The Best Aussie TV Deals Available Now

• Get 15% off Samsung 2024 TVs when bundled with a Soundbar (automatically applied to cart when the eligible TV and soundbar included in the cart)
• Hisense 65" U8KAU 4K ULED Mini-LED Pro QLED Smart TV – A$1,895 (was $2,295, save $400)
• LG UR8050 43" 4K Smart UHD TV – A$765 (was $895, 15% off)
• Sony 85" X90L 4K BRAVIA XR Full Array LED Google TV – A$3,995 (was $4,495, save $500)
• Sony Bravia 65" X80L LED 4K Smart Google TV – A$1,412 (was $1,895, 25% off)
• Toshiba 65" C350MP 4K UHD Google TV 23 – A$899 (was $1,199, save $300)

Check out more Australian tech deals here.

The TV market continues to evolve, both in terms of technology and pricing. 4K has replaced 1080p, but 8K is (still) waiting in the wings. The long-running success of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens is increasingly being eroded by affordable competition from organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels. Let's not forget features like HDR or the steady evolution of HDMI cable standards.

But which TV should you buy? Here are the best ones we've tested, as well as the main points to consider when shopping.

What to Look for in a New TV

Resolution has long been a top consideration in buying a new TV, but the current TV landscape has seen a flattening of this trend. The TV resolution question used to be a choice between 720p (1,280 by 720 pixels) and 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels). Then, it moved on to 1080p versus Ultra HD, or 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels, or over eight million pixels). Now, it's no longer a question: 4K is the standard for medium-sized and larger televisions from every major manufacturer.

The higher resolution no longer commands a price premium, and you can find a 65-inch 4K TV for under $1,000. You can even dig lower and build an entire home theater for $1,000 if you're willing to make some compromises. Realistically, you'd be hard-pressed to find a TV from a major brand larger than 40 inches that isn't 4K. In fact, every TV on this list (except one) is 4K.

Nearly all 4K TVs have connected features that let you stream 4K content. The Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Roku TV platforms have enabled many TV brands to add smart TV functions without developing first-party systems like LG, Samsung, and Vizio do. These platforms are full of features and offer access to most major streaming services, along with features like voice assistants, local media streaming, and a variety of apps. If you can't find the apps or services you want on your TV, you can connect a separate 4K media streamer to an HDMI 2.0 port to fill that gap.

Apple AirPlay 2 is now available on new TVs from LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio, along with all Roku media streamers including Roku TVs. It's also available on several Google TVs, like those from Hisense and TCL. This feature lets you use your iPhone or iPad to stream content from iTunes to the TV. Apple also has the Apple TV app with its Apple TV+ service on all major smart TV platforms, so you can watch Apple video content on nearly any TV without an Apple TV 4K box, which was previously necessary.

4K content is now freely available on many streaming services and Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, even if it hasn't been widely adopted by broadcast or cable TV services yet (read more about the ATSC 3.0 standard for more details). If you have a fast internet connection, you can watch some excellent shows on Amazon and Netflix in 4K (and most new original programming on the services is produced at that resolution). New films are also coming out digitally in 4K through various on-demand streaming services.

Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are a physical media format that can store 4K HDR content and are readily available. Don't expect to play them on your current Blu-ray player, though; it's a separate format from Blu-ray, so you need a dedicated Ultra HD Blu-ray player, a Microsoft Xbox Series X (or Xbox One S/X if you can find one), or a Sony PlayStation 5 to handle the format. The good news is that Ultra UD Blu-ray stores 4K video with HDR (explained below), and it can even handle advanced surround sound audio if your speaker system supports it. It has a long-term edge over streaming since it's a piece of media you can physically own, and it doesn't require an internet connection or a service subscription. Ultra HD Blu-ray releases are relatively paltry outside of major new movies, though, so if you want to watch your favorite obscure film you might have to downgrade to 1080p or even 480p with a Blu-ray or DVD.

Should You Wait for 8K?

That one's easy: No.

Don't worry about 8K for now, despite what you might have heard about it and that the HDMI 2.1 standard supports it. 8K is 7,680 by 4,320 pixels, or four times the number of pixels of 4K. 8K TVs are currently available as premium models for significantly more money than their 4K equivalents (including OLED TVs, which are already pricy), but they aren't going to be meaningful for consumers for a few more years, and there's little reason to consider buying one yet unless you have lots of cash to burn.

Moreover, there's no consumer-ready 8K media available, and no major studios or distributors have even talked about releasing 8K movies or shows so far. There aren't yet physical or streaming media standards that could support 8K commercial releases either. Even if you can find an 8K TV, at best you might be able to watch upconverted 4K video on it. So, for the time being, don't worry about 8K suddenly replacing 4K. It won't happen anytime soon.

Is a 4K HDR TV Worth It?

4K is a no-brainer, but there's a next-step video technology to consider when you shop for a TV. High dynamic range (HDR) content pushes much more information to the display than a standard video signal. The resolution remains the same, but the range of color and amount of light each pixel can produce is significantly broader.

Because of improving LCD and OLED panel technology, high-end televisions can display wider color gamuts and finer gradients of light and dark than before. Standard video was built around the limitations of older cathode ray tube televisions, intentionally using a set range of color and light information in the signal. HDR breaks those limitations and uses expanded ranges with finer values between them. Basically, this means HDR displays can produce more colors and more shades of gray (or, rather, luminance values) than standard dynamic range displays.

There are two major HDR standards out there with commercially available content: HDR10 and Dolby Vision. HDR10 is an open platform that uses 10-bit color values. The UHD Alliance certifies televisions that meet the HDR10 standard, along with minimum brightness and contrast ratios, as UltraHD Premium. Dolby Vision is a closed standard from Dolby; it supports 12-bit color and determines ranges in the signal it provides to a display on the fly, based on the display itself and the needs of the scene. Televisions that support Dolby Vision note so on their packaging.

Some other HDR standards and variants are also out there, but they've yet to see the broad acceptance in TVs that HDR10 and Dolby Vision have. Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) is a standard from the BBC and Japanese broadcaster NHK, which is backward compatible with standard dynamic range TVs. Meanwhile, Samsung and Amazon Video have HDR10+, which adds variable metadata to brightness, changing the range of bright and dark that video can display from scene to scene.

HDR content is generally rarer than SDR UHD content, but it's still widely available, especially for new shows and films on major streaming services. Ultra HD Blu-rays, along with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and other streaming apps all support HDR in HDR10 and/or Dolby Vision. Whether one standard is better than the other is difficult to determine at this point; HDR10 uses more concrete values and is easier to technically evaluate, but Dolby Vision is designed to specifically fit the needs and limits of whatever television you use. Whether it's HDR10 or Dolby Vision, HDR-capable televisions can produce a better picture than TVs that don't support the wider color gamuts or increased range of luminance information.

What Is the Best Time to Buy a TV?

Manufacturers typically announce new TVs in January (we saw several promising new screens at CES 2023), but those models don't usually hit store shelves until spring or summer. That means there's a solid three- or four-month span in which you know what new TVs are coming out. If you can find deep discounts for the previous year's models during that period and you know they're good performers based on our reviews, you should go for them.

Keep an eye out for sales around big sporting events like the Super Bowl, or when football season is just starting. You might be able to find price cuts of a few hundred dollars or more. Like all sales, pay attention to which models are on sale; different tiers and series of TVs can perform wildly differently.

Huge price slashes on Black Friday often promote budget or midrange televisions with seemingly big discounts, but their pictures might not be nearly as good as higher-end models. Check the model numbers carefully against reviews for a good sense of whether the discount you see is worthwhile.

Are Cheap TVs Worth the Price?

Budget-priced TVs can be appealing, especially if you haven't yet made the jump to 4K and are daunted by $1,000-plus price tags. Be careful when you see a great deal on a TV, though, even if it says 4K HDR. It could be a steal, or it could be a disappointment.

Performance among budget TVs varies wildly and trends toward the mediocre. You might find a few good deals, like the TCL Q7 Class that manage to combine excellent picture quality with a reasonable price. You are also likely to find a sea of cheap TVs that don't measure up in one way or another.

Don't count on big names to be reliably high-quality in their budget lines, either. Although companies like LG, Samsung, and Sony can make some incredible flagship TVs, their inexpensive models generally aren't any better than baseline models from more budget-centric brands like Hisense and TCL—and they're usually a bit more expensive. As always, our reviews (and the picture quality tests we perform) can help you find a screen that doesn't trade quality for the price.

For the top budget-friendly models we've tested, head over to our story on the best cheap TVs.

What Is the Best OLED TV?

Plasma TVs were the only flat-panel models available when they first came out nearly two decades ago. They're now a dead category, however, and you won't find a major television manufacturer that sells new plasma models. That means you likely must choose between LED-backlit LCD TVs (also simply called LED TVs), and much less common, much more expensive OLED displays.

First, a note: LCD and LED TVs are distinct types, even though both use LCD panels that require some sort of illumination. But whereas traditional LCD TVs rely on cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) for that task, the now more common LED TVs use LEDs.

There are further differences in the various designs. LED TVs can be either edge-lit or backlit. Edge-lit TVs light up their screens with arrays of LEDs along the edges of the panels, allowing the set to be thin and light. Backlit TVs use a large array of LEDs directly behind the panel. That design choice makes the screen a little thicker but enables more even illumination and, for high-end screens, the ability to adjust individual LEDs to enhance black levels. Very good edge-lighting systems can produce excellent pictures, though, and TV manufacturers are making backlit LED arrays smaller and thinner, so the distinction means less than in the past. No matter the technology, an LED TV's thinness and brightness are roughly proportional to its price.

OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays are a rare and very expensive technology for TVs and, despite their name, are drastically different from LED-backlit televisions. In fact, they're closer to plasma screens in how they work. Each diode generates both color and light, like in plasma screens, but the diodes can be much smaller and thinner than even LED-lit panels. That makes it possible for them to produce very impressive black levels. For a few years, LG and Sony were the only television manufacturers that offered OLED models. However, Vizio entered the field three years ago, and Samsung dipped its toe in the OLED TV market in 2022. The latter released the brightest OLED TV we've seen yet, the S95C, in 2023.

What Size TV Should You Get?

A big TV that's too close can be just as uncomfortable to watch as a small one that's too far away, so don't assume that the biggest screen available is the best choice. There are a few different rules of thumb regarding TV screen size based on your distance from it.

Generally, the distance between your couch and your TV should be between 1.2 and 1.6 times the diagonal measurement of your screen. So if your couch is six feet away from your screen, you can comfortably watch a TV between 42 and 60 inches. If your couch is five feet away, a 37- to 52-inch screen should work well.

For more, see our stories on how to choose the right TV screen size, the best 65-inch TVs, and the best 75-inch (and up) TVs.

What Is a Good TV Refresh Rate and Contrast Ratio?

One of the biggest problems with narrowing your choices to a single TV is the sheer number of specs. To make your job a little easier, two of the biggies, refresh rate and contrast ratio, are safe to ignore.

Refresh (or response) rate, the speed at which your TV's panel refreshes its image, is expressed in hertz (60Hz, 120Hz, 240Hz, 480Hz, or 600Hz). The theory is that a faster refresh rate results in a smoother image. But in reality, there are several reasons this simply isn't true, and it's not worth paying more for a set with a faster response rate. In many cases, 60Hz is just fine for films and TV, and 120Hz is plenty for video games and sports (though you should probably turn off those higher refresh rate modes when watching most shows and movies to avoid that jarring soap opera effect). Also, keep in mind that numbers above 120Hz (except for a few Samsung TVs with gaming monitor-like 144Hz refresh rates), tend not to indicate a panel's native refresh rate; they're usually numbers produced through various backlight flickering and other image processing tricks.

Contrast ratio, meanwhile, is the difference between the darkest black and the brightest white a panel can display. In theory, the highest contrast ratio possible is desirable since dark blacks and bright whites contribute to a high-quality picture. There isn't really a standard way for manufacturers to measure this spec, though, and vendors are all vying to come up with the highest ratios so their TVs seem more appealing. Previously, OLED TVs were the only models we've tested to actually produce an "infinite" contrast ratio with a perfect 0 black level, but recently mini LED backlight systems have enabled some TVs, like Samsung's flagship LED models, to also offer perfect black levels with no noticeable light bloom. We measure contrast ratios with a consistent process across all TVs, so you can trust our numbers.

What Is the Best Smart TV?

Almost all TVs now offer web apps and built-in Wi-Fi via a smart TV platform. These features let you connect your television to the internet and access online streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, and YouTube. Many also integrate social network services like Facebook and Twitter, and many manufacturers offer entire downloadable app ecosystems with other programs and games you can use on your TV. Some manufacturers like LG, Samsung, and Vizio develop first-party systems, while others like Hisense, Sony, and TCL use third-party systems like Google TV and Roku TV to give their TVs apps and online services.

These apps are on inexpensive media streaming devices, so they're not vital. But a friendly interface that unlocks the services you want to use is convenient and saves you from needing to buy anything extra.

What Are the Different TV Connections?

Ideally, a TV should provide enough video connections not only for now but also for the foreseeable future. The most important input is HDMI, which supports all major forms of digital video sources including Blu-ray players, game consoles, set-top boxes, and PCs through a single cable. Most TVs have three or four HDMI ports, but some might only have two. If you want a 4K screen, make sure the HDMI ports are at least HDMI 2.0. It's the current standard and supports 4K video at 60 frames per second; older HDMI ports can only handle 4K up to 30 frames per second, at best. HDMI 2.1, meanwhile, supports higher resolutions and faster refresh rates, though it isn't vital for most content currently available.

As for cables, unless you have a huge home theater system and plan to run cables between devices at distances longer than 25 feet (and that's being generous), brands and prices don't matter. We've compared the performance of high-end cables and inexpensive ones and found that they all carry digital signals similarly. More expensive cables might have better build quality, but you won't see any performance advantages from them. Don't shop for HDMI cables at retail stores, and ignore any clerks who warn you of "dirty electricity" or "viruses" that can come with cheap cables (both claims I've witnessed). Hop online and find the least expensive cable at the size you need and snap it up.

For more, see our story on what you need to know about HDMI cables.

HDMI also supports the highest-end home theater audio standards, though you'll generally have to give up a port as a video input to use it. Most TVs have an HDMI port with an audio return channel (ARC), clearly labeled on the back. ARC enables sound to be sent downstream to a connected soundbar or speaker system from the TV over HDMI and supports compressed 5.1-channel surround sound like optical connections do. However, recent TVs have enhanced ARC, or eARC, which offers even higher-quality audio and more features than optical or ARC can provide. eARC supports uncompressed multi-channel sound, including spatial audio like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. In fact, if you want to use those much more precise surround systems instead of discrete channel feeds, you need to use eARC.

If you have legacy devices from before the days of HDTVs, some new TVs might still support them. While they're not standard, many TVs have composite or component video inputs you can use to hook up VCRs and older game systems. Groups of full-sized RCA ports might be available, but you're more likely to find 3.5mm ports designed for use with included dongles that convert the 3.5mm connection to three RCA ports for composite video or five RCA ports for component video.

Should You Calibrate Your TV?

Most modern TVs are accurate enough out of the box that they don't need calibration. Just follow our five simple tweaks to get the best picture settings for your TV and you should be good to go.

Still, if you spent a lot on your new TV, you might want to get it calibrated to obtain the best picture possible. Professional calibrations can cost hundreds of dollars, but if you have a high-end home theater (the kind you hired someone to build for you), it can be a worthwhile added expense. You can also use the Apple TV's Color Balance feature, though it doesn't come close to a professional calibration and only affects the Apple TV device's (not the Apple TV app) output itself.

And, of course, don't forget to turn off motion smoothing (the effect that makes everything look like a soap opera) unless you're watching sports.

Which Sound System Is Best for TV?

TVs have built-in speakers that function well enough in the sense that you can understand dialogue, but beyond that, they're typically pretty underwhelming. With few exceptions, you can improve your movie and gaming experience greatly by adding a speaker system, such as a soundbar or a dedicated multi-channel home theater system.

If space is at a premium or your budget is limited, a soundbar is your best bet. Soundbars are long, thin, self-contained speakers that sit under or over your TV. Small and simple to set up, they're less expensive than multi-speaker systems. Soundbars generally don't separate the channels enough to accurately place sound effects, but they've become quite good at producing a large sound field around you. Moreover, many soundbars pair easily with a subwoofer for that added thunder when watching movies.

Here are some of our favorite soundbars.

The Best Outdoor TVs

As a rule, TVs aren't rugged and you shouldn't use them outside. They aren't built to handle extreme temperatures or any significant amount of moisture or dirt. If you want a TV to put on your porch or deck, you need a specialized set designed for that location.

Companies like SunBriteTV make durable TVs that can function in a much wider range of temperatures than most consumer TVs and are protected against the elements. They're built to be left out in the rain and snow, with a heavy chassis and shielded connection bays. That extra protection is costly, though; most outdoor TVs cost at least twice as much as comparable indoor TVs. Our Editors' Choice, the SunBriteTV Veranda 3, costs $2,898.95 for the 55-inch model we tested.

For more buying advice, see our story on what TV model numbers and SKUs actually mean.