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To try to better understand how long a TV should last, we're running 100 TVs through an accelerated longevity test for the next two years. We've just posted our 1-year video update with our latest findings on temporary image retention, burn-in, and more!

The 7 Best Gaming TVs - Winter 2024 Reviews

Updated
Best 4k Gaming TVs

If you're a competitive gamer looking for the best TV for playing video games, you'll want the best performance possible. Manufacturers have been trying to improve their TV gaming performance to compete with monitors in recent years. When evaluating how good a TV is for gaming, there are four main criteria to consider:

Gaming Features

Gaming features are important. High-end models tend to have gaming features like variable refresh rate (VRR) support and an Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) that automatically switches the TV into Game Mode when you launch a game from a compatible device. TVs now also support HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, so you can play 4k games up to 120 fps on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, or even 4k @ 144Hz without Display Stream Compression (DSC) on a recent GPU. A fast refresh rate, like 120Hz and 144Hz, doesn't only improve the fluidity of gameplay in games that support it, but it almost always improves the TV's input lag and perceived response time, so it's a big deal. A high refresh rate also goes hand-in-hand with VRR, as VRR lets the TV dynamically adjust its refresh rate to match the game's frame rate, minimizing, if not eliminating, any screen tearing that can result from the game's frame rate not matching the TV's refresh rate.

For more information on gaming features, look up our articles on VRR and supported resolutions of TVs.

Input Lag and Response Time

Input lag and response time are other essential components of a good gaming TV. Input lag is the time it takes for a frame sent by a source (like a gaming console) to display on screen. A low input lag makes the entire experience more responsive, as your inputs on a controller or mouse are reflected more quickly onscreen. The best TVs can have an input lag as low as five milliseconds. Response time is the time it takes for a pixel to change from one color to the next, typically measured from a fully black pixel to a fully white one or from one shade of gray (either dark or bright gray) to the opposite shade of gray. OLEDs are the uncontested best TVs regarding response time, as their pixel transitions are nearly instantaneous. But the best LED TVs for gaming also have very fast transitions. A slow response time is noticeable, as fast-moving objects on screen leave blurry trails behind them.

You can also check out our articles on input lag and response time if you want to know more.

Contrast and Dark Details in Game Mode

An important factor in how games look on a TV lies in the TV's ability to preserve its contrast in Game Mode. To cut down on processing and thus improve input lag, TVs disable much of their processing features in Game Mode. Thus, it's important for a local dimming feature to be fast and accurate in that mode, like if the TV's dimming zone transitions are more noticeable than they are in other picture modes and if the TV's blooming performance differs from these other modes. The best gaming TVs don't show any apparent reduction in contrast in Game Mode.

You can also read our in-depth article on contrast.

Peak Brightness and Reflection Handling

Finally, a TV's peak brightness is very important. For dark room gaming, contrast is more important overall, but peak brightness is essential in HDR for bright highlights to pop next to a TV's deep blacks. Of course, if you're gaming in a bright room, you want your TV's brightness to be high enough to compensate for any glare from direct or ambient lights. Reflection handling is also important here, as TVs with lower peak brightness, like many OLEDs, can compensate for it by having stellar reflection handling, allowing for bright room gaming. Ultimately, brighter TVs look more vibrant, with more realistic HDR, leading to a more immersive experience.

If you'd like to know more, we have in-depth articles about SDR peak brightness, HDR peak brightness, and reflection handling.

We've bought and tested more than 425 TVs, and below are our recommendations for the best overall gaming TVs you can buy. Also, check our picks for the best TVs for watching movies, the best PS5 TVs, and the best TVs for Xbox Series X, or you can vote on which ones you want us to buy and test. To learn more about the upcoming 2024 models, check out our 2024 TV lineup page.


  1. Best Gaming TV

    The best TV for gaming we've tested is the Samsung S90C OLED. It's a feature-packed TV that delivers an incredible gaming experience. Its low input lag and nearly instantaneous response time result in crystal-clear, fluid motion with no distracting blur or ghosting behind fast-moving objects. The TV delivers impressive picture quality thanks to its unique QD-OLED panel. It delivers incredibly deep blacks, making this an impressive TV for gaming in a dark room. HDR gaming on the Samsung is amazing, but it doesn't support Dolby Vision, although relatively few games support it anyway. It also looks great in bright rooms, with high peak brightness allowing it to easily overcome glare. Its viewing angle is incredibly wide, so it's a great choice for playing couch co-op or party games with friends sitting around the TV.

    All four HDMI inputs support 4k @ 144Hz, so you can take full advantage of a PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and a recent PC GPU without compromising motion performance or input lag. If you have deep pockets and are looking for the best, no matter the cost, consider the higher-tier Samsung S95C OLED, which is even brighter. But considering how bright and colorful the S90C already is, the S95C is not worth the significant price hike for most people.

    See our review

  2. Best Bright Room Gaming TV

    If you're more of a bright room gamer or want a TV that will blow away your friends during a well-lit party, the best 4k TV for gaming in a bright room that we've tested is the Sony X93L/X93CL. It's an excellent gaming TV with very little blur behind fast-moving objects, thanks to its excellent response time, but there's a bit more blur than on the OLEDs due to their near-instant response time. Thanks to the deep blacks of its Mini LED backlight, it looks great in a dark room, but it's not quite as good as the OLEDs, as there's more noticeable blooming around bright objects and subtitles. It does maintain its HDR brightness, as well as being substantially brighter in SDR, better than any OLED. It has great gaming features, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for 4k @ 120Hz gaming on two of its HDMI ports and VRR support to reduce screen tearing.

    Unfortunately, two HDMI 2.1 ports are tight if you have multiple HDMI 2.1 devices, especially as one is also the eARC port. An advantage of this TV over the Samsung S90C OLED is its Dolby Vision gaming support, although it only works at 60Hz, so it's better suited for the 'quality' mode of your favorite games. Otherwise, If you have money to burn, look up the Sony X95L, the best LED TV on the market. It's only available in an 85-inch size in North America, and it's not worth the price premium over the X93L for most people, but if you're looking for the best LED TV, that is it.

    See our review

  3. Best Upper Mid-Range Gaming TV

    If you want an OLED that is not only great at gaming but can also be an excellent home theater TV, consider the upper mid-range LG C3 OLED. The main difference between this TV and the Samsung S90C OLED (minus its 83-inch model) is the specific type of OLED panel used. Both TVs deliver an incredible dark room experience, with no distracting blooming or haloing around bright areas of the screen. But the QD-OLED panel on the Samsung allows for brighter, vibrant, and lifelike colors, resulting in much better color volume overall. The LG partly makes up for it by being more versatile, as it has better image processing, Dolby Vision gaming at 120Hz, and can passthrough advanced DTS audio formats. As with all OLEDs, it's a sight to behold in a dark room, with bright highlights next to the TV's perfect, inky blacks. It's also bright enough for a pleasant gaming experience in a moderately lit room.

    It delivers incredible gaming performance with a nearly instantaneous response time, resulting in crystal-clear motion with no distracting blur behind fast-moving objects. It's also packed with gaming features, including full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth support on all four inputs, which means you can simultaneously take full advantage of the Xbox Series X, PS5, or a recent PC GPU. If you love this TV but wish it were more vibrant, consider the more expensive LG G3 OLED. The G3 is one of the brightest OLEDs on the market and is certainly brighter than the C3, but it's not worth the price difference for most people.

    See our review

  4. Best Mid-Range Gaming TV

    If you're looking for a gaming TV in the mid-range price category, consider the LG B3 OLED. It's a truly splendid TV, with only a few drawbacks compared to the more expensive models. The TV has all the features of the more expensive LG C3 OLED, although the B3 is certainly dimmer. It still delivers outstanding picture quality, especially in a dark room, with its near-infinite contrast ratio delivering deep, inky blacks with no distracting blooming. Just make sure to dim the lights when gaming on this TV, as it's not bright enough in HDR to offer a truly immersive gaming experience in bright rooms.

    This TV is available in a more narrow range of sizes compared to the more expensive LG: 55, 65, and 77 inches. It's still great for gaming, with its two HDMI 2.1 ports offering up to 4k @ 120Hz support, including Dolby Vision gaming @ 120Hz. If you have multiple HDMI 2.1 devices, you'll have to navigate around having only two HDMI 2.1 ports, but thankfully, HDMI 2.1 switches are now pretty cheap. It is compatible with every VRR technology, has a fantastic response time, and has an extremely low input lag in Game Mode. Like other OLEDs, its viewing angle is truly fantastic, making it a great TV for large gaming parties. Overall, this TV is a great entry point into the OLED market.

    See our review

  5. Best Lower Mid-Range Gaming TV

    If you'd like the Sony X93L or LG B3 OLED but are tight on money, you can safely step down to the best lower mid-range gaming TV we've tested, the Hisense U7K. It's dimmer than the Sony, with worse contrast, but it has almost the same feature set. Plus, it's still easily bright enough for a very good HDR experience, and its contrast is excellent overall, so it looks great when gaming in a dark room. It has fantastic reflection handling, so it handles very bright rooms well. It has a good local dimming solution to emphasize highlights and further improve the TV's contrast. It's also a very colorful TV, so it's pleasant to watch in any context.

    Unfortunately, its viewing angle is narrow, so it's best viewed directly in front. Thankfully, its response time is excellent, making it an enticing option for gamers hoping to save money on a great TV. It has superbly low input lag and offers an extremely responsive gaming experience. Like the higher-end X93L and B3, it has two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, but here, each port is capable of up to 4k @ 144Hz, alongside full VRR and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) support. Furthermore, it has full 120Hz Dolby Vision support, a great feature for a lower mid-range model. If you love this TV but would like it to be even brighter, consider the Hisense U8K, which is basically just a much brighter U7K.

    See our review

  6. Best Budget Gaming TV

    The best budget 4k TV for gaming we've tested is the Best Buy exclusive TCL Q5/Q550G QLED. It's a decent TV that delivers an impressive gaming experience thanks to its low input lag and good response time, ensuring a smooth gaming experience with some but not excessive blur. It has HDMI 2.0 bandwidth on all its ports, but what sets this budget model apart is 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz support on the 55-inch and 65-inch models with resolution halving, with a wide VRR range. It's hard to notice the drop in picture quality from resolution halving unless you really look for it, so it's a great feature, making it one of the cheapest TVs on the market with a 120Hz refresh rate. It also supports Dolby Vision at 60Hz, another great feature for a budget model.

    Still, it has worse picture quality than the more expensive models on this list, with worse contrast due to the lack of a local dimming feature. It gets bright overall and is quite colorful, but without local dimming, it can't truly emphasize bright highlights. And like the other models from TCL, it has a disappointing viewing angle, so it's again not great for a wide seating arrangement. Nevertheless, it's an impressive TV for gaming thanks to its low input lag and decent response time. It's a great bang-for-the-buck option for gamers, but if you'd like a slightly brighter TV, the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED is a bit more expensive. Still, they're very similar, so the Q5 is the better value overall.

    See our review

  7. Best Cheap Gaming TV

    If you want something affordable, the Roku Select Series is the best 4k TV for gaming that's viable for small budgets. It's a decent TV that's a small step down from the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED, as it can't do 120Hz like that TV can. Its contrast is okay, especially for a TV at this price point, so it looks adequate in a dark room, even without local dimming. That's a good thing since the TV doesn't get bright enough in HDR for rooms with lots of lights, even with its decent reflection handling. It's bright enough for moderately lit rooms, though, especially when playing SDR titles since its SDR brightness is very good. A great feature of this TV is the sheer amount of models available, from a small 24-inch to a big 75. Remember that the 24 and 32-inch models are limited to a 720p resolution, and the 40-inch model is limited to 1080p. The bigger sizes are 4k TVs.

    The Roku is light on features; it doesn't have VRR, is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, and doesn't support a 1440p resolution. Still, its spectacular input lag and great response time make it a good TV for gamers. However, like many other LED TVs, there's a noticeable black smear in shadow details due to the TV's slower dark state transitions, but you won't have any issues with slower and brighter titles. If you're a Costco member, you'll instead want to get the slightly better and more colorful Hisense A6/A65K.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • TCL QM8/QM850G QLED: The TCL QM8/QM850G QLED is one of the brightest TVs on the market, but unfortunately, it has a lot of quirks, many of which impact the TV's gaming performance. It can't output 4:4:4 while simultaneously being in Game Mode. Its input lag is higher with faster refresh rates, which is unusual, and its response time varies wildly depending on the panel's refresh rate, hurting the TV's gaming performance. See our review
  • Sony A95L OLED: The Sony A95L OLED is a fantastic 4k TV with similar picture quality, if not slightly better, to the Samsung S90C OLED. It offers a few unique gaming features for PS5 gamers, including Auto HDR Tone Mapping, but it's significantly more expensive than the Samsung, and its input lag isn't as low, so it's not a good value for gamers. See our review
  • TCL Q7/Q750G QLED: The TCL Q7/Q750G QLED is a good alternative to the Hisense U7K. Still, the Hisense is better overall as its response time is more consistent when its refresh rate fluctuates, and it's also the more colorful and vibrant TV overall. See our review
  • Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED: The Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED is a great alternative to the Sony X93L/X93CL. The differentiators between the two are the Sony TV's better contrast and dark details in Game Mode, its 60Hz Dolby Vision support, and its generally faster response time. However, the Samsung is faster in dark scenes. The Sony is a slightly better TV for content consumption, with much better image processing. See our review
  • Hisense U6/U6K: The Hisense U6/U6K is a great budget TV and competes directly with the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED. The Hisense is slightly better overall, but the TCL is the better gaming TV because it's capable of 1080p @ 120Hz and 1440p @ 120Hz through resolution halving on the 55-inch and 65-inch models. See our review
  • Roku Plus Series QLED: The Roku Plus Series QLED is a budget TV with the best image quality in its price range. Unfortunately, it's very light on features as it lacks VRR support and is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate at all resolutions, making the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED the better gaming TV overall. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Mar 01, 2024: Confirmed the accuracy and availability of our picks and refreshed the text on the LG C3 OLED and the LG B3 OLED for clarity.

  2. Feb 06, 2024: Confirmed that all picks are accurate and available and clarified that the TCL Q5/Q550G QLED is a Best Buy exclusive.

  3. Jan 10, 2024: Confirmed that all picks are available and accurate.

  4. Dec 12, 2023: The LG B3 OLED replaced the Hisense U8K as the 'Best Mid-Range Gaming TV' as it's a bit better for gaming. The TCL Q5/Q550G QLED replaced the TCL Q6/Q650G QLED as the 'Best Budget Gaming TV' as both TVs are nearly identical, but the Q5 is cheaper. Finally, the TCL S4 was replaced by the better Roku Select Series as the 'Best Cheap Gaming TV'.

  5. Nov 13, 2023: We've expanded the introduction to include the features we look for when making our picks. Due to availability issues, we've replaced the LG C2 OLED with the LG C3 OLED, and we refreshed the text and notables to mention some new alternatives under our picks.

All Reviews

Our recommendations are based on what we think are the best TVs for playing games currently available. They are adapted to be valid for most people in each price range. Rating is based on our review, factoring in price and feedback from our visitors.

If you would prefer to make your own decision, here is the list of all of our TV reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. Most TVs are good enough to please most people, and the things we fault TVs on are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.