Best TV 2022: The best affordable and premium sets

With the L2000, Panasonic has produced its best flagship OLED yet. In the words of our reviewer, the TV redefines what is possible from a home cinema TV with superb image quality and impressive Dolby Atmos sound.

It includes the new OLED EX panel from LG Display but is still made to Panasonic’s custom specifications, and though the brightness we measured (966 nits in Standard mode) was not as bright in outright terms as the LG G2 or Samsung S95B, the LZ2000 produces a uniformly more brighter average picture level, making all types of content pop off the screen.

The advantage the LZ2000 holds over most TV brands is that it supports all HDR formats: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. The image quality is finely-tuned for bright and dark rooms with the help of the TV’s light sensor. We also found colour volume was improved, especially blue colours which has often been an issue with WRGB OLED panels. The low light performance has also been improved, with more detail visible in the darker areas of the image.

Freeview Play adds all mainstream catch-up TV needs, and the breadth of apps available has grown with Disney+ and Apple TV+ added.

The Panasonic LZ2000 isn’t just a TV for home cinema. With a measured input lag of 14.5ms, it’s a commedable performance and the new Game Control board presents the ability to optimise gaming settings. The TV supports HDMI 2.1 technologies such as VRR, ALLM and 4K/120Hz, making it a high calibre set in a gaming sense, though short of the performance the LG C2 and G2 models offer.

Panasonic has once again upgraded the Dolby Atmos speaker system that’s welded to the back of the TV. We found it offered the best performance yet from the 360° Soundscape Pro system, delivering width and height with Atmos soundtracks. If you own an existing home cinema system, then the LZ1500 is more your speed, but for those who want an all-in-one TV, Panasonic has raised its performance again.

The LZ2000 is only available in Europe and the UK, as Panasonic does not sell in North America, nor has it updated its Australian range in some time.

Reviewer: Steve May
Full Review: Panasonic LZ2000

The A95K from Sony was the first QD-OLED TV we tested, a TV that brings the best of OLED and Quantum Dot colour technologies in one TV.

We found the A95K was another minimalist effort from Sony but it’s the stand that causes a few problems for home set-ups with its largesse. It can be placed in two ways, although the rear position ensures you won’t see it from a viewing position.

The inputs feature two HDMI 2.1 inputs and support for eARC, VRR, ALLM, and 4K/120Hz. Compare to the LG C2‘s four HDMI 2.1 inputs and there’s fewer options for plugging in HDMI 2.1 sources. Unique to Sony’s TVs are a pair of binding posts if you want the A95K to serve as the centre channel in a (Sony-centric) surround sound system.

This isn’t necessarily a TV for gaming, with an input lag of 21ms that’s less than the LZ200 and there’s no other VRR support for the likes of AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. If you do intend to game you’ll want a PS5 due to the exclusive features such as Auto Genre Picture mode. For console and PC gaming the S95B QD-OLED offers better value with its faster response time and features.

From a performance perspective, our reviewer observed the A95K delivering superior colour fidelity detail levels especially compared to the brightest OLED screens available. The nature of OLED screens allows for excellent ‘true’ blacks, and the amount of insight in both bright and murky scenes is impressive. Motion is an area where Sony excel and we felt the TV described quick action such as a tennis with absolute authority. With regards to its upscaling, our reviewer was less enthused with how the Sony dealt with lower resolution content, producing soft and edgy images.

The sound quality is impressive; big in size and accurate in terms of where effects and dialogue are placed on screen. This audio quality is good enough that you’ll need to spend a fair bit more to elevate the sound performance.

Reviewer: Simon Lucas
Full Review: Sony XR-55A95K

When we reviewed the G1, we called it the best LG OLED TV we’ve tested, but with the G2 OLED available, that crown falls to LG’s brightest OLED. It’s the same Gallery design with its uniformly flat rear panel for wall-mounting as before, but extra improvements to the panel with the new OLED EX and tweaked OLED Evo technologies have reaped an even brighter performance.

We measured the HDR performance on a 10% window to be just over 1000 nits, which is one of the brightest OLEDs we’ve tested. That’s better than the C2 but not quite as good as the Samsung S95B. Nevertheless, the extra brightness results in brighter, more intense highlights for greater contrast and depth in the image.

Detail levels are high, with images fed a good deal of sharpness and colours rendered in a lush manner, especially with Dolby Vision IQ. Upscaling of lower than 4K images is strong and motion has been improved – perhaps not quite up to the standard of Sony’s A95K or the Panasonic LZ2000, but it is much smoother and less distracting.

For gaming the G2 is superior to almost every other non-LG TV on the market. HDMI 2.1 is supported across all the HDMI inputs, with ALLM, VRR and 4K/120Hz available, making it easier to plug your sources in without having to pick and choose. LG has also beefed up its clouding options with Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce NOW.

We measured input lag to be 12.9ms – better than the Panasonic LZ2000 though it doesn’t beat the Samsung S95B. With VRR in play that figure can be brought down to lower figures for more responsive gameplay.

The sound remains the weakest aspect of the G2’s performance, sounding restrained in its Dolby Atmos mode and lacking the kind of impact the Sony A95K delivers. We found it actually sounded better with non-Atmos soundtracks offering more detail and dynamism. We’d recommend purchasing a soundbar to go with it, though note that the G2 cannot pass through DTS soundtracks, which is disappointing for home cinema enthusiasts.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: LG OLED65G2

With the C2 replacing the terrific C1, it is an OLED that’s pretty much its superior in every regard. The design has changed with the plinth the TV stands on smaller, which will help positioning the TV on smaller furniture. It also has the added benefit of making it easier to to trail cables in a less messy manner, especially helpful when adding a soundbar. The TV weighs much less than previous generations, making it easier to assemble.

Like previous LG TVs, it bears a comprehensive roster of gaming features with ALLM, VRR and 4K/120Hz HFR across all HDMI inputs, making it a better specc’d TV for gaming than the Samsung QN95B. Latency isn’t as fast as the Samsung model but with Game Boost and VRR engaged, latency falls to very low levels. Google Stadia and GeForce Now add its cloud streaming capabilities.

The C2 gets the brighter OLED evo panel that first arrived with the 2021 G1. Picture quality, as we’ve come to expect from LG, is fantastic. We found it expressive when describing contrast, the added brightness helps sell the difference between OLED’s inky blacks and bright objects on screen. The new Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail feature extracts some more detail out the darkest parts of an image, upscaling of HD sources can look stunning and motion is improved over the C1, though we still wouldn’t say it’s as capable as Sony’s A95K. This is the best C-series OLED yet for picture.

Audio is once again so-so, its Dolby Atmos performance is spacious, as well as being crisp and clear, but we found it lacked impact and heft, which is quite common for TVs. A soundbar would certainly help with in boosting the TV’s sound.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: LG OLED65C2

Samsung kicked off its 2022 range in the same manner it did its 2021 range, with this Mini LED an improvement over the 2021 model. The naming conventions differ around the world, with closest equivalent to the QN95B in the US being the QN90B.

We found the QN95B built on the already solid foundations laid by the QN95A, with its new Shape Adaptive Light Control feature minimising blooming and increasing the screen’s ability to show highlights without reducing brightness.

The peak brightness measured was higher than the brightest OLED we’ve tested in the Panasonic LZ2000 – the QN95B’s Mini LED backlight produces OLED-esque black levels for greater contrast between the darkest and brightest parts in an image. Add in the set’s wide colour performance and it dazzles with HDR content.

The new refreshed Tizen smart system is a comparative disappointment as we found it contained too much advertising and content suggestions. Samsung has traded the simplicity for a system that is counter-intuitive to use.

From our input lag measurements, the QN95B’s 10.4ms is one of quickest TVs on the market in 2022, better than either the LG C2, G2 or 8K Z2.. The game dashboard allows settings adjustment on the fly and there’s FreeSync Premium Pro for improved performance with PC titles. With Variable Refresh Rate and Auto Low Latency support, there’s freedom to plug a console into any of the HDMI ports.

Reviewer: John Archer
Full Review: Samsung QE65QN95B

If you can see past the 75QN900A’s hefty price, Samsung’s flagship 8K series sets the pulse racing with its stellar build quality and spectacular borderless design – the bezel is so slim we could barely see it from our seated position.

With a depth slimmer than the LG G1 OLED, the QN900A is well-suited for wall-mounting, especially with its removable One Connect box that incorporates the TV’s connections and funnels power, video, and audio to the TV. Like the LG, the One Connect box supports HDMI 2.1, with 4K at 120Hz, variable refresh rates and automatic low latency mode (ALLM) featuring, as well as AMD and (unofficially) Nvidia G-Sync VRR.

Viewing a range of broadcast and disc-based media, we determined upscaling showed improvements over the Q950TS, the TV unearths clarity and detail from even the lowest-quality sources. Peak brightness is high, briefly reaching 4000 nits in our tests to produce an eye-popping HDR performance. Although blooming has been minimised, we still noticed it with some HDR content. In our estimation, Samsung’s motion processing skills aren’t as good as Sony, Panasonic, or LG.

The Object Tracking Sound Pro system creates a wide soundstage and tracks objects as they move across the screen. We feel it could benefit from going louder to match the cinematic images the screen delivers but the soundstage is wider than most. This is as good as 8K TVs have been, and HD and 4K content benefit from the increase in resolution. The QN900A has been replaced by the QN900B and we’ll be updating this page in due time was we rate that model as being even better.

Reviewer: John Archer
Full Review: Samsung QE75QN900A

Roku TVs are hugely popular in the US but this model is exclusive to the UK market. We didn’t find the Hisense R50A7200GTUK to be a huge upgrade over its B7120UK predecessor – in fact, it probably sounds a little worse than the now discontinued model.

However, it bests the likes of the Toshiba UL20 with its wide-ranging feature set that includes, AirPlay 2, HomeKit, alongside wider voice assistant compatibility, cementing its position as one of the best value TVs.

The quantity of apps available is great, with the likes of Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, BT Sport, Tidal and Prime Video; while Freeview Play adds the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All4. The Roku OS is as accessible to navigate as they come, as we found content easy to find, especially with the Roku app.

It doesn’t support advanced gaming features for Xbox Series and PS5 like the discontinued Samsung AU9000, but we measured input lag at 11.8ms, which is great for fast-twitch games that require a quick response.

We observed the picture performance to be of similar quality to the B7120UK, with very good upscaling of Full HD content and an inconsistent performance with SD content.

Brightness is less than the Philips 58PUS8506, measuring around 330 nits, so it can’t depict HDR content at its vibrant best, but that’s a familiar story with all budget HDR TVs. We saw with 4K content that it could produce a natural, detailed, and colourful looking image, delivering one of the best picture performances at its price.

Sound quality is a weakness. For undemanding daytime TV it’s fine, but with films it lacks bass to give it impact but with music it sounds messy. We’d recommend budgeting for a soundbar to go with this TV.

While this TV isn’t in the offing to be replaced any time soon, it will face competition by the aggressively priced Metz Roku models that are due to go on sale October 2022.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Hisense R50A7200GTUK Roku TV