The 5 Best TVs For Watching Sports - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best TV for sports that we've tested is the Samsung S90C OLED. It has an incredibly wide viewing angle, making it a perfect choice for watching the big game with a large group of friends in a wide seating arrangement, as everyone will have a good experience; no more fighting over the best spot on the couch, as the image remains consistent even at a very wide angle. In addition to the wide viewing angle, the TV has a near-instantaneous response time, so fast-moving players and balls are crystal-clear, with no distracting motion blur behind them. It has superb reflection handling, so you don't have to worry too much about glare on a sunny day. However, it's still not that bright, so glare can be distracting in a bright living room. It upscales lower-resolution content well, which is great as most sporting events are broadcast at a lower resolution. If you don't have cable, the Tizen OS interface has a great selection of streaming apps, and you can easily find your favorite sports channels.

This TV has a higher-end model, the Samsung S95C OLED. It's brighter than the S90C in SDR, so it's an interesting option for people who want an OLED and like to watch sports in extremely bright rooms. However, the S90C is significantly cheaper and easily bright enough for almost everyone, so it's the best overall value.

If you're in a bright room, a premium TV with an LED backlight like the Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED is a better choice than the Samsung S90C OLED. It gets significantly brighter than the other Samsung, so it's a better choice in a bright living room or outdoors. It also has a decent viewing angle, making it a good choice for watching the big game with friends, although it's not nearly as good as the OLED. It also doesn't have the OLED's super deep blacks, but they're still quite good on this TV. The user-friendly Tizen OS platform has a large selection of streaming apps, including the most popular sports apps, so you can stream the big game without an external streaming box. It also upscales lower-resolution content like from cable boxes well, with no noticeable issues. It has a great response time, ensuring you can clearly see the action, and it has good gray uniformity, with just a bit of dirty screen effect in the center.

You could also get this TV's predecessor, the Samsung QN90B QLED. It's quickly becoming hard to find, but it has a better viewing angle than its successor, although at the cost of a rainbow effect with reflections. Otherwise, the QN90C is widely available and is the most accurate TV of the two.

If you want something cheaper than the Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED but still want great picture quality, a mid-range TV like the Hisense U8H is a great choice for sports fans. It gets exceptionally bright and, combined with its excellent reflection handling, can easily overcome glare in a bright room. It has amazing motion handling, so it's easy to make out the fine details in the game, and it has great gray uniformity, ensuring the playing field looks uniform.

It has an okay frequency response and gets decently loud, so you don't necessarily need an external sound system if you're throwing a party. On the other hand, it has a narrow viewing angle, so if you are throwing a party, it's best to sit directly in front of it. Those watching from the sides will see a faded and washed-out image, so it's worse than the QN90C in that regard. It also doesn't upscale lower-resolution cable sports channels or more expensive models, and motion isn't as fluid, but you won't have any issues if you're watching from a high-quality source. We're currently testing this TV's successor, the Hisense U8K, so stay tuned to see how they compare.

The best budget TV for watching sports is the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. It's a good TV for watching sports, with good picture quality and high peak brightness. It can handle moderate glare in a bright room but has worse reflection handling than the Hisense U8H, so it's not as good in that context. Uniform areas like the playing field look good thanks to its decent gray uniformity, and it has a quick response time, so fast-moving objects (like the players) are clear and easy to make out.

Unlike more expensive TVs on this list, like the Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED, it has poor audio quality and can't get very loud, so you'll need a soundbar or audio receiver if you plan to host a large party. It also has narrow viewing angles, so it's not a good choice for a wide seating arrangement. If you mainly watch sports with the family and sit directly in front of the TV, this won't be an issue, and it's good for sports.

The LG UP8000 is the best budget TV for sports if you have a wide seating area. Most variants have an IPS-type panel with a wide viewing angle, so unlike the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, the image remains consistent when viewed from the side. It makes it a better choice for watching the big game with a large group of people, as you don't have to fight over the best spot in the house. However, the 50, 60, and 70-inch models use a different panel type with a worse viewing angle, meaning they perform differently.

It has an easy-to-use interface and comes with LG's Magic Remote, which has a point-and-press feature, making it even easier to play your favorite apps in just a few seconds. It has good motion handling thanks to the quick response time and a motion interpolation feature to smooth out low-frame-rate content. However, its backlight flickers at 120Hz, which causes image duplication with 60 fps content. It doesn't have any trouble upscaling lower-resolution content like cable box channels.