Best TV: OLED, QLED, 4K and 8K sets to enhance your movie nights

With more opportunities for nights in front of the TV of late, you may have been convinced that your lounge is due for an upgrade. With new televisions with updated technology and design being released all the time, there's always something new to experience, but it can also get a little overwhelming.

The best TVs in 2021 generally come with a choice between 4K and 8K resolution, with the former being the most established. You also need to decide whether you want OLED or QLED, which relates to how your TV is lit.

To help with your decision, we have assembled some of the best TVs available right now, ranking them based on picture quality, audio, sizes, and how they might look in your space. And if you are also looking for a better sound system, take a look at our guide to the best soundbars.

Keep scrolling to see how we rated the latest televisions.

The best TVs in 2022

Our top pick from the latest releases in 2021, the Sony A90J is a beauty to behold with a gorgeous minimalist design and cutting-edge specs. XR OLED Contrast Pro offers Sony's brightest images to date, and ultimate blacks create a truly immersive experience with accurate colors and 4K upscaling.

The A90J is also fantastic for sports and gaming, with motion processing keeping things from getting blurry. There's also a dedicated game mode that activates a better frame rate and limits input lag. Google Assistant is built into the TV, and you can hook it up to your existing Alexa or Apple smart home.

The design of the TV is particularly interesting when it comes to its feet. Arriving in its 'low profile' setting, you can raise it slightly higher (as pictured). It will also sit flush to the wall if you prefer to mount it.

The Sony A9G Master OLED may be an earlier model than others on this list, but it still very much holds its own against the 2020 and 2021 crop. The 4K HDR X1 Ultimate processor allows for rendering based on objects on the screen, which means everything is upscaled as close to 4K as possible.

In addition to all of this, the Sony A9G sounds fantastic with Dolby Atmos and Acoustic Surface Audio+ allowing audio to flow from the panel around the room, instead of simply from the front-facing speakers like with other models. The TV lacks built-in Alexa capabilities, but it does come with Google Assistant. 

An excellent example in the growing range of 8K television offerings, the Sony Z8H can be purchased slightly smaller and significantly less expensive than the Samsung QLED Q950TS (below). Using 8K X-Reality Pro technology, it promises to upscale as much content as possible to crystal clear 4320p.

Acoustic Multi-Surface Audio creates better sound than you might be expecting, with a tweeter in the frame and a subwoofer at the TV's rear to add bass. Thanks to Picture Processor X1 Ultimate, colors also look fantastic, which makes images more immersive and close to life.

Designed to blend seamlessly into your décor, once the LG GX Series is mounted to the wall, you'll be hard-pressed to differentiate it from any nearby artwork. Moreover, with close to no gap between the screen and the wall, you'll be able to enjoy movie nights and TV binges and then activate gallery mode when you're not watching.

Dolby Atmos speakers mean you'll get the impact of surround sound straight from the TV without needing a separate soundbar, and Dolby Vision IQ will adjust the picture based on the ambient lighting in your space and the kind of content you're watching at the time.

8K TVs are officially here, and they're becoming more than a curiosity. While there isn't too much content to consume in 8K at the moment, purchasing a television that's capable of showing future films, sports, and TV at its full potential (as well as at 85") is a move towards future-proofing your home theater set up. 

And the Samsung QLED Q950TS promises to intelligently upscale existing content to 8K resolution, meaning your Netflix binges will never be the same. The slim television also sits flush to the wall and has been designed to look great from any angle, so you don't need to worry about sitting directly in front.

How to choose the best TV for your home

What is the difference between OLED and QLED?

You may be confused about the difference between OLED and QLED screens and why you should choose one over the other.

OLED

OLED, which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode, has been around the longest and refers to TVs where the pixels in the screen are self-lighting. This means they can be turned on and off one at a time, creating a more detailed color palette and eliminating the danger of bleeding between pixels.

QLED

QLED stands for Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode, an upgrade on the standard LED screen introduced by Samsung back in 2017. The technology uses its quantum dots to enhance the quality of a picture passed through a backlight, allowing for more vibrant colors.

What size TV should I buy?

The smallest TV on this list is 55", but mainstream brands produce excellent televisions as small as 32" or 40". If you want a cinematic experience, we'd recommend not going too low. 

Whether you want a 75" or 85" inch screen is a different matter, and the answer to this will depend very much on the space you have. Do you want a TV that will be the focal point of a large room? Or something for a smaller office or bedroom? You also need to consider whether you want to place your TV on a stand or mount it to the wall. Larger TVs can look better mounted, as they take up less real estate.