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The 6 Best TVs For Watching Movies - Fall 2024

Updated Sep 12, 2024 at 09:46 am
Best Movie TVs

If you're looking for a new TV for your home theater setup, there are a few things that you should pay attention to to get the best movie-watching experience possible. Four main criteria are considered when evaluating how good a TV is for watching movies.

Contrast Ratio

The contrast ratio is the ratio between the luminance of the brightest white and darkest black that a TV can produce. A higher contrast ratio means that the TV can display deeper blacks, improving the overall picture quality, especially when watching content in dark rooms. If your TV has a low contrast ratio, blacks will look grey when viewed in a dark room, breaking immersion when watching movies in a dark, home theater setting. Furthermore, TVs with great contrast ratios are better at emphasizing bright highlights in HDR, which is why OLEDs, which have a near-infinite contrast ratio due to their perfect blacks, typically offer the best overall HDR impact even though their HDR brightness is comparatively lower than LED TVs. LED TVs with local dimming naturally have better contrast ratios than LED TVs that don't, as they can dim dark sections of the screen while separately boosting bright sections.

You can also read our in-depth article on contrast ratio and QLED vs OLED vs LED TVs.

HDR Peak Brightness

In recent years, one of the biggest advances in TV technology has been the development of High Dynamic Range (HDR) video formats. HDR enhances the picture quality in movies and shows by displaying a wider range of colors with brighter highlights than Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) content. Peak brightness is probably one of the most important aspects of HDR. This is where high-end TVs have the biggest advantage, as HDR content uses their higher brightness capabilities to show lifelike highlights. If a TV has limited HDR peak brightness, it can't properly display all the highlights the content is supposed to show. As stated earlier, having a high contrast ratio and a good local dimming feature is also important for delivering a good HDR experience because the TV can show bright and dark highlights without losing details.

If you'd like to know more, we have in-depth articles on HDR peak brightness and HDR vs SDR.

Image Processing

When looking at processing, three main factors are important: sharpness processing when upscaling a low-resolution signal, low-quality content smoothing, and HDR native gradient handling. A TV's upscaling and sharpness processing is especially important if you're watching low-resolution content from a physical player that doesn't have its own upscaling features, like a cable box or an older DVD player. Good upscaling will accurately scale lower resolutions to the higher-resolution pixel count of the screen, maintaining fine details and delivering a sharp, clear image with no noticeable defects. Poor upscaling and sharpness processing will do a bad job of translating this detail, rendering the image blurry or overly sharp.

Low-quality content smoothing looks at how well a TV can process an image to smooth out rough areas of the content and reduce banding and macro-blocking caused by a low-bitrate signal. Although many believe streaming services are generally high-quality, they usually aren't. Even if you have the highest tier available with your streaming platform, and even if it's still sending a 4k signal, streaming services use compression algorithms to reduce the amount of bandwidth used. This results in noticeable compression artifacts, like black blocks in near-black scenes. A TV with better low-quality content smoothing will smooth out these artifacts, resulting in a cleaner image overall while preserving fine details.

Finally, good gradient handling is important for producing fine details, particularly in scenes with many different shades of similar color, like in HDR. Since detailed color is meant to be one of the benefits of HDR video, the test results are important for people interested in that kind of media. You can easily notice poor gradient handling as it takes the form of bands of color in shades of similar color when, normally, these shades should blend in and transition from one another perfectly. Banding can be caused by a few reasons, like a low-bitrate signal or a low bit depth, but a TV's processing can also introduce banding.

You can check out our articles on upscaling sharpness processing and color gradients if you want to know more.

Color Accuracy

Having a color-accurate image matters when watching any content. Still, you'll only notice minor inaccuracies if you're a movie aficionado, as scenes that are supposed to be a certain tint might have a completely different one: blue-ish scenes looking green, or vice versa, is a common example. Problems with skin tone accuracy are another example. Most TVs have accurate enough colors out of the box that most people won't see any difference. If you care about accurate color reproduction, you'll want a TV with excellent out-of-the-box accuracy so you don't have to spend too much time calibrating it. Since most TVs have near-perfect accuracy after calibration, it's important to look at the pre-calibration results.

Look up our article on color accuracy for more information on this topic.

We've bought and tested more than 455 TVs, and below are our recommendations for the best TVs for movies you can buy. See our picks for the best OLED TVs, the best bright room TVs, and best 4k TVs, or vote on which ones you want us to buy and test. You could also consider one of the best home theater projectors instead of a TV. To learn more about the 2024 TV models, check out our 2024 TV lineup page.


  1. Best TV For Watching Movies

    The best TV for movies we've tested is the Sony A95L OLED. Its nearly infinite contrast ratio makes it a fantastic TV for watching movies in a dark room. This results in deep, inky blacks and bright highlights, with no distracting blooming around bright areas of the scene. Sony TVs are well respected for their accurate picture quality, and this TV is no exception. Its excellent processing capabilities deliver a true movie experience that respects the content creator's intent, with very little banding in areas of similar color.

    HDR movies look incredible on this TV thanks to its high peak brightness in HDR, near-infinite contrast ratio, and wide color gamut. Colors look vibrant and lifelike, and bright specular highlights stand out. It also supports features like Dolby Vision and DTS:X audio, ensuring you get the best movie experience possible. It's compatible with Sony's BRAVIA CORE streaming service, which offers a wide selection of movies to stream at a much higher bit rate than most streaming services, ensuring your movies look the best they possibly can.

    See our review

  2. Best Bright Room TV For Watching Movies

    The Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is the best TV for watching movies in a bright room. It easily overcomes glare due to its superb SDR brightness and reflection handling, so you don't have to deal with distracting reflections. If you watch movies with the lights off, the TV looks spectacular in a dark room due to its exceptional local dimming feature that provides fantastically deep blacks with very little blooming. On top of that, its exceptional HDR brightness delivers highlights that pop out in HDR content. It's also a standout option for a home theater due to its support for Dolby Vision HDR and DTS audio formats, fantastic image processing, and accuracy in both SDR and HDR. No matter how you watch your movies, this TV truly delivers.

    Despite having a wider viewing angle than many other LED models, it's still narrow, so the TV still isn't the best choice for watching movies with a large group of friends. Unfortunately, the TV only comes in a 65-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch model, so there's no option for those looking for a smaller TV for a bedroom or small living room.

    See our review

  3. Best Upper Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies

    Current Deal: The LG C4 OLED 65" has dropped in price by $500 at Amazon.com.

    If you like the deep, inky blacks that only an OLED can produce but find the Sony A95L OLED too expensive, the best upper mid-range TV for watching movies is the LG C4 OLED. Like the Sony OLED, it displays perfect blacks in dark rooms without blooming, offering a fantastic movie-watching experience. You don't get the same incredibly vibrant and bright colors as you do on a QD-OLED like the A95L, but the TV still displays a wide range of colors that are sure to impress film buffs. You also get slightly better low-quality content smoothing than the Sony, and the LG's upscaling is almost as good, too.

    This TV isn't as bright as an OLED like the A95L, but it's still bright enough to use in a room with the lights on while watching SDR movies, and its great HDR peak brightness is certainly enough to make most highlights stand out. You also still get the same support for DTS audio formats and Dolby Vision, so whether you're watching older movies on DVD or new movies on 4k Blu-ray, this TV has you covered.

    See our review

  4. Best Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies

    If you like the LG C4 OLED but find it's too pricey, the LG B4 OLED is a great mid-range TV and can serve as an excellent entry point into the OLED market. The TV has all the features of the more expensive C4, and it still delivers outstanding picture quality, especially in a dark room, with its near-infinite contrast ratio delivering deep, inky blacks with no distracting blooming. On the other hand, the TV is dimmer than its more expensive sibling, but the difference isn't massive. It's a little bit dimmer than the C4 in SDR, but it's still pretty bright for an OLED and has fantastic reflection handling, so it does overcome glare in rooms with some lights on. It's quite a bit dimmer in HDR, but fortunately, it's bright enough to deliver impactful highlights in HDR movies.

    It displays the same vibrant colors as the C4 and has the same support for Dolby Vision and DTS audio formats. You also get similarly impressive image processing, and it runs the same great webOS smart interface as the more expensive LG, with the same point-and-press smart remote.

    See our review

  5. Best Lower Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies

    If you want high-end performance but don't want to spend high-end prices, or if you watch movies in mostly bright rooms, check out the Hisense U7N. It's cheaper than anything recommended up to this point but still delivers excellent overall picture quality. It has a great Mini LED backlight, letting it simultaneously provide incredibly bright highlights and deep blacks, although there's blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. HDR content looks great, and it supports both Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+ for the best HDR experience possible, as well as advanced audio formats, like DTS:X over eARC.

    The TV has very good image processing overall, making it a cheaper option for a home theater setup than the more expensive models from LG and Sony. Unfortunately, its viewing angle is sub-par, making it a bad choice for a wide seating arrangement. It runs the Google TV interface, which is fast and easy to use, and it has a great selection of streaming features, so you're sure to find your favorite shows.

    See our review

  6. Best Budget TV For Watching Movies

    The best budget TV for watching movies we've tested is the Hisense U6/U6N. It's a great TV for the price and has a fantastic local dimming feature that provides deep blacks in a dark room, although there's the same noticeable blooming around bright objects as there is on the more expensive Hisense U7N. It's also very good for watching movies in HDR due to its ability to display a wide range of colors, so HDR content looks vibrant and lifelike. It has just okay peak brightness in HDR, so bright highlights don't stand out as well as on more expensive TVs like the U7N, but it's good enough for a great dark or moderately lit room movie experience. Like the more expensive Hisense, this TV supports HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and DTS audio formats.

    Unfortunately, its low-quality content smoothing is significantly worse than the U7N, so there's visible digital noise when watching low-bitrate content from streaming platforms or DVDs. However, its upscaling is just as good as the U7N, so low-resolution content is sharp, and the TV preserves fine details well. It even has the same easy-to-use Google TV interface as the more expensive model.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED (QD-OLED): The Samsung S90D OLED is an amazing TV and is overall the best value QD-OLED you can get. However, the Sony A95L OLED is better for watching movies due to its advanced audio format support, Dolby Vision support, and better image processing. See our review
  • Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED: The Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED is an amazing TV. It's a bit brighter overall than the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED, so it performs excellently in a bright room. However, the Sony model has the edge when watching movies due to its significantly better contrast, support for Dolby Vision HDR and DTS audio formats, and better image processing. See our review
  • Hisense U8/U8N: If you like the Hisense U7N but wish it were brighter and had better contrast, the Hisense U8/U8N is an excellent option. The TV easily overcomes glare thanks to its remarkable SDR brightness, and it displays incredibly bright highlights in HDR movies with ease. It also has amazing black levels for an LED model, but you still don't get the deep, inky blacks you get from an OLED like the LG B4 OLED. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Sep 12, 2024: Replaced the Sony A75L OLED with the LG B4 OLED in the 'Best Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies' category. We also replaced the Hisense U6/U6K, Hisense U7K, and LG C3 OLED with their 2024 successors and refreshed the Notable Mentions section.

  2. Jun 17, 2024: We replaced the Sony X93L/X93CL with the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED as our pick for the 'Best Bright Room TV For Watching Movies.' We also moved the Sony X93L/X93CL to the Notable Mentions section, removed the TCL QM8/QM850G QLED from that section, and refreshed some text for accuracy.

  3. May 23, 2024: Added information about the 2024 Hisense U6N and the Hisense U7N in the 'Best Budget TV For Watching Movies' and the 'Best Lower Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies' categories. We also refreshed some text throughout for accuracy.

  4. Mar 27, 2024: Mentioned the newly available LG C4 OLED in the 'Best Upper Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies' category.

  5. Feb 01, 2024: Confirmed that all picks are accurate and available to purchase, and updated text for clarity.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best TVs for movies for most people in each price range. We factor in the price (a cheaper TV wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no TVs that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of all our TV reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no TV is perfect, most TVs are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.