On today’s episode of You Asked — Is it safe to assume that streaming devices will improve your TV’s picture and performance? And do TVs get worse the bigger they get?
What’s the best TV for PS5 gaming — QLED, Mini LED, or OLED?
@RpG-HeRo asks: So people would you QLED TCK 4K or an mini LCD or OLED for PS5 gaming mainly?
Thanks for the question, and to start, a Mini LED TV or OLED TV is gonna be the way to go here. And when it comes to TCL, there are lots of models and Q’s thrown all over the place with QLED this and that, but make sure it’s at least a Mini LED TV for the improved contrast, local dimming, and HDR performance. It makes a big difference when gaming.
From there, it’s about budget and brightness. In a dark room, OLED would be great. And you’ve really got lots of great options. LG’s B5 and C5 offer great bang for your buck, with the latter being a bit brighter with a faster refresh rate of 144 hertz. That’s more than enough to cover PS5 gaming. Both also have four HDMI 2.1 ports, should you need more than two for other consoles or an external audio device.
That said, my top choice would be the Samsung S90F. If you’re going with 55, 65, or 77 inches, you get a QD-OLED panel, which will produce more vibrant colors than the standard WOLED panels in the LG TVs I just mentioned. And this is huge because when it comes to gaming, you tend to see some wild colors and animations that will really pop on a QD-OLED panel. Gaming on a Samsung OLED like this is a gorgeous experience.
Another advantage here would be viewing angle. OLED TVs excel in that department, and if you plan on gaming with others in the same room, it’s nice to be able to spread out a bit and still have a great viewing experience.
Now, if you’re in a room where you have to battle a bit of ambient light, especially if it’s really bright, that’s where I’d start to lean toward a TCL Mini LED TV. Again, a lot depends on budget, but the QM6K, QM7K, and QM8K will all be solid performers. The QM7K is probably the perfect mix of price to performance here. It’s more than bright enough, offers low input lag, and will save you some money compared to the QM8K.
Do bigger TVs have worse picture quality?
@grisehue asks: Will the same model but bigger screen have worse picture, or will it be same quality?
I wish it were a simple answer, but the reality is it depends on the specific model and size.
For example, in Samsung’s S90F and S95F OLED TVs, they offer a QD-OLED panel at 55, 65, and 77 inches. So if you were going from the S90F in 48 inches up to the 55-inch model, your picture quality would improve. But if you were going from 77 inches up to 83, in that case, it would be worse.
Similarly, on LG’s G5, you get the brighter, more colorful RGB Tandem OLED panel in most sizes, but not at 97 inches. So there, going bigger means a less impressive overall picture.
Still, those are pretty niche examples, and for the most part, I think manufacturers do a good job of making the necessary changes to maintain a clean, high-quality picture across different sizes. If a TV has a certain number of dimming zones at 65 inches, it’ll have more dimming zones in a larger TV relative to the size to make sure contrast and HDR performance are still what they should be.
But all of what I just talked about has to do with the numbers. We can’t ignore what our eyes see. And in that case, bigger may not always be better, even if its specs are properly adjusted. Any imperfections, no matter how small they may be, like blooming and halo effect on a 65-inch Mini LED TV, will be amplified on an 85-inch TV, and probably impossible to ignore on a 115-inch TV.
Will those imperfections bother you or distract you from the immersive viewing experience of a massive, super bright TV? Probably not, but the point is — bigger TVs can introduce things you may not think of, in addition to being a hassle to set up sometimes. Hope that answers your question.
TVs to Get the Most Out of a Streaming Device
Ronaldo San Pablo asks: My question is. Since almost everyone is hooking their television sets in media players whether it’s Apple TV 4K or any Android media box. The OS of the television is gonna be non bearing since we’re going to be fully integrated into the media box. Can you provide a list of televisions that’s really going to be beneficial to the media box raw power aside of course from OLED TV which is the holy grail of television sets nowadays. Thank you very much!
So, best non-OLED TVs to get the most out of a streaming device — got it.
The best of the best, I think, will be the Sony Bravia 9. It came out in 2024 and probably won’t see a successor until 2026. But it still holds the crown, and in a side-by-side video we did next to Sony’s A95L OLED, it shows how close it can get to the picture quality you consider the “holy grail.”
I’d also say Samsung’s QN90F, TCL’s QM8K, and Hisense’s U8QG make this list as well. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with all of those, but I’ll also mention TCL’s QM9K, a later release this year, which looks pretty insane too. I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, and I don’t know who needs a TV that bright, but it looks wild — so I’ll include it.
Before we go, let me say this: Don’t sleep on the operating system within the TV, especially if it’s one that you like. I have my preferences. I like Google TV and Samsung’s Tizen most, but they’re all more than capable and offer some advantages over streaming boxes.
One advantage is eliminating points of failure and freeing up HDMI ports. Using a streamer means you need HDMI cables, a precious open power source to plug the streamer into, and an available HDMI port, which may also be at a premium if you have gaming consoles or other external devices to plug in.
Also, while a quality streaming device can offer more powerful performance with processing power (try saying that four times fast), it can make the experience of searching and scrolling through apps a bit quicker and more enjoyable. However, on the list of TVs I just gave and on most high-end TVs, you’re already gonna have a pretty solid processor that can handle these tasks quickly. So using a streaming device to boost speed and performance would really only be a factor in older or cheaper TV models.
Even upscaling, though great on devices like the Apple TV 4K, is no guarantee to be better than a high-end TV. So I get where you’re coming from in terms of the question and wanting the best from a streaming device, but don’t assume that it will automatically make your TV better than it already is.
