If you have a living room or home space with a lot of large windows that gets lots of afternoon sun, it can be tricky to find a TV that gets bright enough and still looks good. It can be done, though. The best TVs for bright rooms, like our top pick, the Samsung QN90D, offer incredible brightness and picture clarity, even in sunny spaces—and come with an intuitive smart home hub to stream, game and more.
One of the best TVs for bright rooms you can get right now includes our budget-friendly pick, the … [+] Hisense U8N TV.
Illustration: Forbes / Photo: Retailer
You don’t have to stay indoors to enjoy a great picture without sacrificing picture and clarity, either. The Samsung The Terrace is the tool for the job, with impressive brightness and weather proofing. Want to see what the future of TV might look like? The Sony Bravia 9 is another great futureproof option designed with movies in mind. No matter your needs, the best TVs for bright rooms
The picture quality isn’t quite as good as high-end OLED
Samsung makes a lot of big and bright TVs, and the QN90D is the latest and very-much-the-greatest of them. It’s Samsung’s premier QLED TV, using Mini-LEDs to drive the brightness up to extreme heights. While Samsung doesn’t provide an official measurement, it can showcase a bright picture in any sunny living room with ease, making highlights really pop off the screen. It supports HDR10 and HDR10+, but not Dolby Vision, as per all Samsung TVs.
Contrast is impressive on this TV, though not quite as deep as you’ll find on an OLED. Regardless, it’s still a great TV for watching in the dark at the end of the day, too. It has multiple HDMI 2.1 ports, a fast refresh rate and low input lag for responsive gaming, and its onboard processor is stellar for upscaling older content. It also gets a boosted 144Hz refresh rate for gaming PCs, so if you have multiple gaming systems, you can really take advantage of them all with this TV. At the time of writing, this TV is really well priced too, coming down in price significantly since it was first launched.
If you want sky-high brightness without the high price of top TV brands, Hisense’s new U8N TV is the one for you. At just over $1,000, you get a TV that is just as bright, if not brighter, than some of the best TVs on the market. Based on our testing, it can handle a brightly lit room with ease and blooming is nearly nonexistent on this panel.
This TV doesn’t quite have the picture quality of the best OLED TVs, lacking that deep contrast and rich colors, but it still looks absolutely stellar with one of the punchiest, most vibrant pictures you’ll find. It also supports HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, which none of the top TV brands do. It’s super fast for gaming too, with a very low input lag, high refresh rate and multiple HDMI 2.1 ports for all your games consoles and gaming PC connections.
What our editors say: Isaacs also went hands-on with this TV and says, “The Hisense U8N gets incredibly bright, and looks gorgeous no matter the time of day. Google TV OS makes it so you can easily continue watching your favorite shows from the home screen, too. Plus, with HDR and Dolby Vision support and the 144Hz refresh rate, games like the Horizon series look great on this display, with the muted colors and high detail of Aloy’s Shadow Carja armor showcasing beautifully on-screen even during action sequences.”
Best TV For Bright Rooms For Movie Watching
The Best Mini LED Picture You’ll Find
Best Buy
Sony Bravia 9 QLED
Size: 65-inch | Type: QLED (Mini-LED) | Resolution: 4K | Refresh rate: 120Hz | Operating system: Google TV | HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision Plus
Pros:
Arguably the brightest TV in the world
Sony’s XR upscaling processor is one of the best available
Near-OLED contrast levels
Cons:
Expensive
Still doesn’t quite have as strong contrast as OLED
Sony’s Bravia 9 is a game-changing TV, bringing together incredible brightness and contrast in a single TV. It doesn’t quite match OLED’s deep, inky blacks. But with its many, many dimming zones, it’s able to create a nuanced and bloom-free TV viewing experience with incredible colors, deep blacks and bright highlights. Sony claims it has more than three times the dimming zones of its high-end X95L from 2023, marking a huge upgrade. That makes HDR on this TV look better than ever.
Sony really talked up the brightness on this TV too, suggesting it was comparable to its 4,000 nit mastering monitor. While this TV won’t get quite that bright based on our testing, it’s still one of the brightest TVs on the market. It’s also super fast for gaming, has great color accuracy, impressive audio and the latest version of Google TV is fast and intuitive. This is a fantastic all-round TV with sky-high brightness.
What our editors say: During a hands-on, consumer tech editor Rebecca Isaacs found it to have a gorgeous contrast. “The Sony Bravia 9’s bright picture excels when it comes to vivid scenes. It can handle sunny living rooms while showcasing a wide range of colors. And, since it’s a Sony panel, PlayStation 5 owners can enjoy a host of gaming features dedicated to the console on this TV.”
Best for: Enjoying your favorite movies and shows even on a bright day.
Pros:
High brightness
Strong protections against weather and high temperatures
High refresh rate and low input lag for gaming
Cons:
Still expensive
It’s an older 2021 model
Combining a super high brightness and weather proofing, Samsung’s The Terrace Full Sun is the best outdoor TV you can get for a bright space. This is a TV you can watch in direct sunlight—and that’s something that only a handful of TVs can manage, and even fewer do it as well as this one. Sure, it’s expensive (there’s also a partial sun version if you want to save some money and don’t need that additional protection) but this is a TV that looks clear and vibrant for cookouts, pool parties and more. It has IP55 water and dust proofing, so can withstand most weather conditions, including high and low temperatures. Get a dust cover or place it under a canopy if your area is prone to hail, though.
Samsung’s The Terrace Full Sun features a 4K QLED panel and a durable design. This TV has sky-high brightness—over 1,500 nits—to combat the sun and it can handle direct sunlight hitting the screen for long periods. For those who live in warmer climates, it can last up to six hours in sunlight at up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and automatically dims if it starts to get too hot. The Terrace has full array local dimming and impressive black levels which help make HDR shine, and its 120Hz refresh rate makes it excellent for watching afternoon sports. This TV is great for outdoor gaming, too, thanks to that response time.
LG’s G4 is in the conversation for the best OLED TVs in the world, offering incredible OLED picture quality and contrast, super-high brightness, eye-catching HDR, impressive gaming support and a slimline design that looks great whether wall mounted or sitting on a TV stand. The G4 boosts its brightness over its predecessors with a new micro-lens array design that helps focus the light better for an overall brightness.
It has a high refresh rate and all the HDMI 2.1 ports you need for gaming, and the most uniform picture quality you’ll find on almost any TV. There’s no image degradation at wider viewing angles, and its response time is almost instantaneous, making it excellent for high-paced sports and action films and gaming.
What our editors say: Isaacs loved this TV when she tested it earlier this year, stating: “As a home entertainment device, the LG OLED Evo G4 4K really shines with AI Picture Pro on. Combined with the upgraded α11 AI Processor 4K, the TV takes your picture and enhances it in real time for more detail, smoother shading and more. I really liked this feature on the TV; the difference was visible when I flipped it on and off during my testing. As with many other TVs, I recommend calibrating it to your preferences. And one thing to note: When I swapped between gaming and watching TV, the Game Optimizer mode remained on.”
How We Chose The Best Bright Room TVs
When compiling our list of the best bright room TVs on the market today, we took into account our favorite models based on firsthand experience and prior knowledge of the TV space.
We looked at top brands, including Sony, Samsung and more to see what models stood out from the pack.
We extensively researched each model on this list. Features we reviewed include screen type, refresh rate, operating system and smart features.
To make the cut, each pick had to present an excellent value, balancing features and cost. Furthermore, we have extensively examined customer reviews to ensure the majority of buyers were happy with their purchase.
We also relied on our own hands-on and rigorous testing of top TVs, including the LG G4, the Sony Bravia 9 and more. Almost every TV on our list includes testing conducted by Isaacs.
We also made sure to include a variety of price points and specifications to offer a solid bright room TV model suitable for every type of TV watcher.
Forbes Vetted contributor Jon Martindale is a tech journalist with a background rooted in hardware. The former owner of a PC hardware review site, Martindale now enjoys sharing his passion for the latest tech by reviewing hardware and accessories, including guides on the best Windows laptops and 4K monitors.
This article and its updates are overseen by consumer tech editor Rebecca Isaacs. Isaacs has worked as a tech journalist for over five years and regularly attends trade shows and tech conferences to report on the latest products to hit the market. She has also tested most TVs on this list, including the LG G4, the
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