Best OLED TV: The best OLEDs from each TV brand

While we found Samsung’s S95B QD-OLED to impress in a number of ways, and the follow-up S95C to be better, it seems Samsung has struck gold at the third time of asking with its S95D OLED.

The S95D appears to be a big improvement on what came before, and one of the brighest OLED TVs we’ve reviewed, hitting 1798 nits on a 10% window. Brighter even than the LG G4, which we measured at 1500 nits in its movie mode.

That level of brightness helps to produce incredibly rich colours, with contrast that brings out the detail in both dark and light areas of the image. That’s further helped with the TVs high sharpness and detail levels, which helps to create a well defined and colourful 4K image.

Despite our misgivings when we saw Samsung’s anti-glare screen technology previewed before the TV went on sale, our reviewed was very impressed by how well it worked on the S95D, though it does mean that dark areas do take on a slightly grey appearance.

The sound system supports Dolby Atmos, and like Samsung’s other OTS speaker systems, it’s very good at placing effects on and around the screen. However, it’s still not that good at pushing sound forward into a room, and it’s volume limited in terms of how loud it can go.

The Tizen interface has been refined with new sections to help recommend suitable content that matches your tastes, and there’s now the option of creating multiple profiles. Gamers will enjoy the quick performance from this TV, as we measured the input lag response at 9.8ms. All four HDMI 2.1 inputs support 4K/120Hz through its One Connect box and PC gamers get up to 144Hz refresh rates.

Reviewer: John Archer
Full Review: Samsung S95D OLED

The A95L is Sony’s second attempt at creating a QD-OLED TV, and for the 55-inch model, we feel that its stellar picture and sound quality make it well worth its premium price of £2499 RRP in the UK.

We found the TV delivered a beautiful image. There’s fantastically fine shading of colours, high brightness, colours that look impressively pure, as well as excellent levels of sharpness and detail. You won’t find many TVs with a picture that looks as good as this, though in terms of brightness it is beaten by the Samsung S95D, which may be a factor if you watch TV in a room with lots of ambient light in it.

Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio system again works its magic in delivering an audio performance that’s big in size and accurate in terms of where effects and dialogue are placed, pushing sound into a room in a manner that other TVs struggle to do. The woofers add some punch to the low frequencies too, giving the TV some well need oomph.

The connectivity covers two HDMI 2.1 inputs with support for eARC, VRR, ALLM, and 4K/120Hz. For PS5 gamers there is the Auto Tone Mapping feature that optimises the HDR performance but with no support for AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync.

Input lag is faster than the A95K at 16.7ms, but the LG and Samsung TVs on this list can go quicker. A new addition for the A95L is the inclusion of Dolby Vision Game mode to help extract more contrast and brightness from supported games.

The A95L’s smart features are delivered by Google TV, which means it is covered for the main global streaming services, as well as UK’s catch up services which are available as separate apps. You also get the BRAVIA Cam bundled in, although our reviewer didn’t feel the need to make much use of it.

Reviewer: John Archer
Full Review: Sony XR-55A95L

The G3 OLED suffered with a green tint to HDR images, and while the G4 OLED doesn’t fully resolve the green tint issue, we do feel it’s a big enough improvement on the previous flagship OLED. While would we recommend it over the C4 model despite a few issues? It is brighter, and its processing and sound system are better too.

This screen features LG Display’s 2nd gen MLA OLED panel, and that boosts brightness well above what older OLED TVs were capable of. Peak brightness hits 1523 nits on a 2% window, making for supberly bright and intense highlights, while full screen brightness is 287 nits. That’s not as bright as the Samsung S95D that features on this list.

LG’s rich and balanced looking colours make for a fabulous looking image, and it’s processing is close to being if not at the top of the field, especially the way it makes images look three-dimensional. However, towards the end of testing we did notice a green tint. It wasn’t as bad as it was on the OLED65G3, but for the amount a G4 OLED costs, we had hoped not to see this issue again.

The TruMotion processing has improved for a more natural performance with fewer artefacts, closing the gap to the Sony A95L. Upscaling is clearer and more detailed than the Sony model, with a significant boost to 480p and 1080p content, as wells describing terrific levels of contrast, detail, clarity, and sharpness without seeming artificial.

The audio performance is better, with a warmer, weightier sound and more bass to its output. It’s excellent with dialogue, making sure it’s audible across all types of content. The AI Sound Pro mode is good with Dolby Atmos tracks but we still find that live broadcasts sound too sharp. With non-Atmos content, the Standard or Cinema presets are better. We’d still like some more dynamism and intensity to the sound system though.

With gaming there is support for 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM across all the HDMI inputs. We measured latency at 12.9ms, and with HDMI VRR, AMD FreeSync Pro and Nvidia G-Sync, that latency can be further reduced. WebOS is home to Freeview Play and all the UK catch-up and on-demand apps, with plenty of other choices from video to sports and music to choose from too.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: LG OLED65G4

For a mid-range 65OLED809‘s picture quality is impresses. Out of the box it offers a bright image with HDR content, with peak brightness measured at over 1000 nits. We didn’t find it to be the richest colour performance compared to the LG C4 or compared to previous Philips’ OLEDs, but we did enjoy its refined and natural colour performance.

Upscaling is bright, clear and colouful with HD content, though we found it was good with 720p content and less with a distracting sense of noise and softness to the image. Motion processing is stronger this time around, with less stuttering and judder.

The audio is excellent for a flat-screen TV. Bass is has weight and heft, and dialogue is reproduced warmly though it can sound thin at higher volumes. It’s not bothered by action-heavy scenes either, providing good clarity and detail. It’s not to say that we wouldn’t recommend a soundbar but we wouldn’t be in a rush to add one too quickly.

Google TV is the smart interface of choice but it’s still lacking Freeview Play, and misses out out on a few of the UK catch-up apps such as iPlayer and Channel 4. If you are looking for a Google TV, Sony TV models in the UK remain the only ones that provide all the UK on-demand apps.

Gamers get features such as VRR and ALLM, and like most other TV brands, there’s support for with refresh rates up to 144Hz for PC gamers and Dolby Vision Game Mode for games that support that. Input lag is 12.6ms, which is speedy and around the same performance as the LG C4. Both the Philips and LG track at around the same price

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Philips 65OLED809

Hisense doesn’t launch very many OLED TVs, but its A9H is one that we think you should give consideration to, especially around the £1500 / $1500 price point. It first launched in 2023, but you can still find it at some online retailers.

The UK only gets the 65-inch model, and in terms of build quality this is a TV is very robust, and though assembling it is fairly simple, it does take a while to attach the stand. It’s built to a higher standard than we remember other flagship Hisense TVs being built to.

The VIDAA interface keeps things simple, which we like, and all big streaming apps are catered for in Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube and Apple TV+. VIDAA Free gathers titles from free services such as Plex, Pluto TV and VIDAA TV. Freeview Play adds the UK catch and on-demand apps.

There are advanced features for gamers, such as AMD FreeSync Premium VRR for PC, and Dolby Vision Game mode for Xbox Series consoles. We measured latency at 14.9ms, which is more than the LG and Philips models on this list, but not by much.

Of the four HDMI inputs, two cover the 2.1 standard. Auto low latency mode is across all inputs; HDMI VRR and 120Hz are available on the HDMI 2.1 ports. Note that one of the 2.1 inputs supports eARC, which mans if you plug in a sound system, that leaves just one input available for another 2.1 source. Hisense’s HDR support covers Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ certification, IMAX Enhanced and Filmmaker mode.

The picture performance is reminiscent of Philips TVs from a few years back in that the A9H’s picture processing can be very heavy handed. In its Dolby Vision IQ mode, everything from colours, brightness, detail and sharpness is amplified to the nth degree. Brightness can reach over 1000 nits, though in its Standard mode it’s closer to 700 nits.

There are elements of banding and contouring that we noticed with content, but the Hisense is capable of a lovely looking picture performance.

The audio performance is very good, one of the best we’ve heard from an OLED TV. Bass is big, there’s depth to the soundstage, as well as fine levels of detail and sharpness.