Getting a television might seem like an easy task, but it is not. There are many things to consider when choosing a television (TV), such as price, size, and screen resolution, and it will stick with you for several years to come. The best TVs offer way more than just a clear image and audio. Today's smart TVs provide a variety of apps, free streaming content, incredible quality, and even affordable prices that fit your budget.
The TV industry has made significant technological advances to the LCD and OLED TVs, and today's prices are lower than ever. High-end 4K models cost about half of what they did in the past.
Before we share the best TVs with you, it is important to know that Singapore TV is now fully digital. Put merely, non-digital-ready TVs will not be sold in stores anymore.
LG OLED C9 TV
LG OLED C9 series was awarded the Editor's Choice Tech Award in 2020 by HardwareZone, and it comes in three sizes – 55″, 65″, and 77″. With a 4K Cinema HDR and Dolby Vision & Atmos, it provides users with the best experiences to watch dramas or movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. The LG C9 produces a stunning picture and decently good black depth as expected from OLED, while the ability to light or dim each pixel independently, resulting in excellent contrast. The Dolby Atmos mode adds width, weight, and dynamism to its audio. It has a nearly instantaneous response time with low input lag, which is vital for gaming or use as a PC monitor.
LG's WebOS has a clean and user-friendly interface without any severe issues with its performance. It is also AI smart, supporting Google Assistant, Apple Airplay 2, AI recommendation, deep learning AI sound, and deep learning AI brightness. In addition to the advanced features, the LG TV was designed to be minimalistic, allowing it to integrate into homes and adding a touch of uniqueness.
Samsung UHD 4K Smart TV RU7100
The Samsung RU7100 comes in multiple sizes – 43″, 50″, 55″, 65″, 70″ and 75″. It has a powerful processor that enhances the picture quality on-screen, as well as HDR10+ certification, which focuses on details in both bright and dark scenes. This model is a replacement to last year's Samsung NU7100; it's no surprise that the newer RU7100 sports a very similar design. The slim design of Samsung RU7100 allows the TV to fit into spaces easily while maintaining the sleek and modern design.
The TV has decent overall picture quality, delivering deep blacks, thanks to the high native contrast ratio, and it's suitable for a dim room. When watching Netflix on RU7100 is enjoyable as the TV can offer reasonably realistic vibrant shades and relatively good color quality. With edge-lit backlight and no local dimming, the RU7100 provides surprisingly good brightness, but overall, HDR (high dynamic range) quality is limited for this model.
The Samsung RU7100 produces excellent volume and some unexpectedly hefty bass for a TV with no subwoofer. Dialogues are clear and sound effects are robust. The sound remained clear at louder volumes, keeping distortion to a minimum.
Sony XBR X900F 4K Ultra HD HDR Smart TV
The Sony X900F features a full array LED and X-tended Dynamic Range XDR Contrast 6x (high contrast ratio), offering high picture quality with exceptional contrast. This model from Sony sports a great design that is quite different from traditional Sony aesthetics. This TV is suitable for dark scene performance like watching movies in a dark room. Input lag of the TV is low, especially at 4k, and motion handling is excellent for gaming. However, its sound quality doesn't do itself justice as it is pretty run-of-the-mill and requires an external soundbar so that the sound matches its picture.
Off-angle viewing is not as strong as other TVs in the market, and you will notice a drop in image quality when viewing from the sides, so this isn't recommended for rooms with wide seating arrangements. That said, it was still tolerable for the most part, and app coverage and features are top-notch. The TV supports Amazon, Netflix, and Vudu apps, as does Sony's own Ultra app, exclusive to Sony TVs, which carries Sony Pictures movies only. The Sony X900F brings you the excitement of movies and games in 4K HDR. It can play HDR content and handles a variety of HDR formats, including HDR10, Hybrid Log-Gamma, and Dolby Vision™. And Sony claims that Netflix recommends its Android TVs.
Samsung QLED Q80T 4K Smart TV
The Samsung Q80T is an excellent TV for most content and its a premium-priced mid-range QLED from the company. The Q80T model looks much like every other QLED of the last couple of years, all comes with dark silver metal, straight edges and pointy corners. This TV comes in 49″, 55″ and 65″. The Q80T features a UHD Quantum image processor, and some new 4K AI smarts, the Q80T's performance with HD SDR content is a real showstopper, offering optimized picture quality and delivering a more immersive experience. The TV can interpolate subtle elements of detail into HD and lower resolution content, creating a compelling UHD-style image, with the processor working out what is native detail, and then through comparison with a texture database, creates more of the same.
This model sports excellent response time, and variable refresh rate support. On the subject of VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), the FreeSync format used by the Xbox One X and One S is supported out of the box by the Q80T, while G-Sync is apparently coming soon.
The Samsung Q80T is the lowest model in Samsung's 2020 TV range to be equipped with the company's new Object Tracking Sound technology. This technology uses extra drivers to create a more spacious and involving sound stage, providing a more solid, and wider sound. It also adds a level of directionality to movement on screen.
Samsung has also gathered together all the mainstream video streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and YouTube, amongst others. Navigating through all this is fast and relatively straightforward, with the sleek One Remote Control which keeps it simple, allowing you to quickly search all your favorite content.
LG CX OLED 4K TV
The LG CX OLED is an excellent TV for Singapore homes and delivers amazing all-around performance. Awarded with ST Tech Editor's Choice, the TV is powered with α9 Gen3 AI 4K Processor that analyzes the on-screen content to deliver content as its most immersive.
The LG CX supports the most popular 4K HDR (high dynamic range) formats, including HDR10 and HLG (hybrid log gamma), which is intended for streaming services like YouTube and 4K broadcasts from the likes of DirecTV. The TV also supports the increasingly popular Dolby Vision HDR format, now boosted with an IQ designation that means the TV can adjust the picture (brightness, color and contrast) according to the content genre and the perceived light conditions in the room.
Like all OLED TVs, the CX has an infinite contrast ratio since it's able to turn off individual pixels, resulting in perfect blacks. It has near-perfect off-angle performance that makes images come to life like no other TV technology you can buy.
The CX also has decent sound capabilities, but the heavy bass can cause its speakers to crackle and drop out quite severely. It's not much of a surprise that audio would be its main weakness – it's an area that the company tends to cut back on to make the set affordable, since the picture quality is so good.
