19 Best TVs of 2025, Tested by Our Experts
These 4K sets from Hisense, LG, Roku, Samsung, Sony, and TCL deliver great picture quality
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With many holiday-season deals continuing, this is one of the best times of the year to get a new big-screen TV, with screens 65 inches and larger becoming more common—and less expensive—than just a year ago.
But prices can vary widely right now, depending on everything from promotions to inventories. In addition to 2024 sets, many of which are at their lowest prices so far this year, you’ll find a fair number of leftover 2023 TVs for sale. Many of these older TVs can deliver top-notch picture quality, so it’s worth considering them.
Best TVs Overall
You can’t go wrong with any of these top-performing TVs. They offer top-notch overall picture quality, a great high dynamic range (HDR) experience, and either very good or excellent sound. Even models with slightly lower Overall Scores still have top picture quality and high dynamic range scores, but they may have earned lower marks in areas such as viewing angle or sound quality. (You can improve the sound on almost any TV by adding a soundbar.)
Best 65-Inch TVs for Under $1,000
The best TVs tend to be pricey, but there are some really good performers that cost less than $1,000. The eight models listed below prove that point. All deliver very good to excellent overall picture quality, and half can deliver a satisfying HDR experience. The list is a mix of 2023 sets and 2024 models. All of the leftover models offer a great viewing experience at a more modest price.
LCD TVs vs. OLED TVs
Before you decide on a new set, it pays to understand the two basic technologies used in today’s televisions. LCD TVs (also called LED TVs) have LED backlights that illuminate the screen, while in OLED TVs, each pixel generates its own light.
OLED sets do a great job of displaying the blackest parts of an image, so the deepest shadows can really look black, as in real life, rather than gray. OLED TVs also have essentially unlimited viewing angles, so the picture still looks great even if you’re not viewing the screen head-on.
In 2022, Samsung and Sony introduced a new type of OLED TV, called QD-OLED, that can produce a brighter overall image than older OLED sets. Now LG, which uses a different type of OLED, called WOLED, is using another newer technology, called MLA (microlens array), in its flagship G-series set. MLA uses millions of tiny mirrors to boost brightness in its best WOLED models.
But most TVs are LCD sets. While they generally can’t deliver OLED-like black levels, they get better every year, especially models that use full-array backlights, where the LEDs are spread across the entire rear panel instead of just along the edges. These models include a feature called local dimming, which divides the backlights into zones that can be dimmed or illuminated separately, depending on the scene. This can help improve black levels.
Some newer sets have Mini LED backlights, which use a large number of even smaller LEDs that can be divided into more zones and locally dimmed. We’ve found that Mini LEDs can help improve contrast and black levels, and reduce halos around the edges of bright objects displayed against a dark background.
Typically, only pricier TVs have full-array backlights with local dimming. Other sets are edge-lit, with the LEDs positioned on the sides of the screen. Some of these sets also include local dimming, but it tends to be less effective than in sets with full-array backlights. The best LCD TVs can create very bright, vivid images.
How CR Tests TVs
The CR television lab tests and rates hundreds of new models each year.
The TV test team at Consumer Reports puts every TV through a battery of tests in our TV labs. We first set up each TV and carefully note all of its key features, such as resolution, the number of HDMI inputs, and support for streaming services and voice-enabled digital assistants. We then set up the TV for optimal performance using the set’s built-in presets and picture controls, just like you would. We use objective tests and measurements, as well as real-world video clips and subjective evaluations, to determine picture detail, color accuracy, and contrast, and compare each TV with one of several fully calibrated reference TVs in our labs.
HDR, short for high dynamic range, is now found in a vast majority of midsized to large sets. HDR increases the contrast between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks a TV can produce. To do a good job with HDR video, a TV needs to get bright enough to display brighter, more colorful images with greater contrast and a wider array of colors, much closer to what we see in real life.
For HDR performance, we measure the TV’s peak brightness using a $40,000 Photo Research PR-740 spectroradiometer (also used for fine colors and deep black measurements) and industry-standard and proprietary test patterns. We then evaluate the TV’s HDR performance with very dark and very bright scenes and video clips that feature an extended range of colors.
We evaluate picture quality for clarity, color accuracy, and contrast at various horizontal and vertical viewing angles. Motion-blur tests, done at various speeds, evaluate how well the TV can produce a blur-free image during motion scenes.
Sound quality is evaluated using the TV’s built-in speakers in subjective testing by a trained listening panel, with support from audio test equipment. In our judgments, we listen for the overall quality of sound, depth of bass, effective volume levels, and audible distortion during dialogue, music, and movie soundtracks. (Many TVs have disappointing sound in comparison to their image quality. You can address that by adding a soundbar.)
The versatility score is a measure of a TV’s useful features, including access to streaming services, the ability to work with digital voice assistants, the number of HDMI and USB inputs, and support for various media.
Finally, Consumer Reports also includes data privacy and security scores for all the TVs we test. Now that TVs routinely connect to the internet, data privacy and security have become concerns for consumers.
Consumer Reports evaluates the various ways TV brands collect, use, and share consumer data, how well they protect it, and how transparent they are about their data practices. We encourage TV makers to ship their sets to consumers with the optimal privacy settings turned on by default. You can adjust the settings yourself.
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