Best Cheap TV 2025: Affordable sets for your living room

The Samsung Q80D has fallen in price by so much since it went on sale in 2024, that you can get this 55-inch model for less than £700.

The Q80D is a QLED and not a Neo QLED such as the QN90D, so this TV doesn’t boast as many dimming zones or hits the same levels of brightness but for the money, we think it’s a bargain considering the performance it offers.

It produces excellent black levels and contrast thanks to an effective local dimming system, and impressive levels of detail. It’s bright enough to reach 1000 nits, which means you get a wide-ranging and rich-looking colour performance. HDR support includes HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+, though Dolby Vision doesn’t make the cut.

We also found the built-in sound system decent for a TV, producing a large sound stage with bass that was free of distortion. There is Dolby Atmos support, along with the Q Symphony feature that combines the TV’s speakers with a compatible Samsung soundbar for a bigger sound.

For gamers, VRR support improves visuals and latency, with the Q80D’s input lag among the best TVs at a speedy 9.8ms. And whether you game on a console or in the cloud, Samsung’s Game Hub also keeps all gaming sources in one place to track your gaming habits.

Build quality is good, with its compact central plinth allowing it to be perched on stands big and large. There’s also an area in the back of the stand to filter cables through to keep the rear area tidy.

The Sony X85L first launched in 2023 but its staying power means it’ll be sticking around for the rest of 2025. If you look around, you can find this TV for £999.

While that is a high price for a 55-inch screen, especially compared to the Samsung Q80D that also features on this list, for home cinema fans, we rate this model very highly.

It has a Full Array Local Dimming backlight that offers more precise black levels and brightness than a standard LCD TV, although we noticed it’s not the brightest out of the box. Our measurements showed that it produced 738 nits in Standard HDR mode – the Samsung Q80D is brighter – but compared to the rest of the TVs on this list, it is still one the brighter HDR TVs.

What really appeals with this Sony TV is its colour performance. It describes colours with terrific variety, producing a vibrant but still natural-looking image. Upscaling with HD and SD content is solid, and although there is some noise the X85L manages it well. Its motion processing is very good to the point where we didn’t even notice that it was on.

Sound quality is ok. It produces a crisp tone with voices but lacks bass. We’d suggest getting a soundbar to go with the X85L.

Gamers looking for a premium experience can count on ALLM, VRR, and HFR, while input lag is a solid 14.5ms. This TV plays nicely with a PS5 with its custom features that includes optimising the HDR performance for the best image quality.

For smarts, Google TV delivers all the streaming apps you’ll need, and we found the interface to be quick and responsive to use. The design is customisable, as the stand can be put together in two ways to allow for a soundbar or if you want to place it on a small surface.

This model will continue on throughout 2025, and we have a sneaky feeling the price could fall even lower once Sony’s new 2025 TV range goes on sale. If you’re after a less expensive alternative, there is the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series, though it’s not as bright in terms of picture and not as good in terms of home cinema features.

The R50A7200GTUK model repeats the same trick as its R50B7120UK predecessor in packing in even more value at a similar price.

The number of smarts in the Hisense R50A7200GTUK Roku TV is excellent. There is Freeview Play that brings the catch-up apps into play like iPlayer and ITVX. There’s also a wide range of streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ among others, while the Roku OS has been updated to support AirPlay 2 streaming and Apple HomeKit. Alexa and Google assistant voice control is also available through connected smart speakers.

Build quality is fine. The slimness of the rear panel means the Hisense Roku doesn’t jut out much when wall-mounted, and with most of the connections side-facing it’s easy to plug sources in. Assembling the TV is simply a case of slotting in the feet, tightening the screws and turning the TV on.

Picture quality is similar to the B7120UK. We observed it lacked the contrast and brightness to produce a dynamic HDR performance like the Sony X85L and Samsung Q80D. Its peak brightness is only around 300 nits but its native 4K performance offered solid detail and colours are naturally portrayed – we don’t think many will be disappointed by what it serves up.

The sound quality is disappointing. It struggles to convey the action scenes with dynamism or excitement, and proves messy when playing music. As is the case with many of the best cheap TVs on this list, a soundbar would help.

TCL has been delivering relatively inexpensive TVs with an enviable high spec, and we find the TCL C805K offers a ridiculous amount of value for the asking price,

The design is smart and can easily be accomodated on various AV furniture. You get four HDMI inputs, one of which supports refresh rates up to 144Hz, another up to 120Hz, and in a sensible move, the eARC input for sound systems is available on another port, especially useful if you’ve got plenty of gaming consoles at hand.

Google TV has the big guns in the form of Disney+, Apple TV+, and Netflix, but the UK catch-up apps are mostly missing, with only My5 available at the time of review. You’ll want to consider purchasing a streaming stick if you do want those apps. TCL will send one if you request it.

For gamers we measured latency at 13.3ms, which is quick but not the quickest you’ll find. The Samsung Q80D hits a speedy 9.8ms out of the box with its input lag. Nevertheless, there’s ALLM, VRR, high refresh support as well as AMD FreeSync Premium Pro onboard for PC gamers.

Brightness is greater than the TCL 55RC630K, hitting 966 nits on a 5% window. Our reviewer found black levels to be reassuringly dark, with HDR content looking very good. Upscaling is solid, and motion processing is decent for sports viewers. You’ll want to mind where you sit with this TV as at angles the colour performance can fall off.

In terms of sound, this TV is fine, but we’d recommend adding a sound system to beef it up.

The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED is part of Amazon’s own brand of TVs, and while it’s not perfect, it puts in a generally enjoyable performance across the board.

We’re not fans of the feet placement for the 65-inch version. They’re set at the edges which means you’ll need a wide surface to position the TV on.

The Fire TV platform presents plenty of apps is excellent, but the content is weighted too much towards Amazon’s own Prime Video. If you subscribe to other streaming services, it’s not as easy to find what else is available in our experience.

Alexa voice control is reliable, and you can choose to call up Alexa with the Voice Remote or hands-free (which you can switch off if you don’t want Alexa always listening). The Fire TV Ambient Experience turns the TV into an Alexa-powered smart display where you can keep track of the weather, play audio, and change the background so you’re not confronted by a big black screen when the TV is ‘off’. We liked it as it makes the TV more living room friendly.

The Fire TV Omni QLED features supports Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. The image quality could be more consistent as HDR10/HDR10+ performance is not the most colourful; while its Dolby Vision IQ performance suffers from raised blacks. It’s also not the brightest for HDR content as we measured it a peak of 529 nits.

The built-in sound system provides a good sense of space to films and TV shows, though it is crisp in tone to a fault. Some sound modes fair better than others, but a soundbar will remedy that.