The 5 Best TVs Under $300 - Fall 2019
Reviews

The best TV under $300 we've tested so far is the TCL 49S517. It delivers decent picture quality and deep blacks in a dark room thanks to its excellent contrast ratio. Although it can't get very bright, especially in HDR, it has a wide color gamut and can deliver HDR content with rich, vivid colors, and supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision formats. This TV has decent overall motion handling, with a fast response time that delivers crisp motion with little motion blur that's great for sports. It can remove judder from any source, which is great for watching movies. It has a remarkably low input lag, which is an attraction to gamers and gives the TV a very responsive feel while you use it as a PC monitor.

It runs the very easy to use Roku TV smart interface that has an abundance of streaming channels to cover any need. On the downside, this TV can't maintain an accurate image when viewed from the side and can't produce bright HDR highlights.

Overall, this is a TV with decent performance in most uses, and it won't break the bank.

For the best value for the size, the TCL 55S425 is the best 4k TV under $300. This 55 inch 4k TV has decent picture quality and is currently just below $300. It delivers deep blacks in a dark room thanks to the high native contrast ratio, but can't get very bright and doesn't have a wide color gamut to deliver a good HDR performance. The response time is fast, and motion looks crisp. This is a great TV for gaming or use as a PC monitor, mainly thanks to the very low input lag that makes it feel very responsive. Just like the TCL 5 Series 2018, this TV runs the Roku smart TV interface that's easy to use and has a large number of streaming channels.

Unfortunately, it isn't a good choice for a room with side seating arrangements, as the image degrades quickly at an angle. It's more suitable for a dim room due to the poor brightness levels.

Overall, this 55 inch TV is great value for the money.

The TCL 3 Series 2019/40S325 is the best budget TV under $300 that we've tested so far. It's a passable entry-level TV with a great contrast ratio, decent response time, and excellent low input lag, all of which make it great for gaming. The 32" model is limited to a 720p resolution (except for the 32S327 variant), but the larger models have a 1080p native resolution.

This TV has a good selection of inputs, with 3 HDMI ports and a dedicated composite input (with the use of the included adapter). It has great smart features with hundreds of available streaming channels. This makes it an excellent choice for a secondary viewing location, since you don't have to worry about having a separate streaming box.

Unfortunately, this TV can't get very bright, and the image degrades when viewed at an angle, which limits its versatility a bit. Overall, though, it's a great budget TV, and one of the best 40 inch TVs under $300.