The 7 best 65-inch TVs of 2024

Many brands use 65 inches as the flagship option for their top displays. This size offers a big-screen experience while still fitting in most rooms.

The 7 best 65-inch TVs of 2024

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

A side-by-side image with a photo of an LG G3 OLED on media console next to a photo of a Sony A95L TV remote in hand in front of the display.
The best 65-inch TVs include top models from LG and Sony.

A 65-inch TV is ideal for buyers who want a big screen that still fits in most living rooms. Many TV manufacturers use 65 inches as their flagship size to showcase their top models, so there's a wide range of options available. However, the best 65-inch TV for your needs will vary depending on your budget and viewing habits.

To help narrow down your search, our tech experts have used their extensive experience to curate a list of the best 65-inch TVs you can buy. Our top recommendation is the Samsung S90D 4K TV. Thanks to its OLED panel and quantum dot technology, it delivers stunning contrast and color. But if that's too expensive, the Hisense U6N is the best 65-inch TV you can snag on a budget. Despite its low price, it boasts advanced picture features like a Mini LED backlight.    

Below are all seven of our picks for the best 65-inch TVs. Our carefully vetted recommendations cover every display type and budget, so you're sure to find something here to suit your needs.

Our top picks for the best 65-inch TVs

Best overall: Samsung S90D - See at Amazon 

Best on a budget: Hisense U6N - See at Amazon 

Best OLED for wall mounting: LG G3 - See at Amazon

Best for home theaters: Sony A95L - See at Amazon

Best midrange QLED: TCL QM7 - See at Amazon

Best smart TV interface: Roku Pro Series - See at Amazon

Best designer display: Samsung Frame - See at Amazon


Best overall

When factoring in performance and price, the Samsung S90D is the best 65-inch TV — and our pick for the best TV period — that you can buy. It wowed us in all our tests, and it can often be found for around $1,600, which is a fantastic deal for such an impressive display.

The S90D is the 2024 replacement for our previous pick in this category, the 2023 Samsung S90C. Though the S90C remains an excellent TV, it's hard to find in stock and the S90D costs about the same. With that in mind, we now recommend the S90D as our top pick.

Part of what makes the 65-inch S90D so impressive is the display's use of an OLED panel with quantum dots. Similarly priced LG OLED TVs are missing quantum dots, and this feature enables the S90D to produce brighter colors. Coupled with the TV's infinite contrast ratio, the S90D's quantum dot filter leads to gorgeous high-dynamic-range (HDR) images. In our testing, we measured a peak brightness of around 1,240 nits, which is excellent for a midrange OLED.

A Samsung S90D 4K TV on a media console with an image of a mountain range with a rainbow on the screen.
The Samsung S90D has better color performance than other 65-inch OLEDs in its price range.

And though it's disappointing that Samsung doesn't support the Dolby Vision format, which can provide a more finely-tuned HDR image, the S90D's HDR10 and HDR10+ capabilities are so strong that we don't think most people will notice a difference. You can learn more about how various HDR formats compare in our HDR TV guide. The S90D also upscales lower-resolution content well, though it can't match the picture processing of high-end Sony displays. 

Whether you're watching 4K movies in a dark room or channel surfing in an average living room during the day, the S90D looks great. The smart TV interface is also solid, though its navigation speed isn't as consistent as we'd like. We also ran into some glitches related to notification pop-ups and automatic app start-ups, but these issues should be easy to fix with firmware.

On the plus side, Samsung's OS is the only smart TV platform supporting Xbox Game Pass, which lets members stream high-end games without a console. The TV also supports a high 144Hz refresh rate when paired with a PC, making this an ideal gaming display.

Check out our full guide to the best Samsung TVs.

Best on a budget

Hisense's U6N is the 2024 version of our previous pick in this category, the Hisense U6K. We still think the U6K is a fantastic TV, but it's no longer sold at most stores. With that in mind, the U6N is our new pick for the best 65-inch TV on a budget. Despite some performance tradeoffs, the U6N delivers incredible value at this size.

Like the older U6K, this budget-friendly TV uses a QLED display with local dimming and quantum dots. While there are similarly priced competitors with those features, the U6N is one of the few TVs in this class that also uses Mini LED technology. Mini LEDs enable more precise control of a TV's light output to produce better contrast and less blooming (halos around bright objects). And though the U6K also had Mini LEDs, the U6N actually uses more dimming zones, which enables even better contrast performance. 

A Hisense U6N on a media console with an image of a cityscape on its screen.
The 65-inch U6N's image quality beats every other TV in its price range.

But while the U6N's dimming performance is great for its class, black levels aren't quite as precise as they are on more expensive QLED sets. We also noticed some banding (blocky rather than smooth color gradients) when watching certain streaming apps, which is something that pricier sets handle better.

The U6N also has a dimmer image compared to premium QLEDs, so it's not ideal for rooms that let in a lot of light. That said, the TV's brightness is still solid for the money. We measured a peak of around 625 nits, and the TV produces highlights with just enough intensity to demonstrate the perks of high-dynamic-range content. And thanks to its quantum dot filter, the U6N offers a wide range of colors when watching HDR videos. You'll just want to view those videos from a centered view since colors distort if you sit at an angle.

Poor off-axis performance is the norm for budget TVs, but this drawback is important to keep in mind. And like most TVs in this price range, the U6N has a 60Hz screen rather than 120Hz. This means the TV can't support high-frame-rate modes on a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. But at a typical sale price of under $650, there simply isn't another 65-inch TV this cheap that can beat the U6N. 

Check out our guides to all the best budget TVs and best TVs under $500.

Best OLED for wall mounting

LG's G3 is ideal for buyers who want a design-focused 65-inch TV that doesn't skimp on top-notch home theater performance. Though technically a 2023 model, the 65-inch G3 remains in stock and still compares favorably to pricier 2024 options.

Like Samsung's popular Frame TV, the G3 has a thin profile and a flush mount that lets you hang it on your wall with virtually no gap. But unlike the Frame, the G3 uses an OLED panel for superior picture quality with much better contrast, black levels, and viewing angles. You miss out on the Frame's matte screen, separate connection box, and interchangeable bezels, but the jump in image performance is substantial.

An LG G3 OLED TV on an entertainment console displaying an HDR video with a lion by a lake.
The G3 is designed for hanging on your wall and looks best when mounted that way, but you can buy a traditional stand separately.

And despite not using quantum dots like high-end OLEDs from Sony and Samsung, the G3 is still one of the brightest OLEDs we've tested. During our evaluation, we measured a peak of around 1,470 nits on the G3, which is more than enough to enjoy HDR content.

But while the G3 looks gorgeous on a wall, it's not a top pick if you plan to put it on an entertainment console. It doesn't even come with a stand, so you'd have to buy one separately, which adds to the cost, and we don't like how the panel tilts back slightly when it's attached to its stand.

That said, LG does sell a new 2024 edition of this display, called the G4, which now includes a stand with a 65-inch size and no longer tilts the panel. However, the G4 only offers minor improvements in image quality, so we think the cheaper G3 is still the better buy for wall mounting. Check out our full LG G4 TV review for more details. 

Best for home theaters

Sony's A95L OLED is built for home theater enthusiasts. It's expensive, but the display edges out the picture performance of every other 4K TV we've reviewed.

Compared to its already impressive predecessor, the A95K, the A95L offers a big upgrade in one key area: peak brightness. We measured a peak of around 1,500 nits on a 5% test pattern with the TV set in its most accurate picture mode. That's a 50% increase over the previous model and one of the highest brightness levels we've ever seen on an OLED. This lets the TV display specular highlights (like explosions) with more realistic intensity when watching HDR content graded beyond 1,000 nits. 

An angled view of a Sony A95L 4K OLED TV on a TV stand displaying the Google TV home page with an image from "The Marvels" on the screen.
Sony's A95L has the best picture quality of any 65-inch TV on the market.

But while the A95L's brightness is impressive, Samsung's S95D and LG's G4 can surpass it. However, the A95L still distinguishes itself from competitors thanks to Sony's proprietary picture processing powered by its "Cognitive Processor XR." Though that sounds like marketing jargon, this tech makes a difference when optimizing the TV's images. Its HDR tone mapping is also more accurate than Samsung's. And unlike Samsung it supports Dolby Vision, so you'll get slightly better high-dynamic-range performance when watching Dolby Vision content.  

The display complements its high-end picture with a premium design and a unique stand that can be attached in a low- or high-profile configuration. Low allows the TV to sit flush with your entertainment console, while high gives you enough room to put a soundbar in front. 

The A95L also boasts reliable Google TV streaming and comes with a webcam that can be used for video calls and gesture controls, which is a cool extra perk. From image quality to design, the A95L fully earns its premium status. We wish it had more HDMI 2.1 ports and a 144Hz mode for PC gaming, but those omissions are minor compared to everything the A95L does right. Though most people will be satisfied with a less expensive TV, the A95L is ideal for videophiles willing to pay a premium to get the best movie-watching experience.

Best midrange QLED

TCL's QM7 is one of the best 65-inch TVs on a midrange budget. The display's QLED panel delivers a peak of around 1,700 nits, which makes it one of the brightest displays in its price range. This high brightness gives HDR images sparkling intensity and gives you plenty of headroom to pump up SDR (standard dynamic range) luminance to combat glare in rooms with ambient light. 

Like its 2023 predecessor, the Q7 QLED, the QM7 has local dimming support. This feature allows the TV to precisely adjust its light output across specific zones. Even better, the QM7 uses Mini LEDs rather than the standard-sized LEDs found on the Q7. As a result, the display can pack in more zones, which leads to better contrast control. 

A photo of a TCL QM7 4K QLED TV on a media console displaying a video with mountain by a lake.
The QM7's brightness performance is excellent for a midrange set.

This leads to excellent image performance and we didn't notice any major blooming around bright objects during our review. That said, black levels aren't perfect and they don't quite disappear into a dark room the way they would on an OLED model. And though decent, the TV's handling of lower-quality sources isn't as sharp and clean as we've seen on pricier sets from brands like Sony, LG, and Samsung.  

Like most QLED TVs, viewing angles are also mediocre, so colors and contrast fade if you sit to the side of the display. On the plus side, the TV is well-equipped for gaming. It's one of the most affordable 144Hz displays on the market, which enables smooth gameplay when paired with a compatible PC. 

We were also impressed by the TV's snappy Google TV interface, which offers access to all of the best streaming services. Some glitches did pop up during our testing, but nothing was bothersome enough to impact our overall experience.

Read our TCL QM7 4K TV review

Best smart TV interface

There are many smart TV interfaces out there, but Roku's OS (operating system) is our favorite for its ease of use. The brand's OS is available on some entry-level TVs from TCL and Hisense, but none of those options perform as well as Roku's own flagship Pro Series TV. 

Like the TCL QM7, the Roku Pro Series features a QLED panel with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming. This gives it great control over its light output, with better black level and contrast performance than cheaper QLED TVs, like the Hisense U6N. It can also get much brighter than that model with over 1,000 nits of peak luminance. 

That said, the Pro Series can't quite match the brightness or backlight precision of other QLEDs in this class, like the TCL QM7, and it's capped at 120Hz rather than 144Hz. It also suffers from poor viewing angles and reflections in bright rooms, but those are common drawbacks for most QLEDs.

An Angled view of the Roku interface displayed on a 65-inch Roku Pro TV.
Roku's smart TV interface is straightforward and reliable.

Thankfully, the Roku Pro Series makes up for these cons with quick smart TV navigation and key design perks. The Roku homepage is simple to use and puts all your favorite apps upfront as large tiles that you can organize as you wish. We prefer this over the more content-heavy focus of other platforms, like the Fire TV OS, which can come across as a bit cluttered. Moving through services is speedy and we didn't encounter any major hiccups in our tests. 

We also love the TV's compact remote, which charges via USB, so you don't need batteries. It has backlit keys, too, for easy use in a dark room. You can access voice search by speaking a wake word or by pressing a button on the remote. And if you ever lose the remote, it has a built-in speaker that will chime when you press a button on the TV.

This focus on user-friendly conveniences extends to the TV's stand as well. The left and right feet don't require tools to attach and instead use a knob system that you can turn with your hands. The stand can also be positioned in a high or low setting to make room for a soundbar.

There are other QLEDs with better image quality in this price range, but the Roku Pro Series is the best 65-inch TV for buyers who want an upper midrange display that emphasizes general ease of use.

Read our Roku Pro Series 4K TV review

Check out our guide to all the best smart TVs.

Best designer display

The Samsung Frame TV is perfect for buyers who want a 65-inch display that blends seamlessly into their living room decor. Built with an emphasis on design, the TV features interchangeable bezels and a matte screen that can make it look like a piece of art hanging on your wall.

The bezels come in different styles that magnetically attach to the TV. The Frame also has a Slim-Fit Wall Mount that lets you hang it flush against your wall. And unlike most TVs, the Frame uses a separate One Connect Box to house all its ports, so you just need one cable running from the display. If you need to connect an AV receiver, streaming device, or gaming console, you simply hook those up to the TV's external box, which removes all those unsightly wires on your wall.  

A Samsung Frame TV on an entertainment console in a living room with a bird displayed on its screen.
The Frame TV's matte screen gives it a more canvas-like appearance than a typical glossy TV.

The screen features a matte finish rather than the glossy look of most modern TVs. This helps reduce reflections and gives the Frame a canvas-like appearance. The Frame also has an "Art Mode," which lets it display paintings, photos, or other images when not used as a TV. Built-in motion sensors can be activated so the Art Mode turns on when the TV senses someone in the room. You can use your own images or have the Frame cycle through art from Samsung's Art Store (subscription required).

But while the Frame has a high-end design, its picture quality is a mixed bag. The QLED panel offers wide color support, but brightness is limited compared to Samsung's top QLEDs. It also lacks local dimming, which results in the worst contrast and black-level performance of any 65-inch TV in this guide. 

The Frame isn't geared toward wowing you with high dynamic range imagery. Instead, it's meant to appeal to buyers who want a 65-inch display that can serve as both a design piece for the living room and a capable smart TV for casual viewing. And in that sense, it excels.

The new 2024 Frame TV offers some color improvements over the older model but otherwise delivers similar performance. However, the 2024 model often sells for the same price as its predecessor. Unless you find the older model on sale for less, you should snag the 2024 edition. 

How we test 65-inch TVs

An angled photo of an LG G4 OLED displaying a lion on screen.
We evaluate key factors like smart TV navigation and picture quality on every 65-inch display we test.

To pick the best 65-inch TVs for our guide, our experts relied on hands-on testing and research bolstered by more than a decade's worth of experience reviewing home entertainment products. To test displays, we evaluate them for general picture clarity, contrast performance, HDR peak brightness, color, off-axis viewing, smart TV interface, and value for the money. 

Brightness is measured using an X-Rite iDisplay Plus colorimeter. Other objective display capabilities are evaluated using test patterns found on the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark 4K Blu-ray disc. 

To get a sense of real-world performance, we also watch scenes from movies and TV shows with clips specifically selected to emphasize a display's black levels, highlights, color capabilities, and upscaling. Our demo material includes a mix of 4K, 1080p high-definition (HD), and standard-definition (SD) content from streaming devices, cable TV, and Blu-ray discs. We also watch content in different lighting conditions to evaluate bright-room and dark-room performance. 

The best 65-inch TVs will also have excellent smart TV features, so we test overall navigation speed and app stability, voice search, digital assistant integration, and extra perks like game streaming support. 

For more info on our review process, visit our page detailing how we test tech products.

65-inch TV FAQs

A Samsung S90D 4K TV on a media console with the Tizen smart TV interface on screen.
A 65-inch screen size is a great fit for most living rooms.

Is it worth buying a 65-inch TV?

If you have the space for it, we think 65 inches is the ideal size to consider when shopping for a new TV, especially a 4K model. Many brands use 65 inches as their flagship size to showcase their best 4K TVs, and this size is great for delivering big-screen immersion without taking up too much room. If you're looking for a media console or mount to use with a 65-inch TV, check out our guides to the best TV stands and best TV wall mounts for our top picks. 

Of course, you can still find excellent TV models in smaller sizes if you need something more compact. Likewise, top displays are available in larger sizes if you want an even more immersive screen.

Check out our other size-specific guides for more display recommendations:

How much should you spend on a 65-inch TV?

Exactly how much you should spend on a 65-inch TV depends on your viewing needs. The best 65-inch TVs range in price from around $500 to over $3,000. You can also find cheaper entry-level 65-inch TVs for under $400, but we generally recommend paying more for one of our above-mentioned picks.

Buyers shopping for a midrange 65-inch TV should expect to spend $500-$1,000. You can find 65-inch QLED TVs in this price range that offer advanced picture quality features, like local dimming, and good brightness performance that can reach 600-1,700 nits.

Buyers who want an upper-midrange or high-end 65-inch TV should be looking to spend $1,000-$3,000. You can find advanced 65-inch QLED TVs that deliver up to 3,000 nits of brightness in the $1,000-$2,000 range, while the best OLED TVs with infinite contrast ratios tend to sell for $1,600-$3,000.  

How far should you sit from a 65-inch 4K TV?

The benefits of a 4K screen become most noticeable when you sit at a distance of around one to 1.5 times the size of your TV. At that distance, you'll be able to see the extra detail that 4K resolution offers compared to a 1080p high-definition screen. The ideal viewing distance for a 65-inch 4K TV should be between 5.4 and 8.1 feet from your TV.    

You can sit farther away and still enjoy a 65-inch 4K TV, but that range will yield the best visible detail. Otherwise, you'll want a bigger screen to get the full benefits of 4K.  

Should you purchase a 65-inch 8K TV?

Though some brands do sell 65-inch 8K TVs, we don't recommend buying one in this screen size. When viewing it at a reasonable distance, 65 inches just isn't big enough to show off the benefits of an 8K resolution screen. 

A 75-inch or larger 8K TV is better suited for highlighting the additional detail you get with 8K resolution, but even then, the benefits are subtle. We recommend saving money and going with a 4K model if you want a 65-inch TV.

Do 65-inch TVs have good sound quality?

Though the best 65-inch TV models have better built-in speaker systems than smaller displays, performance is still limited compared to a separate soundbar or surround sound setup. Speakers integrated into most TVs use small audio drivers that can lead to weak bass and muddy dialogue. 

We recommend buying a soundbar to improve audio performance. For the most immersive experience, look for models that support Dolby Atmos, a spatial audio format that can spread sound effects around your room.

Check out our soundbar guides to see our top recommendations:

Do TVs include free access to local networks?

The best 65-inch TVs all feature integrated digital tuners that allow you to hook up an antenna (sold separately) to receive free over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts. So long as you have good reception in your area, you can watch local channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox without a cable subscription. 

Check out our guide to the best indoor TV antennas to see our top recommendations. And if you're willing to pay for a subscription to access more channels, check out our guide to the best live TV streaming services.

Best overall: Samsung S90C
The Samsung S90C television with an undersea shot on the screen, captured from the side.
The Samsung S90C has better color performance than other 65-inch OLEDs in its price range.

When it comes to balancing performance and price, Samsung's S90C is the best 65-inch TV — and our pick for the best TV period — that you can buy. For the money, there simply isn't a better display out there.

Unlike OLED TVs from LG, the S90C uses quantum dots to enable brighter colors. Coupled with the TV's infinite contrast ratio, the S90C's quantum dot filter leads to gorgeous high dynamic range (HDR) images. We measured an impressive peak brightness of around 1,000 nits during our testing. You'd have to pay $700 more to get a 65-inch OLED that delivers better picture performance than this.

And though it's disappointing that Samsung doesn't support Dolby Vision, which can provide a more finely-tuned HDR image, the S90C's HDR10 and HDR10+ capabilities are so strong that we don't think most people will notice a difference. The TV also upscales lower-resolution content well, though it can't quite match the picture processing you'd get on a high-end Sony display. 

Whether you're watching 4K movies in a dark room or just flipping through cable channels in a bright living room, the S90C looks fantastic. The smart TV interface is solid as well, though we still prefer other platforms like Roku OS. On the plus side, Samsung's operating system is the only smart TV platform supporting Xbox Game Pass so that you can stream high-end games without a console. The TV can even support a high 144Hz refresh rate when paired with a gaming PC.

Read our Samsung S90C OLED 4K TV review.

Best on a budget: Hisense U6K
A screenshot from The Mandalorian on the Hisense U6K.
Hisense's U6K is the most affordable 65-inch Mini LED TV you can buy.

Hisense's U6K is proof that you can still snag a great 65-inch TV on a budget. Though there are some performance tradeoffs compared to our more expensive picks, the U6K delivers incredible value at this size.

This budget-friendly TV uses a QLED display with local dimming and quantum dots. And while you might find some similarly priced options from competitors with those features, the U6K is the only TV in its price range that also uses Mini LED technology. Mini LEDs can enable more precise control of a TV's dimming zones to produce better contrast and less blooming. 

The U6K's dimming performance is great for its class, but its black levels aren't as deep as you'd see on more expensive sets. The U6K also has limited brightness compared to high-end QLEDs, so it's not as good for rooms that let in a lot of light. 

But at a peak of around 600 nits, we found that the TV can still deliver highlights with just enough pop to show off the benefits of high dynamic range content. And thanks to its quantum dot filter, it delivers an expanded range of colors when watching HDR programs. You'll just want to be watching those programs from a centered view since colors and contrast faded when we sat off to the side in our testing. However, this level of off-axis performance is the norm for TVs in this price range.

For a common sale price of around $500-$550, there simply isn't another 65-inch TV that balances price and performance quite like the U6K. 

Read our Hisense U6K 4K TV review

Best midrange model: Hisense U7K
A Hisense U7K 4K TV displaying its Gaming Mode Pro menu on screen.
The Hisense U7K delivers bright HDR performance and a high refresh rate for a great price.

You can find plenty of 65-inch TVs in the $800 price range, but few deliver all the picture quality perks that you get with Hisense's U7K. Like the U6K, the U7K uses quantum dots for wide color support and a Mini LED backlight, but this model steps things up with more dimming zones and a brighter picture. 

With a peak brightness of around 1,000 nits, the U7K gets plenty bright and delivers great HDR performance. It supports all major formats, including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Contrast is also great for a QLED thanks to the TV's Mini LEDs and local dimming, which enables it to adjust brightness across precise zones. 

Black levels are also excellent for a TV of this type, but while reviewing the set, we found local dimming fluctuations to be a bit more noticeable than on pricier QLEDs. The U7K's Google TV interface can lag a little, too, and the display has mediocre viewing angles, so this isn't the best 65-inch TV for viewers who plan to sit off-center from their display. We recommend going with an OLED TV or one of Samsung's high-end QLEDs, like the QN90C, to get better off-axis quality.  

But considering its low price, it's hard to find much fault with the U7K's picture performance. It even manages to pack in a 120Hz panel that can go up to 144Hz with a PC for high-frame-rate gaming. If you just want a great all-around 65-inch QLED for under $1,000, the U7K should be at the top of your list. 

Read our Hisense U7K 4K TV review.

Best for home theaters: Sony A95L
An angled view of a Sony A95L 4K OLED TV on a TV stand displaying the Google TV home page with an image from "The Marvels" on the screen.
Sony's A95L has the best picture quality of any 65-inch TV on the market.

Sony's A95L OLED is built for home theater enthusiasts. It's expensive, but the TV beats the Samsung S90C's picture performance in every way. In fact, it edges out the picture performance of every other 4K TV on the market.

Compared to its already impressive predecessor, the A95K, the A95L offers a big upgrade in one key area: peak brightness. We measured a peak of around 1,500 nits with the TV set in its most accurate picture mode. That's a 50% increase over the previous model and the highest brightness performance we've ever seen on an OLED. This lets the TV display specular highlights with more realistic intensity when watching HDR content that's graded beyond 1,000 nits. 

The A95L also sets itself apart from competitors thanks to Sony's proprietary picture processing powered by the company's "Cognitive Processor XR." Though that sounds like marketing jargon, this tech does actually make a difference when it comes to optimizing the TV's images. Its HDR tone mapping is also more accurate than Samsung's, and it supports Dolby Vision, so you'll get superior high dynamic range performance.  

The display complements its high-end picture with a premium design with a unique stand that can be attached in a low- or high-profile configuration. Low allows the TV to sit flush with your entertainment console, while high gives you enough room to put a soundbar in front. 

The A95L also boasts reliable Google TV streaming and comes with a webcam that can be used for video calls and gesture controls, which is a cool extra perk. From image quality to design, the A95L fully earns its premium status. We do wish it had more HDMI 2.1 ports and a 144Hz mode for PC gaming, but those omissions are minor compared to everything the A95L does right. Though most people will be satisfied with a less expensive TV, the A95L is ideal for shoppers willing to pay a premium to get the best movie-watching experience.

Best for high brightness: TCL QM8
Waves crashing over rocks displayed on a TCL QM8 TV
The TCL QM8 can reach a whopping 2,000 nits of peak brightness.

If you want a bright display, the TCL QM8 is easily one of the best 65-inch TVs you can buy. The QM8's QLED panel can deliver a peak of around 2,000 nits, which makes it among the brightest TVs on the market. This impressive brightness makes HDR images pop while enabling better SDR performance in rooms that let in a lot of ambient light. 

Of course, it's not enough for a TV to just get really bright. A display must also have excellent control over its light output to maintain great image quality. And thankfully, the QM8 does just that. With its Mini LED backlight and local dimming capabilities, the TV is able to precisely adjust its contrast to produce deep black levels and vibrant specular highlights, and we didn't encounter any notable blooming around bright objects during our review. You also get extensive gaming features, with 144Hz support when paired with a PC.

On the downside, like most QLED TVs, the QM8's viewing angles are mediocre, which causes colors to fade and contrast to distort if you sit to the side of the display. And though the TV looks fantastic in bright rooms thanks to its high light output, we noticed that its anti-reflective coating can cause a rainbow-streak effect when it reflects certain overhead lights. If you want a similarly bright 65-inch QLED without these issues, we recommend the Samsung QN90C, but you'll have to pay at least $500 more. 

The QM8 uses the Google TV operating system with access to popular streaming apps, and it includes a Google Assistant voice remote. Navigation is snappy, and performance is a bit smoother than what we encountered on the Hisense U8K, which is the QM8's direct competitor. However, we did run into an odd WiFi issue with our internet setup that caused false "WiFi Not Connected" messages to pop up. This appears to be an isolated problem, though, and not one that other customers have experienced. 

Despite minor quirks, the TCL QM8 is a true standout for the money, with a bright QLED panel that offers high-end image quality for a midrange price. 

Read our TCL QM8 4K TV review

Best designer display: Samsung Frame TV
A Samsung Frame TV displaying a painting of water lilies while hanging on a wall.
Samsung's Frame TV looks like a piece of art on your wall.

The Samsung Frame TV is perfect for buyers who want a 65-inch display that can blend seamlessly into their living room decor. Built with an emphasis on design, the TV features interchangeable bezels and a matte screen that can make it look like a piece of art hanging on your wall.

The bezels come in different styles that magnetically attach to the display. The Frame also comes with a Slim-Fit Wall Mount that lets you hang it flush against your wall. And unlike most TVs, the Frame uses a separate One Connect Box to house all of its ports, so you just need one cable running from the display. If you need to connect a cable receiver, streaming device, or gaming console, you simply hook those up to the TV's external box, which gets rid of all those unsightly wires on your wall.  

The screen features a matte finish rather than the glossy look of most modern TVs. This helps reduce reflections and gives the Frame a canvas-like appearance. The Frame also has an "Art Mode," which lets it display paintings, photos, or other images when not in use as a TV. Built-in motion sensors can be activated so the Art Mode turns on when the TV senses someone in the room. You can use your own images or have the Frame cycle through art from Samsung's Art Store (subscription required).

But while the Frame's design is high-end, its picture quality is a mixed bag. The QLED panel offers wide color support, but brightness is limited compared to Samsung's top QLEDs. It also lacks local dimming, which results in the worst contrast and black-level performance of any 65-inch TV in this guide. 

The Frame isn't geared toward wowing you with high dynamic range imagery. Instead, it's meant to appeal to buyers who want a 65-inch display that can serve as both a design piece for their living room and a capable smart TV for casual viewing. And in that sense, it excels.

Best OLED for wall mounting: LG G3
An LG G3 4K OLED TV hanging on a wall above a soundbar and TV stand across a green couch in a living room during the day.
The G3 OLED can be wall mounted with virtually no gap.

Those who want a design-focused 65-inch TV that also manages to deliver top-notch home theater performance should check out the LG G3. 

Like the Samsung Frame, it has a thin profile and a flush wall mount so that you can hang it on your wall with virtually no gap. But unlike the Frame, the G3 uses an OLED panel for superior picture quality with much better contrast, black levels, and viewing angles. You do miss out on the Frame's matte screen, separate connection box, and interchangeable bezels, but the jump in image performance is substantial.

And despite not using quantum dots like high-end OLEDs from Sony and Samsung, the G3 is one of the brightest OLEDs on the market, coming second only to Sony's more expensive A95L. This high brightness is also what sets it apart from its fantastic predecessor, the G2 OLED TV. During our tests, we measured a peak of around 1,470 nits on the G3, while the G2 topped out at around 1,000.

But while the G3 looks gorgeous on a wall, it's not a top pick if you plan to put it on an entertainment console. It doesn't even come with a stand, so you'd have to buy one separately, which adds to the cost, and we don't like how the panel tilts back slightly when it's attached to its stand. The G3 is still a great value for its performance, but you're better off sacrificing brightness and going with the less expensive S90C if you want a 65-inch OLED that comes with a stand. 

How we test 65-inch TVs
Side view of an LG G2 OLED's webOS interface menu
We evaluate key factors like smart TV navigation and picture quality on every 65-inch display we test.

To pick the best 65-inch TVs for our guide, we used a combination of hands-on testing and research bolstered by more than a decade's worth of expertise covering the home entertainment product industry. When we test displays, we evaluate them for general picture clarity, contrast performance, HDR peak brightness, color, off-axis viewing, smart TV interface, and value for the money. 

Brightness is measured using an X-Rite iDisplay Plus colorimeter. Other objective display capabilities are evaluated using test patterns found on the Spears & UHD HDR Benchmark 4K Blu-ray disc. 

To get a sense of real-world performance, we also watch scenes from movies and TV shows with clips specifically selected to emphasize a display's black levels, highlights, color capabilities, and upscaling. Our demo material includes a mix of 4K, 1080p high definition (HD), and standard definition (SD) content from streaming devices, cable TV, and Blu-ray discs. 

The best 65-inch TVs will also have excellent smart TV features, so we test overall navigation speed and app stability, as well as voice search, digital assistant integration, and extra perks like game streaming support. 

65-inch TV FAQs
The screen of the Samsung S90C showing the Tizen interface.
We think 65 inches is the ideal size for buyers who want a big-screen display that can still fit in most living rooms.

Is it worth buying a 65-inch TV?

If you have the space for it, we think 65 inches is the ideal size to consider when shopping for a new TV, especially a 4K model. Many brands use 65 inches as their flagship size to show off their best 4K TVs, and this size is great for delivering big-screen immersion without taking up too much room.

However, you can still find excellent TV models in smaller sizes if you need something more compact. Check out our guide to the best 55-inch TVs for our top picks at that size.  

How much should you spend on a 65-inch TV?

Exactly how much you should spend on a 65-inch TV depends on your viewing needs. The best 65-inch TVs range in price from around $500 to more than $3,000. You can also find cheaper entry-level 65-inch TVs for under $400, but we generally recommend paying a bit more to get one of the options we highlight above.

Buyers shopping for a midrange 65-inch TV should expect to spend $500-$1,000. You can find 65-inch QLED TVs in this price range that offer advanced picture quality features, like local dimming, and good brightness performance that can reach 600-1,000 nits.

Buyers who want an upper-midrange or high-end 65-inch TV should be looking to spend $1,000-$3,000. You can find advanced 65-inch QLED TVs that deliver up to 2,000 nits of brightness in the $1,000-$2,000 range, while the best OLED TVs with infinite contrast ratios tend to sell for $1,600-$3,000.  

How far should you sit from a 65-inch 4K TV?

The benefits of a 4K screen become most noticeable when you sit at a distance of around one to 1.5 times the size of your TV. At that distance, you'll be able to see the extra detail that 4K resolution offers compared to a 1080p high-definition screen. The ideal viewing distance for a 65-inch 4K TV should be between 5.4 and 8.1 feet from your TV.    

You can sit further away and still enjoy a 65-inch 4K TV, but that range will yield the best level of visible detail. Otherwise, you'll want a bigger screen to get the full benefits of 4K.  

Should you purchase a 65-inch 8K TV?

Though some brands do sell 65-inch 8K TVs, we don't recommend buying one in this screen size. 65 inches just isn't big enough to really show off the benefits of an 8K resolution screen when viewing it at a reasonable distance. 

A 75-inch or larger 8K TV is much better suited for highlighting the additional detail you get with 8K resolution, but even then, the benefits are subtle. We recommend saving money and going with a 4K model if you want a 65-inch TV.

Read the original article on Business Insider