Best Smart TV of 2024
Last Updated on March 24, 2024 by Darron Dennis
You have been longing to buy that smart TV of your choice, but you never knew which one to go for, well you have come to the right place, this post is aimed at providing you with options on the best smart TV of your choice.
A smart TV makes it easy to stream movies and shows, and newer models offer voice control and smart home integration. But there are some risks, too. Nearly every TV on the market calls itself smart. But what is a smart TV and how smart are they? What do they offer, and how does it vary from one brand or model to the next?
Is a smart TV really better than a dedicated streaming device? What about privacy concerns? And which is the smartest? We’ve got the answers to all your most frequently asked questions about smart TVs.
- What is a smart TV?
A Smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features that allow users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TV is a technological convergence of computers, television sets, and set-top boxes. Besides the traditional functions of television sets and set-top boxes provided through traditional broadcasting media, these devices can also provide Internet TV, online interactive media, over-the-top content (OTT), as well as on-demand streaming media, and home networking access
While regular TVs have been around for decades, these so-called “dumb TVs” only do one thing: Receive signals from an HDTV antenna, cable, or another A/V source. That was great when those were your only TV viewing options, but today’s connected world expects something a little smarter.
Smart TVs, much like smartphones and smart home devices, offer internet connectivity and support for a range of apps. This opens up a world of new entertainment options, from streaming video on Netflix and Hulu to playing games, checking social media, and controlling a whole house full of connected gadgets, including the best Alexa compatible devices and best Google Home compatible devices.
There is no standard operating system or interface for smart TVs. Nearly every smart TV maker uses different software and a different graphical presentation. Some companies use a variety of operating systems and interfaces depending on the model.
Most smart TVs support such popular streaming services as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Pandora. However, some sets offer only a handful of apps that rarely change, while other models deliver several screens of offerings, ranging from MLB to Facebook to Stitcher. As smart TVs have become more prominent, the number of dedicated streaming apps has also grown, with apps like PlutoTV offering live news and streaming shows and movies for free. The lower-priced models of some manufacturers offer only the most popular apps, while higher-priced sets provide a complete array of services.
Now that we have answered the question, what a smart TV is, let’s the go-ahead to why you need a smart Tv in your home. Smart TVs enable you to stream videos, surf the net. Smart TVs do offer other potential advantages. The newest sets have added popular voice assistants to the mix. Voice search now lets you find content from live TV as well as streaming services and adds search for everything from weather and stock prices to looking up the latest celebrity gossip. The voice integration lets you access other services from your couch, letting you order a pizza or summon an Uber in comfort. And if you don’t like the TV’s built-in voice assistant, you can usually pair it with the smart speaker of your choice.
These new features also let you control smart home devices like connected lights and thermostats, view feeds from your Nest camera or Ring doorbell, or control your robot vacuum. As voice assistants continue to evolve, you can expect to see the same improvements come to current smart TVs via software and firmware updates.
Because these TVs tend to have beefier processors than regular sets, as well as online connections, manufacturers can add other features, such as casual games, which are now quite common on smart sets. The games are nowhere near as sophisticated or as compelling as those available on a PlayStation or Xbox console, but they can be addictive.
Many sets also let you mirror or share pictures and video from a connected smartphone on their big screens. Most manufacturers rely on proprietary apps to offer a more curated experience when sharing media, while others rely on third-party solutions like Google Chromecast. In either case, sharing the videos and photos from your phone or tablet has never been easier.
Table of Contents
Buyers guide:
While searching for a smart Tv, there are things to look out for, and consider, before purchasing one of your choices. This point to look out for are;
- Don’t buy a TV with less than 4K resolution. Avoid full HD or 1080p sets.
- Choose your price range.
- You can skip 8K TVs (for now). 8K TVs are super expensive, and 8K movies and shows aren’t available yet.
- Expect to pay about $500 for a good 55-inch 4K TV. And at least $900 for a 65-inch model.
- Don’t buy a TV with less than a 120 Hz refresh rate. This is important for smooth motion.
- Look for an HDR-compatible set: This offers more realistic colors and better contrast.
- Choose OLED or LED. OLED TVs look much better than most LCD sets: But QLED TVs from Samsung, Vizio, and TCL is an affordable middle ground.
LED veiwing Angle 1
OLED Veiwing Angle
- Look for at least four HDMI ports. And opt for the newer HDMI 2.1 format if you can.
- Plan to buy a soundbar. TV speakers are worse nowadays because the screens are thinner.
- Avoid extended warranties. Your credit card company may already provide purchase protection
- Bigger is better. Always. “I wish I bought a smaller TV,” said no one ever. (Bigger + 4K these days = spectacular. Jaw-dropping. Wow.)
- Upgrade your HDMI cable. It’s all about the plumbing, and the extra $30/40 bucks are more than worth it. Get an HDMI cable worthy of your TV investment and see every single pixel replicated in glorious form.
- Upgrade the sound. Audio is more than half the experience, and your TV’s built-in speakers aren’t up to the task. (In fact, they were actually better years ago.)
- Choose a trusted brand. We have a reputation for testing and vetting brands. In short, we put them all through the wringer. What TV brand is the best? Three clearly rise above LG, Sony, and Samsung, and you can’t go wrong with any of them.
- Buy your new TV from an authorized dealer. You get the manufacturer’s warranty, service, and support. (In our case, guaranteed support even long after the sale. Not to brag, but we did take #2 in Customer Service by USA Today. Just saying.’)
Without further ado, we would move into the main topic, the best 10 smart TVs out there:
| NAME | FEATURES | WHERE TO BUY |
LG C9 OLED TV
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GET IT NOW |
Vizio M Series Quantum
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GET IT NOW |
Sony Master Series A9G OLED TV
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GET IT NOW |
TCL 6-Series 65-inch Roku TV
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GET IT NOW |
Vizio V-Series 50-inch (V505-G9)
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GET IT NOW |
Samsung Q90 QLED TV
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GET IT NOW |
Insignia 43-Inch 4K Fire TV Edition
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GET IT NOW |
Vizio P-Series Quantum X PX65-G1
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GET IT NOW |
Sony X950G 75-inch Android TV
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GET IT NOW |
SunBriteTV Veranda Series
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GET IT NOW |
LG C9 OLED TV
The LG C9 OLED blows us away with impressive picture and sound, a truly smart smart TV experience, and a decidedly sleek design. The LG C9 OLED is an excellent TV. Like all OLED TVs, it delivers outstanding dark room performance, thanks to the perfect inky blacks and perfect black uniformity.
It has an outstanding response time, delivering clear motion with no blur trail, but this does cause stutter when watching movies. This TV also supports HDMI 2.1 on all four ports, although there’s currently little advantage to this, as there are no HDMI 2.1 sources available.
Unfortunately, like all OLED TVs, there’s a possibility of experiencing permanent burn-in, and the brightness of the screen changes depending on the content (ABL), which may bother some people.
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Vizio M Series Quantum
The M-Series Quantum has excellent picture quality for the money, with deep black levels, accurate color and very good 4K HDR performance. Its smart system is phone-friendly, with Google Cast and Apple AirPlay control.
Less HDR punch than some competitors. Poor remote and on-screen smart TV system. Many models named M-Series Quantum won’t perform as well as the one we reviewed.
By bringing quantum dot color to a more affordable price point, the M-Series Quantum breaks new ground among midrange TVs.
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Sony Master Series A9G OLED TV
The Sony Master Series A9G OLED TV is not only an excellent smart TV; it’s also the best-looking, best-sounding TV on the market. The OLED display is superb, with rich color and deep blacks, excellent HDR support, and great overall performance. With an excellent OLED picture, an inspiring sound-from-display audio system and a refined design that extends from the TV cabinet to the remote control, this is one of the best consumer products on the market. It’s high price may make you do a double take, but this is a truly premium 4K smart TV experience.
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TCL 6-Series 65-inch Roku TV
The TCL 6 Series 2019 55R625 / 65R625 is an impressive budget 4k TV with great picture quality. It has a low input lag that’s great for gaming and delivers deep blacks in a dark room thanks to its outstanding contrast ratio, excellent blacks, and good local dimming support. It can get very bright in SDR and displays vivid color with bright highlights when in HDR. It has a fast overall response time and motion looks crisp, but some scenes have some noticeable motion artifacts. Unfortunately, the gray uniformity is just decent and most people will notice some dirty screen effect. Finally, the image degrades when viewed from the side just like with most VA panel TVs.
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Vizio V-Series 50-inch (V505-G9)
The Vizio V-Series 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TV (V505-G9) may not wow you with pristine picture and sound, but it offers pretty great quality for the money, and offers a collection of smart features that feel like a steal.
The Vizio V-Series 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TV (V505-G9) is a smart TV for the budget-conscious, delivering 4K picture and smart functionality for well under. While not advertised as part of Vizio’s SmartCast lineup, it still offers all of the features that make the SmartCast line enticing, like built-in Google Chromecast capability, a selection of locally installed apps, and a dedicated channel of free streaming content.
Besides that, it’s also a pretty good TV, with 4K picture, broad HDR support and a relatively attractive design. Overall, this Vizio is one of the best cheap TVs you can buy.
Go for it. The Vizio V-Series 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TV (V505-G9) is a pretty good TV for a low price and comes with more smart features than you’d expect.
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Samsung Q90 QLED TV
The Samsung Q90 65-inch QLED TV tips the quality scales with an array of technologies that deliver picture quality to compete with OLED, ranging from the quantum-dots that give the QLED its name to a precision backlight with dozens of dimmable zones. Throw in a collection of advanced smart-TV functions, a sleek yet familiar design, and a few exclusive capabilities, and the Samsung Q90 QLED is not only the best TV Samsung has to offer, but the strongest OLED alternative we’ve seen. The Samsung Q90 QLED TV is the top premium 4K LCD on the market, and it’s a great OLED alternative.
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Insignia 43-Inch 4K Fire TV Edition
The Insignia 4K UHD Fire TV Edition is a solid budget smart TV, offering decent picture quality and sound. It’s the best Amazon-powered TV yet. Up until now, it’s been a real shame to see Amazon’s capable, and promising, Fire TV OS held back by less-than-stellar 4K TVs from brands such as Westinghouse and Toshiba. There’s very little to write home about when it comes to the design of this set. Its bezels are slim enough, but it doesn’t try to hide its budget roots, with brushed black plastic the overwhelming theme of the set.
That even follows down to the feet, which are also chunky and cumbersome. They do, at least, sit perpendicular to the display instead of at an awkward angle, which so many budget TV brands prefer. A small victory, but at this price, it’s one we’ll celebrate.
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Vizio P-Series Quantum X PX65-G1
The PX65-G1 is strikingly minimal, with a bezel-free design that frames the active screen with a scant quarter inch of black, flush glass border before transitioning into a textured chrome band that runs along the edge of the TV. The only distinguishing marks are a small, metallic Vizio logo on the lower right corner of the screen, near a small protrusion that holds the infrared remote sensor. The screen sits on widely spaced, curved chrome legs.
All ports are on the right side of the back of the TV, split between facing right and facing down. Two HDMI ports, RCA component video inputs, and a USB port face right positioned for easy access. Three more HDMI ports, optical and RCA stereo audio outputs, a cable/antenna connector, and an Ethernet port face downward.
The positioning of the component video inputs is odd; the RCA ports take up a lot of space, and you’re less likely to connect a legacy device that uses them than an HDMI device. It would have made more sense to have four (or all five) HDMI inputs facing the side and the component video ports facing down, but it’s a minor complaint. Power, Input, and Volume Up/Down buttons also sit on the back of the TV, near the bottom right corner.
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Sony X950G 75-inch Android TV
With the solid picture and audio performance, the refinements to the Android experience and remote control, and a wealth of features, the Sony X950G is simply a really good smart TV. The 75–inch version is expensive, but no more so than the 75–inch version of Samsung’s Q9FN QLED TV. There’s plenty to talk about here, but just in case you’re in a rush, here’s the bottom line.
The Sony X950G is an outstanding LED TV, especially worthy of consideration if technically accurate picture quality is of paramount concern. What’s more, the X950G is a bit more attainable than its OLED cousins, the Sony A9G and A8G, bringing Sony’s outstanding picture processing to more home theater rooms and living rooms.
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SunBriteTV Veranda Series
It’s a good general rule to not leave your television outside. TVs are delicate devices that won’t work if they get too hot, too cold, or too wet (or, really, wet at all). If you have dreams of a deck, patio, or porch where you can watch your favorite shows on a big screen, you’ll need to look for some special equipment unless you want to shlep it indoors whenever you don’t use it. That’s where SunBriteTV comes in.
As an outdoor TV, the SB-4374 is designed to handle harsh weather on your deck or patio, not make any kind of style statement. Even with the SunbriteTV logo in the middle of the bottom bezel, you could easily mistake the TV for a commercial digital signage display rather than something for your home. It’s well over three inches deep, with flat, inch-wide black metal bezels only slightly darker and more glossy than the completely metal back plate.
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Conclusion
From our review of the best Smart TV out there, we have chosen the SunBrite TV Veranda Series, it does all you want from a smart TV, not only that, it does it perfectly. Though it is a little bit on the high side, if you do spend on this TV, you are sure to get value for your money