The best TVs under £1000 in 2020

There are so many big, bold and high-performance TVs entering the market every day that it can feel overwhelming to figure out the best option to suit your budget. 

That’s why we’ve selected the very best TVs under £1,000. This means you can bring the warm glow of a new television screen to your living room without breaking the bank and spending an eye-watering four-figure sum.

Most TVs nowadays offer up a number of smart features. What’s more, the feature set offered up on smart TVs is also rapidly expanding, with voice control integration and a host of firmware updates able to improve your user experience over your home Wi-Fi.

But how do you make the right purchase on a budget? Well, it isn’t just a case of waiting for sales and retail promotions. There’s much more to consider. 

For example: if you’re buying principally to watch sports, how good is a set’s motion handling? As you move up and down the price scale, image processing is usually the first aspect of a screen to be compromised. So even if you find a good bargain, you’ll need to take a good look at the specs on offer.

• Not quite your budget? Head to our guide to the best TVs under £500 instead

Similarly, not every mid- or lower-range screen offers the same level of HDR performance, and there could be huge discrepancies in audio performance to consider as well. And don’t get too hung up on design. A slick narrow bezel design may look fashionably minimalist, but if TV’s sound system sucks, maybe your cash is better spent elsewhere?  

The good news is you don’t have to wade through reams of tech specs yourself to come to a conclusion. Here at Techradar we’ve done the hard work for you by finding the best TVs available for under £1,000. If you want the best budget TVs, you’ve come to the right place.

What is the best TV under £1,000?

Don’t want to break £1,000? The Panasonic GX800 has plenty of the high-end format support you’d expect from its OLED range, but packed into a regular LED panel instead.

You’ll find HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and even HLG (hybrid log gamma), meaning you’ll never find yourself unable to play your favorite movies, 4K Blu-rays or news broadcasts in the highest quality format available. Of course, the panel isn’t quite as impressive as, say, the Panasonic GZ2000, but the matched functionality makes the GX800 a great choice for the price.

The GX800 is a 4K HDR television available in 40-inch, 50-inch, and 58-inch sizes for under £1,000 – with an additional 65-inch sizing for those willing to pay a four-figure sum (£1,300 RRP).

Read our full Panasonic GX800 TV review

When it comes to the best Samsung TVs, it’s all about QLED. The super-bright QLED displays offer hundred more nits brightness than most LEDs, with a quantum dot filter to enhance contrast across a 4K display.

The Q60R isn’t quite as accomplished as its premium siblings, being the entry-level QLED and therefore the one with the lowest specs. The edge-lighting can be inconsistent, and you won’t get the tidy One Connect box of other premium Samsung TVs either.

However, this is the cheapest QLED from Samsung this year, and offers a neat compromise for those on a mid-range budget wanting a taste of premium functionality. Its low input lag and responsive smart platform make it a great choice for gamers wanting a zippy experience, too – or just anyone feeling impatient.

Read our full Samsung Q60R QLED TV review

You don’t get much more value than Hisense. The budget TV manufacturer consistently offers great prices on high-spec televisions, and the U8B ULED is great example of this.

The smart platform is fast and responsive, while the inclusion of Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR means you’re not losing out on the premium formats usually saved for more expensive sets. After a price cut from the original RRP, too, you’ve getting both the 55-inch and 65-inch models at a lot less than £1,000.

There are corners cut, of course, to get such competitive pricing – mainly the basic local dimming that tends to turn any black areas of the screen into a uniform grey, and generally struggles with light/dark contrast, even if the high brightness can be a boon to HDR and ensuring rich colors with Dolby Vision. This is a TV, however, that makes up for its flaws with its strong pricing, format support, and smart platform, and is very much worth your consideration.

Read our full review: Hisense U8B ULED

Ok, so this TV technically isn’t under £1,000 – but recent price drops have put the LG B9 at only £1,100, which is astonishing value for an OLED TV.

We’ll be waiting some time to see OLEDs get any cheaper, at least while maintaining some baseline of quality. And if you’re after a compromise of price and performance on a mid-range budget, the LG is a brilliant choice. 

If you think you can scrape that extra £100, it uses the same OLED panel as more premium sets like the LG C9 and E9 OLED. The relatively lower price is down to its lower-spec processor, the a7 gen 2, which does let a bit of video noise creep into dark scenes, but the flaws are minor and won’t be noticeable for many.

You’ll be getting the expected 4K resolution, HDR support, and brilliant webOS smart platform of the best LG TVs too.

Read the full review: LG B9 OLED

• Price not an object? These are the best TVs of 2019

Original contributions to this article were also made by Steve May.

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