As larger screen sizes have become more affordable over the last few years, 65-inch TVs have emerged as the sweet spot for most people. So if you’re in the market for a new 65-inch TV, here are my top recommendations.
What you need to know about buying a new 65-inch TV
There is too much marketing jargon floating around in the market to confuse even the savvy buyers. But you only need to worry about a few things.
First and foremost, you have to decide the display panel technology you want in your TV. There are two types of TV panels available in the market—OLED and LED-backlit LCD (or simply LED).
OLED panels are known for their superb picture quality. They offer a near-infinite contrast ratio, perfect blacks, and wide viewing angles. But OLED TVs are expensive, don’t get very bright, and can suffer from burn-in.
On the other hand, LCD TVs can get far brighter than OLED TVs, but their brightness levels differ from television to television. They are also relatively affordable, but their prices can range from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Additionally, if an LCD TV has a VA-type panel, it will typically have an excellent contrast ratio but narrow viewing angles. But if the TV is using an IPS-type panel, it will have great viewing angles but a poor contrast ratio. You’ll find both types of panels in the LCD TVs.
To enhance their contrast ratio and black levels, LCD TVs sometimes use full-array local dimming technology. It essentially allows the TV to dim LEDs in darker areas of a scene. The success of local dimming depends on the number of zones and algorithms used by the TV to employ it. If there are very few local dimming zones, it won’t be of much use. But if there are a lot of local dimming zones, the contrast ratio of a TV can significantly improve.
Other technologies associated with LCD TVs include quantum dot tech. It helps TVs purify the colors displayed on the screen. This allows the TVs to produce more accurate colors and cover a broader spectrum of the color space. So, having Quantum Dot technology is always better. The Quantum Dot technology will also make its way to the OLED TVs when Samsung and Sony launch the first QD-OLED or QD Display TVs.
Secondly, if you watch a lot of movies or TV shows, you might want to check the HDR formats supported by a TV. HDR enables content to have more lifelike colors and better contrast than SDR. While every HDR TV has HDR10 support, you have to look for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support. Thanks to Dolby’s efforts, Dolby Vision content is more widely available than HDR10+ content. If you can get both formats, that’s great, but getting Dolby Vision support is good enough.
Lastly, gamers should check for gaming-related features, like low input lag, good response time, support for 4K@120 fps gaming, variable refresh rate (VRR), and auto low latency mode (ALLM).
Best 65-inch TVs
| Best 65-inch TV for Most People | Best 65-inch LCD TV | Best 65-inch Budget TV |
| LG G1 | Samsung QN90A | Hisense U6G |
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Best 65-inch TV for most people: LG G1
LG G1 is the best TV you can buy right now. Although the 65-inch G1 was launched with a price tag of $3,000, it has since been discounted to around $2,400. The G1 is a 4K OLED TV that provides stunning picture quality, thanks to its exceptional contrast ratio and deep blacks.
It’s an excellent TV for dark room viewing. But as LG has included its new OLED evo panel in the TV, it also gets around 20 percent brighter than most other OLED TVs on the market. This helps the TV provide a good experience in moderately-lit rooms. The higher brightness also improves the TV’s HDR performance as it can bring out small highlights.
The LG G1 is very thin and sports the company’s Gallery Design. It’s meant to be mounted on a wall, where it looks like a photo frame. Unfortunately, if you’re planning to put it on a tabletop, LG doesn’t bundle a stand in the box, so you will have to buy one separately.
There is support for Dolby Vision IQ, an updated version of Dolby Vision. It uses ambient lighting conditions to adjust HDR picture quality while keeping the creative intent. It works with all Dolby Vision content. Additionally, the TV supports eARC, and there are four HDMI 2.1 ports onboard.
The G1 is also the best TV for gaming, and it has everything that you can ask for. The TV offers low inputs lag, fast response time, and even packs next-generation gaming features, like VRR, ALLM, and support for 4K@120fps gaming.
If the TV is slightly out of your budget, LG’s C1 is also an excellent option. It is priced around $1,900 and has pretty much the same feature-set as the G1. However, C1’s design is different from G1, and it packs a different OLED panel that doesn’t get as bright as the OLED evo panel.
> Buy the LG G1 from Amazon or Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK
Best 65-inch LCD TV: Samsung QN90A
If you don’t want to deal with the fear of burn-in or plan to put your new TV in a room with a lot of ambient lighting, an LCD TV is a better option than OLED. And you can’t go wrong with the Samsung QN90A, a 4K LCD TV with MiniLED backlighting.
The QN90A packs a VA-type panel that provides a high contrast ratio, which is further improved by the use of full-array local dimming. The TV also gets very bright, and thanks to the quantum dot technology, it delivers exceptionally accurate colors.
Samsung has included its Ultra Viewing Layer technology that improves the otherwise narrow viewing angles and makes them quite decent.
Unfortunately, there is Dolby Vision support, but you do get HDR10+ Adaptive. Like Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive is an updated version of HDR10+. It uses ambient light information to adjust HDR picture quality.
eARC is also present, and thankfully it doesn’t hog the only available HDMI 2.1 port on the TV. As the QN90A has a 120Hz panel, you can game in 4K@120fps. The TV provides low input lag and quick response time. Next-generation gaming features like VRR and ALLM are available as well.
The TV has a premium design that will look great whether you place it on a table or hang it on a wall. It is also very thin and well put together.
The 65-inch Samsung QN90A costs around $2,200, but if you don’t have that high budget, the Hisense U8G is an excellent alternative that is priced under $1,000. Unfortunately, the U8G doesn’t have great viewing angles, and its local dimming performance is slightly inferior to the QN90A.
> Buy Samsung QN90A from Amazon, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK
Best 65-inch budget TV: Hisense U6G
Premium televisions are pretty expensive, and not everyone wants to spend that kind of money on a TV purchase. But that doesn’t mean you have to get sub-par experience. Over the years, the budget TV market has gotten some excellent 4K TVs, and my recommendation for the best 65-inch budget television is one such TV. The Hisense U6G is a fantastic value-for-money 4K LCD TV that uses LED backlighting. Of course, you’ll have to make some sacrifices compared to the G1 and QN90A. But it’s still quite capable.
The Hisense U6G packs a VA-type panel that ensures an excellent contrast ratio, which is further improved by local dimming, but not by a lot as there are just 60 dimming zones. Additionally, Hisense has included a layer of quantum dots to provide lifelike colors and a wide color gamut.
The TV also gets very bright in SDR, but its HDR brightness is average. That said, it’s enough for a decent HDR performance. Speaker of HDR, it supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats.
Unfortunately, it packs next-generation gaming features. But you still get outstandingly low input lag, excellent response time, and ALLM. HDMI 2.1 ports and eARC are also missing. Instead, there are four HDMI 2.0 ports on the TV.
If 4K@120 fps gaming and HDMI 2.1 ports are essential to you, and you can spend a little more and go for the Hisense U7G.
The 65-inch Hisense U6G costs under $700.