The 5 Best 48-49-50 Inch TVs - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best TV we've tested with a 48-inch screen size is the LG OLED48C3PUA. Premium OLEDs like this one aren't available in 50-inch sizes, and instead, you have to get something a bit smaller. It's an excellent TV with stunning picture quality, especially if you use it in a dark room. HDR content looks incredible thanks to its wide color gamut and nearly infinite contrast ratio, resulting in deep blacks and bright highlights, with no distracting blooming around bright areas of the screen. Its wide viewing angle makes it a good choice for a wide seating area, as the image remains consistent from the sides. It has a great selection of extra features, and the built-in webOS smart interface is easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps, so you can easily find your favorite shows.

It's also fantastic for recent consoles, as it supports 4k @ 120Hz gaming on all four HDMI inputs, so you can take full advantage of the PS5, Xbox Series X, or a PC with a recent graphics card. Its predecessor, the LG C2 OLED, is harder to find in some sizes but can still be bought cheaper than its successor. But, while purchasing the C2 is the best choice for many people, the C3 has the edge in a few areas. First, it's a bit brighter than its predecessor. Second, it has better image processing, and finally, it supports DTS audio formats, making it a strong pick for home theater fans.

If you want the best 50-inch TV and don't want anything smaller, consider the Samsung QN50QN90CAFXZA. Unlike the LG C3 OLED, the Samsung TV uses Mini LED backlighting, so it doesn't display the same perfect blacks and isn't as good in a dark room. However, it gets much brighter in both HDR and SDR, which is ideal if you want to use it in a bright room with glare, especially as its reflection handling is fantastic. It displays a wide range of colors and has excellent color volume, making colors look vivid and life-like. The 50-inch model uses a VA panel, giving it a better native contrast ratio than the ADS panel found in the bigger sizes, but at the cost of a worse viewing angle.

The 50-inch model also has other advantages, like up to 4k @ 144Hz support on all four HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, unlike the bigger sizes, which can only do 4k @ 120Hz. It also supports every variable refresh rate (VRR) technology, making the TV a fantastic choice for console and PC gamers. Its predecessor, the Samsung QN90B QLED, can still be found in certain sizes, and it's very similar overall to the QN90C, so go for that model if you find it for a good price.

If you're looking for the best 50-inch smart TV in the mid-range price category, consider the Sony KD-55X85K. It doesn't feature Mini LED backlighting like on the Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED, meaning it doesn't get as bright in HDR, and it doesn't display perfect blacks like the LG C3 OLED either, but that's the trade-off for going with a cheaper model. Regardless, it's still a great overall TV with a good contrast ratio, but it doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve the picture quality in dark scenes. If that's important to you, the Sony X90J is another option with local dimming, but it has more blooming around bright objects, costs more, and is harder to find.

Besides the differences in picture quality, the X85K has many of the same features as the LG and Samsung, with HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, eARC audio passthrough that works with all common audio formats, and a 120Hz refresh rate that helps make it an excellent choice for gaming. It also comes with Google TV, an easy-to-use smart platform with many apps to download.

If you want something in the budget category and don't want to spend a ton of money, then consider the TCL 50S555. It has fewer gaming features than the Sony X85K, as it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn't have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, but if you don't plan on gaming with it, it provides good performance. It's great for watching movies in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast ratio, but even though it has a local dimming feature, which the Sony doesn't have, it doesn't mean it's better in dark scenes as there's more blooming around bright objects on the TCL.

It runs the Roku smart interface, which is simple and easy to use, with a great selection of streaming channels, but the remote it comes with doesn't have a built-in mic for voice control. If that's something you want, or if you prefer another smart system, the Hisense U6H is another good budget TV with Google TV as its smart platform, but it doesn't get as bright and has a worse contrast ratio than the TCL.

If you want a basic TV that won't break your wallet, the Hisense 50A6H is a decent cheap 50-inch TV. It's a simple display with limited picture quality and fewer extra features than the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. Still, it's a great choice for an office, guest bedroom, or even a student dorm because it has a wide viewing angle that keeps the image consistent even when viewed from the sides, which is great if you watch TV while walking around. It runs the Google TV smart interface, which has one of the widest selections of streaming apps available, and the included remote has a mic that you can use with Google Assistant.

Unfortunately, it isn't a good choice for a dark room, as it has a very low contrast ratio, so blacks appear gray in the dark, and there's no local dimming feature to improve it. If you're in a dark room, the TCL 4 Series/S455 2022 is better, as it has a much higher contrast ratio. However, it costs a bit more and has worse image accuracy than the Hisense.