Super Bowl LVI is ready: The Los Angeles Rams will host the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13. If the previous couple of rounds of playoff video games are any indication, this Super Bowl shall be one to recollect. After all, the previous 5 video games previous to the Rams defeating the 49ers within the NFC Championship Game ended on a game-winning rating, both in extra time or with no time left in regulation. The Rams could be the favourite however the Bengals have defied the chances to get right here and are actually one win away from their first-ever Super Bowl title.

Whether you’re a soccer fan or care extra in regards to the commercials and halftime show, America’s greatest sporting occasion is a superb excuse to buy a brand new TV—not solely to look at historical past be made in high-def, however as a result of Super Bowl week is the most effective alternative exterior of Black Friday/Cyber Monday to attain large reductions.

Rather than checklist the best TV deals (I’ve tossed a couple of suggestions on the finish), this information will go over the essential TV specs you must learn about earlier than you begin your search. By the top of it, you’ll have all of the instruments to decide on the most effective TV for watching the Big Game—this yr and for years to come back.

Choosing the appropriate dimension

When folks purchase a TV, they have an inclination to concentrate on the scale of the display. Should they go along with 42, 50, 55, 65 inches, or bigger? It’s an essential consideration, however first, take into consideration what is going to slot in your house. Bigger is often—however not at all times—higher. Buying an 80-inch TV for a small studio residence is the equal of shopping for a front-row movie show ticket.

Based on tips set by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, you must attempt for a sitting distance that makes the TV fill at the least 30 levels of your sight view. For a extra movie-like expertise, the THX recommends 40 levels or a minimal of 36 levels.

But what even is 30 levels and the way do you measure such a factor? Let’s simplify issues with a fundamental rule of thumb: for those who’re shopping for a 1080p TV, the size-to-distance ratio must be about 2x; you may sit nearer to 4K TVs with out affected by eye pressure in order that ratio drops to 1.5x for UHD units. Some fast and straightforward math right here: If you’re eyeing a 65-inch 4K TV then your sofa must be about eight toes away (65*1.5=97.5 inches, or simply over 8 toes). I threw collectively a chart (see under) as a result of no one ought to drive somebody to do math in the event that they don’t should (and right here’s a nifty calculator you need to use).

Now, take out a measuring tape, since you don’t need a TV that doesn’t suit your wall or leisure heart. Oh proper: now’s the time to resolve whether or not you wish to place your TV on furnishings or on the wall utilizing a VESA mount. Wall mounts offer you extra flexibility and save house however could make ports much less accessible, will be difficult to put in, and aren’t allowed in some residences.

Planting a TV on a credenza is simple sufficient as long as the floor is bigger than the width of the legs. One factor to notice right here: the “size” of a TV—42, 50, or 55 inches—is the diagonal measurement of the display, not the complete width of the product. Measure your furnishings then test the TV spec to ensure it matches with a couple of inches of additional house on either side.

Some TVs include adjustable stands. Take this Sony TV, for instance. As you may see within the above picture, the width of the legs in a single place is 73.4 inches aside (the complete width of the TV), however when put in towards the middle of the TV, they’re solely 24 inches aside, which helps this massive set match on smaller surfaces.

Resolution: 1080p, 4K, or 8K?

The best advice can also be probably the most essential. If you’re going to purchase a brand new TV for the Super Bowl, get one with 4K decision. Unless you really want to future-proof, 8K TVs are too costly, and never sufficient content material is being captured at that decision to learn from the additional pixels. My recommendation may change in a couple of years, however for now, the most affordable 8K choices value about two grand and don’t convey appreciable picture high quality upgrades over 4K.

You must also keep away from 1080p TVs, that are shortly turning into out of date and don’t value a lot lower than 4K fashions. A fast Best Buy search brings up a TCL 55-inch, 4K Smart TV for simply $350; that very same retailer doesn’t carry a 1080p TV that’s bigger than 43 inches, and people which can be out there come from finances manufacturers (Insignia, Toshiba, and so on.).

Before I transfer on, there’s some unhealthy information: the Super Bowl won’t be broadcast or streamed in 4K. We can blame NBC, though “the big game” has but to be proven at native 4K decision (Fox upscaled Super Bowl 2020 from 1080p to 4K). This doesn’t imply you received’t profit from proudly owning a 4K TV. That’s as a result of 4K, or UHD, TVs should upscale content material, or improve the pixel rely, to get a lower-resolution 1080p feed to suit on a a lot higher-res panel.

How good that upscaling seems relies upon solely on the TV. This approach is sophisticated and requires important processing; typically, costlier TVs are higher at upscaling content material, and flagship fashions get issues to look fairly near native 4K.

High refresh charges

A vivid, vivid image is ruined when fast-moving objects seem uneven. This is why you can purchase a TV with a quick refresh fee. Was it that, precisely? A TV’s refresh fee describes what number of occasions per second a person body or picture will be up to date, or refreshed, on the display.

Refresh charges are expressed in hertz and virtually each TV both has a 60Hz or 120Hz fee—that’s, they will present 60 or 120 frames each second. The larger the quantity, the higher the TV can sustain with fast-moving objects, like a Matthew Stafford Hail Mary toss or Joe Mixon sprinting down the sidelines. While essential when watching sports activities, excessive refresh charges are additionally nice for players who favor first-person shooters or racing video games.

Unfortunately, TV manufacturers have a behavior of stretching the reality, and that’s actually the case with the refresh charges marketed on the field. One sneaky method is to artificially double the refresh charges by including an additional flicker between every body. This means, refresh charges of 240Hz will be marketed as “effective refresh rates,” a pink flag time period that signifies non-native refresh charges.

For now, native 4K TV refresh charges are solely 60Hz and 120Hz so ignore something above these numbers. You must also maintain a watch out for advertising and marketing phrases posing as efficient refresh charges, like TruMotion (LG), Motion Rate (Hisense), Clear Motion Rate (Samsung), and Motion Flow XR (Sony).

Inputs and HDMI variations

Every TV comes with HDMI inputs, however they don’t all have the identical quantity and sort. Consider what number of units you’ll want to hook up with your TV. These may embrace sport consoles, streaming containers, computer systems, soundbars, or Blu-ray gamers.

Now, add up what number of of these should be constantly plugged in and that ought to offer you a tough thought of what number of HDMI inputs your TV ought to present. I might advocate shopping for a TV with at the least 4 HDMI inputs to keep away from unplugging a tool to make use of one other. If you’re going to make use of a soundbar or A/V receiver to reinforce your TV’s audio system, be sure that to plug these audio methods into an HDMI ARC port, a function that allows you to use a single HDMI port for high-quality enter and output audio.

This leads us to the unnecessarily complicated strategy of figuring out whether or not your TV has the proper HDMI ports. The newest model is HDMI 2.1, however simply because a TV says it helps the usual doesn’t imply it helps each function. In truth, TV makers can declare HDMI 2.1 assist as long as their product comprises a single HDMI 2.1 function. Silly, proper? Anyway, the spec to search for is the power to output 4K video at 120Hz. If you personal a current-gen console (PS5, Xbox Series X), you’ll want to learn the superb print to make sure the TV you’re contemplating comes with full HDMI 2.1 assist.

What to learn about HDR

HDR stands for high-dynamic vary, and it delivers brighter highlights, higher distinction, and extra vivid, real looking colours than panels with out the function. Once once more, although, there are some caveats. First, there are a lot of flavors of HDR, and to make issues extra complicated, these are sometimes mixed. Also, to learn from this function, you want each an HDR TV and HDR supply materials.

We’ll briefly go over the various kinds of HDR so you should purchase a TV that can make you’re feeling as for those who’re at SoFi Stadium. HDR10 is an efficient start line that now comes commonplace on each trendy TV. It is a big enchancment over SDR (commonplace definition), however has its limitations. This is the place HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG are available in. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are direct rivals—the previous is championed by Samsung and the latter has wider assist. The two share comparable capabilities however some companies, like Netflix and Apple TV, assist solely Dolby Vision (for now).

Hybrid Log-Gamma, or HLG, is barely supported by choose TVs and was created by the UK’s BBC and Japan’s NHK to reinforce SDR broadcast pictures. This, together with the nascent Advanced HDR by Technicolor commonplace, aren’t must-have options on your Super Bowl viewing, however you must strongly contemplate a TV with Dolby Vision or HDR10+ (on high of ordinary HDR10).

OLED vs. QLED vs. miniLED

The Super Bowl is likely to be over by the point show applied sciences will be totally defined, however don’t fear, we’ll maintain issues easy.

Today, most flagship TVs use both OLED or QLED know-how—every of which has its personal execs and cons. OLED is widely considered the current leader as a result of these emissive panels don’t use a backlight; as an alternative, every tiny pixel in an OLED display creates gentle relying on how a lot electrical present runs by it. In darkish scenes, you may minimize off present solely to create good black ranges, and in consequence, OLED screens have “infinite” distinction ratios (the distinction between the brightest and darkest a TV will be).

Along with wealthy blacks, OLED TVs exhibit vivid colours and don’t endure from blooming, or when vivid spots bleed into darkish areas. Unfortunately, OLED panels are prone to burn-in, or when a picture is completely retained on the display. Modern strategies guarantee burn-in on OLED TVs stays a uncommon incidence, however there’s at all times an opportunity it may break your TV (because it did to my first OLED TV). OLED panels are at present made by LG and located in LG, Sony, and Vizion TVs, nevertheless, Samsung lately unveiled an enhanced model of OLED referred to as QD-OLED, which is ready to rival LG’s forthcoming OLED Evo and OLED EX.

Samsung’s QLED is much like a regular backlit LED TV however provides a quantum dot layer that enhances the brightness and colours of an image. While much less thrilling tech, QLED panels get significantly brighter and don’t endure from burn-in. Still, if you need the easiest image high quality, OLED is mostly the way in which to go.

Also price contemplating are miniLED panels, a relative newcomer to the combat for the most effective image high quality. The know-how grew to become extra broadly recognized when Apple used a miniLED show for its newest iPad Pro. As the identify suggests, miniLED TVs encompass tiny LEDs (from a whole bunch of LEDs in a conventional backlit panel to tens of hundreds) in 100 or extra dimming zones that permit for higher management of brightness, darkish ranges, and distinction. And whereas they don’t fairly meet OLED on image high quality alone, some miniLED TVs get twice as vivid as comparable OLED choices. As is the case with every of those panel sorts, there are downsides. Where OLED can endure from burn-in, miniLED TVs can present blooming.

Unless you’re filthy wealthy, you may overlook about microLED (for now). While some contemplate microLED TVs the way forward for tv, present fashions are focused on the 1%—we’re speaking tens of hundreds of {dollars} costly.

Pick the appropriate OS

Choosing between working methods is often a query of Windows versus macOS or maybe iOS versus Android, however TVs include their very own software program, and selecting the best one is essential. After all, a sensible TV’s OS is the portal you navigate to entry streaming apps, image settings, and inputs.

The excellent news is that the Super Bowl shall be broadcast on NBC and streamed on the Peacock app, which is offered on all the foremost platforms, together with Google TV (previously Android TV), Roku TV, webOS (LG), and Tizen (Samsung). You shouldn’t have any issues discovering your favourite streaming apps on any of those frequent working methods, however I like to recommend doing a little fast Google searches of your favourite apps to see which OSes assist them. If you like a sure TV but it surely’s lacking apps, don’t fear; you may at all times join a Roku Streaming Stick, Chromecast with Google TV, or Apple TV 4K.

Time to purchase

To summarize, the most effective mainstream TVs in the marketplace at this time have OLED, QLED, or mini-LED panels; 120Hz refresh charges; assist for a number of HDR variations; and at the least one HDMI 2.1 port with assist for 4K, 120Hz video output.

I encourage you to make use of these tricks to discover the proper TV on your wants. As a place to begin, a few of at this time’s high fashions embrace the Sony A80J, LG C1, and Samsung QN90A Neo—flagship TVs from family names that value round $1,300 for a 55-inch set. More budget-friendly “value” manufacturers promote TVs, just like the TCL 6 Series or Hisense U8G, with most of the similar options however at a a lot cheaper price.

The Super Bowl will look gorgeous on any of those TVs, however earlier than you commit, guarantee they slot in your house and have all of the options you want. Now simply nab the most effective deal, make that compulsory seven-layer dip, and luxuriate in watching the sport in your new TV.