TV Buying Guide — What to Know Before You Buy

Walk into any electronics store and you will see dozens of televisions with price tags ranging from $200 to $3,000 and specifications full of acronyms. OLED, QLED, 4K, HDR, 120Hz. It sounds like a foreign language. This guide cuts through the marketing and explains what actually affects your viewing experience.

The first and most important decision is screen size. Bigger is not always better — a screen that is too large for the distance you sit from it can look blurry or tiring to watch. The general rule is that your viewing distance in inches should be about 1.5 to 2.5 times the screen size. For a 55-inch TV, you want to sit 7 to 12 feet away. For a 65-inch TV, 8 to 14 feet. Measure the distance from your couch to where the TV will sit before you shop.

Next is resolution. Most TVs today are either 1080p (Full HD) or 4K (also called Ultra HD). On a TV larger than 50 inches, 4K is noticeably sharper when you are sitting at a normal viewing distance. On smaller TVs — like a 32-inch TV in a bedroom — 1080p looks perfectly fine. Almost all streaming services including Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube now offer 4K content if you subscribe to a compatible plan.

Panel type affects picture quality more than almost anything else. OLED panels produce perfect blacks (each pixel can turn completely off), spectacular contrast, and vivid colors. They are the best choice for dark-room watching but can be pricey. QLED is Samsung's branded name for an enhanced LED panel — very bright and colorful, great for rooms with lots of windows. Standard LED TVs are the most affordable option and perfectly good for general use.

Refresh rate — 60Hz vs 120Hz — matters primarily if you watch fast-moving sports or play video games. For movies and regular TV shows, 60Hz is entirely enough.

Smart TV operating systems vary. Roku TV is widely considered the most intuitive. Google TV (built into Sony and some other brands) has excellent app selection. Samsung's Tizen and LG's webOS are both solid. Fire TV Edition TVs integrate well with Amazon devices. Consider which streaming apps you use most and whether they are supported on the TV's platform.