Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
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Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
The LG C2 OLED is one of the best TVs we've ever seen. It's spectacular for movies and games, especially if you don't have a bright living space. Read More
The Samsung QN90B Neo QLED is a dazzling, premium TV whose stunning brightness allows it to perform at a high level in bright rooms. Read More
The 2022 TCL 5-Series is a tremendous value, featuring impressive performance, improved brightness, great gaming support, and Roku OS. Read More
With an exquisite picture and exhaustive features, the LG C3 OLED is an incredible TV for movies, gaming, and everything in between. Read More
The Hisense U6H delivers a great picture and some key gaming features for a highly competitive, affordable price. Read More
Shopping for the best 50-inch TV can be challenging. As manufacturers turn their attention to bigger screens, the number of 50-inch TVs is dwindling, making it harder to find a 48-, 49-, or 50-inch display.
For many people, though, mid-size TVs—models that range from 40-inch TVs to 55 inches—can be the perfect fit. They’re not overwhelming for most living rooms and still big enough for larger rooms.
After more than a decade of testing the best TVs on the market, we've scoped out some of the best 50-inch TVs. Our favorite, the LG C2 OLED (available at Amazon) , is the best TV for most people. We love this 48-inch TV’s outstanding contrast, wide array of features, and gaming support.
The LG C2 combines the unbelievable performance of an OLED with an array of exciting features.
The Samsung QN90B is one of the brightest LED TVs we’ve reviewed this year.
The TCL 5-Series (2022) provides great performance and a nice collection of features for under $500.
Incredible contrast
Vivid, accurate color
All the gaming features you’ll need
So-so smart platform
Not as bright as competitive OLEDs
Bright enough for most rooms
Rich, accurate color
Good smart platform and features
Lackluster upscaling
Susceptible to light bloom
Troublesome motion handling
Bright picture
Terrific highlights during SDR and HDR
Gaming-friendly features
Poor overall contrast
Light bloom
Slow software
Accurate out-of-the-box calibration
Fast, flexible smart platform
Easy-to-setup design
Shallow black levels
Lacks key gaming features
Decent dark-room performer
Bright enough for casual viewing
Easy-to-setup design
Not cut out for next-gen gaming
Narrow viewing angle
HDR performance is lacking
Our lab is outfitted with much of the same equipment you would find at a factory that manufactures and calibrates televisions.
Reviewed has been testing TVs for more than a decade. Senior Staff Writer Michael Desjardin, our current Home Theater expert, has been a member of the Reviewed tech team since 2014. As a film enthusiast and TV expert, he takes picture quality seriously, but he also understands that not every TV is a good fit for everyone.
In his A/V career of more than two decades, John Higgins, Reviewed’s A/V and Electronics Senior Editor, has written about all manner of technology, from TVs and speakers to headphones and gaming. John also is an ISF Level III-certified calibrator.
Our TV testing process has been honed over many years to gather data marginal enough to satisfy video engineers, but also relevant to the average person's viewing experience. We measure things like peak brightness, black level, hue and saturation for primary and secondary digital colors, and the accuracy of the TV's electro-optical transfer function.
Outside of the technical tests, we also spend a lot of time just watching and using each TV, getting a feel for the at-home experience such as using streaming video services, connecting a Blu-ray player and watching movies. We'll also use the smart features, and check out the TV's ports, remote, and on-set buttons—anything that might be relevant.
We measure things like peak brightness, black level, hue, and so on.
Mid-size TVs—sets with 43-inch to 55-inch screens—are great for living rooms, dens, and larger multipurpose rooms.
Our recommendations for this guide range in size from 48 inches to 50 inches. It’s unlikely that you’ll notice the size difference between 48-inch models and 50-inch TVs. A good rule of thumb is that it takes an extra 10 inches or more to make a TV really feel bigger.
Our guide on how to choose the right TV size can help you make the best decision for you.
There are a lot of terms you’ll see when shopping for TVs—LED, LCD, OLED, QLED. Understanding what the advantages and disadvantages of these display types can help you navigate the purchasing experience.
LCD refers to Liquid Crystal Display while LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. LEDs are the backlights used in LCD TVs, sometimes called LED TVs because of this. The LED backlight shines through a layer of a semi-solid substance called "liquid crystal," named for its ability to morph in reaction to tiny electrical volts and allow light to pass through.
LED TVs with quantum dots are called QLEDs. Quantum dots allow the TV displays to produce richer colors than LEDs.
OLED sounds similar to LED, but it’s a different panel technology. Rather than an LED backlight element shining through an LCD panel element, an OLED TV essentially combines the backlight and crystal array, using sub-pixel strata that produce light and color individually.
Read more: QLED vs OLED—What’s the Difference?
All of the 50-inch televisions we recommend are 4K TV. The more pixels that a display has, the sharper the image. TVs with 4K resolution have more than 8 million pixels, compared to over 2 million for Full HD.
Since most TVs available today have smart platforms built-in, it’s easier than ever to stream movies and TV shows on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and more. Although it’s worth noting that not all smart platforms are created equal.
Roku is our favorite streaming platform. It’s easy to use, quick, and has a wide selection of available apps. Roku TVs come with the operating system out of the box. We also like Google TV, which is fast and easy to use. Samsung’s Tizen OS and LG’s webOS tend to have more sponsored content, can be slower, and harder to navigate.
Some of the 50-inch TVs we recommend have four HDMI 2.1 inputs that support 4K gaming at 120 hertz (Hz). Others may have had a HDMI 2.1 but they were limited to 60Hz. The importance of this is determined by the gaming consoles that you use. Avid gamers with modern systems will want to make sure they find a TV that supports 4K/120Hz gaming.
Also important is Auto Low Latency Mode and Variable Refresh Rate. ALLM switches to settings that reduce input lag when you fire up a game while VRR adjusts the refresh rate of your TV to match up with the frame rate of the game you’re playing.
Michael Desjardin graduated from Emerson College after having studied media production and screenwriting. He specializes in tech for Reviewed, but also loves film criticism, weird ambient music, cooking, and food in general.
John is Reviewed's Managing Editor of Tech. He is an ISF Level III-certified calibrator with bylines at ProjectorCentral, Wirecutter, IGN, Home Theater Review, T3, Sound & Vision, and Home Theater Magazine. When away from the Reviewed office, he is a sound editor for film, a musician, and loves to play games with his son.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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