Help me, Tom’s Guide: Which OLED TV should I get for my new home theater?
As a veteran TV reviewer of over ten years, I get frequent emails from folks who are trying to figure out which is the best TV for them. However, rarely does the question come with convenient criteria that makes it easy to narrow down options.
That’s why I was excited when a letter from Rick reached my desk. Rick is looking to upgrade to a new TV, and conveniently, his email arrived with detailed information.
Let’s take a look.
Love your site!
Reaching out for some recommendations for our new home theater. It’s a dark, finished section of our basement, and OLED of course is what I have been reading about.
It will be for mixed use, no gaming (unless our 11-year-old becomes a gamer), mostly sports, cable, movies… I really dig watching You Tube concerts and music videos, both old and new.
Sofa seating is about 7-8 feet, recliners 10-12, so 77-inch is preferred.
Thanks!
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There’s a lot to unpack here, but I want to start with two key pieces of information: Rick is looking to furnish a dark room and has been considering one of the best OLED TVs for the job.
Rick’s research is spot-on — OLED TVs are fantastic dark-room options. This is because their self-lit pixels allow for perfect black levels and surgical contrast control.
Rick doesn’t necessarily need one of the brightest, priciest OLED models.
Not only do OLED TVs look fantastic in a darkened home theater, a lack of windows means we don’t have to worry about missing out on the glare-defying qualities of an incredibly bright Mini-LED TV.
By the same token, we also don’t necessarily need one of the brightest, priciest OLED models, either.
Knowing that Rick’s next TV probably won’t see a ton of gaming time also frees us up to start with a more affordable option. After all, why spend more on features that won’t be used?
Taking all of this into consideration, my first impulse is to recommend the LG B4 OLED. This TV doesn’t get as bright as higher-end OLEDs, nor does it arrive with cutting-edge gaming features. Critically, though, it will look amazing in a proper, darkened home theater. And, because this model has been on shelves for a year, a 77-inch LG B4 is just $1,599 at Best Buy right now.
Of course, if Rick is fearful of missing out on the newest models, the B4’s successor — the LG B5 OLED — is worth a look, too.
I’ve previously written about how the LG B5 might be the most value-packed OLED TV of 2025, and while we haven’t had an opportunity to test it yet, I still stand by that forecast.
Unfortunately, as a brand-new TV, shoppers won’t enjoy the same discount as its predecessor. Right now, the 77-inch LG B5 is $2,799 at Best Buy.
Just when I was ready to close the case, I received a follow-up email from Rick with additional information:
A little more about my tireless research…
I have been “warned” about LG’s webOS, as well as the Magic Remote.
I am average when it comes to “tech savviness,” and my much younger wife generally has to help with [logging in], finding particular sporting events on various apps, etc.
While LG’s picture seems to be at the top of the heap this year (with the LG G5), a frustrated OS and remote experience could be discouraging.
Therefore my next choice is Samsung. I have done a fair amount of research (watched comparison videos) and it appears the new S95F is darn good! However, is it $1,000 better than the S90F? Appreciate your advice on this.
Thanks!
Just when I thought I was out, Rick pulls me back in!
Rick is right that we’ve previously harbored some mixed feelings about LG’s own smart platform, webOS — particularly when compared with the easy-to-use functionality of a platform like Google TV. In our LG B4 OLED review, Ryan Epps describes the webOS experience as “rather slow and clunky.”
However, if you were to ask me to choose between an LG TV loaded with webOS and a Samsung TV loaded with Tizen OS (Samsung’s software suite), I’m honestly not sure which I’d pick.
Both operating systems have their own quirks, and I’ll probably always be the type of person to pair my personal TV with one of the best streaming devices, anyway.
But by letting me know that there was at least some interest in higher-end OLEDs like the Samsung S95F and the LG G5, Rick opened up the door to more options.
You don’t need to get too far into our Samsung S95F OLED review to get the sense that it’s a special TV. Our reviewer, Stephen Lambrechts, absolutely loves it.
Given the ideal conditions of Rick’s darkened home theater, the S95F’s incredible HDR brightness of over 2,000 nits isn’t a necessity. That said, this TV should look fantastic in Rick’s theater. (And yes, it would look better than the LG B4, whose HDR brightness tops out between around 650 and 700 nits.)
And, while we’re still in the process of testing and reviewing the G5 (LG’s flagship OLED for 2025), Rick is right that the G5 might very well be at the top of the heap this year when it comes to picture quality. You can read all about how much this TV blew me away in my LG G5 hands-on review.
The S95F and G5 are eye-wateringly pricey.
Here’s the bad news: At the 77-inch size point, the S95F and G5 are eye-wateringly pricey.
Right now, the 77-inch Samsung S95F is $4,499 at Best Buy, and the 77-inch LG G5 is $4,499, too.
Rick also wants to know if these TVs — specifically the S95F — is worth the added cost when compared to a mid-range OLED like the Samsung S90F. At the time of publishing, the 77-inch Samsung S90F is $3,499 at Best Buy, so it comes in at exactly $1,000 less than its souped-up sibling.
We’re still evaluating the S90F and can’t report test results yet, but I’ll let you in on a secret: Even though the S90F features a quantum dot-enhanced OLED display like the flagship S95F, it doesn’t get as bright. The S95F is pricier for very good reason. Them’s the breaks.
But wait — we’ve already established that, while it’s nice to have the best and brightest picture money can buy, Rick doesn’t necessarily need the high-octane, grab-your-shades brightness of a top-shelf TV like the S95F.
With this in mind, I’m beginning to come around to the Samsung S90F being a perfect compromise between the more modest LG B4 and the ultra-expensive S95F.
Before we sign off on this recommendation, let’s discuss one more angle: features.
Rick has mentioned that, unless things change in the next few years, there’s no immediate need for high-end gaming features. Still, TVs like the LG B4 and Samsung S90F do arrive with a decent amount of gaming features, so Rick will be getting them regardless.
However, the like all Samsung TVs, the S90F does not support Dolby Vision, the most popular HDR format.
Without Dolby Vision support, the S90F won’t take full advantage of movies and shows across platforms like Netflix and Apple TV+ that have been mastered for the format. They’ll still look fantastic, but the TV won’t be leveraging dynamic metadata to ensure that the picture is dialed in precisely as the creator intended on a frame-by-frame basis.
To figure out what to do, I’d direct Rick to my guide on whether or not Dolby Vision support is necessary.
If Rick decides that Dolby Vision support is a must-have for the home theater, an LG OLED might be the better pick. And, if Rick is wiling to splash out on higher-end flagships, the answer might lie with LG’s mid-range rival to the S90F: the LG C5 OLED.
Rick doesn’t need to worry about getting the brightest OLED unless the best possible picture takes over as the number-one priority.
Rick also doesn’t need an extensive list of features.
But Rick might ultimately decide that Dolby Vision support is the most important distinction between options like the Samsung S90F and the LG C5.
If Rick asked me which of those two TVs I’d choose, it would be the LG C5 for its Dolby Vision support alone. If I were choosing between the Samsung S95F and the LG C5, I would go with the S95F based on its superior performance profile and end up missing Dolby Vision dearly.
Let us know where you land, Rick!
