The 6 Best Budget TVs - Winter 2020
Reviews

The Hisense 50H8F is the best budget TV we've tested so far. It delivers a great overall picture quality, with deep blacks in a dark room thanks to the full array local dimming support. When in HDR, it displays vivid colors and bright highlights due to the wide color gamut and decent peak brightness. This TV has decent motion handling and supports motion interpolation up to 60Hz. It delivers an excellent gaming experience for most casual gamers thanks to the low input lag, which makes it very responsive to your actions.

On the downside, the response time isn't as fast as higher-end TVs and most serious gamers and sports fans might find the motion blur trail behind fast-moving content excessive. Also, just like all VA panel TVs, this TV doesn't have good viewing angles. The image degrades quickly when you watch from the side, meaning you'll enjoy it more if you sit straight in front.

Overall, this TV is a great choice for most uses and outperforms many more expensive TVs.

If the price is your primary concern, then the best cheap TV we've tested so far is the TCL 3 Series/32S325 2019. It's a mediocre TV overall. There's no HDR support or any advanced motion handling features like motion interpolation or a judder removal option. On the upside, this TV will serve you well if you're looking for a secondary TV, especially for a room where space is limited. It delivers a mediocre picture quality with deep blacks in a dark room, but can't get very bright so it's more suitable for a dim room like a garage.

The TV has a 1080p resolution and doesn't support native 4k. The 32" model is limited to a 720p resolution (except for the 32S327 variant). On the upside, all models run the same Roku smart TV interface found on the higher-end TCL models. The Roku interface is smooth, easy-to-use, and gives you access to a large number of apps to cover any need.

Overall, this TV can't compete with higher-end models, but it's great as a secondary TV where top picture quality isn't required.

Since prices fluctuate significantly around this time of year, it's hard to pinpoint the best value for size TV; however, the TCL 5 Series/65S525 2019 is a very strong candidate for this title. Despite being in the budget category, it's a 65 inch TV with a fairly premium look thanks to its very thin bezels and metal accents. It features a wide color gamut, which is important for displaying HDR content and delivers deep, uniform blacks, even without having a local dimming feature.

This TV should have no difficulty overcoming glare in bright rooms thanks to its good peak brightness for SDR content, though unfortunately, it doesn't get quite bright enough for HDR content to pop the way it should. This is a great TV for gamers, however, thanks to its outstanding low input lag and great response time, resulting in a responsive gaming experience with only a short blur trail behind fast-moving objects.

Unfortunately, the image degrades at an angle, so this may not be the best option for watching sports with a big group of people. It's also not the best choice for watching HDR content, as it can't get quite bright enough for it to pop, though it still does a decent job, especially for this price-point. Overall, this is a good TV for most uses and offers great value for its price.