The best 8K TVs to buy in 2023
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Ensure the most pixel-rich television experience possible with our pick of the best 8K TVs money can buy
With many consumers still only just getting to grips with 4K, and native 8K content virtually nonexistent, even the best 8K TVs have to date struggled to capture the public’s imagination. Which, we’d argue, is a real shame.
Pretty much every brand that’s dabbled with 8K has made next-generation resolution just one part of a much wider premium picture quality offering. So, as well as the extra pixel density and image depth made possible by a 7,680 x 4,320 pixel count, 8K TVs typically get other key features such as increased numbers of LED local dimming zones, wider colour gamut support, more advanced (increasingly AI-driven) picture processing and higher brightness.
Those are just some of the reasons to invest in an 8K TV, and we’ll go into more detail about them below, while also providing guidance about how to choose the right 8K TV for you and a list of the best 8K TVs currently available. If you’re ready to take your TV watching to the next level, read on.
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Best 8K TV: At a glance
- Best all-rounder: Samsung QN900B
- Best for home cinema: LG Z2 OLED
- Best for realism: Sony Z9K
How to choose the best 8K TV for you
While 8K TVs are not yet supported by all the main TV brands and understandably are available in much more limited numbers than 4K TVs, you can nonetheless buy 8K TVs based around OLED, LCD or Mini LED technologies, and at a huge range of vastly differing price points and screen sizes. So you need to ask yourself a few questions before settling on the model that will suit your needs the best.
How much should you spend on an 8K TV?
The spread of pricing in the 8K world really is immense - much larger than anything you’ll find in the 4K world unless you include barely available (or practical) Micro LED technology in your calculations.
So, working out how much you can comfortably afford to spend on your next TV will likely greatly reduce the potential shortlist of 8K options for you to pick between. LG’s 88in Z2 OLED TV will cost you a cool £24,999 at one extreme of the pricing spectrum, for instance, while at the other LG’s 55in NANO966 is available at the time of writing for just £699.
If you’re considering buying an affordable LCD 8K TV, it's worth noting that some models - including all of LG’s 8K sets, and relatively cheap models from one or two other brands - use IPS LCD panels, which deliver less contrast than the alternative VA panel types.
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What size 8K TV should you buy?
While you can get 8K TVs as small as 55in, unless you’re intending to use one as an 8K gaming monitor we’d advise going for as big a screen as your room can accommodate - or your bank balance can afford.
The benefits of so many pixels are much more obvious from regular viewing distances on bigger screens. In fact, if you can only accommodate a 55in TV, you’ll probably be better off buying a good quality 4K TV instead.
What conditions do you typically watch TV in?
If it’s relatively easy to black out or at least heavily darken the room your 8K TV is going to be going into, you may want to go for an OLED 8K TV. Every one of the 8K roster of pixels in an OLED screen can make its own light, so 8K OLED TVs can match their resolution with levels of light precision and local contrast control that no other 8K technology can match.
If your room tends to veer between very bright and quite dark, a mini LED TV is a better bet given the technology’s ability to go much brighter than OLED TVs while still giving very good - albeit not down to pixel level - light control.
Generally bright rooms may enable you to get by with a relatively affordable 8K TV that uses a more routine full array with local dimming LCD panel. One last thing to consider here is viewing angles. If your seating position will regularly find you - or others - sitting at a wide angle to the screen, OLED is your best bet. If you can afford it…
What connectivity options do you require?
Most 8K TVs are built to a premium specification, and so will have four HDMI ports. Not all of those HDMI ports will necessarily support 8K at 60Hz, though - or, more pertinently for today’s content world, 4K at 120Hz. So if you happen to have a PS5, Xbox Series X or a PC with the latest flagship AMD or Nvidia graphics cards, you want to get an 8K TV that has enough ‘full bandwidth’ HDMI 2.1 ports to meet your gaming connection needs.
How much native 8K content is available?
At the moment, not much at all, but we are starting to see glimmers of native 8K hope. For instance, Samsung and Sky Germany recently teamed up to stream the third season of Das Boot entirely in 8K, and there are already a few 8K videos on YouTube. Film studios are starting to shoot and remaster more films at resolutions higher than 4K (even if they often only ultimately release them in, at best, 4K), while the PS5, Xbox Series X and latest games consoles have all hinted at 8K being in the gaming pipeline.
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What is upscaling and why is it important?
Because of that lack of native 8K content, 8K TVs rely on upscaling lower resolution content. As the word suggests, upscaling sees an image taken and scaled up to fit the resolution of the screen it’s being displayed on.
Modern televisions use picture processing powered by AI (artificial intelligence) to do this, with the AI analysing the image and estimating what each pixel would display were the content native 8K. The results some brands can achieve really are remarkable, delivering pictures, at least with 4K sources, that look more detailed, more three-dimensional and more lifelike than they do on even the best native 4K screens. All, typically, without generating nasty side effects.
Is 8K really necessary?
It’s been argued that 8K just isn’t necessary as your eyes can’t tell the difference, but we’ve seen more than enough evidence now to refute that. This is especially (though not exclusively given the extra sharpness smaller pixel pitch can bring) true where screens bigger than 65in are concerned. Good, especially native, 8K images just look more realistic and ‘window-like’ than 4K ones.
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The best 8K TVs to buy
1. Samsung QN900B: The best 8K TV overall
Price: From £3,999 (65in) | Buy now from John Lewis
No other 8K TV today offers a better combination of picture quality, practicality, features and price as Samsung’s QN900B. It's available in 65in, 75in and 85in models, with the middle option the sweet spot in terms of being big enough to clearly unlock 8K’s charms but small enough not to completely take over your room.
Its jaw-dropping picture quality, meanwhile, combines immense peak brightness of nearly 4,000cd/m² with a vast Quantum Dot-inspired colour range and Samsung’s Mini LED technology, where many thousands of much smaller than usual LEDs are used to light the picture. What’s more, these miniature LEDs are driven by a local dimming array that can output different amounts of light for any given shot via no less than 1920 separate lighting zones.
The picture quality extends brilliantly to gaming, too, which is further bolstered by four full-bandwidth HDMIs and exceptionally fast panel response times. The set’s sound is premium too, thanks to Object Tracking Sound technology that produces sound effects from precisely the correct part of the screen. Add to all this a stunning monolithic design that presents practically zero bezel around the screen and a price which doesn’t look unreasonable at all for so much ground-breaking tech, and the QN900B really is today’s 8K TV poster boy.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 65, 75 and 85in; Screen type: Mini LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
2. LG Z2 OLED: The best 8K TV for home cinema
Price: From £11,999 (77in) | Buy now from LG
Home cinema fans will likely already know all about the picture quality charms opened up by OLED technology’s ability to have each pixel in a screen produce its own light. Imagine, then, these charms increased by a factor of four, as all 7,680 x 4,320 pixels in the Z2’s 77in screen achieve the same self-illuminating feat.
Starfields look even more packed with the lights of space’s infinite history, for instance, while tiny details such as animal fur, facial pores, blades of grass, and even grains of sand stand out even more clearly than they do in 4K. There are no backlight blooms or grey-looking blacks to distract from the stunning 8K detailing and purity either, making this a truly awesome spectacle for lights-down movie nights.
A gorgeously slim OLED design further enhances the feeling that you’re looking through a big window rather than watching a TV, while four full-bandwidth HDMIs and a dedicated Gaming dashboard make the Z2 a mesmerisingly good gaming display. People with bright rooms should note that its peak brightness is only around 1000cd/m², but this limitation notwithstanding, in relatively dark conditions the Z2 delivers arguably the best picture quality in the TV world.
Read our full LG Z2 review for more details
Key specs - Screen sizes: 77 and 88in; Screen type: OLED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
3. Sony Bravia XR Z9K: Best 8K TV for realism
Price: From £7,495 (75in) | Buy now from Box
The forward march of TV technology is all about making pictures look more lifelike, with the arrival of 8K resolution being just the latest stage on this endless journey (12K is posited by some visual experts as roughly equivalent to the ‘analogue’ way our eyes perceive the world).
Adding lots more pixels joins a host of other picture technologies in making TV imagery more realistic, though. There’s also high dynamic range technology, for instance, with its expanded light range. Then there’s motion reproduction, wider and more accurate colour gamuts, enhanced image depth, more localised light control, the list goes on.
No TV better marshals all of these aspects of picture quality - and more - into delivering a truly lifelike picture than Sony’s Bravia XR Z9K. Its huge screen size options get the ball rolling, helping images look at times almost alarmingly life size. The massive brightness and huge contrast achieved by its mini LED backlighting system help it reach parts of HDR pictures precious few rivals can, too, and its 8K resolution ensures that its pictures look as free of image structure as your eyes are.
Colours look vibrant but never gaudy, and Sony’s latest Cognitive XR processor does a uniquely effective, borderline uncanny job of massaging multiple aspects of incoming images to help them appear in a way that more accurately resembles the way you perceive the real world.
Key specs - Screen size: 75 and 85in; Screen type: Mini LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
4. Samsung QN700B: Best 8K TV for gaming
Price: From £2,199 (55in) | Buy now from Currys
The QN700B is the only option on this list available in a 55in screen size and it’s that model we’d recommend if you’re looking for a 8K TV to double as a gaming monitor. To appreciate the benefits of 8K on a 55in screen you’ll likely want to sit pretty close to it, like gamers typically do.
Its HDMIs include support for 4K at 120Hz gaming and even native 8K gaming should it appear, and despite having to upscale 4K games to 8K, images in Game mode still only take around 10ms to appear on screen. There’s also Samsung’s Game Bar interface screen for fast and easy access to gaming-specific settings and information; support for Super Ultrawide GameView settings with compatible PC games; support for the gaming industry’s ‘HGiG’ HDR in gaming initiative; and support for variable refresh rates - including AMD FreeSync Premium.
Since the TV combines Quantum Dot colours with Samsung’s mini LED technology, meanwhile, all the QN700B’s gaming-related features are joined by bright, contrast-rich, colourful and, of course, ultra-detailed graphics playback - as well as video pictures that don’t give up the ghost in the slightest when you decide to swap gaming for a movie night.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 55, 65 and 75in; Screen type: Mini LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
5. LG QNED99: Best 8K TV for value
Price: From £1,099 (65in) | Buy now from Marks Electrical
The QNED99 isn’t actually the cheapest 8K TV around. It does, however, represent the most affordable TV that we think is both big enough to do 8K real justice while also backing up its monumental pixel count with picture quality that fires on plenty of other cylinders, too.
As with the Samsung QN900B, the QNED99 uses mini LED backlighting to provide greater light control than normal LCD TVs, resulting in levels of contrast that we’ve never seen on an LG LCD TV before. Combining this high-brightness, high-contrast mini LED light engine with LG’s unique Quantum Dot Nanocell colour system and, of course, the 8K pixel count, delivers the most natural, rich and refined pictures you can get for the QNED99’s money. It’s no surprise that this TV cost more than twice as much at launch as it does now.
There’s no support for variable refresh rate gaming, and the set’s use of an IPS LCD panel type can see extremely dark scenes occasionally succumbing to some backlight blooming. These moments occur rarely enough not to constitute a deal breaker, though, considering how much else you’re getting for the asking price.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 65, 75 and 86in; Screen type: Mini LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1 (no VRR), 3 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
