I’m a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering TVs and other AV equipment. In addition to this guide, I oversee Wirecutter’s guides to OLED TVs, budget 4K TVs, media streaming devices, and several others. I have reviewed TVs since 2012, and I have ISF Level III training and calibration certification. There are more TV stands in my house than there are people.

For the latest version of this guide:

• These TVs are selected from among the best gaming displays we tested while evaluating the best OLED TVs, LCD/LED TVs, and budget-oriented 4K TVs.
• I conducted testing using a range of contemporary and indie video games from different genres on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and Asus ROG Ally.
• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

This guide is aimed at the serious gamer who owns one (or both) of the latest gaming consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and wants a TV with the lowest input lag and the most advanced gaming features. These TVs, especially at smaller screen sizes, are also great for desktop gamers. The differences they offer in gaming performance might be small—but in competitive gaming, every bit counts.

The best gaming TVs must have full HDMI 2.1 support to take advantage of what the latest gaming consoles have to offer. Such support includes the following:

• the ability to receive a 4K signal at 120 Hz over HDMI, which requires a bandwidth of at least 32 Gbps
• automatic low-latency mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to switch itself to game mode when it detects a signal from a gaming console
• variable refresh rate (VRR), which matches the TV’s refresh rate to the game console’s rate so that the image remains smooth on screen even if the frame rate drops
• support for HGiG HDR guidelines so that the console and TV can communicate and provide optimal tone mapping for HDR games (support for Dolby Vision HDR gaming is a plus)

We also favor TVs that are available in a wide range of screen sizes—especially smaller sizes between 40 and 48 inches, which work better for desktop gamers.

In performance, two criteria are more important for a gaming TV than they might be for standard TV or movie viewing: input lag and motion response.

We test every TV we recommend in this guide to confirm that it introduces as little input lag as possible. Input lag refers to any delay in the amount of time that elapses (usually in milliseconds) between when you execute a game command and see a response on the screen—for example, how long it takes the game character to jump once you’ve pressed the jump button.

Most modern TVs offer a game mode that lowers input lag at the expense of image quality, and such modes can make a huge difference in how responsive the game feels: Your button presses become more in sync with the on-screen actions you see, improving your gaming experience and, hopefully, your performance. On some TVs, the input lag can jump from 15 milliseconds (ms) in game mode to 120 ms to 160 ms when game mode isn’t enabled. During normal TV watching, this lag isn’t noticeable, but for first-person shooters and other quick-twitch games, lag can make the difference between making your shot and becoming a target.

To measure input lag, I use a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI video signal lag tester, which provides accurate measurements (within a tolerance of 1 ms) of how much input lag a TV introduces, specifically for a 4K resolution at 60 Hz. Although we can’t currently test input lag when a TV is in HDR mode, our real-world testing has shown that most modern TVs maintain stable input lag tolerances during HDR gaming as long as they have properly switched into game mode. However, we have also found that video-processing improvements designed to bolster a TV’s brightness and color in HDR mode can sometimes increase the amount of input lag with older (or “retro”) game consoles, even if the TV isn’t in HDR mode.

The other main feature of a gaming TV concerns motion response, or how fluid and responsive the motion of a game is on screen. Games run at 30, 60, and even 120 frames per second, while movies run at only 24 fps. (Sports content also runs at 60 fps.) Many of today’s TVs have a 120 Hz refresh rate to produce smoother motion, but only the newest TVs can accept a 4K signal at that higher rate.

Some TVs now support a variable refresh rate, automatically changing their refresh rate to match that of the video game console. Since many video games run at rates lower than the 120 Hz refresh rate when the action on screen is too intense, a variable refresh rate allows the TV to match the console in order to create a smoother presentation.

We evaluate each TV’s motion quality by playing games, using test patterns, and watching sports.

Of course, we also consider each TV’s overall picture quality and user experience. Read more about our TV testing methods.

Top pick

LG C4 Series

The best TV for video games

This OLED TV provides low input lag and the most comprehensive set of gaming features, as well as excellent picture quality. But burn-in may be a concern for some people.

Buying Options

$1,497 from Amazon
(65-inch)

$1,500 from Best Buy
(65-inch)

Important specs

The best gaming TV for the PS5 and Xbox Series X is the LG C4 OLED TV. On top of delivering a gorgeous 4K image, the C4 supports all the HDMI 2.1 features you could want for gaming, has low input lag, and features better pixel-response times compared with LCD TVs. It allows viewing from wider angles, and it comes in six screen sizes, from 42 inches to 83 inches.

Its gaming features are top-notch. This TV has four HDMI 2.1 inputs, which means you could connect up to four 120 Hz–capable gaming consoles or PCs. The C4 will automatically switch into game mode when it detects a signal from the newer consoles, and the gaming dashboard makes it especially easy to adjust the TV’s gaming-related settings.

In the dashboard, you can see the frame rate to make sure you’re getting 120 Hz from your console, as well as confirm that automatic low-latency mode is active. You can also adjust the white and black stabilizer features to make it easier to see details in highlights and shadows while you’re gaming. Many other TVs that support gaming features make you hunt through multiple submenus to find them and might not even let you know whether they’re active, so you can’t be sure if you’re getting the best gaming experience.

Thanks to the C4’s support for HGiG and 4K 120 Hz Dolby Vision, it can display all the details in HDR game content without losing any highlight or shadow details. Unlike other HDR sources, game consoles can adapt their output to match what a display is capable of. By supporting the HGiG guidelines that the new consoles also support, the C4 allows you to use the HDR calibration feature in your console to make sure you get an ideal image adapted just for your display.

The Xbox Series X supports Dolby Vision for gaming, which also preserves more HDR details, but most TVs can’t accept Dolby Vision at 120 Hz. The C4, in contrast, fully supports this function, so you can get the best image quality from all your HDR games without sacrificing frame rate. In our tests with the Xbox Series X, the C4 jumped directly into Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and it maintained a consistent 119 frames per second in the 4K 120 Hz timing mode. Every game we played felt smooth and responsive. Additionally, the C4 supports DTS audio formats, which are available on modern Xbox consoles.

PC gamers can use the C4 as a gaming monitor, thanks to its support of AMD’s FreeSync and Nvidia’s G-Sync, the PC equivalents of HDMI’s variable refresh rate. For truly hardcore PC gamers, the 42- and 48-inch models can even fit on some desks and cost less than many competing monitors with similar features. Additionally, all of the sizes support up to 144 Hz refresh rates.

You won’t be able to use input lag as an excuse for poor gaming performance. The C4’s input lag measured 12 milliseconds with a 4K 60 Hz signal (and you can expect about half of that if you’re playing at 120 Hz).

OLED panels offer a clear benefit over LCD TVs in response time and viewing angles. Compared with the pixels on an LCD screen, the pixels on an OLED TV can change colors much faster, which produces less blurring on screen and a sharper, clearer image.

For even better motion quality on its TVs, LG offers a black-frame-insertion mode called OLED Motion Pro, with low, medium, and high settings that adjust the length of time the black frames appear between frames of video. (Longer periods increase motion clarity but decrease light output.) In our tests, on low and medium this function added 9 ms of input lag, while on high it added 18 ms of input lag.

For gaming with friends, OLED’s wider viewing angle allows everyone to have a good view of the screen, even if they’re sitting on the far edges of the couch or in chairs off to the sides.

The picture quality is great, too. Since you’re also likely to use this TV for things besides playing video games, it’s important to note that the C4 is our favorite OLED TV. Everything looks fantastic on it, and the same capabilities and features that make it so good with games—such as fast response times and wider viewing angles—also help when you’re watching movies or TV shows.

The C4 is brighter than the previous C3, which is especially beneficial when playing HDR games. While playing Star Wars Outlaws on a PlayStation 5 in HDR, I was impressed by the TV’s ability to overcome ambient lighting with its brightness. It didn’t entirely mitigate screen reflections, but the result was a notable improvement over previous C Series models.

And because it’s an OLED TV, it can produce true blacks for infinite contrast ratios. With the Filmmaker Mode you can get an accurate film or TV image with minimal effort.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Some people worry about burn-in when using an OLED TV for gaming. Burn-in is uneven wear on the screen that arises when static or repeated images like a TV logo or game score leave a permanent ghost image on the screen.

However, based on our own experience as well as long-term test data from both Rtings.com and HDTVTest (video), we’ve concluded that this isn’t a major issue. There are rare cases, though, so if you tend to play the same game for eight to 10 hours a day for months at a time, you might consider our runner-up LCD pick below. But for normal use with different games and different types of content, burn-in is not a problem that we think people need to be worried about.

Runner-up

Samsung QN90D

If you’re worried about burn-in

This LCD TV offers low input lag, four full HDMI 2.1 inputs, built-in cloud gaming, and a helpful Game Bar for quickly assessing stats. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR, though.

Buying Options

$2100$1500 from Amazon

(65-inch)

$2100$1500 from Best Buy

(65-inch)

$2100$1500 from Walmart

(65-inch)

$2400$1790 from Woot (75-inch)

Free (delayed) shipping for Prime members

Important specs

If you have a very bright room or you’re worried about the risks of burn-in with an OLED TV, the Samsung QN90D LCD TV is an excellent alternative to the LG C4. The two TVs share a lot of the same gaming-friendly features, and the QN90D stays brighter during full-screen daylight scenes, especially with SDR content. It’s available in six screen sizes, including a 43-inch model that’s good for desktop gaming. This TV’s only real drawback is that it doesn’t support the Dolby Vision HDR format.

It had the lowest input lag in our tests. We measured 9.8 ms of lag for 4K 60 Hz gaming, and you can expect about half of that if you’re playing at 120 Hz.

As with the C4, all four of the QN90D’s HDMI inputs can receive a 4K 120 Hz signal. This is especially good news if you own both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, as you can connect the two consoles simultaneously.

We are fans of Samsung’s Game Bar, which puts the TV’s gaming-related stats and controls on screen at the push of a button. It provides indicators for HDR, VRR, frames per second, and input lag; a mini-map zoom function (PC only); options to change the screen’s aspect ratio from 16:9 to 21:9 (PC only); and a quick toggle for the game picture mode and sound-output device.

Speaking of PC gaming, the QN90D is compatible with AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro and can achieve VRR rates of up to 144 Hz when used as a PC gaming monitor. Note that the 98-inch version of the QN90D doesn’t support 144 Hz refresh rates.

It has built-in cloud gaming. The QN90D is also a gaming device in its own right, thanks to the integration of cloud gaming services. In the Tizen-based smart TV menu, you’ll find apps for cloud gaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. These services allow you to stream video games directly to the TV from the cloud, which means you can take advantage of the QN90D’s many gaming enhancements without ever plugging in a game console.

During testing, we found that these cloud-based gaming services worked just as fluidly as on a handheld device, despite being presented on a much bigger screen. Cloud gaming doesn’t offer the graphical fidelity of a console connected via HDMI, but the end result in our tests was still laudable: Being able to launch an impressive AAA title like Forza Horizon 5 and play it in 4K HDR on a 65-inch screen using only Wi-Fi feels pretty futuristic.

The gaming hub also integrates useful controls to facilitate the cloud-gaming process, such as a Bluetooth menu that makes it easier to connect gamepads or headsets wirelessly to the TV for use in gaming.

It’s brighter than our top pick, but the overall contrast isn’t as good. We measured a peak brightness of over 2,000 nits on this TV. Combine that with a screen that’s designed to cut down on ambient-light reflections, and this TV is a better choice than the LG C4 for use in a very bright room. It also uses quantum dots, so HDR colors really pop with vivacity.

On the flip side, while its local-dimming capabilities help it to deliver a good black level, the QN90D can’t rival OLED in its ability to produce the deepest, dark black levels and handle precise shading in darker movies and games. If you mostly watch movies or play games in a darkened space, OLED is the better choice.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Samsung TVs don’t support Dolby Vision HDR. It’s a shame that a TV so good at displaying HDR video doesn’t support what is arguably the most premium HDR format. The QN90D does support the similar HDR10+ format, and in our tests HDR10+ content looked dazzling on this TV—in our comparison with Dolby Vision content on other TVs, we found no huge differences. But there’s less HDR10+ content available in general—and especially in the gaming world.

Budget pick

TCL Q6

Good performance but fewer features

This LCD TV lacks the higher-end performance tech you get in our other picks, but it still renders a pleasing image and supports the alternative timing modes that gamers desire.

Buying Options

$428 from Amazon
(55-inch)

Important specs

For serious gamers on a budget, the TCL Q6 is specifically designed to complement modern PC and console gaming. It supports higher frame rates at lower resolutions and has low input lag, but its overall picture quality doesn’t rival that of our pricier picks, or even that of the best budget-oriented 4K TVs.

The refresh rate is only 60 Hz, but there’s a clever catch. Normally, gamers who love playing on a big screen have to choose between paying big bucks for a TV with a native 120 Hz refresh rate or paying a more palatable price for a 60 Hz TV with worse response time and higher input lag. The TCL Q6 deftly solves that problem: It’s a more affordable 4K TV with a native 60 Hz refresh rate that nevertheless can display 1080p and 1440p at 120 Hz, a feature that TCL calls Game Accelerator 120.

This allows for consoles equipped with variable refresh rate (VRR) to more easily wander above 60 fps when the gameplay calls for it, and the feature also halves the input lag you’d experience when playing at 60 Hz. To achieve this, the Q6 reduces its resolution, essentially trading picture detail for pure speed.

The input lag is respectably low. In our tests, the Q6 had 16.6 ms of input lag during 4K 60 Hz gameplay, so you’ll get a stellar 8 ms or 9 ms when playing at the 120 Hz refresh rate. Note that while this TV comes in both Google TV and Fire TV variants, only the Google TV version supports Game Accelerator 120.

This TV supports all the major HDR formats, as well as AMD FreeSync and Dolby Atmos. This TV also uses our favorite smart platform, Google TV, though the software is a bit sluggish here.

We’ve seen the 55-inch model sell for less than $350. That may seem like a steal for a gaming-monitor-style TV, but keep in mind that the Q6 also makes some sacrifices on the hardware level to achieve that responsiveness for such a low price (see below).

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The Q6 doesn’t have a local-dimming backlight. So when the image brightens to around 500 nits during HDR video playback, the black levels take on a more charcoal appearance, and the backlight operation becomes somewhat visible. I tested the 75-inch model, and these flaws were quite noticeable at that larger screen size.

Additionally, without the ability to focus brightness into specific zones, the TV’s color presentation is not as impressive as what you can get from other similarly priced models—despite the fact that it’s equipped with quantum dots.

For those reasons, we don’t recommend the Q6 if your priority is more-cinematic TV and movie watching. But for more casual viewing in a well-lit room, you’re less likely to notice the issues with the black level and backlight.

If you want native 120 Hz for less money: Our budget pick for LCD/LED TVs, the Hisense U7N is a great way to get 4K 120 Hz gaming while spending less money compared with the Samsung QN90D. The U7N isn’t available in as many sizes and isn’t quite as bright, but it still delivers crucial gaming features like ALLM, VRR, and support for Dolby Vision.

The U7N measured 13.2 ms of input lag during 4K 60 Hz gaming, which is great given what you’re paying. You only get two HDMI 2.1-capable inputs, compared with the four inputs on our LG and Samsung picks. The U7N also doesn’t handle HDR color with as much efficacy. But if you’re on a tighter budget, these few drawbacks might be acceptable if you really need a native 120 Hz panel.

If you mostly play PlayStation 5 exclusives: The Sony Bravia 8 OLED is an amazing TV to pair with your PS5, especially if you find yourself gravitating toward Sony’s cinematic first-party exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 or Horizon Forbidden West. The Bravia 8 automatically syncs with the PS5 to calibrate HDR or to auto-detect the game genre.

The Bravia 8 uses essentially the same panel as the LG C4, but it isn’t as bright, so it won’t fare as well in a room with competing ambient light. But it does a couple of things better, including upscaling and smoothing out lower-resolution content, so it might be a better choice if you like to play on older consoles or if you use your PC for game emulation. It’s also generally more accurate across its various picture modes.

The Bravia 8 is available in only 55-, 65-, and 77-inch variants. We prefer its Google TV smart platform over other smart platforms, and it has a sleeker, more finished appearance than the LG C4.

If you want a hybrid gaming monitor and TV experience: LG’s OLED Flex gaming TV (42LX3Q) is way too niche for the average buyer, but its unique feature set may appeal to the hardcore gamer who also wants a good-performing TV. It can mechanically transition between a traditional flatscreen and a curved screen (i.e., “flex” between them), and this ability to curve and flatten the screen to complement different genres of games—while not necessary—proved to be desirable and fun.

The 42-inch size, bendability, built-in RGB bias lights, and low input lag (we tested 9.5 ms in Game Optimizer mode) position it as a high-end gaming monitor, but the OLED Flex also includes an ATSC tuner, a traditional LG remote control, and LG’s webOS smart platform. If you kept it flat and just used it to watch movies and TV, you’d never know it was anything but a small OLED television.

We could argue, though, that this TV tries to do too much, which contributes to a steep price tag for what’s essentially a fancier 42-inch LG C Series OLED TV. The occasional software hiccups, high price, single screen size, and inherent durability concerns (how many times can it flex back and forth before wear and tear starts to set in?) keep it from being a pick—but if you’ve got the deep pockets to buy something borderline experimental, there’s no denying that it’s an astoundingly fun product.

If you need a TV that can offer a 240 Hz refresh rate: A bit of an oddball entry, the 50-inch version of the Vizio M-Series Quantum X boasts a feature explicitly designed for PC gamers playing esports titles: the ability to accept a 1080p signal at 240 Hz. While the vast majority of gamers likely don’t need this option, it’s worth highlighting for the handful who might hope to participate in competitive PC gaming on a much bigger screen than the average desktop monitor.

The competitive field for this guide includes all the TVs we’ve tested and considered for our main guides to the best OLED TV, the best LCD/LED TV, and the best 4K TV on a budget. Here are some of the TVs we dismissed because they were not our top choice specifically for gaming.

Because we still don’t believe that 8K resolution is worth paying for, we didn’t include any 8K TVs in our test group for this guide, and we don’t think they offer any better value to gamers than they do to the average buyer.

After testing the TCL QM8 and QM7, we think most buyers will be better served by one of our picks. The QM8 tested with notably higher input lag than our picks, while the QM7’s color accuracy and out-of-the-box calibration didn’t meet our standards, especially for gaming, where a large palette of highly saturated colors is more common.

We chose to exclude our 2024 pick for the best overall LCD/LED TV, the Hisense U8N, because it isn’t available in as many screen sizes as the Samsung QN90D (particularly the smaller sizes) and doesn’t have as many gaming-centric features. But it’s still a worthy gaming TV that has the core features we look for.

Our former favorite OLED TV, the Samsung S90C, is an excellent gaming TV, but it isn’t available in as many screen sizes as the LG C4 (nothing smaller than 55 inches) and does not support Dolby Vision for HDR gaming.

This article was edited by Adrienne Maxwell and Grant Clauser.