Filmmakers spend a great deal of time and effort obsessing over every last detail, so you want a TV that best translates their vision to the at-home viewing experience to help you stay immersed in your favorite films. A TV's contrast ratio is arguably the most important aspect for watching movies; if your TV doesn't have good contrast, it won't display deep blacks, making the image look washed out and flat. With the rise of HDR movies, having a model with good HDR brightness and color volume is also crucial for an impactful experience. If you still watch DVDs, a model with solid image processing will go a long way in making that content look as good as it can. Through our testing, we can see which models offer the best movie-watching experience depending on your budget.
Below are our recommendations for the best TVs for movies you can buy. See our picks for the best OLED TVs, the best bright room TVs, and the best 4k TVs, or vote on which ones you want us to buy and test. You could also consider one of the best home theater projectors instead of a TV. To learn more about the new TV models that will be available soon, check out our 2026 TV lineup page.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
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Best TV For Watching Movies
Home TheaterMixed UsageBright RoomSportsGamingBrightnessBlack LevelColorMotion HandlingGame Mode ResponsivenessProcessing (In Development)Resolution:4kNative Refresh Rate:165HzScreen Finish:MattePanel Type:OLEDSub-Type:QD-OLEDDolby Vision:NoSee all our test resultsSizes:55" 65" 77" 83"The overall best TV for movies we've tested is the Samsung S95F OLED. It offers top-tier image quality and versatility, making it suitable for home theaters and bright living rooms. Due to the TV's perfect black levels, blacks are inky with no haloing around highlights and subtitles. Colors are vivid and lifelike due to the TV's QD-OLED panel, so it has no problem displaying the punchiest colors in animated movies. Furthermore, highlights in HDR movies really pop out, so this model really takes advantage of the capabilities of HDR. If you have a wide seating area, this TV's nearly perfect viewing angle means image quality doesn't degrade when watching the TV from an angle. It also uses a matte screen coating that essentially eliminates reflections, even in the brightest rooms, making it a great daytime movie-watching TV.
The TV does a great job upscaling, so you still get a sharp enough image with visible details when watching older DVDs. It doesn't do as good a job reducing artifacts in heavily compressed streams, but it doesn't overly smooth out details, which is nice. If you care about the content creator's intent, this model is accurate out-of-the-box in SDR and HDR, so you don't need to pay a premium to get it calibrated. It comes equipped with Samsung's Tizen OS, so you can easily find all the mainstream streaming apps. Unfortunately, it doesn't support Dolby Vision, but it does offer similar HDR10+. It also doesn't support DTS audio passthrough, which is a downside for physical media collectors who need their TV to send audio to their soundbar.
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Best Upper Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies
Home TheaterMixed UsageBright RoomSportsGamingBrightnessBlack LevelColorMotion HandlingGame Mode ResponsivenessProcessing (In Development)Resolution:4kNative Refresh Rate:144HzScreen Finish:GlossyPanel Type:OLEDSub-Type:WOLEDDolby Vision:YesSee all our test resultsSizes:42" 48" 55" 65" 77" 83"If you really want an OLED, but a flagship model like the Samsung S95F OLED is too pricey, go with the LG C5 OLED. Its image processing is a bit better than the Samsung's overall, so it's still a solid option for watching lower quality content. It's also very accurate out of the box, so it stays true to the filmmaker's intent. It delivers perfect blacks, the brightness needed to make highlights pop in HDR, and vibrant colors, so HDR content looks great. The TV has a wide viewing angle, making it suitable for wide seating arrangements. Furthermore, it has the brightness and reflection handling needed to overcome glare from indirect lighting, making it suitable for rooms with overhead lights on. Unlike the Samsung, it struggles with direct reflections, so avoid placing the screen directly in front of any light sources, and you're good to go.
It supports the popular Dolby Vision format, which is great, since many streaming services and 4k Blu-rays utilize that HDR format. Sadly, it doesn't passthrough DTS audio formats, so you need to have a receiver or soundbar with HDMI In if you want to listen to audio tracks in DTS. Finally, it runs LG's webOS, which has a ton of available apps to download, making movies easy to find.
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Best Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies
Home TheaterMixed UsageBright RoomSportsGamingBrightnessBlack LevelColorMotion HandlingGame Mode ResponsivenessProcessing (In Development)Resolution:4kNative Refresh Rate:144HzScreen Finish:GlossyPanel Type:LCDSub-Type:VADolby Vision:YesSee all our test resultsSizes:65" 75" 85" 98"The TCL QM8K is a great TV all-around that offers a wide variety of features and very good image quality. It doesn't display the same perfect blacks as the LG C5 OLED, but blacks are still deep and bold in a dark room. Since this is an LED model, there's some haloing around highlights in dark scenes, but it's barely noticeable during most scenes. Colors are vibrant and punchy, but they're not nearly as accurate out-of-the-box as they are on the other picks on this list so far, so you need to get it calibrated if you want the most accurate image possible. This is a very bright TV, so it has no problem displaying very bright highlights in HDR movies. Like most other TVs on our list, it easily overcomes glare from indirect lighting, but direct lights are visible on the screen.
The TV has a pretty narrow viewing angle, so it's best to sit centered to the screen if you want the best image quality. Fortunately, this TV is loaded with features like support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and DTS audio passthrough, so compatibility isn't an issue at all. It does a great job cleaning up artifacts in low-bitrate content. The TV also does a good job upscaling, so the image doesn't look too soft when you're watching movies in a low resolution. It utilizes the Google TV OS, so finding apps and new movies to watch is very easy. It even comes in a massive 98-inch model, which will certainly stand out in your home theater.
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Best Lower Mid-Range TV For Watching Movies
Home TheaterMixed UsageBright RoomSportsGamingBrightnessBlack LevelColorMotion HandlingGame Mode ResponsivenessProcessing (In Development)Resolution:4kNative Refresh Rate:144HzScreen Finish:GlossyPanel Type:LCDSub-Type:VADolby Vision:YesSee all our test resultsSizes:55" 65" 75" 85" 98"If the TCL QM8K is a bit out of your price range, but you like what it offers, you can step down to the TCL QM7K. Blacks are pretty much just as deep as they are on the more expensive model, but there's more visible haloing. This means that the area around highlights in otherwise dark scenes glow into the dark area, which affects the appearance of blacks. In most scenes, you won't notice it, but it's more noticeable if you use subtitles. Colors aren't quite as punchy as they are on the QM8K, but they still look vibrant and lifelike, and the TV has the HDR brightness needed to make highlights stand out. Like the QM8K, you will want to get this TV calibrated for the most accurate colors. Its viewing angle is just as narrow as the higher-end model, so image quality is degraded when viewed at an angle.
The TV's bright room performance is similar; it overcomes glare from indirect lights, but direct light sources are distracting. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and DTS audio passthrough, so it has excellent compatibility. Like many TVs, it runs Google TV, so you have access to every streaming app. It's not quite as good at upscaling as the QM8K, but it's still decent enough that the image doesn't look soft and void of details. It does a very similar job cleaning up artifacts in heavily compressed movies, which is great. This is a very solid TV overall, and even most cinephiles will be impressed with the image quality it provides when watching their favorite films.
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Best Budget TV For Watching Movies
Home TheaterMixed UsageBright RoomSportsGamingBrightnessBlack LevelColorMotion HandlingGame Mode ResponsivenessProcessing (In Development)Resolution:4kNative Refresh Rate:144HzScreen Finish:GlossyPanel Type:LCDSub-Type:VADolby Vision:YesSee all our test resultsSizes:55" 65" 75" 85" 98"If you're looking for something more budget-oriented but still want a good movie-watching experience, the TCL QM6K offers that. Unlike many budget models on the market, it has local dimming to deepen blacks. They're not nearly as bold as they are on the other TVs on our list, but they're still deep enough to give the image solid depth, especially in a dark room. However, there's more noticeable haloing around highlights in dark scenes, and subtitles have a visible glow. Colors aren't as vibrant as they are on the TCL QM7K when watching colorful animated films, but the TV is vibrant enough that the image doesn't look dull. Surprisingly, colors are more accurate on this model out of the box than on the higher-end TCLs, which is great. Highlights in HDR films don't stand out as much as they should, but you still get a fairly impactful HDR experience.
The TV is bright enough to fight glare when you have your overhead lights on, but direct light sources are very distracting. The TV also has a narrow viewing angle, so it's not very good for wide seating arrangements. Its processing is okay, but there are visible artifacts in low-bitrate content, and low-resolution content lacks some detail. Fortunately, it has great compatibility when you're watching high-quality sources, since the TV supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and DTS audio passthrough. Like the other TCL models, it runs Google TV, so you certainly won't have a hard time finding something to watch.
Notable Mentions
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LG G5 OLED:
The G5 OLED competes with the Samsung S95F OLED and is a solid alternative if you don't need a matte screen coating or prioritize Dolby Vision. However, the LG has some issues in darker scenes that might bother enthusiasts. Since the Samsung doesn't have those issues, is a bit more colorful, and performs better in bright rooms, it's the easier flagship OLED to recommend.
See our review -
Sony BRAVIA 9:
If you want a flagship model, but don't want an OLED like the Samsung S95F OLED, the Sony BRAVIA 9 is the best Mini LED TV for movie fans. The Sony has top-tier image processing, great colors, excellent brightness, and displays very bold blacks. However, it still doesn't match the image quality of a high-end OLED, so the Samsung is the better option for most people.
See our review -
Samsung S90F OLED:
The Samsung S90F competes with the LG C5 OLED. The Samsung has the advantage when it comes to colors, but the LG offers Dolby Vision, superior processing, and deeper blacks in a bright room, making it the more complete package for movie fans.
See our review -
LG B5 OLED:
The LG B5 OLED is a midrange TV that competes with a model like the TCL QM8K. The LG offers deeper blacks and a wider viewing angle,
but the TCL offers better brightness, better HDR colors, and overall image processing. It also supports DTS audio and HDR10+, making it the better all-around option.
See our review -
Hisense U75QG:
The Hisense U75QG is similar to the TCL QM7K, but it offers better peak brightness. Unfortunately, the Hisense makes HDR content look much brighter than intended. Since the TCL stays truer to the filmmaker's intent and has superior contrast, it looks better when watching movies.
See our review -
Hisense U65QF:
The Hisense U65QF competes with the TCL QM6K but offers more brightness. However, the Hisense really overbrightens HDR content, so it doesn't stay true to the filmmaker's intent. The TCL offers a more well-rounded movie-watching experience, with deeper blacks and superior accuracy.
See our review
Recent Updates
Mar 20, 2026:
We moved the Sony BRAVIA 9 to the Notable Mentions and replaced the Sony A95L OLED with the LG G5 OLED in that section. We also rewrote the Introduction and revised text throughout the article for clarity.
Nov 19, 2025:
We confirmed the accuracy of our current picks and ensured all products are in stock.
Aug 28, 2025:
Replaced the Sony A95L OLED with the Samsung S95F OLED, the LG C4 OLED with the LG C5 OLED, the LG B4 OLED with the TCL QM8K, the Hisense U7N with the TCL QM7K, and the Hisense U6N with the TCL QM6K. We also renamed the 'Best Bright Room' category to 'Best LED' since it's more fitting to the article. Finally, we updated the Notable Mentions section.
Feb 27, 2025:
Added a link to our 2025 TV lineup article and confirmed the accuracy of our current picks.
Dec 06, 2024:
Updated the introduction to make it clearer and more concise.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best TVs for movies for most people in each price range. We factor in the price (a cheaper TV wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no TVs that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is a list of all our recent TV reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no TV is perfect, most TVs are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.