After the best 40-inch TV for your home? Here are the top mid-sized contenders to consider in 2021.<\/b>
\nAfter the best 40-inch TVs? If you have a tight budget or don\u2019t have the space for an enormous 65-inch TV then you might want to consider a 40-inch screen instead. They might not sound as impressive as larger options, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should underestimate them \u2013 especially if you\u2019re looking at the best 40-inch TVs you can buy in 2021. For one, you\u2019ll still be dazzled by 4K resolution and HDR compatibility to give you impressive picture quality, and smart TV integration will ensure you can access a wide range of content options to enjoy. You\u2019ll also be able to hook up all your game consoles, Blu-ray players, and streaming boxes to get even more out of the 40-inch TV. All of that will not only come at a more budget-friendly price compared with larger screens, but you also won\u2019t have to worry about the display dominating your living room space.40-inch TVs are the perfect size for secondary TVs in bedrooms or the kitchen where getting the best home cinema experience might not be your primary concern. Unfortunately, you might have to miss out on a few stand-out features. Right now you won\u2019t be able to snag a 40-inch TV that uses OLED, and most brands\u2019 flagship models with the latest and greatest tech won\u2019t come in a size this small. We have heard rumors that might change though, with 42-inch OLED screens potentially on their way soon, but for now, your options may be a little limited. That said, you can still find some great 40-inch displays out there. We\u2019ve rounded up the best 40-inch TVs that we\u2019ve reviewed on our site \u2013 including 42-inch and 43-inch models. You\u2019ll also find some additional tips about what to look for and how important picking the right TV size really is. This UK exclusive Samsung AU7100 UHD Smart TV is possibly the best 40-inch TV we\u2019ve reviewed thanks to its perfect pairing of great features and bargain price. For just \u00a3449 for the 43-inch variant of the TV, you\u2019ll get a 4K screen that delivers great color differentiation with little to no noise. You won\u2019t just get a great picture quality, but a brilliant OS too with Tizen \u2013 Samsung\u2019s own Smart TV OS and one of the best around, thanks to an easy-to-navigate design and customization. The contrast between lights and darks can suffer thanks to the screen not being quite bright enough to push highlights, and audio performance is a bit of an afterthought (though it offers Q Symphony Lite for improved soundbar support). You\u2019ll also lose out on some multi-HDR support, so while you will get HLG, HDR10, and HDR10+ dynamic metadata you\u2019ll miss out on Dolby Vision (though this is true of all Samsung TVs). None of the issues are significant enough to be a deal-breaker at this price (and the TV still performs incredibly well) but you might notice a steep picture improvement on larger and more expensive models. Read our full Samsung AU7100 review Looking for the best 40-inch TV? Look no further than the Q60T. The Samsung Q60T QLED occupies an important spot in Samsung\u2019s TV lineup, being the cheapest of the brand\u2019s QLED sets \u2013 and therefore, effectively, the worst best Samsung TV released last year. The main draw here is the price, with the Q60T starting at just $529 \/ \u00a3599 for the smallest 43-inch size (or AU$1,495 for a 55-inch model \u2013 you\u2019ll find a full breakdown of the screen size\/price options below). That\u2019s a fraction of the cost of Samsung\u2019s Q95T 4K QLED or flagship Q950TS 8K, and will no doubt ensure that the Q60T finds its way into more homes than its premium siblings. You\u2019re getting a drop in processing power compared to the Q60R, with a Quantum Processor Lite chip instead of the Quantum Processor 4K used in most QLED models. Edge lighting, too \u2013 a lighting system that illuminates the picture from the sides rather than behind the panel \u2013 is a cheap way to light up a set\u2019s images, but means there are issues with consistency of brightness, off-axis viewing, and the strength of HDR objects. This isn\u2019t a true HDR set, then, and you\u2019re also going to have to swallow some mild motion blur in exchange for the Q60T\u2019s low price. Upscaling HD pictures to 4K is a strength of Samsung\u2019s, though, and for the price you’re still getting a capable mid-spec set. Just keep an eye out for our review of this year’s Samsung Q60A, too. Read the full review: Samsung Q60T QLED The best 40-inch TV? That accolade should really go to the Panasonic HX800. You won’t get it in the US, which means it drops a little in this guide \u2013 though for anyone in the UK, Europe, Australia or Canada it should be your first port of call. As the successor to the GX800 \u2013 which topped this list the year before \u2013 the HX800 continues everything that made us fall in love with Panasonic’s mid-range LCD offering in the first place, with a sweet spot of price, performance, and functionality all in one. Panasonic gets a lot of goodwill by offering multi-HDR support \u2013 throwing in HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG in a single set \u2013 and is also unique in how this support is implemented across so much of its TV range. As a mid-range LCD, it’s incredible that Panasonic ensures it has the same format support as higher-end OLED TVs like the new HZ1000 and HZ1500. Add to that Panasonic’s HCX processor, with filmic images and smooth action far beyond what we’d hope for at this price point, and you have a clear winner for the best 40-inch TV. Despite a bare-bones operating system, there’s really very little to complain about. You’ll find the 40-inch model retailing at \u00a3799 at the time of writing, with a larger 58-inch model costing just \u00a3999 too. Read our full Panasonic HX800 TV review If you’re after a Samsung TV that won’t cost the earth, look no further than the TU8000 series. This mid-range LCD comes in a compact 43-inch size for just \u00a3429 \/ $350 \/ AU$949. It’s a solid performer, with Samsung’s characteristically good upscaling, and solid motion handling too. You’ll find a crisp 4K picture here, as well as support for HDR10+ dynamic HDR. It’s a great choice for gamers, too, with just 9.7 ms input lag \u2013 which is pretty astonishing for the price. You’re not getting all of the gaming technologies of some other sets in this list, as HDMI 2.1, VRR (variable refresh rate), or a 120Hz panel \u2013 but for the everyday gamer, this is a set that gets the basics very right. This is an edge-lit set, meaning brightness isn’t as consistent (or high) as on some higher-end QLED TVs. The lack of wide color gamut too, combined with middling brightness, means this isn’t the best TV for HDR either \u2013 and those after a real step up in performance should look at the Q80T QLED instead. But for a solid mid-range LCD set, you could do a lot worse than the TU8000. Read the full review: Samsung TU8000 The TCL 4-Series isn’t as exciting as the company’s 6-Series QLED with Mini LED, but it’s surprisingly good value at around $200, and a solid choice in our best TCL TV guide. The 4-Series is available in two different variations based on its smart platform \u2013 either Roku TV or Android TV \u2013 however, we strongly recommend opting for the Roku model for its smoother performance, usability and security. Disappointingly, the 4-Series doesn’t have all the latest specs (no HDMI 2.1, VRR, ALLM, etc…) but it does support HDR10 and HLG forms of HDR, has a built in 802.11ac wireless antenna and has one HDMI port with ARC, which is great for folks who want to cut down on the number of remotes in their house. It’s not the best TCL TV on the planet, but if you’re limited to a 40-inch TV and want to have hundreds of streaming channels at your fingertips, the TCL 4-Series Roku TV is a smart bet and a very good value. Read more: TCL TV guide The V- in the Vizio V-Series TVs has always stood for \u2018value\u2019, but you could easily argue that it should stand for \u2018versatile\u2019 instead, as it\u2019s one of the most feature-rich TVs in the budget category. With support for HDR (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG) plus Chromecast built-in and AirPlay, the V-Series is a veritable swiss army knife of budget TVs. Unfortunately, despite all these technologies, the V-Series is still a pretty budget-oriented set and its picture is only fair \u2013 contrast isn\u2019t off-the-charts and its color saturation could use some work, too. Its biggest issue is that of awful off-axis viewing (more than 45 degrees) that turns what is a fine and acceptable picture to a really desaturated mess. If you can stay perfectly in front of it, don\u2019t mind less-than-stellar image quality and can deal with a few issues in speed and performance, however, it\u2019s an affordable TV series that packs in a lot of the technology that makes the top TVs from LG and Samsung the best in the world. Read the full review: Vizio V-Series (2020) This low-price Hisense TV may be the best way to save some pennies on a new 43-inch TV, though you will have to settle for some compromises. This is a great value television, and the Roku TV platform elevates what it might have been, with a sleek interface and well-organised tile icons, alongside broad app support. As a 4K HDR TV, though, it generally fares best with high-resolution sources, and SD or HD can struggle to look nearly as good on its Ultra HD screen. Motion issues as well as some very poor audio keep this from being higher up in the list, and these problems need to be kept in mind. If you want a cheap TV, though, and aren’t put off by some scratchy audio or bungled upscaling, this could be a smart way to watch 4K content on a budget. Read our full review: Hisense A7200G Roku TV It’s worth remembering that 40-inch screens, while once the pinnacle of high-end TV tech, is now a pretty small size compared to what’s out there. These days,55-inch 4K TVs are standard, with 65-inch 4K TVs quickly growing in popularity. Manufacturers can make bigger screens than ever before, and shoppers are cottoning on to how big TVs can actually get. A 40-inch TV should come with 4K resolution, but you’ll be able to see the benefits more clearly on a larger size. A 40-inch TV is a pretty decent size for a single viewer not sitting too far away, too, but for a family or group of flatmates it’s less than ideal. So don’t sell yourself short: definitely do the work of measuring how big a TV you can fit into your intended space, and think over how big a TV you’re willing to bring into your home. (To get the best of both worlds, with a small product that offers a massive picture, you might want to consider one of the best projectors too.) For ease, we’ve included 40-inch TVs as well as the best 42-inch TVs in this guide. You’ll occasionally even get screens listed as 43-inch TVs, but they all sit around roughly the same measurements. Of course, many things affect the size and scale of a TV screen beyond simply the diagonal length of the panel, including the width of the bezel (the black strip around the screen’s edges), built-in speakers, HDMI inputs and connections, as well as the depth of the casing (which often varies in different places). We could well be seeing in a resurgence in 42-inch TVs, though, with panel-maker LG Display confirming that 42-inch OLEDs are in development. We’re yet to hear about any specific timelines, models, or price points, but this compact panel size could result in the lowest OLED TV launch price we’ve ever seen \u2013 and the smart money says we could see these screens start to emerge as soon as 2022. Unsure of how to choose? It may be worth going over what we look for when we’re reviewing and recommending TVs here on TechRadar. Ultra HD vs Full HD: That you can\u2019t see a difference between Full HD and Ultra HD on a screen smaller than 55 inches is a common misconception. If you take your time and really look at a picture \u2013 especially if that picture is using High Dynamic Range \u2013 you will see a difference. We recommend picking a TV with 4K Ultra-HD and HDR if you can find one. They\u2019re not the standard at this screen size, as the cost can outweigh the benefits for someone shopping for an ultra-cheap TV, but if you’re serious about video,4K is vital. Operating system: 40-inch TVs didn’t always come with a smart TV operating system in the past. These dumb TVs were incredibly cheap to make, and therefore cheap to buy, too. But there was a problem: as Netflix and YouTube became more and more popular, people wanted to stream those services on their TV without resorting to a streaming video device like a Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick or Chromecast. These days, it’s fairly easy to find good a good interface on a 40-inch TV. All but the most bare-bones of screens will have them. What you’re looking for, ideally, is a well-maintained operating system like Roku TV, LG’s webOS or Samsung’s Tizen operating system. If you go with a TV that uses a proprietary operating system (basically an operating system exclusive to that one TV) you might have some serious issues down the road. Inputs and outputs: Connections seem boring, but trust us \u2013 this is something most folks don’t think about until they bring the TV home and get it all connected, only to realize their great new TV only has one HDMI port. Having multiple HDMI ports (along with options for optical audio out and RCA connectors) allow you to connect most \u2013 if not all \u2013 of your devices. This will save you time in the long run as you won’t have to get up and switch the cables around any time you want to change the input.<\/p>\n