | Best 85-inch TVs And don’t forget to watch out for the latest TV reviews.
