How to choose a TV
Most of the specification on a TV box describes things you will never notice. Four decisions actually change what you see night to night, and everything else follows from them.
Panel type is the decision that matters
- OLED lights each pixel individually, so black is genuinely black. Unbeatable for film in a dim room, and the best choice if your living room has controllable light.
- QLED and Mini LED get far brighter. In a room with big windows and afternoon sun, that brightness beats OLED's contrast, because contrast you cannot see does nothing.
- Standard LED is the sensible choice for a second room, a bedroom or a kitchen, where the set is on in the background rather than being watched properly.
Size by seating distance, not by room size
For 4K, sit roughly 1.2 to 1.6 times the screen's diagonal away. At a typical 2.5m sofa distance that puts 55 to 65 inches in the right range. People far more often regret going too small than too big — the extra inches cost less than the upgrade you will want in two years.
If you game, check the refresh rate
A PS5 or Xbox Series X can output 120Hz, and a 120Hz panel with HDMI 2.1 is the difference between using that and not. On a 60Hz set the console simply runs slower. If the TV is for streaming and broadcast only, 60Hz is genuinely fine and you can spend the difference on panel quality instead.
Budget for sound separately
Thin sets have nowhere to put a decent speaker, so even excellent televisions sound thin. A modest soundbar improves the experience more than moving up a panel tier, and dialogue clarity is the single most common complaint about a new TV.
Brands stocked here
LG and Sony for OLED, Samsung across QLED and Mini LED, and Hisense and TCL where the priority is screen size for the money. Stock changes constantly, so if a specific model matters to you, search its model number directly.
