[AYP]

I recently got myself a new TV. I am a kind of person who does a lot of research before buying anything, be it small or big. And thus, the selection process involved a lot of online searching, browsing Reddit and watching YouTube videos. This gave me a fair insight into the TV scene of India and the US as well to some extent. On the basis of this, I have compiled a list of tiers of TVs that exist in the market. These tiers further contain the model number of the TVs that fall within them.

My reason for doing this-

Since I had already done so much research, why not compile it? I also hope that this shall benefit folks who are planning to get a new TV in the next 6-12 months, after which, this list may become obsolete. However, many if not most TV manufacturers continue with their naming scheme for a long time with only minimal changes. E.g. Samsung Q60C vs Q60D. The former is a 2023 model while the latter is a 2024 model.

Disclaimer-

1. This is not an exhaustive list.
2. The tiers are not universal and have been made by me.
3. The entries in every individual tier is based on my own understanding of how and what a good TV should be like. There is a scope of subjectivity here.
4. Along with some Indian reviews, my research took me to lots of US reviews(and some UK reviews) which did affect my understanding of these tiers.

Tiers-







My commentary on the tiers-

1. Lower entry level(LEL)-

You want a TV so that you can consume content on it. And there's nothing wrong with this approach. I mean, that's the whole point of buying a TV.

2. Middle entry level(MEL)-

They aren't too different from the above but may offer a couple of extras. If you can get a good deal on this as compared to LEL TVs, no harm at all in going for these.

3. Upper entry level(UEL)-

It is from here that you start to see some feature additions like Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos etc. Some models may offer 120 Hz refresh rate as well. However, in terms of picture quality, most of these TVs aren't a big upgrade over the previous tiers.

Brands like Hisense and TCL offer Mini LEDs at the price point in which most of these TVs fall in.

4. Lower Mid Range(LMR)-

It is from the mid range tier, that one starts to see many products which are international, i.e. these products are sold in multiple countries across the continents. Yes, there may be a slight change in the nomenclature depending on the market where they are being sold.

These TVs offer great picture quality though it does come at a premium, especially in our market. Features like Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, 120Hz refresh rate etc. become a norm from this tier onwards. Samsung, with its weird policy of not supporting Dolby Vision is an exception.

5. Upper Mid Range(UMR)-

Truly international products which shall garner praise no matter where you are in the globe. Since these are international TVs, most of them, if not all are imported. And thus, the jump in price as compared to UEL TVs is disproportional compared to the gains. However, those own the TVs in this tier may find it difficult to look below this tier for a replacement.

You can equate these to the CKD cars that we have/had in the market in the D1 segment. E.g. Octavia, Jetta, Elantra, Karoq etc. While there's no doubt that these cars are/were great, purely from an economic point of view, it was difficult to justify their costs vs their C2 segment siblings.

In India, most of the TVs below this tier are available only till 75 inch size. You start to see 85 inchers from this tier.

Entry level OLEDs start to become available from this price range.

6. Lower high end(LHE)-

The Cinephile tier. These are all excellent TVs. You get OLEDs and Mini LEDs in this tier.

7. Upper high end(UHE)-

You get the best OLEDs or the best Mini LEDs that money can buy.


My own TV buying journey-

1. The LG UB8200 49 inch in my room had developed lines since late last year. The panel gave up completely in late February. It served us well for 10 years.

2. With a budget of INR 1L, I set out to find a replacement with these features in mind-

i. 120 Hz refresh rate( I am a gamer with a decent laptop)
ii. Dolby Vision( to watch movies in Dolby Vision)
iii. Dolby Atmos( why not?)
iv. 65 inch size

3. After a lot of research, I shortlisted 3 options-

i. LG QNED83
ii. TCL C755
iii. Sony Bravia 3

4. Among the above 3, the Bravia 3 wasn't meeting the 120Hz refresh rate criterion. In terms of picture quality though, it does seem better than the QNED83. If someone doesn't need the high refresh rate support, the Bravia 3 is a better option.

5. The TCL really tempted me with its Mini LED panel. However, after my research(spanning multiple countries and platforms)on TCL and Hisense and comparing them to the Big 3, I figured that the average rate of failure for these 2 brands is higher as compared to the Big 3.

The failure rate isn't bad on its own but if there are 5 failures for every 1000 TVs as compared to 1 failure for Sony, the failure rate becomes 5 times that of Sony. I was also not sure about the service support for these TVs as compared to the other 3 brands.

The C755 65 inch was offered to me for 92k at Reliance Digital.

6. Hisense U7N Mini LED was available for an enticing price but most people suggested the TCL over it. For some reason, in the US, TCLs are very much suggested but Hisense not so much.


7. Finally, all things considered, these were the options available to me at Vijay Sales-

i. LG QNED83

Quoted price- INR 96,000

Negotiated price- INR 79,000

The negotiated price included credit card discount, cashback for old TV as well as additional discounts from the salesman.

ii. Sony Bravia 3

Quoted price- INR 95,000

Negotiated price- Did not negotiate since it lacked 120Hz refresh rate

iii. Sony X90L and Samsung Q80D

Quoted price- INR 1,45,000

Negotiated price- Did not negotiate since it was exceeding my budget. I would have really liked to get that Sony X90L though.

8. About the QNED83-

i. It is an India specific model sold exclusively though Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales and Croma.

ii. It is the most affordable LG, and the most affordable among the Big 3 brands which supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Local dimming and 120Hz refresh rate.

iii. It is an edge lit panel and supports local dimming. However, the number of dimming zones is very low(it is not specified by LG) and it 'may' only be better than not having any dimming zones at all. In fact some folks say that it is better to have no dimming zones at all, unless the dimming zones are a close to a 1000.

iv. It has 2 HDMI 4K@120Hz ports, one of which supports eARC.

v. It has only been a couple of days that I got the TV, but so far, the experience has been good. Putting the picture settings to 'Cricket' almost eliminated the flickering effect of the white ball that I used to see on Hotstar.

vi. I hooked up my laptop to it and was able to enjoy those high frame rates. I am glad that I didn't settle for a 60Hz panel.

General commentary on the TV scene as a whole-

1. While LG, Sony and Samsung remain the 'Big 3', brands like Hisense, TCL and perhaps even Haier do deserve a genuine consideration.

2. Nowadays, brands like Blaupunkt, Kodak and Thomson are selling in big numbers. However, these are all made by the same company under license by M/s Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd. These are all entry level TVs.

Entry level TVs from Hisense, Toshiba and TCL are available for not much more than these companies and as long as you don't mind sporting a Chinese brand on your TV, it is worth stretching for them. Even Haier can be considered. Other than the Big 3, only these companies do R&D and manufacture their own TVs.

3. Toshiba TVs are manufactured by Hisense. Atleast in India, you only get entry level TVs with the Toshiba brand.

4. A few TV panel tech terminologies are as follows-

i. Edge lit- Edge lit TVs have LEDs along the perimeter of the TV and they travel horizontally. E.g. LG QNED83.

ii. Direct lit TVs- LEDs are mounted behind the display and travel vertically ahead. E.g. Sony X74L.

iii. FALD- Full array local dimming. They are similar to direct lit TVs but the number of LEDs and dimming zones are much higher, resulting in a better picture. E.g. Sony X90L.

iv. Mini LED- Similar to FALD but the LEDs are smaller and more in number, resulting in more dimming zones. E.g. Samsung QN90D.

v. OLED- Organic Light Emitting Diode. Every Pixel can produce its own light, resulting in deep blacks. E.g. LG C4.

Generally speaking-

OLED> Mini LED> FALD> Direct lit> Edge lit

vi. QLED- Quantum dot LED. LG calls it QNED. QLED> LED.

vii. Local dimming-

a. Controls individual groups of pixels so that blacks can be deeper and whites brighter.

b. Higher the number of zones, better the contrast and the colours.

c. High double digits is the minimum number of zones which can be considered as good. Sony X90L 65 inch has 88 dimming zones.

d. Mini LEDs have close to a 1000 dimming zones.

e. I came across this video by using which you can check the dimming performance of your TV-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYtv...b25lIHRlc3Q%3D

Watch the above video in dark and you shall be able to see the dimming zones in action. At around the 25 second mark, you get a small white patch at the corner which travels all the way to the opposite corner. As it moves, you can clearly see the dimming zones in action.

Most the entry level TVs don't have dimming zones. The QNED83 does. I saw the above video on my QNED83 and it does seem that it has atleast 6 dimming zones(nothing to brag about).

viii. Blooming-

a. Bleeding of light into blacks.

b. If the TV has to show deep blacks(e.g. night sky) and bright colours in the same frame, you get blooming at the edges of bright objects which are close to the blacks.

c. Higher number of dimming zones minimises blooming.

d. This is why OLEDs and Mini LEDs are at the pinnacle of TV tech.

5. TV size guide-

The size guide has evolved over the years. I came across this guide on the Samsung website and I feel that it is quite accurate-

https://www.samsung.com/uk/tvs/tv-bu...-should-i-get/

I am 8ft away from my 65 incher, and let me tell you, it does feel big. A 75 incher would have been better. Of course, in my budget I would have only got LEL TVs which wouln't have met my criterias.

6. A couple of decades back, a 55 inch TV was huge and 65 was a novelty. 10 years ago, 55 inchers had become fairly common and 65 was seen as a big TV. Now, 55 inchers have become the standard size and it is only 75 inchers and above which are considered big.

7. In India, price of TVs upto 65 inch increases in a fairly linear manner, there is a bit of a jump when you get to 75 but any bigger and it gets exponentially more expensive. There are a couple of reasons for this-

i. The entry level TVs are available only upto a max of 75 inch. The Bravia 3 is an exception. It costs INR 3L for the 85 incher whereas the 75 incher costs 1.3L.

ii. Since 85 inchers are available mostly in the mid range TVs, comparing a mid range 85 incher to an entry level 75 incher further exaggerates the price difference.

iii. Lack of scale in India for bigger TV sizes.

8. I remember that 5 years back, prices of TVs upto 55 inches would be okay but after, they would increase quite drastically. Now, it is possible to get an LEL 75 inch TV from Samsung or LG for under 1L. I hope that in future, we get bigger sizes at more price points. In the US, you can get an entry level 85 incher from Samsung or LG for around 700$. In India, the most affordable 85 incher I found was this one from Toshiba at INR 1.3L-

https://www.amazon.in/TOSHIBA-inches...352_TV%7C&th=1


TVs at home-

We have 3 TVs at home-

1. Sony X74L 65 inch (LEL).

2. Samsung Wondetainment Series 43 inch (LEL).

3. LG QNED83 65 inch (UEL).

I hope that this post gave you all an insight into TV tech and the TV scene of India. Suggestions are welcome.

So, what TVs do you have at home? What category would you put them in?

[darkgamer]

Nice! Mostly agree with the criteria apart from the upper mid range tier. Sony X90L is nowhere near the quality of LG B4, Bravia 7, Samsung QN90D. I’d put Sony X90L and Samsung QN85D as something of a middle middle tier.

I’m a huge cinephile and own a bunch of TVs.

Parents house:

They don’t care much about quality or size, so I bought them two TVs over the years:

55” Toshiba U7980(2020): this was a very cheap FALD (full array local dimming) TV back then. Honestly the dimming and brightness are nothing amazing but it still reaches 550-600 nits and is good to watch HDR content. I’d say this is lower mid range

55” TCL C825(2023): This is TCLs flagship tv from a few years ago. It reaches 1000 nits, has 128 dimming zones. The processing is ok ok. I’d say this is definitely better than the Toshiba but nowhere close to TVs like X90L

My own house:

65” Sony A95K (2022): For this I spared no expense. The cost was around 3.2 lakhs but a few folks with me took part in a bulk buy around Diwali (10+ folks) and along with some Diwali offers got price down to 2.4 lakhs. This would be upper high end. This is used as a bedroom TV where we felt low light performance was needed. It’s QD-OLED and reaches around 1000 nits

85” Hisense U7K(2023): this we got as a pre order deal for very cheap (~1.3 lakhs). It’s absolutely massive and quality is comparable to Sony X90L. It has 1296 dimming zones and reaches almost 1300 nits.

This is our living room TV and trust me 85” is absolutely stunning, anyone who comes to our house is immediately impressed at the quality and most importantly size. I’d put this in upper mid range

[Rookie_Jeeper]

Originally Posted by AYP

So, what TVs do you have at home? What category would you put them in?

I have a LG CX (C10) which I had bought during covid at a great discount. It's been working flawlessly and I am super happy with my purchase. Even the OS (LG Webos) is holding up quite well and I never felt the need to get a streamer.

Your post is quite detailed and the only thing I would add is that if you have the budget definitely consider buying a Atmos enabled sound bar. Speakers of even the most expensive TVs are quite sub par and many people don't realise this. You can find really good ones for under 30k these days. It makes a world of difference and is something that should be a must buy especially if you're spending a lakh or more on your TV.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by darkgamer

Nice! Mostly agree with the criteria apart from the upper mid range tier. Sony X90L is nowhere near the quality of LG B4, Bravia 7, Samsung QN90D. I’d put Sony X90L and Samsung QN85D as something of a middle middle tier.

Hey there! That's an impressive set of TVs that you have.

About the X90L and Bravia 7, I went through this video and was super impressed with the X90L and preferred its image over the 7-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPXZ...F2aWEgNw%3D%3D

Now I know that watching a video recorded on a camera can't really replicate the actual experience, but even the reviewer states the same multiple times.

I did initially think of having 3 tiers in each of the categories but quickly realised that it would be a difficult task to segregate the mid range and high end TVs into 3 categories. The X90L does indeed sit at the middle among all these tiers.

Excellent deal on that 85 incher there. The same is available for INR 2.5L on Amazon currently.

Originally Posted by Rookie_Jeeper

I have a LG CX (C10) which I had bought during covid at a great discount. It's been working flawlessly and I am super happy with my purchase. Even the OS (LG Webos) is holding up quite well and I never felt the need to get a streamer.

As a fellow LG owner, have you tried playing a DV content by hooking up an HDD to the TV? How good or bad is the native player? Is it able to fetch subtitles easily? WebOS unfortunately doesn't support any external player like VLC.

Originally Posted by Rookie_Jeeper

Your post is quite detailed and the only thing I would add is that if you have the budget definitely consider buying a Atmos enabled sound bar. Speakers of even the most expensive TVs are quite sub par and many people don't realise this. You can find really good ones for under 30k these days. It makes a world of difference and is something that should be a must buy especially if you're spending a lakh or more on your TV.

I am gonna keep using my trusty Sony HT-S20R for the time being. Which Atmos enabled sound bar would you suggest though? I may go to the US next year and am open to suggestions from the US market as well.

[darkgamer]

Originally Posted by AYP

Hey there! That's an impressive set of TVs that you have.

About the X90L and Bravia 7, I went through this video and was super impressed with the X90L and preferred its image over the 7-

I generally trust objective measurements. So prefer channels like HDTVtest and digital trends on YouTube. The most I trust is Rtings which also places the X90L lower than the QN90D, Bravia 7 and LG B series.

These reviews miss some important factors. TVs like X90L come with no anti reflective coating and have significantly worse reflections than flagship TVs. This impacts contrast when there’s light in the room lifting blacks, but it won’t be visible in YouTube videos much.

Just for facts, flagship TVs generally reflect around 1% while the X90L does around 5%. You can check Rtings for the actual data with pics.

Excellent deal on that 85 incher there. The same is available for INR 2.5L on Amazon currently.

Yup very unfortunate pricing now, I think what happened is something on Dixon side. This is why 75 and 85” TVs have gotten way more expensive in past year. Hisense didn’t even launch the U7N in 75 and 85 last year and TCL didn’t launch their C765 either. Something weird going on, and this is pretty bad time to buy value TVs.

I’m sure these issues should get sorted and we’ll get VFM 85 and 98 inchers soon.

[Hulk]

Probably a bit offtopic, but wanted to share something I have noticed -

With TVs, one thing I have noticed is that, whichever TV you get (mid level, high level, OLED), the difference is noticed only initially for a few days and then your mind/eyes adjust to it - it stops feeling special.

I was on an entry level Mi Tv earlier, and then switched to Sony Bravia QLED. I noticed the difference in quality for a few days, and then my mind/eyes adjusted and now I don't feel anything special while watching on the new TV.

I am sure it would have made zero difference after a month even If I had invested double and gotten an OLED.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Hulk

for a few days and then your mind/eyes adjust to it .

Yes, agree. That being the case with any of object I guess.

Now, when we see CRT TV output, it suddenly feels very bad, while all the years we never considered that while using it.

However, one major difference between established and newer TV brands is their service network.

Soon after lockdown, my mom had got a iffalcon TV based on some discount which was ongoing. The 47 inch TV came for less than half the price of established brands then. However, some 1 year in to use age, its mother board went kaput, lodged a complaint and it took some 4 weeks for the replacement and closure of the issue. The work is outsourced to some 3rd party, who has to do lot of paper work for any approval from the brand leading to this.

Thankfully, past that its been reliable till now.

The LG LED TV (3D when it was a new technology) which I purchased in 2012 is working fine on the contrast. Once some 5 years back it had an issue with its board, which was replaced for around 4K INR, no issues past that yet.

[karanddd]

To me any TV looks pretty good in isolation. I have a cheap 55 inch TCL TV (cost Rs. ~35k) at home and it's perfectly adequate for me. I have gone to friends' houses that have nicer TVs and they look very good, and if placed next to mine would really outshine mine. But because I only see mine at my own house, not side-by-side with a much better one, I enjoy watching movies on it very much and it never feels inadequate or poor.

[07CR]

I have a LG Nano something 55 inch Smart TV at my home currently. This is about 5-6 years old now and operates flawlessly.

I would be shifting to a new apartment sometime this year, and due to my 5 month old baby, we have decided to not have a TV in the new apartment for atleast till he turns 2 years old. Will keep the LG tv at my parents place.

But if you talk about my requirements, it has to be a smart TV, that works flawlessly for a long time (even with same speed). I don't need fancy voice commands or any kind of backlighting stuff, but something which has good picture and audio quality and works quick (processor being great) is something that is non negotiable for me.

[charanreddy]

In my experience TVs are fast losing their importance as primary entertainment medium. A few years back, all of the family used to gather around the TV to watch a cricket match or a movie. In my case the TV has been replaced by iPads and iPhones. The last TV I bought a few years back Mi 55 inch, still serves great what ever rhymes my daughter wants to watch . Otherwise it’s been a long time since we have sat in front of the TV for the length of a movie.

[PreludeSH]

TV is very important to me. Foreign movies or series have lot of grey tones and and good TV is very important. I had Plasma before and now OLED. When I see other TVs, I can make out the difference clearly.

[Vikram9193]

For people who like having something on while doing other stuff, people moving around, windows open, etc, a TV is great. But to sit down and watch a movie undisturbed, a projector feels more special.

We don’t have a TV in our Dehradun home. We use a small laser projector for occasional movies. Since it is small, quiet and has auto-sizing, correction and focusing, it is also quite easy to setup. Speakers can be connected over Bluetooth (no wireless surround sound possible I think) and the built-in Denon branded speaker is also decent enough. Since it only pulls 45 watts it can be run off an XL sized powerbank as well. It’s called the Formovie S5 and we imported it for around 30-35k.

[GeeTee TSI]

Very interesting thread.

I am usually a bystander when some acquaintances (family) shop for TVs. The model year (and reference #) is very opaque and many perform simplistic comparison on the basis of screen size (and brand if at all). It amuses me to see a gigantic Sony LED being compared to a medium sized OLED, maybe the devil is in the details.

[Joe367]

Originally Posted by AYP

So, what TVs do you have at home? What category would you put them in?

Ours will belong in the MEL category. We used to have a 43" Xiaomi Mi TV. When it's panel got damaged after 3 years, the repair cost was quite close to the price of a new TV. Buying a new one felt like gambling. We were hearing horror stories of display getting damaged within 2-3 years from friends and family, irrespective of the manufacturer. So we decided to buy a 32 inch model this time from TCL. Picture quality or color accuracy wasn't even considered while choosing new TV. The only priorities were:

1. should be running latest version of Android TV or Google TV
2. should have atleast 2GB RAM and 16GB storage
3. It should have HDMI ARC support as we had a sound bar which we wanted to continue using.

[PompousKnight]

Where would you say QLED falls in this range: OLED> Mini LED> FALD> Direct lit> Edge lit