I can prove high end TVs are a waste of money with just 4 steps

Traditionally, one of the default purchases for people flush with cash is a bigger, better TV. That makes sense on a couple of levels. First, it’s a conspicuous status symbol, whether for the people around you or just for your own contentment when you walk in the room. On a practical level, though, upgrading your TV will immediately improve the experience of what many of us do for fun: playing games or watching movies and shows.

A notable trend has emerged in recent years. While there are still reasons to splurge on an expensive TV, the quality of mid-range and even some budget TVs has risen to the point that many people will feel perfectly satisfied with them. I’m not going to try and talk you out of buying a 75-inch OLED. if you’re bent on it — but given the factors below, you may want to consider what else you could be putting that money towards.

Brightness and color accuracy are solid

What ultimately matters most

It used to be that if you bought a budget TV, you were taking a serious gamble on image quality. You might still be, but older budget LCDs were more likely to have weak lighting, making them hard to watch in sunlit rooms, and less punchy overall. Partly because of this, their color representation was off. Indeed it was impossible for them to display true blacks, since inferior backlighting systems turned shadows a dark gray instead.

You’ll still want OLED for the best contrast, but cheap LCDs are now equipped with multiple backlight zones, allowing some sections of the screen to dim far enough to make blacks look black when it counts. And I can’t even remember the last time I saw an LCD that wouldn’t be bright enough for everything but direct sunlight.

The real miracle is mini-LED. You’ll pay a little more for it, but that tech shrinks backlights even further, allowing some TVs to achieve OLED-like contrast without breaking the bank. Some enthusiasts may actually prefer mini-LED, since it’s capable of getting far brighter than OLED with no risk of burn-in. The mini-LED TV in my own home is so bright that it would be blinding if I cranked it up to maximum.

Contributing to both brightness and color accuracy is the spread of quantum dot (QD) technology. Despite the name, there’s nothing special going on at the subatomic level — instead it refers to the use of special semiconductor crystals which emit different colors at different sizes. QLED and QD mini-LED sets display a wider color gamut, which can make images seem more lifelike.

4K and dynamic HDR are everywhere

You can forget about 8K

Credit: Dolby

While you’ll still find plenty of 1080p TVs on sale if you want something under 40 inches, anything above that tends to be at 4K resolution, regardless of its price. That’s pretty significant. At anything but the largest screen sizes, it’s difficult to spot jagged edges in 4K, and having more pixels to work with allows for better color and contrast, particularly when it comes to HDR (high dynamic range) content.

You’re no doubt aware of 8K TVs, but they’re largely pointless at the moment. The only reliable source of 8K content is YouTube, likely because companies like Netflix and Disney would have to massively scale up their storage and bandwidth. Very few movies have even been mastered in 8K. Practically speaking, it’s difficult to spot the difference between 4K and 8K on a TV that can fit in a standard living room.

Crucially, the two main dynamic HDR standards — HDR10+ and Dolby Vision — have filttered down to cheaper models. Static HDR formats like HDR10 can be fine, but they apply the same metadata throughout an entire video, which risks some scenes appearing too bright, too dark, or otherwise not as intended. Dynamic formats can react per scene, or even per frame, keeping quality more consistent within content and between different TVs.

In the next year or so, Dolby Vision 2 should improve the appearance of budget TVs even further by allowing studios to specify more details about how their content should appear. It’s just a question of how quickly TV makers can get models out the door.

Gaming features are easier to find

Pay close attention to specs, though

Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

As recently as a few years ago, you had to be very picky if you were choosing a TV for PC or console gaming. At a minimum, a gaming TV requires a Game Mode that eliminates post-processing. Those image enhancements are redundant, and create noticeable input lag, which can mean the difference between beating a boss quickly or getting stuck forever. I wouldn’t even dare to play something like Hollow Knight: Silksong without Game Mode on.

Almost as important are refresh rates. For a long time, many TVs were stuck with 60Hz or even 30Hz panels. 60Hz is fine for movies and TV shows, since framerates are unlikely to exceed 30fps. But some games run at 60fps or higher, and once there’s a mismatch between refresh rates, you can run into visual artifacts like screen tearing.

Thankfully, 120Hz TVs are becoming more and more affordable. Usually included alongside that is VRR, short for variable refresh rate. That feature syncs your TV’s refresh rate to your gaming device, ensuring that visual glitches will never appear.

It’s still worth paying attention to specs, mind you. Some TV makers try to fake high refresh rates, counting the effects of motion smoothing/interpolation on what’s actually a 60Hz panel. Insist on native 120Hz support — motion smoothing will be off when you’re in Game Mode anyway.

Size doesn’t cost that much

How big does a TV really need to be?

Credit: TCL

My first smart TV — the first TV I bought on my own, in fact — was a 40-inch Sharp LCD. It felt huge, especially since TVs were thicker and heavier at the time. Trying to carry it up three flights of stairs in Texas summer heat was a challenge. It wasn’t cheap, either. While I got on discount, it would’ve cost $1,200 at MSRP.

In 2026, it’s easy to find a 65-inch TV for $400, and some 55-inch sets are under the $300 mark. Many 75-inch TVs are $700 or less, which is almost hard to believe if you’re old enough to remember how small TVs in the ’80s or ’90s were.

In the average living room, anything over 75 inches tends to be not just a luxury, but counterproductive. It might be tempting to buy an 85- or 100-inch TV simply because you can — but if you’re sitting less than 10 feet (3 meters) away, your eyes may end up constantly darting around to take in images. That’s going to be irritating in the long run, especially during epics like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

With size less of a concern, you can prioritize some of the other specs I’ve highlighted in this piece. I know I’d much rather own a 65-inch mini-LED TV with VRR than a 100-inch basic LCD that tops out at 60Hz.