Buying a TV: the four specs that matter and the ones that don't

Panel type, size for your room, refresh rate, and HDMI ports decide the experience. The marketing numbers mostly don't.

TV spec sheets are built to confuse. Four things decide whether you'll be happy; the rest is brochure.

1. Panel type

• OLED: perfect blacks, best in a dim room, best for movies. Less bright than the top LCDs; burn-in risk is small with normal use but real for static images left on for hours.
• Mini-LED / QLED LCD: brightest, best for a sunlit room and daytime sports. Blacks are good, not perfect; look for the number of local-dimming zones.
• Basic LED LCD: fine for a bedroom or kitchen. Don't pay for 4K/120 Hz features here; the panel can't show them off.

2. Size for the distance

Measure seat-to-screen. For 4K, a common rule is screen size (inches) ≈ viewing distance (inches) × 0.6 to 0.8. At 8 feet, that's 58–77 inches. Most people buy one size too small.

3. Refresh rate and gaming

120 Hz matters for console gaming and fast sports; 60 Hz is fine for everything else. "Motion rate 240" and similar are marketing multipliers — look for the native panel rate. Gamers also want HDMI 2.1, VRR, and ALLM listed explicitly.

4. HDMI ports

Count what you'll plug in (console, streaming box, soundbar via eARC, PC). Some TVs have only one or two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports.

Ignore, mostly

• "8K" at normal sizes and distances.
• Contrast ratio claims (unmeasured).
• Built-in speakers — plan on a soundbar.
• The smart platform; a streaming stick fixes a slow one.

Timing

New models arrive each spring; last year's models drop steadily through the fall and bottom out around the holidays. The same panel often appears under two model numbers for different retailers — compare the spec, not the name.

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