How to choose a TV: first decide on the room and what you watch on it, then pick the diagonal for your distance to the sofa, and only after that the panel type. OLED performs best in a dark room, and a bright LCD in a light one. HDR, 120 Hz, HDMI 2.1 ports and the Smart TV platform aren’t needed by everyone: focus on your own needs.
Below, you’ll find how panel types work, which distance suits which diagonal, how HDR formats differ, when you need 120 Hz and HDMI 2.1, and what to check in Smart TV. The article has no specific models or prices: check the specs against the description of the TV you choose. The details were checked against materials from RTINGS, Dolby, Samsung, LG and Google as of October 14, 2026.
How to choose a TV: the room and viewing scenarios
Three questions narrow the choice better than any ratings. Which room is the TV going in: dark or light? What do you watch: movies, sports, TV channels, or do you play on a console? How many people sit in front of the screen, and how wide is the seating?
| Situation | What to look for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dark room, movies, games | OLED | Each pixel emits its own light: deep black and fast response. OLED brightness is usually lower than that of the best LCDs |
| Bright room, TV during the day | LCD with a bright backlight | According to RTINGS, LED/LCD is better suited to a bright room |
| Wide sofa, viewers at the sides | LCD with an IPS (ADS) panel | IPS has a wide viewing angle; on VA, the picture fades and changes color at an angle |
| Console or PC | 120 Hz and HDMI 2.1 | Needed for 4K at 120 frames per second and features such as VRR |
TV size: diagonal and distance to the sofa
Choose the diagonal by distance, not by the size of the wall. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) advises that the screen fill at least 30° of your field of view for mixed viewing. For a more cinematic effect, RTINGS cites 40°, and in general recommends choosing a TV that fills 30–40° of your field of view.
| Diagonal | Distance for 30°, m | Distance for 40°, m |
|---|---|---|
| 43″ | 1.78 | 1.31 |
| 50″ | 2.07 | 1.52 |
| 55″ | 2.27 | 1.67 |
| 65″ | 2.69 | 1.98 |
| 75″ | 3.10 | 2.28 |
| 85″ | 3.51 | 2.59 |
Roughly, the viewing distance should be 1.2 to 1.6 times the diagonal. These figures are the lower limit of a comfortable size, not an ideal: RTINGS points out that the value also depends on the width of the room, the height at which the screen hangs, and the width of the stand. Check the dimensions on the manufacturer’s website before buying: the frame isn’t included in the table.
Resolution: 4K, and when 8K isn’t needed
Large TVs with Full HD are almost no longer made: a few small models remain, and 4K (3840×2160) brought not only more detail but also HDR. 8K TVs come out every year, but according to RTINGS, there is almost no 8K content, so buying such a TV isn’t worth it.
Panel type: OLED, LCD, Mini LED and QLED
Based on how a TV produces light, there are two main groups: LCD with LED backlighting (advertised as “LED TVs”) and OLED, where each pixel emits its own light. Inside LCDs, you’ll find VA and IPS panels.
| Type | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| OLED (WOLED, QD-OLED) | Perfect black, no halos around bright objects, almost instant response | Lower brightness than the best LCDs; burn-in is possible with static images; mostly 55–77 inches |
| LCD with a VA panel | Deep black, good colors, a huge choice of sizes | Narrow viewing angle; smearing may appear in dark scenes |
| LCD with an IPS (ADS) panel | Wide viewing angle, good motion handling | Noticeably weaker contrast: not the best choice for a dark room |
QD-OLED uses quantum dots and produces more vivid colors, but it has no polarizing layer: under bright room lighting, a pinkish-purple tint is visible, and black lifts. RTINGS advises comparing QD-OLED with WOLED in a store; this is one of the rare cases where a demo showroom helps.
What “Mini LED” and “QLED” actually mean
These are marketing names, not panel types. Mini LED means a backlight made of many tiny LEDs with local dimming zones. But the number of zones doesn’t guarantee quality, because good processing is also needed. QLED, QNED, ULED and Triluminos are names of wide color gamut technologies from different manufacturers; not all of them use quantum dots. Micro LED, where each dot emits light, remains very expensive, while RGB Mini LED is being developed by Sony, TCL, Samsung, LG and Hisense, according to RTINGS.
HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG
HDR widens the gap between dark and light, and the formats differ mainly in metadata: information about brightness that the content passes to the TV. Static metadata sets the settings once for the whole film, while dynamic metadata changes from scene to scene.
| Format | Metadata | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| HDR10 | Static | The basic and most common format. Content in Dolby Vision or HDR10+ is usually available in HDR10 as well |
| Dolby Vision | Dynamic | 12 bits versus 10 for HDR10. A TV with Dolby Vision plays both formats, while an HDR10-only TV won’t show the advantages of Dolby Vision |
| HDR10+ | Dynamic | 10 bits; the format is less common, but it is supported by a growing number of services |
| HLG | None | A broadcast format from the BBC and NHK; screens without HDR display it as a regular image |
The format name on the box says less than it seems: according to RTINGS, how noticeable the difference is depends on the content and on the screen itself. If a TV isn’t bright enough, it won’t show most HDR content correctly: it has to compress overly bright details (this is called tone mapping). That’s why brightness and backlighting matter more than the number of formats. Check which formats the model supports and which ones your services and consoles use.
Refresh rate: 60 or 120 Hz
The refresh rate is how many times per second the screen redraws the picture. 120 Hz reduces motion blur and is needed for consoles: according to RTINGS, the PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2 can output 120 frames per second. 120 Hz also has a bonus for movies: 24-frame films are shown without judder, because each frame is repeated a whole number of times.
Look at the real refresh rate in the specifications, not at marketing numbers. Samsung’s “Motion Rate” is twice the actual refresh rate, while LG and Sony have their own names: TruMotion and MotionFlow. RTINGS warns that these numbers mean nothing. For regular TV and streaming, 60 Hz is enough, but RTINGS believes most people should pay extra for 120 Hz, and for consoles that can output 120 frames per second, such a TV is needed.
HDMI 2.1, eARC and gaming features
HDMI 2.1 raises bandwidth to 48 Gbit/s and adds features: 4K at 120 frames per second, variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM) and eARC. But a TV with HDMI 2.1 isn’t required to support every feature, so check each one in the model’s specifications and manual: on some models, they are not available on every port.
- 4K 120 Hz and VRR — for PS5, Xbox Series X and PC. You need an Ultra High Speed cable.
- ALLM — the TV switches to game mode by itself when the console starts a game.
- eARC — one cable between the TV and a soundbar or receiver: it carries uncompressed audio, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.
- Samsung (Tizen): Samsung’s page says that for TVs from 2023 and newer, free One UI Tizen updates are promised for up to seven years from the year of release; availability depends on the model and region.
- LG (webOS): according to LG’s page, the webOS Re:New program provides four updates over five years, that is, five webOS versions including the one installed at purchase. Conditions depend on the model.
- Google TV: built into TVs from many brands, according to Google, it gives access to more than 10,000 apps. Gemini is not available on all devices: it requires Android 14 or later, at least 2 GB of memory and a purchase in the selected country.
- Tuner. According to the company, the Zeonbud over-the-air network uses the DVB-T2 (MPEG-4) standard. If you watch over-the-air TV without a set-top box, look for DVB-T2 in the specifications; cable and satellite require their own tuners.
- Ports. How many HDMI ports there are, which one is eARC, and which support 4K 120 Hz.
- Sound. The built-in speakers of a flat TV often fall short of a soundbar. Look for eARC.
- Reviews of the specific model. The panel type is only a hint: rely on independent tests of your exact model.
- Demo showroom. According to RTINGS, a store is a poor place to compare pictures: lighting and modes differ from home settings. The exception is checking the QD-OLED tint.
- Used TV. If you’re considering a used set, check it carefully before buying.
- RTINGS — TV Panel Types: All TV Types Explained rtings.com
- RTINGS — TV Size To Distance Calculator rtings.com
- Dolby — Dolby Vision HDR at home professional.dolby.com
- RTINGS — What Is HDMI 2.1? rtings.com
- Samsung — One UI Tizen: Smart Hub and apps samsung.com
If you mostly play on PC, take a look at monitors too: our selection of gaming monitors.
Smart TV: platform and updates
The platform determines the interface and the app store and doesn’t affect the picture, so choose the screen first, then the platform. Check whether the video services and TV channels you need, including Ukrainian ones, are available on that platform.
The platform can become outdated before the screen does. If it stops getting updates, you can connect an external streaming device to the TV, so update timelines and the HDMI ports you need matter more than a set of smart features.
What else to check before buying
Sources and methodology
Analysis of public sourcesChecked 14 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
What’s better for a TV: OLED or QLED?
This compares different things. OLED is a panel type where each pixel emits its own light. According to RTINGS, QLED usually means a quantum-dot layer on top of an LCD. OLED is better for a dark room, and a bright LCD is better for a light one.
Do you need an 8K TV?
No. According to RTINGS, there is almost no 8K content, so such a TV isn’t worth buying. For most people, the standard is 4K.
What diagonal should you choose at a 3-metre distance?
According to the RTINGS table, 70–75 inches give about 30° of field of view (2.89–3.10 m). For a cinematic feel, you need a larger screen; for comfort, you can go a little smaller.
Do you need Dolby Vision?
Not necessarily. A TV with Dolby Vision plays both Dolby Vision and HDR10, and HDR10 remains the main format. How noticeable the difference is depends on the content and the screen’s brightness.
Is 60 Hz enough?
For regular TV and streaming, it’s fine, but RTINGS believes most people should pay extra for 120 Hz. For the PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2, which can output 120 frames per second, you need a 120 Hz TV with HDMI 2.1.
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