The 6 Best Smart TVs For Streaming - Spring 2022 Reviews

The best OLED smart TV we've tested is the LG C1 OLED. It provides excellent overall performance that delivers stunning picture quality in dark rooms, and it's also good enough to use in well-lit rooms. The built-in LG webOS is easy-to-use and has a bunch of apps available to download, and there are also gaming features if you want to play video games. It also does an excellent job at upscaling lower resolution content, which is great if you don't stream in 4k.

OLED TVs are unique because they don't have a backlight and instead have individually-lit pixels that turn themselves on and off. It means that it has a near-infinite contrast ratio for deep blacks, and there's no blooming around bright objects either, making it a fantastic choice for dark room viewing. LG TVs like this one come with a unique remote called the Magic Remote. It's different than remotes from other brands because it has a point-and-press feature, like a Wii remote. It allows you to easily navigate through the menu to open your favorite apps.

If you watch HDR movies, you should be happy to know it has excellent performance for this, but its HDR peak brightness is a bit limited. It means that some highlights don't pop the way they should. Also, while it has excellent gradient handling, you'll still notice banding in scenes with shades of similar color. If that doesn't bother you, it's the best smart OLED TV that we've tested.

If you tend to watch a lot of movies, then the Sony A90J OLED is the best TV for streaming movies that we've tested with an OLED panel. Although all OLEDs deliver the same perfect black levels without any blooming, this one stands out versus the LG C1 OLED because it uses a brighter OLED panel, so highlights are vivid and pop more, especially in HDR. 

While it doesn't get bright enough for very well-lit environments, it's fantastic for watching movies in dark rooms, whether you're watching content in SDR or HDR. It displays a wide range of colors in HDR, and it has excellent out-of-the-box accuracy, so you won't need to get it calibrated to enjoy it to the fullest. It also has amazing gradient handling, so you won't see any banding in scenes with shades of similar colors, and it doesn't have any trouble upscaling lower-resolution content like from DVDs and Blu-rays.

Sadly, while it's better for watching movies than the C1, it's not as good for gaming because it has higher input lag and doesn't support FreeSync VRR to reduce screen tearing with an AMD graphics card. So get this TV if you watch movies, but it's not the best choice if you also want to use it for gaming. If gaming isn't your top priority, it's the best OLED TV for streaming movies.

The best TV for streaming with an LED panel that we've tested is the Samsung QN90A QLED. If you're worried about the permanent burn-in risk with OLEDs or simply want something brighter, a TV with an LED panel is a good choice because it's immune to burn-in. This model has Mini LED backlighting that lets it get extremely bright, important for bright room viewing.

Even in a dark room, it has a VA panel with a great native contrast ratio. However, it's lower than other VA panel TVs because it uses Samsung's 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer technology for a fairly wide viewing angle. Still, it has a great Mini LED local dimming feature that further deepens any blacks with minimal blooming. It's excellent for watching movies, thanks to this, and the Tizen OS makes it easy to stream your favorite content because it has a ton of apps available to download.

Unfortunately, it has some uniformity issues with dirty screen effect in the center, which could get distracting while watching some movies or shows with large areas of bright colors. It supports the HDR10+ format but not Dolby Vision, which is disappointing as a lot of streaming content uses this format. If that isn't a problem, it's the best LED TV for streaming.

If you prefer spending less money, then check out the Hisense U8G. It has a worse viewing angle than the Samsung QN90A QLED because it doesn't use any viewing angle technology. However, that means it also has a higher native contrast ratio. Even though the U8G doesn't have Mini LED backlighting, it still gets bright enough to make highlights stand out in HDR, and the local dimming feature is also great. The Android TV is user-friendly, and the Google Play Store has a massive selection of apps you can download, but it also takes a bit of time to get used to. If you want to use it for gaming on the side, it has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and variable refresh rate support but has some motion issues like red ghosting.

If you want an LED TV to stream your favorite content, the Samsung is a great all-around choice. If you want something cheaper, then the Hisense is a good alternative.

The best smart TV you can get for a low cost that we've tested is the Hisense U6G. It's a great all-around TV that offers versatile performance and is good enough for people using it for most uses, whether you like to watch movies or sports, or if you're also a gamer, and it's available in a wide range of sizes.

It comes with Android TV built-in, so you have a massive selection of apps right at your fingertips. The remote has a mic for voice control, and it gives you access to both Google Assistant and Alexa, so you can use it to control other compatible devices. Some people find that Android TV isn't the easiest to use, but navigating through menus feels smooth. In terms of picture quality, it has a VA panel with a high native contrast ratio and remarkable black uniformity, and the full-array local dimming feature helps it display deep blacks in dark scenes.

Unfortunately, as expected for a VA panel, it has a narrow viewing angle, and the image looks washed out from the sides, meaning it's not ideal for wide seating arrangements. Although it gets bright enough in SDR to combat glare, its HDR peak brightness is just okay, and some highlights aren't as vivid as they should be. Besides that, it's one of the best smart budget TVs we've tested.

The best budget smart TV we've tested that uses the Roku TV platform is the TCL 5 Series/S535 2020 QLED. Although this is a 2020 model, you can still find it in 2022 because TCL hasn't released a newer model with Roku. It's an easy-to-use smart platform, amongst the most user-friendly interfaces out of all the platforms available, and it has a great selection of apps you can download through the app store.

It performs great in dark rooms because it has a high native contrast ratio that produces deep blacks, and it has a decent local dimming feature that improves the picture quality in dark scenes. The black uniformity is also good, but there's some blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. It displays a really wide color gamut for HDR thanks to its quantum dot technology, and it has impressive gradient handling with minimal banding, so HDR content looks good.

Unfortunately, it's not a bright TV as it has low peak brightness in SDR and HDR, meaning it doesn't get bright enough to fight glare in well-lit rooms or make highlights stand out in HDR. Also, its reflection handling is only decent, so it's best to avoid placing it in a bright room. However, it's still one of the best smart budget TVs we've tested.