The Best High-End 4K TVs

When nothing but the best will do.

By Jason Cross

Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

4K content is finally everywhere. Between streaming services, discs, and games on the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, you can finally find lots of gorgeous, high-resolution HDR content. You told yourself you wouldn’t upgrade to a 4K TV until there’s lots of content out there, so now you’re all out of excuses. It’s time to kick that old 1080p TV to the curb.

If you’re a typical consumer, you want to find a really good deal. The best bang for the buck. TVs that deliver great quality at a great price. For you, we suggest you check out our regular 4K TV buying guide - it's full of great sets at great prices.

But maybe you don’t care about bang for your buck; you just want the best. You and your family spend a lot of time in front of the TV, and you’re willing to pay top-dollar for top-quality. These are the 4K TVs you should consider if you're willing and able to go high-end. The best 4K TVs available at any price:

Price Is No Object – LG wallpaper OLED TV

The best picture quality you can get comes from a quality OLED panel. With perfect blacks, vivid colors, and an unbeatable contrast ratio (not to mention no pixel blur), OLED TVs are considered by many to be the ideal technology for our new 4K, HDR world. LG’s latest OLED TVs have consistently earned fantastic scores from reviewers for their picture quality.

But this...this is something else. This TV is thinner than your phone. It’s so thin and flexible that it hangs on your wall with magnets! A thin, flat ribbon cable connects the display to a sound bar where all the video processing takes place, and where all your inputs go.

Of course it also has amazing picture quality, including support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision (and the sound bar supports Dolby Atmos). How much will it cost to make your neighbors’ jaws drop? The 65-inch model will run you about $8,000. Not crazy enough for you? LG just announced a 77-inch version, on sale soon for the bargain price of $15,000.

So... it isn't cheap. But you definitively claim to have the coolest TV in the entire neighborhood.

Another Killer OLED – Sony A1E

LG’s not the only manufacturer with a killer high-end OLED TV. Sony’s A1E delivers some of the best picture quality of any 4K TV on the market. No, it’s not thinner than a phone, but it is quite thin, with a neat A-frame tilting stand design.

It’s got fantastic color reproduction and amazing contrast, along with nearly non-existent motion blur. And it’s a little bit more affordable than the LG, at least in the 65-inch version. You can pick it up for only $4,000. The LG Wallpaper TV is only available in 65 and soon 77-inch versions, while the Sony A1E also has a 55-inch model for $3,000.

One caveat for heavy gamers: The input lag is tolerable in game mode at 4K, with or without HDR, but it gets worse at 1080p. Most 4K-capable consoles upscale their output to 4K before sending it to the TV, regardless of the game’s native resolution, so it shouldn’t be much of a bother. But this TV isn’t a good fit for older consoles that don’t output 4K resolution.

Fantastic LED Quality – Vizio P Series

If you don’t want an OLED panel, or don't have the budget for one, you can still get stellar picture quality out of a really good LED-lit LCD like the Vizio P Series. The off-axis viewing angles aren’t the best, but it’s got great color reproduction, contrast, and uniformity. Plus, the input latency is pretty low (and is exceptionally low on non-HDR content), so it’s great for gaming.

It’s built-in smart TV features aren’t quite as robust as some of its competitors, but it does have built-in Chromecast for streaming from your phone. And besides, you’re probably going to use a game console or streaming box to watch streaming content, right?

This is also a very reasonably-priced TV for its size, which is just plain gigantic. The 75-inch model is $3,500, which is by no means cheap, but is worlds apart from those OLED TVs. You can pick up the 65-inch version for around $1,700.

OLED at a Better Price – LG C7

At a price of around $2,200 (55-inch) or $3,200 (65-inch), this isn’t a cheap 4K TV. But it’s a lot cheaper than Sony’s A1E OLED TV above, and an absolute bargain compared to LG’s insanely cool wallpaper TV (also above). Sure, it doesn’t come with an awesome sound bar and it won’t blow your friends’ minds with its paper-thin profile, but that’s okay. It delivers where it counts: awesome picture quality.

In fact, the picture quality on the C7 is almost as good as the wallpaper TV. You get perfect motion with no ghosting or smearing, Dolby Vision and HDR10 support, excellent peak brightness and killer contrast ratio, wide color gamut, the works. LG’s own smart TV platform is pretty good, too.

Gamers will love the super-low input latency in game mode, even when displaying 4K HDR with 4:4:4 input.

Extreme brightness – Sony X930E

A really bright 4K TV is great for two reasons: First, it makes HDR content shine (literally!), with extreme variance between the darkest areas of a scene and the brightest highlights. Second, if you use the TV in a room that gets a lot of light, especially sunlight through windows, you’re going to need a really bright TV or the image quality will suffer.

Sony’s X930E LED TV is one of the brightest 4K TVs on the market, with peak brightness well in excess of 1,000 nits. Thanks to a really good local dimming feature, the contrast ratio is still fantastic. It’s no slouch in other areas either, with excellent color accuracy and uniformity.

As with the X1E, input latency varies a bit. With 1080p input it’s middle-of-the-road, but latency improves a lot with 4K input (even with HDR enabled). As the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X will scale up 1080p games to 4K as they are outputted to your TV, this shouldn’t really be a problem. Also, note that the Dolby Vision HDR format isn’t supported. That’s no biggie for gaming, but might make a small difference for movie enthusiasts.

The 65-inch version will set you back around $3,000, or you can save about $1,000 by opting for the 55-inch model. Neither one will win any awards for the best 4K TV value, but it’s hard to argue with the picture quality, especially if your TV is going to live in a brightly lit room.

We pointed it out above, but just a reminder that these are a collection of the Best 4K TVs period - at any price. You don't need to save two months' salary to make the jump to 4K. Our 4K TV Buying Guide has fantastic options for $600 or less. But if you're in a position to drop more on a high-end display, you can't go wrong with any of the above selections.

Let's block ads! (Why?)