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 Zepplin’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!

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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

The phenomenal bang for your buck offered by TCL’s 2025 C7K left that year’s C8K feeling a little underwhelming in comparison. Especially as, in one or two picture areas, the C7K actually performed slightly better than its costlier sibling, too.

For the 2026 C8L, though, TCL has introduced both its groundbreaking new Super Quantum Dot technology and a significant increase in dimming zones, applied to a new-gen version of the already excellent WHVA LCD panel designs introduced last year.

Price

Given that the C8L is the most premium TCL TV you can buy without trampolining up in price to the ‘technology showcase’ X11L and RM9L models, it generally looks like good value, both in terms of how it lines up against rival premium screens and TCL’s step-down C7L.

Ironically, given that it’s the version we’re looking at here, the one exception to this is the 65-inch set. At £1899 in the UK, it costs a whopping £700 more than the 65-inch C7L at the time of writing, while the price gaps at other sizes are much smaller.

As we’ll see, the 65C8L is still good enough to just about hold its own over the 65C7L, but its unusually large price gap is still something we have to mention.

The 65C8L’s price holds up better against those of rival backlit sets. Sony’s 65-inch Bravia 9 II costs £3499, for instance, while Hisense’s 65-inch UR9 costs £1999 and Samsung’s 65-inch R95H Micro RGB TV costs £3000.

Perhaps a bigger concern is that a 65-inch LG C6 OLED can now be bought for under £2000.

In Australia, the 65-inch C8L will set you back AU$2295, while in the US, where the set is called the QM8L, heavy discounting has already taken the price down to a very appealing $1700.

Design

The C8L isn’t the most instantly glamorous premium TV around. It’s slightly chunky around the back by modern standards, and sits somehow rather heavily on its centrally attached desktop bass. The depth is excused, though, by the fact that it provides room for both a premium direct LED lighting engine and up-firing speakers built into the screen’s top edge.

The stand, meanwhile, benefits from an appealing metallic finish and a neck attachment that lets you hide cabling behind a clip-off/on cover.

The set’s rear tapers back steeply from the screen’s outer edges, too, helping to hide its depth from normal viewing angles, while the frame around the screen is both remarkably slim and features a crisp metallic finish.

All in all, once the TV is in place, its design lets you focus on the pictures it’s producing rather than the technology producing them. Which always counts as a win with us.

The C8L ships with two remote controls. Most people will settle into using the smart metallic silver one with its stripped-back button count and built-in voice mic, but the long, thin full-number button alternative is also easy on the eye and comfortable to hold if, for some reason, you prefer all those extra buttons.

Features

The 65-inch C8L has some impressive numbers to share, starting with a huge claimed peak brightness of 5000 nits, a high local dimming zone count of 2040, and support for almost 100 per cent of the AV world’s most extreme BT.2020 colour spectrum. This is enough in itself to establish the C8L as a cut above the LCD TV norm, but it’s really just the start of this TV’s initial charms.

It also uses, for instance, TCL’s new Super Quantum Dots. These represent a major update on traditional Quantum Dots, with five different layers being squeezed into their tiny form rather than the previous two. This is claimed to result in increased efficiency, stability, brightness, colour range and colour accuracy.

These new SQDs have been integrated into the second-generation version of TCL’s new WHVA LCD panel, which introduces a whole host of advantages, including more efficient and accurate Mini LED lighting for enhanced contrast and brightness, reduced blooming from the local dimming system, extra image clarity courtesy of a reduced ‘throw distance’ from the backlighting to the screen and a faster transient response from the LEDs, plus enhanced shadow-detail handling to stop dark scenes looking hollow or flat.

As the name suggests, WHVA screens are based on VA technology, which is known for giving better contrast than the rival IPS panel technology. The W bit, though, also indicates that this premium take on VA tech from TCL is designed to support wider viewing angles than VA panels customarily do.

TCL has also introduced a mild anti-reflection filter to the C8L, though we might as well say right away that this doesn’t operate on nearly the same reflection-removing level as those on the latest top-end TVs from Samsung and Sony.

The C8L’s hardware attractions are controlled by a new version of TCL’s TSR AiPQ processor specifically optimised for the new SQD WHVA panel.

Gamers, meanwhile, can look forward to input lag of just 10.1ms, 4K/144Hz support, VRR (including in the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro format), support for refresh rates at HD resolution right up to 288Hz via HDMI’s Direct Line Gate system, and ALLM switching when a game source is detected.

All four of the C8L’s HDMI ports can handle 4K/120Hz signals, while other connections comprise a single USB 3.0 port, an optical digital audio output, an Ethernet port and RF inputs for both satellite and (Freeview HD) aerial connections.

Wireless connectivity is also available, of course, in wi-fi, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 flavours, while the TV’s use of Google TV for its smart operating system adds built-in Chromecast.

On the subject of Google TV, TCL has ensured that, as well as all the key global video streaming services the platform usually supports, the C8L’s interface also carries the key UK terrestrial broadcaster catch-up apps that Google TV doesn’t typically offer.

The C8L supports all four of the main high dynamic range formats, too: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. So it will play the best version available of any HDR content you feed it.

Last but not least on the C8L’s lengthy list of attractions is its audio system. Designed with Bang & Olufsen, no less, it features 2.1.2 channels, including two up-firing speakers (to aid Dolby Atmos delivery) and dedicated bass drivers. There’s no direct forward-facing ‘soundbar’ along the bottom edge as you get with TCL’s flagship X11L series, though.

Picture quality

Adding more dimming zones and, especially, Super Quantum Dots to the C8L has had a transformative effect on its picture performance compared with its 2025 predecessor.

As we did with last year’s TCL C7K and C8K series, we look at the C8L alongside its step-down sibling – but this time there is no repeat of the peculiar colour inconsistency issue with the C8K, which could sometimes cause some of its colours to actually look less vibrant and natural than those of the cheaper model. On the contrary, the C8L’s colours are even punchier in the TV’s excellent Standard preset than those of the C7L – despite the C7L itself being streets ahead of most of its similarly priced rivals in the colour department.

This doesn’t mean that the C8L’s colours look overblown or inconsistent, though. TCL has seemingly taken great care to ensure that any amplification of colours its TV is delivering in its relatively vibrant presets maintains the tonal balance and overall ‘feel’ of the source content remarkably well.

The C8L’s SQD and processing capabilities ensure, too, that colours retain full saturation even in the brightest HDR picture areas, rather than brighter colours fading away as can happen with lesser TVs. Nor do the brightest, most heavily saturated HDR colour areas become cartoonish thanks to any loss of subtle shading details.

This colour blend finesse feeds into an impressively three-dimensional look to pictures, regardless of whether you’re using the TV’s Standard or as-the-director-intended Filmmaker Mode preset, as well as an outstandingly crisp, detailed look to native 4K images where you feel like you’re appreciating the full and accurate weight of every single pixel.

This sense of depth and detail isn’t just down to the C8L’s new colour engine, though. Its Mini LED plus advanced local dimming backlight system also plays a huge part in the feeling of precision and, in the Filmmaker Mode’s case, accuracy, by being able to deliver not just extreme brightness highlights and remarkably inky black colours, but every imaginable shade in between. That includes the faintest dark colour and grey details; nothing gets lost in the darkness here.

Subtle shadow details are delivered without looking noisy or exaggerated, too, revealing a level of local light control and backlight intelligence that’s still very rare in the LCD TV world.

Given how well the C8L handles the subtlest of dark scene details, it comes as little surprise to find that it also exhibits scarcely any backlight blooming at all around even the most starkly stand-out bright highlights. That’s despite those bright highlights not obviously being dimmed down when they appear against even black backdrops, and the screen’s general brightness being consistently spectacular for a fairly mainstream TV.

The C8L’s intense brightness can be felt in highlights of both Standard and Filmmaker Mode images, and it makes all bright or mid-bright scenes look breathtakingly intense and vivid in Standard mode without the results looking forced.

That isn’t to imply, though, that the Filmmaker Mode looks in any way drab. It is, of course, less bright than the Standard preset, especially with SDR content, in keeping with the relatively dim brightness values used by most of today’s content mastering studios. But Filmmaker Mode actually looks more dynamic with both SDR and HDR than such modes usually do, purely as a result of the screen’s hardware strengths and software support helping to deliver the picture attributes Filmmaker Modes demand.

With motion processing set to Low, the C8L delivers 24fps content with good sharpness, while keeping it free of excessive hardware judder, soap opera effect or general unwanted processing side effects, and the WHVA panel definitely helps the screen retain richer colours and better contrast from wide viewing angles than your average LCD TV.

The C8L’s picture heroics aren’t limited to video playback, either. It’s also an excitingly crisp, bold and responsive gaming display that you can’t help but become immersed in. Even if you’re playing the scary Silent Hill: Townfall and might want to be a bit less immersed…

The C8L’s pictures in both its Standard and Filmmaker Modes combine punchiness with naturalism, consistency and nuance so well that it’s hard to find anything serious to complain about.

However, while viewing angles are good in most ways, blooming becomes much more obvious from angles of around 30 degrees and more. The screen is also quite reflective of bright light sources in your room, even if it suppresses more general ambient light quite well.

The noise reduction features are all a bit over-aggressive and basically unnecessary (so turn them off), and the Natural Cinema motion processing mode that sounds like it should be the best option for film fans… isn’t.

Finally, we can’t help but think that the rather complicated way TCL has integrated its new ‘Eco’ power-saving features into the TV’s menus in its out-of-the-box mode might result in more than a few C8L buyers leaving their new television hobbled with greatly reduced brightness and colour. Hopefully anyone who’s read this review, at least, will take the necessary steps to make sure this unfortunate situation doesn’t happen to them.

Sound quality

The C8L continues to benefit (mostly) from TCL’s working relationship with Bang & Olufsen when it comes to its premium TVs’ sound systems.

The 2.1.2-channel sound system does a particularly good job of crafting a soundstage that extends further beyond the screen’s outer frame than most TVs manage, creating an open, immersive sense of space for movies into which the TV then places specific effects with good positional accuracy.

These effects are very clean and crisp, too, even at loud volumes, which gives the overall tone of the sound an almost hi-fi quality. That’s testament, no doubt, to the physical quality of the B&O speaker design.

There’s plenty of clean and expansive power to go with the detail and large soundstage, too, and bass is handled tastefully, for want of a better word, staying clean, even when Hollywood really hammers the low-frequency knob.

As with last year’s C8K, though, the soundstage presentation can sometimes lose a little coherency as the wrong elements in a mix get too much emphasis, and the sound generally feels like it’s happening more behind the screen than in the room with you, costing it some immediacy and directness.

Dense soundtrack moments ebb in and out at times too, and, finally, while bass is clean, it doesn’t hit quite the sort of depth we feel that it perhaps should be able to with such large low-frequency drivers available to it.

Overall, the C8L’s sound is good by prevailing TV standards, and improves on its predecessor, but it somehow still doesn’t feel like it’s getting the optimal impact from all of its undoubtedly premium audio parts.

Verdict

While the 65-inch model doesn’t represent quite such excellent value as other screen sizes in the C8L range, the addition of Super Quantum Dots and a clearly much improved backlight system still delivers a hard-to-resist upgrade from last year’s mildly disappointing C8K.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Hisense UR9

Also consider the Samsung R95H

Read our Sony Bravia 7 II review

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

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 47mm, 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 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 is the year of RGB Mini LED and, unsurprisingly, Samsung is eager to get a slice of the new panel technology pie.

To give the Korean AV giant some credit, it joined Hisense to be among the first manufacturers to release a TV sporting the latest backlit panels last year, although its model was only available in a ginormous 115-inches.

Much like its Chinese adversary, Samsung has scaled down the panel technology this year, which brings us neatly to the R95H we have before us today.

This is the brand’s flagship "Micro RGB" (we’ll explain that shortly) TV for 2026, and it’s essentially a backlit counterpart to the superb S99H OLED.

As most tech-obsessed people are aware, Samsung spent years refusing to produce OLED TVs (and even campaigning against them) before doing a full one-eighty, embracing the tech, and going on to produce some of the finest OLED TVs around.

In fact, its OLED models are now so good that this alternative, backlit flagship TV really struggles to make a case for itself.

Price

The 65-inch Samsung R95H – MRE65R95H in the UK, MRN65R95H in the US, and MRA65R95H in Australia – launched at an eyebrow-raising price of £3299 / $3200 / AU$5299.

Given Samsung’s track record of aggressively discounting its TVs throughout the year, it's unlikely you will need to pay that much for it if you're a little patient. In fact, we've already seen the TV dip below £3000 in the UK.

Fascinatingly, the company's S99H OLED launched in the UK and Australia with an identical price tag of £3299 / AU$5299, while it was slightly higher in the US, at $3400.

This is intentional: Samsung hasn’t been shy about how it’s positioning its premium TVs this year, saying that customers can choose from two sides at the top end, with the S99H and R95H being two sides of essentially the same coin.

The R95H also has other RGB Mini LED TVs to contend with, of course, most obviously the Sony Bravia 9 II (which is more expensive at £3499 / $3600 / AU$5999) and Hisense UR9 (a cheaper alternative at £2999 / $2000 / AU$3999).

The battle to be crowned the king of this freshly waged RGB war is heating up, but it also may be futile, as we’ve tested three (four, including this Samsung) and none has held a candle to our favourite OLED models.

Design

Samsung knows how to build TVs that look good and feel high-quality, and the R95H is no exception.

Despite being a backlit TV, it's surprisingly slender at just 3cm thick and the uniform flat back should make it an easy TV to wall-mount.

This slim design is paired with super-slim bezels and a central pedestal that sports a reflective panel to give the illusion of a floating screen. The effect is a touch more rudimentary than Sony’s clever lenticular solution on the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II, but the thought process is essentially the same.

What we really must commend Samsung on is how easy this TV is to assemble. The stand slots together with ease, and it clicks onto the main chassis of the TV akin to an oversized LEGO set – all of that with no screwdriver required.

As such, setting this TV up (in its tabletop orientation, that is) takes very little time and effort, although it's worth noting that the stand can only be set up at one soundbar-friendly height.

The only element of the design and build that we don’t approve of is the bundled remotes. It's the same simple smart remote and button-heavy handset duo that has come with Samsung TVs for years, and at this price we really think that Samsung could include a nicer-built remote with backlit buttons.

We do like the USB-C charging port and solar panel, though; anything to avoid fussing with batteries.

Features

Samsung’s 'kitchen sink' approach to loading its TVs full of features continues with the R95H, but the most interesting feature is the new panel technology – so we’ll start there.

Each competing brand has put its own spin on the naming of its take on RGB Mini LED tech, with Samsung opting for "Micro RGB".

As the name suggests, Samsung claims that its LEDs are smaller than those used by its competitors – under 100 microns to be exact. For those without a microscope and a tiny ruler, that’s roughly the width of a human hair.

This has allowed Samsung to increase the density of the LEDs, essentially meaning that the R95H should have more distinct red, blue and green LEDs packed into the backlight.

In theory, this should greatly improve contrast and local dimming capabilities, but, interestingly, we counted 1344 dimming zones on our 65-inch R95H sample, which is fewer than the 1530 we counted in the 65-inch Sony Bravia 9 II.

Panel tech aside, the R95H is packed with features. HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, HDR10+ Advanced, HDR10+ Gaming and HLG are all on board, for starters, and this suite of HDR formats is being bundled under what Samsung is calling its Micro RGB HDR Pro system.

Samsung’s stance against Dolby Vision remains, as it prioritises its own HDR10+ system instead. Thankfully, Dolby Atmos support is on board, and the company’s Eclipsa Audio format is also now supported – though it’s only available via YouTube at the time of our review.

The R95H's Tizen OS software platform and picture processing are powered by Samsung’s new Micro RGB AI Engine Pro. This encompasses a plethora of picture processing features, including Real Depth Enhancer (contrast enhancement), AI Motion Enhancer Pro, Micro RGB Colour Booster Pro, Auto HDR Remastering Pro, Ultimate Micro Dimming Pro, and 4K AI Upscaling Pro.

Samsung’s Tizen system is also home to a wide array of smart apps, both global and terrestrial. We find coverage across movie, gaming, and lifestyle apps to be stellar, with no noticeable omissions.

Speaking of gaming, Samsung remains dedicated to serving gamers only the finest selection of features, with four HDMI 2.1 sockets all capable of handling gameplay up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM. The inclusion of Xbox, Amazon Luna, NVIDIA GeForce Now and many more gaming apps also allows you to stream games directly to the TV – just add a Bluetooth controller.

Samsung has also implemented a handful of AI platforms (including Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot), and Art Mode is available for displaying a range of artwork from galleries around the world while your TV is in ambient mode.

The 65-inch model that we’re testing sports a 70W 4.2.2-channel sound system, which is compatible with Samsung’s Active Voice Amplifier Pro, Adaptive Sound Pro, 360 Audio and Object Tracking Sound+ features.

If you have a Samsung soundbar, you can also pair the TV’s sound system with it using Q-Symphony, though we advise caution with this feature. Generally speaking, your soundbar will sound better without the heavily compromised speakers of your TV getting in on the action, but do experiment with your specific TV and soundbar combination to establish what sounds best to you.

Picture quality

The R95H has to prove itself a worthy alternative to the five-star S99H, which we have set up as a direct comparison for our testing. Our S99H is 55-inches, so we do have to account for a slight difference in pixel density, which will impact sharpness and contrast to a degree; however, we expect the 65-inch S99H to perform very closely to its 55-inch counterpart.

We’ve hooked our Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player up to both TVs, and raided our 4K disc library to put the R95H through its paces.

We should start by saying that the R95H has some positive attributes by backlit TV standards. Black levels are very impressive, with letterboxing bars and shadows in darker content (think Blade Runner 2049 and The Batman) looking suitably solid and deep.

Black levels remain mostly uncompromised by blooming; our go-to stress test scene from Oppenheimer highlights this, with spotlights lighting up the testing site at night featuring a small halo that looks like an intended glow rather than unwanted blooming.

Colours are also handled well, with slightly more subtlety than the already excellent S99H, particularly in foliage and skin tones. Ultimately, we feel that a truly perfect colour balance sits somewhere between the subtle delivery of the R95H and the more vibrant S99H, but of the two, we find that the R95H looks slightly truer to our eyes.

We also find that in its most dynamic settings – either Standard or Vivid – the R95H can seriously push brightness limits. We find that it outshines the S99H in these modes, but that’s somewhat of a hollow victory considering we recommend avoiding these picture presets.

Unfortunately, Samsung’s flagship Micro RGB falls noticeably behind its OLED counterpart in nearly every other picture aspect.

In our preferred Movie and Filmmaker Mode presets, which are designed to prioritise authenticity over bombast, the R95H struggles to compete. Those Oppenheimer spotlights look dull against the dark night, especially compared with the punchy pinpoint highlights produced by the S99H, and that unfortunately carries forth to the rest of the image.

Switching to the 4K restoration of The Matrix to see if we can push the R95H to outshine its OLED alternative (it’s mastered to 2000 nits), we find that the sequence of Morbius explaining how the simulated world works to Neo on an all-white backdrop is simply more dazzling on the S99H. A panning shot introducing the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar ship also highlights some unpleasantly smeary motion from the R95H, too.

There is also a sense of flatness and dullness to this TV that is genuinely surprising to see. The R95H lacks the three-dimensionality found on the S99H, and we find that the QD-OLED is almost constantly drawing our eyes away from the Micro RGB throughout our testing.

Civil War’s forest fire sequence really sums up the shortcomings of the TV quite efficiently. Simply put, black depths, the intensity and brightness of the flames, and the sharpness and depth of the image are all clearly superior on the OLED.

Crucially, though, this isn't purely a backlit TV being beaten by an OLED, which is something we've seen time and time again, particularly this year: while the Sony Bravia 9 II also struggles against its Bravia 8 II OLED sibling and the S99H, it gets closer than Samsung's R95H does, delivering a picture with more three-dimensionality and a better balance of punch and authenticity.

Sound quality

The R95H also feels like a step back when it comes to sound. Revving up Blade Runner 2049’s tricky chapter two sequence, the TV instantly spirals into distortion, with warbly and mushy bass dominating the scene. This is at odds with the S99H, which holds back on piling on weighty bass in favour of a more controlled delivery.

That unruly bass is emphasised by a recessed midrange, which creates an unbalanced delivery throughout this sequence, with dialogue and several effects lacking the attention they deserve.

Thankfully, the R95H makes up some ground in less bass-heavy sequences. As Officer K heads back home after a stressful day of being slammed through a wall by Dave Bautista’s Sapper Morton, we find that the TV can produce a big, broad and spacious sound. The city's audio advertisements are presented with a solid sense of height, and the general bustle of the street is well preserved.

The conversation between K and Joi in the apartment is delivered with clarity and a semblance of low-level dynamics that ensures the voices aren’t completely devoid of character and emotional inflexion, too.

However, the R95H brings back a critical issue we’ve found with other Samsung sets recently: it’s just too quiet. Even cranked up to maximum volume, we find it easy to speak over this TV without raising our voices, and this is only partly rectified by applying the Amplify sound mode, which boosts volume at the expense of some dynamic compression.

Verdict

We’re not entirely sure what wrong turn Samsung has taken here. The brand stunned us with the S99H, which is a true flagship TV that justifies its price thanks to its sublime picture performance, excellent feature set and improved sound.

While the R95H retains that unquestionably superb feature set, it’s a considerable step backwards in the other two crucial categories. Impressive black depths for a backlit TV can’t make up for the flattened picture and heavy-handed approach to sound.

Some will point to the R95H's peak brightness potential as an important factor, but with the best new OLED TVs – most notably Samsung's own S99H – now capable of going vastly brighter than almost any room and the vast majority of content requires, we simply don't see that as a fundamental issue.

And, what's more, the R95H isn't even the best TV of its type – that crown currently rests on the head of the Sony Bravia 9 II.

SCORES

• Picture 3
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Samsung S99H

Also consider the Sony Bravia 8 II

Read our Sony Bravia 9 II review

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

Whether you’re watching a scene of hushed conversation or shouty statements punctuated by explosions, some of you may find it difficult to hear dialogue when watching movies.

That can be particularly frustrating when you have forked out a fair amount of cash for a brand-new TV. Unfortunately, as TVs have been getting slimmer, so have their built-in speakers which often does not allow enough space for the drivers you deserve.

But don’t worry, there are a few things you can try before completely relying on subtitles or cranking up the volume to 11. Let’s take a look.

Experiment with your TV’s speech boosters

One of the simplest ways to try to improve the dialogue from your TV is to dive into its settings menu. Every TV brand has a slightly different name for its speech boosters, so finding the right one may take a bit of searching online or in the user manual.

Sony Bravia TVs, for instance, offer a feature called Voice Zoom, which reduces ambient noise and increases the voice level.

There are usually also sound presets that prioritise dialogue, although they might be under Dialogue or the less intuitive News option. It might be a little time-consuming to start with, but it’s worth it in the long run to find the best setting for you.

Invest in a soundbar

If you are still struggling to catch dialogue, then it might be worth investing in a soundbar. They can sit in front of your TV screen, or you can wall-mount them if you prefer. And they offer far better dialogue and a more immersive audio experience than the vast majority of TV speakers.

There are oodles of models on the market, ranging from premium entries to more budget-friendly options. For the latter, the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H soundbar system and the compact Creative Stage Pro models are each well worth your consideration. In both cases, we find that dialogue is much clearer compared with the TV speakers, as well as delivering more expression and nuance in voices.

Many soundbars also offer their own EQ modes to enhance the dialogue further. The Sonos Beam Ultra, to which we just awarded five stars in our test room, for instance, has its own Speech Enhancement mode, which you can adjust from low to max, or just leave off entirely.

Connect to your headphones

This option won't suit everyone, but if you are still struggling, then it might be worth connecting your TV to a pair of headphones. That, of course, makes the listening experience much more intimate, and you quite possibly already have a compatible model in your home.

It’s also handy if you don’t want to disturb others in your home without having to turn the volume down and making the dialogue even less clear.

Most smart TVs allow you to connect your cans via Bluetooth, as you would link them to your phone or computer. For the more analogue among you, you can connect many over-ear headphones to the TV using the 3.5mm auxiliary jack and a cable extension.

Invest in a good pair of Bluetooth headphones, such as the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 or Sennheiser HDB 630, and you should be getting a much more detailed and engaging experience compared with your built-in TV speakers.

If you wear hearing aids, you can connect these to your TV as well via Bluetooth.

After finding the right solution for you, hopefully you will be well on your way to getting much clearer dialogue – and so to immersing yourself more fully in movies.

MORE:

These are the best headphones we have tested

Check out the best soundbars

And here are the best 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

Home appliance brand Haier is known for its glossy fridge-freezers, washing machines, and dishwashers, and more widely for producing medical equipment, gaming peripherals, and industrial robotics; but now it’s entering one of the trickiest markets of all.

That’s right, after years of testing the waters elsewhere, Haier is hoping to break into the TV market in the UK and Europe. It may be the newest player in a crowded and competitive market, but the brand has both huge aspirations and a plan to carve out an identity among its fellow super successful Chinese technology giants.

I sat down with Haier’s TV Business Director, Steve Macdonald, at IFA 2026 in Berlin to discuss where the brand wants to go next after launching its first QLED TV range in the UK earlier this year.

Competing with TCL and Hisense, or aiming higher?

The biggest takeaway from our conversation is that Haier knows it needs something special to differentiate itself from TCL and Hisense, which are currently dominating the market.

Haier is also well aware it is launching into a tough market, which is why it’s setting its sights on the premium segment. It is testing the waters with a fairly affordable QLED range at the moment, but I was reliably informed that this is just the first step for the brand.

Macdonald confirmed that Haier is open to adopting more advanced panel technology. Mini LED TVs are apparently already in the works, and I spotted an RGB Mini LED model on the show floor at Haier’s humongous stand at the Berlin Messe.

OLED is also on the table according to Macdonald. And that’s an interesting distinction, considering TCL and Hisense are both almost completely OLED-avoidant.

In fact, Macdonald says that Haier isn’t looking to tussle with the kings of budget TVs. Instead, it is looking to build a more premium reputation akin to those of Samsung and LG.

“I think the mindset we have is that what we would like to be is a more premium brand – and that will take time – but more akin to what the Korean brands are doing than some of the other brands,” says Macdonald.

He then clarifies that Haier isn’t looking to “become the new TCL or Hisense” when pressed on the matter.

Macdonald follows this by conceding this is a big aspiration and that the brand needs to have “an edge, otherwise we’re not going to survive in that area”.

Premium panels, KEF sound systems and accessibility upgrades…

To sharpen that edge, Haier is working hard to establish its own premium features, including a more powerful chipset to appeal to gamers, adding more potent accessibility features through its partnership with Amazon’s Fire TV platform (including visual and audio enhancement modes and easier navigation settings), and enhancing its anti-glare display coating.

Haier also wants to win over the hearts of serious AV fans (such as ourselves). And what better way to do that than to partner with one of the biggest names in audio?

For Haier’s latest TV range sports speakers tuned by legendary British hi-fi manufacturer KEF, a fact that inevitably piqued our interest almost immediately.

There was a pretty big emphasis on this partnership at IFA, with Haier hosting a dedicated sound-room experience with a KEF-branded TV and soundbar system, but Haier isn’t the first brand to get a big name in hi-fi on board for its TV sound systems.

Hisense has recently partnered with Devialet, TCL TVs sport Bang & Olufsen sound systems, Philips has a Bowers & Wilkins-equipped TV in its lineup, and Panasonic continues to leverage its Technics division for premium sound systems. So Haier can’t rely on this partnership alone to make its TVs appeal to home cinema enthusiasts.

But, unlike Hisense and TCL, Haier is open to exploring OLED panel technologies. Given What Hi-Fi?’s experience with even the most premium of backlit TVs, including the new RGB Mini LED variants, this could be a unique selling point for the brand.

An OLED TV with a KEF sound system sounds pretty good, after all. Especially if it has a similar sonic character to the five-star KEF XIO.

Making big strides, but also taking things one step at a time…

Haier’s wider strategy to gain some ground in the UK also involves a huge sports partnership with the Champions League and appealing to UK retailers by taking a specialised approach.

Macdonald notes that the KEF partnership will be a vital tool in appealing to home cinema retailers such as Richer Sounds, whereas Haier will take a different approach to its broader retail partners.

Most importantly, Macdonald confirms that Haier is constantly re-evaluating its position and direction, and it won’t be going all guns blazing quite yet. He says that “every couple of months, we have to reset what we’re doing and understand, and it’s not going to be an easy journey.”

Haier is unquestionably launching into the UK TV market at a turbulent time. But with its sights set high and a major audio partnership already in place, it could be the next brand to challenge the likes of Samsung, LG and TCL.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

As well as our TCL C7L hands on review

And our picks for the best OLED TVs

It's been a rough few weeks for many Sony Bravia TV owners – but a solution to their problems may finally be in sight.

Back in June, Sony pushed a software update to its current lineup of TVs that, for many, seems to have caused fundamental problems with eARC.

The issues include Dolby Vision content refusing to play, sound gradually desyncing, and audio dropouts, with most users experiencing some but not others. I’m a Bravia 8 II owner, and it’s the audio dropouts that I got.

The common factor is that it only affects content being played from an external source that is being routed through the TV to an external sound system.

For most people, including me, it has meant having to stop using their system as intended – I’ve been unable to use my Apple TV 4K, for example – and while the Dolby Vision problems were seemingly fixed by a further software update last month, the audio problems have remained.

Sony has been frustratingly quiet about the whole issue, with the only public acknowledgement coming from Sony Japan just last week.

Once translated, that Sony Japan post states that “the issue of audio being out of sync with the video (lip-sync discrepancy) will be addressed in a software update scheduled for September 2026”.

It's worth noting that Sony Japan's statement specifically refers to the lip-sync issue; it doesn't explicitly say that the audio dropout problems experienced by some owners will also be addressed by the same update.

But, in fact, it seems that the software update referenced may already be available – at least in some regions.

Software update 114.603.100.1 launched yesterday in the US, and early reports from some Sony Bravia owners suggest the audio sync and dropout issues might have been resolved.

To be clear, this software update is not yet available in the UK, so I haven’t been able to test it myself. It’s only a handful of owners in the US who are so far reporting positive news, too, so it’s a little too early to assume everything is hunky-dory.

I have contacted Sony UK for clarification, as well as a date for the software release over here, and I’ll report back if I hear anything.

Still, if the early reports are correct, this already feels like positive movement, and I, for one, am excited for the presumably imminent release of this new software in the UK.

I love my Bravia 8 II, and I would really like to go back to using it as intended.

MORE:

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

LG has released an extensive statement denying claims made in a damning report that its smart TVs spy on users. But the authors of the original report have responded in turn, accusing LG of lying.

In the original video, YouTube channel Gamers Nexus claimed that LG TVs are capable of recording private conversations even when no wake word has been spoken. It also accused the company of collecting sensitive data such as IP addresses, the geographic location of the TV, and details of nearby wi-fi networks and the names of devices connected to them (even if they’re not connected to the TV).

The report includes demonstrations of the claims made, and was conducted in conjunction with tech site Level1 Techs and independent cybersecurity researchers.

LG’s statement says that such reporting has led to “misconceptions about how LG smart TVs work”. The company claims that “LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” though some commenters have noted the use of the word “continuously”.

“Speech-to-text processing begins only if a user activates a voice interaction through a supported wake-word feature or by pressing the voice (or AI) button on the remote control,” LG goes on. While the TVs must always be listening in order to detect a wake word, the statement says that this audio is “processed locally on the TV” and if no wake word is detected, “audio is not converted to text, stored, or transmitted”.

“Voice-recognition results and related technical logs may be generated as part of processing a voice command,” it adds. “These records are associated with specific voice interactions and do not indicate continuous recording of conversations occurring outside an active voice recognition session.”

While “speech-recognition results may be used to support voice-related features,” they are “not uploaded later when the TV is offline or when connectivity is restored.”

The statement notes that the automatic content recognition (ACR) feature is optional and not enabled by default. ACR has proved controversial, as it detects what’s on screen in order to improve recommendations or sell that information to advertisers.

LG’s statement then goes on to detail how various features of its smart TVs work. It notes that “No connected product is ever completely immune from security vulnerabilities.” Some of Gamers Nexus’s claims would rely on a bad actor hacking the TV to gain control over it.

But that’s not the end of the story. Gamers Nexus has since responded with a bullish follow-up video, claiming that LG’s statement contradicts itself and that its denials are not evidence-based.

We have contacted LG to see if it has a response to that response.

The report has caused a storm in the TV world, and – judging from some of the comments – consumers aren’t happy about how invasive smart TVs are capable of being. LG executives saying it “owns the glass” and “owns the TV” in an attempt to attract advertisers isn’t a good look, especially for anyone who has just shelled out thousands of pounds for a new C6.

MORE:

Read our LG C6 review

Also consider the Samsung S95F

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

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

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

There are plenty of reasons you might want to connect your phone to your TV.

Perhaps you’re watching something on your handset and want to transfer it to the bigger screen in your living room; maybe you want a big display to show off the snaps from your latest holiday; or you might want to play some music via your TV.

Whatever you’re trying to achieve, there’s generally a way to do it. Allow us to show you how.

Cast video from your phone

If you want to watch a video from your phone on the big screen, casting is usually the easiest and best way to do it.

Rather than sending everything on your phone's screen to the TV, casting tells the TV to play the content itself, with your phone essentially acting like a remote control. That means you can usually carry on using your phone without interrupting playback, and in many cases you can even turn its screen off while the video continues playing.

Google's technology is now called Google Cast, although you might still see it referred to as Chromecast.

Google Cast is built into Chromecast devices, the Google TV Streamer and TVs running Google TV or Android TV. In the UK, that includes compatible TVs from brands such as Sony, Philips and TCL.

Other manufacturers have also added Google Cast to some models: newer LG TVs support it, for example, while compatible Panasonic Android TVs do, too.

But don't assume that every TV from a particular brand supports Google Cast: Samsung’s Tizen TVs, Hisense's VIDAA TVs and Panasonic's Fire TV models, for example, use different systems.

If your TV doesn't support Google Cast, don't worry: you may still be able to send content to it using AirPlay or the manufacturer's own casting/mirroring system.

How to cast a video

First, make sure your phone and TV are connected to the same wi-fi network. Then open the app containing the video you want to watch and look for the Cast icon – it's a little rectangle with three curved lines in the corner.

Tap it, select your TV from the list of available devices, and the video should start playing on the TV.

Once you're connected, your phone becomes a convenient remote control: you can pause, skip and adjust playback from the app, while the TV does the actual streaming.

The catch is that the app needs to support casting. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, YouTube, BBC iPlayer and many other popular streaming services do, but you won't necessarily find a Cast button in every app.

If there isn't one, you might be able to use screen mirroring instead, but some apps restrict this, too. Sky Go, for example, doesn't support casting of any kind, so you can't simply send its live football or other content from your phone to a Cast-equipped TV.

What about iPhone?

iPhone users can also use Google Cast with compatible apps and TVs, but Apple's own AirPlay system is also an option if you have an AirPlay-compatible TV or an Apple TV 4K streamer.

The principle is much the same: start playing a video, tap the AirPlay button (a rectangle with a triangle pointing into it) and select your TV. Your iPhone and TV generally need to be on the same wi-fi network.

So, as a rule of thumb: if the app has a Cast or AirPlay button, use it. It's generally a better option for watching video on your TV than mirroring your entire phone screen.

Mirror your phone screen

If the app you want to use doesn't support casting, or you simply want to show something that's on your phone rather than stream a particular video, screen mirroring is the next option.

As the name suggests, mirroring shows what's happening on your phone's screen on your TV. Open a website, look through your photos or start an app on your phone, and you'll see the same thing on the big screen. It's particularly useful for things that don't have a dedicated TV app or don't offer a Cast button.

The exact method depends on your phone and TV. iPhone uses Apple's AirPlay system, while Android phones can use different systems depending on the manufacturer. Samsung calls its version Smart View, for example, while LG uses Screen Share on compatible models.

How to mirror your phone

On an iPhone, make sure your phone and TV are connected to the same wi-fi network, then open Control Centre, tap Screen Mirroring (the icon with two rectangles, one in front of the other) and select your AirPlay-compatible TV or Apple TV 4K. If a passcode appears on the TV, enter it on your phone.

On Android, look for a screen-mirroring option in your phone's quick settings. The name varies: Samsung phones use Smart View, while other manufacturers may call it Screen Share, Cast, Wireless Display or something similar. Select your TV from the list of available devices and accept the connection on the TV if prompted.

You'll generally need the phone and TV to be connected to the same wi-fi network, although the exact requirements vary between devices.

Mirroring generally isn't the best option for video

There's a reason we recommend casting where possible. With mirroring, everything on your phone is replicated on the TV, so a notification, incoming call or change of app can appear on the big screen.

And some streaming services restrict mirroring of protected video content, so don't assume that an app without a Cast button will necessarily work when mirrored.

For watching Netflix, YouTube, iPlayer and other supported services, casting or using the app directly on your TV is generally the better solution. Use mirroring when you want to show something that's actually on your phone, such as your photos or a presentation.

Play music through your TV

If you're listening to music, you're generally better off sending it directly to a wireless speaker, soundbar or AV system than using your TV. But there can be good reasons to put your music on the big screen, particularly when you're listening with other people.

The simplest option is to use your music service's TV app, if it has one.

Spotify, for example, has apps for many smart TVs, and you can use Spotify Connect on your phone to control what's playing. The TV can then display album artwork, track information and the playback queue, while everyone can see what's playing and take part in choosing the music.

But you don't necessarily need a TV app. Services including Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz can send music from their phone apps to compatible TVs using Google Cast, while AirPlay provides a similar option for iPhone users with a compatible TV.

So if your TV doesn't have a native app for the music service you use, check whether its phone app supports Google Cast or AirPlay before assuming you're out of luck. You may still be able to get your music onto the big screen.

Connect your phone with a cable

If a wireless connection isn’t an option, you can always connect your phone to your TV with a cable.

It's not as convenient as casting or mirroring, but a wired connection can be useful if you want a direct connection between your phone and TV, particularly if low latency is important – for example, when playing games.

Most modern phones use USB-C, so you'll generally need a USB-C-to-HDMI adaptor or cable, with the HDMI end connected to an HDMI input on your TV. Older iPhones with a Lightning connector require a suitable Lightning-to-HDMI adaptor instead.

Just bear in mind that not every USB-C phone supports video output, so check your phone's specifications before buying an adaptor.

Once connected, your phone will usually mirror its display on the TV, although the exact behaviour depends on the phone and adaptor.

And while a cable removes some of the potential complications of a wireless connection, it doesn't necessarily get around content restrictions: some streaming services can still block video output, or require the adaptor and TV to support the appropriate copy-protection standards (which they often don’t).

MORE:

Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

How far away should you sit from your TV?

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

Let's face it, 2026 has been a bit of an underwhelming year for TVs so far. The good news is that might be about to change.

We don't want to sound too down, as we've tested a few truly impressive 2026 TVs. Take the Samsung S99H and LG C6 as examples. Both delivered stunning picture performances during our testing. But the two TVs are refinements on their five-star predecessors, so that isn't a huge surprise.

Elsewhere, the hot new panel technology of 2026, RGB Mini LED – and all its accompanying names from various manufacturers – has shown promise, but it hasn't blown our socks off quite yet.

Sony's duo of True RGB TVs, the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II, impressed us in many ways but fell short in some crucial aspects of picture performance. Then Hisense's flagship UR9 produced impressive local dimming results, but at the expense of viewing angles.

However, all is not lost, and RGB Mini LED can certainly make a comeback, which is where the Samsung R95H steps in. It's the latest TV to be hauled out of its box and onto our testing benches, with testing commencing first thing next week.

Samsung's approach differs slightly from Sony's and Hisense's, as the Korean tech titan has created its own version called Micro RGB.

Not to be confused with the company's self-emissive Micro LED display technology, Micro RGB follows the same principles as RGB Mini LED, in that it trades a white backlight and colour filter for dedicated red, blue and green LEDs, but Samsung's managed to shrink said LEDs down even further.

Samsung's Micro LEDs, once again, not to be confused with Micro LED technology – blame Samsung's confusing naming convention for that one – reportedly measure in at under 100 microns. For reference, that's the size of a typical grain of table salt.

This has allowed the company to pack even more LEDs in, with the increased density expected to deliver enhanced contrast and light control.

Samsung could be the saving grace of the RGB Mini LED TV tech, and it really impressed us when we saw it during a Samsung hands-on event earlier this year. You can read our early Samsung R95H impressions here.

However, one of Samsung's biggest adversaries also shared some news this week, and we have an inbound TV that is special for a different reason.

Hisense, in partnership with Dolby, announced that its range of 2026 TVs will be the first to support Dolby Vision 2, with the higher-tier Dolby Vision 2 Max version being supported on all four of the premium models announced.

This includes the new UR8, the step-down model to the UR9 that we reviewed recently. It's also an RGB Mini LED, but unlike the Samsung we're about to review, it will support Dolby Vision 2 Max.

This technically makes it the first Dolby Vision 2-enabled TV to enter our AV testing room, which is certainly a milestone.

There is, however, one issue. Dolby Vision 2 content is, at the time of writing, slim to non-existent, especially here in the UK. Out of the three services announced – those being Canal+, Peacock, and iQIYI (a streaming service dedicated to Asian TV and movies) – only the last member of that trio is accessible here in the UK.

However, Dolby claims that "Hisense TV owners will immediately notice a difference across all Dolby Vision content", which means we should see the benefit of the new format even with existing Dolby Vision content. We'll be testing Dolby Vision streams and 4K Blu-rays to thoroughly test Dolby's claims.

With RGB LED panel technology and Dolby Vision 2 being the two headlining TV features of 2026, we're excited for the week of testing ahead, as we're hoping to put both to the test in the coming weeks.

MORE:

Dolby Vision 2 vs Dolby Vision 2 Max

RGB Mini LED: everything you need to know

Check out our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

Samsung's next-gen HDR standard arrives this month, but you'll need a very specific set-up to be able to watch.

HDR10+ Advanced will only initially be available on certain 2026 models of Samsung TVs, and only through the Prime Video streaming service. It's also only available on select Prime Video content at the moment – though Amazon hasn't said what that includes.

Its rival technology, Dolby Vision 2, also launched this week, but only on select Hisense TVs.

HDR10+ Advanced promises a "brighter, more immersive picture quality", and has been developed with RGB Mini LED TVs in mind, like the R95H (pictured). Confusingly, Samsung refers to its RGB Mini LED TVs as 'Micro RGB TVs'.

HDR10+ Advanced builds on the HDR10+ standard, with the addition of two key features: Enhanced Overall Brightness and Intelligent Motion Smoothing.

These are pretty Ronseal: the former uses statistical metadata to deliver "brighter, more precise HDR across the full tonal range", while AI-driven tone mapping preserves shadow detail without compromising peak brightness.

Intelligent Motion Smoothing, meanwhile, uses scene-by-scene metadata to dynamically adjust motion processing, "preserving the cinematic feel of film content while delivering smooth, natural motion for sports, action and other fast-moving scenes."

We first saw HDR10+ Advanced back in October during a trip to Samsung's Korean HQ, and we concluded that it looks "very promising".

Samsung and Amazon have been in bed together for a long time now. Prime Video was also the first streaming service to offer the original HDR10+ format back in 2017.

MORE:

Dolby Vision 2 vs Dolby Vision 2 Max: everything you need to know

Read our Samsung R95H hands-on review

I’ve seen Samsung’s 2026 lineup early: there’s one TV I can’t stop thinking about – and it’s not an OLED

After almost a year of anticipation and uncertainty, Dolby Vision 2 is finally launching, although you'll need one of the supported TVs to use it.

Dolby surprised home cinema fans with the announcement of Dolby Vision 2, the latest iteration of its dynamic HDR format, just before IFA 2025. With it came a buzz of excitement, but also many questions, most of which have been periodically answered throughout the year.

Now, Dolby has officially announced which TVs will be the first to access the new HDR format, and they all come from launch partner Hisense. We've also seen Dolby Vision 2 running on TVs from TCL and Philips at past press demos, although this launch is strictly Hisense for now.

Supported models include the UX, UR9 and UR8 RGB Mini LED TVs, and U7 Pro (also known as the U7 in the US) Mini LED TV. Interestingly, these models all support the higher-tier Dolby Vision 2 Max format.

The update is only coming to the Vidaa and Google TV versions of these models. Neither Hisense nor Dolby have confirmed if Dolby Vision 2 will come to older TVs yet.

At its core, Dolby Vision 2 brings three perks. First, "a powerful new image engine" which is set to enhance new and existing content.

Second, a new content recognition system that leverages metadata to deliver a more authentic image closer to the creator's intent.

Third, an intensity slider which allows you to "depth and richness of their Dolby Vision 2 experience" by compensating for contrast lost to viewing angles and reflections.

Dolby Vision 2 Max is reserved for TVs towards the premium end of the spectrum, and it adds an extra layer of picture enhancements aimed at home cinema enthusiasts.

These include the Authentic Motion feature, which aims for a "more cinematic feel while eliminating unwanted judder and soap opera effects", alongside Light Sense 2, which utilises your TV's ambient light sensor to optimise the picture settings based on your viewing conditions.

There is also a selection of pro settings which will allow experienced AV enthusiasts to dig deeper into the experience and customise as needed.

As for Dolby Vision 2 content, Dolby says that "Hisense TV owners will immediately notice a difference across all Dolby Vision content" for everything from TV and movies to gaming and sport. That said, the only current content partners that will support Dolby Vision 2 content specifically are Canal+, Peacock, and iQIYI.

These aren't household streaming names on the same level as Netflix, Disney+ or Apple TV, and two of the three services don't actually operate in the UK yet. That said, we presume that more services will support the new HDR format once it has found its footing.

Likewise, we expect more TV manufacturers to adopt Dolby Vision 2 over time. Sony and LG have yet to confirm whether their next batches of TVs will support the format, and Samsung has already developed its own answer to Dolby Vision 2 in the form of HDR10+ Advanced.

The software update to enable Dolby Vision 2 on the previously mentioned 2026 Hisense TVs is set to roll out in the coming weeks across Europe, America and Asia-Pacific.

We'll be testing out Dolby Vision 2 soon to see if it's the generational step up from the original Dolby Vision that we know and love.

MORE:

Dolby Vision 2 vs Dolby Vision 2 Max: everything you need to know

Read our full Hisense UR9 review

I saw the future of HDR at CES, and things are looking bright and smooth for 2026

As the resident deals writer of What Hi-Fi?, there’s one question that haunts me more than any other… when is the best time to buy an OLED?

Black Friday? Prime Day? Just after the next model comes out?

Now, those are all valid answers – they are all times we have seen price crashes on various OLED TVs. But which one is actually the cheapest? Obviously TVs become cheaper the longer they are out – but where’s the sweet spot before the TV gets discontinued or just becomes woefully outdated?

To settle things once and for all, I have undertaken a price history on one of the biggest and best TVs out there: the LG C5. The model is perfect for this exercise, as the LG C-series is extremely popular, follows a yearly release cycle, and, if you check our reviews, is a rather impressive OLED TV line.

Having covered many LG C5 deals since it was released in spring 2025, we have a fair bit of data about its price history over time. So let’s get stuck in…

LG C5: a price history

For convenience’s sake, let’s start with one size: the 55-inch LG C5, which is the largest model we reviewed and one of the more popular sizes. We reviewed the 55-inch LG C5 on 12 April 2025 at its launch price of £1900 / $1999 / AU$3299.

It didn’t take long for some serious discounts to arrive. On 21 May 2025, barely two months after release, we reported that the 55-inch C5 was down to £1520 at Richer Sounds. That’s a £380 (20 per cent) saving already – and that highlighted price didn’t even include a cashback offer that was running at the time.

55-inch LG C5 Price History

Price (£)

Date

LG C5 55-inch

Price Data

Timestamp (date)	LG C5 55-inch (£)
0	1900
1	1520
2	1199
3	1199
4	1199
5	1050
6	1099
7	1069
8	965
9	949
10	989
11	977
12	969

The next big price decrease we spotted came on 6th October 2025, when we reported that the C5 was now £1199 at Richer Sounds. The C5 had been out for more than six months at this point, so a big price decrease was not unexpected; with another six months to go until the inevitable release of the C6, the C5 was now reduced by £700 (37 per cent). But all eyes were now turning towards Black Friday...

Curiously, while we did see a good price of £1069 on Black Friday, the 55-inch C5 was actually a tad cheaper a few weeks earlier on 6th November, when we spotted it at £1050.

The C5 saved its best discount for Cyber Monday, however, when it broke through the £1000 barrier and crashed to £965 – a good 49 per cent off.

Here we see the price of the C5 start to stabilise just under the £1000 mark. Even the arrival of the LG C6 in spring 2026 didn’t result in any significant further discounts.

The next round of new lowest prices came around yet another sales event: the run-up to the FIFA World Cup 2026. This was a period when retailers were dropping new lowest prices on TVs left, right and centre. The LG C5 was not left on the bench – it hit rock bottom on 5th June 2026, officially reaching half price with a £949 price tag, once again at Richer Sounds.

By the time Amazon Prime Day rolled along in June 2026, the World Cup was in full swing and new TV discounts had started to die down a bit. The LG C5 was one of the star products of that sales event, with prices dropping back down to £977, but that wasn’t quite a new low for the 55-inch model.

And now? As of July 2026, the best price we found for the 55-inch LG C5 was £969 at Richer Sounds and Sevenoaks thanks to a £30 voucher code. That’s a fine price for an Award-winning OLED TV, but it’s still a few whiskers off the lowest ever price.

It’s also worth noting that it was often specialist retailers who were offering new lows on the 55-inch C5 – not always Amazon, as some might assume.

How do the other sizes compare?

After an exhaustive look at the 55-inch model, it’s only fitting that we have a quick look at other screen sizes to ensure we weren’t dealing with an outlier. Take a look at the graph below and you will see that all models roughly follow a similar trend: a rather steep drop in the first few months, before levelling out a bit after Black Friday, after which we start seeing more incremental drops.

LG C5 Price History

Price (£)

Date

LG C5 42-inchLG C5 48-inchLG C5 55-inchLG C5 65-inch

Price Data

Timestamp (date)	LG C5 42-inch (£)	LG C5 48-inch (£)	LG C5 55-inch (£)	LG C5 65-inch (£)
0	1400	N/A	N/A	N/A
1	N/A	N/A	N/A	2700
2	N/A	N/A	1900	N/A
3	N/A	N/A	1520	N/A
5	N/A	N/A	N/A	2100
6	N/A	N/A	1699	N/A
7	N/A	1500	N/A	N/A
8	N/A	999	N/A	N/A
9	N/A	N/A	1199	N/A
10	949	N/A	N/A	N/A
11	N/A	N/A	1199	N/A
12	949	N/A	N/A	N/A
13	N/A	N/A	1199	N/A
14	N/A	1049	N/A	N/A
15	949	N/A	N/A	N/A
16	N/A	N/A	N/A	1699
17	N/A	N/A	1050	N/A
18	849	N/A	N/A	N/A
19	N/A	949	N/A	N/A
20	N/A	N/A	N/A	1499
21	849	N/A	N/A	N/A
22	N/A	N/A	N/A	1499
23	N/A	N/A	1099	N/A
24	849	N/A	N/A	N/A
25	N/A	949	N/A	N/A
26	N/A	N/A	1069	N/A
27	N/A	N/A	N/A	1399
28	799	N/A	N/A	N/A
29	N/A	N/A	N/A	1299
30	N/A	N/A	989	N/A
31	N/A	849	N/A	N/A
32	740	N/A	N/A	N/A
33	N/A	N/A	955	N/A
34	N/A	N/A	N/A	1231
35	727	N/A	N/A	N/A
36	N/A	N/A	965	N/A
37	740	N/A	N/A	N/A
38	N/A	849	N/A	N/A
39	N/A	N/A	N/A	1279
40	N/A	N/A	N/A	1399
41	719	N/A	N/A	N/A
42	N/A	N/A	999	N/A
43	N/A	N/A	N/A	1249
44	N/A	849	N/A	N/A
45	699	N/A	N/A	N/A
46	N/A	807	N/A	N/A
47	699	N/A	N/A	N/A
48	N/A	849	N/A	N/A
49	N/A	781	N/A	N/A
50	656	N/A	N/A	N/A
51	N/A	749	N/A	N/A
52	N/A	N/A	949	N/A
53	N/A	N/A	989	N/A
54	649	N/A	N/A	N/A
55	N/A	759	N/A	N/A
56	N/A	N/A	N/A	1299
57	N/A	N/A	977	N/A
58	623	N/A	N/A	N/A
59	N/A	725	N/A	N/A
60	611	N/A	N/A	N/A
61	N/A	N/A	969	N/A
62	N/A	N/A	993	N/A
63	N/A	N/A	969	N/A
64	749	N/A	N/A	N/A
65	N/A	849	N/A	N/A
66	N/A	N/A	N/A	1399

Interestingly, the prices of the 42-inch and 48-inch models come very close to each other, with both crossing the £1000 barrier at similar times in late September 2025.

All models reached new lows during the Black Friday sales, even if the drops weren’t particularly dramatic from the pre-sale prices. Still, it was the 65-inch model that saw the best discount, with a whopping 54 per cent reduction from its launch price.

In terms of their lowest ever price, the two smaller models both reached this during Prime Day 2026. The 55-inch C5’s came a few weeks earlier during the World Cup sales, while the 65-inch version was a lone exception with a rock-bottom price on Black Friday thanks to a Hughes discount code.

The LG C6: history repeating itself?

So is the new LG C6 repeating the same trend? We have reviewed only the 65-inch model so far, but we’ve crunched the numbers to find out.

We have compared the prices of the LG C5 and C6 after launch in their respective years below. It’s worth noting that the LG C6 launched at a cheaper price than the preceding C5 – the 65-inch C6 came in at £2500 compared with £2700 for the corresponding C5.

LG C5 & C6 Post-launch Price History

Price (£)

Date

LG C5 65-inchLG C6 65-inch

Price Data

Timestamp (date)	LG C5 65-inch (£)	LG C6 65-inch (£)
1	2700	N/A
2	N/A	2500
3	N/A	2166
4	N/A	2079
5	2100	N/A
6	N/A	2099
7	N/A	2034
8	N/A	1889
9	1699	N/A

As we can see, the LG C6 started at a lower price and also dropped faster thanks to the World Cup sales. However, the price drops have slowed somewhat, which has allowed the LG C5 to overtake during the same time period. We’ll have to see if the C6 can reclaim the value crown over the course of this year…

When is the best time to buy an LG C-series OLED?

So when was the best time to buy the LG C5?

If you’re after the lowest-ever price, three of the four sizes we looked at hit this milestone during June 2026, which happened to coincide with the World Cup and Prime Day sales. So it seems as though a summer sale around 15 months after release is the cheapest time to buy. For the best LG C6 price, then, you’re probably looking at Prime Day 2027.

That, though, is a rather long time to wait – and it’s near the end of the TV’s life cycle, of course, when newer, more advanced models will have taken the shine away somewhat.

Our advice? Looking at the data, the sweet spot between price and time may well be during the Black Friday sales, as long suspected. While three of the C5 models went lower after Black Friday, this was only by up to nine per cent (£124) maximum – so six months is a rather long time to wait for a rather incremental drop.

When you buy a new TV is, of course, a rather personal decision that depends on several factors. But if you’re deciding based on price alone, now you know when to look for a bargain.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best TVs

Find out how to set up your TV

I have crunched the numbers, and Filmmaker Mode uses less energy

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

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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

Anyone remember their parents telling them the tale of the boy who cried wolf? I’d argue it’s one of the most important lessons I learned as a child.

Well, that and don’t steal raisins from Sophia – that led to an unfortunate incident in nursery, where I was given a tattoo on my left hand’s index finger after a biro from said classmate found its mark.

Why am I mentioning this now? I'm not sure about my raisin confession, but the cry wolf part is relevant to this article, because it applies to my recent experience speaking to big-name companies to check what's going on with 8K TVs for this year's special Home Cinema Week event. Sadly, it's not good news.

“We can’t comment on this.”

“No updates right now.”

“We have no plans or updates to share for the technology.”

"While 8K represents a significant technological milestone, its broader adoption will depend on the continued evolution of content and distribution ecosystems."

Getting a vibe from the responses yet? I certainly did.

Full transparency, I’m not that fussed about 8K yet, due to the ongoing lack of content mastered at the resolution.

But the cold fish reaction to the tech in 2026 does leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, given how hard some firms were pushing 8K to “enthusiasts” who wanted a future-proof set, even a few years ago.

To catch readers up, 8K is an upgraded resolution that delivers four times the pixel density of 4K – 7680 × 4320 pixels (approx. 33.2 million total pixels) to 4K’s 3840 × 2160 pixels (approx. 8.3 million total pixels) to be precise. Samsung started making noise about the resolution being a big deal in the early 2010s and went on to vocally describe it as the future right up to the 2020s.

And since 2018, it, in fairness, has made 8K TVs, in many ways putting its money where its mouth is. One of them, the 2024 Samsung QN900D, even won a What Hi-Fi? Award after earning five stars from our reviewers.

LG and Sony also briefly got in on the action. LG offered three generations of 8K Z-series OLED TVs and Sony the 2022 Z9K 8K Mini LED – though both LG and Sony have since unceremoniously exited the 8K market, leaving Samsung largely unchallenged.

Why the sour taste? Because, truthfully, I know some readers, and one friend with more money than sense, have invested in 8K sets, viewing them as a future-proof purchase, as the marketing at the time suggested.

So now the firms have suddenly turned cold on it and no longer want to speak about it at all, I can’t help but feel a minor grump growing on their behalf and that they're guilty of crying wolf on it being the future; and losing some trust in the process.

This is especially true in 2026 as there are so many other “future of TV” technologies appearing right now. On the panel front, numerous companies are pushing RGB Mini LED as the future and the “OLED-killer” we’ve been waiting for. Though, based on our review of the Sony Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II, the team and I are not quite convinced of that yet.

Or there’s Dolby Vision 2, another new “future of home cinema” bit of tech firms seem to be pushing as an essential “future-proof” feature you need to have on your next TV – despite the lack of any content mastered in it.

Sound similar to 8K? Though there are companies confirmed to be making content with Dolby Vision 2 tech, it’s hard not to see at least some similarities. And because of that, I can’t help but think the response is a bit disappointing with 8K and a key reminder that marketing and sales teams aren’t on your side.

Just because a company wants to sell you a fancy new feature as the most important thing ever doesn’t mean it is.

We’ve seen that many times before. And with Samsung the only big player making 8K TVs, you have to wonder, is it destined to be sent to the same farm as 3D and curved TVs? It’s not looking good right now, though I hope to be proven wrong – at the very least for the sake of the readers and my friend who drank the Kool-Aid.

Fingers crossed the silence is because they have a huge 8K announcement coming, and don’t want to spoil the surprise…

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LG has announced a new picture mode for its TVs. Creator Original Picture Mode is described as an "industry-first picture setting for streaming", and essentially lets the filmmakers decide exactly how the picture should look. Think of it as a step on from Filmmaker Mode.

Because while Filmmaker Mode disables post-processing enhancements for a truer picture, the new mode lets the filmmakers decide parameters such as shadow detail, colour balance, noise reduction and motion handling. These will differ for each film, allowing content creators to have their movies look exactly as they would like.

At least, we think that's how it works. We have a few questions, and have contacted LG for answers – we'll update this story once we've heard back.

The mode is exclusive to Prime Video (and possibly only the Masters Of The Universe reboot, but that's one of the many questions we have posed to LG). It's only available on LG's 2026 OLED evo TVs: that's the W6, G6 and C6 series.

You can also launch Masters Of The Universe by saying "I have the power" into your LG Magic Remote for LG TVs running webOS 23 or later.

Masters Of The Universe has a 67 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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I've crunched the numbers, and Filmmaker Mode uses less energy

Check out our list of the best TVs

Find out how to set up your TV

2026 is quite the momentous year: not only is What Hi-Fi? celebrating its 50th birthday, but it's also 100 years since the TV was first invented by John Logie Baird in 1926.

The way TV technology (along with broadcast, film and smart features) has progressed over the past century is nothing short of astonishing: chunky CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs gave way to slimmer LCDs and then even slimmer OLEDs, while screen resolution has gone from cosy standard definition to widespread 4K to futuristic 8K.

We have seen the birth and death of plasma TV, while in 2001, What Hi-Fi? entered a new era of Sound and Vision to expand our coverage to TV/home cinema alongside hi-fi and audio. The 2000s also marked a historic time in broadcast TV as the UK switched from analogue to digital, and the introduction of Full HD resolution was a turning point in TV screen technology that paved the way for constant innovation and advancement in the 21st century.

The What Hi-Fi? review team has been at the forefront of all these technologies, and we've sifted through our magazine archives from the 2000s to today to find the very first instances of when a new TV format of the 21st century – Full HD, OLED, 3D, 4K, 8K and beyond – entered our test rooms to get the full review treatment.

They may not have been the best examples of each TV tech, but they were the very first of their kind to show off just what a new screen technology, format and resolution could offer.

NOTE: To read the full-size text of the magazine images below, click on the arrow sign on the bottom-left corner, and in some cases, further click on 'view original' at the bottom-right corner.

LCD 1080p: Sharp LC-45GD1E (2005)

In today's fast-paced world of constant cutting-edge technology, it's hard to imagine just how big a deal the advent of Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution was.

Standard TV broadcast was a mere 720 x 576 resolution, and we were perfectly happy with that on the 25-/32-inch CRTs and widescreen LCD tellies that were popular throughout the 90s. Freeview's digital terrestrial service started in 2002 in the UK, while the first "high-definition" BBC HD and Sky HD channels launched in May 2006.

For the best part of the 2000s, most LCD and plasma TVs were 'HD-Ready'. These TVs' native resolution was 1280 x 720 (or 768), but they were able to accept 1080i/1080p videos, and would simply downscale the picture to fit the lower resolution screen.

The first flatscreen LCD TV we encountered with a native 1080p Full HD resolution was this Sharp LC-45GD1E in 2005. We said the picture looked "stunning" when fed Full HD video from a home cinema PC, and that it displayed "an extraordinary absence of noise and motion-smearing."

It was less successful when upscaling standard definition content – a contrast to how advanced upscaling tech has become when dealing with 8K TVs (see below) – and we said cheaper, smaller 42-inch plasma TVs coped better here.

The Sharp's higher resolution came at a premium – £5500 for a 45-inch LCD TV! – so we deemed it more for the "connoisseur" rather than an "everyday TV." Besides, it really needed Full HD content to look its best, and that was hard to come by at the time.

Plasma 1080p: Pioneer PDP-5000EX (2006)

In the 2000s, plasma versus LCD was about as heated as, well, OLED versus LCD is today. Fujitsu launched the first commercial plasma TV in 1997, but it was the legendary Pioneer Kuro sets that everyone still remembers fondly as the peak of plasma screen technology.

Back in 2006, Pioneer was also the first to provide us with a plasma screen that finally did native Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution. Despite us having already experienced Full HD resolution in LCD TVs, this Pioneer PDP-5000EX was the first set to offer "full 1080p compatibility... with the appropriate input interference" to accept Blu-ray and HD-DVD picture.

Our praise was effusive: "staggering picture quality", "this is the best plasma ever made", "this is what the telly looks like in heaven" – we weren't kidding when we said Full HD resolution wowed us in a way that we never thought possible.

With over two million pixels on screen, we found the definition "extraordinary". When fed 1080p content, the picture was "bright, sharp, colourful and consistently lustrous" and it also coped well with standard-def broadcasts.

Anyone wanting this premium new tech would have to cough up £7000 (a trend for every new TV technology, as we'll see below), but it showed just how revolutionary this new Full HD resolution was to the future of TV as we know it.

OLED: Sony XEL-1 (2008)

LCD and plasma TVs were widespread at the dawn of the new millennium, but a new panel technology – one that was close in spirit to the beloved plasma – was about to change the course of TVs forever.

Like plasma, OLED panels don't need a backlight. Instead, they use self-emissive organic light-emitting diodes that generate their own (white) light, which is put through a colour filter.

The advantage is that when an OLED pixel is turned off, it is truly off and therefore pitch-black. This results in perfect blacks without any hint of backlight bleeding through the image, superior contrast, and richer, punchier colours. Not needing an extra backlight panel meant OLED screens could be much thinner than LCD TVs, too.

The downsides are that the pixels have a limited shelf life due to their organic nature, they can't go quite as bright as LCDs, and at the beginning, larger screens weren't possible to produce due to the difficult nature of manufacturing these panels.

The Sony XEL-1 was the world's first OLED TV. It launched in 2007, with a screen size of just 11 inches and a depth of just 3mm. It boasted a high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, while the display resolution was a paltry 960 x 540.

We covered its launch news in the May 2008 issue, which looked at the next-gen TVs entering the market. In 2009, in "the next big thing" TV feature (fifth slide in gallery above), we learned of 21- and 27-inch prototypes of the Sony OLED, while the XEL-1 got even skinnier at just 0.9mm!

Sadly, we haven't been able to find any other coverage or review of this Sony XEL-1 in our magazine archives. It would be a good few years yet before a full-size, full-production OLED TV hit our test rooms, while Sony finally entered the OLED market proper with the stunning A1 (KD-55A1) OLED TV in 2017.

3D TV: Samsung UE40C7000 (2010)

3D wasn't a new technology by any means in 2010. Cinemagoers had been experiencing it since before the television was even invented, with 1922's silent feature The Power Of Love widely considered to be the first commercially released 3D film, shown at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles.

Why would anyone want to watch 3D films at home, while wearing bulky glasses that needed charging? Was it headache-inducing or was it an immersive experience for films and gaming? The jury was split when we tested Samsung's UE40C7000, the first 3D TV to hit the What Hi-Fi? test rooms.

You needed a 3D disc and a Blu-ray player compatible with the format to make the picture (Samsung's own BD-C6900 3D player and a 3D Blu-ray of Monsters vs Aliens, in this case), but it did offer a genuine "depth of field" that was suitably three-dimensional.

If you didn't care about 3D at all, however, then the Samsung UE40C7000 was also a very fine TV in its own right. Across terrestrial TV, DVD and Blu-ray, this 40-inch LCD TV delivered "epic levels of detail", with a subtle colour palette that handled skin tones particularly well. Motion handling was impressively smooth, and the edge-lit LED backlighting balanced black levels, highlights and details well.

An "overall impression of unshakeable solidity" is high praise indeed for this five-star 3D TV.

Read the full review: Samsung UE40C7000

4K LCD TV: Toshiba 55ZL2 (2012)

The Toshiba 55ZL2 made headlines for being the first glasses-free 3D TV – that is, you wouldn't need to wear bulky active or passive 3D glasses to see the picture in three dimensions; the Toshiba's integrated camera and lens technology would track your eye movements and do the hard work for you!

It worked, but with caveats. The subtle depth of field was nice, it was less fatiguing on the eyes, and the picture didn't experience a drop in brightness as it did with 3D glasses. But the tech did require you to sit completely still; any fidgeting or movement would lead to a drop-off in focus, definition and 3D effect, which was less than ideal.

But who cares about 3D? Because the Toshiba 55ZL2 was also the very first 4K TV screen we tested, back when the new reality of "four times the resolution of Full HD/1080p" was still in its earliest stages.

There was no mainstream 4K content yet (and wouldn't be for a long, long time), but Toshiba's 4K picture hinted at what was to come. Fed some demo content of flowers, landscapes, and cityscapes from a hard drive, we said: "native 3840 x 2160 images look, frankly, astonishing. Detail levels are absolutely sky-high, and the most complex patterns remain steady and stable with the sort of casual efficiency that’s the mark of a properly effective device."

With Blu-ray and DVD films, the Toshiba TV's colour balance was "expertly judged", and we praised its black depth for being "excellent by the prevailing standards of LED-backlit LCD screens."

Costing £7000, the cutting-edge 55ZL2 was considerably more expensive than your standard Full HD 55-inch TV at the time, but nowhere near as expensive as the £25,000 84-inch Sony 4K and LG 4K LCD TVs that would hit the market later that same year.

For actual 4K content, we had to wait for another three years: in August 2015, BT Sport Ultra HD launched as the UK's first 4K channel, while the first few 4K Blu-ray discs hit the market in 2016.

Read the full review: Toshiba 55ZL2

Curved OLED: Samsung KE55S9C (2013)

Curved OLED TVs were a short-lived fad, not helped by the fact that you couldn't wall-mount them, viewing angles weren't great for anyone not sitting dead centre of the screen, and the early models quickly became outdated as they didn't support the upcoming 4K resolution.

But the Samsung KE55S9C is notable not for its curved screen, but because it was actually our first time seeing the OLED panel technology on a large screen beyond a mere 11 inches.

As with 3D, the test team argued about the curved screen continuously. Some found it a "distracting gimmick" as the picture distorted according to the curvature when viewing it from the side, while others (those sitting dead centre) found the curve led to greater immersion.

The frame surrounding the 55-inch screen also served as a (rather large) stand, and it was more curved than the screen itself, adding to the illusion. "That curve" was listed as both a Pro and a Con in our review.

What we all agreed on, though, was that OLED looked stunning, handling contrast far better than any LCD TV we had seen. "Dark scenes are some of the deepest and blackest we’ve seen, genuinely resembling the absence of light," we enthused, even if we would have liked subtler shading and variation in the extremes. Colours were rich and vibrant, while the picture was also crisp and clear.

Did we recommend it? Its "prohibitively expensive" £7000 price tag was three times that of our favourite 55-inch plasma at the time, and we can't imagine most people beyond early adopters took the plunge.

We didn't "really understand why we’re seeing curved OLED sets before flat ones" either, but it did point to an exciting future for OLED TVs.

Read the full review: Samsung KE55S9C

4K OLED: LG 55EG960V (2015)

We never tested the £10,000 LG 55EM970V OLED that first arrived in the UK in 2013, but in 2015 we did finally get to test a TV that combined two picture technologies we had been waiting on for years: 4K Ultra HD resolution and OLED.

And the LG 55EG960V was "everything we hoped it would be", delivering the two new technologies with "spectacular results" in a living room-friendly 55-inch screen size. The intensely pitch-dark blacks contrast brilliantly against bright whites, while the 8.3 million pixels on screen were delivered with crystal-clear and precise detail.

"The depth of colours is breathtaking. They aren’t just richer, there are simply more precise shades of them on the screen, giving a wonderfully vivid feel to the picture," we said. There were more subtleties revealed in the deep blacks than before, and while upscaling standard definition content was a little fuzzy around the edges, it was still a punchy picture.

Yes, it was also gently curved (but you could wall-mount it), it did convincing 3D, and its thin screen with floating effect looked rather "gorgeous", too. It was still more expensive than equivalent LCD sets, so we couldn't yet definitely say that OLED was better and better-value.

We can now, though, as OLED has gone from strength to strength and become more affordable in the past decade, delivering even more impressive picture quality with greater subtlety and accuracy alongside unrivalled deep blacks and punchy contrast – from the wildly popular and affordable LG C5 to our TV & AV Editor Tom Parsons' current favourite, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Read the full review: LG 55EG960V

8K: Samsung QE85Q900R 8K QLED (2018)

Unlike the world of hi-fi, TV manufacturers are in a constant state of innovation and of pushing the boundaries of screen technology. It took ages for 4K UHD broadcasts, streams and discs to become a reality since the first time the screen tech was proposed, but it wasn't long after that 8K was being touted as "the next big thing."

Samsung got there first, with the QE85Q900R 8K QLED hitting our test rooms in 2018. The LED-backlit quantum dot screen (Samsung was still staunchly against using OLED then) had a mind-blowing 33 million pixels to 4K's eight, with this mammoth 85-inch set offering "the same pixel density (104ppi) as a 43-inch 4K model".

4K has pretty high resolution, but if you sit too close to the screen, you can start to see the individual pixels. The advantage of 8K was that you could sit as close to the screen as you want – we sat even a foot away – and still not see any pixels. With native 8K content provided by Samsung, it looked fabulous.

"Predictably, it’s all about sharpness and detail. The image is unbelievably lifelike, and draws you in to an extent that 4K simply can’t match. Naturally, it’s helped by the sheer scale of the 85-inch display – this is cinematic and then some."

The AI-based upscaling technology was almost as impressive, as it had to effectively "make up" so much of the picture on screen when watching 4K, Full HD or DVD content, which was sharp and detailed with no discernible "artefacts, shimmer or noise".

The problems? It's 85-bloody-inches massive, and black levels simply weren't deep enough, with backlight blooming issues pervading the screen.

Also, there was no actual 8K content and, eight years on, there still isn't any. 8K resolution remains an impressive technical feat, but without the practical availability of broadcasts or films (the sheer size of the file/disc needed to accommodate those 33 million pixels doesn't bear thinking), it's unlikely to overtake 4K resolution in the home in the foreseeable future.

Read the full review: Samsung QE85Q900R 8K QLED

Micro LED: Samsung 75-inch Micro LED 4K TV (2019)

While arch-rival LG was leading the way with OLED during the 2010s, Samsung was staunchly working on advancing LED-backlit LCD panel technology, such as its Quantum Dot Mini LED display.

In 2018, though, the brand veered away from LCD in spectacular fashion, with Micro LED, which made its debut at CES in Las Vegas that January.

Micro LED uses tiny, non-organic self-emitting diodes for each pixel, so it's capable of producing the perfect blacks we love from OLED, while also theoretically delivering brighter images, greater colour control, and a longer lifespan of 100,000 hours (just over 11 years of constant use).

Thanks to its modular architecture (each Micro LED screen is constructed using a number of small modules arranged in a grid pattern), these early Micro LED TVs could span huge sizes. They could be even thinner than OLED, too, and their inorganic nature meant they could be left on permanently – great for commercial purposes.

Since then, non-modular, more typical TV-style Micro LED screens have been produced by Samsung, but prices have remained staunchly sky-high – the 146-inch 4K version of Samsung's The Wall Micro LED TV will set you back an eye-watering £199,999 in the UK. Needless to say, both production and adoption of Micro LED haven't been widespread beyond B2B applications.

We did get to see a 75-inch Samsung 4K Micro LED model in 2019, and it gave us an insight into the complexity of its manufacturing process, as well as a taste of its potential picture quality.

The demo footage we saw gave us an impression of "stunningly punchy and vibrant image with truly exceptional colours. Everything looks real and life-like to an extent we've genuinely not experienced before."

"Perfect" bright whites contrast against "perfect" black backgrounds, while there is subtlety amongst the colours too, and viewing angles remain consistent no matter where we were in the room.

Micro LED TVs might well be the true successor to OLED, but even now, they're hard to get hold of at any sensible size, and they're well beyond the means of most people who aren't Premier League footballers.

Read the full hands-on review: Samsung 75-inch Micro LED 4K TV

RGB Mini LED: Hisense UR9 (2026)

With Micro LED parked, TV manufacturers have focused on advancing the backlight quality of LCD TVs, and so RGB Mini LED is the current TV technology du jour.

Unlike conventional Mini LED TVs that use a white backlight shining through a colour filter layer, RGB Mini LED uses independent red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. The result? Brighter pictures and more accurate colour reproduction.

Does that make RGB Mini LED an OLED-killer?

Not quite, at least not yet. Hisense led the charge here, with the Hisense UR9 (65UR9STUK) being the first RGB Mini LED we tested earlier this year, ahead of Sony's recent Bravia 9 II effort. The Hisense UR9 showcases a stable, consistent and controlled picture, with none of the flickering or shifting behaviour we find distracting on traditional backlit TVs. Subtle blooming effects are nicely controlled, too.

We praised the Hisense RBG Mini LED TV's ability to display "consistently strong" black depth, noting "impressive richness and stability to colours", while extra-bright HDR content is delivered with dazzling intensity.

It's impressive stuff for an LCD TV, but it still doesn't quite achieve the three-dimensional quality and solidity of a price-equivalent OLED screen. Deep black levels, subtle colour gradations and even the perception of bright whites against inky blacks are better reproduced on Sony's current best OLED TV.

"Despite its impressive local-dimming system," we said, "the Hisense simply cannot match the pixel-level contrast control of the Sony Bravia 8 II."

Read the full review: Hisense UR9 (65UR9STUK)

Over a decade on, and OLED still rules the roost when it comes to picture technology. Brands have also looked to advance OLED panel technology, with LG Display producing ever-brighter W-OLED panels and Samsung Display firing back with also-ever-brighter versions of its competing QD-OLED technology.

Considering how revolutionary Full HD felt in the 2000s – which was four times the resolution of standard def, which is the same jump in resolution between Full HD and 4K – it has been an astonishing rate of advancement for screen technology.

What will the next 50 years of TV look like? Considering the stunning picture quality available to us these days, it should look pretty darn spectacular.

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They seem simple, but there are actually a lot of pitfalls that are all too easy to fall into when buying and setting up a TV.

But based on my personal and professional experience helping numerous friends and readers, most of us are getting better at the buying part. It's the second, "setting it up" part that many people are still outright terrible at.

Yes, based on my time as every person and their dog’s home cinema personal shopper, I’ve been inundated with every question you can think of when helping people find the right TV for their specific needs and budget.

Does it have everything I need to watch the football?

Do I need to get a soundbar too?

Will it work with my Sony Betamax LV-1901?

I’ve heard all of the above and more while giving curated advice on which TV to buy over the years.

But what always throws me is that after spending hours asking questions, researching the set to make sure, when they actually buy one, they nearly always go silent.

And that would be fine if I could put my feet up, pour myself a nice whisky and toast a job well done, safe in the knowledge they’ve set it up right and are making the most of their new purchase.

Except, based on my experience visiting friends and family I’ve helped, and some of the messages I’ve received from readers, most aren’t.

And recently, there’s one big mistake I’ve seen in living rooms, which is especially damaging during the summer months – placing the set right next to a window.

Why is that a problem, you ask? The answer is simple and an issue we’ve flagged many times before: light pollution.

Our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, has been a vocal enemy of the phenomenon for quite some time. But for those who have missed our past warnings, it is a problem, as if you place your TV in an incredibly bright area, you will impede its picture quality, regardless of how good the set is.

If it doesn’t go bright enough or doesn't come with an antireflective layer, look forward to watching your own reflection. If you can still make out what’s happening, contrast will still be impacted. Truthfully, lots of ambient light will stop your TV from delivering its best, regardless of the picture settings you use.

So why, oh why, do so many of us put TVs directly next to windows? Yes, it sometimes makes sense with the room’s feng shui, but I’ve had people who’ve spent multiple thousands on a top-end OLED make the mistake.

Many then send me, less than diplomatic, messages asking why I've recommended a terrible TV. They then get even more irritated when I point out it's how they've positioning causing most of the problems they're flagging.

If you’re going to spend that much money on a decent TV, surely it’s then worth investing a little time in creating a space that will let it shine?

Blackout blinds are a godsend, or if that’s too much, honestly, even moving your TV a few feet away can make a difference.

So please, for my and the team’s sanity, heed this warning and make sure to give your TV a good home, one that will give it the space it needs to live up to its full potential.

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We rank the best soundbars for movie fans

The high street has been struggling in recent years, and it's easy to see why.

The convenience of online shopping is compelling, as is the ability to read reviews (both ours and from other buyers) and to do your research in the next browser tab along. For bigger purchases like a TV, you can also see the dimensions and measure exactly where it'll go. Plus, you can compare prices across hundreds of retailers from the comfort of your sofa.

But there are still plenty of reasons to buy a TV from your local shop. You'll be supporting a local, possibly independent business. The staff can give you expert advice. And, of course, you can see the set for yourself in the flesh.

A TV is a big purchase. You wouldn't buy a car that you hadn't seen for yourself.

So please, go forth and buy your next TV from a shop. Just don't make these five classic mistakes when buying in-store.

Mistake 1 – assuming the picture will look the same at home

You might be bowled over by the stunningly bright picture in the shop, but wait. In-store, TVs are put into a special demo mode to make them look as eye-catching as possible under the glare of the shop's bright lights.

This mode amps up the brightness and colour volume, but doesn't fare well with fast motion like sport or gaming. Which is why most in-shop TVs only show nature footage to showcase their bright colours.

To get a more realistic idea of how it will look in your lounge, you can ask the shop to put it into a different mode for you – try Filmmaker mode for cinematic fare. Sadly, you can't ask them to dim the lights.

And if they won't change the mode? Make sure you read our review of that particular model for a thorough analysis of how it performs.

Mistake 2 – not measuring up

We get it – you're in the shop, the TV looks so alluring and you can picture it right at home in your lounge. So what if you haven't measured the space first? It'll fit. Of course it will.

Maybe. But then maybe not. And if it doesn't, you've got two choices: navigate the shop's returns policy, or live with a TV that's just too big for its space. Of those two, we would opt for the former. Having to look at a TV that doesn't fit every day would just remind us of our rash decision-making.

Instead, look up the dimensions and measure the space before you head to the shop. And make sure it's the correct size model too – there's a big difference between the 42-inch LG C6 and the 48-inch one.

Trust me, as someone who once assumed the Sonos Arc Ultra would fit on my TV cabinet, I know the importance of measuring first.

Mistake 3 – trusting it will sound OK

Understandably, most TVs are on mute in the shop. It's the only way; otherwise, you'd be met by a cacophony of demo soundtracks as soon as you walked through the door.

Which poses a problem – how do you know what it sounds like? An obliging member of staff might turn the volume up for you, but given all the other sounds in the shop, that will only show how loud it can go.

We have the same issue at trade shows. While companies are keen to talk up their TVs' sound quality on a stand at a trade show, it's impossible to tell how they actually sound. The only real way to find out is to get it into a lounge or testing room, pull the curtains and settle in for some serious viewing. Which you can't really do in a shop.

The salesperson might tell you it sounds great, but don't assume that's true. Again, check our review, and leave yourself some budget for one of the best soundbars to accompany your new TV. Because even a relatively affordable soundbar will outdo most TVs' sonic abilities.

Mistake 4 – taking it home yourself

For most people, buying a new TV is a once-in-a-decade experience, if that. So we don't blame you for wanting to get your new purchase home as soon as possible. But we would urge a note of caution – are you sure you've got room in the boot of your car? Unless you're driving a transit van, you're going to struggle to get a 65-inch TV in there.

Even if you are driving a transit van, do you have the means to secure your new TV and stop it sliding around every time you turn a corner? And as for speed bumps...

It's far better to get the shop to deliver it instead. Yes, it might take a few days, so you'll be stuck with your old TV a little longer (or with nothing, if your old set is kaput). But once you leave the shop with it, a new TV is your responsibility. Any screen cracks from it being bounced around in the back of your Kia Rio are on you.

Mistake 5 – making an on-the-spot decision

This is probably the biggest error of all. Yes, the salesperson might have a compelling pitch, and yes, they might offer you a small discount if you agree to buy there and then. But without reading up on the product to see what it offers and how it compares to what else is available, you could end up buying the wrong TV for you. That's an expensive mistake.

Instead, do your research beforehand, read our reviews, measure up and compare prices. Then, when you do go to the shop to see it for yourself, you'll be armed with plenty of knowledge so you're not swayed by the sales patter. This gives you a much better chance of buying the TV that's genuinely right for you.

A new TV is a big decision, and the right one should serve you well for many years to come. Happy viewing!

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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

Sony’s enthusiasm for OLED seems to have cooled off in 2026, and the Bravia 7 II is clear proof of that.

While this isn’t the first time Sony has flirted with sidelining OLED for its own take on the latest backlit panel technology, its new True RGB range is certainly the biggest push it's made to date.

Serving as the step-down model in a duo of new RGB Mini LED TVs, the Bravia 7 II hopes to tempt prospective OLED buyers away with the promise of higher brightness and purer colours, all while directly addressing the traditional shortcomings of backlit TVs

It’s a bold strategy, and after the move didn’t quite pay off when we compared the Bravia 9 Mini LED to the Bravia 8 OLED back in 2024, we’re somewhat surprised to see Sony attempt it again.

So, with the power of hindsight guiding it, has Sony developed a backlit TV that can tempt home cinema fans away from the enticing mid-range OLEDs on offer, or has it stumbled at the same hurdle again?

Price

We have the 55-inch Sony Bravia 7 II in our test tooms, which typically retails for £1999 / $2100 / AU$2999, though some discounts are already appearing.

Sony also sells the Bravia 7 II in a wide array of sizes, ranging from 50- to 98-inches; you can find pricing for the full range below:

It’s worth noting that the 55-inch Bravia 7 II’s launch price isn’t far off the 55-inch Bravia 7’s £1899 / $1900 / AU$2935 launch price; that feels like a pretty fair price increase considering the panel technology upgrade.

However, the Bravia 7 II is, unfortunately, priced higher than the LG C6 at 55 inches. Originally £1700 / $2000 / AU$2995, the C6 can now be found widely for £1499 / $1700 (it seems to be sticking to its launch pricing in Australia). As our current frontrunner for the best TV that we’ve tested this year, this OLED could prove to be a rather pesky thorn in Sony’s side.

Moreover, Sony’s Award-winning Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV is now widely available for £1799 / $2600 at 55 inches, down from its launch price of £2499 / $3500. Australian availability, however, seems spotty, and pricing looks to have remained at AU$3299.

It may not seem entirely fair to compare this TV to a 2025 model, but Sony’s release strategy means that the Bravia 8 II will remain in the lineup for the foreseeable future. The price of the 7 II will drop throughout its lifespan, but this launch pricing does reveal Sony’s approach to positioning this TV.

With a launch price higher than that of the LG C6, Sony clearly thinks that RGB Mini LED is a comparable or better technology than OLED. In fairness, LG priced the C6 quite competitively, and aggressive discounts since launch means that it’s unlikely that the Bravia 7 II will ever undercut it.

Design

The Bravia 7 II sports an interesting and, if we’re being honest, slightly odd blend of aesthetic choices.

We’ll start with the positives, and the “clear” star here is the new transparent centre stand. Sony has traditionally opted for feet at either end of its TVs, so it already scores points for the convenient central pedestal design as it can be placed on narrower TV units with ease.

However, it’s the transparent part that we’re really excited about. Sony has employed some clever cable management and a one-way plastic panel that refracts light to make it look like no cables are hanging below the TV, and almost as if there’s no stand at all.

It’s hard to describe without seeing it (we’ve tried our best to do it justice with our photography), but the word “magic” was being thrown around the TV testing room upon placing the Bravia 7 II on one of our test benches. It really does give the impression that the TV is floating in place, and the slender bezels around the display help to sell the sleek illusion.

Slightly less awe-inspiring is the rest of the TV’s chassis. It’s when we look at this TV side-on that we’re reminded it’s not an OLED. At 5.4cm in depth, the Bravia 7 II is a fairly chunky set, although Sony has been clever enough to make that thickness mostly uniform throughout with a pleasing taper at each end of the set, ensuring that the TV wears this extra heft fairly well.

Sony has used this opportunity to refresh the included remote, and the new handset ticks practically all of our boxes. It features sharper corners and brings back the backlit buttons and USB-C charging port that were both curiously rescinded on the Bravia 8 II’s remote despite being available on previous generation Sony TVs.

Sony also scores bonus points by using its eco-conscious SORPLAS material here, which is also featured in the main chassis of the television.

Features

We’ve already established that this TV is using the latest panel technology on the market, and it’s only the second RGB Mini LED TV to enter our AV testing room, after the Hisense UR9.

For those not in the know, RGB Mini LED drops the white backlight and Quantum Dot colour filter layer in favour of individual red, green and blue Mini LEDs in pursuit of better brightness, colour accuracy and blooming control.

This isn’t the first time that Sony has made a huge bet on Mini LED. 2024’s Bravia 9 featured a hugely customised Mini LED system, which was powered by Sony’s XR Master Backlight Drive in conjunction with the XR Processor.

Sony’s new RGB Backlight Master Drive Pro is the next evolution of this technology, and it reportedly supports “unprecedented colour volume, precise colour gradation, and a significantly wider viewing angle” on Sony’s new True RGB TVs.

The company’s Triluminous colour system also evolves into RGB Triluminous Max, which the company says can deliver a colour range in line with the Bravia 8 II, while offering the brightness increase of RGB Mini LED thanks to its Luminance Booster feature.

In true Sony fashion, the Japanese AV giant hasn’t given away any official figures regarding brightness levels or dimming zones, but we count 340 dimming zones in our 55-inch Bravia 7 II review sample.

Interestingly, that’s considerably fewer zones than other backlit TVs we’ve tested recently — including the Award-winning 65-inch TCL C7K, which sports 1008 dimming zones.

As with previous Sony TVs, the Bravia 7 II supports HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, but not HDR10+.

Moving on to the sound system, Sony has outfitted the 55-inch Bravia 7 II with a 40W sound system, comprising two full-range drivers and two tweeters. The TV prompts you to perform an automated room calibration during set-up, which allows the TV to adjust the sound output to best suit your viewing environment.

This TV supports a range of Dolby and DTS audio formats, including up to Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. For those looking to bypass the built-in speaker system (we’ll explain why you may wish to do that shortly), the HDMI eARC socket allows for external audio devices to be connected.

On the subject of HDMI, the Bravia 7 II only sports two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, alongside two HDMI 2.0 ports. They all support ALLM, but only HDMI 3 and 4 support 4K/120Hz gameplay and VRR.

This has been the case for many previous Sony TVs, but in a year in which more TV manufacturers than ever are offering three or more full-bandwidth ports (Hisense and Philips join Samsung and LG this year), the Bravia 7 II is lagging behind its contemporary competition even more than its predecessors did.

Moving on to streaming, the Sony Bravia 7 II doesn’t throw any curveballs here either. Google TV remains the operating system of choice, and we don’t find any obvious missing apps or software stumbles of note.

Generally speaking, Sony’s software feels a bit more robust this year, with less lag and a pleasing new My Cinema interface. This takes the pressure out of changing your TV’s picture and sound settings by presenting three easy-to-interpret modes within a charming visual interface. These modes are: Director’s Cut, Daytime and Dialogue.

The second and third options boost brightness and visibility for watching in ambient light and enhance vocal clarity, respectively, but the aptly titled Director’s Cut is our favourite of the trio. It essentially works in a very similar way to Filmmaker Mode on other TVs – Sony famously refuses to put Filmmaker Mode on its models, instead offering its own Professional picture mode – by applying picture settings that best provide an “as the director” intended picture performance.

Picture

Sony has to justify this backlit TV's expense for it to stand above its self-emissive OLED competitors, and, for the most part, the Bravia 7 II does a pretty good job. This is easily one of the best backlit TVs we’ve ever tested, but it’s not completely picture perfect.

We put the TV through its paces using our thorough product testing procedures; we’ve hooked up our reference 4K Blu-ray player to the TV and raided our library of 4K discs, and we have two comparison TVs on hand to judge the Bravia 7 II against. The first is a lower-priced mid-range OLED, and the second is Sony’s very own Bravia 9 II – the step-up model in Sony’s new True RGB range.

We’ll start with the positives as there are many of note. As a whole, the Bravia 7 II delivers much of what we like from Sony’s other recent televisions, in part thanks to Sony’s excellent picture tuning.

There is a suitable sense of balance and subtlety to the image, ensuring colours are presented with punch and saturation without verging into overblown territory. Foliage in Civil War appears pleasantly verdant without inching into highlighter-green, and a golden sunset appears appropriately rich and warm.

Sticking with Civil War, we find motion handling to be particularly impressive. Sony has long excelled in this area, and the Bravia 7 II continues that tradition. Camera pans are smooth and composed without drifting into the soap-opera effect, while fast-moving objects such as the jets flying over the Charlottesville military camp remain clean and well defined. The Bravia 7 II can't quite match the near-instantaneous response of OLED, but we rarely find ourselves distracted by blur or judder during films.

Most impressive, though, is the solidity and depth on display here. Sony is renowned for capturing three-dimensional depth via the Bravia XR Processor’s ability to analyse the focal point of the image, and generate depth information around it. This system is utilised excellently on the Bravia 7 II, as evidenced when we watch the Matera sequence in No Time To Die.

As Bond crosses a bridge towards a cemetery, there is a tangible sense of solidity that we rarely see in non-OLED TVs, and the backdrop of the Italian vista seems to stretch far into the horizon. These combine to greatly aid immersion, resulting in an image that draws us in with ease.

The general sense of nuance and sophistication extends to how the Bravia 7 II manages its backlight. When this TV is in its element, it becomes possible to forget that this is a backlit TV, as the RGB Mini LED system doesn’t distract or detract from the experience.

This extends to general blooming control, which is extremely impressive by prevailing standards. In a shot from Oppenheimer in which the nuclear bomb testing site is lit up at night by a series of spotlights, we find that the halos of light that we’ve seen time and time again on other backlit TVs have been strictly confined. There is still a very faint amount of blooming, but this is leagues ahead of other LCD TVs that we’ve recently tested.

However, it’s unfortunate that the Bravia 7 II does fall behind the OLED competition when it comes to contrast. Those spotlights don’t punch through with much vigour, resulting in highlights looking rather flat and dull.

This is also evident in the introduction of Alien: Romulus, as the TV is evidently dulling the pinpoint stars to maintain the integrity of the black backdrop of space.

Comparing this with a cheaper OLED, we find a night-and-day difference, as the inky black depths of space contrast wonderfully with focused pockets of brightness.

Furthermore, the introduction of Blade Runner 2049 reveals a strange colour volume issue with darker content. The black background — which, we should note, is still a very dark shade of grey on this TV — and text seem to battle, with the normally vibrant red “replicants” word showing as more of a greyish-pink.

As the text continues line-by-line, the TV seems to really struggle with colour consistency, as the white text fades into shades of peach and grey, worsening with each line of text that appears.

We suspect that this challenging scene is tripping up the RGB Mini LED backlight and, more importantly, the algorithm that deduces where to place highlights and colours, resulting in a form of colour bleeding that influences the surrounding text.

It's worth noting that the Bravia 9 II exhibits very similar behaviour, too, suggesting that this is currently a characteristic of Sony's implementation of RGB Mini LED rather than an isolated issue with the Bravia 7 II. We also find that the Bravia 9 II delivers punchier highlights, which tracks with its higher overall brightness capabilities — but you can find out more about that TV in our separate review.

Viewing angles could also be better. While our OLED reference retains colour purity and detail when we look at it from wider angles, the Sony washes out when we move past a point that’s not all that far from the “sweet spot”.

This is, ultimately, where we have to acknowledge that while the Bravia 7 II is a very good backlit TV, it’s still subject to some of the inherent drawbacks of LCD technology.

You can pick up a very capable OLED for similar or, in many cases, less money than the Bravia 7 II, which affords you better sharpness, perfect contrast and zero blooming.

Sound

Sony’s entire Bravia TV lineup, from the flagship Bravia 8 II to the three-star Bravia 3, have all fared well when it comes to sound. Despite this, Sony seems to have taken a different approach with the Bravia 7 II, and it's a step backwards rather than a step forwards.