Best 55-inch TVs: Four great LCD, OLED and 4K models

The best 55-inch TV on the market? We’d say the Panasonic MZ2000 deserves that honour bestowed upon it, with a picture and sound performance that’s better than the other TVs we tested in 2023.

My Home Screen remains an easily accessible and customisable interface, with Freeview Play adding UK catch-up apps alongside big hitters in Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+. It doesn’t have as many apps as the likes of LG and Samsung, but if you’re a home cinema enthusiast you’ll be solidly served by the options it stocks.

Game mode has been updated with two modes to choose from in Game and True Game, the latter offers accurate colour performance in the same manner as Filmmaker mode does for film and TV. 

We measured input lag at 14.5ms, not as good as competitor OLEDs but fast enough for competitive gaming. With HDMI 2.1 technologies such as VRR, ALLM, 4K/120Hz, you can get a higher quality performance, but they’re only available on two HDMI inputs.

In terms of picture, MZ2000 would make a good choice for bright rooms as it has the brightness headroom to reduce reflections and ambien. The swivel design of the plinth can also help with this issue and in positioning the TV. The MLA panel from LG Display registers 1500 nits on a 5% window, and a mighty 1877 nits on a 10% patch in Dynamic mode.

Highlights burn with intensity, contrast is excellent, and skin tones are naturally conveyed while reds and blues have a rich, deep look. With all the HDR formats covered in HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, whatever mode you’re watching in, you should be getting an excellent picture.

Sound quality was equally top notch with the TV’s side- and upfiring speakers producing a large presence. We found bass is light on this TV, but that nevertheless, this is one of the best-sounding TVs available.

Reviewer: Steve May
Full Review: Panasonic MZ2000

The TCL 55RC630K Roku TV is one of the best cheap TVs we’ve reviewed in recent months and deserving of win in our 2023 awards. If you’re after a colourful and affordable 55-inch QLED TV, this is the model we’d spotlight above others.

It’s a very easy TV to live with, from its quick assembly easy to the Roku smart interface that puts the emphasis on simplicity and accessibility. The interface is fast to scroll through and easy to navigate, but even better is Roku mobile app is even better, and also features a few more advanced picture settings too, plus the TV supports AirPlay 2 casting and Apple HomeKit, for folding the TV into a smart home set-up.

And you won’t be left wanting for app options with this TV as all the big and small apps are available in the likes Disney+, Apple TV+, and Netflix, and UK catch-up apps through Freeview Play.

The TCL 55RC630K supports ALLM for putting the TV into its game mode mode, and with a latency of 11.5ms, that’s a speedy performance for any telly.

Its QLED screen puts iin a decent HDR performance (with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support). It’s nowhere near the brghtest TV for HDR content, with a peak brightness of 386 nits on a 10% window, but we found the QLED screen presents good-looking colours and well-done skin-tones with HDR content.

Upscaling is an improvement over the discontinued 55RP620K with more colour and vibrancy to images, as well as a higher levels of sharpness and clarity.

The audio system is surprisingly good for a cheap model, with punchy bass and fine levels of detail and clarity. There’s also a Dialogue Enhancer to help boost what people are saying, and we found it worked effectively.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: TCL 55RC630K Roku TV

Mini-LED is currently on the rise in the TV market, and one of the best exponents of the technology we’ve reviewed in recent times is the Panasonic MX950.

It’s quick to assemble though a bit bulky in size considering that it is a Mini-LED, which makes it less fashionable in the design stakes. Viewing angles are decent, though we can’t escape the feeling that they could be a little stronger.

This model still carries Pansonic’s My Home Screen interface, which means it’s not stocked with as many apps as LG webOS or Samsung Tizen, but for home cinema fans there’s enough apps to be indulging with. The True Game mode looks to offer the most accurate picture performance for games, though we noted that it adds a little more processing to the image, qith input dropping from 15.4ms to 15.8ms. It’s not much, but the Sony and TCL TVs offer slightly quicker input lag.

HDMI support includes ALLM, VRR, and HFR, so you can get a high quality performance out of this TV.

Picture performance is very good, though not as bright as you might have expected considering that the MX950 can hit well over 1000 nits. The Sony X85L looks brighter, though the advantage the Panasonic has is that it offers better detail in dark scenes, with more shadow detail and better black levels. There is some blooming in a 4K Blu-ray of Zero Dark Thirty, but it is kept to a minium. Upscaling is most natural, the MX950 not adding more noise that’s already there in the image.

Sound quality is one of the better attempts we’ve noted, with a good bass output, expansive soundstage, and solid dialogue clarity. A soundbar can improve upon it, but we wouldn’t necessarily be rushing out to get one for this TV.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Panasonic TX-55MX950

Granted, we don’t get to test Full-Array-Local Dimming (FALD) TVs too often, but of the ones we have in the past year, we would rate the Sony X85L very highly.

It’s accomodating with its design, with the ability to adapt the stand two ways: one to the sides to allow for a soundbar, and another placement within the middle if you want to place it on a small surface. The TV apparently has an anti-glare/matte coating, and while it doesn’t completely remove reflections, we did feel over the course of testing that it did diminish them somewhat.

There’s Google TV that delivers all the streaming apps you might ever need, and there is now the ability to swap between profiles if you don’t want your recommendations spoiled by another person in your house. We find the interface to be quick, responsive, and informative, a step over Android TV, though we wish some features were better placed within the interface, such as ‘My List’.

For gaming the TV supports ALLM, VRR, and HFR, though this features are supported through an PS5 specific-lens, though these features should also work with other game consoles. Input lag is 14.5ms, which is fast, but not the fastest response on this list.

We found picture quality to be impressive, with a wide range of colours described; although this TV takes a conservate approach to brightness, hitting only 738 nits in its Standard mode. The Panasonic MX950 is brighter and sharper than this screen, and the Sony has a tendency to introduce clipping (loss of detail), with highlights.

Upscaling is good with SD and HD content, and although there is noise visible in the image, the Sony appears to keep it under control for the most part. With HD content it looks nice and clear, though again the MX950 produces a sharper, crisper image. Its motion processing is very good, at times we didn’t even notice that it was.

Sound quality is ok for a Sony TV. It has a crisp tone with voices though it lacks bass. This is a TV that we’d consider to to get a soundbar to go with.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Sony KD-55X85L