Now is the best time of year to shop for a deal on a new smart TV, but which ones are worth it, and which ones should you pass on? We’ve rounded up the best.
If you’re thinking of taking advantage of the best Black Friday deals this year in order to get a new TV, we recommend you start shopping as soon as possible. While there will no doubt be plenty of great Black Friday deals on 4K and 8K TVs, there are two things you should keep in mind: Prices may not get as steeply discounted as they have during previous Black Friday events, and the products that you can buy may come with longer lead-times for shipping if you buy them online. The reason comes down to the ongoing problems with global supply chains, which are affecting everything from major appliances to new cars. Still, supply chain issues aside, this is absolutely the best time of year to get a deal on a new smart TV and we can help you narrow down your choices. We’ve cut through the clutter to help you identify the best TVs for 2021 based on your budget, your home, and how you plan to use a TV — not based on the number of positive reviews a TV gets on Amazon. The LG G1 Gallery Series 4K OLED TV is the best 4K TV you can buy right now in 2021. With its latest-generation LG OLED Evo panel, it delivers the brightest image we’ve ever seen from an OLED TV, and that helps it to trump all of the other models we’ve had a chance to test. As LG’s flagship 4K HDR model, the G1 boasts an enormous number of leading-edge features like full HDMI 2.1 support, plus a host of features that make it a killer gaming TV, like variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low-latency mode (ALLM), Nvidia G-Sync, AMD FreeSync, and HGiG. Plus, there’s no denying that this TV looks stunning when wall-mounted, thanks to its slender profile. The G1 is superb in every way, but it carries a premium price tag, which puts it out of reach for many. But the good news is that many of the best TVs of 2021 are far more affordable. And even if they can’t quite match all of the G1’s attributes, some come very close. Can’t find something you like here? Check out our other TV roundups: Why you should buy this: It does it all and does it beautifully. Who it’s for: Anyone who can afford it. Why we picked the 65-inch LG G1 Gallery Series 4K OLED TV (2021): If you’ve been following our coverage of OLED TVs, and in particular, LG’s OLED TVs, you know that superlatives just come with the territory. We loved the 2020 LG GX OLED, and the new 2021 G1 series is even better. For a few years now, TV reviewers have observed that despite OLED’s incredible black levels, contrast, and color, OLED TVs haven’t been able to match QLED TVs in terms of brightness. The LG G1 Gallery Series goes further than any other OLED TV to address this gap, through a new kind of OLED panel that LG has labeled “OLED Evo.” It’s essentially a tweak of the materials used to produce OLED panels, but it yields visible results. How good is it? “The LG G1 Gallery Series produces the cleanest, most enticing imagery I’ve seen from a TV yet,” our reviewer enthused. That performance is also helped considerably by LG’s latest picture processing tech, quarterbacked by its fourth-generation Alpha 9 AI Processor 4K along with its AI Picture Pro algorithms. While it can sometimes be a little overzealous with motion smoothing unless you intercede, its ability to upscale compressed, non-4K content is the best we’ve ever seen. The G1 is ideal for those who want to wall-mount their TV — it comes with everything you need. But it’s one of the few TVs that doesn’t come with a stand. If you need one, there are two options: A set of feet and a fancier, tripod-based unit, but both are paid extras. With four HDMI 2.1 inputs, the G1 is more than a pretty face — it’s a gamer’s dream. With Nvidia G-Sync, AMD FreeSync, HGiG profile support, variable refresh rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and 4K 120Hz in HDR at full RGB color, this is one of the only TVs in the world that can provide gamers with a big-screen experience that can compare to a dedicated gaming monitor. More TVs LG has also — finally! — updated its good but aging WebOS interface. It’s now thoroughly modern with a clean, task-driven interface and there’s even a dedicated gaming control center for quick access to all of the settings that gamers need. LG’s magic remote has been given a beneficial makeover too, and a clever new “MagicTap” feature that uses NFC to quickly pair your phone to your TV. There’s really only one drawback to the LG G1 Gallery Series: Its price. $3,000 for a 65-inch TV is a lot of money. If you’re wondering about a cheaper option, there is one — LG’s C1 Series OLED TV is superb in every way and is the best OLED TV value for the money. But it can’t quite keep up with the G1 in terms of overall picture quality, so the G1 remains our top pick. Read our in-depth LG G1 4K OLED TV review Why you should buy this: It brings black levels and contrast into OLED territory without the OLED price tag. Who it’s for: Anyone looking for great picture quality at a reasonable price. Why we picked the 65-inch Hisense U7G (2021): We haven’t published our full review of the Hisense U7G yet, but here’s a spoiler: It rocks. As with any great TV, it isn’t just one feature that makes the U7G such a great choice, it’s the full package and the price you’ll pay to get it. But let’s start with the U7G’s biggest asset: Its brightness. Hisense has a history of making TVs that are brighter than the competition (see the U8G below), and the U7G is a case in point. With up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness, you’ll be able to enjoy both standard dynamic range (SDR) and high dynamic range (HDR) content in virtually any lighting conditions your room might have. Brightness without control just leads to washed-out colors and blacks that look more like grays, which is why we like the U7G so much — it uses 90 local dimming zones to keep the dark areas of an image looking nice and inky, so that field of stars from your favorite sci-fi title looks like it’s genuinely in space. It’s easy to take advantage of the U7G’s picture quality. It packs every major flavor of HDR including HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG, giving you tons of compatibility with whatever your favorite streaming service provides. Thanks to its 120Hz native panel refresh rate, this smart TV is also a great gaming TV. With two HDMI 2.1 ports (and another two HDMI 2.0 ports), you can connect your choice of gaming console or PC and get 4K resolution at 120Hz, along with variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low-latency mode (ALLM), and support for AMD’s FreeSync VRR technology. When it comes to audio, Dolby Atmos support is available, and you can send that signal to your soundbar or A/V receiver in full,24-bit lossless quality with the U7G’s HDMI eARC connection. Like the U8G, the U7G uses Google’s Android TV operating system, which means you get Chromecast built-in as well as access to Google Assistant. But Hisense has taken this a step further: You can grab the included, backlit remote and press a button to speak your commands, or you can do it hands-free using the TV’s built-in far-field microphones. So is there a downside? Just one: As awesome as the U7G’s picture quality is, that quality can be affected by your viewing position. It’s best to sit directly in front of this TV, as its off-angle viewing is not as good as some of the other TVs on this list. Why you should buy this: Sony’s latest picture processing tech delivers an unmatched movie viewing experience. Who it’s for: Those who seek perfection in movie and TV picture quality and have the money to pay for it. Why we picked the Sony A90J OLED 4K HDR TV: Last year, we declared Sony’s XBR A8H OLED TV as the most cinematic 4K TV, thanks to the subtleties in detail that Sony was able to extract from its OLED panel. This year’s pick, the Bravia A90J Master Series, deserves the title of most cinematic TV for very similar reasons. If you checked out our description of the LG G1 Gallery Series above, you know that it’s LG’s brightest OLED TV to date, thanks to the new LG OLED Evo panel and LG’s picture processor. Well, Sony has always had a way of squeezing even more performance from a given panel than LG, and the A90J exemplifies this capability. Through specialized heat sinks, Sony can run the A90J’s panel longer and harder without damaging the OLED material itself, which leads to an exceptionally bright image — brighter even than the G1. And when you layer on Sony’s latest Cognitive Processor XR — a computer brain that Sony claims works a lot like a human brain — you’ve got what our reviewer described as the “best picture quality I have ever seen […] this TV is now the benchmark, and it’s going to be hard to beat.” Yes, the same reviewer said something similar about the G1, but in fairness, he had not reviewed the A90J yet. The A90J also scores very highly when it comes to sound quality. Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ turns the entire OLED panel into a speaker, while its XR Surround makes that sound feel as though it’s coming from all around you — perfect for virtualized Dolby Atmos without a soundbar. But given that most A90J buyers will be running an A/V receiver for their sound, it’s pretty darn cool that the A90J has its own center channel speaker terminals, which lets you use the TV as a replacement for your existing center channel speaker. With Android TV (and the new Google TV experience) running the user interface, it’s like having a top-notch streaming media device built-in, plus Sony has embedded Apple’s AirPlay and HomeKit in addition to Google’s Chromecast, leaving no stone unturned in terms of wireless device connections. There are really only two drawbacks to the A90J, and one of them may not matter to you at all: There’s no VRR support for now, which gamers should be aware of, as it might affect their favorite games. The other is the price. At $4,000 for the 65-inch model, the A90J is very, very expensive.
