Best Smart TVs for Streaming – Buyer’s Guide

Are you looking for the best smart TVs for streaming? You’re at the right place. TVs with apps, named smart TVs because they can connect to the internet, as well as interact with other web-enabled devices, bring everything from favorite binge-worthy shows to the most addictive games to our big screens at home. In fact, now when you buy a TV, you’re not just buying a screen; you’re buying an entertainment platform.

Smart TVs are a lot less intimidating than they sound, so if you’re ready to dive in to the world of connected entertainment, we’ve got your back. Read on for our best advice on picking the right smart TV for you, and get ready to experience television in a completely new way.

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In addition to supporting all the major paid streaming video services, many smart TVs include apps that deliver free content from all over the world. Whether you want to watch the news, movies, web series, smart TVs bring enough free content to satisfy almost anyone. Check out the best smart TVs for streaming:

1. Sony X900F 4K LED Smart TV

Sony X900F is the best 75 inches TV 2020. It offers high-quality large screen TV at an affordable price. It presents one of the best quality viewing experiences at the best price. Its display of 74.5-inch diagonal is an excellent size for 4K “ultra HD” resolution. It has 3840*2160 pixels resolution to give you crisp and clear picture quality. The edge-lit LED panels to provide uniform colors and brightness all over the screen. It also has backlighting. Although it uses full-array local dimming (FALD) effectively, it helps boost black-white contrast and generate an overall rich picture experience.

Like every TV in this range, the Sony X900F also supports HDR (High dynamic range) games and movies. However, it also handles HDR in a way that takes full advantage of the technology. All the features, such as dynamic backlighting and high peak brightness as well as extensive color range, make HDR content pop. The image quality decreases when you view the screen from a different angle, instead of directly in front. It is the general issue for panels that use VA (vertical alignment) technology. Sony X900F resembles the same image quality from all angles.
One of the best features of the Sony X900F is that it has excellent wifi-enabled smart TV features, operating on an Android TV interface. You can also stream through services such as Netflix and Amazon videos. It comes with Google Assistant that allows you to browse applications from Google play store and control the TV with a voice command.

2. LG 75UN7370PUH 75-Inch 4K TV

If you are thinking of buying larger TVs in size, there might be a budget issue. However, LG 73 series is highly budget-friendly. The best thing about the model is that it delivers 4K UHD resolution along with the quad-core processor. It upscale non-UHD content with a dual step noise reduction process for consistent picture quality. You will experience excellent details and enhanced contrast with HDR10 and HLG support.

It has a dedicated filmmaker mode to give you the ultimate cinematic viewing experience while binge-watching your favorite movies. If you are an enthusiast gamer, the automatic law latency mode reduces input lag. It also smoothens the motion to give you the extra edge that is needed for your victory. Sports fans receive alerts for scores and statistics to help them keep up with team standing and fantasy football ranking.

For hands-free commands, you can use Alexa and google assistant. It is also compatible with Apple Homekit. It helps you to use Siri to search, browse, or change the settings. It also offers an option of screen-sharing and supports Chromecast and airplay 2. By using these features, you can share videos and pictures. If you are binge-watcher, this device has inbuilt AppleTV, disney+, and Netflix. It will provide you with tons of shows to watch. It offers Bluetooth connectivity feature that lets you wirelessly connect soundbars, subwoofers, and speakers for a custom audio configuration.

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3. Hisense 75H8G 75-Inch Quantum Series 4K ULED TV

If you are looking for a larger screen budget-friendly TV, then the Hisense 75H86 is another excellent option for you. It uses an android TV platform for downloading apps. It also helps in browsing the web. It has an inbuilt Google Assistant is compatible with Alexa.

In this model, you will get Chromecast support that with give you the immense experience of screen-mirroring. You can connect with your android devices to share videos and pictures. It has a proprietary ULED screen, which produces a tremendous 4K resolution. It also provides 700 nits of brightness for excellent visibility in almost any lighting environment. It has 90 local dimming zones that give enhanced contrast.

The Hisense 75H8G has a high-view engine and chipset. With these ingredients, it automatically adjusts picture lightening settings that suit your environment and the type of movie or show you are watching. The inbuilt game mode detects whether you are playing a game or not. With this feature, it automatically reduces input lag and smooth motion. It contains 4 HDMI ports, two USB ports, and Bluetooth connectivity. You can connect all your media playback, audio equipment, and game consoles quickly and simply.

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4. LG OLED 77C9PUB C9 Series 77-Inch 4K UHD TV

The LG OLED 77C9PUB offers the absolute best picture available in the market. This model of LG is built around its second-generation a9 processor. That offers stunning native 4K UHD resolution when streaming shows and movies. It provides crisp and clear upscaling of non-4K media too. LG’s 77C9PUB TV uses a four-step noise reduction process to remove digital artifacts. It preserves every frame to offer you quality picture time. It also offers Dolby vision HDR10 and HLG technologies for enhanced color saturation and contrast.

It is integrated with Nvidia’s G sync technology to produce a perfect black effect. This technology also provides more intense colors, and a better refresh rate to reduce picture stutter and tear for buttery-smooth action scenes. It has an in-built voice-enabled remote to use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant devices for hands-free controls. It has 40-watt speakers that utilize Dolby atmos programming to produce virtual surround sound listening experience. It also offers Bluetooth connectivity and a WISA speaker. By using a WISA speaker, you can easily set-up a custom home theatre audio system.

5. Samsung UN75RU8000FXZA 75-Inch 8 Series

The Samsung UN75RU800FXZA is for someone who takes their video game too seriously. This model is a comparatively bigger version of UN65. It provides all the experience that you need for any gaming console. The RU8000 has built around Samsung’s UHD processor. It produces 4K UHD resolution and also offers HDR support.
This model of Samsung provides you with an enhanced mode that makes it an excellent choice for gamers. It offers AMD FreeSync technology for an optimized refresh rate to prevent picture shuttering and tearing. It also uses game motion+ for ultra-smooth action. It comes with 4 HDMI and two USB ports to connect your gaming console. It also offers integrated cable management channels.

Buyer’s Guide:

What Is A Smart TV?

In their most basic form, a smart TV is a television that is connected to the internet and provides web-related features. It can be a web browser, but their appeal usually comes from their ability to use online services such as Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. If you’ve ever used something like an Apple TV, a Roku, or a Chromecast, then you are already quite familiar with their capabilities as they’re quite similar.

Unfortunately, though, while they offer the same features, they tend to be a bit slower and less stable. This has become less of an issue in recent years, but most TVs still don’t quite match the speed and reliability of something like a Roku set-top box.

Not only does almost every TV include smart features today, but most of them are pretty good. LG’s WebOS and TCL’s Roku stand out for their quality, but most shoppers should be pleased by the features of any of them. If you’re shopping for a TV, don’t fret too much on their smart features since little of your time is going to be spent using them. Instead, focus on the picture quality or other features that complement your usage. You’ll get much closer to finding your perfect TV that way.

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Which companies make smart TVs?

Every major TV manufacturer has shifted away from regular TVs, with the trend toward making every set “smart.” Budget-friendly sets from TCL and Hisense boast built-in Roku streaming, while high-end models from LG, Samsung and Sony offer even more capabilities, ranging from motion controls to voice interaction and smart home integration.

A partial list of the biggest smart TV makers includes Hisense, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TCL, Toshiba and Vizio. While most of these companies tout their smart platforms as the latest and greatest, watch out for budget-priced TVs that only vaguely mention smart TV capability. These off-brand smart TV platforms may leave you stuck with limited app selection, sub-par performance and worrisome security holes.

How do smart TVs connect to the internet?

A smart TV uses your home network to provide streaming video and services on your TV, and smart TVs use wired Ethernet and built-in Wi-Fi to stay connected. Most current TVs support 802.11ac Wi-Fi but watch for older models, which may still use the older 802.11n standard. Some of the latest models will also support the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, but it’s still pretty rare.

If your smart TV isn’t getting a strong enough wireless signal, you have a few options to remedy the problem. If your router is more than three years old, a good Wi-Fi router that supports 802.11ac could do the trick. Wi-Fi range extenders are also available from companies such as Netgear, but these devices require some time and patience to set up and install.

Mesh routers that extend coverage throughout home provide another option. The Nest WiFi and Netgear Orbi are two such models that, in our tests, have proved to be excellent solutions for people trying to cover a large home with Wi-Fi.

What services do smart TVs offer, and how do they differ from one another?

Regardless of which TV brand you choose, today’s smart TVs will offer a variety of streaming services and content choices, including services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video. But it’s not all paid subscription services, with a growing number of ad supported free streaming services like PlutoTV, Tubi and Crackle.

Smart TVs offer a great way to enjoy streaming music, with internet radio services like Spotify and Pandora offered on most smart TVs. Smart TVs also let you enjoy social media, and video sharing sites, such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

The biggest trends in smart TVs is the inclusion of voice assistants, like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. These interactive tools provide the same functionality as most smart speakers and can be used with either a microphone built into the remote or (in some cases) microphones built into the TV that listens to the room.

Finally, the smart TV has become a central hub in our connected homes, providing compatibility and control for a household full of connected devices, ranging from smart doorbells to smart thermostats. With many TVs offering smart home controlled dashboards, you can control a huge variety of devices from the comfort of your couch.

But not all smart TVs are created equal, and not every smart TV platform or operating system will support the same apps and features. Some manufacturers rely on proprietary operating systems for their smart TVs, such as Samsung’s Tizen smart TV software, LG’s webOS and Vizio’s SmartCast. Others use a third-party software, such as Roku TV or Amazon Fire TV, which are popular on budget friendly sets, as well as Google’s Android TV which appears on sets from Sony, Hisense and other manufacturers.

These operating systems will all offer some or even most of the features mentioned above, but each will have their own selection of apps, features and compatibility with other devices.

Each smart TV operating system will also have a different user interface, and these can vary widely. Many use a scrolling ribbon of app icons along the bottom of the screen, while others offer a full screen menu that lets you see several options at once. Navigating these menus will also vary by brand as each TV manufacturer uses its own unique remote control design. For specifics on the apps, services and distinct features of each smart TV platform, check out the reviews of the best TVs.

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WHAT MAKES SMART TVS SO POPULAR?

Many smart TVs are advertised as having apps, but it’s sometimes hard to tell what each one does. Smart TV apps exist for just about any use, from watching a movie to catching up with friends, and almost anything else you can think of. Most smart TV owners use apps for activities such as the following:

1. Streaming TV and movies

By far the most popular apps on smart TVs are those that connect viewers with their favorite subscription-based streaming services. If you’re looking to bring Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, or any other major streaming service to your TV, a smart TV will have you bingeing in no time.

2. Playing games

If you’re a fan of mobile games like Candy Crush or Farmville, you’ll find a lot to love on a smart TV. Many support popular titles ported from Android and iOS smartphones. Just be prepared that, in some cases, you’ll need to use the TV remote as a game controller, which can feel clunky at first.

3. Calling friends and family with video chat

If you’ve ever wanted to have a Skype call on the biggest screen in your house, you’re in luck. Many smart TVs support mainstream video-calling services and feature a built-in camera so others can see you as well. While video calls from your TV might sound unconventional, they’re perfect for large groups or gatherings.

4. Interacting with social media

There really is no escaping Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, even on your TV. Whether you want to interact with your friends or simply sit back and watch all of the content they’ve shared, with a smart TV it’s easy to manage your social media accounts from the comfort of your own living room.

5. Shopping

Your smart TV screen doubles as a window for window-shopping. Many major online retailers have smart TV apps so you can use your TV remote to explore and purchase any product you can think of.

SMART TV SCREEN TECHNOLOGIES

If you’ve decided to take the plunge and get a smart TV, you’ve still got some important decisions to make! In fact, the most important factor when shopping for any type of TV is the screen, both in terms of the screen resolution and the picture quality. Before you start shopping, decide what your ideal resolution is and what type of TV panel you want.

1. Screen resolution

You’ll need to decide if you want your smart TV to be high definition (with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, often referred to as 1080p), or ultra high definition (with a resolution of 3840 x 2160, better known as 4K). Higher-resolution screens produce more detailed images, so if you want the best picture quality available, spring for a 4K set. If you want a good picture that doesn’t need to be intensely detailed, a 1080p set will do just fine.

2. TV panels

There are several competing screen technologies available, but the most common are LED, OLED, XLED, and QLED. LED screens, the most affordable, can produce impressive imagery at any resolution. OLED screens are vastly superior because each pixel is individually lit, resulting in a brighter image. They’re also about three times as expensive as other screens. XLED and QLED screens are variants of LED screens. They significantly improve brightness and color reproduction but still lag behind the brilliance of an OLED screen.

Note:

If you’re in the market for a new TV but unsure about smart TVs, you can still buy a smart TV and bring your own content sources like a cable TV box or streaming box. Smart TVs aren’t for everyone, but they offer many of the best prices available, and “dumb” TVs are getting harder and harder to find.

Smart TV Prices:

Before you start shopping for a smart TV, know how far your money will go. Keep these prices in mind as you’re surveying the market.

1. Inexpensive

Between $300 and $799, you’ll find great values when it comes to 1080p smart TVs and bare-bones 4K smart TVs. If you just want a basic HD smart TV, you don’t need to spend a lot to get a solid deal, but if you’re looking for a 4K with all the bells and whistles like high dynamic range (HDR) or an OLED screen, you’ll need to spend more.

2. Mid-range

Between $800 and $1,299, most smart TVs feature 4K resolution, but some skimp on other features. For example, some low-end 4K TVs have multiple inputs but only one that supports 4K content. The majority of 4K TVs in this price range are average (which is still incredible), and with the right sale, you can find an outstanding set for this much.

3. Expensive

Between $1,300 and $3,500, expect to see smart TVs that spare no expense, literally. Smart TVs in this price range are all 4K TVs that come with features like HDR, Dolby Vision and include higher-end screen panel technologies like XLED, QLED, or OLED. Most of these smart TVs can anchor a solid home theater, so if you’re ready to turn your living room into a personal cinema, get ready to write a check with a comma in it.

TIPS:

Never clean your smart TV screen with commercial spray cleaners. No matter what kind of screen your smart TV has, it should only be cleaned with water, and sparingly. Most cleaning products use chemicals that can harm or stain a TV screen, so only use microfiber cloths and a small amount of water. For best results, spray water on the cloth and then wipe the TV; never spray the screen directly, even with water.
Set your smart TV’s software to update automatically. TV manufacturers often publish software updates for smart TVs that bring new features and critical security fixes to your TV. It’s easy to forget to check for software updates, so save yourself the headache and set your TV to auto-update. When your smart TV is set to auto-update, all-important software updates happen in the background as soon as they’re available.
Cover a built-in smart TV webcam when you’re not using it. Many smart TVs are designed to help facilitate video calls, so they include webcams at the top of the screen that integrates seamlessly with the TV’s design. Having a smart TV with a webcam can be great – it’s perfect for keeping family members connected. However, many privacy advocates aren’t thrilled about having an internet-connected camera pointed at them while they watch TV. If you have any concerns about your privacy, you can always cover your smart TV’s webcam with a discreet piece of electrical tape, or you can buy a smart TV that doesn’t have a camera.

While Black Friday and the holiday season are popular times to buy a TV, it’s not hard to find a good deal year-round. If you’ve been waiting for the shopping season to get a smart TV, don’t wait any longer. The affordable smart TV of your dreams is already out there!

FAQs

Can I connect an antenna to my smart TV to receive local broadcast channels?

A. Yes, so long as the TV has a coaxial input. Most smart TVs have a coaxial input that you can use with an external antenna; the coaxial input indicates the TV has a tuner inside that can translate your local broadcast TV signals into a watchable picture. However, some manufacturers omit a coaxial input or TV tuners, most notably LG. The easiest way to tell which models have coaxial inputs and TV tuners is to pay attention to the product titles: if a set has a tuner, it will be marketed as a TV; if it does not, it will simply be called a display. When you’re searching for TVs, you’re likely to encounter both, so pay special attention to which models use the word “TV” and which ones use the word “display.”

Do I need a paid subscription to use streaming apps on a smart TV?

A. Yes, if you want to use a paid streaming service. Most smart TVs come with a host of apps that are free to download and free to use, but they also support the most popular streaming services, like Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Video. To learn more about paid subscriptions, visit each streaming provider’s website.

Is it really safe to connect my TV to the internet?

A. Yes, so long as you follow web security best practices. For example, it’s important that your smart TV’s operating system is up to date to make sure that the latest patches and security features have been installed. So long as you keep your hardware updated (particularly gadgets that get you the internet, like your wireless router), your risk is minimal. In addition to keeping your TV’s software current, it’s also important to secure any accounts you’ll be using with it. For example, if you plan on browsing Facebook on your smart TV, make sure you’ve protected your Facebook account with multi-factor authentication to prevent getting hacked. For each account you plan on using with your smart TV, investigate what security features you can enable to help keep your data and credentials safe.

Final thoughts:

We hope you enjoyed this article featuring the Best Smart TVs for Streaming. The smart TVs can be an exciting gifting option this holiday season and especially for people who enjoy streaming. Grab them with special offers on Black Friday deals. The smart TVs would be an innovative gifting option for Christmas as well. Moreover, we hope you found a great gift that your loved one is sure to treasure for years to come.

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