Choosing a television now means choosing a panel technology first and a brand second. This guide covers the eight sets picked from a field of 57, and the reasoning behind each — starting with the honest question of how much brightness you actually want pointed at you.
The short version
Top pick: LG OLED 55G6
Rated very good overall, with picture quality rated very good — the highest picture mark in the field.
Maximum brightness measured at over 3,400 cd/m² in the test laboratory, and the output stays strong in cinema mode too. DCI-P3 is covered almost completely and the wider BT.2020 space reaches a good 80 percent. Features are rated good; power consumption is only satisfactory, which is the one blemish.
Budget pick: TCL 65C7K
A genuinely inexpensive set that convinced throughout, rated good. Its 65-inch panel delivers black levels that are respectable by LCD standards and particularly intense contrast, and both colour and brightness please: 1,856 cd/m² measured in the brightest mode, peaking briefly at up to 2,500.
Sound is middling at best, and power consumption is only satisfactory. For the money, neither is a surprise.
Premium OLED for less: LG OLED 65G5
Rated very good, and the set that copes best with daylight. Its tandem RGB OLED panel is exceptionally bright — over 3,000 cd/m² in places — yet the screen surface does not get anywhere near as hot in continuous use as some rivals, and efficiency benefits accordingly.
Best compact: LG OLED 42C5
At 42 inches it still shows the qualities of LG's mainstream series, rated very good with very good picture quality. Brightness is only a good average, but contrast is very high and it covers the HDR colour space practically completely. Motion is flawless bar minimal double contours.
Cheapest great OLED: Samsung S90F
A thoroughly sound 55-inch set rated good, with very good picture quality. The well-anti-reflective QD-OLED panel gives crisp colours, covers 96 percent of DCI-P3 and reaches over 2,100 cd/m². The built-in speakers sound solid.
Best LCD: Sony Bravia 9 II
The best LCD here by some margin, with picture quality, features and sound quality all rated very good.
Its maximum brightness is immense — close to 4,000 cd/m² in the laboratory, and still over 2,100 in cinema mode. DCI-P3 is as good as fully covered and even the larger BT.2020 space is more than 90 percent covered, so HDR in particular looks superb.
The Ambilight statement: Philips 65OLED959
More than exorbitant peak brightness: sharp contrasts, strong colours and near-flawless motion, with the multi-layered Ambilight plus adding a spectacular light show. Features and sound quality are both rated very good, the latter from a 5.1.2 system built into the front frame. Power consumption is the price, rated only satisfactory.
Good and cheap: Sony Bravia KD-55X85L
A good, inexpensive 4K LCD rated good overall. Its Direct LED backlight produces a relatively high-contrast picture, and Sony commits fully to Dolby Vision here.
The limits are stated plainly: the colour space only just suffices for high-dynamic-range material, there are clear trailing effects on moving objects, maximum brightness is merely average, and picture quality overall is rated only satisfactory. The stereo speakers are clear at room volume.
How much brightness do you actually want?
There are practical limits to useful maximum brightness. Very few people enjoy being dazzled by a 65-inch screen showing 1,000 cd/m² of full-field white — so the brightest sets here offer rather too much of a good thing, if you let them.
A high peak figure is genuinely desirable for individual specular highlights, where it gives the picture depth and dynamism. That is the distinction worth carrying into a showroom: peak brightness on small highlights is valuable, sustained full-screen brightness mostly is not.
OLED or LCD?
OLED controls brightness at pixel level and can switch individual pixels off entirely, which is what produces its black levels and contrast. LCD lights a large backlight instead, with or without dimming zones — and modern LCD answers back with sheer brightness, as the Sony Bravia 9 II's near-4,000 cd/m² demonstrates.
In a dark room, OLED wins on complex scenes where bright and dark areas interleave. In a bright room, a top LCD's brightness advantage tells.
How the sets were tested
Measurements use an LMK98-3 luminance and colour-value meter in the test laboratory. Picture quality is the most important rating, contributing 60 percent of the final grade: maximum brightness, the intensity of a 4 × 4 chequerboard contrast pattern of white and black fields, the largest reproducible colour space, and the gamma curve.
Frequently asked questions
Which television should I buy? The LG OLED 55G6 won the test outright, with over 3,400 cd/m² measured and near-complete DCI-P3 coverage.
What is the best television for a bright room? The Sony Bravia 9 II, whose maximum brightness approaches 4,000 cd/m² and which still manages over 2,100 in cinema mode, with more than 90 percent BT.2020 coverage.
Is a cheap television any good? The TCL 65C7K makes the case: respectable black levels for LCD, particularly intense contrast and 1,856 cd/m² measured, peaking briefly at 2,500. Sound is its weak point.
Do I need the brightest set available? No. Nobody enjoys 1,000 cd/m² of full-field white from a 65-inch screen. High peak brightness matters for small highlights, not for the whole picture.
Which has the best sound? The Philips 65OLED959, with a 5.1.2 system built into the front frame and sound quality rated very good.
What is the smallest good OLED? The 42-inch LG OLED 42C5 — average brightness but very high contrast and practically complete HDR colour coverage.
