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Best TVs for Your Big Game Experience
The Big Game is just around the corner, and you may think your TV could use an upgrade. After all, the Big Game deserves a big, high-quality screen, right? Crack open a cold beer while we give you a rundown of the best TVs to watch the Big Game on.
4K
The first factor to consider when looking for a new TV to watch the Pro Football Championship on is the overall experience for the particular price range. If you want the best image and audio quality without sacrificing multiple paychecks, you may want to look into a 4K TV.
A 4K TV is among the highest quality available, with a crisp 3,840-by-2,160-pixel display. The more pixels a TV has, the better the picture quality. Regular HD TVs that were popular a few years ago have a picture quality of around 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, so 4K is double the quality of its HD predecessors.
It’s fairly easy to find 4K TVs in most sizes. It has become the standard for many new TVs, and it will soon replace HD. Some streaming services even have 4K-exclusive content, so it’ll be handy to have a TV capable of playing it even when you’re not watching football or sports in general.
The technology has become more and more affordable over the years. Below are some of the best 4K TVs available.
- Samsung QN95B: This 4K Android TV comes in 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch options, so you have quite a selection of big-screen TVs to choose from. The LED backlight is also a great feature that can amp up the brightness without messing with the dark colors on your screen. All the gorgeous colors on your screen are preserved and even amplified with its quantum dot technology. Its OTS+ sound system isn’t anything to scoff at either. You can find QN95B at Best Buy.
- Sony X90J: Want a TV that not only sports high-quality pictures, but also a Google TV smart platform that can support Google Assistant, Google Chromecast and other apps via your Android devices? Google Assistant can help you look up new shows and other things to watch much faster. It also has both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for enhanced picture and audio quality that’ll blow your old TV away. It’s an affordable 4K TV for people on a budget.
OLED
OLED TV is not picture quality, but display technology that produces even more color contrast and high refresh rates. Refresh rates are how many times a TV will refresh its picture every second. It can affect how motion looks on your screen, which is extremely important when you’re trying to keep tabs on every play during the game. Higher refresh rates typically mean less motion blur while you watch, but the technology is still very new.
OLED TVs aren’t all that different from 4K TVs outside of a few specific functions. OLED TVs will have 4K — and sometimes 8K — picture quality, but not all 4K TVs have OLED capability. OLED can enhance the already clear 4K picture even more.
Here are some of the best OLED TVs out there:
- LG C2: The LG C2 is one of the best OLED TVs on the market. Its Alpha a9 Gen processor not only better enhances everything on your screen, but it also produces an incredible surround-sound profile that will make you feel like you’re at the stadium. It also houses four HDMI ports perfect for multiple gaming consoles and other setups.
- Vizio H1 OLED: This OLED TV is one of the more cost-effective options available, so you can get more bang for your buck. The shadows are darker, the colors brighter and the overall image quality is just as good as — if not better than — other OLED TVs that cost hundreds more.
8K TVs
If you want to watch your favorite teams at the best quality possible, you need to get an 8K TV for an improved game-day experience. The color volume, excellent motion capture, brightness level and crisp picture quality can’t be beat. It ups the ante from 4K TVs by having a 7,680-by-4,320 resolution, with millions of pixels on screen.
You won’t find too many 8K TVs available since the technology is still relatively new, but here are our recommendations:
Samsung QN900B 8K QLED: Football fans are sure to appreciate Samsung’s best TV to date. With excellent contrast and peak brightness control that allows you to feature bright highlights in dark spots, you can run the entire color gamut on your screen on game day. This is Samsung’s most high-end TV, so you can expect to break the bank for it. If you’re still determined to have the best possible quality for the Big Game, you can’t beat this TV!
Hisense U800GR 8K: If you’re looking for an 8K TV on a smaller budget, the Hisense U800GR 8K TV is the best choice. It doesn’t have the bright highlight adjusting that other 8K TVs have, but the overall picture quality can’t be denied. It also has lightning-fast response times so you won’t have any motion blur whatsoever.
How to Save on a New TV
Choosing the best TV is just the first step in a sports fan’s pregame ritual. You’ll also want to try the following to find the lowest prices before the Big Game:
- Buy early: Many stores, including Walmart, Target and Best Buy, often have Big Game TV sales weeks in advance. Research their deals beforehand to score the best TV for your home-entertainment setup.
- Sign up as a member: Becoming a member at your favorite stores can give you access to early deals that nonmembers don’t get. You could be notified well in advance of a TV sale and snag a bargain on the setup of your dreams before anyone else.
- Pick your features: Different TVs have different features. Depending on what you’re looking for (e.g., an immersive cinematic or gaming experience, a bright LED display for a more detailed picture or wide viewing angles), you may need to do a lot of research into the best TVs that offer what you want in your budget range.
Find the best deals on TVs for the Big Game!
FAQs
If you aren’t picky about price, OLED 4K TVs are the best for sports, games and other cinematic experiences. They offer the clearest picture by far, and often have amazing surround sound built in so it can immerse you in the game.
Generally, no. Refresh rates are still a new technology and there isn’t much of a visual difference between 60 Hz and 120 Hz. Football games will look great no matter your refresh rate on an OLED TV or 4K TV.
A 4K TV has a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, while 8K has a resolution of 7,680 by 4,320 pixels. The more pixels in the display, the clearer your picture will be. An 8K TV will often look better than a 4K TV, but they aren’t the standard, so they’ll be much more expensive than an average 4K TV. |
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