Smart TVs have revolutionized home entertainment, offering a seamless blend of traditional television with advanced digital features. With an array of options available, finding the best smart TV to suit your preferences can be challenging. In this blog, I’ll be reviewing and ranking the best smart TVs based on real user feedback and in-depth reviews to help you find the perfect fit for your needs.
1. Amazon Fire TV 55″ 4-Series 4K UHD Smart TV:
Helpful Review: Delivered with care! A great 50″ TV, adjustable in all the right ways, picture is excellent, sound is very good for the speaker sizes utilized in this rather light weight, easy to handle set. I have installed the Amazon Fire TV sound 2.0 bar to it…making it boom beyond what I’ll ever need. The Alexa tie-in is very utilitarian, a nice touch…a secret helper! A bottomless pit of apps seem to be available through the user interface. I’ve already downloaded several free ones and gained access to my iPad resident Paramount+ on this set. If you aren’t using a cable or antenna connection, going WIFI into the free Pluto TV app really rocks. Best buy on a TV set I’ve ever made!
2. LG 50-Inch Class UQ7570 Series 4K Smart TV:
Helpful Review: It is a decent TV for the price. The setup was easy, but the legs being close to the sides require a big tv stand, at least 50 inch in length to barely fit. As far as picture quality it is good but I agree with the reviewers that remote is not good, it is very unresponsive when you are navigating internet media content or smart features. I will most likely buy a 4k Roku stick. Some apps are not in the smart tv such as spectrum tv. The sound is okay for a typical smart tv, but I opted to buy an LG sound bar to enhance its sound quality. And the tv looks good esthetically, I think 400+ dollars is a bargain.
3. Amazon Fire TV 65″ Omni Series 4K UHD Smart TV:
Helpful Review: The things we do like about the tv: 1. The picture quality is spectacular especially when watching college football or playing video games. 2. The ease of setting up our Amazon prime account to the tv. 3. Using Alexa on the tv is very easy and a great function. We can speak into the remote or to the tv and she answers. She can also show us our blink security cameras and ring doorbell. 4. We liked the price of the 75 inch. It was inexpensive and a good quality tv. 5. The tv is light weight, but does require 2 people to hang it due to being awkward. 6. Has all of our apps that we use to stream and can save them to the main menu page.
Few things that we don’t like: 1. There is no way to get the tv from going to sleep when paused. We have Googled and tried to look it up on Amazon and can’t find anything. Guess we have to live with that setting. 2. The main menu screen. You can’t customize what you want or don’t want to see. That’s a little bit frustrating. We would like to see a way to delete certain things that don’t interest us on the main menu. Not really a huge deal, but would like it to be more user friendly. 3. The updates take about 45 mins to an hour before being able to setup the tv. Once again, not a huge deal, but want that to be known as we didn’t know the time prior to setting up and being able to use the tv. 4. If you’re a first time user with Amazon Fire.
It will take a little bit of time to get used to the Amazon Fire TV settings and functions especially if you’ve been a longtime user of Roku. Overall, this tv is great for the price, quality of picture, ease of use with our Amazon Prime and Alexa functions. We would buy this tv again for other rooms in our house.
4. Samsung 50-Inch Class Crystal UHD AU8000 Series:
Helpful Review: Likes; very sharp, seems to have a broad color range. On some of the newest material the picture almost appears to be 3D it is so detailed. Everyone that has seen the quality of the picture has been impressed. Other reviewers have mentioned two complaints which aren’t an issue for me. Poor remote. I have only used mine once to set up the TV. Since I have no need to change the settings it sits in a drawer. I use satellite TV so use that remote. I don’t get internet so I rarely stream except through my phone’s portable hot spot and I have had no issues with that.
The other issue that is often mentioned is sound quality. Ultra thin TV’s can not physically reproduce quality sound. To reproduce high quality sound you have to push a certain volume of air at different frequencies. The tiny speakers in these TV’s aren’t up to the task and never will be because they are physically incapable of doing so. I am impressed that they do as well as they do. Besides, why would you buy such a large TV and not use a surround sound system, or at the very least a high quality sound bar? I realize some people may not want to have a sound system that probably costs more than the TV , just don’t expect these tiny speakers to give you a movie theater experience.
5. Insignia 50-inch Class F30 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV:
Helpful Review: The picture quality and sound are great, but the functionality is poor. No one wants a TV that turns itself off every 10 minutes if a show is paused. There is no way to change this. You can either have completely silent trailers you can’t turn on the sound for qhen you’re actually interested or you can have trailers you don’t care about randomly blast at you. There is no in between. Silent or loud enough to wake the dead. You can *sort of* arrange your apps the way you want them. You can *sort of* see your most recently viewed items first (assuming they were on Prime and you were actually watching them and the order hasn’t randomly reassigned itself), you can *sort of* make a watch list and eventually find it again.
If you click on an ad for a show on an app you already have, the TV does not care. It will take you to the sign UP screen. Not the sign IN screen. You will have to go back home, find the app, and find the show manually in order to add it to your list. Sometimes there is an “add to list” on the ads and sometimes there is not. Sometimes when you click to play a trailer you can hear it but the screen is black. I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 3 because of picture quality (and also after having a Roku with no ability to mute, I’m 1 star’s worth of grateful for a mute button).
6. Vizio 40-inch D-Series Full HD 1080p Smart TV:
Helpful Review: I bought the 27 inch tv to sit on my desk in my bedroom while using my laptop. I bought a tv riser to better view the tv and use my laptop at the same time. The screen size doesn’t hurt my eyes. The set up took longer than I expected. The back of the tv comes with 2 HDMI ports, audio ports and I think a USB port. It also has an antenna port if you want to connect it to cable. Since this is a 2022 model, I should have made sure to update it to the most recent update. It updated as soon as I plugged it in, but it updated 3 more times while trying to connect the cable cord.
It wouldn’t accept all of my cable channels after the first update. On the third update, it found my local channels and loaded them in the Vizio free watch app. Connecting to the stream apps I regularly use was easy. The smart tv connected to my WIFI easily. The remote is responsive without delay. The picture quality of the shows I’ve streamed are very clear. Sitting at my desk the volume is clear. Watching from my bed. I have to turn up the volume to hear.
This size tv doesn’t come with blue tooth connection for speakers, but you could use one of the HDMI ports for that. I recently used Chromecast from my computer to watch a movie and the picture quality was clear. I also used Chromecast to look at email from my laptop. It was okay but this tv is better suited for watching movies or shows. I also airplay from my iPhone to watch ESPN on my smart tv and it connected easily once I put my phone on the same WIFI name as my tv. The picture quality was in high definition.
If you are having issues with the internet connecting or not loading your channels, you can do a hard reset by turning off the tv, unplugging it, and hold down the power button for 30 seconds then re plugging the tv and turning it back on.
Factors to Consider:
Display Technology: Consider the display technology (4K, Full HD) based on your viewing preferences and budget.
Smart Features: Look for voice control options, AI enhancements, and a user-friendly interface.
Connectivity: Check the number and types of ports available for your devices.
Content Access: Evaluate the availability of streaming services and additional content.
Gaming Features: If gaming is a priority, consider TVs with optimized gaming modes.
Design and Integration: Assess the design and how well the TV integrates into your living space.
Audio Quality: Consider the built-in audio quality or the option to connect to external sound systems.
Brand Reputation: Research the reputation of the brand for reliability and customer support.
Price: Compare prices and weigh features against your budget.
Customer Reviews: Check customer reviews for real-world insights into the TV’s performance and reliability.
Conclusion : Making the Right Choice
Choosing the right smart TV from the list boils down to individual priorities. For budget-conscious buyers prioritizing essential features without compromising quality, the Amazon Fire TV 55″ 4-Series 4K UHD Smart TV and the Vizio 40-inch D-Series Full HD 1080p Smart TV offer compelling options. On the other hand, for those who seek advanced technologies and customization, the LG 50-Inch Class UQ7570 Series 4K Smart TV and the Samsung 50-Inch Class Crystal UHD AU8000 Series stand out with AI-powered capabilities and Dynamic Crystal technology, respectively.
For a holistic, all-in-one entertainment solution, the Amazon Fire TV 65″ Omni Series 4K UHD Smart TV provides a cinematic experience with Dolby Vision HDR and hands-free Alexa control. Additionally, buyers with space constraints may find the Insignia 32-inch Class F20 Series Smart HD 720p Fire TV and the TCL 32-Inch Class S3 1080p LED Smart TV with Google TV as suitable compact options with smart features.
By considering factors like display technology, smart features, connectivity, and more, buyers can make an informed decision based on their unique preferences for an enjoyable home entertainment experience.
