The 5 Best TVs Under $300 - Fall 2020
Reviews

The best TV under $300 that we've tested is the TCL 5 Series/43S525 2019. It's a decent model that has user-friendly smart features and good picture quality. It sports a VA panel that can produce deep and inky blacks, making it a good option for dark room viewing.

For a budget TV, the motion handling is good, the response time is reasonably fast, it can interpolate lower frame rate content up to 60fps to make motion look smoother, and it can remove judder from all sources. However, its backlight flickering can result in some image duplication. Input lag is exceptionally low for gaming or PC use, and it can display proper chroma 4:4:4. As for advanced gaming features, it doesn't have variable refresh rate support, but it does have an 'Auto Low Latency Mode,' so you can jump into the game faster without the hassle of changing the picture mode each time. It's better suited for a dark to moderately-lit room, as its peak brightness and reflection handling are just okay.

Unfortunately, it can't get bright enough to make highlights pop in HDR, which is a bit disappointing. However, it has great color accuracy out-of-the-box, impressive gradient handling to minimize banding, and a wide color gamut to produce vivid colors in HDR content. Like most VA panel TVs, it has fairly narrow viewing angles, so it isn't ideal for wide seating areas. On the bright side, it runs on Roku, a user-friendly platform with tons of apps. It isn't the most feature-packed model, but its the price, it's well worth a look.

The best 4k TV under $300 for gaming that we've tested is the Samsung UN43TU7000FXZA. This is an entry-level option in Samsung's 2020 lineup and offers a good gaming performance.

Despite not having many extra gaming features, which you expect from a cheap TV, most gamers should be happy. The input lag is incredibly low, and it has an alright response time, but you may notice image duplication due to the backlight's 120Hz flicker. There's a Black Frame Insertion feature to help clear up motion blur, but timing is off, and motion looks worse. Picture quality is good with its excellent contrast ratio that displays deep blacks, outstanding black uniformity, and decent out-of-the-box color accuracy. It upscales lower-resolution content without any issues, and it displays proper chroma 4:4:4 if you want to use it as a computer monitor.

Unfortunately, even though it supports HDR10 and HDR10+, it doesn't display a wide color gamut and doesn't get bright in HDR, so HDR content doesn't look all that different from SDR content. Its reflection handling is just okay, and it doesn't get bright enough to combat glare, so it's best to avoid well-lit environments. Despite not having HDMI 2.1 support, it has eARC support, allowing you to send high-quality audio over an HDMI connection. Overall, it's a simple TV with good gaming performance and one of the best TVs under $300 that we've tested.

The best smart TV under $300 that provides good value for its size is the Toshiba 50LF621U21. It's a simple and cheap TV that you can find the 50 inch variant for under $300, but if you don't mind spending a bit more, the 55 inch variant isn't much more expensive either. It has built-in Fire TV that's easy to use and has a great selection of apps available to download.

It offers performance typical of most cheap TVs, but people should be fairly happy with it. Its VA panel provides an impressive contrast ratio and excellent black uniformity. Its peak brightness isn't bad and has good reflection handling, so it performs well in dim or moderately-lit environments. Fast-moving content looks smooth thanks to its great response time, and it has a low input lag for gaming. It does a good job of upscaling lower-resolution content, such as from DVDs or cable boxes, and even though there are some artifacts with native 4k content, most people won't notice it.

Unfortunately, our unit has bad out-of-the-box color accuracy, but this may vary between units. It has narrow viewing angles and fails to display a wide color gamut for HDR content. It doesn't display chroma 4:4:4 either, so it's not a good choice to use as a PC monitor. Regardless of these issues, this is one of the best TVs under $300.