The 4 Best Budget TVs - Spring 2023 Reviews

The best budget TV we've tested is the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. It delivers surprisingly great performance for the price. It looks amazing in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast ratio and decent full array local dimming feature, so there's very little blooming around bright areas of the screen in a dark room. It also has great peak brightness in SDR and decent reflection handling, so glare isn't an issue in a brighter room.

It runs the Roku OS smart interface, which has a great selection of streaming channels, including many free streaming services. It's a great TV for gaming, as it has superb low input lag and variable refresh rate support for a responsive, nearly tear-free gaming experience. Unlike the Hisense U8H, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which is disappointing for new-gen gamers, but it's still great for visually-intensive games that target 4k @ 60Hz in their 'Graphics' mode.

If you want something cheap that gets the job done, the Hisense A6H is the best cheap TV we've tested. It's an okay entry-level TV, and as expected for a cheap TV, it delivers just basic picture quality. Unfortunately, unlike the other TVs on this list, it's not a good choice for a dark room. It has a low contrast ratio, and by going with a cheap TV, you're losing out on advanced features like local dimming to improve the appearance of dark scenes. It also can't display a wide color gamut, so although it supports Dolby Vision HDR, this adds very little overall.

It runs the Google TV smart interface, which has a huge selection of streaming apps available and even supports installing apps from unofficial sources. It makes it a great choice for an office or guest bedroom, as your guests can watch their favorite shows without you having to worry about buying an extra streaming stick. It has wide viewing angles, which is great if you watch TV while walking around, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides.

If you want a cheap TV like the Hisense A6H but plan on using it in a dark room, the best cheap TV for a dark room we've tested is the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series. It's a bit more expensive than the Hisense A6H, but it has much better contrast, making it a better choice for a dark room, as blacks look gray in the dark, and there's no blooming around bright objects. It's also a bit brighter than the A6H, so glare isn't as distracting in a dark room.

It runs the Fire TV smart interface, which is visually similar to the Google TV smart interface. It offers a great selection of additional apps, so you can easily find your favorite streaming channels. Unfortunately, by going with a cheap TV, there are a few sacrifices, as it's not accurate before calibration, so if you care about colors that look the way the content creator intended, you're better off with the A6H.

If you want a large TV but are on a limited budget, the TCL 75S455 is the best 75-inch budget TV. Even on a budget, you can get a large 75-inch or 85-inch model, and although it's not as feature-rich or as premium as more expensive TVs, it still delivers decent overall performance for most uses. It looks great in a dark room thanks to its fantastic contrast ratio, delivering deep blacks with no blooming around bright objects, as it lacks a local dimming feature. It gets bright enough to overcome a bit of glare in a bright room and has decent reflection handling.

It has a decent response time, so there's a bit of motion blur behind fast-moving objects, but it has incredibly low input lag, so you don't have to worry about delays between your actions and the action on-screen. It runs the Roku OS smart interface, which has a great selection of streaming channels, many of them free. The interface is very simple but incredibly easy to use.