The new model is called the Bravia 8 II. Sony claims that it has 125 percent the peak brightness of the A95L and 150 percent of last year’s Bravia 8, which will remain on sale as an OLED-but-not-QD option. It has a similar design to the A95L, and Sony even says it’ll be cheaper — though pricing information won’t be shared until later in spring.
The guiding mission of the Bravia lineup, according to Sony, is to deliver the most authentic cinema experience possible in the living room. Yosuke Nakano, from the company’s product planning department, claims the Bravia 8 II has the “most faithful reproduction of the professional monitor look of any TV in the industry.”
To that end, at a recent demonstration session at its Tokyo headquarters, Sony put the Bravia 8 II up against the A95L, Samsung’s S95D, and LG’s G4, along with even more formidable competition: Sony’s own BVM-HX3110 reference monitor, which you’d normally find on movie sets and studios for the most accurate HDR color grading possible.
If you haven’t seen one of these in person before, I kind of recommend not seeking one out, because it will ruin all other screens for you. It costs nearly $40,000 and has 4,000 nits peak brightness. It looks absolutely out of control, and I would dearly love to have one on my desk.
That’s what Sony is shooting for with the Bravia 8 II. Does it get there? Well, no. The BVM-HX3110’s higher brightness gives HDR footage an almost surreal look thanks to its finer control over contrast. But in each TV’s filmmaker mode, which is supposed to deliver the most accurate color possible, Sony got much closer than Samsung or LG. As the owner of a couple of LG OLEDs myself, I was actually a little surprised at how washed out and green-tinted the G4 tended to look in comparison.
Now, Sony won’t have chosen demo footage that might trip up its own displays, and it’s also at an obvious advantage when it comes to emulating the color reproduction of the BVM-HX3110. But Sony really is the market leader for reference monitors by some distance, so that still feels like a fair and relevant target. I would not be shocked if the Bravia 8 II turns out to be another winner by “King of TV” metrics.
Sony is also updating several other products in its home theater range. The Bravia 5 rounds out Sony’s lineup by bringing Mini LED backlighting to the midrange — it’s replacing the X90L, which uses full-array local dimming rather than Mini LED, and consequently Sony says the Bravia 5 has up to six times more dimming zones. This line comes in sizes from 55 to 98 inches, the upper end of which is larger than any OLED Sony sells.
Sony showed off the Bravia 5 against the X90L as well as Samsung’s QN85D “QLED” set. Also part of this demonstration was the BVM-HX310 reference monitor, which is similar to the BVM-HX3110 but “only” reaches 1,000 nits peak brightness.
The Bravia 5’s control over backlighting and blooming was clearly better than its predecessor, and it looked to be a more robust solution than Samsung’s as well. Sony also made a point of demonstrating its AI noise reduction feature, which is the kind of thing I’d normally run away from but have to admit was quite impressive — it did a good job of cleaning up old footage from Friends and Home Alone in real time.
Unsurprisingly, the Bravia 5 couldn’t come close to the BVM-HX310, since Mini LED still suffers in comparison to OLED when it comes to blooming and viewing angles. It also won’t match the Bravia 7, which is staying in the lineup and offers 100 percent the brightness and 25 percent more dimming zones. But at least in this demonstration, the Bravia 5 made the most convincing attempt to reproduce colors and contrast as well as you could reasonably expect from a mid-range Mini LED TV.
Sony is also introducing a new entry-level TV for the US, somewhat confusingly called the Bravia 2 II; the original Bravia 2 wasn’t actually sold in the US before. This is a fairly standard LED TV that comes in sizes from 43 to 77 inches, but you’ll get similar image processing and software integration to the rest of Sony’s Bravia range.
If you’re more of a projector person, Sony is adding the new Bravia Projector 7 to its range, joining the higher-end 8 and 9 models. The Projector 7 is pretty close to them spec-wise, reaching 2,200 nits in brightness and supporting 4K 120Hz. One difference is that the 7 has a “standard” lens, not the “advanced crisp-focused” optics seen in the 8 and 9.
The Bravia Projector 7 is replacing the well-reviewed VPL-XW5000ES, which is a $6,000 projector, so even though this is an entry-level product it’s an entry to a very expensive category. Still, it did look impressive in a demo against its closest competition from JVC, so I’d expect this to be a strong option for people considering a home theater setup.
Finally, Sony is introducing some new audio options to integrate with its Bravia TVs. The Bravia Theater Bar 6 is a 3.1.2 soundbar with upward-firing speakers, the Bravia Theater System 6 is a 5.1 setup-in-a-box with a less capable soundbar, and the Bravia Theater Rear 8 is a pair of wireless rear speakers. All of these products can be paired to Bravia TVs and controlled with the Bravia Connect mobile app.
As mentioned, Sony doesn’t yet have pricing details for any of its new Bravia products — that’ll come sometime this spring.
TVs offer us an escape from the real world. After a long day, sometimes there’s nothing more relaxing than turning on your TV, tuning into your favorite program, and unplugging from the realities around you.
But what happens when divisive, potentially offensive messaging infiltrates that escape? Even with streaming services making it easy to watch TV commercial-free, it can still be difficult for TV viewers to avoid ads with these sorts of messages.
That’s especially the case with budget brands, which may even force controversial ads onto TVs when they’re idle, making users pay for low-priced TVs in unexpected, and sometimes troubling, ways.
QLED TV manufacturers have dug themselves into a hole.
After years of companies promising that their quantum dot light-emitting diode TVs use quantum dots (QDs) to boost color, some industry watchers and consumers have recently started questioning whether QLED TVs use QDs at all. Lawsuits have been filed, accusing companies like TCL of using misleading language about whether their QLED TVs actually use QDs.
In this article, we'll break down why new conspiracy theories about QLED TVs are probably overblown. We'll also explore why misleading marketing from TV brands is responsible for customer doubt and how it all sets a bad precedent for the future of high-end displays, including OLED TVs and monitors.
Netflix has added support for HDR10 Plus – a move that will finally allow Samsung TV owners to take better advantage of their device’s ability to stream with better clarity and color. The streaming service now offers HDR10 Plus through its Premium plan, with the format accounting for around 50 percent of “eligible viewing hours.”
Samsung TVs notably lack support for Dolby Vision, an HDR format with dynamic metadata that optimizes tone and brightness levels for individual scenes. Samsung launched HDR10 Plus in 2017, which similarly makes adjustments to tone-mapping on a scene-by-scene basis, but without the royalty payments required for Dolby Vision.HDR10 Plus might be less common than Dolby Vision, but Samsung is the world’s biggest TV brand, holding a nearly 30 percent market share.
Without support for HDR10 Plus, Samsung TV owners have had to watch content on Netflix with HDR10. Unlike HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision, HDR10 uses static metadata for an entire film or TV show, a “one-size-fits-all” approach to tone-mapping that could produce less accurate lighting, especially in very bright or very dark scenes.
Though not many streamers other than Prime Video supported HDR10 Plus at launch, services have gradually hopped on board, including Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, and now Netflix. Other TVs from Panasonic, Hisense, and TCL also offer HDR10 Plus, but many support Dolby Vision, too.
Netflix enabled HDR10 Plus on the AV1 video codec, which means you’ll need a TV that supports the standard. Most TVs made within the last five years or so have already adopted AV1. The company says it plans on expanding its library of HDR10 Plus content to include all HDR titles by the end of 2025.
Owners of smart TVs and streaming sticks running Roku OS are already subject to video advertisements on the home screen. Now, Roku is testing what it might look like if it took things a step further and forced people to watch a video ad play before getting to the Roku OS home screen.
Reports of Roku customers seeing video ads automatically play before they could view the OS’ home screen started appearing online this week. A Reddit user, for example, posted yesterday: “I just turned on my Roku and got an ... ad for a movie, before I got to the regular Roku home screen.” Multiple apparent users reported seeing an ad for the movie Moana 2. The ads have a close option, but some users appear to have not seen it.
When reached for comment, a Roku spokesperson shared a company statement that confirms that the autoplaying ads are expected behavior but not a permanent part of Roku OS currently. Instead, Roku claimed, it was just trying the ad capability out.
Today Sony is announcing the development of a new type of TV display that uses individual RGB LEDs for its backlighting. While Sony currently sells high-end Mini LED TVs alongside OLED models, this new system could combine many of the best qualities of both, and I recently got to see it in action at the company’s Tokyo headquarters.
I’m not yet convinced that this tech, which for now Sony has given the somewhat unwieldy name of “General RGB LED Backlight Technology,” will be the best panel solution for everyone. But TVs are always going to come with tradeoffs, and this approach does represent a meaningfully different solution to what’s currently on the market. It looks like it’ll be a huge upgrade on existing Mini LED sets.
Mini LED TVs work by deploying an array of tiny blue LEDs behind the panel. These LEDs are larger than the actual pixels on the display, but they’re small enough that the TV can brighten or darken multiple areas of the screen with a high degree of precision. OLED TVs, meanwhile, are capable of even better contrast because they light up and switch off each pixel individually, but they generally can’t get as large or as bright as Mini LED displays.
With Sony’s new RGB LED method, each Mini LED backlight zone is made up of a red, green, and blue LED. The core advantage here is that Sony is able to achieve finer control over color without compromising on brightness, achieving a level of 4000 cd/m² — on par with the company’s professional reference monitors and resulting in a higher “color volume” than any commercial TV it’s released to date. The increased gradation control can also help deliver much wider viewing angles than Mini LED TVs, and Sony says the panels can be built at larger sizes than existing OLED sets.
So, how does it look in person? Unfortunately Sony didn’t allow its prototypes to be photographed, but I’ll do my best to describe them.
The first unit was designed to show off the backlight array itself. Behind the set was a wild combination of exposed silicon and cable spaghetti. Only half of the screen was covered by an actual LCD panel; the rest of the image was purely handled by the backlighting. Imagine watching a movie where the right half of the picture was run through a 16-bit pixel art filter, and you’re pretty much there, except this screen had much better color reproduction than a Super Nintendo.
This isn’t much use in practice, of course, but it does show exactly how precise Sony is able to get with the lighting. One scene showed a bus driving down a street on a sunny day, and it was possible to discern several distinct shades of red in its paint from the backlight alone. Sony says this translates to wider and more accurate color reproduction.
To demonstrate actual video content, Sony set up a full-screen version of the RGB backlight prototype flanked by two of its best TVs you can buy: last year’s extravagant Mini LED-powered Bravia 9, and the QD-OLED A95L that won the prestigious “King of TV” award at the most recent Value Electronics TV Shootout, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel served on the judging panel.
Conscious of the unflattering comparison, a Sony engineer conducting the demo repeatedly went out of his way to make the point that the Bravia 9 on the left really was a very good TV. Despite this, the RGB LED prototype clearly smoked it.
A scene from Frozen where blue crystals flew through the air looked almost monochrome in comparison, with the prototype revealing deep shades of purple that simply weren’t there on the Bravia. It was clear how the backlighting worked in tandem with the color grading to deliver a more vivid picture. Viewing angles were hugely improved, with near-non-existent color shift. Another sequence with bright red lights against a dark background exhibited the tell-tale blueish Mini LED blooming on the Bravia, whereas the RGB LED prototype lit up those areas solely in red.
That’s not to say the blooming wasn’t there. If you covered up only the red portion of the screen with a piece of paper, you’d still see hazy redness around it, unlike on an OLED panel. But watching the footage normally, the effect wasn’t all that different. While OLED screens don’t strictly leak color data into adjacent pixels, the effect of retinal straylight in your eyes means you do still perceive haziness around bright points. RGB LED’s ability to limit its blooming to scene-accurate colors makes for a major improvement on Mini LED in this regard, even if it’s still going to lose out to OLED when it comes to displaying starfields.
RGB LED backlighting isn’t a wholly new idea, even from Sony. The company launched a ridiculously expensive Qualia TV with an RGB backlight in 2004, and more recently showed off a “Crystal LED” prototype TV at CES 2012. Competitors are also on the case; Hisense showed off a “TriChroma RGB Backlight” Mini LED TV at CES this year, while TCL and Samsung had prototypes with their own spin on the idea.
“These developments were within our expectations,” says Daisuke Nezu, head of Sony’s home audio and video division. Sony remains confident that its experience in backlight technology and image signal processing gives it an edge over anything on the horizon.
“We believe that we can ensure not only good image quality, but also reliability and stability,” Sony representative Mara Redican tells The Verge, emphasizing the company’s expertise in signal processing. “The knowledge and experience gained over the years cannot be easily replicated.”
If Sony is right about this, its strongest competition could be coming from inside the house; the advantages were much less clear next to its own “King of TV.” The RGB LED prototype could definitely hang with the A95L, and quite literally outshone it in terms of brightness. But I would say the difference in color reproduction and viewing angles were a wash at best. I generally preferred the picture from the OLED in the most challenging comparisons, and I think a lot of OLED TV owners would probably agree.
But that’s fine by Sony, which isn’t giving any indication that it’s planning to exit the OLED TV market any time soon — no wonder, given the glowing reception to the A95L. I might be happy with my own OLED TVs right now, but the tech plainly isn’t right for every customer, whether they’re concerned about brightness, size, or longevity. If you’ve been waiting to put a 100-inch-plus panel in a large room with a lot of natural light, this could be your answer.
We’ll have to see how this all shakes out once RGB LED panels come to actual consumer TVs, of course. But Sony’s take on the concept does look to be a big step up over what we’ve come to expect from Mini LED, at least, and it could well be the best alternative to OLED if and when it’s commercialized.
Sonos has canceled plans to release a streaming box, The Verge reported today. The audio company never publicly confirmed that it was making a streaming set-top box, but rumors of its impending release have been floating around since November 2023. With everything that both Sonos and streaming users have going on right now, though, a Sonos-branded rival to the Apple TV 4K wasn’t a good idea anyway.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman was the first to report on Sonos’ purported streaming ambitions. He reported that Sonos’ device would be a black box that cost $150 to $200.
At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable idea. Sonos was facing increased competition for wireless speakers from big names like Apple and Bose. Meanwhile, Sonos speaker sales growth had slowed down, making portfolio diversification seem like a prudent way to protect business.
We’re all worried we’re worried we’re not getting enough screen time, so Samsung has a solution. | Image: Samsung
Taking a page from Costco’s playbook, Samsung has announced a new Buzzer Beater Bundle that includes eight TVs sold together at a significant discount, as spotted by SamMobile. The bundle is aimed at college football fans looking to maximize their March Madness intake given the tournament’s busy schedule and overlapping games.
The bundle includes a 98-inch 4K Crystal UHD TV, a 65-inch 8K Neo QLED TV, three 65-inch 4K Neo QLED TVs, and three 55-inch 4K QLED TVs, but no OLEDs. The bundle is only available until March 22nd, 2025, and is priced at $10,307.42. Samsung says all those screens are valued closer to $16,000, which will save you around six grand by buying in bulk.
That’s money you can put to good use buying eight TV mounts and hiring a contractor to cut open your living room wall in order to route eight power and HDMI cables out of sight. You’ll probably also want to budget well over a $1,000 for a decent matrix switcher that can easily route signals to each of the sets.
Samsung also points out that all of the TVs included in this bundle feature the company’s Multi View feature allowing you to split the screen and watch multiple things at once. So while you’ve got eyes on all the games and highlights, you can probably dedicate at least half a screen so the kids can watch Bluey. Even people with a wall of TVs in their living rooms need to make sacrifices.
Pricey consumer electronics products, including 100-inch TVs, were a hit with Costco members this holiday season.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
There was no penny-pinching for some Costco holiday shoppers.
Costco's CFO says its 98- and 100-inch TVs sold "very well" at the holidays.
The massive TVs got a lot of attention on TikTok and mark one example of how the wholesale club appeals to richer members.
Costco shoppers are going big and going home — with huge 100-inch TVs.
That's according to Costco CFO and executive vice president Gary Millerchip, who said the massive TVs were a hit during the holidays.
"Our buyers continue to bring in new and exciting items at great values," he said in the company's quarterly earnings call Thursday. "This included big-ticket consumer electronics products such as 98-inch and 100-inch TVs, Stern pinball machines, and gaming computers, all of which performed very well during the holiday season."
Costco currently offers several 98- and 100-inch TVs, from brands TCL, Samsung, LG, and Hisense. Online, their prices as of this writing range from $1,499.99 for a 98-inch TV from TCL to $3,499.99 for a 98-inch TV from Samsung.
The massive TVs garnered a lot of attention on social media for obvious reasons, including TikTok, where people shared holiday unboxing videos of the gargantuan boxes.
@mr.harry.white A dream come true, unboxing my 100inch Hisense TV U7!✨ The new centerpiece of my home entertainment, with Quantum Dot Colour for over a billion shades of true-to-life colour & Incredible Audio with Dolby Atmos & Built-In Subwoofer for immersive sound it's the perfect TV to have! 📺 #Hisense#EURO2024♬ original sound - mr.harry.white
One TikTok account, called Costco Wonders, got 6.5 million views for a video asking, "Is this deal worth it???" They showed the 100-inch Hisense TV with an in-warehouse price tag of $1,649.99.
Selling the mega TVs is just one of the ways Costco caters to wealthier members, although it's better known for offering bulk discounts for more budget-conscious consumers.
Costco chairman Hamilton "Tony" James told Chief Executive magazine last month that "affluent people love a good deal."
"Most members are average-income earners nationally, but we also have affluent members with two times the average income. That gives us the ability to do remarkable things," James said.
"Since the beginning, we've always known we could move anything in volume if the quality was good and the price was great — Rolex watches, Dom Perignon, 10-karat diamonds," he added. "A Porsche dealer in Seattle put their cars on the floor of a Costco, and they sold out in a week."
In Costco's fiscal second quarter, increased store visits drove strong quarterly revenue for Costco, but the company missed on profit expectations and its stock slipped in after-hours trading.
Millerchip said the company scooped up additional inventory in the face of uncertainty around tariffs, fueling increased supply chain costs in the quarter.
CEO Ron Vachris said the impact of tariffs would be hard to predict but stressed that the company would try to minimize price increases for customers. He added that less than one-sixth of Costco products sold in the US are imported from China, Mexico, and Canada, which are some of the biggest targets of President Trump's tariff plans.
Hisense models are great starter TVs that you can grow into.
I sorely recall the early onset of the current gaming generation, which kicked off in late 2020. The Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 were a bit difficult to come by, so much so that I committed the cardinal sin of paying a reseller more than $200 over MSRP for the latter. The TVs that could take full advantage of their capabilities were also exorbitantly expensive — I’m talking multiple thousands of dollars — but that’s changed considerably nearly five years later.
Take the Hisense U7, for example, which has everything you need to enjoy any type of entertainment you want at its fullest potential. You can get one starting around $498 ($301 off) at Amazon and Best Buy for a 55-inch model, which is about $20 more than its best price to date. Need bigger? You can still stay under $1,000 and get a 75-incher for a reasonable price of around $948 ($550 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The line tops out with an 85-incher that’s down to $1,307.99 ($892 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.
Hisense isn’t the first brand most people prefer, but its TVs offer very good visuals and stand out among comparably priced mid-range models from mainstays like LG, Samsung, and Sony. And those prices on the U7 are bona fide steals considering their 4K Mini LED QLED panels use a 144Hz native refresh rate. They support variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode, too — all pluses for both console and PC gaming.
The 1,500-nit max brightness combined with HDR10 Plus and Dolby Vision combine for excellent dynamic range and an accurate and vibrant color. Those inclusions are about par for any centerpiece TV worth talking about these days, but notably, you still can’t find Dolby Vision on any Samsung TV. The U7 also has Dolby Atmos for spatial cinematic audio, the benefit of which is typically hard to hear on a TV’s built-in speakers. But the 40W 2.1-channel audio system includes a built-in subwoofer that should offer better than average out-of-the-box sound.
The Hisense U7 uses Google TV, which has evolved into one of the most pleasant, cohesive, and comprehensive smart TV platforms available. It offers personalized recommendations that it pulls from every available app, and you can use natural language voice commands with Google Assistant to find something a bit more specific. Google TV also supports Chromecast casting and Apple AirPlay mirroring, plus Amazon Alexa and Apple Home integrations.
Micro LED has become one of the most anticipated display technologies for consumer products in recent years. Using self-emissive LEDs as pixels, the backlight-free displays combine the contrast-rich capabilities of OLED with the brightness and durability potential of LCD-LED displays, and they avoid burn-in issues.
We're often asked about the future of Micro LED and when display enthusiasts can realistically expect to own a TV or monitor with the technology. Here's the latest on the highly anticipated—and still elusive—display technology.
Still years away
Micro LED is still years away from being suitable for mass production of consumer products, as the industry is struggling to manage obstacles like manufacturing costs and competition from other advanced display tech like OLED. Micro LED TVs are currently available for purchase, but they cost six figures, making them unattainable for the vast majority of people.
Missed out on all the terrific TV deals we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday? That’s okay, because the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl have historically been one of the better times of the year to snag a discounted set. In fact, Amazon, Best Buy, Woot, and a number of retailers are already discounting a variety of TV sets ahead of the big game on February 9th. Many of the current promos aren’t Super Bowl-specific, mind you, but there are still some great options if you’re on the hunt for a budget-friendly QLED TV for your viewing party or a gamer-friendly OLED that can serve your entertainment needs year-round.
We’ll keep an eye out for more 4K TV deals as we get closer to the big day and update this post accordingly, so be sure to keep checking back in the run-up to Super Bowl LIX.
LG C4 OLED TV
If you’re looking for an OLED TV, LG’s exceptional C4 is currently down to one of its best prices to date. Right now, for instance, you can buy the 65-inch model for about $1,496.99 ($1,203 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The 77-inch model is also available for around $2,196.99 ($1,503 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and LG, the latter of which is offering up to $200 off select LG soundbars with your purchase through March 2nd.
The C4 offers a bright, vibrant display with the kind of inky blacks that characterize OLED panels, along with support for both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The last-gen TV remains an excellent option for gaming, too, with four HDMI 2.1 ports, a 144Hz refresh rate, and support for AMD FreeSync Premium as well as Nvidia G-Sync. It even comes with a Wii-like Magic Remote, which, in many instances, we’ve found to be easier to navigate with than the remote’s arrow keys.
LG C3 OLED TV
The last-gen LG C3 OLED is also still a fantastic television if you can’t quite stretch for the LG C4. Best Buy and Walmart’s current sale price of around $1,669 (about $600 off) on the 77-inch model isn’t quite as good as the $1,500 price tag we saw during a recent flash sale, but it’s still an incredible value for a massive OLED TV that offers a similar experience to the LG C4.
Although LG’s newer flagship can achieve around 1,000 nits of peak brightness before enhancements, the C3 isn’t exactly dim, with a peak HDR brightness of just over 800 nits. LG’s Brightness Booster feature helps push it quite a bit further, too, with an estimated 40 percent improvement. The last-gen TV is capped at a 120Hz variable refresh rate but otherwise boasts many of the same features as the C4, including support for both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It also runs on LG’s webOS, works with the wand-like Magic Remote, and features a game mode that improves input latency and prevents burn-in.
LG B4 OLED TV
If you’re looking for a more affordable OLED, LG’s entry-level B4 TV is on sale at Best Buy in the 48-inch size starting at just $599.99 ($200 off), matching its all-time low. It’s discounted in larger configurations, too, with the 55-inch going for $999.99 ($400 off) at Best Buy and LG’s online storefront and the 65-inch selling for around $1,296.99 ($200 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from LG.
The TV isn’t as bright or powerful as the aforementioned C4 series — it’s outfitted with an older A8 processor, as opposed to LG’s newer A9 chip — but it’s still relatively snappy and slated to receive several more years of webOS updates, ensuring the navigation and user experience should be dialed in for the foreseeable future. It also features a buttery 120Hz refresh rate, four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, and support for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. And like the LG C4, it includes support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Sony Bravia A95L QD-OLED
Sony’s Bravia A95L is also receiving a steep discount ahead of the Super Bowl. Right now, you can buy the 65-inch model for around $2,998 at Amazon and Best Buy, which matches its Black Friday price. Other sizes are on sale, too, including the 55-inch, which is going for around $2,498 ($300 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.
The Sony A95L was arguably the best TV we saw last year, largely due to its vibrant, lifelike picture quality. The bright 4K QD-OLED TV includes support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 as well, along with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a pair of HDMI 2.1 inputs, and support for Google’s excellent TV platform.
Samsung OLED S95D TV
The Samsung OLED S95D is another terrific OLED set that’s also down to one of its best prices to date in multiple configurations. Right now, for example, you can purchase the 55-inch model for around $1,899.99 ($700) at Amazon, Best Buy and Samsung’s online storefront. The 65-inch panel, meanwhile, is available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung for around $2,299.99 ($1,100 off). If you purchase directly from Samsung, you’ll also be eligible for a discount on select Samsung soundbars, with the exact discount dependent on which model you choose.
The S95D comes with a glare-free display that does an excellent job of minimizing unwanted reflections, allowing it to provide rich colors and contrast at high brightness levels. It lacks support for Dolby Vision, but it does offer a 144Hz variable refresh rate, four HDMI 2.1 ports, and support for Alexa and Google Assistant. It also comes with Samsung’s One Connect Box, which lets you connect your gaming console, set-top boxes, and other devices to your TV with a single cable, as opposed to a mess of wires. And, of course, Samsung’s Tizen OS lets you stream from a wide selection of apps, including Netflix, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, and Max.
Samsung Frame TV (2024)
Samsung’s Frame TV doesn’t offer the pristine image quality found in OLED displays, but it’s unique in that the TV showcases artwork when idle. Combined with its anti-glare matte display, it makes for a stylish 4K TV that looks more akin to a canvas painting than a black void. It’s a shame it doesn’t offer Dolby Vision or VRR support, but it still has a range of solid specs, including a speedy 120Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1 support, and compatibility with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. Just bear in mind, you’ll need to pay for a subscription ($4.99 a month / $49.90 annually) to get unlimited access to all of the artwork available in the Samsung Art Store.
Now through 1AM ET on February 9th, Woot is offering the best prices we’ve seen on Samsung’s last-gen Frame TV. Right now, for instance, the 55- and 65-inch models are on sale for $867.99 ($630 off) and 1,247.99 ($752 off), respectively, which are all-time lows. Samsung, meanwhile, is discounting the TV through February 9th while offering an additional $50 off its Music Frame speaker or an HW-S700D Dolby Soundbar. The 55-inch model is on sale at Samsung’s online storefront for $899.99 ($600 off) or at Amazon and Best Buy without the aforementioned perks for the same price.
TCL QM85 TV
If you’re looking for something cheaper, TCL makes some excellent budget-friendly 4K TVs, one of which is the TCL QM85. The 2024 flagship is steeply discounted right now, with the 65-inch model going for around $897.99 (about $600 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. Larger configurations are on sale, too, with the 75-inch panel going for $1,299.99 ($700 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.
The TV’s bright QD-Mini LED panel offers sharp, vibrant image quality with a speedy 144Hz variable refresh rate. Along with support for Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X, it comes with an integrated subwoofer for a fuller, more immersive audio experience. Other notable features include support for the Google TV interface, along with compatibility with Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home.
Hisense U8N QLED TV
Hisense is another brand that sells terrific, budget-friendly TVs. And right now, you can buy the 65-inch U8N — the company’s 2024 flagship QLED TV — for just $899.99 ($600 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is about $2 shy of its best price to date.
The U8N offers a lot of features you’d typically find in pricier TVs. That includes a 144Hz variable refresh rate and two high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports (one of which supports eARC), along with support for both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. There’s no OLED display, but you do get a Mini LED backlight with support for up to 3,000 nits of brightness. You also get full-array local dimming, which allows it to deliver punchy colors alongside rich contrast and deep black levels. The TV additionally supports Google’s excellent TV software as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for hands-free voice control.
Hisense U7N LCD TV
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly alternative to the U8N, you can buy Hisense’s 55-inch U7N on sale at Amazon and Best Buy for $498 ($200 off), which is one of its better prices to date. A few other sizes are also on discount right now, including the massive 75-inch panel, which you can purchase for around $899.96 ($600 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.
The 4K LCD TV shares a lot in common with the U8N, including support for a 144Hz variable refresh rate and a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports. The U7N also runs on Google’s TV interface, offers support for all the major HDR formats, and works with all the same voice assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.). The main difference between the two TVs is that the Mini LED panel on the U7N doesn’t offer the same contrast or brightness levels as the U8N, which maxes out at 3,000 nits as opposed to 1,500. That being said, it’s still a good display with full-array local dimming and nearly all the same features.
More Super Bowl TV deals worth a look
If you’re working with a tighter budget, the TCL Q6 QLED is on sale in multiple sizes as well. You can, for instance, grab the 65-inch model at Amazon and Best Buy for $369.99 ($180 off), which is $2 shy of its lowest price to date. The 4K TV lacks more advanced bells and whistles, but it still supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and Google’s terrific interface. It has a 60Hz refresh rate, though, it does allow for 120Hz upscaling via TCL’s “Game Accelerator 120” feature. That being said, if you want buttery smooth frame rates, you could also pick up the 85-inch panel for $798, which does sport a native 120Hz refresh.
Samsung’s OLED TVs can be expensive, but you can save a bit by opting for an older model. Take the S90D OLED, for example, which is on sale in several sizes, including a 65-inch configuration that’s available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung starting around $1,496.99 ($200 off). That’s just $100 more than the lowest price we’ve seen on the 4K TV. The 2024 model is only a slight downgrade from the S95D — it lacks the glare-free panel found on the newer set — but you still get sharp picture quality and a slew of gaming features, including a 120Hz variable refresh rate.
On paper, Amazon’s latest Fire TV Omni TVs are some of the most impressive the company has ever produced. And right now, you can get a 65-inch model for $959.99 ($130 off) at Amazon, which matches its all-time low. That’s a fair price for a sharp QLED model that can support 144Hz gaming with Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10 Plus. The Mini LED TV also offers an adaptive, AI-powered feature that can adjust your TV’s settings to match the ambient lighting in your room. Needless to say, it’s your best option if you’re a Fire TV fan looking for an all-in-one solution to access Amazon’s Alexa-powered user experience.
Update, February 7th: Adjusted pricing and added several deals, including those for the LG C3, Samsung’s S90C, and Amazon’s 2024 Fire TV Omni QLED.
LG is adding Google Cast support to its range of hotel TVs, making it easier to stream content from your phone or other devices. Cast joins existing support for Apple Airplay, and LG is the first manufacturer to offer both options on its hotel TVs.
If you stay in a hotel room with a compatible LG TV, you should be able to scan a QR code with your phone and then start streaming video or music directly to the screen from a user interface you’re already comfortable with. That way you won’t have to enter any personal information or login details into the TV itself. LG says it uses network isolation to maintain privacy between hotel rooms, and that your connection will be maintained for the duration of your stay but severed upon checkout.
Some hotels, including Hyatt, already offer Cast through customized hospitality Chromecast hardware. LG has instead included casting directly into the TV, with no additional hardware required.
“Many hotel guests nowadays wish to stream their favorite content from a personal device to their in-room TV,” said Paik Ki-mun, head of LG’s information display business. “With LG Hotel TVs integrating Google Cast, they can enjoy a secure and convenient content-streaming experience, just like they’re used to at home.”
LG says Cast should work on any of its TVs running webOS23 or later. From its consumer line-up, that covers all of the company’s models from 2023 onwards, and a selection of 2022 models via updates — so you’ll still have to hope that your next hotel gave its TVs a recent upgrade.
If you asked someone what they wanted from TVs released in 2025, I doubt they'd say "more software and AI." Yet, if you look at what TV companies have planned for this year, which is being primarily promoted at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas this week, software and AI are where much of the focus is.
The trend reveals the implications of TV brands increasingly viewing themselves as software rather than hardware companies, with their products being customer data rather than TV sets. This points to an alarming future for smart TVs, where even premium models sought after for top-end image quality and hardware capabilities are stuffed with unwanted gimmicks.
LG’s remote regression
LG has long made some of the best—and most expensive—TVs available. Its OLED lineup, in particular, has appealed to people who use their TVs to watch Blu-rays, enjoy HDR, and the like. However, some features that LG is introducing to high-end TVs this year seem to better serve LG’s business interests than those users' needs.
If you're looking to buy a TV in 2025, you may be disappointed by the types of advancements TV brands will be prioritizing in the new year. While there's an audience of enthusiasts interested in developments in tech like OLED, QDEL, and Micro LED, plus other features like transparency and improved audio, that doesn't appear to be what the industry is focused on.
Today's TV selection has a serious dependency on advertisements and user tracking. In 2025, we expect competition in the TV industry to center around TV operating systems (OSes) and TVs' ability to deliver more relevant advertisements to viewers.
That yields a complicated question for shoppers: Are you willing to share your data with retail conglomerates and ad giants to save money on a TV?
Advertising has become a focal point of TV software. We’re seeing companies that sell TV sets be increasingly interested in leveraging TV operating systems (OSes) for ads and tracking. This has led to bold new strategies, like an adtech firm launching a TV OS and ads on TV screensavers.
With new short films set to debut on its free streaming service tomorrow, TV-maker TCL is positing a new approach to monetizing TV owners and to film and TV production that sees reduced costs through reliance on generative AI and targeted ads.
TCL's five short films are part of a company initiative to get people more accustomed to movies and TV shows made with generative AI. The movies will “be promoted and featured prominently on” TCL's free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, TCLtv+, TCL announced in November. TCLtv+has hundreds of FAST channels and comes on TCL-brand TVs using various OSes, including Google TV and Roku OS.
Reddit's "r/TVtooHigh" is focused on criticizing people who mount their televisions too high.
The comments are absolutely brutal, roasting any TVs mounted above eye level.
And don't even get them started on mounting a TV above a fireplace.
The ideal place to mount a television — at least according to most experts — is so it's at eye level while you're sitting on the couch. Samsung suggests mounting it 42 inches from the floor, which would be the target sightline for a 5-foot-6-inch adult who's sitting down.
Not everyone does this, of course. And the people who don't are the target of scorn and derision from one of the most intense corners of the internet: Reddit's r/TVTooHigh.
There are some places on the internet we know are dens of trolling and cruelty: 4chan. Certain Discords. Snark subreddits. Nextdoor comments. The replies on X to anything Elon Musk posts. But this one subreddit dedicated to discussing television mounting is one of the most furious pits of vipers I've encountered. And I absolutely love it.
The subreddit has more than 250,000 members and a mix of posts from people seeking real advice about whether their TV placement is right (it almost never is) — or posting photos of laughably high TVs they found either in real life or online.
A recent post shows a photo someone found of a real-estate listing where a television is mounted so high it touches the ceiling. "It's tv shaped crown moulding," suggests one Redditor. "The mental health epidemic is very tragic," says another.
In another post, a Redditor posted a photo of a television placed high above a fireplace (more on that in a second) with the caption, "We've been roasting my buddy for hours."
More than 500 comments came rolling in:
"At this height, it can be used to display the menu at McDonald's."
"Buddy in the NBA?"
"When is he installing the 2nd story viewing deck?"
"I know a chiropractor ..."
There is something that absolutely delights me about seeing this kind of roasting. Absolutely savage, vicious insults being hurled at people — but about something totally meaningless. No one is going to get their feelings hurt about a TV. In this moment of division and tension in the world, witnessing low-stakes, harmless trolling is a beautiful relief. It soothes my soul to see people hurl insults about TV mounting, in the same way someone might feel relaxed by soothing music or deep breathing.
And besides, they're right — a lot of people do mount their TVs too high.
But there's another topic that frequently comes up that sparks a seething hatred that verges on zealotry: mounting TVs above a fireplace. In many newer-built American homes, fireplaces are placed at the focal point of a living room and can be an obvious place for a TV.
When people come to the subreddit looking for advice about where to mount a TV when they have a fireplace as the focal point in a room, the commenters will go to ridiculous lengths to suggest workarounds: Moving all the furniture so the couch faces an alternate wall. Removing built-in bookshelves on surrounding walls. Some even suggest disabling or removing the fireplace altogether.
"I don't like it, but there are no hard rules," Keren Richter, an interior designer from the New York design firm White Arrow told Business Insider. '"If I had to do it over a fireplace for space constraints, I'd get a Reflectel TV or a projector with a screen. Generally, I try to make media discreet. The fireplace is the focal point and I don't want a big black rectangle to compete with it. Plus, the viewing angle is uncomfortable."
There are other non-aesthetic reasons to avoid a TV over a fireplace: drilling into the wall above a working fireplace could damage the chimney's interior. Excessive heat from fires could also fry the television. There's a product called Mantel Mount that has an extending arm so you can move the TV up and down, but r/TVTooHigh also has strong feelings about this.
When someone posted a photo of their TV mounted with the Mantel Mount, the comments went wild.
"Thank you for your sacrifice and demonstrating why TV above the fireplace is terrible."
"It's dreadful."
"It's an abomination"
"An aesthetic nightmare."
There are some positive things that come out of r/TVTooHigh. Some people genuinely find it helpful.
Jeffrey Episcopo, the creator of the group and its moderator told Business Insider that people participate to have a good time — and to help one another.
"Yeah, it's easy to make fun of someone for having a TV that's too high, but that would get old pretty quick," he said. "It's quite rewarding when someone posts their TV that is too high and asks for recommendations, you give a recommendation, and they post an update saying how great their new setup is and how grateful they are that you helped them."
Joe Wall joined the subreddit as a lurker about six months ago when he and his wife moved into a new apartment. Their TV was mounted high on the wall at an angle, pointed down.
"Every post I came across would make me stare at my TV and think about how hard I would get roasted. So I had to do something about it," he told Business Insider.
Wall changed it up: He removed the TV from the mount and placed the set on a new media stand. When he posted the before-and-after pictures to r/TVTooHigh, the comments were overwhelmingly positive.
"It transformed the space and looks so good!"
"Now we're cooking with gas."
"Love a redemption arc!"
Correction: November 30, 2024 — Jeffrey Episcopo is the creator and moderator of the Reddit group r/TVTooHigh. His name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
