LG has announced a new OLED TV ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, but those hopeful for an early peek at the potential G7, C7 or B7 may be disappointed.

The Korean AV titan is celebrating a slew of CES 2027 innovation awards, with commendations in a wide array of categories from gaming monitors to hair dryers, and two of the Awards that it has picked up are for its new W7 OLED TV and its existing Signature OLED T6 transparent TV.

The latter was featured as part of its CES showcase last year, and it features a see-through 4K OLED display paired with a retractable contrast backing that can switch the TV from transparent to opaque.

It also comes with LG’s “60GHz-based uncompressed 4K wireless transmission” system, which is essentially a box that houses the processing power and essential connectivity, which is beamed wirelessly to the TV.

This remains an exclusive and very expensive OLED TV, with LG asking $60,000 (it’s not currently available in the UK) for the 77-inch set. It must be pre-ordered, too, as each model is made to order and takes around six weeks to ship.

For those wanting something brand new (and a bit more mainstream), the W7 OLED TV is the more exciting of the two models mentioned here.

This TV seems to be a follow-up to last year’s W6 OLED, which revived LG’s iconic Wallpaper TV line and replaced the wireless M-series OLEDs from past lineups.

Rather frustratingly, LG already released a super-thin OLED TV called the W7 back in 2017; it actually launched the Wallpaper series as a whole. However, there is one sure-fire way to distinguish this new model already, and, you guessed it, it’s all thanks to AI.

Details on this new set are as slim as the TV itself, but we do know it will feature “LG’s latest agentic AI, designed to better understand users’ needs and deliver more personalised experiences.”

Important picture and sound upgrades are yet to be revealed, and we probably won’t learn about those, or the rest of LG’s 2027 range, until CES 2027 in January. Stay tuned for more updates coming then.

MORE:

Read our LG W6 hands on review

As well as our LG C6 65-inch review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed we just completely changed our buying advice for Mini LED TVs.

Jump over to our best Mini LED TV buying guide, and you’ll see an entirely new set of recommendations, covering everything from cutting-edge True RGB options to mid-range performance-per-pound champs.

But if you’re more interested in the top-tier category of Mini LED, while I stand by our recommendations in the buying guide and will confirm that the Bravia 9 II listed as the best premium option has a lot going for it, I have a word of caution to share.

The Bravia 9 II is the best Mini LED at that price, but it’s not the best TV you’ll find for that amount of money.

Look at our TV Award winners this year, and you’ll see there is only one Mini LED on the list: the affordable TCL P8L.

That’s because, despite great strides in the mid- and lower-end of the market, and the arrival of the next-generation RGB Mini LED panel tech this year, after our latest Awards-group test, it’s clear that, at the top end of the market, OLED is still the best option.

The reason remains the same as it has since Mini LED tech first arrived.

Modern Mini LEDs certainly have their perks, such as the ability to go brighter than OLEDs, and their cheaper manufacturing costs, which can then be passed on to the end consumer (which is why you can get sub-£500/$500 sets using the technology).

But OLED’s pixel-level light control and the ability to deliver perfect blacks, when used well, is a strength that no backlit TV, including Mini LED, we’ve tested can beat.

We have said as much, time and time again – including in our Bravia 9 II review where we bluntly state:

“Comparisons with Sony’s own Bravia 8 II reveal that even this exceptional implementation of RGB Mini LED still can’t quite match the fundamental strengths of OLED. The Bravia 9 II’s local dimming system is extraordinarily accomplished, yet it still can’t quite replicate the pixel-level precision of OLED.

“The result is a picture that looks just a touch flatter than the Bravia 8 II’s. Objects don’t separate from their backgrounds with quite the same solidity, and scenes lack just a little of the three-dimensional depth and effortless dynamism that OLED consistently delivers.”

That’s why, to any reader considering buying a Mini LED, my advice is simple: if it costs OLED money, that should be a red flag.

Our tests have shown that, outside very specific circumstances, you will almost certainly be better off with one of the OLEDs we recommend when shopping in the top tier of the market.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

We rank the best cheap TVs

Our picks of the best 65-inch TVs

What Hi-Fi? has been running for a whopping 50 years, and that means we have access to half a century of magazine archives.

Included in there are, inevitably, some rather dated advertisements, to go along with a treasure trove of technology. And that means we can follow the history of every important piece of home entertainment equipment of the past half century – it’s like Who Do You Think You Are? for home cinema and hi-fi brands.

Looking back, of course, we got some things more right than others – hindsight is 20/20, after all. Here, we take a journey back through our archives to see which innovations quickly got off the ground, and which never quite took off.

Win: Smart TVs becoming the norm

In the early 2010s, there were whispers that smart platforms would change how we interact with our TVs. Instead of relying on strict channel schedules and bulky external boxes, more companies were introducing TVs with internet access and downloadable apps.

The first smart TV to hit the shelves came in 2008 in the form of the Samsung PAVV Bordeaux 750. By CES (the enormous annual consumer electronics show that takes place in Las Vegas every January), in 2011, brands such as Sony, Panasonic and LG had joined the party and released their own smart TV models.

We said in our CES report that you could expect app support from sites such as Facebook, eBay, Skype and Napster. (If that list doesn’t make you feel old, I’m not sure what will.)

The landscape has, of course, shifted massively since then towards streaming, meaning services such as Apple TV and Disney+ are built-in to platforms.

In 2012, Samsung also launched the LED ES8000, which threatened to “make our remote controls redundant” thanks to voice and gesture controls. While we are not quite at the point where your TV set doesn’t come with a remote, voice control is now very much built into the DNA of the majority of TVs.

We had not accounted for the huge leap in AI technology that was on the horizon, where TVs can answer questions about movies and shows with personalised recommendations (take Sky’s newly upgraded OS, for example).

We added in our reporting that “there looks to be plenty of added content coming to a clever, internet-connected TV near you,” and that has certainly become the norm for sets today. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a movie-viewing experience without a smart platform.

Miss: 21:9 ratio TVs

We are all familiar with the standard 16:9 aspect ratio on most sets, but in 2009, a TV tried to shake up that traditional look.

Enter Philips’s Cinema 21:9 – a TV designed to make the most of movies filmed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. That’s wider than the traditional TV aspect ratio, and Philips aimed to “further immerse you in the action,” as we reported in our review of the set.

“The main benefit to this”, we said, “is the removal of the black bars from the top and bottom of the screen when you’re watching a movie”.

It measured 146cm wide and 74cm high, making it a rather unconventional addition to your living room. Philips’s signature TV feature, Ambilight, was on board to add “perceived image depth”.

When watching a film in the 21:9 aspect ratio, we were impressed by this Philips set’s performance and said the company should be “applauded for its efforts”. The TV got to show off its picture chops, as we noted in our review that “movies look the business” thanks to the “awesome” level of detail.

With 16:9 content, though, you had to either stretch or crop the image. You could switch to a 16:9 picture format via the remote, but that just resulted in black bars on the left and right instead.

Another issue was that, when watching with subtitles in 21:9, the text was cropped out along with the black bars at the bottom. The only viable practical solution was to pair the TV with a Philips Blu-ray player to show subtitles without squashing the picture.

All of which meant that, even though the technology resulted in an ultra-wide screen with the content in the suitable aspect ratio, switching to anything else resulted in a disappointing image that called for too many compromises.

That’s not to say that 21:9 screens are a thing of the past. There is a range of curved premium ultra-wide monitors for gamers wanting a more enveloping experience. But they are yet to hit the mainstream when it comes to home cinema.

Win: Slimmer TVs

“Slimmer is the new flat!” That was one of the biggest headlines from CES 2010, following the increasingly thin TVs that were coming onto the market. After all, it was only less than ten years before that home cinema moved away from the chunky CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TVs, and flat-screen panels were available to the public.

At CES 2010, we were shown Samsung’s flagship C9000, which measured just 3.4cm / 1.3 inches deep, and was displayed as one of the thinnest models available.

We said that “the slimline screen has to be one of the most desirable of modern gadgets, freeing up valuable living room estate and adding style to any home.” And that is certainly a trend that has continued, as TVs have got only thinner and slimmer.

One of the thinnest TV screens on the market right now is the LG W6 – just 0.9cm / 0.4 inches thick. It has never been a cheap proposition to get a super-thin TV, as this the 77-inch W6 model proves: it comes in at an eye-watering £4699 / $3700.

Still, these days, even mid-range and budget TVs have become significantly slimmer compared with the average model back in 2010 – and we saw it coming.

Miss: 3D TVs

When 3D TVs first hit the shelves, they were the talk of the town for home cinema nerds. A three-dimensional picture that fully immerses you in your favourite movie? It sounds like a dream come true.

In 2011, we wrote: “From the increased prevalence of 3D films in cinemas and on Blu-ray, to the flood of 3D technology in TVs, Blu-ray players, games consoles, and more; it’s clear that 3D is here to stay – and it’s only growing in importance.”

Plenty of brands went all-in on the emerging technology. There was a barrage of different models that passed through our test room, each with varying levels of success.

That included the Samsung UE40C7000, which we awarded five stars for its “scintillating” picture performance, as well as the less successful LG 47LD950, which scored a middling three stars due to its lack of detail and punch.

Despite the technology’s promising start, you will be hard-pressed to find a set dedicated to 3D on the market these days. By the end of the mid-2010s, the hype for 3D was already winding down. That’s partly down to the lack of 3D content being made, but probably more because of the cost and the faff of wearing 3D glasses.

Having said that, we have recently seen some promising 3D projector technology displayed by the likes of Xgimi at IFA this year that really shows off the magic of 3D picture. So perhaps 3D images aren’t gone for good, but we may have to wait a little while for a resurgence.

Win: OLED screens

In 2012, we said OLED TV screens “could have a huge impact on what takes up space in our test room,” and, frankly, we hit the nail on the head.

OLED screens had been around before then, with the first 11-inch screen emerging in 2007. But the technology really caught on and became more accessible for home cinema fans only in the early 2010s.

Unlike Mini LED, OLED panels don’t need a backlight. Instead, they use self-emissive organic light-emitting diodes that generate their own light, which is then passed through a colour filter. The advantage is that, when an OLED pixel is turned off, it is truly off and therefore looks pitch-black.

One of the first OLED TV reviews we can see in our magazine archives is of the Samsung KE55S9C, a curved screen that came in at an astonishing £7000. Luckily, OLED has become much more affordable these days. The best OLED on the market now, for instance, is the Samsung S99H, which will set you back £1899 for the 55-inch set.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs

Check out the best TVs on the market

And here are the best soundbars

For many, the prospect of opening your TV's picture settings menu is terrifying.

After all, featuring a long list of options, all of which have jargon-heavy labels and technical descriptions, it can be daunting, and it's easy to make things worse if you don't know what you're doing.

But that's where picture presets come into play.

While I urge new TV owners to avoid the dreaded "Vivid Mode" like the plague, these presets can usually get you most of the way to a top-notch picture experience, and traditionally our favourite has been Filmmaker Mode.

As the name suggests, this mode is intended to capture the creator's intent, meaning it turns off a lot of the processing that your TV adds on top, such as motion handling, contrast and colour enhancement, and sharpening.

For picture purists, such as ourselves, those settings are often worth avoiding anyway, and we've seen many prominent Hollywood figures such as Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The Wolf of Wall Street), Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Dune), and Ross Duffer (creator of Stranger Things) advocate for the picture mode.

You may be surprised to hear that the technical specifications for what counts as a true Filmmaker Modearen't set by the companies making TVs and projectors. Instead, it's an independently managed certification.

As stated by the UHD Alliance, which oversees Filmmaker Mode, to achieve certification, you must meet these exact standards listed on the Filmmaker Mode website:

• Maintain source content frame rate & aspect ratio
• White Point: D65
• Motion Smoothing/Interpolation: OFF
• Overscan: Only if signaled with the image
• Sharpening: OFF
• TV Noise Reduction: OFF
• Other image “enhancement” processing: OFF

This means that when we're faced with a new TV, our first port of call is changing it into Filmmaker Mode (or its equivalent mode, more on that later), as it levels the playing field by dialling those settings right in. Even if Filmmaker Mode doesn't achieve a completely perfect picture, it gets us most of the way there, leaving us to tweak small things like motion or brightness.

Switching off all of the unneeded processing in one click of a button is very handy, and seeing a TV go from its out-of-the-box Standard (which is usually garish and over-smoothed) or Eco (often dull and dim) setting to something I'd actually want to watch is always a relief.

That being said, Filmmaker Mode isn't a fix-all solution, and I've noticed a shift in the last couple of years. Specifically, some manufacturers seem to be stepping away from it to prioritise their own picture processing modes.

Sony is a prime example of this; it's never had Filmmaker Mode on its TVs, instead opting to prioritise its own set of internal standards for matching picture performance to the creator's intent. As such, it includes a Professional Mode on its TVs instead.

More recently, and this is what sent me down this rabbit hole, is Philips opting to leave Filmmaker Mode off its 2026 TVs. I've just finished testing the OLED911 – stay posted for the review – and it swaps out Filmmaker Mode for a new Reference picture preset.

Philips assures me that the goal here is the same, although I did have to toggle a few settings to get the picture exactly where I liked it.

Its justification was that users were reportedly confused by the naming of Filmmaker Mode, thinking that it was a setting used if you were creating movies. I'm not sure how much I buy that, especially in a world where we can quickly whip out our phones to Google something like that, but it's an interesting change nonetheless.

That said, these companies each have their own approach to "authenticity", and it's not one that we can always verify. Settings are applied even though it's "reference" or "professional" mode; take the Philips OLED911, which applies an HDR upscaling system to SDR content. While it can look good, we certainly felt that it wasn't very authentic for a reference mode.

Filmmaker Mode is also having to face the reality of TV picture processing becoming not only quite good, but also integral to how these TVs work.

Samsung, Sony, LG, Philips, TCL and all the rest still have picture processing happening in the background even if you opt to switch everything off in the settings menu. Modern TVs need picture processing to function, and as such, these manufacturers have gotten quite good at implementing it.

Sony especially excels here with its XR Processor, which handles a huge array of picture processing elements at all times, including identifying the focal point of the image and applying depth mapping to create a superbly three-dimensional image, even with all of the relevant settings disabled in Professional mode.

I've also found that TV manufacturers are stepping up their game when it comes to the picture modes that they implement themselves. Samsung's Movie Mode, for example, is excellent on the OLED TVs we've tested recently, as it enriches the picture with more brightness and impact (provided you turn the motion processing way down), and Sony's Cinema Mode is a similar story.

That said, LG and Panasonic TVs seem to respond best to Filmmaker Mode; our cheat sheet with any LG OLED is to put it into Filmmaker Mode and change the motion setting to True Cinema for the best picture experience.

Ultimately, I hope that Filmmaker Mode is here to stay, as it's a seriously valuable tool for those intimidated by TV settings menus, and I hope to see it keep evolving with the times. Having an easily accessible and consistent launch point for all TVs with standardised settings makes things easier for everyone.

Getting the best out of your TV shouldn't be an uphill battle, and Filmmaker Mode is one of the best ways to level out and simplify that process. I'm a huge advocate for having transparent and consistent guidelines.

While Filmmaker Mode has changed and evolved to adapt to things like Dolby Vision and ambient light sensors, I hope that it continues to be featured on TVs and projectors for a long time to come.

MORE:

Read our full Samsung S99H review

Here are our picks for the best TVs

As well as the best OLED TVs

The LG B6 is an entry-level OLED TV with big aspirations, being the first (we believe) set to sport a spiffy new OLED SE panel – a key bit of hardware that promises to improve performance while also bringing OLED costs down.

That makes it a very interesting set, despite its bottom-of-the-range status, as, if it delivers on LG’s performance promises, it could be the most accessible OLED we’ve ever reviewed and a step closer to our ultimate wish – a truly affordable OLED TV.

While its price is still slightly above what we’d call truly affordable, after putting it through its paces in our test rooms including against its arch-rival, we can confirm it’s a step in the right direction. But there’s still work to be done.

Price

LG’s B-series is the most affordable option in its current OLED portfolio in most regions, but it’s never been truly “cheap” – which we describe as being below £500 / $500.

That continues on the latest B6 line. The smallest, 48-inch option launched with a £1300 RRP in the UK (LG decided not to launch this size in the US). The largest 83-inch B6 model went for an even more wallet-busting £3600 / $4500.

The 65-inch LG B6 model we have in our review rooms cost £2400 / $2400 / AU$3300 when it first launched – £100 more than its main Samsung rival, the S85H.

But since then, the B6 line has had its price slashed at most UK and US retailers (Australian discounts are much less widespread), and at the time of writing, you can grab the 65-inch model for £1399 / $1300.

While there are regular fluctuations in the prices of both models, Samsung’s S85H is generally available for roughly the same price as the B6.

As you would hope, in the UK at least, the B6 is available for a good deal less than the ever-popular C6, which is currently around £1699. In the US, though, the price difference is just $100 right now, and in Australia the two TVs are inexplicably identically priced, which rather complicates the value argument.

Design

No one expects much from an entry-level TV when it comes to aesthetics, even an OLED – especially one from LG, which hasn’t really tweaked any of its B-, C- or G-series TV designs for a while. That remains the case for the B6, which is a fairly chunky unit, featuring a textured, fake marble-like plastic back, and attachable screw-in feet that are also, you guessed it, made of slightly cheap-feeling plastic.

Thankfully, despite feeling cheap, the build quality is solid, and the feet manage to hold the TV up without any wobble (as happens on many rival cheap TVs), leaving us fairly certain it will withstand the odd bump, or cat/toddler attack, without toppling.

But we do have a couple of issues with its design. First, its feet only have a single, wide set-up option. This means if you have a smaller cabinet or rack, it won’t fit. You’ll need one that’s at least 60 inches wide, based on our measurements. This isn’t unheard of on affordable TVs, but it’s annoying when its main rival, the S85H, does offer a central placement option for its feet.

Second, like the LG G6 and LG C6, the remote remains unchanged. You’ll be forced to use the same ageing, shiny plastic remote LG has paired its OLEDs with for nearly half a decade. Are the motion controls useful? Sometimes. But in today’s world, we’d like to see USB-C charging and backlighting added sooner rather than later. Both are fairly standard, especially on rival TCL and Hisense Mini LED sets, and even Samsung’s S85H at least has USB-C charging.

Features

You don’t normally expect to be writing “first” when reviewing an entry-level TV, but we’re 99 per cent certain it's an accurate description for one key element of the B6: its panel tech.

While LG Electronics never reveals the specific panel it uses on its TVs, all evidence suggests the B6 is one of the first-ever TVs to feature LG Display’s new OLED SE panels, as unveiled at the start of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

This is a variant of the base WOLED seen in most entry-level and even step-down OLED sets. Unlike the premium Primary RGB Tandem OLED and QD-OLED tech you see on flagship sets, OLED SE is bespoke-designed for cheaper sets, and hopes to gradually bring entry-level OLED costs down, making the tech more accessible.

But the part we found most interesting when we attended its launch is that LG Display claims it will simultaneously improve the performance of cheaper sets in a few key metrics, including peak brightness.

The B6 has a quoted 1000 nits peak brightness. While peak brightness isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to picture quality, that’s still pretty amazing considering even five years ago a flagship OLED would probably struggle to go over 700 nits.

Outside of that, the B6 offers two main upgrades over the outgoing LG B5. The first is its use of LG’s Alpha 8 Gen 3 CPU. This still places it below LG’s G6 and C6, which feature the more powerful Alpha 11 Gen 3, but it is a step up from the Alpha 8 Gen 2 sported by the B5. Key claimed improvements include more refined picture upscaling, more intelligent and accurate dynamic tone mapping and superior SDR-to-HDR conversion.

The second is Dolby FlexConnect. This is a new audio technology that aims to let TV owners create Dolby Atmos wireless surround sound packages using a mix of compatible speakers. It even lets you use the TV’s built-in speakers as the central channel. While the first system we reviewed with the tech, the LG Sound Suite, didn’t blow us away with its audio quality, its clever room calibration powers did impress us enough to view support for the tech as a bonus.

Outside of that, the TV offers the stellar library of features we’ve come to expect from LG OLEDs.

For gamers, the TV has four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs and support for 4K/120Hz, ALLM and VRR. So console gamers are sorted, and truthfully, even if you have a PC, it would have to be an incredibly powerful one to run triple-A titles at frame rates above 120Hz.

As a final perk, Dolby Vision Gaming HDR and Bluetooth low-latency controller support are both on board. The latter is a nice touch if you want to connect a third-party Bluetooth controller to the set and play via the cloud on GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

HDR support is strong, with the B6 playing nice with the big three: Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG. That gives it a slight edge on its Samsung rival, which, like all the firm’s TVs, doesn’t support Dolby Vision. Samsung instead continues to push its homebrewed, open-source HDR10+ tech as the superior option.

WebOS 26 then ensures robust app support with all the major services, including Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ present and running correctly. Local catch-up support is also solid, with BBC iPlayer, Now and more all available in the UK.

Pretty impressive specifications for an “entry-level” OLED.

Picture quality

While the B6 doesn’t make the best first impression, that’s primarily down to the less-than-ideal default picture settings.

Playing our 4K Blu-ray copy of F1: The Movie, while running in its Standard mode, the set initially falls victim to some familiar pitfalls we experience with cheap TVs.

Movements feel floaty, with the cars appearing to be sliding, rather than driving, across the track. The contrast isn’t quite right, either, with the picture raising the brightest parts a tad too much, adding a cel-shaded, artificial feel to the picture.

Thankfully, as happens on nearly all of the modern LG OLEDs we’ve tested, things rapidly improve after switching to Filmmaker Mode.

Once done, the overbrightening disappears, and the image takes on a pleasingly punchy, but not overbaked feel.

There are only two minor quibbles. First, that motion still appears a tad smeary, compared to the C6 and Samsung S85H, even with all processing off – though not to the point that it's a deal breaker.

Second, that characters’ skin tones, in particular, feel a smidgeon green, an issue we sadly can’t easily fix, as the B6 doesn’t have colour profiles, instead relying on a slider control that only adjusts its temperature – and not with a great deal of finesse, making it better to leave it in its neutral setting.

Those points aside, the brightest part of the picture shines with a sparkle we didn’t expect from an entry-level OLED, with the fireworks shooting over the track holding a pleasing and distinct three-dimensional positioning in the night sky.

Our peak brightness stress test, Pan, is atypically mastered to 4000 nits. While the LG C6 is punchier than the B6 and retains a wider range of colours in the setting sun, the cheaper model delivers a performance that, even a few years ago, would have been considered unfathomably bright for a mid-range, let alone entry-level, model.

In isolation, the picture is pleasingly immersive.

But as we swap to our Sinners 4K Blu-ray, the green issue is exacerbated, to the point of being distracting. In the dim speakeasy, characters' faces appear jaundiced, and the intended red light effect is lost, replaced with a mellow yellow vibe. This gives the images a slightly smudgy, flatter feel than the S85H, which is a shame as it otherwise handles colours with more care, and more subtlety, than its affordable Samsung rival.

But, more pressingly, blacks are not uniformly perfect, as they should be on an OLED. Parts of the picture are raised, giving them a grey, almost backlit look. Sadly, reducing the Near Black Detail from 0 to -1 doesn’t fix the problem; some blacks still look raised, there’s just less detail in them.

Pressing the point with the opening scene of Alien: Romulus, there is evident flickering during the opening credits that are meant to be fully black as the logos emerge, then recede. Then, while parts of the picture are deep and a cut above that which you’ll experience even on the best Mini LED, including the five-star TCL C8L we are testing it against, they still aren’t perfect. Some parts of the black void of space still look slightly grey, compared with what we experience on the S85H and C6.

It’s a conundrum, one that means, while the picture is very good for the money, it ultimately doesn't match what we’d expect when investing in an OLED – whose primary selling point is its pixel-level light control and ability to deliver perfect blacks.

Switching to our SDR copy of True Grit, the set does a decent job with the grainy, spaghetti western feel of the movie. Though the picture is slightly flatter than the C6 next to it, the falling snow over the black background retains a pleasingly realistic feel, never falling victim to noise.

Throughout the movie, although the B6 does occasionally feel fizzy, struggling with the intentionally grain, it never becomes unwatchable or overtly distracting – as it can on many of the sets we test.

Our only minor issue is that, as is the case on the S85H, the picture feels a bit soft compared with the step-up C6 model, though this is more than forgivable given the difference in price.

Sound quality

The B6 comes with a basic 2.0 channel, 20W downward-firing speaker system that relies on clever AI processing to deliver a virtual Dolby Atmos experience.

Like nearly all modern LG OLEDs, it also has a very select number of audio modes. The two big ones are its Standard and AI Sound Pro options.

Starting with the out-of-the-box Standard mode playing F1: The Movie, the sound is generally fine, but slightly too congested for our liking. The rumbling engines, race commentary and character dialogue all feel flat, and too tied to the centre of the TV.

Switching to AI Sound Pro, the soundstage opens up, but there’s a lack of finesse. Engine noise doesn’t match the cars’ on-screen movements, and voices take on a hard, artificial edge.

The issue is exacerbated with Sinners, where during the complex medley scene, the ‘voice of God’ narrator comes in too heavy-handed, drowning out the intermingling music tracks as it rises. Then, as the psychedelic guitar swells in volume, distortion creeps in.

Switching to the Standard mode, the audio sprints back to the centre, creating a muddy wall of sound. Ideally, we’d like something in the middle between the two options.

Moving to our Blade Runner 2049 chapter two, low-end stress test, the B6 fails to deliver the booming, menacing synth with enough force to do it justice, but is conservative enough not to veer into distortion – as many TV speakers do.

Dialogue lacks direction, but the speakers are good enough to hear characters' voices, and, to our surprise, the higher frequencies don’t sound too hard-edged or veer into sibilance during the subsequent interview scene – so long as we stick to Standard mode.

So, like all recent LG TVs, the speakers are fine for casual TV viewing, but you will want to invest in a separate soundbar system for serious movie watching.

Verdict

The LG B6 is a good entry-level OLED in most ways. Its gaming features, HDR support and app offering are excellent. And its picture in isolation is solid, especially if you are yet to make the jump to OLED, or on a very early model with the panel tech.

But there is definite room for improvement. Audio, like most recent LG OLEDs, is middling, even by TV speaker standards. But more pressing are the issues we’ve encountered with its black level and handling of dark scenes. Yes, blacks are still better and more immersive than anything you’ll find on a Mini LED at this level, but they’re not perfect. And the TV’s tendency to push greens too hard can become distracting during certain scenes.

This means that, for those who can afford the extra outlay, the step-up LG C6 is a better option. Those who can’t also have other options, including the equivalently priced Samsung S85H OLED, or, if you’re not wedded to OLED, TCL C8L.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Samsung S85H

Also consider the LG C6

Read our Samsung S90F review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

The 100-inch TV market is largely dominated by Mini LED TVs. Why? The price of OLEDs around this size has long been an issue, and manufacturers have yet to break this particular size threshold because of factors such as cost and manufacturing constraints – but that might be about to change.

Various Chinese media outlets (via FlatPanelsHD) are reporting that a Chinese state-owned investment firm has made a significant investment to upgrade the production of large-screen OLED panels outside of South Korea.

Global marketing and research firm TrendForce reports that Guangzhou Development Zone Holdings Group Co., Ltd. and LG Display will jointly invest RMB1 billion (around £112.45 million) into LG Display Optoelectronics Technology (China) Co., Ltd's Guangzhou production plant.

The plan is to add assembly lines for 77-, 83-, 97-, and 111-inch OLED displays at its Chinese manufacturing plant. TrendForce reports that "the 111-inch production line is the world's first dedicated module production line of the same size based on the large OLED technology route".

As such, it claims that "the 111-inch module line is a major highlight of this project", and this is the first time we could see 100-inch-plus models that don't feature a backlit panel.

Furthermore, the investment in manufacturing could see more competitively priced large-screen OLED TVs in the future.

The high cost of OLED TVs at this size has long been attributed to the failure rate of producing these large-sized panels, but a more efficient manufacturing process could change all of this.

Now, there's no guarantee that the brands will opt to pass the savings on to consumers, or even opt to use these panels in their own sets; however, it certainly appears that some foundations for bigger and cheaper OLED TVs have been laid.

Only time will tell if larger and cheaper OLED TVs do start rolling off production lines.

MORE:

Read our full LG C6 review

As well as our Samsung S99H review

And check out our pick of the best OLED TVs for every budget

Fresh off the back of its Apple TV 4K 4th Generation and HomePod Mini 2 double whammy announcement last week, Apple has unveiled its latest home cinema in a hand, the new iPad Mini.

The new iPad Mini comes with a whole host of new picture and sound upgrades that are sure to have on-the-go cinephiles salivating.

The iPad Mini 2026 is the first model outside of the Pro series to feature an OLED display, with Apple's Super Retina XDR technology on board for sharper visuals and richer colours.

The Mini also gets less mini with a new 8.7-inch display (up from 8.3 inches on the previous generation), although the size of the tablet actually stays the same thanks to Apple shrinking the bezels by an impressive 24 per cent.

According to Apple, the display can go as low as one nit and reach a peak brightness of 1200 nits – that's twice the brightness of the previous model – and it sports a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

Apple is also offering its Nano Texture display coating, which can be found on the iPad Pro, and more recently the iPhone Duo, for reduced display glare. You'll need to spring for the pricier 256GB or 512GB configurations to add that option, though, as the 128GB model is only available with a glossy display finish.

The Californian tech giant hasn't confirmed if the Mini is sporting the same brightness-boosting Tandem OLED technology as the Pro, but we do know that ProMotion (Apple's high refresh rate technology) is, unfortunately, not on board.

This means that the new iPad Mini is stuck with a 60Hz refresh rate. Thankfully, it retains support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG.

While the display upgrade is monumental, what's under it is arguably even more impressive. Apple has introduced an all-new Acoustic Display speaker system on the iPad Mini. This features specially-designed under-display woofers that are "paired through the display" to produce "punchier bass and more volume".

Custom tweeters, which are hidden beneath the display, for crisper and clearer high frequencies, are also onboard. Dolby Atmos support is also sticking around, both via supported headphones and through the Acoustic Display system.

This is a first for an iPad, and we can't think of any other tablets to use this type of sound system. Our nearest frame of reference is Sony's actuator-based sound systems in its OLED TVs, which vibrate the panel to produce sound in a seemingly similar fashion.

This speaker system means the new iPad has no speaker holes, helping it achieve IP67 water- and dust-resistance. It's also now just 5.4mm thin and weighs 255g or 263g for the wi-fi and cellular versions, respectively.

Inside the new iPad Mini is Apple's A20 Pro chip, which it has borrowed directly from the Award-winning iPhone 18 Pro. It features support for Siri AI via iPadOS 27 and is rated to be powerful enough for heavier workloads, including video editing and gaming.

The 128GB and 256GB models feature a five‑core CPU with two super cores and three efficiency cores and a 16‑core Neural Engine, whereas the 512GB model introduces a hexa-core CPU and a Dual 16‑core Neural Engine for increased AI efficiency.

On sale in two dashing finishes – Midnight and Starlight – the new iPad Mini is available to pre-order now starting at £699 / $699 / AU$1099, with availability starting on the 6th of November.

That's a substantial step up from the £499 / $499 / AU$799 launch price of the previous model, but with a global RAM crisis on our hands, this increase isn't unexpected.

MORE:

Check out our iPad Air 13-inch M4 review

As well as our list of the best tablets

And find the best streaming services for movies and TV here

We’re in the run-up to the biggest event in home cinema and hi-fi fans’ calendars, the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 – where we will unveil this year’s Product of the Year winners at an exclusive black-tie ceremony.

But ahead of that, we’ve already had one huge shake-up in a key category: best OLED TVs.

After months of comparative testing in our dedicated viewing rooms, running all the latest sets we could get our hands on that are still on sale head-to-head, it was a bit of a bloodbath, with our advice completely changing last week.

And while the focus may be on the Samsung S99H dethroning the Sony Bravia 8 II as the best premium OLED TV – a development that surprised everyone on the team, including TV and AV Editor Tom Parsons – or the 65-inch C6 finally replacing the older C5 as our mid-range recommendation, it was another smaller set that caught my attention.

Specifically, the 48-inch LG C6.

Why this set? Because it's the biggest upgrade we’ve seen to small OLEDs in nearly half a decade.

In case you’re new to What Hi-Fi?, the home cinema team and I have long lamented the lack of innovation happening in small OLED TVs compared to their larger siblings.

Larger OLEDs, especially flagships, have been flooded with new hardware over the past few years. Within LG’s stack alone, we’ve seen not one, but two next-generation panels launch – first, Micro Lens Array, then the current Primary RGB Tandem OLED tech seen on the LG G6.

And that’s a huge shame for buyers who can’t accommodate big sets as, though there have been teething pains, the new panel tech has holistically been a positive.

Higher peak and operating brightness levels, better colour volume and accuracy, especially during dark scenes; the tech, when utilised correctly, can radically improve picture quality.

We’ve run the new TVs against basic WOLED and previous-generation MLA sets to confirm that.

So, it should make sense that we wanted to see it trickle down to smaller, more affordable sets.

And while LG has remained cagey, bluntly refusing our requests for confirmation of the specific panel used on the 48-inch C6, our testing suggests our wish may have finally been granted.

Comparing it to older models, its peak brightness, colour accuracy and general similarity to larger Primary RGB Tandem OLED sets add up to make a compelling case. Our primary reviewer, and senior staff writer, Lewis Empson said as much in our review, where he reported:

“If our theory is correct, it’s likely the cheapest way to acquire an RGB Tandem OLED TV, and if it’s not, then we’d really like to know how LG has pumped the brightness and vibrancy up to this extent. Regardless, it’s fully featured, talented in the picture and sound departments, and it proves that you don’t need to sacrifice a considerable chunk of your living room to achieve a cinematically satisfying experience.”

So even if it doesn't have it, the 48-inch C6 is the best small OLED we’ve ever tested – which is a huge positive and the reason we’ve had to completely change our OLED TV buying advice this month.

Here's hoping it's the start of a trend in the small OLED TV market...

MORE:
These are the best TVs we’ve reviewed

We rank the best small TVs

Our picks of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

I’ve been very open about my love for the Sony Bravia 8 II – some might say nauseatingly so – having done the modern equivalent of shouting it from the rooftops by writing about it on the internet time and time again.

When it launched last year, the Bravia 8 II didn’t so much beat its very accomplished competition; it smashed it, leaving the likes of the LG G5, Panasonic Z95B and Samsung S95F sobbing and nursing their wounds.

Rightfully, it romped to victory in the 2025 What Hi-Fi? Awards, taking the Product Of The Year gong in the TV category.

It’s testament to Sony’s achievements with the Bravia 8 II that even this year, it is still very nearly the best TV available.

Wave after wave of new rivals have appeared, both OLEDs and fancy RGB Mini LED sets, and the Bravia 8 II has stood firm, batting each back while barely breaking a sweat.

With one exception: the Samsung S99H.

Yes, the only TV that we, as a team, and I personally rate higher than the Bravia 8 II is Samsung’s flagship QD-OLED. And, I’ll confess, it isn’t the TV I expected to topple the mighty Sony.

There’s no such thing as perfection

So, the S99H (known as the S95H in most regions outside the UK, where the S95H is an entirely different model) is now perched atop our list of the best TVs, but it isn’t without its controversies.

The most obvious is its wide metal bezel, onto which the main panel is mounted to look as if it’s floating.

It’s a striking design that looks stunning when the TV is wall-mounted, but weird and incongruous when it’s plonked on a TV stand with the (let’s face it, unforgivably cheap-looking) bundled feet attached.

Samsung has done away with the excellent One Connect box of its previous OLED flagships, too. Which means that, rather than having a separate device through which all connections (and power) are routed, leaving just one cable running to the display, the S99H has a typical collection of ins and outs on its rear.

Given that the design encourages wall mounting, that’s a bit of a shame. Yes, the S99H is compatible with Samsung’s new Wireless One Connect Box, but this is an expensive optional extra that is far from widely available (I currently can’t find a single UK retailer that’s selling it).

The final fly in the ointment is a lack of Dolby Vision support. I realise this is nothing new for Samsung TVs, but it remains a major annoyance. Samsung’s own HDR10+ is all well and good from a dynamic metadata point of view, but it doesn’t marry that to ‘as the director’ picture tuning with a single preset in the way that Dolby Vision does when it’s done right.

Even better than the best where it matters

Those flaws, though, pale into insignificance in the face of everything the Samsung S99H gets right.

Picture quality is, of course, the most important factor to any TV. And the S99H is the only TV that has got the better of the Bravia 8 II in this regard.

It very much feels as though Samsung has looked at what makes the Bravia 8 II so good and found a way to beat it at its own game. So, while the S99H has a newer, significantly brighter QD-OLED panel than the Bravia 8 II, Samsung has combined that with the most subtle and cinematically authentic tuning that we have yet seen from the brand.

In other words, this is a TV that is capable of dazzling to an almost unprecedented level, that pairs perfect blacks with the sort of brightness usually associated with a top-end Mini LED model; but put it into its Filmmaker Mode and it will also deliver your movies and TV shows in the manner the director intended.

One area in which the Bravia 8 II was always head and shoulders above its rivals was solidity and three-dimensional depth. The S99H is a match for it here as well. This is an image with a great sense of scale and immersion, without any sense of over-sharpening.

There really is no way in which the S99H’s picture is anything other than excellent, regardless of what it is you look for in a TV. And it has a feature set to match.

The HDMI sockets might be mounted to the rear of the TV, but they are all full-fat HDMI 2.1 affairs (the Bravia 8 II has just two of these) capable of handling 4K/165Hz signals (the Bravia 8 II tops out at 4K/120Hz), VRR and ALLM.

And yes, if you can find one, the Wireless One Connect box can add even more HDMI 2.1 sockets, should you need them.

Pair that specification with the actual gaming performance, which is exemplary, and this really is a gamer’s delight of a TV.

Tizen is rapidly returning to the top of the smart TV platform charts, too, regaining some of the usability it lost in a redesign a few years ago while offering one of the most comprehensive app selections you will find on any TV.

All of those apps are really well optimised, too, delivering all of the resolutions and dynamic range formats they should (Dolby Vision notwithstanding).

The S99H even sounds good by TV standards. Yes, it would still be close to criminal not to pair a TV this good with a dedicated sound system, but if you really must use the integrated speakers, they are at least decent – albeit not quite to the level of the Bravia 8 II’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup.

All hail the new flagship TV king

All of which is to say that the Samsung S99H is a magnificent TV. It’s the one model that has finally bested the Bravia 8 II in our testing, and the only TV I would seriously consider swapping my own Sony for.

Given how much I’ve raved about the Bravia 8 II over the past year, that’s about as strong an endorsement as I can give.

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

If you buy the Samsung S99H, try to budget for one of the best soundbars or best surround sound systems

While it’s always a thrill to review the latest and greatest flagship TVs, there’s something really satisfying about discovering an affordable model that punches above its weight.

That’s precisely what we have here. Having tested myriad budget sets as part of our Awards judging process, one model stands head and shoulders above its rivals: say hello to the TCL P8L.

Price

The 65-inch TCL P8L we’re testing launched with a price tag of £849, but it can now be bought for an even more attractive price of £749.

If you want to go a little smaller and/or cheaper, there’s a 55-inch P8L with a price tag of £649, and the range goes up to a whopping 98-inch model, although pricing for that one has not yet been revealed.

The P8L series is designed to offer a more budget-conscious alternative to LG's C-series, but the specs still look very attractive for the price, with Mini LED backlighting, Quantum Dot colours and 4K/144Hz gaming all on the menu.

If you’re wondering about US and Aussie pricing, there isn’t any, as the P8L isn’t available in either of those regions. We understand that the US QM6K model is at least very similar, but the potential for differences means this P8L review shouldn’t be considered as also applying to the QM6K.

Design

The TCL P8L is a pretty good-looking TV for its price. Plastic features heavily, of course, but it’s been largely successfully disguised to look like metal.

The thin bezel is black on three sides, with a slightly thicker silver lip at the bottom. There's a TCL logo at the centre of this bottom lip, and another badge that says ‘Premium QLED’ close to the top of the right edge. It looks rather like a cuff at the top of someone’s ear, and it really bothers some of our reviewers.

In the box are two silver feet that can be positioned either fairly close together, giving the TV a footprint that’s just 56cm wide, or further apart to make more room for a soundbar. The amount of clearance beneath the bottom of the screen is just 6.5cm, though, so do bear that in mind.

At its thickest point, the TV is a not inconsiderable 7cm, but this tapers at the edges in a fairly attractive way. This thickness serves a purpose, too, as in the centre of the rear of the TV is a large Onkyo-branded ‘Ultra Bass’ subwoofer that will hopefully give the TV’s audio some low-end heft.

Features

Also on the back of the P8L is a recess for the physical connections, which include four HDMI sockets, through two of which the TV can handle 4K/144Hz (and 4K/120Hz) gaming. VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming are all supported, too, even via the two 4K/60Hz ports.

Dolby Vision is of course supported for movies and TV shows, too, but so are HLG, HDR10 and HDR10+, which means the P8L scores a clean sheet of high dynamic range format support – something that no TV from Samsung, Sony or LG offers, regardless of price.

As is the norm for TCL TVs, the P8L runs the Google TV smart platform, which brings with it a huge app selection. TCL has also gone out of its way to support all four of the UK’s terrestrial catch-up apps.

In fact, of the 32 apps we check every TV for, just four are absent from the P8L: the Amazon Luna and Xbox cloud gaming apps, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Not only is everything else on board, but every app that should support 4K, HDR and/or Dolby Atmos does so.

In terms of core panel tech, the P8L is of course an LCD set, but it features Quantum Dot colours and a Mini LED backlight with, according to our count, 72 independent dimming zones.

The P8L also boasts one of TCL’s HVA panels, which launched last year and have quickly garnered a reputation for providing better viewing angles and less blooming than typical VA panels. TCL says that this is backed up by a ‘Bionic Lighting Algorithm’ that is designed to optimise details of light and dark scenes.

‘Transient Response’, meanwhile, is designed to reduce ghosting caused by backlight lag, and there are, as is the norm in 2026, umpteen AI picture processing features on board, though we elect to avoid these in favour of a more authentic picture that’s truer to creative intent.

It’s worth noting that the P8L’s panel features quite a reflective glossy coating that can prove a little troublesome in very brightly lit rooms. Of course, that also means it doesn’t have the raised black issue that is common with TVs with matte coatings.

For sound, TCL has teamed up with Onkyo, which has produced a 2.1-channel system comprising the aforementioned rear-mounted, 15W subwoofer, and two 10W speakers built into the TV's underside. Dolby Atmos is supported via this speaker system and the HDMI eARC port.

Picture quality

At the P8L’s level, we still see lots of TVs with no local dimming, and yet more with very poor local dimming. The TCL’s Mini LED backlight, though, is a breath of fresh air.

While blooming around bright objects on black or very dark backgrounds (studio logos at the start of movies, for example, and the spotlights during the bomb test scene of Oppenheimer) certainly isn’t non-existent, it’s subtle and diffuse enough not to distract, and while blacks certainly aren’t OLED-deep, the P8L skillfully avoids producing the flat, grey image that’s typical of similarly priced rivals.

In fact, this is a pleasantly dynamic performer that delivers punchy highlights and impressive depth for the money. It skilfully balances the requirements for sparkling stars and deep, dark space in the opening of Alien: Romulus, for example.

This knack for balance is evident in the way the P8L handles colours, too. The reds and oranges of the recovery ship’s cockpit lights are punchy and vibrant against their dim, metallic housings, but character skin tones are rendered in natural hues and shades.

This balance is achievable with very little user input required, too: the Filmmaker Mode has been really well tuned to deliver impressive cinematic authenticity without the lifelessness that can afflict this same preset on other budget-oriented TVs.

That said, if you prefer a bit more pop, the Standard preset provides a crisper, cooler, brighter picture that’s still surprisingly nicely judged – just remember to reduce the Motion Clarity setting to Low or Off if you choose this preset, as the default Medium setting over-smooths motion in that soap opera fashion we all know and loathe.

On the subject of settings to watch out for, be sure to delve into the TV’s Energy Dashboard to switch off Dynamic Brightness, as this can artificially dim the picture.

Even when uninhibited, the P8L isn’t the brightest TV. It’s bright enough to deliver the benefits of HDR, but in a very bright room, it can struggle somewhat to punch through, even in its brighter presets.

And while we’re talking flaws, while the P8L’s black levels are satisfyingly deep considering the price of the TV, there’s also a little black crush, with some fine details lost to dark shadows. Raising the Black Level setting just a touch can resurface this lost detail at the expense of some depth, but it’s tricky to find the perfect balance. We find 53 to be the sweetest spot, but it still doesn’t quite provide the perfect blend of depth and shadow detail.

These really are minor niggles considering the price of the TV and the overall picture quality it provides at that price, and that remains true when we drop from the 4K HDR movies used so far to an HD SDR stream of The Turkish Detective from BBC iPlayer, which once again demonstrates the TV’s considered approach to colours and contrast while also proving it to be capable of clean, detailed upscaling.

The P8L is a strong option for gamers, too, with those impressive specs being backed up by a punchy, responsive performance. Gamers looking for a big, budget TV to accompany their PS5 or Xbox Series X should put this TCL to the top of their lists.

Sound quality

Considering the down-firing nature of the drivers, the sound they produce is impressively well anchored to the screen, with the dialogue of The Turkish Detective appearing to come directly from the characters. And while voices aren’t projected particularly far out into the room, they’re still clear, relatively detailed and reasonably emotive by the standards of affordable TVs.

That said, there’s a bit of a lack of lower midrange that can make deeper voices sound a little more lightweight than they should.

Switch to a Dolby Atmos movie, and the P8L has a surprisingly successful stab at supplying cinematic width and height, with effects stretching reasonably far to the left and right, and even a little way above the TV. And while the lower-midrange might be a little lacking, the subwoofer provides a useful bit of upper-bass that gives the presentation some additional solidity.

Of course, while the P8L sounds pretty good for a TV in its price range and will do the job with everyday content, you really need to budget for a dedicated audio system if at all possible. One of the best budget soundbars will boost your overall movie enjoyment substantially.

Verdict

The TCL P8L is a rare find. It’s not the cheapest TV, but it punches well above its weight in terms of picture quality and specs, and it sounds good by general TV standards, too.

Those with super-bright rooms might find its unspectacular brightness and reflective coating a slight issue, but for everyone else, this is the new benchmark for large, sub-£1000 TVs.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Amazon QL65F602U

Also consider the TCL C8L

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

LG’s 42-inch OLEDs have remained our top choice for space-conscious cinephiles for quite some time. They prove that you don’t need to sacrifice a large amount of space for a 65-inch (or larger) set to achieve a top-of-the-line picture experience.

While there haven’t been huge performance leaps between generations, we have found subtle improvements occur each year, and we expect to see a similar affair with the 42-inch C6 that we have before us today.

This compact OLED aims to deliver a large-scale cinematic experience that suits smaller rooms, which is a mission we’re more than familiar with after reviewing every generation of this TV since 2022’s C2; the first 42-inch OLED to hit the market.

The real question is, does it continue the legacy of the acclaimed series that’s been championed by cinephiles and gamers alike? We certainly think so…

Price

Originally launching at £1300 / $1399 / AU$1999, the OLED42C6 can now be found for around £999 / $1000 / AU$1695 thanks to months of discounts. Going back to that launch price, LG actually undercut the outgoing 42-inch C5, which launched at £1400 / $1399 / AU$2199, making it cheaper in the UK and Australia.

Speaking of which, there are still some C5 stragglers to be found for around £849 here in the UK. That’s a decent discount, but we could certainly make a case for spending the additional £150 to score the latest and greatest C-series TV.

Looking at the competition, LG’s main rival is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Samsung. The Samsung S90H is available in all the same sizes as the LG C6, with the equivalent 42-inch model currently available for £999 / $1000 / AU$1466.

Panasonic also offers last year’s Z90B, which we awarded five stars at 48 inches, in a 42-inch option. It costs slightly more than the C6 at £1099, but the Z90B’s front-firing speaker bar may appeal more to audiophiles.

Design

Place the 42-inch C6 next to the C5, C4, C3 and C2 from the previous five years, and you’d have a nearly impossible game of Where’s Wally on your hands. The C6 looks identical to its predecessors, although that’s no great shame as LG is sticking with a well-built and smart-looking formula.

The compact set rests upon two blade-style feet at each end; usually we prefer a central stand (as found on the C6 from 48 inches upwards) for maximum furniture compatibility, but the small footprint of this TV means that it’s not too wide and should fit on a majority of media units with ease.

And with 72cm between these feet, there is enough room to squeeze a soundbar between them; the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), for example, measures in at 65cm, meaning it should easily fit.

However, we should note that the feet can only be attached at one height, that being 3.7cm. That’s not loads of clearance; going back to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), that soundbar stands at 6.8cm tall, so there is a chance that your soundbar may encroach on the C6’s bezel.

Assembly is simple thanks to the feet attaching with just two screws each, and the “small” screen size is easy for a single person to get into position provided they possess the appropriate wingspan.

Rounding things out with the remote, LG continues to offer just one button-heavy handset in the box. Its Magic Remote has some nifty features, such as a scroll wheel and Nintendo Wii-style motion pointer, but we’d still like to see a backlight and the return of a dedicated source select button, which has unfortunately been sacrificed for a general smart home-focused connected devices button.

Features

The 42-inch C6, much like the 48- and 65-inch versions, is a feature-packed OLED TV that’s equipped for cinephiles and gamers alike.

This TV sports a 4K WOLED panel, as has been the case with all previous iterations of LG’s 42-inch C-series TVs. While that may seem somewhat obvious given LG’s track record, it is worth highlighting this year, as LG seems to be mixing in Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology depending on the screen size.

Officially speaking, the 77- and 83-inch options tout LG’s Brightness Booster Max feature and Hyper Radiant Colour system, which require the Tandem OLED technology to work. On a more speculative note, we recently reviewed the 48-inch version of this TV, and its unexpectedly high brightness led us to believe that it too is using the more advanced panel technology, although LG will neither confirm nor deny whether that is the case.

Regardless, our main concern is how this TV performs, as panel technology and on-paper specifications are not always indicative of picture performance.

Moving on to the processor, the OLED42C6 sports the same Alpha 11 AI Processor 4K Gen3 as its larger siblings, which handles picture processing and runs the webOS smart platform. New for this year is a 12-bit processing pipeline, which reportedly enhances brightness and colour.

There are also countless AI picture and sound features, which are handled by this processor. Dual AI Super Resolution, for example, is a two-layer upscaling system (one for sharpening edges, the other to refine textures and details), which enhances lower-resolution content as well as 4K content.

AI HDR Remaster, another AI-backed persistent picture feature, enhances contrast, sharpness and colour using a frame-by-frame process. SDR content takes on a more HDR-like appearance, and HDR content should look “more vibrant and realistic”, according to LG.

AI Picture Pro serves as a hub for many of these picture features, and it also uses content recognition algorithms to tweak the C6’s settings depending on the content you’re watching. Alongside this is AI Sound Pro, which works in a very similar way, albeit for the audio settings instead.

For those hoping to add a more personalised touch to their AI experience, Personalised Picture Wizard and Personalised Sound Wizard allow you to choose from a range of preset image and sound samples to adapt the settings to best suit your taste without having to dig into the system settings menu.

That said, we find that LG’s AI settings can be a bit heavy-handed and usually don’t preserve picture and sound authenticity. Switching to Filmmaker Mode in the picture settings is a much more effective and equally easy way to dial this TV’s picture in.

Stepping away from AI and back to the realm of AV, the 42-inch C6 supports HDR in the HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision HDR formats. HDR10+ isn’t supported, which isn’t a surprise considering the format was created by Samsung.

Dolby Atmos immersive audio is also supported via the 2.0 channel sound system and through connected HDMI eARC audio devices.

Speaking of HDMIs, LG’s established formula for winning over gamers remains, as the OLED42C6 sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets capable of handling signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. For those without a console, the C6 also supports a wide range of cloud gaming apps, including Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now and Amazon Luna. LG claims that the C6 is also the first TV capable of 4K/120Hz game streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now.

webOS 26 is also home to plenty of non-gaming-related streaming apps too, including a strong array of regional and global offerings, from BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 to Disney+ and Apple TV. Our biggest criticism is how advertisement-heavy the operating system is, but sponsored content can be switched off in the settings menu.

Picture quality

While the 48-inch C6 surprised us with its bright, rich and punchy performance, the 42-inch C6 follows in the footsteps of its 65-inch sibling by acting as a subtle but appreciated improvement over its predecessor. That’s to say it's a refinement on a five-star formula in the picture department, which is fine.

As has been the case with several previous C-series OLEDs, we gravitate towards Filmmaker Mode as our preferred picture setting, although we do switch to Cinematic Movement in the TruMotion settings as we feel this irons out judder effectively without introducing the soap opera effect.

LG’s Cinema Home setting – which is essentially its version of the “movie” preset found on other TVs – is also a setting that’s worth exploring for those who crave a touch more punch, or who are viewing the C6 in environments with abundant ambient light.

With these settings dialled in, the 42-inch C6 serves up a superb cinematic image that never reminds us that we’re watching a “small” TV.

Much like the 65- and 48-inch versions of the C6, the 42-inch excels when it comes to contrast. The opening of F1: The Movie features impressively punchy highlights, including stadium lighting and fireworks, which juxtapose the inky-black night sky effectively.

There is an impressive sense of depth, solidity and richness to the picture as Sonny Hayes waltzes towards the garage and pit lane during the opening of the film, which, when paired with the sharp outlines of subjects and strong detail levels, develops an excellent sense of immersion.

Switching to Civil War, the C6 proves it can deliver a balanced, natural image during the military base sequence. Foliage looks crisp and verdant without straying into over-vibrant shades of green, and there is a real sense of three-dimensionality to the picture too.

As fighter jets soar over the camp, we find that the 42OLEDC6 takes fast-moving objects in its stride, with no apparent judder. Switching to Blade Runner 2049 affirms this, as a sequence in which Officer K’s flying Peugeot hurtles towards the LAPD and passes behind a handful of buildings in the foreground reveals no artefacts or flickering motion.

Simply put, the 42-inch C6 ticks every box in our picture testing process, and its large-scale cinematic picture isn’t held back by its modest display size.

Sound quality

LG’s small OLED TVs have never blown our socks off when it comes to sound performance, and the C6 isn’t really an exception. That said, it’s not a total disaster either; it’s more of a mixed bag, if anything.

We do like that the sound presets are pleasingly simple, and things become even easier with our guidance: skip the AI-labelled sound modes and stick with standard. While they aren’t without use (the dialogue setting will certainly be handy for those who struggle to hear voices, for example), they do compromise the overall mix and apply a synthetic finish to the sound. Our advice is to stick with “standard”.

With that in mind, we use the opening sequence of F1: The Movie to assess the C6’s performance. Overall, there are a few strengths to note here; the C6 produces quite a clear and detailed sound, which especially extends to voices. While they don’t project all that well, there is certainly definition and a touch of tonal variation, which is appreciated given dialogue really is the most important factor.

Furthermore, the sound of race cars soaring around the track (and, from our perspective, across the screen) flows nicely from right to left, and there is a sense of spaciousness and openness that is quite impressive given the size of the set. The sound doesn’t fill our testing room, but we have to commend the sense of space it is able to muster given its speaker configuration.

While there isn’t a huge amount of height to the fireworks that burst over the race track and shower sparks onto the cars below, the C6 presents them with satisfying snaps, crackles and pops; although, much like Rice Krispies, there isn’t much weight behind them.

And that brings us onto the overarching issue with the 42 C6’s sound: there just isn’t much oomph. Given that this is a 2.0 channel, subwoofer-less system in a relatively small chassis, that’s to be expected, but it isn’t helped by the shortfall of absolute volume. When cranked to 100 per cent, it remains easy to talk over the C6 without having to raise your voice, and there is a dip in the midrange that leaves the sound (especially voices) feeling a bit hollow and lightweight.

Paired with a somewhat drab approach to dynamic expression, which leaves Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love sounding flat, the C6 is best accompanied by a compact Dolby Atmos soundbar for serious movie watching sessions.

Verdict

The 42-inch LG C6 once again proves that you don’t need a huge TV to score genuine cinematic impact.

Middling sound aside, the C6 delivers a seriously impressive experience, underpinned by a composed approach to contrast and sharpness, resulting in oodles of cinematic depth.

While we’re used to sets 55 inches and above, we’d happily spend hours watching movies on this compact OLED.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the LG C6 48-inch

Also consider the LG C5 42-inch

Read our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and teste

Prime Day, or Big Deal Days, or whatever the fudge else Amazon’s calling it this very second (as noted by regular contributor Joe Svetlik earlier this week, it changes a lot), is entering its second and final day.

As we noted yesterday, though, it has been a bit of a damp squib so far, especially if you’re shopping for hi-fi.

Good deals have been isolated and usually limited to one product within a category, rather than the holistic drops we see on swathes of headphones, TVs and the like during Black Friday.

Which is why, with a particularly heavy heart, I am sad to inform any bargain-hunting TV buyer that the best deal we’ve seen on an OLED is gone.

Specifically, the stellar Amazon saving on the five-star, Award-winning 48-inch LG C5 from last year which let you pick it up for a modest £699 (saving £500), is now gone.

Stock has run out on Amazon, and the retailers still selling it are charging £999 or more.

If that hasn’t put you off and you’re still eager to buy a new OLED, but don’t have deep enough pockets to pay the full price, or make the jump up to flagship territory, I’m sad to say this is a double-whammy bad news post.

After trawling Amazon and rival retailers, both specialist and mainstream, I haven’t found any deals on good OLED TVs that we’ve fully reviewed and recommend that come close to matching yesterday’s C5 deal.

There are only two close – but not as good – deals currently running. The 48-inch LG C6, which we just finished reviewing and can confirm is a palpable improvement on the C5, currently retails for £1087 on Amazon (save £110). A good TV at an okay price, but far from what we'd describe as cheap.

Alternatively, if you really want to get the cheapest OLED possible that’s not completely terrible, the four-star, entry-level 48-inch Samsung S85H currently costs £824.10 at Richer Sounds – though you’ll need to claim £75 back from Samsung after purchase to unlock the full discount.

But that means you’re paying more for an OLED that doesn’t quite match the performance of the older C5 when it comes to pure picture quality – we know that, as we tested them both.

So what’s my advice to buyers looking for a new OLED? Sadly, unless you need a new TV this very second, I’d strongly suggest waiting a little longer.

Stock of the C5 may come back, and I’m expecting prices of all the OLEDs mentioned in this feature to drop even further in price, especially during Black Friday.

If past events are anything to go by, come November I can even see the C6 – which, having seen it in our review rooms, is the first OLED in nearly half a decade to tempt me to upgrade my ageing LG C2 – dropping below £899, which would make it an incredible option for serious movie fans on a budget.

If that hasn’t answered any of your OLED TV questions, feel free to drop a comment on this page, and I’ll endeavour to respond as soon as possible!

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

Our picks of the best 50-inch TVs

We rank the best soundbars

It's no secret that I love the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED, which romped to victory in the What Hi-Fi? Awards last year and now takes pride of place in my own living room.

Despite some extremely frustrating bugs that were introduced with a recent software update, I still love the TV. And, in fact, it's still better than almost every TV that's launched since.

There is one that has defeated it, though.

No, it's not the Bravia 9 II or LG G6 – it's the Samsung S99H, and it's just hit its lowest-ever price to coincide with Amazon Prime Big Deal Days.

This deal isn't an Amazon deal, though. Instead, you can get the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £1849 at Richer Sounds, and the 65-inch model for £2399 at Richer Sounds.

The retailer says you can also claim additional cashback from Samsung, to the tune of £150 for the 55-inch model and £200 for the 65-inch version. For a TV this new and this awesome, that's exceptional.

I'll level with you, I was surprised that the S99H beat the Bravia 8 II. Sure, the Bravia 8 II is a 2025 TV, but it was so far ahead of its rivals last year, I really didn't think any of them would close the gap.

Samsung has a reputation for slightly overplaying things where brightness and colours are concerned, too, whereas the Bravia 8 II is perhaps the best ever example of Sony's subtle and authentic approach to all elements of picture quality.

It seems pretty clear to me, though, that the South Korean brand set out with the specific aim of overthrowing Sony's flagship OLED.

The S99H pushes QD-OLED panel technology to new heights in terms of brightness and colour reproduction, but this combines with a newfound restraint and subtlety to deliver a much more mature and refined picture than we're used to from Samsung.

This is a TV that can (and will) absolutely dazzle, if that's what you and your content require, but it also satisfies purists by delivering movies, TV shows and games as the creator intended.

Like its Sony rival, the S99H is exceptionally sharp, too, and this combines with its awesome contrast and colours to create an image with oodles of pop and three-dimensional depth.

Gaming specs are also exceptional, with all four of the integrated HDMI sockets supporting 4K/165Hz (and 4K/120Hz) signals, VRR and ALLM.

And if that's not enough HDMI ports for you, or you want to go wireless with your connections, the Wireless One Connect can be added. This features four HDMI sockets that can be used in addition to those already built into the TV.

Before you click the big red 'Add To Basket' button, though, there are three little niggles to the S99H that you need to bear in mind.

The first is, for me, the biggest: it doesn't support Dolby Vision. Yes, HDR10+ is on board, as is HDR10+ Advanced, but these aren't quite the same thing. That said, the TV's Filmmaker Mode is so well tuned, I would personally be prepared to do without Dolby Vision.

The second is the design, which looks great when the TV is wall-mounted, but a little odd when it's plonked on a piece of furniture using the cheap, plastic feet, as it would be in my house. Honestly, there's no real solution to this – it's just something you will have to put up with in the name of excellent picture quality.

The final flaw is the sound, which is pretty good by TV standards, but not good enough to accompany this level of imagery. Frankly, that's an issue for all TVs, though, including the Bravia 8 II, and the solution is the same as ever: make sure to budget for some sort of dedicated sound system, even if it's 'just' an entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar such as the Sonos Beam Gen 2.

Ultimately, none of these niggles should be a deal-breaker as far as I'm concerned, and if I were to buy any TV in the world right now, it would be the Samsung S99H.

MORE:

Read the full Samsung S99H review

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best soundbars

TV screen sizes are seemingly only going in one direction, with manufacturers across the board touting sets north of 100 inches as the new norm. For those of us with moderately sized living rooms, this trend is simply not in our best interests.

Naturally, going “small” means accepting a compromise on screen size and, therefore, cinematic scale. But does a smaller TV necessarily mean a less immersive viewing experience? The 48-inch LG C6 sets out to answer that question with a resounding no.

Considering we are huge fans of the 65-inch LG C6, which we reviewed back in April, this might not come as a surprise. That said, we’ve always said that picture and sound performance can vary greatly across different sizes, so the five-star performance of the 65-inch model isn’t necessarily indicative of the 48- and 42-inch versions.

Fortunately, the 48-inch C6 comes surprisingly close to matching its larger sibling, retaining much of the picture and sound performance that made the 65-inch model so impressive.

Price

The LG OLED48C6, to give it its proper title, launched at £1400 / $1600 / AU$2400 earlier this year, but frequent price drops in the UK and US have cut that down to around £1200 / $1200. Similar price drops haven’t yet appeared Down Under, unfortunately.

Competition at this level is rife, as we’re seeing more “small” OLEDs hit the market than ever before. LG itself currently offers its step-down B6 in this size for £999 / $800 / AU$1995, and a 48-inch version of the G6 is also on the market in the UK for £1399.

LG’s C-series models tend to stick around for quite some time, too, which means remaining stock of the five-star 48-inch LG C5 can still be snapped up for around £999.

LG’s archrival, Samsung, also offers its C6 equivalent, the S90H, for £1199 / $1300 / AU$1760. It presents an almost identical feature set at an almost identical price in the UK and US.

Last year’s Award-winning 48-inch OLED, the Panasonic Z90B, also remains on sale for £1199, making it a very competitive option.

Design

LG’s tried-and-true C-series design soldiers on for yet another year, and it carries forth the various pros and cons we’ve found with previous generations stretching back to 2022’s 48-inch C2.

The good news is that this is a superbly slim TV at just 4.6cm in thickness when you take into consideration the “backpack” that houses the electronics and connections. At its slimmest, the TV measures just 6mm, giving it a premium and stylish look, and the central pedestal stand means it can be placed on a narrow piece of furniture.

However, that stand still protrudes outwards in a slightly awkward way if you plan on pairing this TV with a soundbar. The smaller 42-inch C6 sports a pair of dual blade-style feet that you can squeeze a compact soundbar between.

LG has also bundled in the same Magic Remote that we’ve seen across the previous few generations of this TV. It keeps the ThinQ AI button in place of the source select – dare we say one of our least favourite changes in recent memory – and the buttons aren’t backlit; however, the scroll wheel and Nintendo Wii-style motion pointer control system are both novelties that can make interacting with the TV slightly more engaging.

Features

We’ll get straight into the panel tech, as LG could be taking an unconventional approach this year. Traditionally, the C-series has been staunchly WOLED, meaning it hasn’t adopted LG Display’s brightness-boosting Primary RGB Tandem OLED or Micro Lens Array display technology.

That changes with the C6, though. The company has essentially confirmed that the 77- and 83-inch versions sport RGB Tandem OLED panels by stating that they are ‘Brightness Booster Pro’ models rather than standard ‘Brightness Booster’ sets as per the rest of the sizes.

Rumours suggest, though, that the 48-inch C6, despite being a ‘Brightness Booster’ model, does in fact feature a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel. We have attempted to get clarification from LG Display, but have been met with the usual “we don’t talk about panel tech" line.

Our approach is to focus on performance with real-world content rather than get bogged down in product components, but our testing suggests this could indeed be a Primary RGB Tandem OLED TV.

Moving on from the display, the C6 is powered by the Alpha 11 AI Processor 4K Gen3, which keeps the webOS smart platform running smoothly while also handling picture and sound processing. LG says that its latest processor utilises a new 12-bit processing pipeline, which brings extra colour and brightness precision to the table.

On top of this is Dual AI Super Resolution, which essentially runs lower-resolution content through an AI-backed picture upscaling process twice: the first time to sharpen edges, and the second to refine texture and detail. This should sharpen up non-4K content (think Blu-rays, DVDs and streaming), resulting in a more natural look.

AI HDR Remaster is also featured. This analyses content on a frame-by-frame basis to enhance contrast, sharpness and colour. SDR content takes on a more HDR-like appearance, and HDR content will take on a “more vibrant and realistic” look.

AI Picture Pro is also on board, which uses content recognition algorithms to adapt the TV’s settings to reduce noise, optimise contrast, manage colour saturation, and sharpen faces and text. AI Sound works in a similar way, as it uses content recognition to adapt the sound settings and performance to best suit what you’re watching. The remote even features an AI button that allows users to navigate the TV and troubleshoot issues using voice commands.

The AI features don’t stop there, though, as you’ll find a bountiful feast of AI-enhanced picture and sound modes on board too. AI Picture Wizard and AI Sound Wizard allow users to select from a range of preset image and sound samples to find their ideal personalised set-up without having to dig too deep into the picture menus.

That said, we find Filmmaker Mode (in the TV’s picture settings) delivers the best results.

Moving away from the near-endless list of AI features, the C6 supports a solid set of HDR formats, including HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision. Samsung's HDR10+ isn’t supported, as per LG’s usual stance.

The Dolby support extends to audio too, as the C6 features Dolby Atmos through its built-in 2.2-channel 40W sound system, and through connected audio devices via HDMI eARC.

Speaking of HDMI, the C6 sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which are capable of handling signals up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. For those without a console, the C6 supports cloud gaming up to 4K/120Hz with HDR through the likes of Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox. LG touts this feature as a world-first.

webOS is also a well-equipped, if frustratingly advertisement-heavy operating system (you can turn sponsored content off in the settings, thankfully), and LG has made a few tweaks this year to make things run even smoother.

Recent inputs are easier to access; there’s a new customisable My Page menu with widgets that turns the TV into a smart display when not in use, and a new “Continue Watching” rail also adorns the home page.

App support is also practically flawless, with all of the expected domestic and international apps supported and working as expected, with quick loading times to boot.

Picture quality

As we alluded to, the 48-inch C6 bears many of the positive picture markings of its 65-inch counterpart, despite it being significantly scaled down.

We’ve plugged our trusty Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player into the C6 and selected a handful of reference 4K discs from our library, including Civil War, Pan, Blade Runner 2049 and F1: The Movie.

While selecting Filmmaker Mode from the picture menu gets us most of the way to picture excellence, we opt to enable Cinematic Movement in the TruMotion settings to eliminate the touch of judder inherent in 24fps content. Cinema Home is also a worthwhile preset to explore, for those who don’t mind sacrificing some accuracy for a punchier picture.

With these settings dialled in, it’s hard to argue that the 48-inch C6 OLED doesn’t have all of what it takes to be a truly special compact OLED TV. The combination of deep blacks, excellent contrast control and punchy highlights creates a striking image with excellent depth and solidity, as evidenced in the final battle sequence of Civil War.

Rockets and flares light up the deep black sky with bursts of brightness, and the buildings of Washington DC are rendered with a superb sense of realism and detail. Throughout the sequence, we find that the C6 balances shadow depth and detail with impressive finesse too.

Onto a more colourful sequence from Pan, the scene in which a floating pirate ship sails past some floating orbs of water, we find that the C6 is capable of delivering rich, punchy greens and blues while also retaining the natural skin tones of the children on the ship. As the ship approaches the floating island of Neverland, the concentrated brightness of the sun burns with intensity while also retaining a clearly visible circular outline.

Motion also remains a highlight. We noted that motion looked “impressively smooth and controlled without introducing obvious artefacts or drifting into the dreaded soap-opera effect” with Cinematic Motion applied on the 65-inch version of this TV, and the same can be said for the 48-inch model.

The opening sequence of Blade Runner 2049 demonstrates this nicely; a tricky panning shot, a tracking shot of a hovering drone, and a shot of Sapper Morton stepping backwards are all handled smoothly yet naturally on the C6, despite these specific shots tripping other TVs up.

Rounding out our testing with F1: The Movie, the OLED48C6 truly shines. Colourful race car liveries pop yet never look garish or overcooked, and fireworks burst with vibrancy without appearing overblown. There is no apparent stuttering or juddering as the Porsche and BMW tussle for first place, and the C6 looks wonderfully sharp without verging into over-etched territory.

Sound quality

As was the case with the 65-inch version of this TV, the 48-inch C6 seems to be a sonic step forward for LG. While this TV doesn’t perform miracles, it’s certainly an upgrade over the 48-inch C5, which we criticised for sounding “distinctly flat” and lacking definition.

The C6, on the other hand, sounds crisper, weightier and more spacious. The atmospheric effects of the dystopian Los Angeles streets are presented with a solid sense of width and detail, and while the TV doesn’t reach for the ceiling with its Dolby Atmos height effects, there is a sense of spaciousness to the audio that accompanies the floating holographic adverts beamed onto Officer K’s apartment block in Blade Runner 2049.

Most crucially, the C6 projects voices slightly more, and there is a touch more warmth and tonality, which makes listening to dialogue more engaging. Bass is also mostly well controlled, although there isn’t much in the way of depth or tonal variation.

Now, we won’t deny that even a basic soundbar will run circles around the C6’s built-in speakers, and a Dolby Atmos soundbar will provide much more authentic height effects – the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) or Beam Ultra would make a perfect accompaniment, for example – but the improvement over the last generation model is worth commending.

That is, if you steer clear of the AI Sound setting. This continues to sound oddly synthetic, and while there is the option to tailor the sound to your liking, we find that avoiding it altogether provides a more natural and balanced presentation.

Verdict

LG’s 48-inch C6 is arguably the brand’s most interesting OLED TV in recent memory. While that might sound strange when the brand is selling a TV that is slimmer than an iPhone and powered by a magical wireless box, the company’s small mid-range OLED is a true dark horse.

If our theory is correct, it’s likely the cheapest way to acquire an RGB Tandem OLED TV, and if it’s not, then we’d really like to know how LG has pumped the brightness and vibrancy up to this extent.

Regardless, it’s fully featured, talented in the picture and sound departments, and it proves that you don’t need to sacrifice a considerable chunk of your living room to achieve a cinematically satisfying experience.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the LG C5 48-inch

Also consider the LG C6 65-inch

Read our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

Samsung has announced two new Galaxy Tab devices, and these OLED-clad slabs have Apple's iPad Pro set squarely in their sights.

The Galaxy Tab S12+ and Tab S12 Ultra are set to deliver "Samsung’s most capable and versatile tablet experience yet", and the spec sheet reveals a flagship portable experience that should be ideal for on-the-go movie watching. Curiously, the lineup doesn't feature a "standard" Tab S12, only "Ultra" and "Plus" versions.

Both tablets feature Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays with variable refresh rates up to 120Hz, and Samsung says they can reach up to 1600 nits.

The difference is size and resolution: the S12 Ultra sports a large 14.6-inch display with a 2960 x 1848 resolution, while the S12+ features a 12.6-inch screen with a 2800 x 1752 resolution.

They also support Samsung's Vision Booster system, which can adapt the display brightness in real time depending on the ambient lighting conditions.

Interestingly, Samsung hasn't referenced its excellent ProScaler picture upscaling feature, and considering its removal from the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Fold 8 smartphones, it's possible that the Tab S12 series is also missing it.

Both versions also feature quad speaker systems, which Samsung says support four-channel spatial audio, and while Dolby Atmos hasn't been specifically mentioned yet, Samsung has an established history of supporting it on its tablets and smartphones for many years now.

The S12 Ultra and S12+ are both powered by Samsung's MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset, with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM depending on the storage configuration, and they run Android 17 with Samsung's OneUI 9 platform running on top. That unlocks the wide array of Galaxy AI features also found on the brand's flagship smartphones.

Samsung also touts 11,600mAh and 10,600mAh batteries on the S12 Ultra and S12+, respectively. That equates to a claimed 23 hours of video playback on the S12 Ultra and 21 hours on the S12+.

Both models launch on the 7th of October, with the Tab S12 Ultra starting at £1399; that undercuts Apple's 13-inch Tandem OLED-sporting iPad Pro, which starts at £1499. The S12+ starts at £1199, which matches the 11-inch iPad Pro.

MORE:

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra review

As well as our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra review

And check out our list of the best tablets

Samsung really seems to have gone out of its way to make its TV lineup as confusing as possible this year, especially where its flagship OLEDs are concerned.

In the UK, Samsung’s top OLED is the S99H. It’s a glorious TV that takes OLED performance to new heights, wrapped in a fancy, somewhat divisive frame design.

Elsewhere in the world, though, this TV is known as the S95H.

Not too confusing yet, right? But get this: in the UK, we also get an S95H, and it’s different to the S95H found elsewhere in the world.

So, what is the UK S95H? Prevailing wisdom says that it’s essentially the S99H with a wired One Connect box and the large metal frame removed.

We were excited about this prospect: we like the S99H’s frame when the TV is wall-mounted, but it looks rather awkward when the TV is set on the – let’s face it – rather cheap, plastic feet.

If we could get a version of the TV with the same performance, a more typical design and a lower price, that would be a winner, right?

Well, it would, but that isn’t what the UK S95H is.

With both models set up side by side in our test room, there’s an instantly appreciable difference in brightness and vibrancy, with the S99H being clearly better in both regards.

Samsung is always (infuriatingly) coy about which of its models feature what panel tech, but we do know that the S99H is a QD-OLED model. Given that the UK S95H is less vibrant and less bright, you might assume that it’s a WOLED, but while I can’t be 100 per cent sure, I don’t think that’s the case.

The S95H’s screen has a very similar matte coating to the S99H, and while it’s less bright and vibrant than the S99H, it looks more ‘step-down QD-OLED’ than ‘WOLED’ to me. In fact, it looks remarkably similar to Samsung’s 2025 OLED flagship, the S95F.

To be clear, the S95H looks like a very good TV, and, having tested all of the brand’s OLEDs and several of its backlit models as part of our Awards process, I think it’s probably the second-best Samsung TV you can buy this year.

It isn’t, though, in the same league as the awesome S99H.

Frankly, no TV we’ve seen so far this year is in the same league as the S99H, but our Awards testing isn’t quite finished yet. Could anything else knock it off the top spot? Find out when we announce the What Hi-Fi? Awards on 13th October.

MORE:

Here are the best TVs and best soundbars you can buy right now

Here's our Samsung S99H review

We're deep into the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 judging process, and finalising our list of the best TVs has been the point of order for this week.

As such, I've had the pleasure of testing a crop of compact OLED TVs, and this is a particular area of interest for me both inside and outside of the testing room.

While I love OLED TVs of all shapes and sizes, I've had my eye on a sub-55-inch OLED ever since I first laid eyes upon the LG C2 during my very first year on the What Hi-Fi? team.

Every year since, I've fawned over the 42- and 48-inch OLEDs that we've tested from the likes of LG, Samsung and Panasonic.

As a keen gamer with a love of competitive shooters, getting "up close and personal" with my screen is a must, and these desktop-friendly sizes are ideal monitor replacements, and they often pack in way more features that appease my AV enthusiast side too.

Four years on, however, I still haven't bitten the bullet and bought one. "The time has never been right" and "they're still quite expensive even during Black Friday" are my two favourite excuses, hence why they've sat in my browser tabs on checkout screens that I've never completed.

However, after testing the 42- and 48-inch Samsung S90H and LG C6, I now have a rather smug sense of self-satisfaction, as my patience (or commitment issues, depending on how you look at it) has paid off.

Without spoiling the upcoming reviews or the coveted Awards list, all four TVs are pretty fantastic, and they prove that you can get a large-scale cinematic experience from a TV that doesn't require loads of space.

All of them offer punchy, rich colours, excellent motion, and perfect black depths, and the smaller screen sizes give them an edge when it comes to detail and sharpness, thanks to their greater pixel density compared with their 55- and 65-inch counterparts.

Focusing directly on the LG C6, as we've reviewed the 65-inch model (we have a review of a larger Samsung S90H in the works), we find that the 48-inch version simply feels like a smaller version of that five-star TV.

We affirmed that the C6 has a "brighter, richer and more refined picture quality" than its predecessor, the C5, at this larger screen size. From experience, the 48-inch seems to have taken a very similar path, as I was instantly struck by how bright, crisp and balanced this TV looked this year.

While I've thoroughly enjoyed previous versions of this TV, such as the 48-inch C4 and C5, they've not jumped out at me in the same way this year's C6 has.

Furthermore, the 42-inch C6 and S90H are two truly exceptional TVs, and while I won't divulge who is taking home a What Hi-Fi? Award, they're practically on par when it comes to picture quality and features.

Simply put, I could happily sit and watch a movie on these TVs, despite being used to having an expansive 65-inch at home. They don't feel like compromised versions of larger TVs, but actually great alternatives in their own right.

Now, will any of these TVs make it into my upgraded gaming setup? With the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Grand Theft Auto VI launching very soon, I could have the perfect excuse to finally pull the trigger.

MORE:

Check out our full Samsung S90F 48-inch review

As well as our LG C5 48-inch review

And read our full list of the best OLED TVs

2026 has been one of the most interesting and, if we're being brutally honest, exhausting years for TVs on record.

From the mainstream adoption of RGB Mini LED to cheaper OLED SE panels hitting the market, and the news of TCL essentially buying a majority stake in Sony's Bravia TV division, it's been a whirlwind.

And yet, there's been one manufacturer which has remained concerningly quiet up until now: Panasonic.

Rewind all the way to February (which feels like both a lifetime ago and strangely recent), when I flew to Munich to attend the Panasonic Experience 2026. At the event, the renowned Japanese consumer technology brand was showing off everything from air fryers, cameras and toothbrushes to Technics turntables, rice cookers and hair dryers.

TVs were also on show, and Panasonic made a huge announcement; just not the one I was expecting.

Now, it's an open secret that Panasonic's TV division has been struggling. At the lower end, it has struggled to keep up in a market now dominated by affordable 4K sets produced by the likes of Hisense and TCL. At the top, its prestigious OLED sets have seen tough competition from the likes of Sony, Samsung and LG: look at our recent lists of TV Award-winners, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for the brand.

To rectify this, Panasonic announced that it was entering a strategic partnership with Shenzhen Skyworth, under its parent company Chuángwéi RGB, which would secure the future of its OLED, Mini LED and QLED sets in Europe.

The partnership was set to take effect on the 1st of April, and since the date came and went, Panasonic has been unnervingly quiet. Broadly speaking, its TVs have been out of stock at most retailers, and the one OLED TV it did announce, the Z86C, hasn't materialised.

Fast forward to IFA 2026, which took place earlier this month, and I was invited to the Panasonic TV booth to meet with Toshihiro Takagi (Product Planning, TV Business Division), Haruka Kono (TV Business Division) and Paul Williams (Press Relations) from Panasonic Corporation, as well as Paul Darch (CEO and Managing Director) and Sebastian Wegielski (General Manager Europe and Managing Director) from the newly formed SWMEU GmbH.

Reassurance, reorganising, and rebuilding

My discussion with representatives from Panasonic's new TV business centred mostly on what's happened over the past six months, and the short answer is that Panasonic has been incredibly busy behind the scenes.

It acknowledged that the April date originally planned was well behind us, but it wanted to get this partnership right, hence why it's been working hard to lay a strong foundation and hasn't rushed any TVs out to market.

The overall goal is to restore the brand's position within the European marketplace, with Panasonic eyeing up the number five spot within the pan-European market; hence why it needs to hit the ground running.

Development of the business has centred around four main pillars (which it originally shared during the Munich event): "The reference stays the reference", "Continuity you can trust", "Scaling Up" and "Innovation Pipeline". These are "the cornerstones of our strategy as we move forward", according to CEO Paul Darch.

They all seem fairly self-explanatory, but they are also key indicators as to what we can expect from Panasonic in the coming years.

The notion that Panasonic is eager to retain its position as a reference TV manufacturer is the first promising sign, and it recognises that OLED is the way to secure this legacy. It hasn't been shy in proudly proclaiming that its high-end OLED sets have been used by Hollywood editors and colourists, and it wants to keep that keep that status.

"What we mean by that is that what was once a Panasonic TV is still a Panasonic TV. The same guiding principles that govern picture, sound, design and OS continue", Darch said, which was reassuring to hear.

Doubling down on that, Darch also affirmed that "one of the key pieces of feedback that we receive is: will these Panasonic TVs really be Panasonic TVs? The answer is yes". Ultimately, based on what I've been told, the notion that future TVs will be any old set with a Panasonic badge slapped onto it can be dispelled.

Continuity is another major focus for this new partnership, hence why SWMEU GmbH has opened its head office in Wiesbaden, Germany, which is the city where Panasonic's European headquarters is located.

The innovation pipeline and scaling-up initiatives are where Panasonic really hopes to make up some ground, though. Broadening the product portfolio and bringing its TVs to market more quickly are two major priorities for the brand moving forward.

This already seems to be paying off, as Darch notes that "feedback, overwhelmingly, has been extremely positive; the market is requesting Panasonic to come back stronger as an evangelist of premium picture quality".

"OLED remains our leadership flagship"

Retaining that title means keeping the technology that Panasonic is renowned for alive. Panasonic recognises this, and that's why it's keeping OLED as a "key focus" in its lineup.

Panasonic consciously didn't replace its Z95B and Z90B OLED TVs this year, and these five-star models will continue until Panasonic launches its 2027 lineup. That said, it also recognises the importance of QD Mini LED within the current TV market, but Darch affirms that Panasonic won't be "bringing it for the sake of bringing it".

Panasonic is relying on its glare-free technology and picture processing to differentiate it from the likes of Hisense and TCL in this market, but whether it will be enough to win back market share from rival powerhouse TV manufacturers is another matter.

I quizzed Panasonic on what to expect from its 2027 TV range, but it remained tight-lipped for now, telling me it will "probably around CES time is when you'll really see the strength and the power of this new organisation".

"The objective is to ensure that both the Japanese and the overseas lineup reflect a consistent Panasonic TV identity"

What was most apparent is that Panasonic wants to remind us that this isn't a buyout, but rather a collaboration that will ensure a future for Panasonic TVs in the UK and Europe.

"This is no short-term gimmick, no short-term collaboration. We are working strongly with the partnership for 2027 and onwards," Darch affirmed, continuing "I want you to leave the room having confidence in this collaboration".

He then handed over to Mr Toshihiro Takagi to discuss how this partnership works from Panasonic Japan's perspective.

"The objective is to ensure that both the Japanese and the overseas lineup reflect a consistent Panasonic TV identity", Takagi affirmed, and he continued to explain how each component of the business will work in tandem going forward.

Particularly with the brand's premium TVs, Panasonic's established engineers will continue to take responsibility for picture tuning and the integration work required for certification programmes (Panasonic has an established partnership with the picture calibration company Calman, for example).

"As a result, Panasonic's distinctive picture quality and modes continue to be incorporated into our TVs", Takagi confirmed.

This sentiment continues with sound, as I was assured that Panasonic's microphone-assisted audio calibration system will remain, and Takagi confirmed that the team is working on a new DSP algorithm for the 2027 models, which he mentioned in relation to a new speaker configuration.

Behind the scenes, Panasonic Japan has audited the manufacturing operations against the brand's approved criteria, which essentially means that Panasonic has ensured that the scaled-up manufacturing process meets its quality standards and expectations.

Panasonic Japan is still very much involved, by the looks of things, although it seems like Panasonic's engineers will have a much more direct involvement with the brand's future premium TVs, such as the theoretical follow-ups to the Z95B and Z90B.

A few questions remain...

While I did my best to eke out some information about next year's lineup, Takagi explicitly told me that "we cannot discuss future lineups or specifications today; we look forward to sharing more when the time is right".

Therefore, my questions relating to whether we can expect to keep seeing Technics-tuned sound systems in future flagship OLED sets, or if we can expect an RGB Mini LED from the brand in the future, were shelved for now.

That said, Darch rounded out our conversation with a simple yet powerful sentiment: "Panasonic TV is back. What does back mean? Back means a stronger product offering, stronger commercial and robust distribution strategy, a stronger team and backed with real resources for what really comes next".

Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding, and we'll need to see Panasonic's 2027 TV lineup in action to see if this partnership has achieved what it set out to create; but in the short term, I get the sense that Panasonic is alive and kicking.

MORE:

Read our full Panasonic Z95B review

As well as our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Roku has announced its first-ever OLED TVs: the Roku Pro Series OLED TV and Roku Pro Series LX OLED TV.

However, rather than just the panel tech, it's the aggressive pricing that has caught our attention.

Prices start at $999 (around £740/ AU$1389) for the 55-inch Pro Series OLED and $1299 (around £962/ AU$180) for the Pro Series LX OLED.

The Roku Pro Series OLED is available in 55- and 65-inch sizes, and comes with a 120Hz panel with support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG. Gaming features include ALLM, VRR, and FreeSync Premium, and it also supports Dolby Atmos.

The step-up Roku Pro Series LX OLED TV adds a 144Hz refresh rate, a Roku Voice Remote Pro, an advanced polariser to cut reflections and "a brighter picture and even wider range of colors".

Both TVs will run on the popular Roku platform. We've found the operating system to be simple to use but a little basic, but the use of adverts, such as automatic startup ads, has proved controversial before.

“OLED technology has been locked behind premium price tags, forcing many customers to choose between the display they want or a price that works for them,” said Chris Larson, Vice President, Retail Strategy, Roku. “We see a clear opportunity to change that equation. With the new Roku Pro Series OLED and LX OLED TVs, we’re removing that cost barrier and making a top-tier viewing experience genuinely accessible.”

Cheap, good OLED TVs have long been elusive. The only other 55-inch OLED TV we've tested around this price was the three-star Toshiba XF9F at £799. If the Pro Series OLED can deliver, it could be the closest thing to an "affordable" OLED around at this size – even the aggressively priced LG B6 is sitting at £899 right now.

The Roku Pro Series OLED is available now in the US at Amazon, with the Pro Series LX releasing in October.

We've reached out to Roku about UK availability and will update this page if we hear back.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best streaming devices

As well as the best streaming services for movies and TV

And the best OLED TVs

Samsung and Canvas HiFi have announced the Samsung HiFi S99H, a new edition of the Korean giant's flagship OLED TV, married to a soundbar from the Danish audio brand.

Two versions of the Canvas soundbar are available with this particular TV model – the standard Canvas with 1000W of Class D amplification, or the larger Canvas L with a staggering 1500W.

The Samsung HiFi S99H will make its debut at IFA 2026 in Berlin this week, and will be available in 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch sizes.

Prices start at $7,999 (UK and AU$ are TBC) – we tested the 55in version of this TV at £2499 / $2500 / AU$3999 back in June, so you can see this HiFi version is very much a premium product.

A fixed floor stand or wall mount is included, and there's an optional rotating floor stand available in aluminium or black.

Samsung has described the S99H HiFi as "more than simply the combination of a TV and a sound system.

The ambition is to create a new category in which true HiFi, picture quality and furniture design are developed as one integrated solution — developed for consumers who do not want to choose between performance and interior design."

We've previously tested the Canvas HiFi 65 soundbar and were very impressed by its clear, detailed sound and excellent handling of voices. We're yet to test the Canvas L, which Canvas HiFi has marketed as the "world's first audiophile soundbar".

Both Canvas soundbars are stereo, but include Baach's 3D audio processing to create a wider and more immersive soundstage.

In our Samsung S99H review, we gave the flagship OLED five stars, but noted that the audio lacked volume and bass weight. The HiFi S99H looks to rectify this shortcoming.

The Samsung HiFi S99H will be available in selected Canvas showrooms from October, with the Canvas L version available later this year.

MORE:

Read our Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 review

Our pick of the best TVs you can buy for every budget, from flagship OLEDs to budget Mini LED sets

And here are the best soundbars you can buy with your own money

Plonking a 65-inch OLED TV in my living room came with some unexpected side effects. Namely, my house is now the gathering place for match days, Grand Prix watch parties, and movie nights.

And I couldn't be happier; that's what home cinema is all about in my opinion, and I'm always keen to host so that I can preach (and more importantly show off) the benefits of OLED to my not-so-AV-savvy mates.

While I usually get met with raised eyebrows when I mention the price of OLED TVs, after demonstrating the inherent benefits of OLED, the unanimous sentiment amongst my friends is along the lines of "yeah... I need one of these".

While I have convinced a couple of friends to splurge on an OLED TV already, at the end of the day that price factor is the hardest sell, especially to a group of twenty-somethings living in cramped London house shares.

That said, I usually end up getting a message shortly after they return home to their LCD TV complaining that I've ruined every other TV for them; and no, I am not sorry.

That's why I'm almost always urging them to save up and treat themselves to an upgrade, and I now have a secret weapon to tempt my mates into joining me on team OLED.

My friends and I are all keen gamers, and there's this little game launching in November that we're all quite excited for; it's called Grand Theft Auto VI, you might have heard of it.

As such, the current buzz in our group chats is upgrading our gear to experience the game at its best, including its stunning visuals. This conversation has ramped up since Thursday night's Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, which premiered on Netflix and gave us a glimpse at the vibrant visuals of Rockstar Games' latest flagship title.

Frame rates and fidelity have now become major talking points, and the few friends of mine that don't already own a PS5 are now locked into purchasing one ahead of the 19th of November.

My advice to friends who already own a PS5 but want to upgrade a key component for GTA VI is to upgrade their TV or monitor; and of course, I'm pushing them towards OLED.

The perfect blacks, pixel-level contrast control, and superb response time of OLED make it a perfect panel technology for gaming, and I think the most anticipated game of the decade is a good excuse to take the plunge.

I've also touted the benefits of upgrading to a newer HDMI 2.1-equipped TV, too; most of my friends didn't know what VRR and ALLM were, let alone that their consoles had these features. And, of course, I've already assured them that these sets will exceed expectations when it comes to movies and sports too.

My recommendations are currently down to these three models, all of which are perfectly suited to all content:

The LG C6 is my current top pick; it comes in a range of sizes including a desktop-friendly 42-inch version, and it's one of the best-equipped TVs on the gaming market.

However, a stellar budget alternative is the Philips OLED760, which sports an impressive set of gaming specs and Ambilight, and it's under £1000 for the 55-inch model currently.

And the Samsung S99H is probably the most impressive TV I've seen this year. It happens to support up to eight full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets if you purchase the wireless One Connect system, and the picture performance is simply stunning. That said, the price will put many (my friends included) off.

If you're eyeing up a home cinema upgrade in preparation for GTA VI later this year, then my advice remains: you'd be hard-pressed to go wrong with any of the OLEDs I've mentioned above.

Now, my next task is to talk them into getting Dolby Atmos sound systems, but that's a discussion for another day...

MORE:

Read our full LG C6 65-inch review

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Find the best OLED TV deals here

Sony has announced the newest addition to its budget line of smartphones – enter the Sony Xperia 10 VIII.

It offers a handful of upgrades over its predecessor, the Xperia 10 VII, and follows on from the Award-winning Xperia 10 VI.

The new model boasts a claimed peak brightness that is double that of the previous smartphone to deliver “improved visibility even outdoors”, although Sony has not disclosed the exact figures.

The Japanese brand also claims that the stereo speaker system (made up of the earpiece and a bottom-firing speaker) features “revised tuning”, which will supposedly deliver “improved volume and sound quality”.

Sony says that volume is boosted by 15 per cent and these speakers can also output 30 per cent stronger bass than the previous model.

There are still a fair few similarities with its older sibling, though. Like the VII model, it runs on the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 with 8GB of RAM, and is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that Sony claims can last for up to two days.

Resolution and size have also stayed the same, with a 6.1-inch screen with a 2340 x 1080 OLED display.

The camera set-up is familiar too, with the 10 VIII sporting a 50-megapixel main and 13-megapixel ultra-wide lens on the back, as well as an 8-megapixel selfie camera.

We are glad to see that the 3.5 mm aux jack has stuck around, and cements Sony as one of the best for audio features in the smartphone market.

You can choose from three colour finishes for the Xperia VIII: Frozen White, Frosted Grey and Misted Lilac.

The Xperia 10 VIII is launching at £549 in the UK, making it £150 more expensive than its predecessor.

That would feel more warranted if there were more hefty upgrades, but it’s a hard sell considering it has the same chipset and camera. That said, the ongoing RAM crisis is likely the cause, with smartphone prices rising across the board.

We're eager to find out if Sony has delivered another five-star budget portable AV machine, so stay tuned for our full review.

MORE:

Check out our review of the Sony Xperia 10 VI

These are the best smartphones on the market

And here are the best Sony soundbars

I recently wrote about problems I’m having with my Sony system since the latest software update, and I’ve been inundated with emails and messages from fellow sufferers ever since.

The offending software is 114.602.080.1, which was released to various Sony TV models towards the end of June.

The issues reported range from audio dropout (which is what I’m experiencing) and lip-sync issues to Dolby Vision content refusing to play, and it appears to be related to the way the TVs handle HDMI sources and passthrough.

Needless to say, affected owners are pretty frustrated, but I do have some good news – at least for some of them.

Sony has just released a new update, 114.602.170.1, and, according to some owners, including reader David Simmonds, who alerted me to the release of the new software, the Dolby Vision issue, which caused some users to see a black screen instead of their content, has seemingly been fixed.

[Edit to add: I've since been informed that a secondary Dolby Vision issue, which involves scan lines being visible in content, has not been resolved]

I wasn’t experiencing this problem, so I only have the reports of others to go on regarding the fix.

However, having now installed and done some testing of the new software, I can confirm that it unfortunately doesn’t fix the audio dropout issues for me, and David has confirmed it’s the same for him.

In fairness, this latest software update specifically mentions that it “resolves an issue where a black screen could be observed when starting playback of specific content from external HDMI devices”, but makes no mention of fixing any audio issues – it seems it was always intended to fix one problem but not the other.

I have contacted Sony with these findings and a request for information on a fix for the audio issues, and will report back with any information I get.

MORE:

Even brighter OLED TVs could be on the way thanks to a new “dream” panel technology – and super-large models might get cheaper

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Thought we had finally hit the upper limit of OLED? Think again!

LG Display, which produces the OLED panels used in all OLED TVs sold by LG Electronics and in many TVs sold by brands such as Samsung, Sony and Panasonic, has just announced a new “dream” panel technology called ‘FLiPP’.

That funky name stands for the decidedly less funky ‘FMM-Less innovative Pixel Patterning’, which actually explains how this new technology works.

For the past decade or so, OLEDs have been manufactured using fine metal masks (FMMs). These are essentially sheets covered with microscopic holes, through which the red, green and blue OLED materials are placed.

The problem with these FMMs is that they add cost and they are hard to manufacture, particularly at very large screen sizes.

Now, “after a year of concentrated R&D”, LG Display says it has managed to develop a manufacturing method that eradicates the need for these FMMs.

More affordable super-sized OLED TVs?

Why should you care? First up, LG Display claims that because FLiPP improves the aperture ratio of OLED, it can “increase display brightness by 1.6 times, extend lifespan by 2.4 times, and reduce power consumption by 13 per cent”.

But I think there is potentially a more interesting point here. FLiPP apparently reduces material costs and significantly improves the efficiency of using large OLED sheets to produce panels for different products, and that means that manufacturing costs should decrease, potentially resulting in cheaper OLED TVs.

This could be particularly beneficial where very large OLED TVs are concerned. Big OLED panels are difficult and expensive to produce, so very large OLED TVs tend to be disproportionately expensive. FLiPP could change that.

LG Display flags that FLiPP is “free from panel size and resolution constraints”, and can be used for producing panels from 1-inch in size (for AR/VR headsets, for example) right up to 100 inches.

But when will we start to see FLiPP-based OLED TVs in shops? Not for a while, it seems: the tech is being officially unveiled at the International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) this week, and LG Display says it will first be used in “IT applications such as tablets and monitors”.

Rollout for “ultra-large TVs” is explicitly promised in the press release, though.

We have contacted LG Display for more information, and have reached out to TV manufacturers for their thoughts on the announcement.

We’ll follow up with more on FLiPP as we get it. In the meantime, those who want more of an explanation of how it works should check out LG Display’s own video explainer:

MORE:

Here are the best OLED TVs you can buy right now

Check out our LG C6 review and LG G6 review

In many ways, software updates are a blessing of modern technology.

They can add features, fix bugs and even improve the performance of a product that's weeks, months or even years old. At their best, they can breathe new life into a device that you've owned for ages.

But they can also go wrong.

It's why many TV owners, particularly those who've been stung by unwanted changes or problems after previous updates, have long promoted a 'turn off automatic updates' mantra.

I wish I had listened.

My philosophy has always been that software updates do far more good than harm, and that the frequency with which they create problems is overblown. Honestly, that's probably still the case. But now that I've been stung by a dodgy update myself, I'm feeling far less philosophical about the whole thing.

For the last few weeks, I've been experiencing audio dropouts from my Sony system. After hours of research and experimentation with different settings and cables, I've finally established that the blame lies with the most recent update to my Bravia 8 II OLED TV.

The problem is frustratingly specific. When I'm watching something through an external source connected to the TV, such as my Apple TV 4K or Sky Stream puck, I can no longer use my external sound system without suffering audio dropouts.

The TV's internal apps work perfectly, but that has only reminded me how much higher the quality is from the Apple TV 4K than from Google TV.

Sony is aware of the issue, and my contacts assure me that a fix is in the works. There's no date for it yet, though, and it's already been almost two months since the problematic software was released.

That's a long time to have a significant part of an expensive home cinema system effectively out of action.

And this is where I've changed my mind about automatic updates.

I've now turned them off on my TV and several of my other devices. From now on, when one tells me that a software update is available, unless it's flagged as a critical security update, I'm going to wait a week or so before installing it.

I'll then search for the release number online, see whether other owners have reported problems, and only if all looks safe will I then download and apply it manually.

I'm not saying that software updates are bad. They're not. I've benefited from plenty of them over the years, and I'd still much rather have a TV that receives regular updates than one that's abandoned by its manufacturer.

But there's very little downside to waiting a few days before installing one. If an update is working perfectly for everyone else, I'll happily install it. If it turns out to be causing problems, I'll be very glad that I wasn't one of the first to find out.

So I'm now firmly in the 'turn automatic updates off' camp. Not because I'm suddenly convinced that every software update is a ticking time bomb, but because I've learned the hard way that there's no need to be an early adopter of firmware.

A few days of caution could save you weeks of frustration.

MORE:

Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

Sony's OLED TVs have been among the best you can buy for years, and its first QD-OLED model, the stellar A95L, knocked our socks clean off when it launched in 2023. Its successor, the Bravia 8 II, won an Award last year, too, so clearly Sony still knows how to make a great OLED TV.

It has since turned its hand to RGB Mini LED tech, in the form of the Bravia 9 II. While this nascent tech, which Sony refers to as 'True RGB ', is less proven than the granddaddy that is OLED, Sony has still managed to squeeze some pretty impressive results out of it.

So which TV should you go for: the safe bet of the Bravia 8 II, or the exciting new thing that is the Bravia 9 II? Let's find out.

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: price

As the older of the two TVs, the Bravia 8 II is inevitably cheaper. But that's also partly because it comes in a 55-inch variant, whereas the Bravia 9 II starts at 65 inches.

The Bravia 9 II starts at £3499 / $3600 / AU$5999, which is £500 more than the same size Bravia 8 II at launch. Like other sizes, that price has since dropped, in this case by around £600.

The 55-inch Bravia 8 II currently costs around £2000, which is £1500 cheaper than the entry-level Bravia 9 II. A clear win for the older model.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: design

Here you have a choice to make: do you want your TV to sink into its surroundings, or stand out?

The Bravia 8 II is very much the former – its chassis looks very familiar. There's nothing wrong with that – it's smart and premium in equal measures – but it's nothing we haven't seen before.

The blade-style feet can raise to accommodate a soundbar, but have to be positioned at the extremities of the TV's screen, which means you'll need a fairly wide cabinet on which to place it.

The remote is also a step backwards – it takes AAA batteries and doesn't light up. Whereas previous models had rechargeable remotes that were backlit. Disappointing.

The Bravia 9 II, however, is a real step forward in terms of TV design.

Its crowning glory is the Mirage Stand, which makes it look as if the TV is floating above the TV cabinet. It lets you see the wall behind the stand while somehow managing to conceal the cables from view, which is very clever indeed.

But it can't be adjusted. While its sole position will fit a regular-sized soundbar, there's no option to lower the TV if you're using the built-in sound system.

The look is a lot more striking than the Bravia 8 II's and won't appeal to everyone. But we're big fans.

The Bravia 9 II also features a more advanced anti-reflective coating. While effective at minimising distractions, it does make the screen look a little greyer in a well-lit room than the Bravia 8 II, which features a less intense coating.

The remote control that comes with the Bravia 9 II is backlit, too, making it easier to operate in the optimum movie viewing conditions of a dark room.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: features

The main difference between these two TVs is the screen panel technology: the Bravia 8 II uses a QD-OLED panel, while the Bravia 9 II has an RGB Mini LED display.

OLED has been around for years, and Sony certainly knows its way around it. Because it's not backlit, the tech has previously struggled with peak brightness, but great strides have been made in recent years – the Bravia 8 II goes 25 per cent brighter than its predecessor, helped in no small part by its custom heatsink.

OLEDs also have perfect blacks, which help the contrast ratio and add depth and perceived detail.

RGB Mini LED is backlit. But unlike your standard Mini LED TV, which uses a white backlight beamed through a colour filter, Sony's tech uses independently controlled red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. These are controlled by Sony's Backlight Master Drive system.

Sony makes some bold claims for RGB Mini LED, among them that it's akin to watching on one of its own mastering monitors used in professional studios. In other words, your viewing experience should be as the director intended. We'll see if these claims stack up in the next section.

Both TVs are powered by Sony's XR processor, complete with AI modes and Studio Calibrated Modes for the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and, of course, Sony Pictures Core. The Bravia 9 II adds a new My Cinema interface to the mix, but this has also now been added to the Bravia 8 II via a software update.

My Cinema aims to simplify the settings for picture and sound without depriving enthusiasts of control. You get three viewing profiles – Director's Cut, Daytime and Dialogue – each of which limit the available picture adjustments in order to deliver what it thinks is the best quality image.

Dolby Vision and Atmos are supported, and both sets are certified IMAX Enhanced. The HDR10 and HLG formats of HDR are also supported, but not HDR10+ (which is no surprise).

For gamers too, these TVs are tied, with 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, Dolby Vision Game mode and ‘Perfect for PlayStation 5’ functionality.

But both have just two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which serves as the eARC port and so will be taken up by a soundbar or surround sound system, should you add one. That will leave you with just one port to get the full experience from your games machine.

Both TVs run Google TV, which is slowly but surely gaining on LG's webOS, and runs all the usual apps (including UK terrestrial catch-up apps, which can be missing from the platform).

** Winner: draw **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: picture quality

And now what we really came here for. Which TV has the better picture quality?

As an Award winner, the Bravia 8 II is the TV to beat in this regard. And it's a doddle to set up to look its best thanks to its excellent presets.

Peak highlights are, well, a highlight, but overall colours have plenty of vibrancy which they maintain even in low light. Shadow detail is excellent, and the image looks convincingly solid and three-dimensional.

In our Sony Bravia 8 II review, we concluded: "The key to the Bravia 8 II’s success is balance. The colours are so vibrant, highlights so bright and edges so sharp, but nothing feels exaggerated or incorrect, which means you never feel as though you’re getting anything other than the very best versions of your movies and TV shows."

As Sony's first foray into RGB Mini LED tech, the Bravia 9 II was very eagerly awaited. And largely, it's a success: for most of our time viewing, we stopped noticing how it was doing what it was doing, and just enjoyed the picture. Speaking as reviewers, that's a very good sign indeed.

A large part of this is down to the colours, which we described in our Sony Bravia 9 II review as "the finest colours we've ever seen from any TV."

We went on: "Richly saturated scenes burst with vibrancy, but never at the expense of authenticity. Sony has combined extraordinary colour volume with its traditional restraint, so even the boldest hues remain beautifully balanced and believable. It's a wonderfully cinematic presentation that constantly impresses without ever shouting for attention."

High praise. Brightness too is exceptional, with the Bravia 9 II proving to be one of the brightest TVs ever to grace our testing rooms. Thanks to its backlight system, whole-screen brightness is possible, whereas an OLED will have to drop it down to focus on highlights.

A perfect example of this comes during the white room scenes in The Matrix. As the bright white light fills the screen, the Bravia 8 II reduces its luminance, whereas the Bravia 9 II maintains its dazzling brightness. It makes it a very versatile TV, that's ideal for viewing in brighter conditions (like daytime viewing).

The local dimming is also excellent, with virtually no blooming around highlights, while skin tones remain natural throughout. It's the best picture we've ever seen from a backlit TV.

There's a 'but' coming.

And that 'but' is the Bravia 8 II's OLED screen, which remains better than RGB Mini LED in certain key areas, such as its pixel-level precision. The Bravia 9 II's picture looks a touch flat by comparison, and it can't reproduce small highlights against very dark backgrounds with the same brightness as the OLED, for fear of creating blooming.

And the Bravia 8 II has practically perfect viewing angles, too – another strength of OLED – whereas the Bravia 9 II, while good in this regard for a backlit TV, loses contrast and vibrancy, and reveals some blooming, when viewed off-axis.

There's also some slight smearing to fast-moving action on the Bravia 9 II – though this is only a significant issue when playing 60Hz games.

The result? A four-star picture to the Bravia 8 II's five. But we can't wait to see what a second-generation Sony RGB Mini LED panel can do.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: sound quality

Sony makes some of the best-sounding TVs around, and these two are no exception. But which sounds better?

The Bravia 8 II houses Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ set-up, while the Bravia 9 II features a so-called Acoustic Multi-Audio+ system. The former comprises two actuators that vibrate the screen to produce most of the sound, plus two subwoofers for added bass, while the latter features two full-range drivers, twin subwoofers, two tweeters and a pair of Beam Tweeters built into the rear, top and sides of the chassis.

Because the Bravia 8 II's screen literally makes most of the sound, the audio is tied to the visuals in a way that other TVs (apart from other Sony OLEDs) can't match.

The presentation is nice and direct, but spacious at the same time. Detail is excellent, with enough dynamic nuance to do a scene justice. It copes well with bigger dynamic shifts too, though bass depth is a bit lacking.

The Bravia 9 II has plenty of scale, with those Beam Tweeters really adding a sense of height (these are rare for a TV's built-in sound system). Effects are placed with precision within the soundstage, and there's plenty of subtle detail to get your teeth – and your ears – into.

Its sound has more weight than the Bravia 8 II's, but this extra bass lacks the same tautness of its older sibling.

It also doesn't sound as refined. As we wrote in our Bravia 9 II review: "Dialogue remains consistently clear, but voices aren't projected with quite the same focus or solidity as they are by Sony's flagship OLED. There's also a slight hardness to the presentation that occasionally makes speech sound a touch brash, softening some of the subtle emotional nuances in performances."

Higher frequencies suffer from a similar problem. Which makes it not quite as refined a listen as the Bravia 8 II.

But if you're partnering your TV with a soundbar or surround sound system – which you really should – this round is by the by.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: verdict

While the Bravia 9 II excels in terms of brightness and vibrancy, and delivers the best picture of any backlit TV we've ever tested, it still can't quite match its OLED sibling in certain key areas.

The Bravia 8 II is more consistent, three-dimensional and responsive in its picture delivery, and it boasts more direct and refined sound. It's more affordable, too – that's of course partly down to it having been on sale longer, but the launch pricing suggests the Bravia 9 II may never be discounted to quite the same level.

There are circumstances in which the Bravia 9 II will make more sense, most notably if you want a TV larger than 65 inches, or one for a super-bright room, but for most people and most settings, the Bravia 8 II is the better buy.

We can't wait to see what Sony can achieve with its second-generation RGB Mini LED TVs, though...

** Overall winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

MORE:

Read our Sony Bravia 9 II review

And our Sony Bravia 8 II review

Sony 2026 TV lineup: everything you need to know about the new Bravia range

We would always recommend going for the biggest TV your space and budget allows – but for some of us, that will only be a 42-inch TV. If that’s the case for you, then we have found a great deal for you – £120 off the Samsung S90F.

This TV has dropped to just £629 at Richer Sounds. That’s £20 cheaper than at Amazon. Bargain.

Samsung S90F 42-inch deal

Cards on the table: we haven’t reviewed this exact model. But the 48-inch S90F earned five stars, so we have high expectations of the 42-incher.

True, it has feet rather than a pedestal stand like its bigger brother. And smaller screens tend to have a lower HDR brightness than their larger equivalents. On the plus side, the smaller panel size should mean a higher pixel density, and hence a slightly sharper image.

The 42-inch model is as well equipped for gamers as the 48-incher, with four HDMI 2.1 ports, and a host of gaming features such as AMD FreeSync Premium, HGiG, AI Auto Game Mode, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Game Motion Plus and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).

We found the 48-inch S90F’s picture a bit red at first, and the motion a bit too smooth, but tweaking the settings helps. Overall, picture quality is superb, with realistic skin tones and solid detail levels across both the light and dark parts of the image.

Contrast might be a touch heavy-handed, leading to some black crush, but “the overall image is wonderfully three-dimensional and immersive”, we concluded.

The 42-incher has only 40W of sound output, compared with the 48-incher’s 60W. We found the latter’s speakers weak and plagued by distortion at higher volumes – hardly surprising, given that most small TVs sound terrible. So we wouldn’t expect much of the 42-incher’s audio.

But if you can put that £120 saving towards one of the best budget soundbars, you should be richly rewarded.

MORE:

Read our Samsung S90F review (48 inch)

I test OLED TVs for a living – and trust me, different sizes perform differently

We rate the best small TVs around

A good, cheap OLED TV has been top of many cinephiles' wish list for over a decade. This makes the S85H a big-ticket item despite it sitting at the bottom of Samsung’s new OLED TV range.

It’s looking set to be one of the cheapest options for serious movie fans who want a new OLED that sits in the same family as the S99H, a set we recently declared to be the finest Samsung OLED we’d ever tested. Big shoes to fill, then.

Price

The Samsung S85H is available in sizes from 48 to 83 inches. The cheapest 48-inch size launched carrying a £1199 ($1199) price tag, while the giant 83-inch model retails for £3699 ($4499).

We have the middle-child 55-inch model in our review rooms, which launched at £1499 ($1499 / AU$2499).

Initially, that meant it cost slightly less than its closest rival, the LG B6, which cost £1599 (AU$2500) when it first came out.

However, rapid price drops mean it’s now more expensive than its LG rival. The 55-inch B6 is now available for as little as £899 in some places.

However, the S85H puts is still cheaper than most of this year’s mid-tier OLEDs, including its big brother, the 55-inch S90H, which now floats around the £1699 mark.

Design

You won’t find any flourishes like the fancy metal bezel sported by the flagship S99H; instead the S85H has a rather utilitarian look, with a basic, plastic design that is nevertheless mostly solid.

The TV has feet, rather than a pedestal stand design and includes two placement options, central and wide, which puts them on the furthest right and left edges. This is a nice touch that lets you adjust the position to fit on your cabinet and place a soundbar underneath it as required.

Our only minor quibble with the design is that, as well as feeling distinctly plasticy, the feet wobble. Not so much that we’re worried it will break, but enough that you’ll want to place it with care.

The SolarCell remote seen on Samsung’s previous step-down and entry-level OLEDs also makes a return. It is pleasingly compact and intuitive, and features solar and USB-C charging, something that isn’t guaranteed at this price. The only real negative is the ongoing lack of a backlight, which makes using it in the dark a bit tricky.

Features

The set's specifications sheet is nearly identical to the outgoing S85F, with only three big upgrades to mention.

It has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 6E, which will improve connectivity if you have a compatible router using the standard. It also has a new AI football mode, which Samsung claims will “make you feel like you’re in the stadium” using the set’s processing smarts.

Finally, there is a smattering of what Samsung claims to be "performance improvements" – the biggest, apparently, is to its peak and operating brightness. Samsung hasn’t given a definite nit count, however, so we can't be sure how big the alleged brightness upgrades are.

Samsung also hasn’t specified what panel is being used, but the fact that the S85H is powered by the same NQ4 AI Gen2 processor as its predecessor suggests it may be using one of the new OLED SE panels LG Display unveiled at CES in January, which aim to boost brightness while simultaneously bringing prices down.

We had hoped the Q85H would get the newer Gen3 silicon, which brings more accurate tone mapping and better upscaling, among other things, but that remains reserved for the more expensive S99H and S90H models.

The same is true for Samsung’s vibrancy-boosting Quantum Dot tech, which once again is reserved for its flagship offering. A shame, yes, but unsurprising given the S85H’s price. You also, once again, won’t find the firm’s Glare Free screen coating included, which will be an annoyance if you use the TV in a room with lots of ambient light.

Despite the lack of big changes, the S85’s specifications remain very competitive at this price.

The set offers four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs, capable of carrying a 4K/120Hz signal for next-generation gamers. ALLM and VRR are also on board, so gamers are fully covered.

The only big omission is the set’s lack of support for Dolby Vision Gaming, or any version of Dolby’s HDR standard, for that matter. The S85H continues Samsung’s HDR grudge match, with it only supporting the HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG standards.

The set also doesn’t support FlexConnect, a bit of audio tech that the LG B6 does. This is a clever technology designed to let you create surround sound systems using compatible speakers on the fly. It includes the power to use the TV’s speakers as the central channel. Samsung, instead, pushes its own Q-Symphony solution, which aims to make the TV’s sound system work with compatible soundbars to improve audio quality and create a wider soundstage.

The latest-gen version of Tizen featured on the S85H is easy to navigate and includes a content bar at the top that splits your apps into categories, curated and arranged to automatically match your usage habits. All the major apps and services are present and running correctly, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV and more.

Picture

In its out-of-the-box Eco mode, the S85H comes off a little strong. Playing our F1: The Movie 4K Blu-ray, the picture is a little sharp, oversmoothed and colours, particularly reds, are overcooked.

Switching to Filmmaker mode, things rapidly improve. Now, the cars’ movements become precise and rapid, losing the artificial floaty feel of its default setting.

Colours are also much more reined in, but reds still look a little overcooked, which leads to a series of quick tweaks before we finally settle on Filmmaker Mode, with the Warm 1 colour profile and Active Dynamic Tone Mapping on for the best results.

The TV’s colours are still a little bombastic compared to the more subdued B6, but the picture’s solidity and three-dimensionality ensure our eyes still favour the Samsung during the heated F1 race.

Switching to Pan, our standard peak brightness stress test due to its atypical 4000 nits mastering, it’s immediately clear that the S85H burns brighter than previous entry-level OLEDs we’ve tested and its main rival, the LG B6. The setting sun offers a wider range of reds and oranges that show up as pure white on its rival.

The only slight issue is that, once again, colours are pushed a touch too hard, with blues looking a smidge too vibrant and the picture a little too warm in general.

(Editor’s note – for our sanity, if a filmmaker is reading this, please master your next film in 4000 nits and shoot an incredibly bright scene we can use for testing. If our reviewers are forced to hear Pan’s butchered version of Smells Like Teen Spirit for much longer, there may be a mutiny.)

Switching to our 4K Blu-ray Sinners test disc, minor black crush creeps in. Although the scene oozes menace and has a wonderful sense of dread, thanks to the perfect blacks, parts of the gangsters’ faces lose definition and fade into the black background.

The S85H also has a tendency to try too hard. In a bid to show how bright it can go, the set artificially raises the brightest sections of the picture, but doesn’t always have the finesse to do it naturally.

Highlights on characters’ skin come up as pure white, losing some detail and adding a distracting artificiality, making it look like they’re in the spotlight on a Broadway stage, rather than drinking and dancing in a dingy Prohibition-era speakeasy.

The aggressive push then flattens faces completely by overbrightening them, losing shadow detail and some of the picture’s otherwise impressive three-dimensionality. The flaw isn’t uniform either, rearing its head at specific moments, which is distracting and breaks our immersion in its otherwise solid performance.

Switching gears to our 4K Blu-ray of Civil War and tagging in step-up OLEDs, including its big brother/sister the S90H, the S85H puts up an admirable fight, but there are obvious benefits if you can afford to go up a price tier.

The S90H delivers a series of modest improvements that add up to make a big difference. On the S85H, greens in a military camp’s grass fields look a little too vibrant, taking on an almost cartoony look. Skin tones lose their warmth and colour volume, coming across as slightly jaundiced during low-light scenes compared to the more lifelike, immersive S90H.

The flames in a burning forest flicker a little brighter on the step-up model, offering more detail, with a wider range of reds and oranges dancing in the brightest parts of the flames. Overall, we get a little more nuance, a sprinkle more finesse, and a generally more natural picture with the S90H.

The S85H does a decent, but not front-of-the-pack, job of upscaling our SDR True Grit Blu-ray. The picture retains the grainy, spaghetti western feel, but the picture is dimmer and a bit flatter than those we've seen on rival sets. Though it retains the intentional grain, some sharpness and detail are lost. The stitches in the characters’ woollen clothes look a bit softer than we’d like, too.

Sound

“Where’s the bass?” is the immediate question we ask, testing the S85H’s 2.0 channel, 20W, Dolby Atmos system with our F1: The Movie test disc.

Engine noise, the sound of the crowd, the boom of cars crashing and skidding across the track; all of it lacks the bite and impact needed to do justice to the scene. The entire sound feels weak, even by TV speaker standards, sounding more like a Scalextric race than a deafening, international F1 event.

And this issue is the sound system’s undoing. Moving to a night-time battle scene in Civil War, explosions are occasionally entirely lost as vocals and the higher-frequency sound of gunfire, bizarrely, overpowers them.

This is a particular shame as, while the speakers never come close to matching a moderately capable soundbar, such as the entry-level Sonos Beam (Gen 2), they do get some things right.

During the musical medley in Sinners, Sammie’s blues vocals don’t have the power or vibrato required to do them justice, but they’re suitably separated from the guitar part.

As the scene develops, adding more and more layers and modern music genres to the song, that decent separation continues, with each part remaining distinct, albeit underpowered. And the set does a reasonable job of offering a sense of direction as the camera swoops through the barn.

The S85H’s speakers are ultimately fine for watching the news or a casual series, but not quite good enough for even basic movie watching. You will need to invest in a soundbar or speaker system for that.

Verdict

If you want an OLED TV but can’t afford to step up into the mid-tier, it’s one of the top options currently available, the Samsung S85H is a very competent option at the price.

Its punchy, immersive and nicely three-dimensional picture is a cut above most of its entry-level rivals. There are undoubtedly palpable gains to be had in paying more for a mid-range OLED, however – ones we think are worth paying for.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 7 II

Also consider the LG C6

Read our Samsung S90F review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

Are you after some personalised buying advice? Or is there a burning question you've always wanted to ask the What Hi-Fi? team? Well, now is your chance!

This Friday, 31st July, we're going to be hosting a live Q&A right here on whathifi.com.

Ketan Bharadia (Technical Editor), Kashfia Kabir (Hi-Fi & Audio Editor) and I (TV & AV Editor) will be on hand between 1pm and 3pm to answer any hi-fi, home cinema and TV questions you might have.

Whether it's which turntable you should buy, a question of whether an OLED or Mini LED TV is right for your room, or which speakers will perfectly complement your amp, we're poised and ready to help.

We can also offer opinions on new and upcoming formats, let you know whether a deal you've found is really as great as it seems, and answer questions about our reviewing process.

Aside from diagnosing faults with your kit (which the manufacturer is better placed to handle), if your question relates to hi-fi or AV (we're not great at relationship advice), we can almost certainly help.

The Q&A page will be live on Friday morning, so you won't have to wait until 1pm to get your questions in.

If you can't wait until then, though, you can ask them in the comments below or email them to whathifi@futurenet.com, and we'll do our best to answer as many as possible in Friday's 'Sound Advice' section.

So, whether you've got a buying dilemma, a technical question or you're simply curious about the world of hi-fi and home cinema, we'd love to hear from you. Join us on Friday – and feel free to get your questions in nice and early!

MORE:

Want immediate buying advice? Here are the best turntables, best headphones, best speakers, best TVs and best soundbars you can buy right now

And here's the lowdown on how we test products at What Hi-Fi?

Premium TV brand Loewe has released its latest range of Antares 4K OLED TVs, boasting that the new premium sets combine "timeless design with genuine engineering innovation."

Loewe's Antares TV features OLED modules that the brand claims are individually calibrated before leaving the Loewe factory in Germany to deliver a "viewing experience that remains faithful to the filmmaker's intent."

The calibration comes instead of a next-gen panel, such as the Primary RGB Tandem OLED tech seen in the LG G6 or the QD-OLED in Samsung's S99H TV. These are rival next-gen OLED panel technologies that aim to boost picture quality in key metrics including peak brightness and colour accuracy.

Gamers will be pleased to hear that there is HDMI 2.1 connectivity with up to 144Hz VRR and ALLM. We're waiting for confirmation of exactly how many, however.

The TV features Loewe's os9 platform, which gives users access to most mainstream streaming services, including Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. There's also voice control included with the set, so in theory, you can navigate to what you are looking for without flicking through the menus.

There's an optional Antares 80W soundbar you can add to the system as well, which delivers "greater depth and immersion". That will cost you an extra £300, though. You can also use the TV's built-in speakers or hook up a separate sound system.

You can customise the TV with the optional aluminium onlays, which come in Silver or Black. Plus, you can choose to mount the TV on the wall, a rotating floor stand or even a motorised rotation system that is controlled with a remote. That gives you a fair bit of flexibility, although you will have to factor in the extra costs.

There is a range of sizes from 42 to 65 inches. The cheapest option comes in at £2500 ($3370 / AU$4815) for the 42-inch model, and the largest size will cost a hefty £4000 (around $5390 / AU$7705).

That's certainly the high end of the OLED market, and even the flagship 65-inch LG C6 TV comes in at a more palatable £3000 / $3399 / AU$4999. Still, it might be a more appealing option for the premium buyer looking for ways to customise the screen to their space.

The Antares star is the brightest in the Scorpius constellation, so we are curious to see whether the TV will live up to its namesake and deliver a dazzling picture performance.

MORE:

Loewe's new premium LCD TVs save on space – but cost as much as an OLED

Check out the best TVs

And here is our review of the LG C6

When Sony officially unveiled its 2026 TV range, there was plenty of disappointment that it didn’t include a new OLED model – much of it from me.

These days, Sony tends to work on two-year lifecycles for its TVs, so I wasn’t expecting a successor to last year’s Bravia 8 II; but a replacement for 2024’s Bravia 8 seemed a fairly safe bet – as did a successor to the A90K, which is now an incredible four years old.

The omission prompted some (again, mostly me) to theorise that Sony had in fact turned its back on OLED entirely, and that the Bravia 8 II could be the brand’s last OLED model.

Last month, though, we reported on rumours that Sony was bracing to launch a brand-new OLED TV. And now, those rumours have been all but confirmed by the appearance of this new OLED set on several of Sony’s own websites.

The listings, first spotted by High Def News (thanks, The Walkman Blog), confirm that the new OLED is indeed the Bravia 6. And, if the name wasn’t a big enough hint, the TV’s tagline – “OLED essentials, now within reach” – also confirms that this is indeed an entry-level OLED TV.

Naturally, I’m disappointed that Sony isn’t launching a new flagship OLED at this stage, but if the Bravia 6 is indeed Sony’s most affordable OLED TV yet, as the tagline suggests, that’s rather exciting news in its own right.

Full tech specs are currently absent from the live pages (another suggestion that they have gone live earlier than planned), but there are some nuggets of information to be gleaned.

First, the TV is listed in sizes ranging from 48 inches to 83 inches. That’s a broader range than Sony typically offers for its OLED TVs, but it’s also highly suggestive of the Bravia 6 using LG Display’s new OLED SE panel, which is available in exactly those sizes and notably not in 42 inches.

While it’s not confirmed, we believe this is the panel that is already found in the LG B6, a set we will be reviewing very soon.

Another encouraging detail is that the Bravia 6 sports four HDMI 2.1 sockets. Gamers (myself included) have long lamented Sony’s models being limited to just two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with that limitation even being true of the new flagship Bravia 9 II, so this is very good news.

The listing also confirms that Dolby Vision is supported on the video side, and that Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are present on the audio side.

Unsurprisingly, like every other modern Bravia TV, the Bravia 6 also features the Google TV platform, which can be operated via voice control (though it’s not clear whether this is via a microphone built into the remote control or the TV itself).

We do know the TV includes ambient sensors, with the listing promising automatic picture adjustments based on room conditions.

None of the leaked listings includes pricing, so we don’t yet have any indication of where the Bravia 6 will sit in Sony’s range.

We don’t even know, in fact, whether the Bravia 6 will even come to the UK. Sony has a recent habit of releasing some models in certain regions but not others.

If it does launch the new model in the UK, there’s no guarantee that it will do so in all sizes: I note that Sony Hong Kong is listing the Bravia 6 in 48-, 55- and 65-inch sizes, while Sony Gabon is listing the 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch sizes.

We have approached Sony UK for comment. We don’t expect the company to confirm the Bravia 6 ahead of an official announcement, but with multiple regional Sony websites now listing the TV, that announcement surely can’t be far away.

Stay tuned for more on the Sony Bravia 6 as we get it.

MORE:

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

Will the Bravia 6 be good enough and cheap enough to hit our list of the best cheap TVs?

Buying a new TV is a major investment.

As a massive home cinema fan, I know I'm in a privileged position; I’m constantly surrounded by the latest flagship OLEDs, and it’s easy to become desensitised to the huge prices that are attached.

That is why I always try to stay grounded when offering buying advice – especially during massive sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Take the LG C5, for example. This Award-winning set was an absolute steal during recent sales, with the 55-inch model plummeting to £989; a massive £910 saving. But even at a heavy discount, it's still a serious chunk of change.

It's easy to get swept up in the hype, but if a new screen isn't in your budget right now, the endless onslaught of deals can be frustrating.

Fear not. If you're craving an upgrade but need to eke out the lifespan of your current display, I’ve got a few tips to tide you over. These simple, free adjustments – ranging from a bit of late Spring cleaning to a deep dive into your picture settings – can make your old TV feel almost brand new.

1. Update your software

First and foremost, you should head to the settings menu within your TV's operating system. Under "about", "system", or "support" (depending on your model of TV), you should see an option to initiate a software update.

There may also be an option to switch auto-updates on, which I would recommend doing to ensure your TV is always up to date.

While it's not always a miracle cure, a software update can help to fix sluggish software, and you might find that your TV suddenly has new features and an updated look, and apps may run smoother too.

2. Clear your apps cache

Another software-related tip that can help speed up a chugging operating system is to clear your TV's applications cache.

Usually found within the apps section of your TV's settings menu (I recommend consulting your TV's manual or searching the model number online to find the setting), clearing your apps cache will declutter unnecessary stored files, which should result in quicker loading times, prevent crashes, and even free up space in your TV's internal storage.

The best part is that you shouldn't be logged out of your apps, and any settings you've changed will also remain.

This is a quick, easy trick that not many people will think to do, but it can help fix those annoying app niggles.

3. Clean that screen

Here's one I'm guilty of not doing enough.

It's simple science: your TV generates static electricity during use, which attracts dust and fibre in the air. That dust build-up becomes more visible over time, which, unsurprisingly, can impact the picture performance of your TV.

Now, if you're anything like me, you'll only have noticed that your TV has gradually been building up dust when the light hits it just right, and then you'll be immediately horrified at how you haven't noticed this sooner.

But fret not! Simply turn off your TV, let it cool down for a short while if you've been using it (especially if it's an OLED, which tends to run especially hot), and then gently wipe the screen with a clean microfibre cloth to clean it, without damaging the screen.

If you want to take things further and wish to give your TV screen more of a deep clean, then you can invest in a screen cleaning kit. We're partial to this Screen Mom set in the TV testing room. Just be sure to spray the cleaner onto the cloth to avoid streaks.

4. Take another look at your picture settings

Diving back into the picture settings can make the TV you've been using for years feel brand new.

Trying out a new picture mode, or tweaking simple settings such as motion, can unearth improvements that you may not have known your TV is capable of.

If you've left your TV in the standard picture mode after unboxing it years ago, then now is the time to try out the movie mode, or delve into Filmmaker Mode (or, if you're using a Sony TV, the professional picture mode) for a more cinematic experience.

Tweaking the motion settings can help to smooth out judder, but if you have it turned up to the maximum setting, then you might find that turning it down will make your TV look much more natural.

Feel free to take a trial-and-error approach here to find the best settings to suit you; most, if not all, TVs we've tested feature an option in the settings menu to reset the picture settings to default if you get a little bit too creative.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best OLED TV

As well as the best cheap TVs

And read our full LG C6 65-inch OLED TV review

I've been totally open about my love for the Sony Bravia 8 II. Not only is it the current What Hi-Fi? Awards TV of the year, it's also the TV I use at home.

Seeing as I've been reviewing TVs for almost 20 years, that hopefully says a lot.

The Bravia 8 II is also on sale right now, with the 65-inch version available for £2099 at Richer Sounds.

That's not the cheapest it's ever been (that would be £1979), but it's still a good price for what is an absolutely awesome TV.

If I were looking to buy a premium TV right now, though, it's the 65-inch LG C5 I would go for.

It's a step-down OLED rather than a flagship like the Bravia 8 II, but it's still an absolutely cracking all-rounder of a TV, and it's currently available for £1299 at Amazon.

That price difference is just too big to ignore.

In our review, we awarded the C5 five stars, praising it for delivering "excellent all-round performance" that punches well above its price.

It's one of those rare TVs that doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, making it an easy recommendation whether you're a movie buff, sports fan or gamer.

Picture quality is the obvious highlight. The C5 produces rich, vibrant colours without sacrificing authenticity, while its contrast is superb, delivering the deep blacks and bright highlights that OLED TVs are famous for.

It's also wonderfully sharp and detailed, with excellent motion handling that keeps everything from fast-paced football to blockbuster action films looking smooth and natural.

Gaming is another area where the LG excels. All four HDMI sockets support the full HDMI 2.1 specification, including 4K/165Hz, VRR and ALLM, making it one of the most comprehensively equipped gaming TVs around.

Now, let's be clear: the Sony Bravia 8 II is still the better TV. It's brighter, more vibrant and more refined, producing an even more cinematic and authentic picture. Its built-in sound system is also leagues ahead of the LG's, delivering audio that's fuller, weightier and more immersive than almost any other TV.

If money were no object, I'd still tell you to buy the Bravia 8 II.

But money almost always is an object. And when you're looking at an £800 price difference, the LG C5 becomes the smarter buy.

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs and best TV deals available right now

And here are the best soundbars

Within the world of technology, there is often a misguided notion that newer always means better.

That is certainly true in the world of TV, especially with OLED sets. And OLED is a key tech on which readers, friends, family and random passers by often ask us for advice.

That has been especially true during this year’s Prime Day, when more than a couple of people have asked if there are any decent deals going on the two big-name flagship sets we recently reviewed – the five-star LG G6 and Samsung S99H.

If you’re dead to rights hellbent on one of them being your next TV, then I am pleased to report that, yes, there are deals running on both.

The best I have spotted is Richer Sounds’ deal on the 55-inch S99H. You can grab the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 right now, if you use the TRADE250 code at checkout. You can then save a further £250 by claiming cashback from Samsung after purchase, letting you grab the cutting-edge set for £1899.

For the LG G6, numerous retailers, including Peter Tyson and Richer Sounds, have lopped £400 off the set’s original asking price, letting you grab one for £2099.

Both, in isolation, are pretty good deals, considering how recently the two TVs launched. But they’re not the TVs I, or any of the home cinema reviews team, would recommend right now.

Yes, they are top performers. The Samsung S99H in particular is a brilliant set that we describe as “the best Samsung has ever made”. We don’t give praise like that lightly.

The problem is that, even discounted, the S99H and G6 are expensive luxuries that are considerably pricier than a key rival, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Our current Product of the Award winner, the Sony Bravia 8 II, is on sale at Richer Sounds for £1699, when you use the discount code, RSTV100, at checkout. That makes it £200 cheaper than the Samsung and £300 less than the LG.

Despite being older, the Bravia 8 II is still extremely competitive – we ran it against the G6 and S99H when we reviewed the new sets.

The upgrades offered by the S99H and G6 are limited to a smidge more peak-brightness here, a tad more colour-volume there. Even then, the Sony occasionally beats its newer rivals, offering a touch more dark detail and bit more finesse with its contrast in certain scenes. And that’s before we start talking about its better audio.

All of which helps to explain why we don’t tend to recommend buying the latest OLED TVs so soon after launch.

Year-on-year upgrades tend to be incremental (though there are exceptions to this rule). Still, TV makers launch new sets with incredibly high starting RRPs, just as the older models are plummeting in price.

And that’s the point we’re at with the S99H and G6. If you really want one of these sets rather than the older Bravia 8 II, we recommend waiting until later in the year, when the newer sets’ prices will almost certainly have dropped a little deeper. This usually happens in November, around Black Friday.

Until then, I strongly suggest looking at the much cheaper Sony Bravia 8 II. It represents significantly better value right now.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have tested

We rank the best 55-inch TVs

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

If you’re looking for a new OLED TV over Prime Day, you will be pleased to learn that the five-star LG C6 we christened “the firm’s finest step-down model to date” mere weeks ago has had its price slashed.

Right now you can grab a 55-inch LG C6 for £1427.98 at Amazon. That is a solid £371.02 saving on the TV’s launch price.

But, before you go rushing to grab one, I’d urge you to check out the even better deal I have spotted on the older LG C5. You can pick one up on Amazon for £906.09. That’s a solid £993.91 saving on its launch RRP and the best price we have seen for it.

Why pick the LG C5 when the C6 offers a performance upgrade? It’s a good question, especially when our reviewers reported:

“[The LG C6] is a big upgrade by C-series standards. We don’t typically get too excited about processor upgrades, but the Alpha 11 Gen 3 has forced a brighter and richer performance out of the same OLED EX panel technology, and improved upscaling and shading subtlety. The extra brightness and richness have benefits across the picture, resulting in a more enticing, dynamic and three-dimensional delivery.”

The answer comes down to another key metric we always factor into our buying advice: value for money.

Yes, the C6 offers improvements on the C5. But, having run the two head to head in our test rooms, we don’t think they currently justify the difference in price. £423 is a lot of money, especially during a cost of living crisis. Even if you do have the spare cash, we can think of a better investment that will fix both TVs’ biggest weakness: their middling audio.

Neither set offers good enough audio quality for a truly immersive home cinema experience. So, even if you do have the cash to buy the C6 right now, we still recommend investing in the LG C5 and then using the money you have saved to buy a decent Dolby Atmos soundbar.

If you pull the trigger now, the five-star Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 featured in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide is selling for £399 at Amazon (save £150) right now. It will match wonderfully with the LG C5.

That price will even leave you with enough cash to invest in a cold pint, or iced coffee, to help get through the heatwave…

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have reviewed

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

Our picks of the best 55-inch TVs

On Monday, I wrote about how tempted I was to buy the 42-inch LG C5, which had dropped to a record-low £649.

I already own what I consider to be the best OLED TV available – the awesome Sony Bravia 8 II – but, at that price, the C5 was well worth buying for use in my spare room, where it could perform gaming and work monitor duties, as well as the odd streaming binge.

But yesterday, I updated that story to point out that the price for the 42-inch had dropped to £623. The previous price that I had thought was unbeatable had been beaten.

And now, would you believe, it's been beaten again: the 42-inch LG C5 is down to just £611 at Amazon.

That's a nuts price for a TV this good.

At £611 from Amazon, the 42-inch LG C5 is one of those deals that feels almost too good to be true.

In our five-star review, we praised its wonderfully balanced OLED picture, excellent motion handling, natural colours and superb contrast, all of which combine to deliver a brilliantly engaging and authentic viewing experience.

It's also among the most comprehensively specified gaming TVs available, with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets supporting 4K/144Hz, VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming.

The sound is fairly ordinary, but that's a common weakness among TVs at any price and one that's easily fixed with one of the best budget soundbars.

Everything else about the C5 feels premium, making this deal particularly impressive. At £611, you're getting a TV that performs like a flagship for little more than the price of many mid-range rivals.

MORE:

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

TVs are getting bigger, and bigger… and bigger.

Hisense and TCL have been selling 116-inch and 115-inch TVs for quite some time now – and both of those look fairly modest compa red with Samsung’s behemoth 130-inch RGB Micro LED TV, which was unveiled at CES 2026.

The sensibly sized living rooms of many British homes are simply not built for a TV of that size – and many will find a proper surround sound package to be a squeeze as well. So does that mean you simply can’t fit a home cinema system into your house?

Of course it doesn’t!

We have tested plenty of smaller TVs and soundbars with modest footprints; and what they lack in size, they make up for in performance.

In fact, I have built a complete system, which includes a 42-inch OLED TV from LG, a superb scaled-down Hisense soundbar package (which even supports Dolby Atmos), and a five-star Amazon streamer that is no bigger than your average chocolate bar.

All of these products are Award-winners and, thanks to Amazon Prime Day, they are now all hugely discounted. At launch, this set-up would have cost you £1418; thanks to some pretty astonishing Prime Day discounts, it can now be yours for just £862.

This trio of petite home-cinema gadgets strikes the three core pillars of any good home cinema setup: picture, sound, and content.

And if you are happy to use LG’s webOS software platform and don’t mind a slight decrease in picture and sound performance, you could ditch the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max entirely, saving you a further £40.

The 42-inch LG C5, a compact OLED TV, is the definition of small yet mighty. Sporting a panel that delivers inky blacks and perfect contrast with ease, the C5 is a superb choice for movies – it’s and our pick for the best gaming TV, too.

We applauded its sharp, warm and rich picture, which we felt was hugely cinematic despite the comparatively small screen size from the 55- and 65-inch sets we usually test.

Furthermore, its gaming features are second to none. With a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz – ideal for PC gamers and more than enough for console gamers – and four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets. The smaller display also makes this a solid choice for dedicated gaming rooms, and it can even be used as an oversized desktop monitor.

The only area that the C5 stumbles in is sound. OLED TVs, in our experience, often disappoint when it comes to their built-in sound systems, and it’s no surprise that a TV this small doesn’t break the mould.

That’s where the Hisense AX5125H comes in. Tongue twister of a name aside, this soundbar system delivers proper surround sound at a price as modest as its footprint. The package includes a soundbar, subwoofer and two surround speakers, all of which pair wirelessly and with very little fuss out of the box.

We were surprised by its weight, scale, and spaciousness, which (much like the C5) far exceed its size. Dolby Atmos is supported with two dedicated upward-firing drivers on the main soundbar unit, and there’s even an HDMI 2.0 passthrough socket. (Maybe Sonos could learn a thing or two.)

The LG and Hisense make a great cinematic space-saving duo – and, in truth, you could leave it there. But by adding the heavily discounted, Award-winning Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, you get a pretty big streaming upgrade.

Amazon’s top-tier Fire TV Stick delivers 4K streams with oodles of detail and natural colours, and with an extremely comprehensive selection of apps, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to content.

If you’re looking longingly at our best TV deals and best soundbar deals pages, but think that you can’t get involved with the Prime Day sales due to a lack of space, then hopefully this petite (and massively discounted) home cinema setup has changed your mind.

MORE:

Check out the best Amazon Prime Day AV deals live

As well as the best Amazon Prime Day hi-fi deals

And find the best OLED TV deals here

If you’re looking to upgrade your lounge AV setup holistically during Prime Day, then we have two bits of advice.

First, don’t go for the new stuff, especially when shopping for an OLED TV or Dolby Atmos soundbar. Most of the new hardware has just arrived and is still full price, or at best has had a tiny amount shaved off its RRP.

Second, ignore Amazon, at least for now, as the best deal combination we've found for a new setup is actually at Richer Sounds.

The deal requires you to use a combination of discount codes to get the best result, but once done, it nabs you a 55-inch Samsung S95F QD-OLED TV with the firm’s Award-winning Q990F Dolby Atmos soundbar system for £1836.50 – pretty impressive considering the two products would have cost £4198 mere months ago.

All you have to do is add the 55-inch S95H and Q990F to your basket at Richer Sounds and apply the “599Q990F”, “SAMS10PERCENT” and ”RSTV200” discount codes at checkout.

As an added perk, you will even get a Samsung SP-LFF3C projector thrown in for free with the deal. We haven't reviewed that specific model, so we can't comment on performance, but free is free, right?

What about the brand new Samsung S99H and Q990H? Yes, they have also both been discounted. Richer Sounds is currently offering the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 (or an even better £1899 if you apply for cashback with Samsung after purchase), which is a decent saving on its £2499 regular price.

We’ve also spotted the Q990H retailing for £1299 (save £100) on Amazon. But that still adds up to a combined cost of £3198 for the two together.

While the newer models do offer noticeable performance gains according to our testing, they still don’t quite justify an extra £1371.50 investment, in our mind.

Especially as the S95F and Q990F are still very competent performers and among the best you will find at their current, discounted price.

As we said in our Samsung S95F review: “Sound aside, the Samsung S95F is every bit the five-star stunner. Vibrant, punchy and more crisp than a lifetime’s supply of Walkers Max, it’s a thrilling TV to live with and use, yet it also continues Samsung’s trajectory in producing more balanced and cinematically authentic TVs.”

And on the topic of sound, here’s our verdict on the Q990F: “The Samsung HW-Q990F nails it with a crisp and engaging sound and a whole new level of bass performance.”

So, all in all, a match made in heaven – perfect for watching the World Cup, then.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

We rank the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

We all love a bargain, which is why many of you may be looking for a stellar Prime Day deal on an LG C5.

And why not? The 42-inch LG C5, 48-inch LG C5 and 55-inch LG C5 all earned five-star ratings. The range also picked up not one, but three trophies during our latest What Hi-Fi? Awards.

And, while it has since been replaced by the five-star LG C6, having tested the two head-to-head in our viewing rooms, we can confirm the older C5 remains a very competitive performer and a valid option for any movie fan – especially when discounted.

At first glance, this is especially true right now, with pretty much every size of the LG C5 currently discounted. You can see a quick Cliff Notes of the best early Prime Day deals we’ve spotted on each below.

• Get the 42-inch LG C5 for £649 at Richer Sounds (save £750).
• Get the 48-inch LG C5 down to £759 at Richer Sounds (save £650)
• Get the 55-inch LG C5 down to £989 at Richer Sounds (save £910)
• Get the 65-inch LG C5 down to £1299 at Richer Sounds (save £1400)
• Get the 83-inch LG C5 down to £3052 at Richer Sounds (save £2480)

So, it’s a no-brainer, right? Time to click that magic checkout button and treat yourself to a shiny new OLED?

It would be all too easy to say yes, as those are solid prices on very good TVs. In fact, the 83-inch LG C5 deal is the best price we’ve seen on the giant OLED.

But, if you want my advice, I’d not pull the trigger yet, as I think the C5 will go down in price even further during Prime Day.

There are two simple reasons why. First, because while those are very good prices, outside of the 83-inch deal, we’ve seen all the other sizes slightly cheaper in the past. Not always by much, but £50 saved is a big deal for a lot of us right now, given the current cost of living crisis.

Second, because Prime Day tends to bring particularly impressive deals on C-series sets. Last year, we saw prices for the older C4 hit record lows across multiple sizes during Prime Day, and my instincts tell me the same will happen for the C5 this year.

Which is why, with Prime Day not even officially started, my advice right now is to wait and see what the actual event brings to the table. After all, you only have a few more hours to wait…

MORE:

Check out our Prime Day Home Cinema Deals Live Hub

We rank the best OLED TVs

Our picks of the best TVs money can buy

Prime Day 2026 doesn’t technically start until midnight, but that hasn’t stopped retailers from dropping a load of awesome early OLED TV deals.

And of that list, one in particular stands out; the first significant saving we’ve spotted on the five-star Samsung S99H.

That’s right, despite it just launching and receiving a glowing review from our experts mere weeks ago, Richer Sounds has already cut a significant wedge off the 55-inch S99H’s asking price.

You can grab the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 right now, if you use the TRADE250 code at checkout.

But the savings don't stop there. You can then save a further £250 by claiming cashback from Samsung. That lets you get a latest generation, flagship QD-OLED for £1899, which is undoubtedly a tempting proposition.

If you’ve read our S99H review, then you’ll likely at the very least be tempted to snap one up – and we get why. As our experts said in our review:

“With a stunning, contrast-rich picture, improved sound system and a feature set that blows most other TVs out of the water, the S99H is the flagship OLED to beat for 2026.”

And if you want the best new OLED TV currently available, and don’t mind paying for it, then this deal is easy to recommend.

But, for those not 100 per cent committed to buying the latest hardware, there is one minor fly in the ointment. Specifically, the Award-winning, 55-inch Sony Bravia 8 II is also currently discounted.

Head to Richer Sounds and you can grab our 2025 Product of the Year winner for £1699. Yes, that’s not the best price ever on the set, but it’s a solid saving on its £2499 launch price. It also makes it slightly cheaper than the Samsung.

Samsung’s latest flagship OLED TV is better in some ways. Running the two sets head-to-head this year, the S99H is a smidgeon brighter and offers minor upgrades in some of the areas we are about. But it is still a very close race between the two.

Which is why we currently think the Bravia 8 II is better value for most people. Only serious performance chasers who insist on only buying the latest hardware will be better off spending that much extra for the S99H.

MORE:

Get all of our experts' recommendations in real-time with our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub!

These are the best OLED TVs we've reviewed

We rank the best TVs money can buy

I am a very lucky guy: the best TV I've ever tested (and I've been reviewing TVs for 19 years) is also now the TV I use at home.

That TV is the Sony Bravia 8 II, and it really is as awesome to live with as I had expected.

• View all the Prime Day deals

Why, then, am I eyeing up another TV in the Amazon Prime Day sales?

Two reasons: I'd love to add an OLED to my spare room for gaming, and this deal is just too exceptional to pass up.

£623 at Amazon is just unbelievable for a TV this good, and it takes it from a super-premium option that would have to be your main TV, to a good price to pay for a second room TV.

My plan for this 42-inch OLED is to use it as a gaming TV and a monitor for work.

Its gaming specs are impeccable: four HDMI 2.1 sockets that all fully support 4K/144Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM; a superbly implemented HGIG mode for super-accurate HDR in games; and a Dolby Vision gaming mode.

It's great as a monitor, too, with neat, user-created software available that enables monitor-style features such as auto-wake.

Even if you've no interest in gaming or productivity, though, the 42-inch C5 is awesome for TV shows and movies, with a really balanced and authentic performance that makes full use of OLED's perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast control.

Other than the limp sound (which I recommend solving with one of the best budget soundbars), this TV is great at everything it does, and I think it's just irresistible at this price.

MORE:

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

I’m obsessed with broadcast delays (no, I’m not much fun at parties).

It all stems from Euro 2020, when my insistence on watching every match in 4K via BBC iPlayer resulted in several goals being spoiled by cheers from my neighbours and the revellers at a pub down the road.

Since then, I've prioritised low latency over outright picture quality when choosing how to watch major sporting events.

But I'd never actually tested the accepted wisdom around broadcast delays. So, with Sky launching its new Real Time feature for Sky Glass and Sky Stream, I decided it was time to find out which viewing method is actually fastest.

So, there I was, on a sweaty Thursday evening, setting up a second TV in my living room so that I could compare different broadcast options during the Czechia v South Africa match.

I needed to remove as many variables as possible, of course, so my two TVs needed to be identical. I therefore borrowed a 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED to match the one currently in situ in my lounge.

After ensuring that both TVs were running the same software and had the same picture settings, I plugged my now rarely used aerial into the ‘new’ TV (the one on the right in all of the photos sprinkled throughout this piece) and set about comparing that with the alternatives at my disposal.

This is what I discovered.

Freeview (aerial) vs BBC iPlayer

Before I get started, it’s worth noting that everything is delayed.

It simply takes time for anything that's filmed live to make it through all of the broadcast equipment, be encoded and transmitted, travel to and from satellites in space or through underground fibre-optic cables, and finally be decoded and displayed by your TV.

It’s commonly accepted, though, that watching the signals received by your aerial via a Freeview tuner is the least delayed option available. The BBC itself says that it takes 7-8 seconds for something happening live to reach your TV via this method.

So, how much slower was iPlayer than the TV playing Freeview? A hefty 23 seconds. That’s plenty of time for a goal to be spoiled by cheers from the neighbours.

Interestingly, I found no meaningful difference between BBC iPlayer's HD and UHD streams. If you're watching via iPlayer anyway, choosing the 4K feed doesn't appear to add any extra delay.

I also tested the iPlayer app on several devices – the Bravia 8 II itself, a Sky Stream box, and an Apple TV 4K – and the result was always 23 seconds, there or thereabouts.

It’s worth remembering that BBC iPlayer is the only way to watch the World Cup in 4K, and the feeds look terrific, but when immediacy matters, such as when England are playing, foregoing pixels for promptness is the sensible way to go.

Sky Stream/Glass

Time for Sky Stream, and the good news is that this was indeed quicker than BBC iPlayer. The bad news? It was still around 18 seconds behind Freeview.

That’s better, of course, but still more than enough time for a goal to be spoiled.

But, as I mentioned earlier, Sky has a special feature up its sleeve for dealing with this…

Sky Real Time

That feature is Real Time, which is designed to massively reduce the amount of lag experienced during big sporting events.

Sky has rolled Real Time out just in time for the World Cup, and it’s available on the BBC HD, ITV1 HD and ITV4 HD.

It’s worth noting that it’s not turned on by default. Once you tune in to one of the channels mentioned above during a World Cup match, you then need to click the ‘Real Time’ button that appears on the screen. Do that, and you’ll be switched to a special ‘RT’ version of the channel.

So, how much faster is Real Time? A whopping 13 seconds faster than standard Sky Stream, which makes it just five seconds slower than the Freeview tuner.

That’s close enough, I think, to rarely be an issue.

Conclusions, caveats and Sky Q

You’ve probably spotted that there’s a significant absentee from my testing, Sky Q, and there’s an easy explanation for that – I no longer have a satellite dish.

However, Sky has previously told me that Real Time brings Sky Stream/Glass to within three seconds of Sky Q, and the results of my testing certainly suggest that's plausible.

It’s also worth noting that there are plenty of variables that mean your results might vary slightly from mine. Aerial connections and Freeview tuners are remarkably consistent, but network conditions are not. Broadband speeds, router performance, wi-fi quality and even the streaming device itself can all affect how quickly a live stream reaches your screen.

Still, if you want to see how all of these various viewing methods compared, delay-wise, for me, here’s a little graph I whipped up:

Broadcast / reception delay

Here's how long, in seconds, it takes each broadcast type to show you a goal that's just been scored

Delay

Live

0

Freeview (aerial)

8

Sky Q (satellite)

10

Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time

13

Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time

26

BBC iPlayer

31

010203040

Delay Data

Product	Value
Live	0
Freeview (aerial)	8
Sky Q (satellite)	10
Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time	13
Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time	26
BBC iPlayer	31

This is according to my testing – bear in mind that your mileage may vary.

So, is Sky Real Time the saviour of sports fans tired of hearing celebrations before they see the goal?

Not quite. My tests suggest that a good old-fashioned aerial is still the quickest way to watch live TV, and Sky Q via satellite probably remains a touch faster too.

But Sky's new mode narrows the gap dramatically. Instead of lagging tens of seconds behind the live action, Sky Stream and Sky Glass are now close enough to traditional broadcast TV that, in most homes, they're unlikely to be the reason a goal gets spoiled.

For years, choosing streaming TV meant accepting that everyone else would see the goal first. Thanks to Real Time, that trade-off is finally starting to disappear.

Watch the World Cup from anywhere

If you're abroad during the World Cup and struggling to access your usual streaming services, you can always use a VPN (where terms allow).

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

And don't forget the audio! Here are all of the best soundbars

Can you believe that there was a time when Samsung didn’t feature a single OLED TV in its range? That all changed in 2022, when it put its spin on OLED by adding a layer of Quantum Dots and launched the excellent S95B QD-OLED TV.

Five years later, the brand is now reaping the benefits of the self-emissive panel technology. It now makes some of the finest OLED TVs around – take the five-star S95F and S90F duo from last year – and its 2026 lineup features more OLED TVs than ever before.

Of course, Samsung was never going to celebrate half a decade of OLED success without taking things up a notch, which is why it has introduced a new, rather unusual flagship model that takes inspiration from one of the brand's other most successful models.

That new flagship OLED is the S99H, a premium QD-OLED TV that oozes style and sophistication, thanks at least in part to its aesthetic similarities to the wildly successful, design-led The Frame LCD range.

Here, though, those smart good looks have been blended with the core abilities of the excellent S95F – with a generous helping of performance upgrades for good measure.

The result? A showstopping OLED TV that blends style and substance, and one that we think could dethrone the current reigning champion of our best OLED TV list: the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Price

We have the 55-inch Samsung S99H before us today, and it’s officially priced at £2499, though in true Samsung fashion, that launch pricing hasn’t stuck around for long. We’re already seeing a £100 decrease across all sizes, which puts the 65-inch version at £3199, the 77-inch model at £4199, and the 83-inch size at £5999.

Now, we need to clear something up regarding model numbers for different regions.

In the US and Australia, Samsung is calling this model the S95H. Despite the different name, it is an identical TV. In these regions, you’ll find the 55-inch S95H for $2500 / AU$3999, the 65-inch S95H for $3400 / AU$5299, the 77-inch S95H for $4500 / AU$7999, and the 83-inch S95H for $6500 / AU$9995.

That's not the end of the story, though. To confuse things even more, Samsung is selling a model under the S95H name here in the UK, too, but it’s a different TV. From what we gather, it is the same TV as the S99H, but without the metal frame-style design. In fact, it looks identical to last year’s S95F.

So, to reiterate, the S99H we're testing here is known as the S95H in the US and Australia, but that is not the same as the UK's S95H TV. Yes, we have given some constructive feedback to Samsung on all of this.

Got all that? Then let's consider the S99H's competition, which primarily comes in the form of Sony’s awesome, Award-winning Bravia 8 II, the 55-inch version of which, after around a year on sale, now costs around £1799 / $2600 / AU$3995. That makes it significantly cheaper than the S99H in the UK, but there's rough pricing parity between the two TVs in the US and Australia.

There’s also the 55-inch LG G6 to consider, which appears to be widely discounted to £1840 here in the UK, but is so far sticking to its $2500 / AU$3995 launch price in the US and Australia, respectively.

Design

We’re confident in saying that this is one of the most unusual-looking TVs to enter our AV testing room.

Samsung clearly took inspiration from its hugely popular The Frame TV when it came to designing the S99H, and while this television’s looks won’t be to everyone’s taste, we’re just pleased to see a TV company that’s willing to push the boat out when it comes to design.

The S99H features a two-layer design, with an OLED screen section mounted onto a slightly larger metal backplate, with a roughly 2cm gap between. Samsung calls this its “FloatLayer” design.

It’s hard to describe, but the effect it gives is essentially a floating OLED panel surrounded by a premium metal frame. Much like LG’s G-series, this TV is designed to be wall-mounted, and while we can’t do that in our testing room, we have seen it wall-mounted at various hands-on events leading up to launch.

In short, the S99H looks like a work of art when it's fixed to a wall, as the floating design becomes really quite striking and effective. Despite the two-layer design, the overall depth is just 2.8cm, which also helps to sell the futuristic look that Samsung is going for.

Unfortunately, the TV doesn’t look quite as suave when it’s set up in its tabletop configuration. Samsung includes two quite cheap-feeling plastic feet with the TV that feel somewhat at odds with the rest of the premium design, and the metal bezel and floating design look less convincing when it's not attached to a wall.

Samsung also includes two remotes in the box: a “traditional” button-heavy number, and a sleeker “smart” remote. The latter includes both a USB-C socket and a small solar panel on the back for easy recharging, though it’s frustratingly not backlit. Then again, neither are the remotes included with the aforementioned Sony or LG TVs, so we can’t knock Samsung too much here.

Features

Samsung’s penchant for cramming (almost) every imaginable feature into its TVs is, once again, evident with the S99H.

We’ll start with the QD-OLED display, which Samsung has managed to squeeze even more brightness out of since we last saw it on the S95F. It can now reportedly reach a whopping 2700 nits in the Movie picture mode, and as you’ll come to find out in the picture section of this review, there are plenty of instances in which we find ourselves being taken aback by how bright this TV can get.

Samsung has also improved its Glare Free coating this year, making it more effective at combating reflections and glare from ambient light. The matte display also makes artwork from Samsung’s Art Mode feature look more realistic for those who want a TV that blends into its surroundings.

In usual Samsung fashion, HDR support comes in the form of HDR10+ (including the Adaptive and Gaming versions), HDR10 and HLG, but not Dolby Vision.

Samsung's answer to Dolby Vision 2, HDR10+ Advanced, is also supported by the S99H. Unfortunately, no content is available in the new format yet, and we don't have a date for its arrival. Amazon is said to be working on adding it to Prime Video in the not too distant future, though.

Hardcore PC gamers will be pleased to learn that the S99H can handle signals right up to 4K/165Hz, as well as the console-friendly 4K/120Hz format, across all four of its HDMI 2.1 sockets. VRR, ALLM and HDR10+ Gaming are also all supported.

All of the connections are built into a side-facing nook in the rear of the TV, which is a departure from the One Connect box that has come with Samsung’s previous flagship OLED TVs.

One Connect does live on, though, and in a quite remarkable way: Samsung is offering an optional Wireless One Connect accessory, which is set to launch in July for £299 / $350 (AU price TBC).

This features four HDMI sockets, and because it connects to the S99H wirelessly, it takes the total HDMI 2.1 socket count to a staggering eight. That’s enough to support all three of the current-generation consoles, a gaming PC, a 4K Blu-ray player, a soundbar or AVR, and a streaming device, and you’d still have one spare.

The S99H also supports Dolby Atmos, both via HDMI eARC and through its built-in 4.2.2-channel 70W sound system.

Samsung offers two simplistic sound modes, Standard and Amplify, but there is also a range of Samsung-specific sound processing features based on its Vision AI platform, including Object Tracking Sound Plus, Active Voice Amplifier Pro, Adaptive Sound Pro, and AI Sound Controller Pro; all of which are fairly self-explanatory.

Q Symphony also returns. This allows you to use the TV’s speakers in unison with those of a connected Samsung soundbar, but it should be approached with caution – we generally find that a good soundbar performs best when the less capable speakers of a TV don't get involved.

AI also steps in to help with picture processing, as Samsung has implemented its 4K AI Upscaling Pro, AI Motion Enhancer Pro and Auto HDR Remastering Pro features, alongside a Real Depth Enhancer contrast enhancement system and Colour Booster Pro.

On the subject of AI, Samsung has applied its “AI for All” mantra in swathes here, as the S99H is positively dripping in artificial intelligence, right down to the AI button on the remote.

A click of this button brings up Samsung’s Vision AI interface, which can recognise on-screen content and provide extra contextual information. This includes related content, cast information and prompts to find out more detailed information about the show or movie.

Scrolling from this page brings us to a more generalised AI interface, from which Samsung allows you to pick your preferred system. Here you can ask for recipes, generate AI wallpapers, or ask general questions. The sky is, hypothetically, the limit.

This is all made possible by the same NQ4 AI Gen3 Processor found in last year’s S95F, as well as Samsung’s Tizen OS platform. The operating system has had a fairly comprehensive refresh for 2026, with a new content bar at the top that splits your apps into categories including entertainment, gaming and art, and the operation feels generally slicker.

App coverage is mostly excellent, with a wide range of international and domestic streaming applications. Samsung has added BBC iPlayer support since launch, and it joins the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, ITVX and Amazon Prime Video.

Samsung TV Plus, which features hundreds of free over-the-internet streaming channels, is also included, and gamers are well looked after thanks to the presence of apps for services such as Xbox, Amazon Luna, and Nvidia GeForce Now.

Picture quality

It’s clear that Samsung has been working to tweak and adjust its picture processing over the years in the pursuit of achieving that final pinch of picture quality excellence, and the S99H is evidence that its work has paid off. This is Samsung’s most mature TV yet, and it’s all the better for that.

We opt for Filmmaker Mode as our preferred picture preset, albeit with a couple of tweaks to get the best performance possible: we switch Colour Temperature from its Warm 2 default to Warm 1, and turn the judder and blur reduction settings up to 1.

The resulting picture is extraordinary, and it makes any content we throw at it – from Blade Runner 2049, Civil War, Pan and Drive, to No Time To Die and The Batman – shine. We have the S99H set up next to the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, and despite the tough competition, the Samsung delivers an unflinching visual feast.

Starting with the opening scene of Blade Runner 2049, we find that the S99H serves up oodles of contrast, which results in a deeply three-dimensional picture with superb highlights.

The overhead shot of the solar farm instantly draws us in, thanks to the superb detail levels mixed with the excellent sense of depth. We also approve of how the S99H handles the gloomy, bluish-grey sky, as well as the skin tones of Officer K and Sapper Morton.

In fact, the S99H makes the Sony Bravia 8 II look a bit green in our head-to-head comparison, and skin tones start to look a bit pasty, too. Sony TVs have traditionally leaned towards the cooler side when it comes to colour reproduction, even in Filmmaker Mode, but it’s interesting to see these TVs take a different approach, particularly as they use the same panel technology.

This is most evident in the scene from Pan in which the floating pirate ship enters a cavern; the Samsung runs rings around the Sony when it comes to maintaining low-light colour volume. Skin tones are noticeably warmer and more vibrant on the Samsung in this instance. That being said, the Sony is evidently better at maintaining shadow detail.

In fact, some shadow detail is lost entirely on the S99H, especially during dark sequences in moodier flicks such as Drive and The Batman. In both films, we find facial features and clothing textures occasionally succumb to darkness, while the Sony has no trouble keeping them visible.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Samsung takes the crown when it comes to delivering dazzlingly bright highlights; in fact, we’re adding the S99H to the list of TVs that we’ve had to shield our eyes from physically.

Reverting to the exceptionally bright (and critically dismal) Pan, we find the mix of punchy, concentrated highlights and rich colours stealing our attention away from the Sony entirely.

However, the more conventional-looking Civil War is the perfect test disc to highlight exactly what this TV does well. Everything from the night-time forest fire sequence to a helicopter gliding over a lake and the Charlottesville military camp looks fantastic.

There’s a real sense of nuance here that previous Samsung TVs haven’t always been able to capture. Foliage, for example, is wonderfully textured and detailed without looking over-etched, and while the colours do seem a smidge over-saturated compared with those from the Bravia 8 II, it's not to an extent that looks instinctively wrong.

The sequence that shows the journalists driving through a forest fire seals the deal here. The mix of detail, depth and contrast served up by the S99H is remarkable – the striking, bright flames contrast wonderfully with the dark background, and there is a real sense of intensity and warmth derived from how Samsung's OLED handles highlights.

We fire up the standard Blu-ray of Logan to assess the S99H’s upscaling capabilities, and it's a similar story here, too. Detail levels are superb, and if we weren’t so eagle-eyed, the S99H could almost have fooled us into thinking we were watching a 4K disc.

Colours are also nicely balanced, and motion remains solid, too. This TV excels regardless of what you throw at it.

Sound

It’s not just the picture performance that Samsung has improved. Sound has also been upgraded, which is a good sign after the S95F’s middling delivery.

We stick with Civil War, which highlights everything from dialogue to explosions, and even Dolby Atmos height effects. The rhythmic swooping of helicopter blades is delivered with a strong leading edge, underpinned by a pleasingly controlled dose of bass.

Moving on to the scene in which Lee and Jessie have a heart-to-heart conversation in a wooded area, we approve of how the S99H captures the subtle characteristics of their voices well, and overall, the dialogue is crisp and well-defined. The atmospheric effects, including birds chirping and leaves rustling in the wind, sound pleasingly spacious, too.

There is plenty of height and width to the sound, which is also evident in Blade Runner 2049. The sequence in which Officer K returns to his home from the police precinct is another example of how the S99H captures atmospheric sounds to great effect.

The booming audio adverts are placed with impressive precision and plenty of height, while the S99H somehow manages to beam the sound of the bustling street in a way that creates a fairly convincing sense of immersion.

While we’re on the subject of Blade Runner, we put the S99H through our usual chapter two stress test and find that Samsung has changed its approach. Where many of the brand's previous models have been quite bassy but a little prone to distortion, the S99H digs less deep but proves to be almost entirely distortion-free.

Sony takes a similar approach with the Bravia 8 II (and many other of its TVs), and we ultimately find it to be a sensible compromise. We would of course like more bass weight, but if that has to be sacrificed somewhat to reduce distracting distortion, then so be it.

It’s not all good news on the sonic front, though: like the S95F, the S99H simply doesn't go very loud. Even close to its maximum volume levels, this is an easy TV to talk over. The Amplify setting helps to negate this somewhat, but it does result in some dynamic compression.

The Sony Bravia 8 II also does a better job of organising the sound during scenes with lots of competing effects. The ending battle of Civil War is a perfect example, as the Sony balances dialogue, explosions, and vehicle sounds with care to create a more impactful and immersive soundscape.

With all that said, the S99H is still a big improvement over the S95F where sound is concerned, and it's ultimately a very usable (and even enjoyable) built-in sound system.

Verdict

There’s no other way of putting it; Samsung has knocked it out of the park with the S99H.

With a refined approach to picture tuning, a feature set that (with one key caveat) many TVs can only dream of, and a greatly improved sound system compared with last year’s model, the company’s latest flagship OLED TV takes the title from the S95F as the best TV the company has made to date.

The bold new design might not suit all tastes, and die-hard Dolby Vision fans may be disappointed, but we’re struggling to find reasons not to recommend the Samsung S99H to anyone considering splashing some serious cash on a flagship OLED TV.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II

Also consider the LG G6

Read our Philips OLED910 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

There’s a war going on for your living room. The premium TV technology of choice of the last few years – OLED – is under attack from a new, stunningly bright and vibrant foe – RGB Mini LED.

Every major brand has either launched its first RGB Mini LED TVs or is about to. Hisense launched its first RGB Mini LED models last year, in fact, but those were gigantic, 100+ inch sets, so a long way from a serious proposition for most people.

Hisense is also the first brand to submit to us a proper, mainstream RGB Mini LED TV to review, though – the UR9.

RGB Mini LED TVs are pitched at different levels by different brands, but Hisense is absolutely pitching the UR9 as a rival to flagship OLEDs. The price confirms as much.

So, what better way to benchmark it than against our current favourite flagship OLED, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

That, then, is what we’ve done. Over several days, we’ve tested the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 8 II side by side, feeding all of our favourite discs and streams into both simultaneously, and judging them on picture quality, sound quality, features, usability, design and price.

This might not be a full RGB Mini LED vs OLED battle – the Hisense UR9 doesn’t represent all RGB Mini LED TVs, after all – but it is the opening skirmish in the broader TV tech war. And it's an eye-opening one at that.

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: price

The Hisense UR9’s pricing is interesting to say the least. In the UK, the 65-inch model we tested is priced at £2999, which places it in the same price category as brand-new flagship OLEDs.

In Australia, meanwhile, the UR9’s price of AU$3999 makes it slightly more affordable by local standards.

In the US, though, the pre-launch price of $3500 had dropped vastly to just $2000 by the time the TV actually hit stores.

Things are much more straightforward with the Sony Bravia 8 II, the 65-inch version of which launched at £2999 / $4000 / AU$5295, but can now be bought for £2299 / $2798 / AU$4995.

The inconsistent international pricing of the Hisense UR9 makes it a little tricky to judge this round, but seeing as we’re a primarily UK publication, and that we reviewed a UK sample, we’re going to prioritise the UK pricing and call this it in favour of the Bravia 8 II.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: design

The Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are both smart-looking TVs, but they take rather different approaches to design.

Sony has essentially carried over the styling of the A95L, resulting in a TV that looks purposeful, premium and monolithic. While it lacks the ultra-thin glamour of some rival OLEDs, the Bravia 8 II still feels like a flagship product, with its clean lines and understated aesthetic giving it a suitably high-end appearance.

The feet can be installed in either a low-profile position that leaves the bottom edge of the screen sitting just millimetres above your furniture, or a raised position that creates space for a soundbar. The downside is that those feet can only be positioned at the furthest extremes of the chassis, meaning you'll need furniture that's at least as wide as the TV itself.

The Hisense UR9 is a more practical proposition. At 4.5cm thick, it's chunkier than the Sony and doesn't have quite the same premium flair, but it is solidly built and neatly finished, with slim bezels and a restrained dark metallic finish.

Hisense has also made a couple of sensible usability-focused decisions. The centrally mounted pedestal stand occupies a footprint of only around 42cm, making the TV much easier to place on narrower furniture, and it too offers two height positions so that a soundbar can be accommodated beneath the screen.

The UR9's integrated Devialet sound system is more visually obvious than Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup, with perforations running down the sides of the chassis and across the top edge to house the side- and up-firing speakers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does contribute to the TV's more functional, engineering-led appearance.

Ultimately, neither of these TVs is likely to be bought primarily for its styling, but the Bravia 8 II's cleaner, more premium design gives it the edge. The UR9 is practical and perfectly attractive in its own right, but it lacks the sense of sophistication that Sony's flagship delivers.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: features

The biggest difference between these two TVs is, of course, their panel technologies.

The Sony Bravia 8 II uses Samsung Display's latest QD-OLED panel, paired with Sony's XR processor and a custom heatsink. Because OLED technology is self-emissive, every pixel can be controlled independently, with no need for local dimming zones.

Sony doesn't publish specific brightness figures for its TVs, but the Bravia 8 II is estimated to hit around 1900 nits in small highlights, making it one of the brightest OLED TVs currently available.

The Hisense UR9, meanwhile, uses an RGB Mini LED backlight with 980 local dimming zones. Rather than relying on a conventional white backlight shining through colour filters, it uses separate red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. Hisense claims a peak brightness of up to 3500 nits for the 65-inch model we tested.

On paper, then, these TVs take radically different approaches to creating their images. We're not going to award points for one technology over the other here, though, because what ultimately matters is how those technologies perform in practice. We'll get to that in the picture quality section.

There are other differences in the feature sets of the two TVs worth highlighting, though.

Hardcore gamers are generally better served by the Hisense. All three of its HDMI sockets are full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, with support for 4K/170Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. It also features a DisplayPort connection, which remains extremely rare on TVs and could prove useful for committed PC gamers.

The Sony supports 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, too, but still offers only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, one of which doubles as the eARC connection. That limitation remains one of our biggest frustrations with Sony's flagship TVs.

That said, we'd probably take the Sony's two HDMI 2.1 sockets and two additional standard HDMI inputs over the Hisense's three HDMI sockets and DisplayPort arrangement. The latter will be useful to a niche audience, but many buyers are more likely to benefit from having an extra ‘standard’ HDMI connection available.

HDR support favours the Hisense, though. The UR9 supports every major HDR format currently in use, including HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The Bravia 8 II supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but, as is customary for Sony TVs, HDR10+ is absent.

The Bravia 8 II fights back with Google TV, which remains one of the stronger smart TV platforms available and features excellent app support. The UR9's VIDAA operating system is fast and responsive, but there are some notable omissions.

Most significantly, while the Apple TV app is present, it lacks access to the Apple TV Store and users' purchased libraries. That's a genuine disappointment, as Apple's movie store remains the best pay-as-you-go film streaming service available, particularly for 4K HDR movies.

Sony also offers IMAX Enhanced certification, its Studio Calibrated Modes for services such as Netflix and Prime Video, and Sony Pictures Core integration.

Ultimately, neither TV completely dominates on features, but the Hisense's broader HDR support, extra HDMI 2.1 socket and more advanced gaming specification give it the edge overall.

WINNER: Hisense UR9

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: picture quality

This is, of course, the section that really matters.

The Hisense UR9 makes an immediately strong impression. Once switched into either Filmmaker Mode or IMAX Cinema, it produces a rich, vibrant and remarkably composed image that rarely behaves like a traditional backlit TV.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the UR9 is how well controlled its RGB Mini LED backlight is. Throughout our testing, blooming is kept impressively in check, black levels are consistently strong and the TV almost entirely avoids the brightness pumping, flickering and shifting backlight behaviour that often gives Mini LED technology away.

Extra-bright HDR content is a particular strength. Movies such as Pan look spectacular on the UR9, with dazzling highlights and bold colours that comfortably outgun the Bravia 8 II for outright brightness. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off fantasy scenery is delivered with real punch and intensity.

The UR9 is also a very accomplished motion performer, and it combines its brightness with rich colours, excellent shadow detail and a pleasingly cinematic warmth that stops the image from ever becoming gaudy or overblown.

In isolation, it's one of the best backlit TVs we have ever tested.

Direct comparison with the Bravia 8 II reveals why OLED remains the reference technology, though – at least for now.

Despite its impressive brightness and excellent local dimming, the Hisense simply can't match the Sony's pixel-level contrast control. Counterintuitively, some of the brightest highlights against the darkest backgrounds actually appear more impactful on the Bravia 8 II than on the much brighter Hisense, because the OLED can render them without any concern about blooming.

More significantly, the Sony produces a more solid and perceptually three-dimensional image. Objects and characters stand out from their surroundings with greater depth and dynamism, while subtle gradations within shadows, clouds and highlights appear more convincing and refined.

We've observed this extra solidity from OLED many times before, but the side-by-side comparison between these two TVs demonstrates it particularly clearly. Next to the Bravia 8 II, the UR9 simply looks a little flatter and less immersive.

The Sony also has the advantage when it comes to viewing angles. While the Hisense holds up better than many LCD-based rivals, the sweet spot in which it performs at its very best is still relatively narrow. Thanks to its OLED panel, the Bravia 8 II performs consistently from almost any angle.

And while blooming is rare on the UR9, it isn't entirely absent. Difficult scenes such as the bomb-test sequence in Oppenheimer or the opening starfield of Alien: Romulus reveal imperfections that even this highly accomplished RGB Mini LED set cannot completely escape.

The Bravia 8 II, meanwhile, is simply sensational. Its combination of dazzling brightness by OLED standards, vibrant colours, exceptional shadow detail and razor-sharp definition creates an image of astonishing depth and realism.

What impresses most isn't any single strength, but how naturally all of its strengths come together. The Bravia 8 II consistently delivers a picture that feels balanced, authentic and effortlessly cinematic, whether you're watching a pristine 4K Dolby Vision disc or a much more humble SDR stream.

The Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED can get surprisingly close to flagship OLED performance, and many viewers will adore its combination of brightness, richness and stability. But when viewed side by side, the Bravia 8 II remains the more complete and convincing picture performer.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: sound quality

Both the Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are unusually sonically accomplished by modern TV standards.

That's important, because while we always recommend pairing a premium TV with a dedicated sound system, for many buyers that’s either impractical or unpalatable.

The Hisense UR9 certainly doesn't disappoint. Its Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel sound system delivers a presentation that is impressively spacious and full-bodied, with particularly convincing width and height effects.

Dolby Atmos soundtracks benefit from a strong sense of scale, while bass is deeper and more substantial than most flatscreen TVs can manage. The overall character is smooth, rich and easy to listen to over extended viewing sessions.

The UR9's audio system isn't flawless, though. Dynamics can feel a little restrained during big action sequences, and dialogue doesn't always have the clarity and expressiveness we'd ideally like.

We also found ourselves preferring the Standard sound mode over the more expansive Theatre setting. While Theatre mode undoubtedly sounds bigger, it can introduce a slightly diffuse and faintly echoey quality to voices that makes dialogue seem less natural than it should.

The Sony Bravia 8 II takes a very different approach. Rather than relying on conventional speaker placement, its Acoustic Surface Audio+ system uses actuators to vibrate the screen itself, effectively turning the display into a speaker.

The result is one of the most cohesive and convincing audio performances we've heard from a TV.

Dialogue and effects are tied directly to the action on screen in a way that traditional TV speaker systems struggle to replicate, creating a stronger sense that sound is genuinely coming from the people and objects you're watching.

Like the Hisense, the Sony also sounds surprisingly spacious, with effects extending well beyond the edges of the screen. Detail levels are excellent, too, and the Bravia 8 II combines subtle dynamic nuance with enough punch to make action scenes engaging and exciting.

Bass depth isn't as generous as it is from the Hisense, but it's impressively controlled, and the overall tonal balance is exceptionally well judged.

Ultimately, these are two of the best-sounding TVs you can currently buy. The Hisense delivers scale, warmth and impressive Atmos effects, but the Sony's superior detail, greater dynamic expression and uniquely direct delivery give it the edge.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: verdict

The Hisense UR9 is a hugely important TV.

Not only is it the first mainstream RGB Mini LED TV we've fully reviewed, it's also the first serious attempt to take on flagship OLEDs with a fundamentally different display technology.

And the good news for RGB Mini LED fans is that, in some ways at least, it succeeds.

The UR9 is bright, vibrant and impressively refined. More importantly, it avoids many of the traditional pitfalls of backlit TVs, with excellent black levels, impressively restrained blooming and a consistency that often feels surprisingly OLED-like.

In several respects, it's one of the best backlit TVs we've ever tested.

But while the UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is a genuinely exciting technology with enormous potential, it also demonstrates just how high the bar currently is at the top end of the OLED market.

Ultimately, picture quality remains the most important factor in any TV buying decision, and it's here that the Sony Bravia 8 II retains a clear advantage. The Hisense has the stronger gaming specification, broader HDR support and spectacular brightness, but the Sony's superior contrast control, greater three-dimensionality and more natural, cinematic image make it the more accomplished performer overall.

This isn't a verdict on RGB Mini LED versus OLED as technologies, and it certainly isn't the last battle in what is shaping up to be one of the most interesting periods in TV tech for years.

Instead, it’s the verdict on the very best OLED TV currently available versus the first mainstream RGB Mini LED model. And while the Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is ready to compete with the very best, the Sony Bravia 8 II remains the TV to beat.

OVERALL WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Since news broke that TCL is taking a stake in Sony’s home entertainment business, there have been a lot of questions about the Japanese giant’s plans for OLED.

After all, TCL has famously championed Mini LED as a superior technology, even at the top end of the market, so it may not be keen on Sony continuing to push its rival format.

The Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II, which Sony unveiled mere weeks ago, are both set to use new True RGB panel technology, not OLED.

So there is some evidence that Sony may partially agree with TCL and doesn’t see OLED as its future.

We, however, don’t fully agree that Mini LED is always the better option. For us, OLED is still the top dog – at least when it comes to picture quality – based on our testing.

There is something about OLED’s pixel-level light control and the resulting perfect blacks that no LED set, Mini, RGB, or otherwise, has been able to beat.

Sony is a key reason we continue to push OLED sets in our recommendations, with our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, openly describing our current Product of the Year, the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED, as the best TV he has ever tested, period.

Which is why the team and I were delighted when FlatPanelsHD spotted a new leak, suggesting Sony is not only about to unveil new sets with the panel tech, but that they will also serve a currently underserved part of the market: small, affordable OLEDs.

The leak occurred when a (now removed) listing on Sony’s website for a new Bravia 6 OLED TV appeared.

This hasn’t been confirmed yet, so we are still firmly in rumour territory (we have contacted Sony for comment), but the details in the listing paint a pretty picture.

First, because the listing shows the range will feature a 48-inch size option.

Second, because the alleged use of MediaTek's Pentonic 800 chipset means it will have four HDMI 2.1 ports. That’s great news for people with multiple current-generation consoles and a Dolby Atmos soundbar, all of which require the advanced HDMI connectivity to run at full speed.

Third and finally, because the report suggests the Bravia 6 will feature one of LG’s new OLED SE panels, which are designed for cheaper OLEDs.

We haven’t yet reviewed any TVs sporting that particular panel technology, so we can’t speculate on screen quality, but the potential is certainly exciting.

Regular readers know that we have long lamented the ongoing lack of good, cheap, smaller OLED TVs on the market.

Only a select few companies offer 48- and 42-inch OLED sets. And those we have reviewed and recommend tend to sit in the mid-tier, so can’t really be described as cheap. Even on sale, you’re looking at around £850 / $850.

Right now, with Panasonic’s Award-winning 48-inch Z90B out of stock, there are only two real options to choose from: the 48-inch LG C5 and the 48-inch Samsung S90F.

Editor's note: There are 48- and 42-inch options in the cheaper LG B-series and Samsung S85-series, but we haven’t been able to review them, so we can't recommend them.

Having another contender appear from a known OLED maker, then – and one that offers all three of the things we want – is undeniably positive.

If it does appear and delivers the Award-winning, balanced performance for which Sony OLEDs have become famous in recent years, it could well be the cheap OLED we’ve been waiting for.

So, here’s hoping it’s true, and we get a 48-inch Bravia 6 into our review rooms in the not too distant future.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have tested

We rank the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Our picks of the best Mini LED TVs

If you thought Sony was done revealing new TVs after its latest Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II announcements, then think again.

After an OLED-less lineup left us wondering if we'll ever see a new OLED from the company again, there is a glimmer of hope thanks to a leaked listing that mentions a new model – but it's not what we were expecting.

According to a post on AVS Forum (via FlatPanelsHD), Sony will launch the Bravia 6 later this year, and it is a step-down OLED that's set to compete with the LG B6 and Samsung S85H.

The Award-winning duo of OLEDs in Sony's current TV lineup, the Bravia 8 and Bravia 8 II, will remain on sale for the foreseeable future, with the Bravia 6 expected to sit lower in the lineup. In fact, it is looking like Sony will position this below its new Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II RGB Mini LED models.

Screen sizes are rumoured to range from 48 to 83 inches. Sony is also expected to use the A60 model number for this set.

Specific model numbers have leaked with corresponding screen size indicators, such as K-48A60 for the 48-inch model.

The post on AVS Forum also claims that Sony will use MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, which is the same one found on the new Bravia 3 II.

This should delight gaming fans, as the Bravia 6 will reportedly be the first Sony OLED TV to feature four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets.

The mid-range chipset and the name of this TV suggest the TV will sit in the middle of Sony's current range, which gives us a hint towards the panel technology it could use.

We expect it to feature LG Display's OLED SE panel, which has been specifically designed and tailored to entry-level OLED TVs, such as the Samsung and LG we've mentioned above.

The launch of a new "small" OLED TV could also signal the end for one of the longest-running TVs on the market.

The Sony A90K, which launched in 42-inch and 48-inch screen size options back in 2022, might finally be replaced by this supposed Bravia 6. Is this the end of an era?

For those wondering where this leak originated, we'll have to direct you to Sony itself. The Bravia 6 was explicitly mentioned on a wall-mounting compatibility page from Sony's very own website; you can find the webpage here, but all traces of the Bravia 6 have been completely scrubbed from existence.

Ultimately, we have to take all leaks with a pinch of salt, and nothing is set in stone until Sony confirms the Bravia 6's existence.

We've reached out to Sony for official comment...

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 review

As well as our LG C6 review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs