In This Article:
- The Current TV Landscape
- Best TV Overall: Sony A95L OLED TV (65-inch: $3,499)
- Best Overall Value TV: TCL QM8 (65-inch: $899)
- Best Art TV: Samsung The Frame (65-inch: $1,599)
- Best Extra Large TV: LG 97-inch G4 OLED TV ($19,999)
- Best Budget Extra Large TV: TCL 98-inch Q65 LED/LCD TV ($1,497)
- Best Budget OLED TV: LG B4 (65-inch: $1,297)
- The Bottom Line
The Current TV Landscape
TV technology has evolved over the years from CRT and rear projection displays to plasma to LCD, OLED and MicroLED. LCD TVs in particular, once the “budget option” have advanced in picture quality with highly precise MiniLED backlighting systems and Quantum Dot color technology to provide rich, bright and vibrant colors. OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TVs have also advanced to add higher brightness and wider color gamut reproduction to their already exceptionally good contrast and black levels.
The geographic landscape of the TV manufacturing market has also transformed over the years. American TV manufacturers have disappeared entirely and Japanese TV makers have exited the panel fabrication business, leaving Korean panel manufacturers like LG and Samsung and Chinese TV makers like Hisense and TCL (and others) to provide the bulk of the raw panels used in today’s TVs.
This is not to say that Japanese manufacturers have been idle – far from it. In fact, Sony offers some of the top performing TVs on the market today, with the actual OLED and LCD panels made by other manufacturers being driven by Sony’s industry-leading picture processing software. Panasonic also uses 3rd party panels in their OLED and MiniLED/LCD TVs but they only recently re-entered the United States TV market (late 2024). And while we’ve heard good things about their OLED TV in particular (which uses an LG OLED panel), we have yet to spend any quality time with the new model so it is not eligible for award consideration yet.
Below are our picks for Editors’ Choice awards for best TVs in a number of different categories. All models included in our 2024 Editors’ Choice picks are those we have reviewed or spent extended viewing time with and, while not all models were first released in 2024, they are all currently in production and available to purchase in 2024 heading into 2025.
Best TV Overall: Sony A95L OLED TV (65-inch: $3,499)
First released in late 2023, Sony’s A95L mates a QD-OLED panel from Samsung Display with Sony’s latest generation AI picture processing for stunning picture performance. Combine that with the robust Google TV streaming platform and you get a total package that’s hard to beat. Winner of both the 2023 and 2024 TV Shootout, the Sony A95L excels with perfect blacks, industry-leading contrast and advanced picture processing. It shines with wide gamut 4K Dolby Vision content but can even make low bandwidth streaming sources like YouTube videos look eminently watchable. Sony’s list price is $3,499 but it has been selling for $2,999 in late 2024 at authorized retailers.
Pros:
- Excellent black levels and contrast
- Outstanding detail
- Exceptional color accuracy and saturation
- Robust Google TV streaming platform
Cons:
- Expensive
- Tops out at 77 inch screen size
Where to Buy:
Check Current Price on the Sony A95L OLED TV at Amazon | Best Buy | Crutchfield
Best Overall Value TV: TCL QM8 (65-inch: $899)
While Sony’s flagship BRAVIA 9 is the highest performing MiniLED/LCD TV of 2024, its high price makes it a tough sell, particularly when competitive models sell for half the price, or less. This is why TCL’s QM85 (QM851G) MiniLED/LCD TV gets our Editors’ Choice pick for “Best Value TV.” It may not have the advanced processing chops of the Sony TVs, nor the perfect black levels of an OLED, but it’s balance of high performance and low price makes it our top pick for overall value. Though its MSRP is $1,499, it’s currently on sale at Amazon for $899 for the 65-inch model. The QM85 truly offers “champagne performance at a beer budget price.”
If you want to get really big, the QM8 comes in a 115-inch variant (115QM891G) with a similar MiniLED backlighting system but an even more powerful picture processing engine. The 115-incher currently sells for $16,999 at Amazon, Best Buy, or through a local custom installer.
Pros:
- Extremely bright
- Excellent color accuracy thanks to Quantum Dot color technology
- Google TV platform offers rich selection of streaming apps and intuitive user interface
- Superb value
- Available in multiple sizes from 65 to 115 inches (diagonally)
Cons:
- Some haloing/blooming with bright objects on black background
- Some image uniformity issues visible on full field black or grey screens
- Menu and user interactions slightly buggy compared to other Google TV implementations
Where to Buy:
Check Current Price on 65-inch QM8 on Amazon or Best Buy ($899 at time of publication)
Check Out the 115-inch QM8 at Best Buy or Amazon ($16,999 at time of publication)
Best Art TV: Samsung The Frame (65-inch: $1,599)
It was a bit surprising for me when I learned that Samsung’s “The Frame” artwork TV is one of their top-selling models. Looking purely at specs like brightness and contrast, The Frame is not the company’s top-performing TV when it comes to picture quality. But when I saw it up close at CEDIA Expo 2024, I immediately saw the appeal. With it’s lightly textured matte screen and subtle elegance, The Frame presents the most convincing illusion of actual paintings or photo prints that I’ve ever seen. This allows it to be hung on a wall in plain sight without anyone knowing it’s actually a TV.
Other TV makers like Hisense and TCL have joined the “art TV” party with their own recent models while companies like LG and Sony partner with companies like Leon for custom art-style frames for their existing TVs. But Samsung invented the art TV market and their head start here clearly translates to a superior product overall. Samsung offers a rich catalog of artwork from old masters to modern works and allows the user to display their own custom artwork if desired.
For those who want a TV to fit into their décor instead of drawing attention to itself, The Frame offers an excellent alternative to the traditional black rectangles with their shiny reflective screens and thin black bezels. Also, The Frame offers all of the features of Samsung’s Tizen Smart TV platform so when you’re ready to “Netflix ‘n Chill” The Frame won’t hold you back.
Pros:
- The best Living Room TV for those who don’t want a TV in their Living Room
- Very effective at passing as an actual painting or photo print when not in use
- Includes the full Tizen Smart TV platform for streaming and smart home integration
Cons:
- Relatively expensive
- Outclassed in picture performance by traditional OLED and MiniLED TVs
Where to Buy ($1499 at time of publication):
Check Out The Frame (65-inch) at Amazon | Samsung | Best Buy | Crutchfield
Best Extra Large TV: LG 97-inch G4 OLED TV ($19,999)
While our MiniLED top pick does come in a massive 115-inch version at a relatively affordable price, our top overall pick for extra large TV has to go to the LG G4 OLED in its 97-inch screen size. The LG G4 is the company’s top OLED TV for 2024 and it offers exceptional contrast, perfect black levels and excellent color accuracy and saturation. As an OLED TV with over 8 billion self-illuminating pixels, the G4 is free from the haloing, blooming and DSE (dirty screen effect) uniformity defects that can plague even the best MiniLED/LCD TVs.
At a newly lowered price, the 97-inch G4 OLED TV is now available for $19,999 (previously $24,999) which puts it in direct competition with high end home theater projectors, but with a much brighter, more impactful image than any projector on the market. As with all LG TVs, the G4 offers LG’s WebOS smart streaming platform for access to all of the top streaming services and smart home integration.
Pros:
- Massive image suitable for a large living room or small to medium home theater
- Perfect OLED blacks, excellent contrast and color saturation
- Free from the artifacts of LED/LCD TVs
Cons:
- Still fairly expensive (though 20% below original MSRP)
Where to buy:
$24,999 $19,999 at LG | Best Buy | Amazon
Best Budget Extra Large TV: TCL 98-inch Q65 LED/LCD TV ($1,497)
At a press briefing earlier this year, TCL executive told us they had an aggressive goal – to grow their market share of the extra large TV market in North America from around 10,000 to 100,000 units sold. How would this 10X year over year growth be managed? Solid performance, robust features and really low prices. Case in point are TCL’s massive 98-inch TVs, of which the most compelling (from a value standpoint) is the Q65 LED/LCD TV at its current low price of $1,497.
Pros:
- Bright, dynamic picture with quantum dot color processing
- Google TV O/S offers good selection of streaming apps
- Big picture, tiny price
Cons:
- Lacks MiniLED lighting or local dimming for enhanced contrast
- Reflective screen and relatively low brightness make it a poor match for very bright living rooms
- Relatively narrow viewing angle
Where to Buy:
Check out the TCL 98-inch Q65 LED/LCD QLED TV at Amazon | Best Buy
Best Budget OLED TV: LG B4 (65-inch: $1,297)
As far as MiniLED/LCD TVs have come, they still can’t beat the black levels of an OLED TV. Unless you’ve got a very brightly lit living room and you don’t like to turn down the lights, we’d recommend an entry-level OLED TV from a name brand like Samsung, Sony or LG over a high-end MiniLED/LCD TV for most buyers. And LG’s entry-level B4 OLED TV offers a taste of that OLED performance at a cost lower than most high-end MiniLED TVs.
If you’re looking for a small to moderate sized OLED TV, Best Buy has an exclusive deal on the 48-inch B4 at $699. It even dropped to $599 on Black Friday and may do so again so check the link below to see current pricing. In its most popular 65-inch screen size, the LG B4 currently sells for just under $1,300.
The B4 can’t quite compete with higher end OLEDs like the LG G4, Samsung S95D or Sony A95L in the area of color saturation and peak brightness, but if you can control your room lighting and normally watch TV in a reasonably dark room, the B4 offers an excellent affordable alternative to the higher end OLED TVs with black level performance that surpasses MiniLED/LCD TVs.
Pros:
- Deep OLED blacks
- Freedom from uniformity issues and haloing/blooming of LED/LCD TVs
- Excellent color saturation
- Affordable
- Excellent off-axis viewing
Cons:
- Color accuracy not quite up to the best OLED and MiniLED TVs
- Not as bright as higher end OLED and MiniLED TVs
- Image processing not as advanced as top performing TVs
Where to Buy:
Check Out the Current Price of 48-inch LG B4 OLED TV at Best Buy
Check out the 65-inch B4 OLED TV at Amazon | LG | Best Buy | Crutchfield
The Bottom Line
TV buyers have more choices than ever at a wide range of prices. Whether you’re looking for a budget model for a bedroom or second home, the centerpiece of a dedicated home theater or a discrete “Art TV” that blends in with your living room, you should find something to love in this year’s batch of Editors’ Choice TV picks.
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