These are the 5 best TVs under $500, according to a tech expert
I tested five under-$500 TVs from Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense, and Amazon Fire TV — here are my honest reviews.
If it’s been a while since you’ve upgraded your television, you’ll be blown away at how big, bright and light today’s TVs have become. Most devices offer a 4K picture, which delivers four times the resolution of a 1080p Full HD TV. The more dots (“pixels”) that make up the image, the more detailed and lifelike it is.
TVs are also getting smarter, with high-speed Wi-Fi and an app store to download or stream content. There are built-in voice-activated personal assistants. And many have Bluetooth, which lets you wirelessly pair compatible headphones, hearing aids, soundbars and game controllers.
And no worries if cash is tight, as the cost of admission is becoming picture-perfect, too, thanks to falling prices year after year. You don’t need to break the bank on some great models from brand names.
With that in mind, I tested five under-$500 TVs from Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense and Amazon Fire TV from Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy Canada. Each TV was impressive in its own way and with prices starting at $260, they're all great options if you're sticking to a budget.
Aside from the great price of $350, there’s a lot to like about the LG UT7000 Series 4K Smart TV.
Most notably, the 43-inch television’s Filmmaker mode enhances the 4K picture further, benefitted from High Dynamic Range (HDR10 Pro) which adds brightness, contrast and richer colour. That, and LG’s α5 AI processor (Gen 7), can also upscale a mediocre quality image into something spectacular.
But this television really shines as a Smart TV, powered by the proprietary webOS platform, which runs quickly and smoothly. Along with support for countless apps to download and customize the experience, you can get access to more than 100 free channels for feature films, TV shows, breaking news, live sports and more.
Gamers will appreciate support for GeForce NOW, a cloud gaming service from NVIDIA, as well as LG Game Optimizer to optimize picture and sound settings for video games.
The TV boasts 20 watts of audio, which proved loud and clear, plus there’s support for Bluetooth headphones for private listening.
While you don’t get LG’s Magic Remote — a highly-rated wireless remote that has mouse-like control — the remote you do get has dedicated buttons to launch your favourite streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and LG’s free channels.
If you don’t have a big space or budget, Amazon’s 40-inch Fire TV is a great buy at under $300.
Super easy to set up and use, this Full HD (1080p) TV supports both HDR10 (High Dynamic Range) and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), both of which help the television display a wide range of brightness and colours.
Viewers can access all the popular streaming services (and also lesser-known ones), and toggle between cable or fiber connections, game consoles or Blu-ray disc players, since there are multiple HDMI ports in the back (and a USB port if you want to access your own videos, photos or music).
There are also apps for free (ad-supported) TV shows and movies via platforms like YouTube, Tubi, CBC Gem and several others.
As you might expect from an Amazon Fire TV, the Alexa Voice Remote lets you summon your personal assistant, whether you want to speak aloud to find something to watch, control your smart home devices, or ask questions (like getting sports scores, weather info, stock quotes and more).
On the audio front, this Fire TV has Dolby Digital Plus for clear and well-balanced audio, as well as support for wireless Bluetooth listening.
Ideal for a dorm room, a 32-inch model sells for $199, as well.
While the company may not be as well-known as, say, LG or Samsung, Hisense has become a global powerhouse in the TV space over the past couple of years — and for good reason.
At $499, the Hisense 55QD6N QLED 4K Google TV is a real looker, thanks to its gorgeous and big 55-inch screen, featuring quantum dot technology for more vibrant colour, high brightness and wide viewing angles.
This television also supports other (and acronym-laden!) formats to boost the picture’s performance, such as HDR10 (High Dynamic Range), HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) and a 4K AI Upscaler that leverages artificial intelligence to restore lost detail in standard-definition footage, while also reducing image noise.
As for streaming, this Hisense model features Google TV as a Smart TV platform, providing access to the Google Play app store and various content services.
For sound, this is the only TV in this round-up to offer both Dolby Digital and DTS: X, an audio codec that creates a multi-dimensional and immersive sound experience.
The TV has three HDMI ports, two USB, an Ethernet jack (if a wired connection is preferred over Wi-Fi) and legacy ports (RCA jacks, optical audio and more).
Other noteworthy features include a web browser, game mode, sleep timer and parental controls.
Big and beautiful, the 55-inch TCL Q65 has everything you’d want in a TV: QLED (quantum dot) for a rich colour experience, 4K resolution (about 8.3 million pixels) for added detail, and a high-brightness LED-backlight picture.
At play here is the TCL AIPQ processor “with Deep Learning AI” — that automatically optimizes the colour and contrast of the source content — as well as jargony but important technologies like HDR PRO+ with Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG.
And while this TV only delivers the standard 60-frames-per-second picture, gamers can take advantage of frame quadrupling to smooth out fast-paced titles like racing, sports and first-person shooter games. In other words, it delivers a 240Hz-like refresh rate to enhance your game time, and there’s nothing you need to select as the television will automatically enable “Game Mode” for the lowest possible input lag and latency.
For audio, there’s support for Dolby Atmos (spatial sound), DTS Virtual:X (advanced audio post-processing) and Bluetooth support for private audio.
The Smart TV is powered by the versatile Google TV platform, plus there’s an Alexa-enable voice remote included, too.
If you don’t have as healthy of a budget, the TCL Q65 models also come in a 50-inch option for $399.
While $448 may seem a tad steep for a 43-inch television, Samsung knocks it out of the park with its DU7100, an entry-level 4K Smart TV with plenty of bells and whistles.
For one, the picture is packed with vibrant colour, rich detail (most 43-inch TVs are HD instead of Ultra HD), and it has the ability to upconvert standard-definition content into a near-4K image.
While there’s no local dimming on this HDR (High Dynamic Range) TV, Samsung’s “Contrast Enhancer” helps to control both the lighting and darkness in your content, resulting in an enhanced sense of depth.
That, and “Motion Xcelerator” can smooth out fast-paced video games, sports and action flicks — so there’s no blurriness or “ghosting” that some sub-$500 TVs are guilty of.
Supported by the Tizen operating system, this Smart TV enjoys a healthy app store, a ton of free video content to consume (courtesy of Samsung) and a Gaming Hub cloud feature that lets you play Xbox and PC games without needing a console.
Audio is boosted by a 3D surround sound-like effect called “Q-Symphony,” plus you can add a Bluetooth-enabled soundbar or headphones with this model.
If 43 inches is enough for you, seriously consider the Samsung DU7100.
Meet the expert
For the past 30 years, tech expert Marc Saltzman has been a freelance journalist for several publications, including Postmedia, USA TODAY, Reader’s Digest, Forbes Vetted, and Homefront. He's also an author of numerous books including “Apple Vision Pro For Dummies,” and host of various TV and radio shows, and the “Tech It Out” podcast. Marc specializes in consumer electronics, interactive entertainment, smart home tech, automotive innovations, and future trends.
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