“If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. Some of the best TV screens are designed to bring your favorite blockbusters to life, but watching fast-paced games is a different story. If you’re looking for the best TVs for sports”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
Some of the best TV screens are designed to bring your favorite blockbusters to life, but watching fast-paced games is a different story.
If you’re looking for the best TVs for sports, we found some exceptional Super Bowl LX deals with savings of up to 40 percent off list prices on Amazon. In fact, now is one of the best times of the year to buy a new TV. Not just because of the Big Game, but also new TV models come out in the spring, so manufacturers and retailers are looking to clear inventory with deep discounts.
While watching sports at home is a different experience than being at the game, modern state-of-the-art TVs offer features such as wide-screen viewing, Dolby Vision and immersive Dolby Atmos that make you feel as if you’re in the middle of the game.
The Best 4K TVs for Watching Sports If you’re looking to upgrade your home theater, THR has rounded up the best 4K TVs for watching sports. Now that many cable networks are broadcasting sports in 4K Ultra HD quality (which is four times the resolution of 1080p Full HD), fans can follow their favorite teams on a big screen with crisp details and no motion blur.
It’s recommended to pick TVs of at least 55 inches (although other sizes are available), and that feature refresh rates of 60Hz, 120Hz and even 144Hz, so that they can accommodate the motion of fast-paced games. These TVs also have High-Dynamic Range (HDR), which gives images a more life-like quality with a wide color gamut, stunning contrast, deeper hues and brighter highlights.
Keep reading for our top picks for the different types of televisions for watching sports.
The Best 4K TVs for Watching Sports
Hisense
Hisense’s latest U7 Series Mini-LED 4K Ultra HD Smart TV is one of the best 4K TVs that you can buy under $600. Sports fans, film lovers and gamers alike can keep up with the action with the TV’s 165Hz refresh rate — and coupled with the screen’s up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness across local dimming zones, fast-moving scenes will look vibrant, sharp and crystal clear in well-lit environments. Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos combine for an excellent cinematic experience when you connect to your own speaker system, and gamers get smooth, speedy gameplay with the FreeSync Premium Pro, and up to 165Hz variable refresh rate (VRR) that reduces input lag and screen jitter.
LG
You’ll never miss a jump, shot or with LG’s QNED AI 4K HD Smart TV, which boasts the company’s fastest processor yet, which creates an incredible viewing experience and stellar picture quality to see perfect black and luminous colors.
The TV’s α7 Gen8 AI processor 4K automatically adjusts the picture and sound to deliver the best entertainment experience, while gamers will appreciate the Auto Lo-Latency Mode and Game Optimizer that brings easy access to settings.
Samsung
Samsung’s stylish, Samsung’s S85F OLED 4K TV delivers smooth motion in up to 4K with Motion Xcelerator and a high refresh rate of 120Hz. The Quantum HDR+ and Neural Quantum processors use AI-based deep-learning analysis to optimize quality no matter the source, signal and content type. Viewers can expect to watch sports, movies and TV shows in realistic quality with brilliant detailing in the dark thanks to Samsung’s technology.
For sports, the S85F 4K TV lets you track every movement on its anti-glare screen, and the MultiView feature lets you simultaneously watch your phone screen, allowing you to see live sports stats and the game side-by-side — depending on your mobile device. The TV has built-in speakers on all sides, and Dolby Atmos and Object Tracking Sound Lite projects 3D audio to make you feel like you’re in the center of it all. What’s also great is that the Anti-Glare Ultra Wide Viewing angle technology delivers an accurate picture no matter where you’re sitting, making it ideal for viewing parties.
TCL
Featuring up to 2,500 local dimming zones and up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, the QM7K boasts an advanced TCL AIPQ learning engine, HighBrightness Ultra LED backlight and Full Array Ultra Local Dimming — resulting in uniform, crisp and brilliant images and striking contrast and highlights. The 144Hz refresh rate means that sports fans — especially football and soccer lovers — and gamers alike can enjoy lag-free motion, speedy responsiveness and smooth images across a wide field of vision.
Amazon
It delivers impressive contrast for the price, thanks to full array local dimming zones, while a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness based on the lighting conditions.
The TV supports the NBC, Peacock and NFL apps, and sports lovers can ask Alexa to help you stay updated on your favorite teams, sports scores, event schedules and more. Gamers can play a selection of titles for free on Amazon’s Luna gaming platform.
Sony
Rounding out the perks for movie fans are Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos to bring the cinematic experience to your living room.
Over the years, tech companies continued to promote 8K TVs, but many experts agree that the resolution is unnecessary for watching sports or even movies. Content options are still few and far between as filmmakers and sports broadcasters have yet to dive into 8K. One exception is in the UK, where BT Sport broadcast the first 8K HDR sporting event for homes using Sony UHC-8300 cameras — but only those with 8K television sets were able to watch. The UK sports network also delivered the first live public 8K broadcast in 2020.
“Any advancement in picture quality is a good thing, but when it comes to sports, no events are currently shot in 8K so 4K is the most resolution you’ll need to match the way content is produced today,” Couling points out. “What’s more important is to look for a TV that supports HDR or Dolby Vision. HDR can enable the best picture possible from your TV by delivering images filled with more brightness, contrast, color, and detail. And it’s an exciting time to be in the market for an HDR TV if you love sports. Over the last 12 months, many of the biggest events in sports were, or will be available, for the first time ever in Dolby Vision like the Super Bowl and NFL playoffs, World Cup, and past Olympics.
Great picture is equally as important as great sound, which is why I’d recommend looking for a TV with Dolby Atmos if you care about sports. It plays a critical role in making you feel as if you are in the stadium by bringing the electricity of the crowd alive. Luckily, many TVs that support Dolby Vision today also come with Dolby Atmos, so you don’t have to choose between the two,” continues Couling.
QLED vs. OLED TVs: What’s the Difference? Before buying a new TV, it’s important to know the differences between the types of screens, mainly QLED and OLED displays.
“QLED is a variant based on liquid-crystal display (LCD) that extends the display’s color saturation using an LED backlight combined with an advanced color conversion material called ‘Quantum Dots,’ often abbreviated as QD,” says Couling. “LCD features a transparent screen that doesn’t create light on its own. Instead, these screens are combined with a backlight, often comprised of an array of LEDs (light-emitting diodes) used to illuminate the pixels in the panel.”
OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, “can illuminate each pixel at an individual level, making a backlight unnecessary,” adds Couling.
“Each technology has its benefits, and all have improved significantly over the past 10 years — especially when paired with features like HDR. Choosing what’s best for you is really about customer preference. There is no right or wrong answer,” he says.
Refresh vs. Frame Rate: What’s the Difference? Whether you’re a gamer, a sports fan or a movie buff, knowing the difference between a TV’s refresh rate and the frame rate will also help decide on the best screen.
“Refresh rate refers to how quickly a screen updates (or refreshes) the image it is displaying. This is not to be confused with frame rate, which describes how many frames (individual images) are displayed on the TV by the content, such as a movie or game,” says Couling. “Simply put, the TV’s refresh rate has to align in a meaningful way to the frame rate, but it’s not something consumers should worry too much about as modern displays take care of this process for them.”
He adds that lower frame rates used by filmmakers result in the “cinematic look and feel” seen in many movies and TV shows, “which is a deliberate choice by the creative. … Support for 24 and 60 frames per second (fps) has been available in modern TVs for some time.”
Higher frame rates (about 60 fps) are usually used in sports to make games look smoother. “This is a functional choice to make sure the action looks natural, like a quarterback throwing a pass s to an open receiver.” And in gaming, higher frame rates (such as 120 fps) are becoming more commonly supported especially as next-gen gaming consoles are being introduced. “[They] allow players to react within split seconds of what they see on the screen. This is huge in the world of competitive gaming. If gaming is important to you, you’ll want to look for this in your next TV purchase.”
What’s the Best Distance for Setting Up TVs? “The distance between your couch and TV can have an impact on your viewing experience, but the optimal distance is a balance of what looks best to you, scientific recommendations, and what you plan to watch,” says Couling. Many viewers assume that big-screen TVs of 55 inches or larger require a longer distance between the couch and the TV, but that’s not always the case, he adds.
“As the resolution of modern TVs has also increased over time, it can be the opposite. Generally, for most types of content, images will start to lose detail if the distance between your couch and TV is greater than three times the TV’s vertical picture height (the distance between the top and bottom of your screen),” says Couling. For those who are watching in 4K, “that distance needs to be even closer (about 1.5 picture height, to be precise) as our eyes can’t differentiate the fine detail of individual pixels from further away.”
That means a 65-inch TV should be about four feet away from your couch, “but many people likely don’t sit this close while others may not be in the market to purchase a larger TV.”
He adds: “This is why a TV with HDR, or Dolby Vision, should be top of mind when looking for your next purchase. These technologies will produce the biggest improvements in picture quality, and luckily for consumers, viewing distance is less critical with HDR because our eyes can see more colors, higher brightness, and better contrast from farther distances. HDR can even make images feel like they have more detail. Manufactures also bundle 4K and HDR together, so if you purchase an HDR or Dolby Vision TV, it will also support 4K.”
What’s the Best Way to Set Up TV Speakers? Couling recommends that viewers who want the best audio experience should invest in a soundbar or a home theater audio system. If you’re not ready to buy one or your TV is already equipped with Dolby Atmos, there are a few ways to ensure optimal sound:
- Mount your TV above a table “Most new TVs have downward-facing speakers placed behind the panel. Placing your TV above an entertainment center or table allows the sound to bounce off the surface and reflect throughout the room, which will create a fuller-sounding experience,” says Couling.
- Mount your soundbar or place it on the edge of your entertainment center “This way, the audio can reflect outward into the room vs. bouncing against your TV,” he says.
- Help large rooms absorb sound Laying down a rug, hanging art on the wall or installing curtains can help absorb sound if your space sounds too echoey, Couling recommends.