A 65-inch TV makes a statement. If your television is the centerpiece of your living room space and you want a big screen, it's obviously worth it to spend some extra time choosing the right one for your needs, budget, and home setup. With years of experience as a tech shopping writer, I've gotten to know what makes for a good TV and the types of features you should consider before you choose one. Here are my top picks.
When it comes to the best 65-inch TV for those on a budget, there are a lot of trade-offs to consider, but for most people, the Hisense 65U8QG will be the best 65-inch TV you can buy. This TV has impressive levels of brightness, contrast, and colors for the price. It's also a very good TV for gaming and watching sports, thanks to its 165Hz native refresh rate with VRR and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. It also happens to be one of the brightest TVs you can buy, with 3,200 nits of screen brightness. Sure, it's not an OLED, so you won't get the same blacks or contrasts, but it's cheaper and brighter than most OLEDs. If you can find this TV for under $1,300, you'd be getting a bargain. You can read more about this TV in PCMag's review.
OLED TVs are not for everyone. They're pricey, can suffer from the notorious burn-in, and aren't the brightest TVs in the market, so bright rooms with a lot of natural or artificial light aren't the best fit. But for those who want the best colors and contrast ratio that their money can offer, OLEDs can be incredible. At the moment, the LG Evo G5 is the best OLED you can get right now, if you can afford it. For an OLED, the Evo G5 gets bright, at 1,608 nits (average for an LED). The color accuracy is on point, and it comes with a 165Hz VRR and a 120Hz native refresh rate. You can read more about this deal on PCMag's "outstanding" review.
When it comes to gaming, there are a few important aspects you shouldn't compromise: refresh rate, input lag, HDR, and resolution. The Roku Pro Series 4K TV excels in all of these, plus it's surprisingly affordable at under $600. You'll get 4K resolution, four HDMI inputs (one is the eARC for audio), Wi-Fi 6 and Ethernet, 144Hz refresh rate, and an input lag of 9.4 ms when you use the Game Optimizer mode at 4K HDR. You can read more about this TV in CNET's review.
When it comes to watching sports, many of the important specs to look for are similar to those for playing video games. But while the brightness, refresh rate, and resolution are important, they don't need to be as intense as gaming TVs. The Samsung 65S90D strikes the best balance with a native 120Hz refresh rate, 1,218 nits of brightness, 4K resolution, and great off-angle viewing for big groups. It's no surprise that the best TV for sports would be an OLED, given their incredible contrast and picture quality. You can read more about this TV in CNET's review.
If you're looking for the best 65-inch TV on a budget, the TCL QM7 is it, and you can usually find this Mini-LED TV hovering around the $700 price tag. The QM7 excels in picture and color quality with its 4K resolution and many HDR compatibility features. Its 1,240 local dimming zones are also impressive for a QLED and the price. The 120Hz native resolution and 2,400 peak nits of brightness are incredible. You can read more about this TV in my review here.
When it comes to bright rooms, whether that is through natural light (lucky you) or an abundant amount of poorly placed lights in your home, there are two critical features you need to have a usable TV: brightness and reflection handling. Both are equally important, since even the brightest TVs will have glare if their reflection handling is non-existent. The best TV for most people with bright rooms is the Hisense 65U8N, which also happens to be relatively affordable. The screen features an "Anti-Glare Low Reflection" technology, and the brightness goes up to 3,175 lumens, according to CNET's review. If money is not an issue, though, the Sony Bravia 9 is the best money can buy for bright rooms.
Most people won't notice the difference between an LCD, OLED, or QLED (much less know the difference). And that's okay. All you need is to find a TV that works for what you need and what you can afford. If you're looking for a big TV on a budget, your best bet is a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light-emitting diode (LED) TV. Sure, they might not have the colors or contrast as some others, but they are still great TVs with good resolution for a much more affordable price.
If you're willing to pay a premium for better visuals, then organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs are the way to go. They are much more expensive but offer a more powerful punch at the individual pixel level. You won't see the backlight on black colors you see on LCDs/LEDs, but instead, a perfect black level that makes contrasts and colors stand out more.
Quantum light-emitting diode (QLED) TVs are between the two and are a good option for people willing to splurge a bit more than LCDs/LEDs, but not quite to the level of an OLED. At the end of the day, though, the most important thing is that you get the right TV for your needs. Any of the TVs in this roundup are a great choice.
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