The best TVs to buy for the upcoming sports and streaming season

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A new season of sports is just around the corner, and there is no better time to buy a new TV.

From basketball to baseball, soccer, hockey and football: this is one of the best times of the year. The Raptors and Leafs will soon be returning for the 2024-25 season and the NFL season will land in September.

Even if you’re not a sports fan, the season’s hottest movies can hit your home screen with access to streaming services galore on several TV platforms. From classic favourites like Euphoria to new intrigues like Beef, binge-watching TV has never been better. We’ll walk you through some of the best TV models to buy from retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart.

We recommend you buy a TV between 50 and 75 inches to get the best value for your buck. But, if you need a gaming TV or a unit for your bedroom, a smaller choice to fit your room might be the way to go. Either way, we’ve got you covered. Here are some options.

Best overall: LG 65″ 4K UHD HDR QNED webOS Smart TV Best runner-up: Sony 65 Inch OLED 4K Ultra HD TV BRAVIA 8 Smart Google TV Sleeper pick: Hisense 65″ Smart Ultra HD 4K HDR10 Google TV Most affordable: Samsung 65″ 4K UHD HDR LED Tizen Smart TV Also consider: Samsung The Frame 65″ 4K UHD HDR QLED Tizen Smart TV

Key specs:

Why buy: Featuring great colour and sound, The LG QNED90 is a solid 4K TV for sports and gaming. It uses Quantum Dot and Nanocell technology with a mini-LED backlighting system that provides better-than-average pixel responses. It’s a bit thicker than some of the other TVs on the list, which may affect the type of wall mount you buy.

At the back, there is a multitude of plugs — two HDMI 2.1 ports, USB ports and more. For added connectivity, the TV supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth. Powered by webOS, it also offers Smart features for instant entertainment and hands-free voice control.

Price: $2,400 Where to buy: Best Buy, Visions Fine print: Parts and labour (one year) Also consider: LG OLED Evo C2 Series 65” Alexa Built-in 4k Smart TV ($2,397.99)

Key specs:

Why buy: It has visual and motion technologies to ensure you’re seeing the best quality and resolution, making it perfect for movies, video games, sporting events and other programming.

What’s great about this TV is its process called 4K XR Smoothing, which creates smooth, natural 4K pictures as you watch without the banding that can occur on other TVs. Because of that, you also get less glare in the dark and screen tearing. On the audio side, it has two large actuators to stabilize the audio to the energy on the screen.

Price: $3,298 Where to buy: Amazon, Best Buy, Visions Fine print: Parts and labour (one year)

Key specs:

Why buy: This is one of the better TVs on the list and it’s a sleeper pick because of the price. At just $588 plus tax, it’s significantly cheaper than the previous two models and has some of the same features on the visual side. On the audio side, that’s another story, but we’ll get into that later.

This Hisense 65″ 4K UHD HDR QLED Smart Google TV features Quantum Dot technology that produces realistic colours and stunning detail in every scene. With FreeSync Premium Pro and Ultra Motion 120Hz for fluid motion performance, the TV is not just for movie buffs but for gamers too.

Also decent for the sports enthusiast, the TV has a 120Hz Ultra Motion Sports Mode that crystalizes the video and makes it look clear while adding surround sound effects to make you feel like you are right in the stadium. The downside to this option is that you’ll likely have to buy a soundbar to improve the audio if you’re a stickler for great surround sound.

Price: $588 Where to buy: Amazon, Walmart, Leon’s Fine print: Parts and labour (one year)

Key specs:

Why buy: As one of the most affordable TVs on the list, this model doesn’t offer the best sound without customization, but it has solid picture quality, and through access to Samsung TV, you can get access to endless movies and series.

Moreover, Samsung has a wide array of soundbars you can buy to pair with this model, making it accessible to others who already have one but want to trade it up for a better display. Likewise, for all that sporting action, the TV uses a 4K crystal processor that automatically scales up the quality of anything you watch 4K to treat your eyes to lifelike visuals in vivid colours.

Price: $798 Where to buy: Best Buy, Amazon Fine print: Parts and labour (one year)

Key specs

Why buy: One of the newer TVs in this line, the Samsung The Frame 65″ offers a theatre-style experience and is one of the thinnest TVs you can buy for your living room and home. What’s cool about this TV is the viewing angles; you can see it anywhere in the room if you’re walking around or cooking. The Frame TV can be great for gamers, sports fans and creatives if paired with a soundbar.

Furthermore, it has 4K Ultra HD and QLED technology for a clear picture, and when you’re not watching it, the TV can double as a digital art piece that hangs on your wall. You can choose works of art from a curated Samsung collection or access new content through the Samsung Art Store.

Price: $2,698 Where to buy: Best Buy, Amazon, Visions Fine print: Parts and labour (one year)

When looking for the best TV for your home, you’ll want to consider your picture and sound choice. But first, you’ll want to know the types of televisions you can buy, whether flat or curved. They include the following:

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs: Images are produced on the screen using liquid crystal technology, which combines liquid crystals and polarizers. LCD TVs are also known as LED televisions since they use LEDs as their backlight.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) TVs: The primary distinction between an OLED and an LCD is organic light-emitting diodes rather than LED lights. Also, because the technology doesn’t need substrates, TVs are now much slimmer and more streamlined than LCDs. OLED Televisions use less energy and generate less heat than LED or LCD TVs.

Quantum Light Emitting Diode (QLED) TVs: QLEDs are renowned for their improved contrast ratios and longer lifespan. The introduction of QLED technology, however, allows for larger screens.

1080p TVs: These televisions, also known as full HD or HDTVs, feature a horizontal pixel count of 1920 and a vertical pixel count of 1080 across the screen. The progressive TVs signified by the “p” in 1080p TV imply a 16:9 widescreen visual aspect ratio.

4K TVs: They are bigger and brighter than 1080p TVs. Because of their higher resolution and improved picture quality, these TVs are also known as Ultra-HD or UHD. For improved sharpness and presentation, 4K televisions have a pixel arrangement of 3840 horizontally and 2160 vertically, for a total of 8.3 million pixels.

8K TVs: The most recent additions to the market, 8K or Ultra HD 8K TVs, offer unmatched visual quality and brightness. The pixels on these TVs are arranged at 7,680 pixels horizontally and 4,320 pixels vertically. That said, there’s not a lot of 8K content on the market right now, so be careful before buying.

Flat vs. Curved TVs

Flat TVs are one of the most widely sold TVs, which vary from the others in screen type. But curved TVs are making a splash before their immersive viewing experiences. Curved TVs offer more immersion, but viewers must be at the proper distance and angle to fully enjoy it.

Many users consider the modest improvement in the viewing experience an unworthy compromise for other drawbacks like the higher price tag and picture distortion when the TV is seen from the sides.

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