The 6 Best Flat Screen TVs - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best flat-screen TV we've tested is the Samsung S90C OLED. This remarkable TV delivers incredible picture quality, with deep, inky blacks that look amazing in a dark room. Its near-infinite contrast ratio allows it to display incredibly bright highlights when watching HDR content, with no blooming or haloing around bright highlights in dark scenes. Its QD-OLED panel also lets it display bright and vivid colors, meaning the latest HDR content looks incredibly vibrant.

It's an incredible TV with fantastic picture quality and great gaming features. It supports up to 4k @ 144Hz on its four HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, meaning you can take full advantage of multiple HDMI 2.1 sources, like a PS5, Xbox Series X, or a recent PC graphics card. It has an incredibly thin profile that looks amazing on its stand or when wall-mounted. There's also the higher-tier Samsung S95C OLED, which is a bit brighter than this TV and has a sleeker, slimmer design that doesn't stick out as much when wall-mounted. However, it's significantly more expensive, so the S90C is the clear value choice.

If you're in a bright room and don't need the perfect blacks of the Samsung S90C OLED, a Mini LED TV with higher peak brightness, like the Sony X93L/X93CL, is a better choice. It's an impressive TV that delivers impressive picture quality with incredibly high peak brightness, making it a better choice for a bright living room. It has excellent contrast, helped by a good local dimming feature, is colorful, and has amazing image processing to make any content look its best. It has a great selection of gaming features, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth inputs, although unlike some of its competitors, it only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of them being the eARC port.

It runs the Google TV smart interface, which is fast and easy to use. It has a great selection of streaming apps, and the built-in Google Play Store makes it easy to find others. The TV supports Dolby Vision HDR and advanced DTS audio formats, so movies look and sound their best on the Sony no matter their source. It also has an ATSC 3.0 tuner, so it streams 4k content over-the-air. Overall, the TV delivers incredible picture quality, with an acceptable viewing angle, deep blacks, and a wide color gamut for HDR content.

The best upper mid-range flat-screen TV we've tested is the LG C2 OLED. It's an excellent all-around TV that delivers stunning picture quality and performs well for any use. OLEDs can turn off individual pixels, resulting in a near-infinite contrast ratio and perfect black uniformity. There's no blooming around bright objects on a dark background, making it a fantastic choice for watching content in dark rooms. It has great features, whether gaming or simply streaming your favorite content.

The built-in LG webOS interface is easy to use and has a ton of apps available to download, and the included Magic Remote makes it easy to navigate through the menus. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, variable refresh rate (VRR) support, low input lag, and a near-instantaneous response time for a smooth gaming experience. Its WOLED panel isn't as colorful in HDR content as the QD-OLED panel in the Samsung S90C OLED, but it still looks great. You can also opt for the newer LG C3 OLED, which is a bit brighter than the C2, with better image processing and DTS audio format support. However, the C3 is more expensive, and if you're willing to spend that much, you're better off going with the Samsung.

The best mid-range flat-screen TV is the Hisense U8K. It's an impressive TV that looks great in any viewing environment. Although it can't produce blacks as deep and inky as the LG C2 OLED, it still has an outstanding contrast ratio and an impressive Mini LED full array local dimming feature, so there's little blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. It's incredibly bright and has fantastic reflection handling, so it's a great choice for a bright living room with many windows.

The built-in Google TV interface is easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps through the Google Play Store, so you're sure to find your favorite content. While it only has two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, one of them being the eARC port, they can do up to 4k @ 144Hz, which is great for gamers. You'll otherwise find a great selection of gaming features, including support for every variable refresh rate technology, ensuring a smooth, nearly tear-free gaming experience. Its predecessor, the Hisense U8H, is still widely available and is a great TV. It's slightly worse overall than the newer model for about the same price, so it's only a good value if you find it on sale.

The best budget flat-screen TV we've tested is the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. It's a surprisingly good budget TV that delivers a great overall experience. It's an impressive TV for watching movies in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast ratio, fantastic black uniformity, and decent local dimming feature, meaning blacks appear deep and uniform in a dark room. It also has impressive peak brightness and decent reflection handling, making it an equally good choice for a bright room.

It's available in a wide range of sizes, and even the largest model is available at a budget price, so you can get the size that fits your needs. It runs the Roku OS interface, which is basic but easy to use, and has a good selection of streaming apps. By going with a budget model like this one over the Hisense U8K, you're sacrificing a bit on picture quality, but the biggest difference is for gamers, as it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. It's still great for gaming, but you can't take full advantage of the Xbox Series X or PS5, as these consoles now have some games running at or near 120fps when in their 'performance' modes.

You can still get an enjoyable TV experience without spending a lot. If you're on a tight budget, the best cheap flat-screen TV we've tested is the Hisense A65K. It runs the Google TV interface, with many streaming apps available. It makes it a great choice for an office or guest bedroom, as your guests can watch their favorite shows without you having to worry about buying an extra streaming stick. It doesn't have the wide viewing angle of its predecessor, the Hisense A6H. Still, the newer model is a much better TV overall, with its decent contrast ratio, adequate peak brightness, and colorful PFS Phosphor panel.

Of course, as expected for a cheap TV, it delivers worse picture quality than the other models on this list, as you don't get advanced features like local dimming to improve the appearance of dark scenes further. It's also limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, but it does support VRR for a nearly tear-free gaming experience. It has fantastic low input lag, so your actions are in sync with the action on-screen. Its response time is good for casual gamers or more cinematic games, but there's a bit of blur with fast-moving content.