If you are a regular What Hi-Fi? reader you know that I and the wider team take a lot of pride in our TV testing – and for good reason.
We put every set through a series of comparative tests, directly against its rivals and step-up/down options.
During the process, multiple members of the home cinema team then compare notes to ensure our buying advice is based on how they actually perform against the competition – we never compare products relying on memory.
Which is why, after we unveiled the best TV category winners for the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2024 last week, you can rest assured every winner is in fact the top option you can get in its category. You may also justifiably be keen to pick one up as a result.
Here to help you do just that, I have taken the time to search all the major specialist and general TV/AV retailers to find the best price currently available on each What Hi-Fi? Awards 2024 TV winner!
1. 42-inch LG C4: the best small and gaming TV currently available
For the money you will get a fantastic small OLED that delivers punchy, but realistic picture quality, albeit with slightly cooler colours than its larger siblings. It also features four HDMI 2.1 inputs which is great if you have multiple consoles, a PC and Dolby Atmos soundbar to connect. Current generation consoles and PCs with a powerful graphics card require an HDMI 2.1 input to run at full speed. A Dolby Atmos soundbar requires an eARC input, which one of the HDMI 2.1’s doubles as.
Our only caveat, which is shared across all the TVs on this list but is particularly true of the 42-inch LG C4, is to make sure you do invest in a separate soundbar or speakers. No TV’s inbuilt speakers sound great, based on our testing, but thanks to its small dimensions the 42-inch LG C4’s sound system is particularly weak. So you 100 per cent will want a separate soundbar or system for a truly immersive experience when gaming or watching movies.
2. 48-inch LG C4: the top 48- / 50-inch model we’ve reviewed
Next up is the 48-inch LG C4, which sadly isn’t currently selling at quite as an impressive price as the 42-inch model; but there is still a deal. The 48-inch LG C4 currently sells on Amazon for £1199, a £300 saving on its RRP. The only reason we’re not recommending the deal quite as heartily as that for its smaller sibling is that it was £100 cheaper than this mere weeks ago.
The discount isn’t as impressive, but we still recommend the 48-inch LG C4 for buyers who can’t afford to wait for the price to come down and need a set that size. The TV shares all the same core features as its smaller siblings but with a few notable differences. The biggest – ba-boom-tsch – is that it is bigger. And as a result, while still at best average, its audio is slightly fuller. It also has a stand design, where its 42-inch sibling has feet. But, most importantly, its picture is slightly better, with warmer colours giving the image a more “alive” realistic feel.
3. Sony Bravia 8: the best 55-inch or larger TV
The Bravia 8 is the only new OLED by Japanese home-cinema giant Sony to arrive this year. It is also the successor to last year’s Product of the Year winner, the Sony A80L. Thankfully not only does it manage to refine and improve on its predecessor enough to earn a place as a 2024 Award-winner, the 55-inch Bravia 8 is also currently selling for £1599 on Amazon – that’s a huge £600 saving on its official price.
That’s a pretty fantastic deal as the TV is a wonderful choice for any serious movie fan who wants an authentic, natural film-watching experience. The set delivers warmer, more refined colours than its predecessor, so skin tones in particular look wonderfully realistic. Excellent light-control then gives the picture a truly three-dimensional quality that makes every part of the image naturally distinct and engaging.
Add to this its best in class motion handling and impressive maximum brightness levels, and the Bravia 8 is an easy recommendation, especially at this price.
4. Samsung QE75QN900D: our best 8K TV winner
The Samsung QE75QN900D is the only 8K TV on this list. While it still costs a premium on equivalent 4K options, there are some great deals currently doing the rounds. The best is running at John Lewis, where you can pick up a Samsung QE75QN900D for £3799 – a £1200 saving on its regular £4999 price.
We can really only recommend the deal to early adopters – but including it at all is a big deal as we are still on the fence about 8K for a couple of reasons. First because there is next to no content shot and mastered to the resolution, so you are basically paying a premium for futureproofing and upscaling. There are also very few TVs made to the resolution. The drought of good new 8K TVs is a key reason we don’t always run best 8K TV as a category during our Awards – if there isn’t a set we can actually recommend, we won’t bother.
Which should tell you quite how impressed our reviewers are with the new Samsung QE75QN900D. It isn’t merely the best 8K TV currently available – it’s the best 8K TV we have ever tested. Key upgrades include vastly improved upscaling and general holistic improvements to picture quality that make it a fantastic choice for early adopters.
5. TCL 85C805K: the best budget 85-inch TV we’ve ever seen
Last, but by no means least, we have the TCL 85C805K which is this year’s best budget 85-inch TV. Sadly, there aren’t any amazing deals on the set, with it selling for £1498 at pretty much every retailer, including Amazon, at the moment.
So why is it still on this list? First because it’s an Award winner. Second, because at that price it’s still an amazing value option for people with cavernous living rooms. The TCL 85C805K is one of the first 85-inch sets for less than £2000 we have seen that meets our baseline for “good” picture quality.
Our testers went so far to describe it as “the home theatre bargain of the year” when they reviewed it, so any discount is worth considering if you want a set this size but don’t fancy paying multiple thousands of pounds.
MORE:
These are the best small TVs we have reviewed
Our picks of the best OLED TVs
We rate the best cheap TVs
