Best TV for Watching Sports

LG C1 OLED

Choosing a TV for Watching Sports

There are a variety of TVs types available, each offering different trade-offs. Some TVs may be less expensive while not looking very good, while others look amazing but cost a lot more.

In this article, I explain which factors to consider when choosing a TV for watching sports and break down the other various qualities to consider when choosing your new TV for sports.

The best type of TV that I'd recommend for watching sports on is an OLED TV.

Overall, OLED TVs have an excellent refresh rate and response time, among other great qualities like excellent color and black levels, making OLED TVs the best type of display for watching sports. Below, I explain why these are important when watching sports.

Find the best OLED TVs: My Recommended OLED TVs for Watching Sports.

While OLED TVs are ultimately the best type of TV for watching sports, you may be looking for a more affordable option.

QLED TVs are a great alternative since they can also handle motion well while costing less. However, getting a QLED over an OLED TV has some trade-offs, such as a lower contrast, lower response time, some light bleed, and reduced viewing angles.

Find the best QLED TVs: My Recommended QLED TVs for Watching Sports.

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Factors to Consider When Choosing a TV for Watching Sports

Since most people watch sports in a group setting, wide viewing angles on a TV are needed if many people will watch the game with you. If you'll be watching sports alone or with a few people directly in front of the TV, then the viewing angle probably isn't as important.

Wider viewing angles allow you to see the TV at optimal levels (brightness, colors, contrast) even when looking at the TV indirectly. If you are viewing your TV directly straight-on, then better viewing angles won't matter.

OLED TVs have the best viewing angles and have an average viewing angle of around 70 degrees from the center, with the center meaning that you're directly in front of the screen. You will not notice any difference in colors or brightness at most viewing angles with an OLED TV.

LCDs like QLED TVs have an average viewing angle of around 20-40 degrees from the center, with the center meaning that you're directly in front of the screen. You'll notice more washed-out blacks and colors along with brightness loss starting at lesser angles (10-20 degrees) then increase as you get farther away from the center.

The narrow viewing angle is due to the use of a backlight projecting through the LCD. Like viewing a bedroom light from outside a house, the light is most visible from certain angles.

If you want more flexibility in your viewing position, you'll probably want to go for something like an OLED TV, which doesn't use a backlight.

Viewing Angle

LED	Good
QLED	Good
OLED	Excellent
Mini-LED	Very Good
MicroLED	Very Good

For watching sports, the bigger the TV, the better, especially if you're sitting farther away in a group setting. I recommend getting at least a 65 inch or larger TV. If you get a larger TV, it'll be easier to see all of the players on the field and make it feel more like you're at the stadium watching in person.

If you aren't going to watch the TV farther away, a smaller TV will still be good if you're sitting closer, like in a small living room.

When buying a TV for watching sports, the most important considerations are to have an excellent refresh rate and response time. Response time and refresh rate determine how a TV can handle motion — the lower the response time and the higher the refresh rate, the better.

High refresh rates reduce motion blur and make animations smoother, while low response times prevent ghosting during quick movements.

Motion Handling

LED	Good
QLED	Good
OLED	Excellent
Mini-LED	Very Good
MicroLED	Excellent

Response time is the time it takes a display to change from one color to another. The timing of this is usually determined by going back and forth between white and black. The timing is measured in milliseconds, with lower being better.

OLED TVs have a response time of around 0.2 ms for 80% of color transition and 2-3 ms for the remaining color. It's best to have 6 ms or less response time for displays, and OLED TVs exceed that, making them one of the best types of displays regarding response time.

To compare, Samsung QLED TVs have a response time of around 3-6 ms for 80% of color transition and 9-17 ms for the remaining color.

Refresh rate is the number of times the display can redraw the screen. Refresh rate is measured in hertz (Hz), which is defined as one cycle per second. For example, 60 Hz would refresh the screen 60 times a second. A reasonable refresh rate is anywhere from 144 Hz to 240 Hz and above.

The refresh rate of QLED and OLED displays are usually 120 Hz but can reach higher in newer models, which is fast enough for most cases, including sports and video games .

If you are going to be watching sports in daylight or a bright room, choose a TV that can handle higher brightness levels. The brightness of the TV matters most when viewing it in bright lighting conditions since it'll have to compete with other lighting in the room. For example, in a well-lit living room or family room, you'd want to use a TV with good brightness levels.

QLED and MicroLED TVs have the best brightness levels. Most QLED TVs produce 1,000 to 2,000 nits of brightness and are capable of reaching 4,000 nits. To compare, most other TVs usually don't reach 1,000 nits of brightness.

If you don't know what a Nit is, it's a measurement of the amount of light a TV produces within an area. The higher the Nit, the brighter your TV will be able to emit.

Brightness Levels

LED	Good
QLED	Excellent
OLED	Good
Mini-LED	Very Good
MicroLED	Excellent

The downside of some TVs having high peak brightness is that it can sometimes lead to light bleed. Light bleed, or backlight bleed, is more noticeable during nighttime viewing or rooms with low light. So if you're planning to put your TV in a dark room, you'll want to get a TV that doesn't have as much light bleed.

You can learn more about backlight bleed in LED TVs.

Light Bleed

LED	Yes
QLED	Yes
OLED	No
Mini-LED	Some
MicroLED	No

Excellent color accuracy will determine whether or not you'll get the best and naturally vivid images on your screen. Watching sports on a TV with great color accuracy can help immerse you into the game.

OLED and QLED displays are known for excellent color accuracy and vibrance even at wider viewing angles.

OLED TVs have an average of 95-99% color gamut and 80-85% color volume.

Samsung QLED TVs have an average of 84-94% color gamut and 73-90% color volume.

Standard LED TVs have a widely varying color volume and color gamut but are moderately lower on average compared to QLED and OLED displays.

TVs are sometimes advertised to be 100% color volume despite the fact they don't reach those levels. Despite this, you won't notice a difference in OLED TVs or higher-end QLED TVs since both can have excellent color accuracy if tuned correctly and is of higher quality.

Color Accuracy

LED	Good
QLED	Excellent
OLED	Very Good
Mini-LED	Excellent
MicroLED	Excellent

High-dynamic-range (HDR) can enhance your picture further by expanding the contrast ratio and colors to create a more realistic, natural image. However, the sports you watch need to support HDR for the best experience; otherwise, HDR isn't going to be worth it.

Watching HDR-supported content will result in a picture with brighter brights, darker darks, more accurate/natural colors, and a sharper image.

OLED displays have high color volume/gamut and near-perfect contrast ratio, both of which are recommended for HDR. Despite HDR usually requiring higher brightness levels, OLEDs can produce amazing HDR scenes because of their extreme contrast ratio. Due to the lower brightness levels, it'd be best to view HDR content with lower ambient light during the evening.

Samsung QLED displays have high color volume, good contrast ratio, and 1,000+ nits of brightness, all of which are recommended for HDR also. OLED TVs are still better despite this due to their true black levels.

Standard LED TVs are typically not recommended for viewing HDR content but can still do so, just not as well as the other types of TVs.

Native Contrast

LED	Okay
QLED	Very Good
OLED	Excellent
Mini-LED	Very Good
MicroLED	Excellent

If you want to get the best experience while watching sports, you'll want to watch on a 4K TV. The higher the resolution, the more crisp the picture will be, as long as the content you're displaying is in that resolution. Sometimes 4K TVs have an upscaling feature, though, which can enhance lower resolution content.

4K resolution is the most popular currently. While 8K is the best resolution overall, most content doesn't support that high of a resolution, so it's not really needed at this time since 4K is more than enough already.

Most TVs have 4K resolution besides a select few models.

You can learn more about TV resolution.

TV Resolution Comparison Brandon Jones / TechReviewer

True black levels are less crucial to have when watching sports and are more significant for watching movies. Having true blacks makes the image more accurate, making the dark areas black instead of gray. Good black levels can help tell whether a TV can handle the contrast between the bright and dark parts of the scene. While you don't need true blacks for sports, since they're usually bright, it can help improve the contrast, making it more immersive to watch.

Poor black levels result in a lack of true black in outer space scenes, dark indoor shots, and end credits for movies and other content. Instead, the blacks appear as more of a gray color. Poor contrast can result in that faded look between those two extremes (bright and dark in the same scene).

The dark colors provided by good black levels also won't be as visible if you watch your TV in daylight or bright rooms. Good black levels are much more noticeable in low-lit rooms, like a dark family room, bedroom, or theater.

OLED displays have perfect black levels. The extreme blacks are the benefit of OLED displays not having an LCD backlight like QLED and LED TVs. QLED and LED TVs have more of a gray black instead of pitch black.

Black Levels

LED	Okay
QLED	Okay
OLED	Excellent
Mini-LED	Very Good
MicroLED	Excellent

OLED Contrast Comparison Brandon Jones / TechReviewer

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Comparison Between TV Types

In the table below, you can compare the different qualities of each type of display.

TV Type Comparison

	LED	QLED	OLED	Mini-LED	MicroLED
Viewing Angle	Good	Good	Excellent	Very Good	Very Good
Black Levels	Okay	Okay	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent
Color Accuracy	Good	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent	Excellent
Burn-in	No	No	Yes	No	No
Brightness	Good	Excellent	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Lifespan	Good	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent	Excellent
Native Contrast	Okay	Very Good	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent
Motion	Good	Good	Excellent	Very Good	Excellent
Light Bleed	Yes	Yes	No	Some	No
Price	$	$$	$$$	$$$$	$$$$$

My Recommended OLED TVs for Watching Sports

• The LG C2 evo OLED TV has self-lit OLED pixels with superior image quality, extreme contrast, perfect blacks, and over a billion colors.
• This is an exceptional TV for any use, whether for movies, games, sports, or as a PC monitor.
• This TV has Nvidia G-Sync, FreeSync Premium, and variable refresh rates which are great for games.
• These new OLED models can now work well in brightly-lit rooms with their brightness booster and a9 processor.
• Check the latest price of the LG C2 evo OLED TV on Amazon (affiliate link). LG 65-Inch Class OLED evo C2 Series Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• This TV has superb picture quality with an extreme contrast ratio, perfect for your home theater room.
• The Sony A80K OLED has excellent color out of the box, so there's no need for color calibration.
• A negative to this TV is that it might not be bright enough for very bright/sunny rooms. This is common among most OLED TVs.
• This TV has Google TV built-in, allowing you to watch from most of your streaming services quickly and smoothly.
• The Sony A80K OLED has very low input lag and quick response time, both of which are excellent for sports and gaming.
• Check the latest price of the Sony Bravia XR A80K OLED TV on Amazon (affiliate link). Sony Bravia XR A80K OLED TV Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

My Recommended QLED TVs for Watching Sports

• This is an exceptional TV for any use, whether for movies, games, sports or as a PC monitor.
• It's the "Neo" QLED variant, which has an excellent contrast ratio and deep blacks.
• This will also work great in a bright room.
• The Samsung QN90B Neo QLED also supports low input lag, variable refresh rate, and fast response time, all of which are needed for gaming.
• Check the latest price of the Samsung QN90B Neo QLED on Amazon (affiliate link). SAMSUNG QN90B 50-Inch Class Neo QLED 4K Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• This is an excellent Neo QLED TV variant for use in bright rooms while having fantastic response time, low input lag, and vivid natural colors.
• The Samsung QN85B QLED has wide viewing angles and high brightness to overcome screen glare.
• It's superb for HDR content due to its high brightness and wide color gamut.
• A negative to this TV is that it has lower contrast compared to the QN90B.
• Check the latest price of the Samsung QN85B QLED on Amazon (affiliate link). SAMSUNG QN85B 55-Inch Class Neo QLED 4K Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• Great for watching sports or TV shows together with family and friends due to the wide viewing angles while keeping accurate colors.
• It's also quick enough for gaming and great for using as a PC monitor.
• A negative to this TV is that it has lower contrast compared to the QN90B and lower local dimming compared to both TVs mentioned above.
• This TV also has high brightness for HDR along with wide viewing angles.
• Check the latest price of the Samsung Q80B QLED on Amazon (affiliate link). SAMSUNG Q80B 65-Inch Class QLED Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

Learn About OLED TVs

Want to learn more about OLED TVs? Check out the articles in my OLED TV series:

• Ultimate Guide to OLED TVs.
• Are OLED TVs Good for Gaming?
• Do OLED TVs Have Good Viewing Angles?
• What Is the Response Time of an OLED TV?
• Do OLED TVs Have True Black Levels?
• How Bright Are OLED TVs Compared to Other TVs?
• What Is the Refresh Rate of an OLED TV?

Learn More About TVs

Want to learn more about TVs? Check out the articles in my TV series:

• Best TV Display Types
• TV Resolution Explained - 8K UHD vs. 4K vs. QHD vs. FHD
• Choosing the Best TV for Your Room
• Best TV for Playing PlayStation 5 Games
• What Type of TV Is Best for Gaming?
• Ultimate Guide to Samsung QLED TVs
• Best Type of TV for Bright Rooms
• What Type of TV Has the Best Refresh Rate & Response Time?
• What Type of TV Has the Best Viewing Angle?
• Do LED TVs Have Backlight Bleed?
• How to choose the best soundbar for your TV

A Note From the Authors