OLED has been the superior panel technology for TVs and monitors for many years now. The per-pixel dimming that gives OLEDs their signature contrast is unparalleled by any other panel type. I'd love to upgrade to an OLED TV, but the premium price is still quite prohibitive.
Compared to my existing Hisense LED TV, which I bought for just over $400 a few years ago, an LG C5 or Samsung S90F still cost at least $1,000 today. I love the inky blacks of my QD-OLED monitor, but not enough to spend a grand on a new TV. If I had to upgrade, I'd make do with a cheaper but still excellent Mini-LED TV with worthwhile software, performance, audio, and gaming features. Most TVs are still lacking in these areas, so my hunt is still on.
Actually useful software features
The neglected child
TV operating systems don't have the best reputation. For the most part, they seem tacked on as an afterthought, riddled with more problems than I can describe here. I used Android TV on my Hisense TV for years, suffering through its cluttered UI, ads, and outdated features. The settings were barebones, there was no universal search to speak of, and most of the content recommendations weren't personalized. Even after upgrading to the Apple TV 4K around two years ago, I wasn't satisfied with Apple's universal search — it doesn't always work as intended. The UI of Apple's tvOS is refined and way better than Android TV, but I still deal with occasional bugs with voice input.
As for other proprietary operating systems, such as Samsung's Tizen OS and LG's webOS, they're packed with useless junk and bloatware, which doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. If I have to choose a new TV based on the software, I'll honestly struggle to pick anything. The Apple TV experience has trumped everything I've seen and used so far, so I don't see myself migrating away from tvOS. However, if OLED TV prices drop in the next two years and ship with improved versions of Android TV, I may consider an upgrade.
Decent speakers
After all this time, is it too much to ask?
It's an unsaid rule that anyone serious about quality sound should forget that their TV comes with speakers. TV audio does little more than tick a checkbox, failing to deliver even an acceptable level of sound quality. And it has been this way forever. Buying a soundbar or home theater system to "fix" the terrible audio has been the standard practice that everyone has sort of grudgingly accepted. It's not even about audiophiles, since most TV users need audio that doesn't sound hollow or crack at high volume. Manufacturers abandoned stock speakers long ago, or at least reserved quality options for flagship models.
I don't want to be forced to buy a soundbar because my TV can't even emit balanced audio. Irrespective of the price segment, TV speakers should be of a certain standard. Just like smartphone speakers reached acceptable quality a few years ago, it's high time the same happened on TVs. You don't need bulk to accommodate good speakers — the 11.5m-thick iMac does just fine. You need intent and customer backlash for some real improvements to TV speakers.
Smooth performance
Outdated hardware needs to be sunsetted
Another big ask on almost all TVs is stutter-free performance. This is one area where manufacturers have achieved a remarkable degree of standardization. TVs of all brands and price segments are united in delivering atrocious performance that forces users to tear their hair out. Whether you have an old model running Google TV or Android TV, an LG or Samsung TV running webOS or Tizen OS, respectively, or a streaming stick of the Amazon Fire TV or Roku variety, you can expect various degrees of sluggish performance. Arduously long boot times, animations that take forever, and app switching that feels like a punishment are things you may have made your peace with, but you shouldn't have to.
Even my Apple TV 4K starts dropping frames if I play a particularly large 4K movie on Plex. The hardware inside it starts overheating, and the performance impact is clear as day. For me, a TV upgrade isn't just about better image quality and useful software features. The underlying hardware needs to be upgraded to meet modern requirements. If the OS installed by the manufacturer is overloading the TV's processor and memory, whose responsibility is it to make some changes? Like aftermarket speakers, are the viewers expected to buy a streaming box, too? We might as well not buy a TV in the first place.
Gaming features across all budgets
More than just high refresh rates
With modern consoles supporting higher framerates, TV manufacturers introduced 120Hz and 144Hz refresh rates to replace the age-old 60Hz panels. While this was an improvement, higher refresh rates alone don't make a good gaming TV. You can enjoy your PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or gaming PC on your high-refresh-rate TV, but without gaming-grade response time and input lag, your experience will still suffer.
Unlike gaming monitors and high-end OLED TVs, gamers still have to make do with response times as high as 15ms on LED and QLED TVs. Game mode on most TVs significantly reduces this, but the image processing in the background never lets TVs match monitors. This creates motion-handling issues that can make games feel sluggish despite an expensive gaming TV.
Another area where modern TVs still fall short is full-screen brightness. Peak HDR brightness numbers might have breached 1,600 nits on high-end OLED TVs, but even they can't sustain more than 200–250 nits of full-screen (100% window) brightness. High-end OLED monitors, on the other hand, can reach 300 nits or higher full-screen brightness.
Most people aren't buying high-end OLED TVs, so they have access only to dimmer panels on mid-range and budget TVs. High brightness is essential to a decent HDR experience. Without it, your gaming experience can only feel so good. I feel TV brands should focus on improving TVs' gaming capabilities to bring them on par with mid-range gaming monitors, if not high-end ones.
True blacks are cool, but I want my TV to do much more
If I'm buying a new TV, I don't just want superior image quality. I want modern gaming features, decent speakers, a usable OS, and capable hardware for smooth performance. Many TVs, especially in the mid-range and budget segments, still struggle with all of the above features. Even high-end OLED TVs aren't immune to sluggish software, poor speakers, and subpar performance. While gaming monitors have come a long way, TVs still need to improve to keep up.
