The best 65-inch TV of 2023

Pros: Excellent price for 65-inch model, QD-OLED panel with infinite contrast and bright colors

Cons: Not out favorite smart TV interface, doesn’t support Dolby Vision

When it comes to balancing performance and price, Samsung’s 2023 S90C is the best 65-inch TV — and best TV period — you can buy. It replaces last year’s S95B, and while it doesn’t offer much of an upgrade over that model, it doesn’t really need to. For a deal price as low as $1,600, there simply isn’t a better TV out there with this level of performance at this size.

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 and an impressive peak brightness of around 1,000 nits. You’d have to pay at least $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 that currently supports Xbox Game Pass, so 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.

Pros: Brightest OLED on the market, Sony’s image processing delivers unrivaled picture accuracy

Cons: Pricier than similar OLEDs, only has two 4K/120Hz HDMI ports

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 last year’s already impressive A95K 4K TV, the new A95L offers a nice 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 2022 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 that features a unique stand that can either 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. Though most people will be satisfied with less expensive options, the A95L is the ideal choice for shoppers willing to pay a premium to get the best movie-watching experience.

Pros: Local dimming and quantum dots for great price, solid brightness

Cons: Blooming around bright objects, picture degrades from an angle

You can find plenty of 65-inch TVs in the $700 price range, but few deliver all the picture quality perks that you get with Hisense’s U7H. The QLED display uses quantum dots for wide color and local dimming to enable better contrast control than a lot of other displays in this price range. 

With peak brightness at around 1,000 nits, the U7H gets plenty bright and delivers great HDR performance. It supports all of the major formats, including both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Contrast is also solid thanks to the TV’s local dimming feature which enables it to adjust brightness across specific zones. 

Black levels aren’t as good as they are on an OLED TV, however, and there’s a bit more blooming around bright objects than you’ll see on pricier QLED models. But considering its low price, it’s hard to find too much fault with the U7H’s picture performance. It even manages to pack in a 120Hz panel with high-frame rate gaming and variable refresh rate capabilities.

However, the U7H has mediocre viewing angles. Contrast and colors distort when viewed from the side, so the U7H 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 QN90B, to get better off-axis quality.  

The U7H is a 2022 TV model but it remains an excellent buy at a street price of around $640. Hisense just released a new 2023 model, called the U7K, which uses a Mini LED backlight that could provide even better contrast. The new TV carries a retail price of $1,050 but it’s sometimes on sale for under $800. If you can find the U7K for around the same price as the U7H, we recommend snagging the newer model.

Pros: Incredible value for the money, the only TV in this price range with Mini LED local dimming and quantum dots

Cons: 60Hz panel, viewing angles aren’t great, dimmer screen than more expensive TVs

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 this 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, the TV can still deliver highlights with just enough pop to start showing 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, much like the U7H, colors and contrast fade when seated off to the side. However, this level of off-axis performance is the norm for TVs in this price range.

For a current sale price of around $550, there simply isn’t another 65-inch TV that balances price and performance quite like the U6K. But if you do want to save even more, you can still find last year’s version of this TV, called the U6H, on clearance for under $500. That model doesn’t have a Mini LED backlight, so dimming performance isn’t quite as good as the U6K’s, but it’s still an amazing budget TV.

Read our Hisense U6K 4K TV review. 

Pros: Peak brightness of around 2,000 nits, minimizes glare and reflections well

Cons: Minor blooming and vignetting visible, some lights can cause scattered rainbow effect on screen

The QN90B is one of the brightest 65-inch TVs you can buy. Other top displays in this guide top out at around 1,000-1,350 nits of brightness, but the QN90B beats them all with a whopping peak of 2,000 nits. This incredible brightness gives the display some key benefits over dimmer displays and makes it one of the best Samsung TVs you can buy.

For one, high brightness is handy for combating ambient light so you can watch TV during the day in rooms with lots of windows. And at night, that incredible brightness delivers fantastic HDR performance with highlights that really pop in a dark room. This makes the QN90B a great choice for both average living rooms and dedicated home theater spaces. 

But while the QN90B’s contrast performance is top-notch for a QLED, it’s still not on par with the pixel-level dimming of an OLED. You’ll see some mild blooming and vignetting in dark scenes that can cause halos around bright objects or crushed shadows. But these flaws aren’t as pronounced as they are on cheaper QLEDs, like the Hisense U7H.

Off-axis viewing is also much better on the QN90B thanks to an “Ultra Viewing Angle” layer that Samsung applies to the panel. On the downside, this layer and the TV’s anti-glare coating can cause a streaking rainbow trail to appear when certain types of light hit the screen from some angles. So while the QN90B is fantastic at reducing typical glare, the tradeoff is an occasional rainbow reflection.

Samsung’s new QN90C model for 2023 uses a different type of screen, so it’s not prone to this rainbow issue. But it typically retails for more than the QN90B. In general, we still think the QN90B is the better value, but the QN90C is a good buy if you’re willing to spend extra to avoid any side effects from the QN90B’s screen filters.

Pros: Matte screen mimics look of canvas, comes with mount to attach flush to wall, magnetic bezels can be swapped for different styles

Cons: Lacks local dimming, peak brightness limited compared to Samsung’s top QLED models

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 itself features a matte finish rather than the glossy look of most modern TVs. This helps to 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 that someone is 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 toward buyers who want a 65-inch display that can serve as both a design piece for their living room and a TV for casual viewing. And in that sense, it excels.

Pros: Very bright for an OLED, No-gap wall mount included, infinite contrast ratio, wide viewing angles

Cons: Doesn’t include a stand, lacks quantum dots

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 uniformly thin profile and comes with a flush wall mount so 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 last year’s fantastic G2 OLED TV. The G3 can hit around 1,450 nits, 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. 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. 

To pick the best 65-inch TVs for our guide we used a combination of hands-on testing and research bolstered by a decade 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. 

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.

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

Exactly how much you should spend on a 65-inch TV depends on what your viewing needs are. 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 still 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 $2,000-$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. For a 65-inch 4K TV, the ideal viewing distance should be between 5.4 and 8.1 feet from your TV.    

You can of course 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. In general, we recommend saving money and going with a 4K model if you want a 65-inch TV.