While we don’t have all the details for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, what we can say for sure is that they will look better on one of the best game televisions than a first generation HD flat screen – due to their native 4K support.
Best TV for games?
If you’re a gamer, you probably want a TV that supports 4K HDR with low latency game mode, good black levels, and high brightness levels. For everything you want, the Samsung Q70R TV – listed below in our spot # 1 – and available at Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart and Currys.
Why should you be looking for the best TVs for gaming? And what makes a TV better for gaming than watching a movie, for example? It all comes down to 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR) Support and reduction of input lag thanks to new low automatic latency modes and support for video synchronization technology like AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. If you plan to connect your PC to your TV, you will need one or both of these technologies.
If this is your first time buying a TV, we will help guide you through all the key specifications you need to know and we will recommend some of our favorite TVs that we use at home as our main screens for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
The best TVs for games at a glance
- QLED TV Samsung Q70R
- LG B9 OLED
- Sony Bravia X950G / XG95
- Samsung RU8000 Series
- LG UM7300 Series
Even More Reasons to Upgrade Your Game TV
If you’re looking for one of the best TVs for gaming, it’s important to know what a TV really needs to be able to do to unlock its full gaming potential. For starters, the most basic requirement is 4K.
Resolution revolution: The Xbox One S produces all of its games in 4K, which is achieved through surprisingly good built-in scaling.
The PS4 Pro also produces games in 4K, using a mixture of scaling and enhancement in the game.
The Xbox One X, meanwhile, was designed with enough power to drive more games than ever before with native 4K support built into the game engine. Yes, you can still get Xbox One and PS4 consoles no 4K, and the Nintendo Switch is also not interested in 4K. And yes, non-4K games will have to be scaled by a 4K TV, so they won’t be completely “pure”.
However, the scaling is remarkably good on the best 4K TVs today, and can be done without adding significant delay to the time it takes for a TV to render images.
4K resolution can be transformative, especially on large screens. And basically, 4K is exactly the way everything is going on right now (in the world of games and video), so not being set up with your new TV just doesn’t make sense.
Change your range: Alongside 4K in today’s video world is HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology. This makes it possible to obtain images with a much wider range of light than the standard dynamic range images with which we have lived for decades in order to obtain images that we see on our screens closer to the way our eyes see the real world.
The Xbox One S supports HDR on some of its games and through some of its streaming apps. The same situation applies to both PS4 and PS4 Pro, and of course the Xbox One X will also provide HDR. Most people would say that well-made HDR offers more impact than 4K, especially on small screens.
The only problem is that HDR puts a lot of pressure on a TV, as it requires both much more brightness than SDR and better contrast so that additional brightness and deeper blacks can potentially share the screen simultaneously. In fact, poorly done HDR can be worse than well done SDR; something to think about if you plan to buy a very inexpensive TV.
Let there be light! One of the most important elements of good HDR performance is the brightness. Many movies and games target around 1000 nits for their brightest elements, so if you have a TV that is less bright than this, it will not unleash the full potential of HDR. Especially in a video game environment, where the graphics can be more contrasting than “real life”.
It is perfectly possible for televisions to provide superb HDR images without reaching 1000 nits and more brightness. This is especially true with OLED displays, for example. But the darker a screen, the more difficult it will be to process to try to figure out how to resolve image information in HDR areas above its capabilities.
Offset? Lame! If you are a really serious gamer – especially when it comes to reaction-based online games – you have to worry about the input lag: the time it takes for a particular TV to render image data received on its entries. Obviously, you’re looking for low numbers if you don’t want to be shot by an opponent that your TV hasn’t shown yet!
Again, manufacturers do not tend to provide input offset figures in their supplied specifications. However, we usually measure the input lag on the TVs we test. In addition, I have provided the input offset measurements for all of our recommended TVs.
Roger that – on several occasions: Sound design has always played a vital role in a great gaming experience. These days, however, it’s taken to another level with the advent of surround sound games. In fact, Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles even support Dolby Atmos: the most advanced Dolby audio system to date, which introduces pitch and “object-based” precision into the soundstage.
With incredibly good timing, LG is about to roll out support for Dolby Atmos over HDMI on its 2017 OLED TVs (some of which come with built-in soundbars) at any time. In addition, although Atmos’ built-in support is not yet found elsewhere, this year has seen an increase in televisions with really powerful audio systems. So unless you are thinking about investing in an external audio system, you will definitely benefit from having sound and picture quality in mind when purchasing your game TV.
The things to be careful of are whether the speakers are facing forward (as this will almost always give you a more direct and cleaner sound); rated output power; if there is a dedicated woofer (often on the back of a television); integrated sound bars; and the number of individual speakers used.
- More interested in TV specifications than games? Check-out the best TVs 2020: the 8 best flat-screen TVs of the last year
The best game TVs of 2020
OK, now that the essential buying tips are done and you’re an AV expert, let’s now select our selection of the best gaming TVs you can currently buy, taking into account a combination of price and pure quality.
Samsung Q70R QLED TV Series
1. Samsung Q70R QLED TV Series
Samsung’s affordable QLED TV offers the best price-performance ratio
Spectacular HDR image quality
Its powerful and well balanced
Cutting-edge gaming features
Limited viewing angles
While we’d really like to recommend Samsung’s flagship Q90R Q90R flagship TV as the best gaming TV – it’s really not a practical purchase for most gamers on a tighter budget. What we recommend instead is the Samsung Q70R QLED TV which has many of the best features of the Q90R at a price more in line with what a player would be willing to pay for a new TV.
That said, although it sits lower in the QLED range, the Q70R includes the same full smart platform, extensive connections and cutting-edge functionality found higher in the range. It’s not the flashiest TV Samsung has ever created, but if your funds are limited, the Q70 is a bright, bold and beautiful QLED 4K screen that is worth checking out.
Read the review: QLED TV Samsung Q70R
Samsung QN55Q70RAFXZA Flat …
LG B9 OLED
2. LG B9 OLED
If you want the best black levels, however, you’ll need an OLED
LG’s cheapest LG OLED 2019
Rich colors and crisp details
G-Sync support
Limited peak brightness for HDR
Although the LG B9 OLED does not have as much HDR-compatible brightness as the Samsung QLED range, it is astonishing when it comes to the other end of the history of brightness, offering deep black colors and lavishly free from the trouble problems that LCD TVs suffer from. Additionally, although OLED may not yet be as bright as LCD, the way the darkest pixel in an OLED image can sit right next to the brightest without contamination in between gives the C9 OLED a nice light quality particularly effective during dark play settings.
Players, meanwhile, will be delighted to learn that unlike its two previous predecessors, the B9 OLED no longer darkens the image strongly when operating in its low latency HDR game mode. It also supports games at 120 frames per second at HD resolutions, full 4: 4: 4 PC color and an extremely low input offset of less than 20 ms.
Read the review: LG B9 OLED
Integrated LG OLED55C9PUA Alexa …
Sony Bravia X950G Series
3. Sony Bravia X950G Series
Gamers Won’t Be Disappointed With Sony’s Mid-Range Wonder
Direct LED with local dimming
Excellent movement management
Poor sound quality
Dull black levels
The Sony X950G – called Sony XG95 in the UK and X95G in Australia – strikes the balance between price and visual performance, offering just enough visual panache to justify its average price.
While other TVs appear to use their excessive brightness indiscriminately, making most of the content bright for light reasons, the X950G records its maximum brightness levels for the most intense HDR scenes, making games like Spider-Man on the incredible PS4 Pro.
Short and sweet, it’s a brilliant mid-priced 4K TV that works well with Sony consoles. Each of the improvements that Sony introduced beyond last year’s excellent X900F series – better processing, more brightness, a little bit more dimming backlight areas, improved motion performance – delivers the goods, resulting in image quality that humiliates many more expensive TVs.
Read the full review: Sony BRAVIA X950G / XG95
Sony 75 “class 4K UHD LED …
Samsung RU8000 Series
4. Samsung RU8000 Series (Samsung UN49RU8000)
An excellent budget choice, the RU8000 looks great and makes your games look as good
Low low input offset!
Excellent movement management
Lower peak brightness
The color is a bit duller
If your living room – and your budget – can’t handle a 65-inch TV, take a look at the truly spectacular RU8000 series designed for gamers. With an insane input lag of around 6 ms with a variable refresh rate, it’s about as responsive as a TV can be. It is also ideal for sports, thanks to its above-average movement management.
So why is it lower on our list? It doesn’t do the best job of scaling content and its peak brightness is lower than that of Samsung’s QLED series, which can make HDR-compatible games truly breathtaking.
That said, if you stick to FPS games or sports games like FIFA and Madden, this is probably the 4K gaming TV for you.
LG UM7300 Series
5. LG UM7300 Series (US only)
The LG UM7300 is a basic but good 4K gaming TV
Low input offset
Super budget TV!
Poor black uniformity
No local dimming
If your gaming TV budget is limited and you haven’t found anything on our list yet, LG’s basic but good UM7300 series will fill that space in the entertainment center without cleaning up your bank account.
Like the Samsung RU8000 series just above, the LG UM7300 has an incredible response time of around 15 ms as well as support for HDR10 (the HDR that the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro).
It won’t make your 4K movie collection look great or offer the widest smart platform on the market, but if you just need a barebones TV that can make your games look great, this is the one for you. .
LG 43 “Class 4K (2160P) Ultra …
Cost-effective game TVs for your area
United States: TCL 6-Series (R617, R615)
The best economical 4K TV for gamers with shallow pockets
Bright and colorful HDR
Supports Dolby Vision
Loss of darker details
Limited motion settings
If you have deep pockets and a checkbook filled with blank checks, we’ll tell you to reach out and shell out only for the best 4K TVs on the market – LG’s ultra-thin OLED W8 or QLED ultra-bright Q9FN from Samsung. But that is not always realistic: for the vast, vast majority of us, our budget for spending on a 4K UHD television is limited to less than $ 1,000 – and often it is even less than that.
To this end, it is absolutely fair to say that the TCL 6 series is the best TV you can get in this price range. Its performance per dollar is unmatched and its image quality – despite some minor flaws – will really impress you.
In other words, if there is a better value 4K TV on the market, we haven’t seen it yet.
Read the full review: TCL 6-Series (R615, R617)
TCL 55R617 55 inch 4K Ultra …
UK: Panasonic GX800 Series
Pansonic mid-ranger surprises with extremely low entry delay
Superior HCX image processing
Super price
HDR limited in game mode
Only three HDMI inputs
With the TX-50GX800, Panasonic took the 4K HDR market by the neck and gave it a strong shake. He inaugurates Dolby Vision HDR, formerly reserved for high-end high-end screens, in the mainstream, and also does not discriminate against the dynamic metadata standard HDR10 +.
So what makes this set so great for gamers? Well, the input lag only measures 10.2 ms in the dedicated game mode to start with, and while it doesn’t produce the brightest images on the planet, sports enthusiasts will appreciate the images really crisp brought by the creation of intelligent framework (IFC) processing engine.
A little more buying advice for the road …
If you would like to know more about buying game TVs, we have added a little more information below. Read on to improve your audiovisual knowledge skills!
Bits and B.O.B.s: Connected to the HDR point, you may want to think about the bit depth of your game TV. The best HDR experience requires a 10-bit screen capable of supporting 1024 values ​​of each RGB color – otherwise you will get color performance lower, possibly including a strip of color where you should see subtle blends. Most premium HDR TVs these days are 10-bit, but that is far from the relatively affordable end of the television market.
Xbox One S and PS4 consoles automatically evaluate the bit depth of your TV and select the optimal HDR video output accordingly. Xbox One S even provides a description of your TV’s capabilities under 4K TV Details in its Advanced Video Settings menu. The Xbox One X will likely do the same.
To be clear, it’s entirely possible that an 8-bit TV will offer good HDR color performance if it has a powerful video processing engine. But 10-bit panels certainly have an immediate advantage.
Another point to add here is that some TVs – including high-end Samsung models – support 12-bit color management / processing, even if their panels are only 10-bit natively. The Xbox One S and presumably the Xbox One X both provide color depth zones in their video fidelity settings that allow you to select the maximum bit performance for your particular TV.
Color purity: Another advanced but important parameter to consider for ultimate game visuals is chrominance subsampling.
The term video compression refers to the purity of color in a television and is usually written in 4: 4: 4 and 4: 2: 0 terms. These numbers reveal the number of color pixels sampled in the top and bottom rows. for each two rows of four pixels. So with 4: 2: 0, for example, the color is sampled from two pixels in the top row and no pixels in the bottom row.
As a result, the larger the numbers, the purer the color performance, as there will be less “rough measure” of what the colors should look like. The problem is that full support for 4: 4: 4 colors requires a lot of additional image data and therefore cannot be handled by HDMI connections or the processing of all TVs.
In truth, the differences in picture quality between 4: 4: 4 and 4: 2: 2 and even 4: 2: 0 are generally not huge. However, they can be more pronounced with game graphics than video, so it’s worth trying to find out what a TV you plan to buy can handle, even if it isn’t no information regularly broadcast in the TV specification lists. The latest consoles are good enough to detect the optimal chroma subsampling that a TV can support, by automatically adjusting their outputs accordingly.
However, this is something that can cause annoying “ handshake ” issues with some TVs, so Xbox One S and PS4 Pro now offer downsampling “ limiter ” options. in their video output menus (“ Activate 4: 2: 2 ” on the Xbox One S and 2160 YUV4: 2: 0 on the PS4 Pro).
Frame rate management: Now that Xbox One X is almost here and promising native 4K resolution games are running at 60 frames per second, make sure the TV you’re buying has the latest HDMI outlets. If it does not have at least one HDMI jack that conforms to the v2.0a specification, it will not be able to receive 4K resolution at a value greater than 30 frames per second.
Fortunately, many more 4K TVs this year have HDMI 2.0a jacks than in previous years, but it’s still something worth checking out, especially if you’re buying a particularly inexpensive TV.