If you’re going to buy a TV right now, there’s virtually no reason not to go with a 4K TV. Almost all TV manufacturers are putting their best efforts into 4K TVs, and you can now find them at nearly any size and price point. A good many 4K TVs are also strong options when it comes to gaming. Beyond the incredibly sharp images that are the hallmark feature of 4K TVs, many support faster refresh rates, have low-latency game modes, and can deliver stunning imagery through their HDR modes.Sony and Microsoft have consoles geared toward 4K, and the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X are going to be all about 4K. Gaming PCs are also becoming increasingly capable when it comes to rendering games at higher resolutions. Even if the hardware you have right now can’t game easily at 4K, getting a 4K TV for gaming will just set you up for the future, plus you’ll get to enjoy plenty of streaming content in the meantime. If you’re browsing in the UK, click here to find out where you can to find the best 4K TV for gaming.TL;DR These are the Best 4K TVs for Gaming:
1. Vizio 65″ Class P-Series Quantum
Best 4K TV for Gaming
Screen size: 65″ Resolution: 4K Panel type: Full Array QLED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG Peak Brightness: 1,100cd/m2 Local Dimming Zones: 200 Refresh Rate: 240Hz Inputs: 5 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x Component, 1 x RF
Vizio’s P659-G1 Quantum (read our review) is the very best value can get out of a 4K TV right now. Priced at a reasonable list price of $1,200 you get a lot of big 65-inch screen equipped with 200 local dimming zones and and a peak brightness of 1,100 nits, which allows this panel to display searing bright sunlight right next to the complete darkness without any off-putting bloom effects.The 4K TV also features a built-in Google Chromecast and supports AirPlay 2, which allows it to seamless connect with your Android phone or Apple devices. The only thing this TV doesn’t give you is a built-in voice control, but it’ll pair well with any Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa-supported smart speaker you might have plugged in.
2. TCL 55″ Class 6-Series QLED Roku Smart TV
Best Budget 4K TV for Gaming
Screen size: 55″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: Mini-LED QLED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG Peak Brightness: 1,000cd/m2 Local Dimming Zones: 240 Refresh Rate: 120Hz Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x Composite, 1 x RF
When it comes to gaming TVs, there aren’t really any that can compare to the newest TCL 6-Series (55R635) with what it offers at its price point. You’re getting a wonderfully bright and colorful QLED panel that’s backed by hundreds of Mini-LEDs. That Mini-LED technology enables highly effective local dimming across the panel, so the TCL 6-Series can achieve deep shadows even in a scene that contains plenty of bright spots.Then, when it comes to gaming, the TCL 6-Series can kick into a gaming mode developed by THX. This will help deliver lower response times and activate variable refresh rates (VRR) with supported platforms. You’ll also get the choice of gaming in 4K with a 60Hz refresh rate or lowering the resolution to 1440p to game with a 120Hz refresh rate. While some TVs with HDMI 2.1 may offer 4K at 120Hz, there’s not a lot of hardware that can target that lofty spec, especially for budget-minded gamers. So, TCL is striking a nice bargain with flexibility for clarity in some games and speed in others.
3. Hisense 55″ Class H8G Android Smart ULED 4K TV
Ultra Cheap 4K Gaming TV
Screen size: 55″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: Full-Array Local Dimming LED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG Peak Brightness: 700cd/m2 Local Dimming Zones: 90 Refresh Rate: 240Hz Motion Rate Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x Composite, 1 x RF, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x Optical Audio Out, 1 x 3.5mm Audio Out
The Hisense 55H8G is pretty much the most affordable 4K HDR TV for gaming you can buy and it comes at one helluva bargain at just $600 for a 55-inch. While you might assume it’ll only be able to achieve the bare minimum specs for HDR, it actually gets fairly bright at 700-nits. What’s more, it features 70 local dimming zones to keep your picture looking contrasty with inky blacks.Combined with Quantum Dot technology, the Hisense H8G is designed to support a variety of HDR standards including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HLG. Gamers will also appreciate this TV comes with a low input lag gaming mode, and you get a clean version of Android OS, so you can download any of your favorite streaming apps and even a few games.
4. LG 55″ Class CX Series Smart OLED 4K TV
Best High-End OLED 4K TV
Screen size: 55″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: OLED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, HGiG Refresh Rate: 120Hz Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x Composite, 1 x RF
If you want to get truly stunning visuals in your games by kicking on HDR features, then an OLED is a great bet, and the LG CX series is perfect for this. The 55-inch LG CX OLED will deliver rich blacks and stunning 10-bit color, and it can do all of that flawlessly in your games.Since OLEDs can skip past the processing to sync up local dimming zones with the picture that other TVs rely on for HDR, you can enjoy the high-quality picture without introducing a bunch of latency into your games. That OLED panel also features a pretty fast response time with a native 120Hz refresh rate. All of this is piped over at a 4K resolution and thanks to the ample bandwidth provided by HDMI 2.1, you won’t have to suffer through any chroma subsampling. Screen tearing while gaming is also a thing of the past thanks to FreeSync and G-Sync support, making it effective for gaming on consoles and high-power PCs alike.
5. Samsung 65″ Class Q90T Smart QLED 4K TV
Best QLED 4K TV for Gaming
Screen size: 64.5″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: Full-Array QLED HDR Compatibility: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Quantum HDR 2000 Peak Brightness: 1,500cd/m2 Local Dimming Zones: 96 Refresh Rate: 120Hz Inputs: 1 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x RF
When it comes to displays, OLED and QLED are about as good as it can get, and Samsung has a champ on its hands with the Q90T. This massive QLED display offers a stunning brightness level of 1,500 nits. When it comes to gaming in HDR, that can make the action on your screen really sizzle.The 65-inch Samsung Q90T uses local dimming zones not only to create those bright highlights, but also to keep them from ruining the details in dark sections of the screen. So, you can get an excellent picture even in high-contrast scenes. And, with a 120Hz refresh rate and FreeSync support, this 4K TV is ready for smooth gaming.
6. Sony 65″ Class X950G Smart LED 4K TV
The more affordable LED option
Screen size: 65″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: Full-Array LED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG Peak Brightness: 1,250cd/m2 Local Dimming Zones: 60 Refresh Rate: 120Hz Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x Composite, 1 x RF
The Sony X950G (read our review) is the latest version of Sony’s long line of excellent 4K LED TVs designed for gaming. it’s available in many sizes from a pedestrian 55-inches to an obscenely enormous 85-inches, but I’ve picked out the more middle of the road 65-inch version that will set you back about $1,800 upon purchase.The Sony X950G is a big step up over its predecessor, the X900F by offering 12 more local dimming zones and an additional 250-nits when it comes to peak brightness. This TV also comes loaded with a clean version of Android TV that feels nice and snappy, but if you prefer to use voice search to do all the work for you, it also supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. HDR support on this includes DolbyVision, HDR10, and HLG, and, of course, it produces a big, beautiful picture.
7. Samsung 65″ Class RU9000 Series Smart LED 4K TV
Best 4K TV for Gaming with Freesync Support
Screen size: 65″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: Edge-lit LCD HDR Compatibility: HDR10+, HDR10, HLG Peak Brightness: 300cd/m2 Refresh Rate: 120Hz (240 Motion Rate) Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x RF
If you want to game on the big screen with FreeSync, the Samsung RU9000 Series has your back. This model starts out at 65 inches, so you’ll be able to make the most of the sharp 4K resolution offered by this series. This display may not have the highest peak brightness levels, but it does offer a 10-bit color depth for rich color detail. That makes its support for HDR10 and HDR10+ that much more valuable.When it comes to gaming, the display will give you some options. You can run this display at 4K and 60Hz without any chroma subsampling, letting you enjoy a clear picture and benefit from VRR between 48Hz and 60Hz. But, if you’re after speed, the display also supports 1440p at 120Hz and a much wider VRR range. So, you can enjoy the best of both worlds between high-resolution for casual titles with impressive graphics and high-refresh for fast-paced titles where every millisecond counts.
8. LG 55″ Class BX Smart OLED 4K TV
Best Budget OLED 4K TV for Gaming
Screen size: 55″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: OLED HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, HGiGRefresh Rate: 120Hz Inputs: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x Composite, 1 x RF
While LG’s CX series of OLED TVs may be the premium winner in the gaming category, the BX series is only a small step down with a commensurate drop in price. You’re still getting the dazzling contrast ratio available on an OLED display as well as support for a variety of HDR formats, so you can enjoy a truly marvelous picture in your games.The 55-inch LG BX OLED TV still keeps the 120Hz refresh rate and support for FreeSync and G-Sync of its more premium sibling, meaning it will work well with consoles and gaming PCs for a smooth gaming experience. The internal processing of the BX may be weaker than the CX, but if you’re not too picky about the quality of up-scaled content, it should do well enough while saving you a tidy chunk of cash.
9. HP Omen X Emperium 65
Best 4K Gaming Monitor TV
Screen size: 64.5″ Resolution: 4K Panel Type: IPS G-Sync HDR HDR Compatibility: HDR10 Peak Brightness: 1,000cd/m2 Refresh Rate: 144Hz Inputs: 3 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 Weight: 71.43 pounds Size: 57″ x 36.8 x 13.4″
Although the HP Omen X Emperium 65 (read our review) is technically an oversized gaming monitor, it’s big enough and pretty enough to replace your living room TV. It’s also specced to the gills with a 64-inch 4K screen that hits a 1,000-nit peak brightness and 144Hz refresh rate. Unlike a TV, the HP Omen X Emperium 65 skips over a lot of image processing steps, to give you a much more responsive gaming experience and the screen itself is rated for a 4ms response time.The HP Omen X Emperium 65 also features an integrated Nvidia Shield, allowing it to function as a SmartTV and can stream games with Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. The 65-inch monitor also comes with a massive stereo soundbar that can simulate the wide dynamic range of a multi-speaker sound system.
Where to Get the Best 4K Gaming TV in the UK
Since next-gen systems are right around the corner, everyone is looking to take full advantage of the incredible new visuals on offer. There are plenty of brilliant options for 4K gaming TVs in the UK, and we’ve managed to find the majority from this list as well.
What’s Next for 4K TVs for Gaming
Now that we’re past CES 2020 we have a pretty good picture of how 2020’s lineup of TVs looks and wow is it impressive.Vizio introduced a new stack of TVs that will be brighter and feature more local dimming zones than ever beforeplus we also can’t wait for Vizio to unveil its first OLED TV. TCL, on the otherhand, announced it was bringing Mini LED technology to its mainstream 6-Series TVs and outlined its plans to bring even brighter Viridian, which promises to add tens of thousands of micro-meter class mini-LEDs.
It’s going to be a few months before we even start to see companies announce pricing on their latest sets, so we’ll have to hang tight until they arrive. Of course, we’ll be reviewing them all so you know what to buy this coming year.
What to Look for in a 4K TV for Gaming
There are many qualities to consider in choosing the best 4K TV for gaming: Color accuracy, contrast, color gamut, viewing angles, power utilization, screen reflections, smart TV features, and more.However, since were all primarily concerned about gaming here, a built-in gaming mode” with low input latency (ideally, 35ms or less) is crucial here. Without it, you’re guaranteed to have your head in your hands wondering why you can’t pull off Scorpion’s spear move in Mortal Kombat 11 or track targets in Apex Legends.
Input lag is a critical spec to pay attention to when considering a 4K TV for gaming, and RTings has a very detailed chart showing the results of its input lag testing on all the best 4K TVs in various modes.
OLED vs LED (or QLED)
In your search for the best 4K TV for gaming, you’ll come across two primary types of TVs: OLED and LED. While they might be very similar in name, they are worlds apart as separate panel technologies.OLED TVs are categorized as an emissive screen technology, which means the pixels generate their own light by using an electric current to excite its compounds. As the pixels on an OLED TV generate both the picture and produce their own light, they can achieve true black simply by running zero current through them. No energy, no light.
In contrast, LCD/LED displays have separate image generating and backlight layers that produce the final picture you see. In this relationship, the backlight (LED) illuminates the pixels (LCD), which generate the actual images you see. To achieve the same level of true black with LED/LCD sets, TV manufacturers have implemented fully array backlighting systems, which split the backlighting layer into zones known as “local dimming zones.” When you run across this specification, know that the more local dimming zones a TV has the better it is.
Samsung brands its TVs with the company’s proprietary QLED (or quantum dot LED TV) technology. These QLED TVs essentially contain an extra layer of quantum dots that enhances the brightness and color spectrum of traditional LED panels.
In this way, quantum dots essentially act as an enhancement filter to produce brighter and purer light than LEDs can. This is exactly why Samsung TVs can hit peak brightnesses that are often a thousand or several thousand nits brighter thank OLED panels. A look at the local dimming zones under Vizio’s 4K TVs
Only OLED displays can achieve true black. No energy. No light.
Ultimately you get a largely identical image from either display, but there are some unique drawbacks and advantages to each panel type.LCDs can produce much higher peak brightness levels, but they can suffer from narrower viewing angles and muddier blacks as the display can’t fully turn off its backlight like an OLED pixel can just go to black.
OLED displays, on the other hand, are often dimmer than LCDs and can suffer from potential image retention (also called burn-in) problems. This issue occurs when static elements, such as a network logo or health bar, on the screen become temporarily or permanently imprinted onto the screen.
The good news is television manufacturers are constantly improving their respective display technologies. In the last year, LCD/LED technology have been squeezing more and more local dimming zones into their displays, meanwhile, OLED displays continue to get brighter every year.
Making sense of HDR
High-Dynamic-Range is a technology that greatly increases the range of brightness levels your TV can display, making a bigger difference between the brightest bright areas and darkest dark areas than non-HDR technology. It’s a huge upgrade in visual quality, and one of the best things about 4K TV sets. But it’s also a little complicated.There are two major HDR standards supported by TVs today: HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Most 4K TVs that support HDR have support for HDR10, with a select few of the higher-end sets supporting Dolby Vision. When it comes to gaming, HDR10 is all you need, as that is what is output by the PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X.
A TV that supports Dolby Vision would only be useful if you have a standalone 4K Blu-Ray player or a streaming media box with Dolby Vision support; it will not give you HDR gaming with your console.
Except for a couple of hard to find Sony TVs, all HDR-capable HDTVs are 4K TVs. For all practical purposes, there are no 1080p HDR TVs. So if you want to buy an HDR-capable TV set to play PC, PS4 or Xbox One games at 1080p, you’ll be buying a 4K TV.
Hey, it’s good to be future-proof anyway, right?
It’s also important that the peak brightness of an HDR TV will be quite high in order to produce a big difference between dark and light areas in HDR mode. If a TV supports HDR but isn’t very bright, you won’t really see much of an improvement in image quality. For my own suggestions, I’ve ensured that every 4K TV in this guide supports HDR10, and has a sufficiently high peak brightness to make it look good.
Adaptive Sync and You
Adaptive sync used to be one of those features you could only exclusively on a gaming PC and gaming monitor, but all of that’s changing now.For the uninitiated adaptive sync or variable refresh rate (VRR) are both technologies that enable a display to synchronize their refresh rate to the output of your device. Nvidia and AMD first debuted their respective G-Sync and FreeSync forms of VRR on the PC.
However, in the latter half of 2019 we saw adaptive sync technology trickle down to consoles with as LG and Samsung introduced G-Sync and FreeSync on its respective 2019 TVs. Now in 2020, everyone is jumping in on the fun. Vizio, TCL, Sony, Hisense, and pretty much every major TV maker you can think of will be adding FreeSync support to their mid-range to high-end sets, which makes them the perfect screens to play the Xbox Series X and PS5 on.
Not to be passed up, LG newest lineup of OLED TVs (including the CX, BX, GX, and ZX series) will support both G-Sync and FreeSync, making them the best all-around TVs for gaming no matter which platform(s) you own.
Getting the most out of your 4K TV
Outside of playing games on 4K capable gaming PCs and consoles (the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X), 4K and HDR content lives primarily on these services below.
- Cable and Satellite: Providers are slowly rolling out more 4K and HDR content using HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) HDR as opposed to HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, or Advanced HDR. Some newer TVs have HLG support and some older can support it after a firmware update (be sure to check your specific model).
- Netflix: Most new Netflix original series and movies, (outside of animation and kids stuff) are in 4K, some with HDR as well.
- Amazon Prime: Many Amazon Prime Originals are also in 4K, again with HDR in some cases.
- YouTube: The biggest repository of cat videos also has a surprisingly large amount of 4K content, too.
- Mixer: Microsofts game streaming service Mixer can stream in 4K, too.
Streaming in 4K requires a pretty good internet connection and one of the best routers. For example, Netflix recommends users should be able to support at least 25Mbps of throughput on their home network. If all that is a bit confusing, I’ve posted a summary of them all right here for you.To take advantage of 4K content you need a streaming box or console capable of streaming in 4K, or you can use the integrated smart TV app. The Xbox One S and Xbox One X support 4K streaming apps, as does the PS4 Pro, but the last time I checked the YouTube app on the Xbox platform still needs an update to enable it.
You can also use streaming boxes like the Roku (Roku Premiere only does 4K but not HDR, while Premiere+ and Ultra do both), a 4K-capable Android TV box (like the Nvidia Shield TV), the Apple TV 4K, or the Chromecast Ultra.
Of course, if you dont want to stream, you can buy 4K UHD Blu-ray discs. This is the costliest option, but it provides the best picture and sound quality. The Xbox One S and Xbox One X support the format, while the PS4 Pro does not.A quick note on HDMI: Youll need HDMI 2.0 compatible ports (on your console, receiver/switch, and TV) to take advantage of 4K 60fps HDR goodness. You may see cables labeled as 4K certified or something like that, but thats nonsense.
There are only two real types of HDMI cables: Standard Speed (with and without Ethernet) and High Speed (with and without Ethernet). As long as you have a High-Speed cable, you should be good to go. That doesnt mean all cables are the same, but you shouldnt pay a lot more for a bunch of marketing.
If you’re in the market for something more affordable, check out my guide to the best cheap TVs for gaming. I also have guides to help your PC get into shape for the new era of 4K gaming, including the best 4K gaming monitors and the best graphics cards.
Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspamJohn Higgins has been writing and testing all manner of audio, video, computer, and gaming gear since the early ’00s. He has written for print and online publications including Home Theater, Wirecutter, Sound & Vision, SoundStage!, and Channel Guide. He is also a post audio editor, composer, and musician in Los Angeles.
Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark