The 4 Best LED LCD TVs - Summer 2024 Reviews

The Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is the best LED TV we've tested. It's an amazing TV for use in a bright room due to its superb SDR brightness and reflection handling, so it easily overcomes glare in a well-lit room. The TV also looks spectacular in a dark room, with exceptional contrast that provides deep blacks and precise local dimming that helps keep blooming to a minimum. Like many Sony TVs, it's a standout option for a home theater due to its image processing, accuracy in both SDR and HDR, and support for Dolby Vision HDR and DTS audio formats. Although the TV's viewing angle is better than a lot of LED TVs, it's still narrow, so it's not a great choice for watching shows or movies with a large group of friends, as anyone seated to the sides of the screen sees a degraded image.

It's also an outstanding TV for gaming with HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, up to 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR support. This makes it fully compatible with the Xbox Series X|S and the PS5, and it's also a good option for pairing with PCs. It also provides a responsive gaming experience due to its incredibly low input lag, and its quick response time provides fast motion with minimal blur behind it. The TV even has good speakers built-in, which is a rarity these days, so it's not a total necessity to pair it with a soundbar or surround sound system. It's only available in a 65-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch model, so it's really only suitable for those looking for bigger screens. Still, it's the best Mini LED TV on the market. If you're specifically looking for a large screen and the 85-inch BRAVIA 9 is too expensive, you could opt for last year's Sony X95L instead, which you can find on sale at some retailers. Its contrast and brightness aren't quite as good, but it's still bright enough for use in a well-lit room and provides deep blacks in a dark room. On top of that, you still get Sony's fantastic image processing and accuracy.

The best mid-range TV we've tested with an LED panel is the Hisense U8/U8K. It's an excellent TV with fantastic 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. It 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 Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED.

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, but if you want to save even more money, consider the step-down Hisense U7K. It's dimmer and has worse contrast than the U8K, but it has the same feature set and is of great value.

The Hisense U8/U8N is also now available and is better than its predecessor in most ways. The TV has a faster response time and better contrast, and it gets brighter than the U8K. Unfortunately, it's not as accurate in SDR or HDR. It's also at its most expensive near-release. Since the U8K is already bright enough for use in almost any bright room, and its contrast is good enough for deep blacks in a dark room, most people are better off buying the cheaper U8K while it's still available and on sale.

The best LCD TV we've tested in the budget category is the Hisense U6/U6K. It has an excellent contrast ratio, so dark scenes look amazing in a dark room, with little blooming around bright areas of the screen. It has a sub-par but functional full array local dimming feature, but there's a bit more blooming than on the Hisense U8/U8K, and it's not nearly as bright. Still, it has alright peak brightness in HDR and good peak brightness in SDR, with decent reflection handling, so glare isn't an issue in a brighter room. It has a wide color gamut, so colors look vibrant and realistic, and it displays HDR content the way the content creator intended. It supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR but doesn't support advanced DTS audio formats.

Unfortunately, its image processing is significantly worse than its more expensive siblings, so there's visible digital noise when watching low-bitrate content from streaming platforms. Still, it's a great TV for gaming, as it has superbly low input lag and variable refresh rate support for a responsive, nearly tear-free gaming experience. Unlike the U8K, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which is disappointing for gamers wanting to take full advantage of their Xbox Series X, PS5, or recent gaming GPU. It's still great for visually intensive games on consoles targeting 4k @ 60Hz in their 'Graphics' mode or for 60 fps PC gaming.

The 2024 Hisense U6N is now available. It promises increased brightness and an improved local dimming feature for better contrast, but it's also more expensive than its predecessor at first. Unless you need those incremental upgrades, you're better off getting the cheaper U6K while it's still available.

If you're shopping on a tight budget, the Roku Select Series is the best widely available cheap LED TV we've tested. It's a decent TV with satisfactory reflection handling to help reduce the appearance of glare in a bright room. It has fewer features than the Hisense U6K, as it doesn't have any form of motion interpolation, lacks a local dimming feature, and has inadequate image processing. It's also not the brightest TV in HDR, but it's decent for watching movies in a dark room with its adequate contrast, great black uniformity, and excellent color and HDR brightness accuracy. Plus, the TV has very good peak brightness in SDR, which results in a pleasant viewing experience in SDR content.

Still, it has a great response time and very low input lag, so it's still a great gaming TV if you don't care about advanced features like VRR or a 120Hz refresh rate. It comes with the great Roku TV smart platform, which is extremely fast, simple, and easy to use, with a great selection of streaming channels. It has a good remote with an integrated microphone for voice commands, or you can also give commands through the Roku companion app on your phone. You can also plug headphones into the remote, a great feature at this price point. If you're a Costco member, you'll instead want to get the much better Hisense A6/A65K, which is brighter and more colorful.