Let’s face it. Your current TV is showing its age. Its resolution is resolutely HD (so very 00s) and it doesn’t even respond to voice commands, no matter how loud you bawl. Maybe the time has come to upgrade to something cutting edge.
Connected smart TVs are now standard fare. With integrated streaming services, you can season binge from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video without the need for an additional set top box or dongle – or multiple remotes. Just connect the TV to your home wifi or router.
Catch-up TV is also on tap. Most of these screens offer players from all the main channels (BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5). Freeview Play enabled TVs even have a retrospective seven-day programme guide, which makes it easier to look back and find shows you might have missed.
All these TVs are also 4k. That means they have a screen resolution of 3840×2160 pixels, which is four times better than Full HD (aka 1080p), so you can be sure of the sharpest picture possible from 4k movies, TV and sports.
Unlike 3D, 4k isn’t a fad. You can watch it on Sky Q, VirginMedia V6 and BT TV telly boxes, as well as from streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. You can also buy 4k UHD Blu-rays (UHD is often used as a euphemism for 4k) and play 4k games on an XBox One X or PS4 Pro.
What’s more, these screens are also HDR (high dynamic range) enabled, which means their images have a hyperreal glint to them, with bright highlights and deep shadow detail.
And you’ll need to think bigger. Televisions are getting larger, with 55in and 65in screens increasingly popular. This year, Samsung will have more 75in sets in its range than ever before. Improving definition is enabling products to size up without compromising picture quality.
Ultra-thin bezels on the latest sets mean a 50in screen today can fit into the same space as a 42in telly from just a few years ago. And improved resolution means you can sit closer, or watch bigger from the same vantage point. Indeed, you need to do one or the other, to enjoy all those extra pixels.
LG 55UK6950PLB
£599, 55in 4k HDR LED LCD
This LG offers a lot of UHD technology for the cash. The 4k set uses proprietary LG image enhancement to make the most of HDR (known as 4K Active HDR here), and boasts a particularly wide viewing angle. From the side it doesn’t quickly shed contrast and colour (making it a good choice for family living rooms).
Image sharpness and colour performance are fine, but for the best black level performance and contrast, don’t watch in complete darkness, or deep blacks will look grey.
This TV also uses one of the best smart platforms, webOS. Using LG’s cursor-like Magic Remote, it features a wide range of streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Now TV, so you probably won’t run out of stuff to watch. There’s also voice control, via LG’s ThinQ AI and built-in Google Assistant.
Verdict: Brilliant-value smart screen
Philips OLED 803
4K HDR TV (55OLED803) £1,499, 55in 4k HDR OLED with Ambilight
This equally thin flatscreen combines two covetable features – OLED (organic light emitting diode) TV technology and Ambilight. The latter was introduced by Philips in 2002. For the uninitiated, Ambilight is a lighting system that enables the TV to act as a mood lamp in your room. Tiny LED lights cast swaths of colour across the surrounding wall, either in sympathy with what’s on screen, or as solid blocks of colour.
Should you wish, you can integrate this light show with a Philips HUE smart lighting system, so the TV syncs with the rest of your room lights.
OLED picture quality is gloriously cinematic: 4k images are pin- sharp, and OLED’s perfect blacks (a characteristic of the technology) really make pictures sing.
Smart connectivity is decent. The 803 uses the latest Android 8 Oreo smart TV platform, and offers all the key streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube), although catch-up is limited to the BBC iPlayer.
Verdict: OLED images and Ambilight are a winning combination
Samsung Q60R
£899, 43in 4k HDR QLED
Samsung’s 2019 Q Series QLEDs combine the vibrant appeal of LED LCD TVs with the dynamic black level performance of OLED. The Q60R isn’t just the cheapest in this range, it’s also arguably the best looking – wafer thin, with a minuscule bezel.
Thanks to the QLED images are rich, with ravishing colours and fine image detail.
Smart connectivity is built around Samsung’s Tizen platform, which in addition to the usual selection of streaming services and catch-up TV, has an Apple iTunes movies and TV app. Exclusive to Samsung, you can now ask Siri to play your online movies without the need for an external Apple TV box.
Even smarter, it also boasts ambient mode, which allows the screen to mimic your wallpaper or display works of art when it’s in standby. If that sounds a little pretentious, you can always just slump back and play Fortnite. With ultra-low input lag, gameplay won’t feel sluggish.
Verdict: Sleek-looking and a great choice for gamers
Panasonic GX800
£799, 40in 4k HDR LED LCD with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
If you want to bring cinema home, consider the Panasonic GX800. This super-slim LED LCD model offers Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision, which means highly precise, cinema-style HDR image processing and immersive sound from 4k Blu-rays, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Fine-tuned by Hollywood colourists, the picture quality features bags of detail and supreme colour fidelity. This set is designed from the ground up to partner popcorn.
Smart connectivity is stellar too. In addition to Freeview Play, which combines a seven-day roll-back TV guide with all the main catch-up TV services, there’s also a full bill of streaming services, and compatibility with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Verdict: The perfect smart TV for film fans
Sony XG95
£1,899, 55in 4k HDR LED LCD with FALD
FALD (full array local dimming) might sound like a government department, but in reality is clever LCD technology that improves bright picture highlights and enhances HDR dazzle.
Indeed, there’s an entire lexicon of tech at work here: in addition to FALD, X-tended dynamic range PRO gives contrast a lift, while Sony’s X1 ultimate picture processor makes even bad TV programmes look good. The truly clever thing about Sony’s image processing is that you never really know it’s working. Pictures look perfectly natural. The set also offers Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, plus a Netflix calibrated mode, said to give the best possible picture from the streaming service.
Adding a sonic edge is acoustic multi-audio technology. To combat the sometimes feeble sound of flatscreens, the XG95 uses extra sound positioning tweeters in the rear of the TV to give the impression audio is coming directly from the centre of the screen.
Verdict: Expensive but exceptionally clever
Cello QLED
£799, 55-inch 4K HDR LED LCD
British TV maker Cello offers a 4K QLED TV against similar QLED screens from titanic rival Samsung.
Just 51mm thin, the model looks swish with a stainless steel central pedestal and metallic bezel trim. Image quality is fine, although not as sharp and rich as Samsung’s QLED models. The main reason to buy is the smartphone-style Android 7 TV platform, which allows you to run a bunch of apps intended only for smartphone or tablet use.
Consequently, this Cello is the first TV we’ve seen able to run the Sky Q mobile app. This means that if you have a Sky Q set top box running on a TV in another room, this set can log on and access all the same TV shows and recordings, without the need for a separate Sky box. Sky won’t be best pleased, but it works a treat. You may need to budget for a soundbar, as the audio quality isn’t great.
Verdict: Good-value QLED screen with a huge selection of apps