5 Best TVs for Films in the US - May 2021

Motion Control on a TV is a system that allows users to control various functions of their TV (volume, channels, etc) purely with various hand motions, rather than having to use the remote.

Motion controls mean that you can control the TV from your couch without having to find a remote or move to manually change the channel or adjust the settings, leading to a more streamlined experience.

'Smartphone Remote' states whether the TV has the capability to be controlled using your smartphone, acting as a surrogate remote. This will usually require the installation of an app onto your phone.

Using your smartphone as a remote is helpful because it means that you don't have to use the official remote to control the TV - your smartphone will work instead. Helpful since you will quite often already have it in your pocket!

A Wifi (wireless LAN connection) on your TV means that you can connect your TV directly to your WiFi network.

A wifi connection means that connecting your TV to the net will be easier and can be done without cables.

Miracast is a peer-to-peer wireless screencasting standard formed via Wi-Fi Direct connections in a manner similar to Bluetooth.

TVs with Miracast can use it to stream media from computers and mobile phones at very high quality without the need to attach cables first, making the whole process far easier.

Wi-Fi Direct is a system to allow your TV to connect directly to other device without requiring a wireless router as a go-between.

Wi-Fi Direct is helpful on a TV because it allows a TV to connect to another device (such as a computer or phone) directly, meaning there is far less setup required - the devices just need to be 'paired' (normally at a press of a button) and the y can transfer data between each other. This is extremely useful for streaming media onto your TV from a computer or phone.

Voice Control on a TV is a system that allows users to control various functions of their TV (volume, channels, etc) purely with voice commands, rather than having to use the remote.

Voice controls mean that you can control the TV from your couch without having to find a remote or move to manually change the channel or adjust the settings, leading to a more streamlined experience.

Whether the TV has a desktop stand included with the purchase.

A desktop stand allows you to mount the TV on a desk or table for easy viewing. Without one, you'll have to either mount the TV on a wall or buy a stand at additional expense.

'Contrast Ratio' is a measure of the image contrast that the TV is capable of producing - it is the difference between the brightness of the darkest black and brightest white that the TV can produce. The higher the contrast ratio the better the contrast.

A higher the contrast ratio means that the TV can product darker blacks and brighter whites, resulting in better image quality. So a TV with a contrast ratio of 1000:1 can produce whites which are 1000 times brighter than the darkest black that the TV can produce.

A subwoofer is a specialised bass speaker for your TV, designed to provide punchy and powerful low notes for music and movies. Alternatively, an underground dog.

A built-in subwoofer will give your TV's sound system a serious boost on the low end bass notes. This will be best experienced in the bangs, thumps and explosions of movies, or in bass-heavy music.

An auto-volume leveler on your TV is a system to automatically adjust the volume on your TV to provide a consistent acceptable volume level across multiple inputs and programs.

An auto-volume leveler system on your TV will stop the volume from accidentally being set too low or too high for a movie or programme, making the sound more even across the board.

RMS rated power stands for Root Mean Square rated power and it is typically used to measure the power output of the audio element of the TV.

A higher RMS rated power means that the audio system on the TV is more powerful and will be able to play the audio at higher volumes. A higher RMS power may also result in better quality audio at normal volume levels.

Screen Mirroring on a TV is a system that allows you to view the screen from a computer or mobile phone on your TV.

Screen mirroring on a TV is helpful because it allows you to easily display media and info running on a phone or laptop to a big screen for easy viewing with a minimum of effort.

‘3D’ describes whether the TV can display 3D movies and programmes. Requires compatible 3D glasses to properly function.

3D technology has become increasingly popular as the amount of 3D film and TV content has increased dramatically in recent years. All 3D TVs will also display regular 2D content and most will allow you to switch on and off the 3D effect on 3D content. 3D compatible TVs allow you to watch 3D content. For most TVs you will need to wear special glasses to see the 3D effect.

Parental controls on a TV allow users to limit the films and programs that can be viewed on the TV, preventing adults-only content from being viewed by children.

Parental controls are a good way of stopping children accidentally (or totally not-accidentally) watching violent or sexual programs when parents aren't around to stop them.

'Game Mode' on a TV is a specialist mode that scales down the graphical fidelity of the video in order to free up processing power for response time.

In effect this trades slightly worse graphical capabilities for lessened input lag, meaning a smoother, more responsive experience when gaming.

'Local Dimming' on a TV is a function that dims certain sections of the backlight to control the level of light/color intensity in a given part of the screen.

Local dimming can be used to make blacks on the screen appear darker and richer by removing the backlight behind them.

Noise reduction helps reduce intrusive audio and visual noise for a clearer and better viewing experience.

A Wifi (wireless LAN connection) on your TV means that you can connect your TV directly to your WiFi network.

A wifi connection means that connecting your TV to the net will be easier and can be done without cables.

A Bluetooth connection on your TV means it can send and receive data from Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as headphones, mobile phones or remotes.

A Bluetooth connection on your phone allows you to use many newer wireless devices with your TV, such as wireless headphones and controlling your TV using your phone.

An ethernet port lets you connect the TV directly to your router with an ethernet cable.

An ethernet connection is more reliable than wifi and is useful if you do not have a wiki network or the wifi signal is weak. Depending on the speed of your wifi network and ethernet connection may be faster than wifi which means less buffering when streaming content to the TV.

Miracast is a peer-to-peer wireless screencasting standard formed via Wi-Fi Direct connections in a manner similar to Bluetooth.

TVs with Miracast can use it to stream media from computers and mobile phones at very high quality without the need to attach cables first, making the whole process far easier.

Wi-Fi Direct is a system to allow your TV to connect directly to other device without requiring a wireless router as a go-between.

Wi-Fi Direct is helpful on a TV because it allows a TV to connect to another device (such as a computer or phone) directly, meaning there is far less setup required - the devices just need to be 'paired' (normally at a press of a button) and the y can transfer data between each other. This is extremely useful for streaming media onto your TV from a computer or phone.

Whether the TV has a desktop stand included with the purchase.

A desktop stand allows you to mount the TV on a desk or table for easy viewing. Without one, you'll have to either mount the TV on a wall or buy a stand at additional expense.

An ethernet port lets you connect the TV directly to your router with an ethernet cable.

An ethernet connection is more reliable than wifi and is useful if you do not have a wiki network or the wifi signal is weak. Depending on the speed of your wifi network and ethernet connection may be faster than wifi which means less buffering when streaming content to the TV.

Miracast is a peer-to-peer wireless screencasting standard formed via Wi-Fi Direct connections in a manner similar to Bluetooth.

TVs with Miracast can use it to stream media from computers and mobile phones at very high quality without the need to attach cables first, making the whole process far easier.

Wi-Fi Direct is a system to allow your TV to connect directly to other device without requiring a wireless router as a go-between.

Wi-Fi Direct is helpful on a TV because it allows a TV to connect to another device (such as a computer or phone) directly, meaning there is far less setup required - the devices just need to be 'paired' (normally at a press of a button) and the y can transfer data between each other. This is extremely useful for streaming media onto your TV from a computer or phone.

Whether the TV has a desktop stand included with the purchase.

A desktop stand allows you to mount the TV on a desk or table for easy viewing. Without one, you'll have to either mount the TV on a wall or buy a stand at additional expense.