2018’s best TVs

LOOKING FOR THE BEST PICTURE BUT CONFUSED BY THE HDR OLED 4K QLED JARGON? WE’RE HERE TO HELP WITH THIS ROUNDUP OF THE BEST SETS GOING.

IT’S BEEN EXACTLY 12 months since TechLife last sat back on the couch to gaze at the latest and greatest in TVs, so now is the perfect time to zap some microwave popcorn, grab the remote and do it all again. With most of the major manufacturers recently releasing their latest ranges, we’ve grabbed six of the best TVs from these brands, as well as taking a look at their overall range for the year.

If you’re expecting a revolution like the introduction of 3D, we’re sorry to disappoint, because 2018’s TV tech is more of an evolution than a huge leap forward. Two panel technologies in particular are now fighting it out to be the king of the hill — OLED versus QLED. While OLED is better at pitch-perfect blacks, as each pixel can be totally deactivated, QLED offers greater brightness, at up to twice the level of OLED in some cases.

The real news is the rapid adoption of High Dynamic Range, or HDR, panels. These offer a much more appreciable improvement in quality than 4K resolution, as they can duplicate a much vaster range of colours than non-HDR TVs. Colours are now true to life, with images that pop. There’s just one problem — a massive lack of content. But as with all new TV technologies, we need the tech to become ubiquitous before content creators start making the most of it.

And slowly but surely, the catalogue of 4K HDR content is starting to trickle out, both in the streaming world and on Ultra HD Blu-ray disks. Unfortunately, HDR is starting to get rather confusing, initially starting with two variants (HDR10 and Dolby Vision) but now encompassing five different types. Along with the original two, we now have HDR10+, HLG and Advanced HDR by Technicolor, all of which have slightly different requirements. And some manufacturers are using the term ‘HDR’ when their sets aren’t actually HDR approved, as you’ll see in our run-down (and we’ll tackle that when it arises).

In the meantime, sit back and relax as we reveal our couch potato’s guide to 2018.

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