Best 4K UHD TV 2019/2020 Editors Choice

3D 4K TVs from Sony, LG, Samsung, and Sharp

by Robert Wiley and Jack Burden, senior editors

Most of the manufacturers still prefer “UHD” but the “4K” moniker is gaining with the press and retailers. Samsung is choosing to call their “enhanced” UHD an SUHD (the “S” stands for super).4K or UHD or SUHD are terms to refer to the resolution of 4K or rather more appropriately 4K resolution which is stated at around 3,840 pixels by 2160 pixels lines of resolution or 8,294,400 pixels. The term is stated as 4K to refer to it's 4 times the resolution of an HDTV which has 1920 X 1080 (1080p) lines of resolution or 2,073,600 pixels. One advantage of 4K resolution TVs is their stunning 3D performance. Following are our editors choices for best 4K UHD TVs in production (not counting OLED 4K):

LG OLED65C8P

When you view an B8 or C8 next to a 4K LED TV, the first thing you notice is the immense and infinite black levels of the OLED TV. Yes, 4K LED TVs can still pump out a brighter picture due to amped up LED backlights, but it's no comparison in depth of blacks of an OLED. Now for review, you videophiles know that brighter LED backlights in the store can look great, but get it home in a lamp-lit room and you start to see all the flaws (and turn down the backlight setting). The C8P is the best priced OLED in the market. Read Full Review, See Price.

Sony XBR65A8F

As expected the advantages to OLED TVs in general are pronounced on the A8F. The contrast is exceptional, as is black uniformity and color reproduction. The only area that the A8F does not exceed a high end 4K LED is in bright room performance due to its average brightness not being quite as high. Another impressive area and one that I was really looking forward to with the A8F is processing. It's slightly more expensive than the LG, but i like the processing better.

Samsung UN65NU8000FXZA

This is one of my favorite value models of the year. The NU8000's new UHD remastering engine does a phenomenal job upscaling standard definition and lower resolution content. It analyzes the incoming signal, applies video noise reduction techniques, and scales up the lower resolution signal. Lastly, it enhances the detail which may be the most important bit.

SAMSUNG Q65Q7FN

QLED (quantum light emitting diode) is a souped up LCD (liquid crystal display) with LED backlighting and a Quantum Dot QDEF layer between the LCD panel and the LED backlighting. OLED TV technology is lit by the organic light emitting diodes themselves rather than by a backlight and employs no LCD panel. It's actually more similar to plasma TV technology in this way.

2016/2017 Best 4K TV Picks

LG OLED65G6P

Editor's Choice, Best Quality

OLED TVs by LG are now produced in 4K, so easily top our list of Best 4K TVs. Don't expect a discount on this top end model. It's almost $8000 but has everything you could want in an incredibly attractive package. Black levels, contrast and side angle viewing are perfect. It even has 3D compatibility to go along with HDR.

LG OLED55C6P

Editor's Choice, Best Value

At $2500, the C6P still has the exceptional picture attributes of OLED. The styling may not be quite as fancy as the above unit, but it's still great looking. LG's Web OS3.0 is one of the best Smart TV packages in the market.

Samsung UN65KS8000

Editor's Choice, Best Value LED

I really like the value of this 8000 series from Samsung for only $1900. It's got strong contrast and great light flow from the ultra clear panel.

Sony XBR65X930D

Editor's Choice, Best Value LED

This excellent offering from Sony is reasonably priced at $2700 and has superb upscaling to 4K. It also promises to be one of the best TVs for displaying HDR content.

2015 Best 4K TV Picks

2015 promises to be The Year of 4K as pricing will continue to decline and there are much better technologies on the market. Wider color gamuts on some 4K TVs were the highlighted show pieces of CES. A layer in between the LED panel and the outer protective layer called the QDEF layer is being enhanced by either Quantum Dot film or in Samsung's case a competing proprietary Nanocrystal technology to enhance, widen and solidify color to better compete with the color presented by OLED.

Most of the manufacturers still prefer “UHD” but the “4K” moniker is gaining with the press and retailers. Samsung is choosing to call their “enhanced” UHD an SUHD (the “S” stands for super). 4K or UHD or SUHD are terms to refer to the resolution of 4K or rather more appropriately 4K resolution which is stated at around 3,840 pixels by 2160 pixels lines of resolution or 8,294,400 pixels. The term is stated as 4K to refer to it's 4 times the resolution of an HDTV which has 1920 X 1080 (1080p) lines of resolution or 2,073,600 pixels. One advantage of 4K resolution TVs is their stunning 3D performance. Following are our editors choices for best 4K UHD TVs in production (not counting OLED 4K):

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2013 Picks

Sony 4K UHD TV XBR-55X900A

(also XBR-65X900A 65 inch and 84X900A 84 inch models)

Sony had the most prominent display of its 4K UHD TV with more units and more displays detailing advantages to it than other manufacturers. The X900A 4K TV from Sony ships in spring of 2013 and has a very advanced upgraded side mounting speaker package that goes with it. We felt the picture was better on the Sony than other 4K TVs. It looked good with motion and stationary images and the LED -edge lit backlighting did not overpower the colors as they did with some other models. This unit also looked best from side viewing angles. The active 3D content looks crazy good.

Sharp 4K UHD TV

Sharp's 4K TV has very refined clear image edges the way 4K TVs are supposed to look. There was a slight amount of LED light bleed from the super bright panels and images on-screen were more stationary than others so we did not get to see it with lots of action. Colors are very brilliant and the definition with the content displayed is stunning.

LG 84LM9600 4K 3D TV

This huge 4K UHD TV from LG is passive 3D and has passive 3D and the extra resolution provides 1080p resolution to each eye when watching. Though the black levels are not as rich as with LGs OLED TV offering, the extra size and clarity from the resolution is very impressive.

Samsung 4K UHD TV

Samsung showed both 85 inch and 110 inch 4K UHD TVs. Though they were very impressive they were placed in a strange vertically adjustable “floating” stand and there was some obvious LED light bleed when viewing from side angles and off center. Colors were a bit washed out. Samsung made a point of stating that their 4K UHD TV would ship “hopefully by the last half of 2013.” With a weak commitment statement like that we expect end of 2013. Samsung did have a couple of demonstration booths set up to show the upscaling from 1080p content as well as the Precision Black Pro technology. The former is more impressive than the latter. 3D is rendered using active 3D glasses technology.

These selections do not count Sony or Pansonic OLED 4K TVs as we do not expect them to be available any time soon.