Which smart tv

It's a high-end Mini LED model with a ton of features that are great for those watching in dark or bright environments, in wide seating arrangements, or for gaming.

It uses Samsung's Tizen as its operating system, which is user-friendly. The remote has a mic for voice control, and it even has a solar panel on the back so you can recharge it. LED TVs have an advantage over OLEDs because they don't suffer from the risk of permanent burn-in, so you won't have to worry about damaging the screen no matter the content you watch. It doesn't have any trouble displaying p or 4k content, and if you watch shows from a cable box, it displays p content well.

It's a great choice for well-lit rooms because it gets bright enough to combat glare and has fantastic reflection handling. It displays a wide color gamut, has fantastic HDR brightness, and has a VA panel with high contrast for deep blacks. If you prefer something cheaper, then look into the Hisense U8G. It still gets bright and has excellent reflection handling, so visibility shouldn't be an issue in most rooms. Sadly, there are some known issues with motion and red ghosting, but this is more noticeable in Game Mode.

If you're worried about the risk of burn-in and you want the best smart TV with an LED screen, then the Samsung is a great choice. However, if you want something cheaper, look into the Hisense. It's a great, well-rounded budget TV with excellent contrast, outstanding black uniformity, and excellent reflection handling. It runs the Android TV smart interface, which isn't the most user-friendly, but it's fast and has a massive selection of streaming apps. It comes with a large remote with a built-in mic for voice control, and it supports both Alexa and the Google Assistant.

Of course, you want the content you're streaming to look its best, and this TV doesn't disappoint, despite the budget price. It has excellent contrast and outstanding black uniformity, so it looks great in a dark room. Visibility in a bright room isn't an issue, either, as it has excellent reflection handling and great peak brightness in SDR. Sadly, it has just okay peak brightness in HDR, so bright highlights in the latest HDR content don't stand out as well as they should.

It also has relatively narrow viewing angles, so it's not ideal for a wide seating arrangement or if you like to move around with the TV on. If these limitations don't bother you, it's one of the best TVs for streaming that we've tested. It doesn't get as bright as the Hisense U6G , but this is another good entry-level TV, and although it's a model, you can still find it available because TCL has yet to release all of its models.

It's an impressive TV for watching movies because it displays deep blacks, and the local dimming feature is decent. It even removes 24p judder from any source, which is rare for a 60Hz TV and helps with the appearance of motion in movies.

It has great out-of-the-box accuracy and displays a very wide color gamut for HDR, but sadly it doesn't get very bright in HDR, so some highlights may not pop how they should. If you're on a budget and want one of the best smart TVs we've tested, the Hisense gets bright and offers great all-around performance.

The TCL isn't as bright and has worse reflection handling, but it has Roku built-in, making it a good alternative. Nov 05, Refreshed the text throughout, and removed some Notable Mentions that have been discontinued.

A smart TV is a television connected to the internet that provides web-related features. It can be a web browser, but its appeal usually comes from its ability to use online services like Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. If you've ever used something like an Apple TV, a Roku, or a Chromecast, then you are already quite familiar with their capabilities as they're similar.

While they offer the same features, they tend to be a bit slower and less stable. It's has become less of an issue in recent years, but most TVs still don't quite match the speed and reliability of something like a Roku set-top box. Not only does almost every TV include smart features today, but most of them are pretty good.

Don't fret too much about features if you're shopping for a TV since little of your time will be spent using them.

Instead, focus on the picture quality or other features that complement your usage. You'll get much closer to finding your perfect TV that way. Our recommendations are based on what we think are the best TVs for streaming currently available with smart features. They are adapted to be valid for most people in each price range. Rating is based on our review, factoring in price, and feedback from our visitors.

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of all our reviews of smart TVs. Burn-in is when part of an image -- for example a channel logo, news ticker or a scoreboard on a TV -- persists as a ghostly background no matter what else appears onscreen.

The best way to prevent burn-in is to vary what you watch. In any case we don't consider the built-in smart TV system that important because you can always connect a streaming device to any TV. Most TVs sound terrible because their thin cabinets don't have room for decent-size speakers or bass.

If you want to get good sound you should buy an external audio system. Even an inexpensive soundbar will deliver much better audio quality than a TV's built-in speakers. Get CNET's comprehensive coverage of home entertainment tech delivered to your inbox.

Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. CNET editors pick the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. David Katzmaier. Jump to details. Best alternative for tighter budgets: Vizio MQ7. Best cheap TV runner-up: Vizio V-series. Sizes: , , , inch. Sizes: , , , , inch.

Sizes: , , inch. Sizes: , , , , inch Read the Vizio V-Series review. Sizes: , inch. How big a TV should I get? What is the best smart TV system for streaming? Remember, most stores have the TVs at their brightest and most saturated colour settings to get your attention. When the TV is delivered it'll be in standard or normal setting and won't be as bright. According to the TV companies, this technology expands the TVs colour palette, by displaying high levels of contrast between bright and dark colour.

When you buy your TV, ask the sales person if HDR is on by default, or whether you need to activate it. Some brands require you to turn it on for each HDMI port. Manufacturers have stopped making plasma TVs and we don't recommend you invest in one even if you find it for a bargain. They're large, heavy, bulky and can suffer from burning when an image becomes permanently imprinted on the screen.

TV speakers have improved over the years, but they rarely sound as good as a soundbar or anything like a home cinema. So if you want to stick with the speakers in your next TV, listen out for these indicators when when you go shopping in store:. Keep an ear out for brick-walling when you're shopping for a TV.

Retailers love to put on loud, punchy audio because it has an immediate impact that sounds impressive. But loud doesn't always mean good and after a while, you'll find that movies and shows sound rather boring due to the flat audio. Therefore you have different areas of the panel handling specific frequencies, while the case sends out additional vibrations to improve ambience, spread and things like the feel of a subwoofer. Soundbars are a popular option for consumers that want to get better sound from their TV but don't have the interest, budget or time to build a full-blown home cinema.

They're designed to simulate the effects of surround sound setups in a much smaller package that's generally cheaper as well. But like the move from TVs to soundbars, with few exceptions an external speaker setup and a reasonable amplifier will almost always sound better. Soundbars house a number of speakers in the body that's designed to replicate various speaker configurations.

Replicating left, right and centre speakers is easy as the bar sits under your TV in front of you. However, those that claim to create 5. Some include an external subwoofer for better low-end. A few brands also sell small rear speakers that you can connect to the soundbar to allow genuine 5.

Once connected, it will identify the audio type on your Bluray, game, video stream etc and automatically activate the correct configuration, if it's supported. This is the best option for achieving optimal sound, but it can be expensive to do it properly. It can take up a fair bit of space as well. A typical setup requires an amplifier and at least two speakers connected to it for stereo surround. From here, you have the option to buy more speakers and subwoofers for other configurations.

Most modern amps support anything up to 7. Amps can also simulate full surround sound using included software and as little as two speakers.

The results aren't as good as an actual system but they can sound better than most soundbars. Just bear in mind that this takes time and some technical knowledge to set up.

Home cinema systems often come with automatic room configuration gear, but you really need to tweak the settings to get the most out of them. A home cinema can be expensive, but it doesn't have to break the bank. Technology and codecs e. Dolby and DTS don't change all that often, and much of the same tech that was around a decade or more ago is still in use today. Say you only want to set up a 5. A second-hand unit from five or even ten years ago will work and sound just as good unless you're a hardcore audiophile.

Just bear in mind that you won't be able to play 4K video through the amplifier unless it's a recent model. However, you can run one cable into your TV and another into your receiver to split the signal and send 4K video directly to the TV.

Apple TV and AV receivers or computers all need to be connected in one way or another. You'll need to decide the connection type usually HDMI, an all-digital connection for both sound and video in the one cable and count the number of connections you'll need. If you want to connect older equipment, you'll need to buy converters that support classic connectors such as component and S-video the kind of ports you can find on your VHS player.