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The 4 Best LED LCD TVs - Winter 2025

Updated Feb 27, 2025 at 11:11 am
Best LED TVs

For many years, TVs with LED backlights have dominated the market. Manufacturers release many LED models every year that have different features. You won't get the same excellent dark room picture quality as an OLED, but LED TVs have a few advantages compared to OLEDs (check out our article about OLED vs. LED). LED TVs' biggest advantage is their brightness, which allows them to get brighter than most OLEDs, and they're immune to permanent burn-in. However, with the rise of local dimming technology, we've discovered through testing that the best LED models also have excellent contrast ratios, giving them solid dark room performance as well.

LED TVs are also sometimes called LCDs instead. LED refers to the technology used to create the backlight, whereas LCD refers to the technology used to produce different colors and shades. As all LCD models currently on the market use LED backlights, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Below are our recommendations for the best LED televisions you can buy. See also our picks for the best Mini LED TVs, the best gaming TVs, and the best QLED TVs, or vote on which ones you want us to buy and test. To learn more about the 2025 models releasing soon, check out our 2025 TV lineup page.


  1. Best LED TV

    The Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is not only the best LED TV we've tested, it's the best non-OLED TV you can buy. Its superb reflection handling and SDR brightness mean it easily overcomes glare in the brightest rooms, so you aren't distracted by reflections on your TV screen. As impressive as this TV is in a bright room, it's also spectacular for use in a dark room. Its black levels aren't as good as an OLED, but it still has exceptional contrast that delivers incredibly deep blacks for an LED TV, with almost no blooming. It's also a great option for 4k Blu-ray collectors or those looking to get the most out of high-quality streaming services due to its support for Dolby Vision and DTS audio formats.

    The TV's image processing is excellent, and it's also very accurate in both SDR and HDR, delivering an image that respects the content creator's intent. Although its viewing angle is wider than most other LED TVs, it's still not wide enough for large group settings. However, it's a great option if you need a TV that pairs well with modern consoles. It has low input lag and a fast response time, so you get a responsive experience with minimal blur behind fast motion. The TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, up to 4k @ 120Hz, and supports VRR, so it's fully compatible with the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

    See our review

  2. Best Mid-Range LED TV

    The best mid-range TV we've tested with an LED panel is the Hisense U8/U8N. Even though it's not as good overall as the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED, it's still an excellent TV with exceptional contrast and an impressive Mini LED local dimming feature. It delivers deep blacks in a dark room with very little distracting blooming around bright objects. The TV also has exceptional peak brightness and reflection handling, ensuring it can easily overcome glare in a bright room. It has good image processing and accuracy, although not nearly as good as the BRAVIA 9.

    Still, it's a great TV for gaming, with up to 4k @ 144Hz support on its two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, alongside full VRR support. It has a fast response time and incredibly low input lag, ensuring a smooth and responsive gaming experience, which is great for competitive gamers. It's compatible with Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+, so content looks its best no matter its form. Like the Sony TV, it supports advanced DTS audio formats, allowing for the best sound when watching physical media. Overall, it's an amazing bang for the buck.

    See our review

  3. Best Budget LED TV

    Current Deal: The Hisense U6/U6N 55" has dropped in price by $250 at amazon.com.

    The best LCD TV we've tested in the budget category is the Hisense U6/U6N. It has a very effective local dimming feature for a budget model, delivering deep blacks in a dark room. The TV isn't nearly as bright as the Hisense U8/U8N, but it still has very good SDR brightness and good enough reflection handling to fight some glare in a well-lit room. It supports a wide color gamut, so colors in HDR content are vibrant and lifelike. Another standout feature of the TV is its support for HDR10+, Dolby Vision HDR, and DTS audio formats. The TV's upscaling is on par with the U8N's, but unfortunately, its low-quality content smoothing is a lot worse.

    The TV has an excellent response time, so there's not too much blur behind fast motion, and you get a responsive gaming experience due to its incredibly low input lag. Although the TV doesn't have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and 4k @ 120Hz support, it still supports up to 1440p @ 120Hz for those who prefer a higher frame rate over resolution. Unfortunately, the TV's VRR feature is limited to 60Hz, so you can't game in 120 fps with VRR active.

    See our review

  4. Best Cheap LED TV

    The best cheap LED TV is the Hisense A7N. It's just as colorful as the Hisense U6/U6N, so it delivers vibrant colors with impact. It also delivers decent dark room performance, but it lacks local dimming, so you don't get the same deep blacks as you do from other TVs on this list. It can't get bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room, although it does well in a moderately lit room with its good reflection handling. HDR content looks acceptable, with visually appealing saturated colors, but it's not bright enough to make most highlights stand out.

    Unfortunately, its low-quality content smoothing isn't very good at all. On the other hand, it has the same upscaling capabilities as the more expensive Hisense models, and it still supports HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and DTS audio formats, which is great for a TV this affordable. This model offers gamers a few features: a good response time, extremely low input lag, and VRR support. However, you are limited to a 60Hz refresh rate across all resolutions.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED: The Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED is a great TV and a competitor to the Sony BRAVIA 9. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports and has lower input lag than the Sony, but the Sony has it beat in most other ways. The Sony displays blacks that are approaching OLED territory, is more accurate, and has better image processing. See our review
  • TCL QM8/QM851G QLED: The TCL QM8/QM851G QLED is an alternative to the Hisense U8/U8N. It's a seriously bright TV that will light up any living room and is well-priced. Unfortunately, it has worse contrast, accuracy, and reflection handling than the Hisense, making the Hisense the better option for most people. See our review
  • Hisense U7N [U7, U75N]:

    The Hisense U7N is a good alternative to the Hisense U8/U8N if you need something cheaper without sacrificing features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 144Hz, and VRR. The TV has great overall picture quality, but it's not as bright as the U8N, and its contrast isn't nearly as good either, so you don't get the same level of picture quality as you do on the more expensive model.

    See our review
  • TCL Q6/Q651G QLED: The TCL Q6/Q651G QLED is a decent TV from TCL and directly competes with the Hisense U6/U6N. The Hisense is brighter and displays significantly deeper blacks, so it provides better overall picture quality. However, the TCL is the slightly better gaming TV because it outputs up to 1440p @ 120Hz, with a wide VRR range on all sizes except the 43-inch and the 50-inch models. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Feb 27, 2025:

    Added a link to our 2025 Lineup page and confirmed the accuracy of our current picks.

  2. Dec 06, 2024:

    We changed some text throughout the article for clarity.

  3. Sep 11, 2024: Replaced the Hisense U6/U6K and the Hisense U8/U8K with their 2024 successors in the 'Best Budget LED TV' and the 'Best Mid-Range LED TV' categories. We also refreshed the notable mentions section to bring it up to date.

  4. Jun 14, 2024: Replaced the Sony X93L/X93CL with the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED as our new pick for the 'Best LED TV.' We also moved the Sony X93L/X93CL and added the Sony BRAVIA 7 QLED to the Notable Mentions section, and updated text throughout the article for accuracy.

  5. Apr 11, 2024: Added mention of the 2024 Hisense U6N and Hisense U8N in the 'Best Budget LED TV' and 'Best Mid-Range LED TV' categories. We also updated the text in the introduction for accuracy.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best LED televisions to buy 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 LED 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.

Comments

  1. Recommendation

Best LED TVs: Main Discussion

What do you think of our picks? Let us know below.


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    Your form is focused on green tint. I have pink tint on the left side, on my Panasonic JZ1500 from 2021/2022. To me all tinting are probably similarly undesirable. I just saw a report of “green on the right” on www.avsforum.com, which made me smile. It’s like the correction of “pink on the left” results in “green on the right”. And fyi, my panel was replaced around April 2022. The replacement panel was 100% similar to the original, with very much the same flaw (pink on the left). To this day, I still have a love/hate relationship with this TV, because the flaw is often noticeable on “real” content.

    Edited 1 month ago: clarification, replaced "geen on the side" with "green on the right", if memory serves...
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    When I switched from an iPhone SE to XS, this is the first thing I noticed. The viewing angles of OLED are always praised so I was very surprised when I shifted it off angle, that there was a green tint that got progressively worse. The IPS LCD of the iPhone does not have that, so had neither of all the other IPS LCD iPhones I owned. Only thing that got worse off angle with IPS is blacks (obviously not the case with OLED because the contrast is infinite so it can’t get worse), but colors are virtually perfect in comparison, Second thing I noticed was the black smear, like in settings in dark mode. It was extremely irritating because I never saw something like it, but it‘s a limit of the technology. What I notice now more than the contrast when using an LCD iPhone is the slower response time. My conclusion for phones:

    OLED

    • almost instant response time
    • perfect black

    IPS LCD

    • perfect off-angle color
    • no black smear

    However, IPS is still significantly cheaper so it is a great option for budget constrained devices. It also means a higher refresh rate is possible at the same price, and screen replacements are cheaper.

    For phones it‘s a toss up for me at this point, though the response times of OLED makes faster usage better so in high end phones I’d say a slight preference for OLED. For TVs, I prefer IPS LCD at this point because no burn in over the longer usage times (not just 2-5 years but ideally 7-10 or more years), significantly brighter thanks to Mini-LED (not possible on phone), and price is a much bigger factor (phone displays range from like $20-200, TVs range from $100 to tens/hundreds of thousands, and bigger sizes are significantly more expensive whereas phone screens are big 6.7 inch now even on $80 phones). And slower response time is not quite as limiting for TV usage except for gaming.