It’s no secret that not all TVs are created equal, especially when it comes to gaming. As long as there is television with an HDMI port will be compatible with a PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S console, if your TV is not up to par, it may not be able to take advantage of the best features of these consoles.
The best 4K TVs these days are equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports that have the power to let you play in 4K with HDR and reach frame rates up to 120 frames per second. On top of all that, gameplay remains smooth, with consoles and TV playing well through Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which reduces stuttering and screen tearing.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on an 88-inch 8K behemoth to get these console-friendly features. In fact, you can find most of the features needed for an excellent gaming experience, including 4K 120Hz and VRR, in 50-inch TVs for $600 or less and 65-inch models for less than $1,000.
The best TVs for PS5 and Xbox
Here are our current favorite gaming TV options. Unless otherwise noted, all prices listed are for 65-inch sizes, but each series is available in other sizes.
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LG’s C2 offers some of the best TV images we’ve tested, comes in a variety of sizes, and includes the full range of gaming features on every input. We also like the dedicated Game Optimizer suite of settings on this 4K TV. It’s a great choice for gamers who want an excellent picture and aren’t afraid to spend money to get it.
Read our LG C2 series OLED TV review.
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If OLED isn’t your thing, Samsung’s QN90B offers the best non-OLED picture quality we’ve ever seen. Image quality is incredibly bright, with minimal bloom from local backlight dimming. This gaming TV option also has a new Game Center that includes built-in Xbox cloud games as well as a range of game-friendly settings and modes.
Read our Samsung QN90B review.
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Dimensions
55-, 65-, 75- 85-in
Television technology
QLED with Mini-LED
Smart TV
Yes (Roku TV)
Resolution
4K
HDMI ports
4
Our favorite TV overall for the money also happens to be an excellent gaming TV. This TCL supports all the high-end gaming goodies you’d expect, including 4K, 120Hz input and variable refresh rates. Our tests of its gaming picture revealed excellent overall quality, particularly shadow detail.
Read our TCL 6-Series (2022 Roku TV) review.
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Dimensions
55-, 65-, 75-in
Television technology
Mini-LED with local dimming
Smart TV
Yes (Google TV)
Resolution
4K
HDMI ports
4
In our review of the Hisense, we rated its overall image quality almost as good as the TCL, and actually liked its gaming picture a little better, thanks to brighter highlights. It’s second only to the TCL with worse lag, but most people won’t notice the extra 5 milliseconds. Gamers can’t go wrong with either.
Read our review of the Hisense U8H series.
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David Katzmeier
The Vizio V-Series costs hundreds less than any of the TVs above, its picture quality can’t compete, and it lacks 4K, 120Hz input, but for a budget model, its gaming capabilities are top-notch. It’s the only budget TV we’ve seen that supports variable refresh rates, and its overall picture quality was a cut above similarly priced models from TCL, Hisense and others.
The price shown below is for the 50 inch size.
Read our review of the best budget TVs.
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David Katzmeier/CNET
Dimensions
50-, 65-, 75-in
Television technology
LED with local dimming
Smart TV
Yes (SmartCast)
Resolution
4K
HDMI ports
4
At a price that’s generally lower than any of the TVs above, this Vizio’s picture quality and gaming features aren’t quite as good, but it’s still a solid step above budget gaming TVs. Local dimming achieves solid contrast and the MQX has 4K/120Hz input capability and VRR, which are rare at this price.
Read the Vizio M-Series Quantum X review.
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TV Game FAQs
Below you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the best TVs for gaming, followed by charts that show which features are available on which TVs.
What TVs support HDMI 2.1 features?
All the advanced gaming features we’ve mentioned – 120Hz input and VRR, as well as the more common auto low-latency mode, aka auto game mode, and eARC – are roughly lumped into the HDMI 2.1 standard, but not all of the TVs in the charts below include every feature, nor do they provide the full video and audio bandwidth that is possible with HDMI 2.1.
Even more confusing, input options can vary on the same TV. Behind the physical connection where you plug in an HDMI cable is a subsection of the TV’s processing, namely a chip. These chips cost money like everything else. To keep costs down, not every TV input is fully capable of supporting all the latest features and frame rates. In other words, every time on Earth could to be capable of highway speeds, but building them that way would be expensive and pretty pointless.
For example, an HDMI input may support eARC but not be able to handle 4K at 120Hz. Just something to keep in mind as you look at the charts below. Additionally, there are some important make and model features that don’t fit into the table; please check the points below for details.
Although TVs have been capable of 120Hz refresh for over a decade, the ability to entrance 120Hz is a much more recent development. This is largely due to the fact that, apart from a fairly powerful gaming PC, there were simply no 120Hz sources. That all changes with the PS5 and Series X. Some of the TVs on our list can accept 4K at 120Hz on all HDMI inputs. Others can only do so on select inputs, and one, the TCL 6-Series, can only accept 120Hz at resolutions lower than 4K (1440p).
The Xbox Series S can also output 4K at 120Hz, but internally the game is rendered at a lower resolution (1440p) and upscaled before being sent to your TV.
For more information, see the truth about 4K TV refresh rates — and beware of fake 120Hz refresh rates on 4K TVs.
VRR, or variable refresh rate, is a new TV feature that you’ll probably be surprised doesn’t already exist. All modern TVs have a fixed refresh rate. A 60Hz TV will refresh or create a new image 60 times per second. The problem is that a new console might not be ready send new image.
Let’s say you’re in the middle of a huge boss fight, with lots of enemies and explosions. The console struggles to render everything in the allotted time. The TV still needs something so the console might send a duplicate of the previous image, creating screen flicker, or it might send a partially new image, making the image look like someone ripped a page off the top and revealed the new page underneath.
VRR gives the TV some flexibility to wait for the new frame from the console. This will result in better gaming performance with smoother action and less tearing.
What is ALLM or Game mode?
Game mode turns off most of the TV’s image enhancement features, reducing input lag. We’ll discuss input lag below, but the specific feature you should be looking for is called either Auto Low Latency Mode or Auto Game Mode. Different manufacturers call it one or the other, but the basic idea is the same. When receiving a signal from the console, the TV automatically turns on game mode. This means you don’t need to find the TV remote to activate game mode. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s convenient. All the TVs listed above have or will have one or the other.
Input delay describes how long in milliseconds it takes for the TV to produce an image. If this is too high, there is a delay between when you press a button on the controller and when that action appears on the screen. In many games, such as shooters or platformers, timing is of the essence, and a TV with high input lag can hurt your performance.
As a long time console gamer, I can easily tell the difference between high (more than 100ms) and low (under 30ms) input lag. The good news is that most modern TVs have an input lag that’s low enough that most people won’t notice it. The days of 100+ millisecond input lags are largely gone… at least when you activate Game Mode.
So as long as the TV has a game mode, you’re probably fine, although it’s worth checking CNET’s reviews for the exact numbers to see if it has low input lag. In this case, lower is always better.
While not a console feature, eARC is a next-gen TV feature to consider. This is the evolution of ARC or Audio Return Channel. This sends audio from the TV’s internal apps (like Netflix or Vudu) back over the HDMI cable to a receiver or sound bar. With eARC, newer formats such as Dolby Atmos can also be transmitted.
The problem is that in many cases eARC often excludes higher resolutions or frame rates on the same input. So if you connected your PS5 to your receiver and the receiver to the TV, you can have eARC audio back from the TV or 4K120, but usually not both. This is only important if you plan to use the native apps on a TV (as in, not a Roku or Amazon streaming stick) and you want to use the new audio formats via eARC.
In addition to covering television and other display technologies, Jeff gives photo tours of great museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, aircraft graveyards, and more.
You can follow his exploits on Instagram and YouTube, as well as on his travel blog, BaldNomad. He also wrote a bestselling science fiction novel for city-sized submarines, along with a continuation.