The 5 Best 4k TVs Under $1,000 - Fall 2020
Reviews

The best TV under $1,000 that we've tested so far is the Hisense H9G. It's the successor of the very popular Hisense H9F, with even better performance. It has a VA panel with an exceptional contrast ratio and superb black uniformity. Combined with its full-array local dimming, it can produce deep and inky blacks for an incredible dark room viewing experience. It gets very bright and has excellent reflection handling, so visibility shouldn't be an issue even in the most well-lit environment. However, its narrow viewing angles can be problematic if you have a wide seating arrangement, as images look washed out from the sides.

Response time is excellent. It has a 120Hz refresh rate and a Black Frame Insertion feature to help improve motion clarity. It can also interpolate lower frame rate content up to 120 fps for fans of the 'soap opera effect.' If you plan on gaming, input lag is exceptionally low; however, it doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. It displays chroma 4:4:4 properly, making it a good option for use as a PC monitor.

HDR content looks stunning thanks to its impressive wide color gamut and high peak brightness, producing vibrant colors and bright highlights. Unfortunately, it isn't the most color-accurate, so you might want to calibrate it to get the best viewing experience. It runs on Android TV, which means that you can access the vast Google Play Store and use voice control via the Google Assistant. All in all, if you're looking for a flagship-level TV that won't break the bank, you should check this one out.

The best gaming TV under $1,000 is the Samsung UN65RU8000FXZA. It's a decent overall model with impressive gaming performance. The 49 inch, 55 inch, and 65 inch variants of this TV are all available for under $1,000, so you're getting a good size for its price.

Like some other high-end Samsung TVs, it has a 120Hz refresh rate, and it has support for FreeSync and HDMI Forum VRR. The VRR drops the refresh rate as low as 20Hz, which helps reduce screen tearing. It has an impressive response time, resulting in clear motion, and it has a black frame insertion feature to help reduce motion blur. It has a low input lag, although it's higher than normal at 120Hz. It has a good overall picture quality as it has a low contrast ratio, excellent black uniformity, a wide color gamut, and decent out-of-the-box color accuracy.

Unfortunately, with a VA panel, it isn't ideal for co-op gaming as it has narrow viewing angles. It's not the best for HDR gaming either, as it doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights in that mode. On the upside, it has some extra features like motion interpolation and the ability to remove judder from any source. Overall, most gamers should be happy with this TV for under $1,000.

The best Roku TV under $1,000 is the TCL 6 Series/65R625 2019. It can deliver great picture quality that's suitable for both bright and dark rooms. With its full-array local dimming enabled, it has an outstanding contrast ratio to produce deep, inky blacks.

For gamers, its input lag is exceptionally low, but the panel is limited to 60Hz and there's no support for any variable refresh rate technology. Chroma 4:4:4 is displayed properly in 4k, which is good for text clarity if you want to use it as a computer monitor, and Roku's interface is easy to navigate, with tons of streaming services available through the app store. It also has an excellent peak brightness to combat glare in bright rooms, though its reflection handling is mediocre.

Unfortunately, like most VA panels, the viewing angles are sub-par, so it isn't ideal for large rooms or wide seating arrangements. Its response time is a bit slow, as there's some ghosting in dark scenes. Fortunately, it has an optional black frame insertion feature to help clear up the image, but the backlight's flickering can cause some artifacts and duplication of the image. On the whole, this is the best Roku TV under $1,000 we've tested so far.

The Hisense 65H8G is the best value for size TV under $1,000 that we've tested so far. Like its bigger brother, the Hisense H9G, it has a VA panel that produces inky blacks. It fights glare easily, which is great for watching daytime TV, but it has narrow viewing angles, which isn't ideal if you like watching TV while walking around doing chores. It upscales lower resolution content from cable TV well, and you can safely leave it on the same news channel all day without any risk of permanent burn-in.

It has a good response time and a Black Frame Insertion feature to reduce motion blur. It can also interpolate lower frame rate content to make motion look more fluid, but only up to 60 fps since its refresh rate is limited to 60Hz. Unfortunately, while it has extremely low input lag to provide a responsive gaming experience, it doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology to minimize screen tearing. As for HDR, it has a very good color gamut to produce a wide range of colors and gets reasonably bright to bring out small highlights.

If you get most of your content through streaming services, the Google Play Store has a huge app library. The Google Assistant is also on-board, allowing you to use your voice to control the TV or other compatible smart devices that you have. The internal speakers are just okay, but they lack bass extension to produce that deep, rumbling sound. On the bright side, this TV's budget-friendly price allows you to save some money for a soundbar.