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TV technology has advanced to the point where even affordable TVs can look great, but that progress has been advanced by a longer term that describes how modern TVs are equipped. You may feel that you need to research funds before you can start deciding on a new TV.
What To Know When Buying A Tv
But it doesn’t have to be that way. This buying guide will explain all the jargon and answer important questions. If you’re ready to buy, we’ve got TV recommendations for a variety of budgets and situations.
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Here are some of the most common terms you’ll see in our TV reviews, and why they matter.
4K or Ultra HD (UHD): TVs with 4K resolution are at least four times that of HDTV (3840×2160 pixels compared to a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 pixels). The term “Ultra HD” may be synonymous with 4K, but it often refers to video content that combines 4K resolution with other new performance technologies such as HDR and wide color gamut (defined below).
LCD: This is a liquid crystal display, the most common type of television technology. LCD TVs illuminate LED backlights through liquid crystal panels, malleable substances that react to electricity, opening or closing when jolted. The specific details of opening and closing depend on the pixel arrangement: The most common LCD arrangements are vertical alignment (VA) and in-plane switching (IPS), with the former tending to produce higher contrast and the latter tending to produce wider viewing angles. All “LED” TVs are really LCD TVs, as well as TVs labeled “QLED” or “ULED.”
OLED: Organic light emitting diode TVs create light in each pixel without using a backlight and can dim each pixel to black, which LCD TVs cannot do. This technology gives OLED TVs an infinite contrast ratio and other benefits that help create better-looking images, but at a significant additional cost.
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Full-array local dimming backlight: This term refers to LCD TV technology in which the LED backlight is located behind the LCD panel and has individual zones that can be turned on and off, depending on the content. Such TVs are usually larger and more expensive to build and design, and more zones cost more. However, TVs with full array local dimming usually provide the best LCD picture quality by improving contrast ratio and shadow detail.
Mini-LED: Every LCD TV made today uses LEDs to produce light that shines through the LCD panel. Mini-LEDs are smaller than traditional LEDs, so TV manufacturers can install more and create more local dimming zones, resulting in less bloom or glare on bright objects. Mini-LED is very different from Micro LED, an available (albeit very expensive) TV technology that uses individual red, green, and blue LEDs to produce images without the need for an LCD panel.
High dynamic range (HDR): High dynamic range allows the TV to display brighter highlights while maintaining deep blacks, even with only HDR content. While standard dynamic range (SDR) content has a peak brightness of around 100 nits (defined below), high-end HDR sets can have highlights that exceed 1,500 nits. This feature drastically increases the contrast ratio and provides a more dynamic image where bright objects (sun, fire, photon torpedoes) really jump off the screen. HDR10 is the standard format that all HDR-capable TVs support. HDR10 content contains metadata (or information about how the image should be displayed) only for the movie as a whole, while the more advanced HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats have metadata for each individual scene—so that the TV can better optimize the image as it changes. .
Nits: Also called candela per square meter (cd/m²), this unit of luminance measures the amount of light a TV can produce. Previously, TVs could produce 200 to 300 nits, and SDR content was classified and mastered with a standard of 100 nits. With HDR, content is mastered at a standard of 1,000, 4,000, or 10,000 nits. So the more nits an HDR TV can display, the more accurately it can display highlights in HDR material without having to reduce the brightness of highlights or clips.
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Wide color gamut (WCG): Color gamut is the range of colors that can or should be produced by a certain part of the content or display device. Ultra HD video content has a wider color gamut than standard HDTV content; today, most UHD content is mastered with the same DCI/P3 color gamut used in theatrical cinemas (the main goal is the larger Rec. 2020 color gamut). This expanded color gamut allows the TV to display richer reds, blues, and greens than ever before.
Quantum dots: This color-enhancing technology is primarily found in LCD TVs, although some OLED TVs now have them as well. Quantum dots are microscopic nano-crystals that, when struck by blue light, produce a bright red or green light (depending on the size of the crystal). Quantum dots are the main technology that allows LCD TVs to produce the wide color gamut needed to properly display Ultra HD content, as they increase the saturation of red and green colors.
HDMI 2.1: The latest version of the HDMI connection that connects most TVs and sources, HDMI 2.1 adds support for 8K displays, automatic low-latency mode for better gaming, eARC for better audio when you use the Audio Return Channel, variable level refresh to sync TV refresh rate to game console to avoid stuttering, and dynamic metadata support. For more on HDMI 2.1, read our blog post.
Refresh rate: All digital displays (including TVs) have what is called a refresh rate, measured in hertz (Hz), short for cycles per second. A TV’s refresh rate refers to how quickly it displays incoming video information on a nanosecond-to-nanosecond basis. Although there are many refresh rates, most TVs have a 60 Hz refresh rate (meaning 60 screen refreshes per second) or a 120 Hz refresh rate (120 screen refreshes per second). 120 Hz TVs offer advantages when you’re watching 24p content (definition below), and tend to produce less input and blur. In 2022, some manufacturers introduced 144 Hz TVs intended specifically for gamers, but the majority of TVs still have a refresh rate of 60 Hz or 120 Hz.
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24p: With few exceptions, movies in theaters display 24 frames per second, abbreviated 24p, which gives the movie a “cinematic” look.
Judder: This term refers to the slightly jerky movement that can occur when 24p movie content is viewed on a TV with a 60 Hz refresh rate. In such a situation, to make 24 frames fit into a 60 Hz display, half of the frames appear twice and the other half appear three times. This display technique causes judder, which is most noticeable during panning shots. Some 120 Hz displays avoid this effect by repeating each film frame five times, while some 60 Hz panels run the film at 48 Hz to show each frame twice.
Motion smoothing: Motion smoothing, sometimes called MEMC (Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation), refers to the TV’s ability to intelligently create new frames to make movement smoother or less juddery. Most modern TVs can artificially increase the refresh rate to handle fast or difficult sequences, but the effectiveness of this motion equalization often depends on the TV’s native refresh rate. Motion smoothing is also the cause of the “soap opera effect,” where cinematic/24p content looks like a daytime soap opera due to unnecessary frame insertion. The best TVs come with a variety of smooth motion presets, and some even allow you to adjust the level of judder reduction and frame interpolation used. When used correctly, motion smoothing can make content like sports and nature documentaries look more realistic, but we prefer it turned off for cinematic TV shows, movies, and video games.
If every buyer has an ideal viewing environment and a bottomless budget, we would definitely recommend buying an OLED TV. Pixel-by-pixel lighting in OLED TVs allows them to achieve better contrast than LCD TVs can produce, and also offers superior viewing angles.
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But you might be better off buying an LCD TV for a number of reasons, with affordability and variety being at the top of the list. While the average 65-inch OLED TV costs nearly $2,000, a truly impressive 65-inch LCD TV is available for around $1,000—sometimes less. And LCD TVs come in more screen sizes.
The best LCD TVs also achieve a higher brightness than the average OLED TV can achieve (although progress in 2023 may change), so if your viewing environment is particularly bright and sunny, you may prefer an LCD TV that can against the surrounding environment. light.
4K TVs have four times more pixels per inch than 1080p HDTVs. Depending on the size of the screen, this difference is normal
