2024 has been another wonderful year if you love TV. QLED and mini-LED QLED TVs have continued to grow rapidly, while OLED continues to dominate our selection of the best TVs thanks to the brightness-enhancing excellence of quantum dot and MLA technologies. There’s never been a better time to have a quality TV.
Over the past 12 months, Samsung’s sterling output has impressed us more than any other manufacturer, while we’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of the best 4K projectors. It’s not all been sunshine and roses, though. With another 365 days in the book, 8K has yet to impact the market.
Fortunately, the biggest TV winners of 2024 outnumber the losers of the year just ended.
The dominance that Samsung has developed over the high-end television sector in recent years is quite remarkable. The South Korean company not only produced the most productive mini-LED TVs, oh no. Instead, it stole the crown on the OLED. market thanks to its QD-OLED panel technology.
A third of our top 9 best TV list is currently dominated by Samsung – more than any other manufacturer. Not only does the Big S continue to body the opposition with QLEDs, but it’s amazingly stolen the mantle from LG in the OLED space – quite the shocker, seeing as LG is wholly responsible for putting the premium TV tech on the map.There’s simply no denying the dominance of Samsung. From the unbeatable value of the Samsung S90C to the high-end dream performance of the Samsung S95D (our TV of the Year), the current king of TV manufacturing is the iconic South Korean brand. Over to you, LG.
The best projectors of 2024 were no longer only for obsessive cinephiles with gargantuan walls. With an increased focus on affordability and less intimidating form factors, projectors feel like a genuinely viable alternative to high-end TVs for the first time in years.
New high-end models from Epson, Sony and Samsung dominated the TechRadar Best of CEDIA Expo 2024 awards, with the Epson QL7000, a model with a brightness of 10,000 ANSI lumens, offering a projector option for large TVs and micro-projectors larger than a hundred inches. LED video walls for those who don’t need to watch in a darkened movie theater.
On the affordable and portable side of the spectrum, new projectors like the LG CineBeam Q offered up design sophistication and 4K resolution in an under-$1,000 model, while the Anker Nebula Mars 3 combined high brightness and 2.5-hour battery life in a rugged, roadworthy case.
Companies are also taking note. A recent beta version of tvOS for the exclusive Apple TV 4K was included for a wider variety of aspect ratios supported by projectors, adding 21:9 and 32:9.
The spotlights are increasing. Hopefully it will last until 2025 and beyond.
Traditional W-OLEDs have long been our favorite TV type, and the gap between LCD TVs and more productive OLED TVs has grown deeper in the last year with a brighter bureaucracy of “diode” generation biological electroluminescence.
The sensational Samsung S95D shows that generation of quantum dots is now firmly established as the OLED generation to beat. Thanks to its effective anti-glare coating and an incredibly impressive maximum HDR brightness of 1,868 nits, it will deliver photos almost as bright as the most productive mini-LED TVs while offering higher contrast thanks to their more productive black levels.
Not that QD-OLEDs don’t still face stiff competition. The LG G4 floored us with its dazzlingly vivid images that get incredibly bright thanks to the set’s second-gen MLA (Micro Lens Array) technology. The Panasonic Z95A with its ‘Master OLED Ultimate’ MLA panel is also a stunner.
This trio of sets leaves us in no doubt about OLED’s vice-like grip on the high-end TV market, though Sony’s new flagship Bravia 9 with its innovative XR Backlight Master Drive with High Peak Luminance tech gave a strong indication that mini-LED tech is making inroads in the premium TV space.
You don’t necessarily want to spend all your savings to have a wonderful OLED TV. The LG B4 is one of the cheapest OLEDs we’ve reviewed, and thanks to its quartet of HDMI 2. 1 ports and new Dolby Vision Filmmaker mode, it’s for gamers and movie buffs.
2024 was the year of OLED. We’d be surprised if every year until 2034 wasn’t, too.
Until we’re all forced to make the corneal upgrades demanded through Minority Report, the much-vaunted long array of 8K TVs will probably take a back seat for now.
While the recently unveiled PS5 Pro attempts to make 8K console gaming a reality, the likelihood of Sony’s beloved new device moving the needle in terms of 7,680 x 4,320 gaming (when parsed with counting lingo) of pixels) is incredibly unlikely.
The Samsung QN900D is our current pick for the best 8K TV, and it’s certainly a TV. However, at the time of writing this article, it is not essential either, because the best streaming, Blu-ray and video game services are not yet in a position to offer 8K at the price that people are interested or demanding.
Until the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Sony with its PS5 Pro take 8K seriously, even the most fanatical of TV fans should keep hold of their 4K sets.
Despite the best efforts of Disney and Best Buy to either reduce or flat-out stop support for 4K Blu-rays, our beloved Ultra HD discs aren’t going anywhere quite yet.
2024 was another smart year for 4K Blu-rays. When a movie is moved properly in the format, it looks sharper than on streaming facilities and also provides incredible audio quality.
This year has spoiled us with 4K transfers, even if the films themselves weren’t up to par in terms of symbol quality. While they are not wonderful movies, Alien: Romulus and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes surely look flawless on one of the most productive 4K Blu-ray players. As for Dune: Part 2, the sprawling sci-fi epic continues Denis Villeneuve’s series of drool-worthy 4K transfers.
When it comes to 4K Blu-ray vs streaming, the scoreline continues to read ‘Discs 1- Internet 0’.
Dave is a freelancer writing about generation and video games since 2006, with bylines at GamesRadar+, Total Film, PC Gamer, and Edge. He’s been obsessed with all kinds of audio-visual gadgets since his parents first bought him a hideous, gaudy 13-inch CRT TV (with a built-in VCR, no less) in 1998. Over the years, he’s acquired more high-end TVs. plasma and OLED that he knows how to count. On a typical day, you spend 30% of your waking life suffering from mild panic attacks similar to vertical streaks and dead pixels.
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