The 6 Best 4k TVs For Watching Movies - Spring 2021 Reviews

Of the OLED TVs we've tested, the Sony A8H OLED is the best TV for movies. Because it's an OLED, it can turn pixels on and off individually, allowing it to produce perfect blacks and an infinite contrast ratio. Blacks look deep and inky, ideal for watching movies in the dark. OLEDs don't use backlights either, so you don't have to worry about blooming around subtitles or bright objects. The TV can upscale lower-resolution content without issues, including DVDs and Blu-rays, and the Android TV smart interface gives you access to the Google Play Store, which has a ton of apps for all your movie-watching needs.

When it comes to HDR, it supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and HDR content looks good due to its infinite contrast and wide color gamut, despite not getting as bright as a typical LED TV. While the TV doesn't get overly bright, it has fantastic reflection handling, so glare also shouldn't be an issue when using it during the day. If you don't have external speakers in your home theater setup, the TV's built-in speakers are good and offer well-balanced audio, and it supports eARC for high-quality audio passthrough over HDMI, so movies are sure to sound good with or without a soundbar. Finally, it has excellent viewing angles, so the image doesn't lose accuracy from the side if you want to watch movies with family or friends in a wider seating arrangement.

Due to the OLED panel's near-instant response time, content with a lower frame rate can appear to stutter, but this can be helped by enabling motion interpolation. On the upside, it removes 24p judder from all sources. It's important to note that all OLEDs carry a risk of experiencing permanent burn-in, but we don't expect this to be an issue if you watch varied content. All things considered, this is the best OLED TV we've tested for watching movies.

If you want the best TV for movies with an LED panel, we recommend the Hisense H9G. It's the flagship model from Hisense's 2020 lineup, and it manages to deliver impressive picture quality and performance at a fraction of the cost of many higher-end TVs. It's an excellent choice for watching movies, but it only comes in a 55 or 65 inch size. Unlike with an OLED, you won't have to worry about experiencing burn-in if that's a concern to you.

The VA panel on this TV produces deep, inky blacks thanks to its incredible contrast ratio, which is further improved by the TV's full-array local dimming feature. Our unit also has exceptional black uniformity, though this may vary between units. It removes judder from all sources and upscales lower-resolution content well, without any artifacts. The TV has a fast response time, so there's a bit of stuttering with low frame rate content. It supports HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision, and it gets bright enough to deliver an amazing HDR experience.

Unfortunately, it has narrow viewing angles, but that's expected from a VA panel. Still, that means it's not as well-suited to watching movies with a group since the image looks washed out from the sides. Also, if you're going to be gaming as well as watching movies, it lacks variable refresh rate (VRR) support to reduce screen tearing in games. That said, for what you get, this is one of the best value LED TVs you can find, and most people should be happy with it.

The best TV for movies and HDR content that we've tested is the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2020. This is a premium 4k LED model that offers impressive overall performance, and it's an excellent choice for watching movies, especially those available in HDR. It's similar to the Hisense H9G or Sony X900H for watching 4k content, but because there are artifacts when upscaling 480p content, it's not as ideal for watching DVDs.

It has everything you expect to find in a high-end TV for watching your favorite movies. Its VA panel has an outstanding native contrast and, combined with its great local dimming feature, it displays extremely deep blacks, making it a great choice for dark room viewing. What makes it excellent for HDR content is that it displays an extremely wide color gamut and is one of the brightest TVs we've tested, so highlights stand out the way the creator intended. Black uniformity is incredible, and the gradient handling is excellent. It also supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, so you won't have to worry about which format your HDR movie is in.

Sadly, our unit has a red tint to the image, even after calibration, but we don't know if this is a common issue or a problem with our unit alone, so your experience may vary. It removes judder from native 24p sources, but it can't remove judder from 60p and 60i sources, like from streaming devices. If you also want to watch TV during the day, glare shouldn't be an issue thanks to its high peak brightness and amazing reflection handling. All in all, most people should enjoy watching an HDR movie with it.

The best TV for movies in the budget category we've tested is the Hisense H8G. It's surprisingly very good considering its budget price point and is great for a wide range of uses. It has an excellent contrast ratio, decent black uniformity, and full-array local dimming to produce deep uniform blacks, suitable for dark room viewing. It also looks quite sleek and has thin bezels around the screen.

Response time is very low, and it has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to further reduce motion blur, giving you a crisp image with minimal blur trail behind fast-moving objects. It's a very good choice watching HDR content as well thanks to its very wide color gamut, though unfortunately, it can't get very bright. On the bright side, it supports Dolby Vision, which is great if you watch most of your HDR content from streaming services like Amazon Prime or Apple+.

Unfortunately, like with most models that use a VA panel, viewing angles are disappointing, so it may not be a good choice if you have a large room with a wide seating arrangement. Also, while it has some gaming chops thanks to its remarkably low input lag, it doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology. Overall, if you don't want to break the bank but still want an impressive TV that's great for movies, this is a great choice.