Getting a great deal on a new TV can make you feel like a champ too.
Getty Images
Hey TV shoppers, there’s a certain important NFL football game coming up this Sunday, Feb. 2. That’s just a few days away and it creates a deadline of sorts: It’s your last chance to get a great deal on a 2019 TV. Big TVs and NFL football go together like chips and dip, and the timing is perfect. Every year, TV retailers use the game as an excuse to lower prices and get those screens out the door. From Amazon to Walmart, Best Buy to Target and everywhere in between, retailers are clearing inventory for the inevitable flood of new 2020 TVs announced at CES.
Most of the best TVs are at or near their Black Friday prices now. From LG’s OLED TVs to Samsung’s QLEDs to TCL’s Roku TVs, now is the best time for a deal on a new TV until, well, next November. And in case you’re worried about missing out on some newfangled 2020 extra, don’t be. TVs are a mature technology, and unless you’re a high-end shopper who needs the latest and greatest (and is willing to pay for it), a 2019 TV is perfectly good.
Here are our favorites. Most are in the 65- and 75-inch sizes (hey, gotta go big for the big game, especially in 4K) but they’re typically available in other sizes too. And if you happen to read this too late to get one of them shipped to your house, here are the best brick-and-mortar retailers for last-minute pickups.
Sarah Tew/CNET
We’ll start with a doozy: our favorite TV for the money, period. This TCL has the best picture we’ve tested at its price and in our side-by-side comparisons it matched or beat TVs that cost hundreds more. That tremendous value, along with best-in-class Roku smarts, earned it the CNET Editors’ Choice Award. The best part? The 65-inch version is back down to its Black Friday low.
Read our TCL 6-Series (2019 Roku TV) review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The M-Series Quantum delivers excellent picture quality, with deep black levels, accurate color and great 4K HDR performance. And its smart system is phone-friendly, with Google Cast and Apple AirPlay control. We didn’t love it as much as the TCL 6-Series above, but it’s still a superb value at $50 cheaper, especially if you want AirPlay.
Read our Vizio M-Series Quantum M8 series (2019) review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Want even better image quality than those two? The P-Series Quantum X outperformed the two less-expensive sets above in our tests, with a brighter, punchier image that perfect for the big game, especially in HDR. If you can’t afford an OLED TV (see below) it’s the next-best thing, and Sam’s has it for lower than any other place we’ve seen.
Read CNET’s Vizio P-Series Quantum X PX65-G1 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Samsung has dropped the prices on all of its QLED TVs back to Black Friday levels, and the Q70 series is our favorite value of the bunch. It’s the cheapest with full-array local dimming, the best feature for improving image quality. The FALD-equipped TCL and Vizio models have similar image quality for hundreds less, but Samsung has a leg up in design.
Read our Samsung Q70 series (2019) review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Another superb TV returns to its Black Friday low. OLED delivers the best picture quality you can get — head and shoulders better than any of the TVs above — but it costs a mint. This is the lowest price of the year for an OLED at this size, and the B9 earned CNET’s Editors’ Choice on the strength of its amazing picture.
Read our LG OLEDB9PUA series review.
Take everything we said about the 65-inch B9 and shrink it down 10 diagonal inches. This is the least you’ll pay for a 2019 OLED TV.
Read our LG OLED55B9PUA review.
The Roku smart TV operating system is CNET’s favorite and this 65-inch TCL is about as cheap as it comes for this size. If you’re willing to settle for a “good enough” picture, it’s a tremendous bargain.
Read our TCL 65S425 4-Series review.
RCA
In addition to TCL, RCA makes Roku TVs, too. We haven’t reviewed it and we don’t expect it to have stellar picture quality. But it’s a friggin’ 70-inch 4K Roku TV for $550.
This is the huge version of the TCL 4-Series above and an incredible value. Its smarts outclass the Vizio V-Series below and its image quality is on par, for $50 less.
Read our TCL 75S425 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Vizio’s V-Series wasn’t our favorite TV overall — it lacks full-array local dimming and the smart TV system falls short of Roku — it’s still a solid performer for a hefty discount. The main reason to get it instead of the TCL above is if you really want Chromecast or AirPlay built-in, both features the TCL lacks.
Read our Vizio V755-G4 V-Series review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Yet another huge Vizio at a deep we can fully recommend. We haven’t reviewed it, but we did review two similar Vizio sets: the more expensive PX-Series Quantum and the cheaper M-Series Quantum, both also on sale above. We were really impressed by the image quality of both, especially for the price, so we expect this P759-G1 to have excellent image quality as well. And this is a helluva price for a high-performance 75-inch TV.
Watch this:
TCL 6-Series Roku TV review: Simply the best TV for the…
5:27
Originally published earlier this week. Updated with the latest deals.