Are you buying a large screen TV this Black Friday? Here are three important features to consider when you’re shopping

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Black Friday is the perfect time of year to buy a TV as retailers offer ridiculous prices on popular TVs to entice customers and aim to outdo each other by offering the best. Black Friday deals.

We here at TechRadar track Black Friday TV deals every year on a range of the best TVs, from budget models whose already low prices have been reduced even further to the best OLED TVswhich, while still premium, can come with discounts big enough to make you think, “Yes, I can afford that.”

One of the most common Black Friday deals is on TVs with larger screen sizes. What you consider a ‘big screen’ may depend entirely on your environment. For some with small living rooms, the best 55 inch tvs can be huge, while others could fit into any of the following best 85 inch tvs without problem. Here we focus on the largest sizes: 75-100 inches.

When you see a 75-inch TV selling for less than $500 / £600 / AU$899, it can be easy to whip out the credit card and eagerly buy. But before you are tempted 75-inch Black Friday TV deals there are some important specifications and features that you should pay attention to. Below I’ve listed three that I think as a TechRadar TV reviewer you should consider before purchasing a large screen TV.

1. Panel type

You’ve probably seen a lot of different technical terms associated with TVs. In addition to LED, there are QLED, mini-LED and OLED. There are also manufacturer-specific ones like NanoCell (LG’s term for QLED), Neo QLED (Samsung’s term for mini-LED) and QD-OLED (Samsung’s combination of QLED and OLED technology) to name a few.

These are all different panel types and they can have a big impact on a TV’s performance. When buying a large screen TV, it can be tempting to opt for the large, cheap LED model with an attractively low price. but as I discovered when I compared the Samsung CU8000 and Amazon Fire TV Omni QLEDsome LED TVs are best avoided.

Edge-lit TVs, which use LEDs placed on the sides of the screen’s backlight, often suffer from poor black uniformity. This can cause large areas of the screen to take on a gray or blue tint when viewing darker content – something I noticed while watching The Batman on the Samsung CU8000.

Not all large screen LED TVs are bad. For example, when I personally saw a 98-inch TCL P745it demonstrated bright colors and fine detail, although it also struggled with contrast and black levels. But if you’re considering buying a big screen TV, it may be worth investing more and upgrading to one of the following best mini LED TVs like the Hisense U7N.

I personally haven’t tested the large-screen version of the Hisense U7N, such as the 85-inch model, but I did test its predecessor, the 100-inch Hisense U7K as a budget home theater option alongside an ultra-short throw Hisense L9H projector. The U7K won that award, mainly because of its superior black levels and contrast. The U7K’s picture looked great even at a 100-inch size because, crucially, it uses a mini-LED panel with full-array local dimming that can effectively display dark tones.

While you’ll generally pay more for mini LED TVs than LED TVs, we’ve got the 100-inch Hisense U8N for just $2,997 in the US, which is a steal for a mini LED TV of that size. You can also find the 75-inch model of the U8N for under $1,500 – a bargain for a TV of this caliber.

I’m not saying that standard large screen LED TVs are off limits. You can get some good LED models in larger sizes, but if you want to go big it may be worth opting for better panel technology – QLED models with local dimming like the Amazon OmniQLED And Samsung Q60D will outperform edge-lit models in a larger size. OLED TVs like the LGC4 also look great on larger screen sizes, but these cost even more than mini LED TVs. When shopping, pay attention to the screen and the type of backlight on the TV.

2. Sound

It’s no secret that the built-in speakers of most TVs can’t compete with any of them best soundbarsin some cases even budget soundbar models. That’s why it’s worth considering sound quality in your big-screen TV research.

I tested a lot of TVs this year and a common thread was limited sound quality, especially on budget models like the Hisense U6N And TCL C805. While many TVs deliver perfectly good dialogue clarity and in some cases powerful bass, their 2.0-channel built-in speakers can sound thin, with a narrow soundstage that takes away from the cinematic experience.

To give you an idea, the 75-inch Hisense U6N mentioned above has a 2.0-channel speaker array with a power of 30 W. Compare this to the budget SonyHT-S2000 soundbar, a 3.1 channel 250W model that costs around $299 / £299 / AU$695, and you’ll see why it’s important to take a soundbar with you on your shopping spree, especially if you’re buying a cheap TV .

Of course, the appeal of a soundbar is that it can be added at a later date, so you can always buy a TV and try out the built-in sound. If it lacks that dynamic factor, supplement it with a soundbar.

3. Game features

If you’re a gamer, connecting your Xbox Series X, PS5, or even a PC to a big TV screen can be great. Vast landscapes in RPGs such as Final fantasy will have a sense of grandeur and you can see more of the action to give enemies an edge in a competitive FPS like Call of duty.

Luckily, some of the key features we look for in the best gaming tvs – 4K 120Hz, VRR (including AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync), ALLM, cloud gaming, Dolby Vision and HGiG – are becoming increasingly common. These features were once reserved for premium TVs, but now they’re mid-range sets like the Samsung Q80D offer an almost complete suite of gaming features.

If you own multiple consoles you’ll probably need more than two HDMI 2.1 ports, but the grim reality is that most non-LG and Samsung TVs are limited to two, although this is only an issue if you want a soundbar and two gaming devices connected at the same time.

While these features are trickling down to more budget TVs, it’s important to check which ones are supported. Budget sets are unlikely to support 4K 120Hz, a full list of VRR formats and cloud gaming, so keep in mind if these are essential for your gaming. In our experience, TCL and Hisense TVs tend to be the most feature-packed for the price when it comes to gaming.

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