Having a fancy webcam is all well and good, but another thing you might need to seriously upgrade the quality of your video calls and livestreams is a decent key light. It will illuminate your face to help you stand out from the background and help the camera discern your features more clearly. You don’t need to break the bank to get a decent key light either. Logitech’s Litra Beam is currently $10 off at $90. That’s only $5 more than the lowest price we’ve seen for it.

The Litra Beam looks a bit like an LED reading lamp and it would be a fairly stylish addition to many setups. It has a three-way adjustable stand, allowing you to tweak the height, tilt and rotation as needed, while its ability to run on either USB or AC power gives you more placement options.

The device uses TrueSoft tech, which, according to Logitech, provides "balanced, full-spectrum LED light with cinematic color accuracy for a natural, radiant look across all skin tones." A frameless diffuser helps mitigate harsh shadows, according to the company. 

You'll be able to adjust the Litra Beam's brightness, color temperature, presets and other settings through the Logitech G Hub desktop app, which also allows you to manage multiple lights at once. In addition, the key light has five physical buttons on the rear for quick switching between brightness and color temperature settings.

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These days, the best gaming TVs are really no different from the best TVs you can buy in general. That said, there are a few key features to keep in mind when looking for a set to get the most out of your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S. No, you don’t need a fancy TV to simply enjoy a video game, but a good screen can only make the experience more enjoyable. If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve laid out some helpful advice for buying a good gaming TV and noted a few well-reviewed examples you can buy today, at various price points.

What to look for in a gaming TV

Whether you use it for gaming or not, all good TVs are built on the same foundations. You want a 4K resolution, sufficient brightness, high contrast ratios with deep and uniform black tones, colors that find the right balance between accuracy and saturation, and wide viewing angles. For video games specifically, you want a TV with minimal input lag and fast motion response, with no blur or other unwanted artifacts behind quick-moving objects. Of course, finding a set that has all of these gaming features and fits into your budget can be tricky.

For now, a top OLED TV will offer the best picture quality for gaming or otherwise. But good OLED TVs usually cost more than their LCD counterparts, and some OLED sets may not get bright enough for those who have their TV set in a particularly well-lit room. If you opt for an LCD TV, an advanced backlight with mini LEDs and effective full-array local dimming will usually improve contrast and lighting detail, while a quantum dot filter can enhance colors.

One thing you don’t need to worry about is 8K support. Although the PS5 and Xbox Series X are technically capable of outputting 8K video, very few games are made for that resolution, and 8K’s practical benefits are extremely minimal unless you plan on sitting unreasonably close to a massive TV. The few 8K TVs on the market are also very expensive.

All that said, there are a few terms you should particularly look out for when buying a TV for your new game console or high-end graphics card.

HDMI 2.1

To get the most out of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, your TV should have full HDMI 2.1 support. This is the latest major update to the HDMI spec, enabling a higher maximum bandwidth — 48 gigabits per second, up from HDMI 2.0’s 18 Gbps — and a handful of features that are beneficial for gaming performance specifically. These include variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM), which we detail further below.

Beyond that, perhaps the chief perk of HDMI 2.1 is its ability to transmit sharp 4K video up to a 120Hz refresh rate with modern consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, or up to 144Hz with a powerful gaming PC. Not every PS5 or Xbox Series X/S game supports frame rates that high — and some only do at lower resolutions — but those that do will look and feel especially fluid in motion. HDMI 2.1 also includes support for Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which allows you to pass higher-quality lossless audio from a source device connected to the TV to a compatible soundbar or receiver.

The more full HDMI 2.1 ports your TV has, the better. “Full” is the key word there. As reported by TFT Central, because HDMI 2.1 is backwards compatible with HDMI 2.0, TV and monitor manufacturers have been allowed to brand HDMI ports as “HDMI 2.1” even if they lack full (or any) support for the spec’s upgraded features. We recommend a few TVs below that have true HDMI 2.1 ports, but if you’re buying a new TV for gaming, make sure your chosen set isn’t trying to hide any capabilities you may consider essential.

HDR — High Dynamic Range

HDR refers to a TV's ability to display a wider range between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture. This broader range can bring out details that would otherwise be missing on a standard dynamic range (SDR) TV, in both the very dark and, especially, the very bright areas of an image. HDR typically comes with an improvement to color reproduction as well, displaying a larger palette of more vibrant colors that brings content closer to its creator’s original vision.

To get an HDR picture, you need both content that is mastered to take advantage of the tech and a TV capable of displaying that content. HDR also comes in a variety of formats, which are generally split between those that utilize static metadata (e.g., HDR10) and those that utilize dynamic metadata (e.g., HDR10+, Dolby Vision). In short, the latter allows a TV to optimize its brightness and colors on a per-scene or even per-frame basis, while the former uses one set of optimized settings for the entirety of the given content. Support for these formats can differ depending on the TV, content and game console you use. The Xbox Series X and S, for example, support Dolby Vision for gaming, while the PS5 does not.

The good news is that most TVs you’d buy in 2023 are HDR-ready in some fashion, even on the budget end of the market. The catch is that some TVs are much better at getting the most out of HDR than others. The same goes for actual content mastered in HDR. With video games in particular, there aren’t quite as many titles designed to take advantage of HDR as there are movies (though the number is growing all the time), and the variance in HDR quality tends to be wider.

HGiG — HDR Gaming Interest Group

HGiG stands for the HDR Gaming Interest Group. Sony and Microsoft are both members, as are many TV makers and game developers. What this means is that, ideally, all the groups communicate information so that you can start up a new game on a console or PC and have it automatically recognize your display. Once that happens, the game can adjust the internal settings to adjust for that display's capabilities and give you the best picture quality possible, without losing details in the brightest or darkest areas of the screen. For example, daylight at the end of a dark tunnel may portray a brightly lit environment instead of looking like an overexposed white blob.

This is a good thing, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Not all TVs highlight HGiG compatibility in their settings menu, while only some PlayStation and Xbox games recognize and follow the guidelines. If an HGiG option is listed in your TV's tone mapping settings, you should turn it on prior to running the console's HDR settings. Then, if you're playing a game that supports HDR and HGiG, you should be in good shape without having to adjust the various luminance levels again. Still, how all of this looks to you might differ depending on your TV and the game you’re playing. Owners of certain LG OLED TVs, for instance, may prefer their TV’s Dynamic Tone Mapping setting. Use whatever settings you think look best.

ALLM — Auto Low Latency Mode

ALLM allows a source (like your PS5 or Xbox) to tell the display to switch into a picture mode that reduces lag between receiving each frame of an image and displaying it on the TV. This cuts out additional processing that could be the milliseconds of difference between landing a precise input or not. A good modern TV can automatically switch to game mode, then back out when you'd rather watch a movie or TV show.

VRR — Variable Refresh Rate

VRR will sound familiar if you're a PC gamer. Most players have experienced slowdown, screen tearing or stuttering as a system struggles to render each frame at the target speed, which is most commonly 30 or 60 fps on a TV. With VRR, everything stays in sync: Your display won't show the next frame until it's ready, which can make things feel smoother and more responsive, even if the system fails to deliver on its target frame rate.

There are a few different implementations of VRR available, including Nvidia’s G-Sync, AMD’s FreeSync and the HDMI Forum’s VRR spec, which is part of the full HDMI 2.1 standard. Both a TV and an input device need to support the same VRR tech for it to work, and different devices may only support VRR within a specific refresh rate window. On a 120Hz display, for instance, the PS5’s VRR only works between 48Hz and 120Hz.

As a reminder, the PS5 supports HDMI Forum VRR, the Xbox Series X/S support HDMI Forum VRR and FreeSync, while gaming PCs may support G-Sync or FreeSync depending on whether they use a Nvidia or AMD graphics card. A great gaming TV supports all the big VRR formats, but missing, say, G-Sync, isn’t a killer if you only game on a PS5 or Xbox.

Good gaming TVs you can get right now

The likes of Samsung, LG, TCL, Vizio and Hisense have unveiled new TVs for 2024 but, as of this writing, we’ve only recently started to see the first few of those become available. Details for more new models should be confirmed in the coming weeks. If history is any indication, though, most of those sets are unlikely to be game-changing upgrades over the 2023 models still on sale today, and they'll cost more out of the gate. We'll have to see if there are exceptions, of course: Samsung’s new S95D OLED TV now uses anti-glare technology, for instance, while Hisense promises improved brightness across its new midrange sets. If you want the latest and greatest and are willing to pay more to get it, hold out for a little longer.  

But the TV market is always in motion. Most of the best models from last year have steadily fallen in price since launch, and they should only drop further as manufacturers look to clear out inventory. This means that, in most cases, buying a good 2023 TV should continue to provide the most bang for your buck, at least for the near term. Those are the sets we’ve highlighted with our recommendations below. While we at Engadget do not formally review TVs, we’re confident in our picks after thoroughly researching user feedback and the consensus from other professional review sites we trust, such as Rtings, Wirecutter, Reviewed and PCMag, among others.

Richard Lawler contributed to this report.

Walmart ag ’d have to sell a kidney to afford a giantg 4K TV for the living room. That is no longer true, as television prices continue to decline. Case in point? Vizio just announced a new 86-inch 4K smart TV that costs just $999.

The first thing worth mentioning about the latest member of Vizio’s lineup of 4K televisions is its size. The next-biggest model is 75 inches and that’s already large enough to absolutely take over most spaces. This thing will be like having a Times Square billboard in your living room. That's not a bad thing, particularly for home theater buffs. 

We don’t know how this set will look in action yet, but it does offer a serious batch of features. Vizio says it “boasts the same powerful picture quality as its predecessors”, thanks to the inclusion of Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+. The company also promises the TV can run games at 120 fps once you switch to 1080p. Here’s hoping the product can make good on this claim. Other features include dual-band Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and DTS:X audio.

Walmart agreed to buy Vizio last month for $23 billion, though the deal still faces regulatory approval. The 86-inch 4K TV officially goes on sale April 29 at both brick-and-mortar and digital retailers. 

YouTube TV users are getting a higher-quality video option for everything from binging their favorite shows to catching a live game. Google is rolling out a new setting called 1080p Enhanced for YouTube TV and Primetime Channels subscribers. The 1080p Enhanced setting improves on the existing 1080p60 resolution through improved bitrate —how many bits get processed per second. 

Google confirmed the update after a Reddit user posted about it on the platform. The 1080p Enhanced setting "delivers our highest video quality," according to the response. Reddit users who already have access to 1080p Enhanced report that the resolution is available for all of the same channels as 1080p60, such as Paramount and Syfy. The 1080p Enhanced option also follows 2023's YouTube Premium, which boosted video quality for Premium subscribers on the company's original platform.

In this case, any YouTube TV and Primetime Channels subscribers with an updated 4K-compatible streaming device should gain access to the option by accessing video quality settings. However, Google has discovered a bug that stops users from manually choosing 1080p Enhanced. However, the company reports that the bug doesn't impact picture quality and that it is working to fix the problem. 

Roku is stepping into premium TV territory at CES 2024 with its new Pro Series sets, which feature Mini LED backlighting for better brightness and contrast, as well as enhanced audio. The company announced its first self-made TVs at CES last year — a surprising move, since it has also partnered with TCL and others for years to build "Roku TVs" powered by the Roku OS. Roku's first batch of TV sets, the Select and Plus models, were clearly value-oriented, with prices ranging from $149 to $999. The Pro Series — which includes 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch models — tops out at $1,500.

Calling these "high-end" TVs is relative, of course. You can easily spend thousands more for QLED sets from Samsung, Sony and LG, and the prices only get higher once you're looking at OLED TVs. Rather than gunning for the top of the heap, Roku still appears to be targeting value-oriented shoppers who would normally consider TCL's cheaper TVs. (Roku told us last year it wasn't planning to compete with partners like TCL, but that seems harder to believe now.)

While Roku's earlier mid-range Plus TVs included some notable features, like QLED displays and support for Dolby Vision and Atmos, the Mini LED backlighting in the Pro Series TVs will be a noticeable upgrade. Most mid-range TVs feature a small amount of local dimming backlight zones, which can increase the brightness and contrast in specific areas of the screen. Mini LED backlights offer higher brightness, and since they're so small, they allow for hundreds (and potentially thousands) of dimming zones.

At this point, Mini LEDs are the closest you'll get to the power of OLEDs — which can turn individual pixels on and off to achieve perfect blacks and extreme levels of contrast — on a standard LED screen.

Roku

On top of a new family of TVs, Roku also announced that it will be tapping into AI and machine learning for its new Roku Smart Picture features, which can automatically adjust Roku TVs for specific types of content. The company says most consumers don't typically adjust their TV settings, which means they're likely stuck viewing content in sub-optimal ways. We won't see Smart Picture in action until Spring 2024, but it could potentially help to tone down motion smoothing during films and bump it up for sports, where you want footage to look more realistic. (And of course, image purists can always turn it off.)

Roku says its new Pro Series TVs will arrive in the US in Spring 2024. The company will also expand retail availability for its Select and Plus series sets, but we don't have specifics on where they'll show up yet.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Sony Bravia TVs will be the first hardware to support the upcoming Zoom for TV app on Google Play. Although remote work has dwindled as corporations beckon their underlings back to the office, those still enjoying work-from-home or hybrid arrangements could soon attend virtual meetings from their living room couches. It follows Apple’s WWDC 2023 announcement that FaceTime is coming to Apple TV (via mounted iPhones) later this year.

Bravia TVs don’t have built-in webcams, so you’ll need to buy a Bravia Cam to make the setup work. In addition to enabling Zoom calls, the $200 accessory can adjust sound and picture settings based on your location and distance from the television. It also allows you to control your TV with hand gestures without picking up the remote, enables a proximity alert that detects when kids sit too close (as they’re wont to do) and adds a power-saving mode that dims the screen if nobody is watching.

Sony

Sony says the Zoom for TV app will be available for Bravia TVs “by early summer.” The company’s head of Bravia product design, Shusuke Tomonaga, said, “This partnership will make it possible for our customers to enjoy more realistic video communication on a large TV screen in the living room, enabling them to be more connected with the people they care about, whether they are working from home, learning remotely, or just catching up with friends and family.”

Finding a suitable TV for your PlayStation or Xbox used to require a careful look at spec sheets. But that’s not the case these days as the best TVs for gaming are usually the best TVs you can buy, period. While nobody needs a fancy TV to enjoy a good video game, the right set can help you maximize your gaming hardware’s potential. If you’re unsure of where to start, we’ve laid out some helpful advice for buying the right model below, along with a few recommendations for the best gaming TVs you can buy today.

What to look for in a gaming TV

Whether you use it for gaming or not, all good TVs are built on the same foundations. You want a 4K resolution (which is standard nowadays), sufficient brightness, high contrast ratios with deep and uniform black tones, colors that find the right balance between accuracy and saturation, and wide viewing angles. For video games specifically, you want a TV with minimal input lag and fast motion response, with no blur or other unwanted artifacts behind quick-moving objects. Of course, finding a set that ticks all those boxes and fits into your budget can be the trickiest part of the process.

For now, a top OLED TV will offer the best picture quality for gaming or otherwise. Good OLED TVs still tend to cost more than LED LCD alternatives, however, and they still may not get bright enough for those who have their TV set in a particularly well-lit environment. (Some OLED TV makers say they’ll address the latter with future models.) If you opt for an LCD TV, an advanced backlight with mini-LEDs and effective full-array local dimming will usually improve contrast and lighting detail, while a quantum dot filter can enhance colors.

One thing you don’t need to worry about is 8K support. Although the PS5 and Xbox Series X are technically capable of outputting 8K video, very few games are made for that resolution, and 8K’s practical benefits are extremely minimal unless you plan on sitting unreasonably close to a massive TV. The few 8K TVs on the market are also very expensive.

All that said, there are a few terms you should look for in particular when buying a TV for your new game console or high-end graphics card.

HDMI 2.1

To get the most out of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, your TV should have full HDMI 2.1 support. This is the latest major update to the HDMI spec, enabling a higher maximum bandwidth – 48 gigabits per second, up from HDMI 2.0’s 18 Gbps – and a handful of features that are beneficial for gaming specifically. These include variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM), which we detail further below.

Beyond that, perhaps the chief perk of HDMI 2.1 is its ability to transmit ultrasharp 4K video at up to 120Hz refresh rate. Not every PS5 or Xbox Series X/S game supports frame rates this high – and some only do so at lower resolutions – but those that do will look and feel especially fluid in motion. HDMI 2.1 also brings support for Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which allows for higher-quality 5.1- and 7.1-channel audio from a source device connected to the TV to a compatible soundbar or receiver.

The more full HDMI 2.1 ports your TV has, the better. “Full” is the key word there. As reported by TFT Central, because HDMI 2.1 is backwards compatible with HDMI 2.0, TV and monitor manufacturers have been allowed to brand ports as “HDMI 2.1” even if they lack full (or any) support for the spec’s upgraded features. We recommend a few TVs below that have true HDMI 2.1 ports, but if you’re buying a new TV for gaming, make sure your chosen set isn’t trying to hide any capabilities you may consider essential.

HDR — High Dynamic Range

HDR refers to a TV's ability to display a wider range between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture. This broader range can bring out details that would otherwise be missing on a standard dynamic range (SDR) TV, in both the very dark and, especially, the very bright areas of an image. HDR typically comes with an improvement to color reproduction as well, displaying a larger palette of more vibrant colors that brings content closer to its creator’s original vision.

To get an HDR picture, you need both content that is mastered to take advantage of the tech and a TV capable of displaying that content. HDR also comes in a variety of formats, which are generally split between those that utilize static metadata (e.g., HDR10) and those that utilize dynamic metadata (e.g., HDR10+, Dolby Vision). In short, the latter allows a TV to optimize its brightness and colors on a per-scene or even per-frame basis, while the former uses one set of optimized settings for the entirety of the given content. Support for these formats can differ depending on the TV, content and game console you use. The Xbox Series X and S, for example, support Dolby Vision for gaming, while the PS5 does not.

The good news is that most TVs you’d buy in 2023 are HDR-ready in some fashion, even on the budget end of the market. The catch is that some TVs are much better at getting the most out of HDR than others. The same goes for actual content mastered in HDR. With video games in particular, there aren’t as many games designed to take advantage of HDR as there are movies (though the number is growing), and the variance in quality tends to be wider.

HGiG — HDR Gaming Interest Group

HGiG stands for the HDR Gaming Interest Group. Sony and Microsoft are both members, as are many TV makers and game developers. What this means is that, ideally, all the groups communicate information so that you can start up a new game on a console or PC and have it automatically recognize your display. Once that happens, the game can adjust the internal settings to adjust for that display's capabilities and give you the best picture quality possible, without losing details in the brightest or darkest areas of the screen. For example, daylight at the end of a dark tunnel may portray a brightly lit environment instead of looking like an overexposed white blob.

This is a good thing, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Not all TVs highlight HGiG compatibility in their settings menu, while only some PlayStation and Xbox games recognize and follow the guidelines. If an HGiG option is listed in your TV's tone mapping settings, you should turn it on prior to running the console's HDR settings. Then, if you're playing a game that supports HDR and HGiG, you should be in good shape without having to adjust the various luminance levels again. Still, how all of this looks to you might differ depending on your TV and the game you’re playing. Owners of certain LG OLED models, for instance, may prefer their TV’s Dynamic Tone Mapping setting. Use whatever settings you think look best.

ALLM — Auto Low Latency Mode

ALLM allows a source (like your PS5 or Xbox) to tell the display to switch into a mode that reduces lag between receiving each frame of an image and displaying it on the TV. This cuts out additional processing that could be the milliseconds of difference between landing a precise input or not. A good modern TV can automatically switch to game mode, then back out when you'd rather watch a movie or TV show.

VRR — Variable Refresh Rate

VRR is a familiar feature to PC gamers, but it’s still relatively new for most TVs. Most gamers have experienced slowdown, screen tearing or stutters that can happen as your system struggles to render each frame at the target speed, which is usually 30 or 60 fps on a TV. If the game stutters, then the TV either stays on the same frame or displays part of two different ones, which is the visual artifact of tearing.

With VRR, however, everything stays in sync — your display won't show the next frame until it's ready, which can make things feel smoother and more responsive, even if the system fails to deliver on its target of 30, 60 or even 120 fps.

There are a few different implementations of VRR available, including Nvidia’s G-Sync, AMD’s FreeSync and the HDMI Forum’s VRR spec, which is part of the full HDMI 2.1 standard. Both a TV and an input device need to support the same VRR tech for it to work, and different devices may only support VRR within a specific refresh rate window. On a 120Hz display, for instance, the PS5’s VRR only works between 48Hz and 120Hz.

As a reminder, the PS5 supports HDMI Forum VRR, the Xbox Series X/S support HDMI Forum VRR and FreeSync, while gaming PCs may support G-Sync or FreeSync depending on whether they use a Nvidia or AMD graphics card. An ideal gaming TV supports all the big VRR formats, but missing, say, G-Sync, isn’t a killer if you only game on a PS5 or Xbox.

The best gaming TVs you can get right now

We’re updating this guide during a transitional period for the TV market. The major brands have largely announced their TV lineups for 2023, but most aren’t available to buy yet. When the new sets do arrive, their prices will be higher out of the gate than last year’s models, which manufacturers often sell for less now to clear out inventory. Since some of those 2022 TVs are still excellent, they can offer strong value while they’re still available at a discount, particularly if their successors only wind up being iterative upgrades.

All of this is to say that, if you can wait for prices on 2023’s TVs to come down, or if you don’t care about paying more for the latest and greatest set, it’s best to hold off and see how this year’s models stack up. However, if you can’t wait for a new TV, a good set from last year should provide the most bang for your buck as of this writing. While Engadget doesn’t formally review TVs, we feel confident in the recommendations below based on our hands-on experience with some of them and the consensus from TV review sites we trust, such as Rtings, Wirecutter, and CNET, among others.

LG C2 OLED

The LG C2’s OLED panel can’t get as bright as a QD-OLED TV like Samsung’s S95B, but it still performs excellently in terms of contrast, input lag, motion response and viewing angles. It’s just less ideal in a brightly-lit room. It follows the HGiG’s HDR guidelines, supports ALLM, works with all the major VRR formats and has four full HDMI 2.1 ports capable of outputting 4K 120Hz with a PS5, Xbox or PC. It also supports all the major HDR standards, including Dolby Vision, and it’s available in a wide variety of sizes, from a 42-inch model to an 83-inch one. It costs a bit less than most competing OLED TVs, too.

Samsung S95B OLED

The aforementioned Samsung S95B uses a QD-OLED panel that combines an OLED panel with a layer of quantum dots. This allows it to display the high contrast and deep blacks of any good OLED TV without sacrificing as much in the way of peak brightness or color saturation. It should deliver consistently smooth motion, and it has four full HDMI 2.1 ports, so it can play up to 4K 120Hz. It also supports ALLM, all the major VRR formats and HDR10 and HDR10+.

However, the S95B doesn’t work with Dolby Vision HDR, and it’s only available in 55- and 65-inch sizes (the new S95C will include a 77-inch model, in addition to supporting a faster official maximum refresh rate of 144Hz). Beyond that, some S95Bowners have complained about issues with the TV’s picture quality while in “Game Mode” after recent firmware updates. This shouldn’t make the S95B anywhere close to a poor TV, and it can still be worth it if you play in a bright room. But with an updated model just around the corner, we’re a little more hesitant to recommend it over the LG C2 for gaming specifically.

Sony A95K OLED

Sony’s A95K is another well-regarded QD-OLED TV, plus it supports Dolby Vision. It doesn’t support HDR10+, though, and it only has two full HDMI 2.1 ports. It’s also much pricier than the C2 or S95B, starting at $2,300 for a 55-inch model as of this writing. The upcoming A95L is worth monitoring, as it’ll be the first TV to support Dolby Vision at 4K 120Hz.

Samsung QN90B

If you’d prefer the extra brightness of a LCD TV, or if you think you might play one game (extremely) long enough to worry about burn-in, consider Samsung’s QN90B. It can’t match the contrast, response time or viewing angles of a good OLED TV, but its Mini LED backlighting and quantum dot color should make for a richer image than most LCD TVs, particularly in HDR. Its motion and input lag shouldn’t cause problems, either, and it can get much brighter than the models above. Like other Samsung TVs, it doesn’t support Dolby Vision, but it has four full HDMI 2.1 ports, ALLM and all the major VRR formats. It also comes in several sizes, with the 43- and 50-inch models capable of hitting a 144Hz refresh rate. The rest go up to 120Hz, which is the max for a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.

TCL 6-Series

The QN90B isn’t cheap, though. For those on a tighter budget, TCL’s 6-Series (R655) TV should work fine. It’s a step down from the QN90B, particularly when it comes to HDR performance and viewing angles, but it should still look good in any environment, with low input lag, support for all the main HDR and VRR technologies, and a 144Hz refresh rate. It only has two full HDMI 2.1 ports, though. Note that this is a Roku TV – if you’d prefer Google’s TV OS, Hisense’s U8H is a close competitor around the same price.

Vizio MQX

Vizio’s M-Series Quantum X, on the other hand, doesn’t look as nice, but for frame rate junkies it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, with its 50-inch model capable of reaching 240Hz, albeit at a 1080p resolution. For PC gamers who want to dabble in competitive shooters like Counter-Strike, it’s an outlier for a big display in this price range.

TCL 5-Series

On the lower end, TCL’s 5-Series (S555) is a highly-rated QLED TV with low lag, HDR, local dimming and better contrast than most models in this range. It technically supports VRR, too, but like many cheaper TVs, it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1.

Richard Lawler contributed to this report.

Roku TVs will finally live up to their name this year. At CES, the streaming device company announced that it'll be building its own smart TVs for the first time. When the Roku TV program debuted in 2014, it was a way for the company to bring its streaming software into TVs built by partners like TCL and Hisense. But now Roku is debuting it's own family of HD and 4K sets ranging from 24 to 75-inches, which are set to arrive in spring.

Value appears to be the key, as the company says the TVs will range from $119 to $999. That should help Roku's partners to rest easy — we've seen some sets like the TCL Series 8 scale into premium $2,000 territory. The company isn't divulging many technical details around these TVs yet, but don't expect them to have some of the nicer features TCL and others are including, like super bright MiniLED panels. Still, Roku's sets may eat into the lower-end offerings from its partners.

Roku

Chris Larson, Roku's VP of retail strategy, tells Engadget that the company isn't trying to directly compete with existing partners, instead it wants to have a bit more control over how some Roku TVs are produced. For example, Roku is bundling its voice remotes with all of its new sets, even the cheap HD models (Select Series TV's come with the Roku Voice Remote, while Premium Series sets include the rechargeable Voice Remote Pro) . That's something the company couldn't push partners to do, especially when it came to budget TVs.

Down the line, Larson says the new TVs will also bring Roku closer to component suppliers, like the companies behind screen panels and the chips that power smart devices. That could help the company "drive innovation in the TV process." These new Roku TVs will work alongside Roku's existing home wireless speakers and other home theater equipment, just like partner offerings. But the company could potentially cook up some new features that are exclusive to its TVs — or at least, capabilities partners may not want to implement.

TikTok users now have another way to catch up on their For You page. The app is available on Vizio smart TVs starting today and you'll be able to watch TikTok TV content directly from the home screen.

The app, which landed on smart TVs from the likes of Samsung and LG last November, reworks the TikTok experience for big-screen viewing. TikTok TV features popular videos from categories including gaming, comedy, food and animals. If you have a TikTok account, you can log in to view videos from your Following and For You feeds. The app has an autoplay feature as well, so you'll be able to watch an endless string of TikToks without interruption if you wish.

It wouldn't be CES without a new round of Samsung TVs, and the 2022 models promise their share of quality upgrades — plus a few new conveniences. To start, the mainstream Neo QLED sets now include what Samsung says are the first 4K and 8K sets with 144Hz inputs instead of the usual 120Hz. The extra fluidity won't be immediately useful when even the fastest PCs struggle with high-speed 4K and 8K content, but you won't have to worry about your premium TV becoming obsolete any time soon.

The TVs promise image quality improvements regardless of the source. All the 8K and 4K Neo QLED sets have jumped from a 12-bit backlight to 14-bit, providing more accurate brightness. They also boast a new Shape Adaptive Light Control feature that theoretically improves the mini-LED sets' quality, and an AI-driven Object Depth Enhancer can help distinguish a picture's main subject from its background.

Software plays an important role as well. All the 2022 Samsung TVs have a new home screen that helps aggregate streaming content and offers an ambient display when idle. A Gaming Hub can directly launch console- and cloud-based games, while a new Game Bar helps you customize relevant picture settings. Watch Together is a SharePlay-style mode that lets you talk to distant friends while you watch broadcasts and streaming shows. And since this is 2022, you can even shop for and display NFTs.

Samsung

Other sets have their own share of upgrades. Samsung's MicroLED line (shown at middle) is now bezel-free, so your giant luxury TV should blend more seamlessly with your decor. They also tout a 10 percent wider color range, and you can buy a 'small' 89-inch preconfigured set if the 99- and 110-inch variants won't quite fit. And if the bezels are precisely what you want, 2022 The Frame (below) sets now have more canvas-like matte displays and a fresh art store interface.

As is often the case, Samsung hasn't provided availability and price ranges as of this writing. The Frame will be available in sizes between 32 and 85 inches, though, and you can presume both 8K screens and MicroLED models will carry stiff premiums. It's too soon to say whether they'll compete well against rival models from LG, Sony and other brands. With that said, it's evident Samsung still isn't in a rush to embrace OLED TVs and counter its best-known challengers.

Samsung