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READ ME:
This actually took me longer and required more info than I originally thought! So please consider this a draft at this point and reply with any mistakes and corrections, formatting errors making it hard to read (I use the dark style for the site) and anything I should have included that I have missed. Also let me know if anything needs further explaining. Also feel free to recommend any good value TVs I missed in the recommendation part.
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So you're keen on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X and want a new TV to make the most of it but have no idea what to get? Hopefully this will make things clearer and act as a cheat sheet to cross reference those jibberish TV spec sheets.
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PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X support 8K Output! Do I need a new TV?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Most likely no.
Slightly longer answer: Not really. Firstly put things into perspective. The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were capable of 4k 60fps. How many games did we see at those outputs? A handful of older ports and indie titles. Judging by the actual hardware in next gen consoles this will likely be a 4k 30fps and 4k 60fps generation. If you watch things like Netflix or AppleTV through an app on your TV in 4k and HDR you are more than likely already set for next gen. You may need to look up your TV's specs for its HDMI standard though.
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What the hell do the different HDMI standards mean?!
HDMI generations have different bandwidth limits. Things like refresh rate and colour range will increase the amount of bandwidth required. So the more frames per second (FPS) you want at a greater colour depth will come at a higher bandwidth requirement. Ultimately your max FPS will be goverend by your TV's refresh rate (Hz) and colour depth by whether the TV is 10bit or 8bit (see following table explanation notes about chroma subsampling).
Quick guide of output limits of HDMI standards pertinent to gaming. HDMI 1.4 and 2.0 received multiple revisions over time, however buying a TV today (or have purchased one in the last few years) is assuming 1.4b and 2.0b standards. HDR is listed for 10 bit video. Dolby Vision is a step up again at 12 bit and convolutes this a little more. It's a proprietary standard that's not on every TV and only on the Xbox Series X.
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Things to look out for on TV specifcations
Refresh rate
Often some cheeky things are added to specifications that are quite honestly misleading. They are full of buzz words but when looking for a TV for gaming then most of it isn't even relevan. Refresh rates on store pages like JB and Good Guys don't tell the whole story and it's often good practice to look the model up on the manufacturers website.
Example: I'm currently looking at a budget TCL 55" TV. It's details page is states "100 Clearmotion rate". This TV is trying to advertise a refresh rate of 100. Digging deeper the native refresh rate of this TV is actually 50hz. So why does it say 100? Other brands may do something similar and state 120, but it's the same thing. What they do is insert a frame between each frame received from their source. This actually makes the image look smoother, but it also adds a lot of input lag and more often than not when you enable any "game" modes that a TV may have it will typically disable this feature anyway. When watching a TV show or more this also adds what is called a soap opera effect. Sometimes instore demos will play video game footage using these motion rate settings to make it appear that gaming will be silky and smooth on that TV but it's untrue.
Colour depth
This might be hiding under sections like bit rate or something. What you're looking for is 10bit. Most HDR capable TVs now are 10bit so that makes it easier. Just look for HDR10 or 10+ or something and of course check manufacturer's website. What you want to look for and avoid are things like 8bit or 8bit+2FRC (sneaky way of claiming "10 bit"). It's 2020, if you're not shopping for a HDR TV then you should ask yourself why do you even want a new TV.
Input lag and response time
Input lag is the time it takes from when you push a button to when the TV receives the signal. Response time is the time it takes for the pixels to change on the screen. You probably won't need to shop for this feature as most TVs today have it, but you'll want your TV to have a "game" mode. This disables all the useless features irrelevant to gaming that will greatly improve your input lag. Then the faster the response time the less time pixels will linger on a screen and reducing motion blur. Monitors are the best for this because they're typically as low as less than 5ms which is why super competitive gamers will choose a monitor. It's not uncommon for a TV to be around 15ms or less. Anything over 20ms should be discarded.
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Yeah, but I'm just here to find out what TV to buy? TL: DR pls.
Ok ok, here it is. I've chucked together a collection of TVs organised by price and hopefully readily available (so no obscure ALDI brands). They're generally scalable by size, I've just linked to 55" versions as they're the most popular so you'll need to look up larger sizes if that's what you're after. Only the top the range TVs will come with HDMI 2.1 so most of these will be 4k 30 or 60 with HDR capable. If you want to future proof and get HDMI 2.1, then either pay the premium now or wait until next year when it should start rolling out on more TVs.
These are also more family TVs as smaller ones (under 55") are usually a bit harder as they often lack certain features or technologies that the full featured larger models come with. I've also used JB Hifi as they're one of the most popular and wide spread retailers in Australia. Good Guys and Harvey Norman generally stock the same things at similar prices.
Please check out the RTings reviews. In fact if you're interested in any TV at all see if you can find their review of it. They're the best TV review source on the internet and go over every aspect allowing you to make the most informed decision.
----
This actually took me longer and required more info than I originally thought! So please consider this a draft at this point and reply with any mistakes and corrections, formatting errors making it hard to read (I use the dark style for the site) and anything I should have included that I have missed. Also let me know if anything needs further explaining. Also feel free to recommend any good value TVs I missed in the recommendation part.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So you're keen on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X and want a new TV to make the most of it but have no idea what to get? Hopefully this will make things clearer and act as a cheat sheet to cross reference those jibberish TV spec sheets.
----
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X support 8K Output! Do I need a new TV?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Most likely no.
Slightly longer answer: Not really. Firstly put things into perspective. The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were capable of 4k 60fps. How many games did we see at those outputs? A handful of older ports and indie titles. Judging by the actual hardware in next gen consoles this will likely be a 4k 30fps and 4k 60fps generation. If you watch things like Netflix or AppleTV through an app on your TV in 4k and HDR you are more than likely already set for next gen. You may need to look up your TV's specs for its HDMI standard though.
----
What the hell do the different HDMI standards mean?!
HDMI generations have different bandwidth limits. Things like refresh rate and colour range will increase the amount of bandwidth required. So the more frames per second (FPS) you want at a greater colour depth will come at a higher bandwidth requirement. Ultimately your max FPS will be goverend by your TV's refresh rate (Hz) and colour depth by whether the TV is 10bit or 8bit (see following table explanation notes about chroma subsampling).
Quick guide of output limits of HDMI standards pertinent to gaming. HDMI 1.4 and 2.0 received multiple revisions over time, however buying a TV today (or have purchased one in the last few years) is assuming 1.4b and 2.0b standards. HDR is listed for 10 bit video. Dolby Vision is a step up again at 12 bit and convolutes this a little more. It's a proprietary standard that's not on every TV and only on the Xbox Series X.
HDMI 1.4 | HDMI 2.0 | HDMI 2.1 |
1080p 144hzNO HDR 1080p 120hz NO HDR* 1080p 60hz HDR | 1080p 240hzNO HDR 1080p 144hzHDR 4k 60hzNO HDR* 4k 30hz HDR | 4k 144hzHDR 4k 60hz Dolby Vision |
*HDR available by dropping chroma subsampling from 4:4:4 to 4:2:2 or 4:2:0. What is chroma subsampling? https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/chroma-subsampling
----
Things to look out for on TV specifcations
Refresh rate
Often some cheeky things are added to specifications that are quite honestly misleading. They are full of buzz words but when looking for a TV for gaming then most of it isn't even relevan. Refresh rates on store pages like JB and Good Guys don't tell the whole story and it's often good practice to look the model up on the manufacturers website.
Example: I'm currently looking at a budget TCL 55" TV. It's details page is states "100 Clearmotion rate". This TV is trying to advertise a refresh rate of 100. Digging deeper the native refresh rate of this TV is actually 50hz. So why does it say 100? Other brands may do something similar and state 120, but it's the same thing. What they do is insert a frame between each frame received from their source. This actually makes the image look smoother, but it also adds a lot of input lag and more often than not when you enable any "game" modes that a TV may have it will typically disable this feature anyway. When watching a TV show or more this also adds what is called a soap opera effect. Sometimes instore demos will play video game footage using these motion rate settings to make it appear that gaming will be silky and smooth on that TV but it's untrue.
Colour depth
This might be hiding under sections like bit rate or something. What you're looking for is 10bit. Most HDR capable TVs now are 10bit so that makes it easier. Just look for HDR10 or 10+ or something and of course check manufacturer's website. What you want to look for and avoid are things like 8bit or 8bit+2FRC (sneaky way of claiming "10 bit"). It's 2020, if you're not shopping for a HDR TV then you should ask yourself why do you even want a new TV.
Input lag and response time
Input lag is the time it takes from when you push a button to when the TV receives the signal. Response time is the time it takes for the pixels to change on the screen. You probably won't need to shop for this feature as most TVs today have it, but you'll want your TV to have a "game" mode. This disables all the useless features irrelevant to gaming that will greatly improve your input lag. Then the faster the response time the less time pixels will linger on a screen and reducing motion blur. Monitors are the best for this because they're typically as low as less than 5ms which is why super competitive gamers will choose a monitor. It's not uncommon for a TV to be around 15ms or less. Anything over 20ms should be discarded.
Our TV Motion Tests: Response Time
If you watch content with fast-moving objects, like in video games, sports, or action movies, it's important to get a TV with a good response time and minimal blur.
www.rtings.com
Our TV Input Tests: Input Lag
Input lag is the amount of time it takes for your TV to display a signal on the screen from when you send it. It's especially important for playing reaction-based video games because you want the lowest input lag possible.
www.rtings.com
Our Monitor Motion Tests: Response Time
The response time of a monitor is the amount of time it takes for pixels to switch from one color to another. It greatly impacts your experience using the monitor, especially if you're a gamer.
www.rtings.com
----
Yeah, but I'm just here to find out what TV to buy? TL: DR pls.
Ok ok, here it is. I've chucked together a collection of TVs organised by price and hopefully readily available (so no obscure ALDI brands). They're generally scalable by size, I've just linked to 55" versions as they're the most popular so you'll need to look up larger sizes if that's what you're after. Only the top the range TVs will come with HDMI 2.1 so most of these will be 4k 30 or 60 with HDR capable. If you want to future proof and get HDMI 2.1, then either pay the premium now or wait until next year when it should start rolling out on more TVs.
These are also more family TVs as smaller ones (under 55") are usually a bit harder as they often lack certain features or technologies that the full featured larger models come with. I've also used JB Hifi as they're one of the most popular and wide spread retailers in Australia. Good Guys and Harvey Norman generally stock the same things at similar prices.
Please check out the RTings reviews. In fact if you're interested in any TV at all see if you can find their review of it. They're the best TV review source on the internet and go over every aspect allowing you to make the most informed decision.
Samsung TU8000 - if you haven't upgraded your TV in a long time and not too concerned by the latest and great then this might be a good option. Historically Samsung's 8000 models were their flag ships but they have been superseded by their QLED line and now these are more budget to medium. The details of the TU8000 claim 100hz (which I looked up to be "100hz motion rate", but after some digging I found it has HDMI version 2.0 with HDR10+ so this is a solid and affordable 4k 30/60 HDR option.
Samsung Q70T - at the time of writing this is a $600 jump at 55" from the TU8000. The Q60T is the entry point of Samsung's premium QLED line and is priced in between but it is not much of an improvement over the TU8000. The reason the Q70T is included is because it's the first of the QLED models to include HDMI 2.1. This is a fantastic option for PS5 owners because for XBSX owners it does not include Dolby Vision which is something you might be shopping for.
For gaming purposes the Q80T and Q90T don't offer a lot more, but if you've got the budget then you might want to consider them for your other TV purposes. They won't lack any of these previous gaming features though.
Samsung TU8000 55" Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV [2020]
Sporting such features as Exceptional. Elegant. Effortless., SAMSUNG have again proved why they are so popular. Check out our bargain prices online at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
Samsung TU8000 Review (UN43TU8000FXZA, UN50TU8000FXZA, UN55TU8000FXZA, UN65TU8000FXZA, UN75TU8000FXZA, UN85TU8000FXZA)
The Samsung TU8000 is an entry-level budget TV from Samsung's 2020 lineup, also sold as the Samsung TU8200 at Walmart. Despite lacking a local dimming feature, i...
www.rtings.com
Samsung Q70T - at the time of writing this is a $600 jump at 55" from the TU8000. The Q60T is the entry point of Samsung's premium QLED line and is priced in between but it is not much of an improvement over the TU8000. The reason the Q70T is included is because it's the first of the QLED models to include HDMI 2.1. This is a fantastic option for PS5 owners because for XBSX owners it does not include Dolby Vision which is something you might be shopping for.
Samsung Q70T 55" QLED Ultra HD 4K Smart TV [2020]
With SAMSUNG provide a great product at a great price. Grab a bargain on one today at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED Review (QN55Q70TAFXZA, QN65Q70TAFXZA, QN75Q70TAFXZA, QN82Q70TAFXZA, QN85Q70TAFXZA)
The Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED is a good all-around 4k TV from Samsung's 2020 QLED lineup. It delivers good performance for most uses and comes with some extra featur...
www.rtings.com
For gaming purposes the Q80T and Q90T don't offer a lot more, but if you've got the budget then you might want to consider them for your other TV purposes. They won't lack any of these previous gaming features though.
Nano86 - LG are more known for their OLED TVs but it would be remiss to exclude this one. It is an IPS panel so it will actually suit anyone who is looking for a bright TV. It's HDMI 2.1 and priced similar to the Samsung Q70T however it supports both HDR10 as well as Dolby Vision.
CX - OLED is recommended for a reason, one of the best technologies for gaming TVs you will find. Typically LG organise their OLED models by alphabet and year (2019 was B9, C9, etc) but currently there only seems to be the CX. It's expensive though. I wouldn't say it's future proof though as it doesn't support 8K. 8K content doesn't even really even exist though... so that's up to you.
LG Nano86 Series NanoCell 55" Smart 4K TV with AI ThinQ
Sporting such features as LG has delivered the goods once again. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
CX - OLED is recommended for a reason, one of the best technologies for gaming TVs you will find. Typically LG organise their OLED models by alphabet and year (2019 was B9, C9, etc) but currently there only seems to be the CX. It's expensive though. I wouldn't say it's future proof though as it doesn't support 8K. 8K content doesn't even really even exist though... so that's up to you.
LG CX 55" Self-Lit OLED Smart 4K TV with AI ThinQ
Sporting such features as LG has delivered the goods once again. Grab a bargain on one today at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
LG CX OLED Review (OLED48CXPUB, OLED55CXPUA, OLED65CXPUA, OLED77CXPUA)
The LG CX OLED is an excellent high-end TV. It's part of LG's popular OLED lineup, sitting behind the LG GX OLED, and it delivers the same exceptional picture qu...
www.rtings.com
X9000H - might be a better option than the entry level Samsung QLED lines. HDMI 2.1, HDR10, Dolby Vision and about the same price.
Sony X9000H 55" 4K Full Array LED Android TV [2020]
With SONY provide a great product at a great price. Grab a bargain on one today at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
Sony X900H Review (XBR55X900H, XBR65X900H, XBR75X900H, XBR85X900H)
The Sony X900H, also sold as the X90CH at Costco, is a great 4k TV for nearly any type of content. It has a VA panel with an excellent contrast ratio and a full-...
www.rtings.com
55Q8 - Might not be the best buy at this price due to being HDMI 2.0 (in between budget Samsungs and the entry HDMI 2.1 models) but Hisense have become a quality option for a while now.
Hisense 55Q8 55" 4K Ultra HD ULED Smart TV [2020]
With HISENSE provide a great product at a great price. Grab a bargain on one today at JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.com.au
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HDMI - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
HDMI 2.1: Everything you need to know
The next evolution of HDMI is here. Do you need to upgrade your cables?
www.cnet.com
HDMI Unleashed: An In-Depth Guide to Cables, Connections, and Adapters for Optimal Performance
You will find an HDMI port on most modern AV devices - but is it the best connector to use? Learn all about HDMI cables, connections and adapters.
www.the-home-cinema-guide.com
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