While flagship TVs garner the most amount of interest throughout the year, it is the sub £500 segment where there’s the most amount of movement. Flush with options, this segment is also the most confusing to navigate through. But fret not! We are here to help you find the best 4K TVs under £500.
In this list, we will take a look at the most value-for-money offerings within this budget segment and the best budget 4K TV for gaming. However, before we get to this list, consider checking out these posts as well.
- Get a budget gaming monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate
- Check out these RTX gaming laptops under £1,000 in the UK
1. Most Affordable: Hisense A6BGTUK 4K TV
- Panel type: LED
- HDR formats supported: HDR, Dolby Vision
- Operating system: VIDAA
- HDMI inputs: 4x HDMI 2.0
- Gaming features: 4K/60Hz
With the A6BGTUK, Hisense has gone out of its way to provide a seriously rich feature set in a TV that’s retailing at a rather affordable price. It offers Dolby Vision and HDR for very good brightness and contrast in movies and shows.
The TV comes with Alexa Built-in allowing users to do more on their TVs simply with their voice. It’s powered by the VIDAA U5 OS which is an easy, smart, and intuitive OS. For sound, you have support for standards such as DTS Virtual X.
This helps create an immersive audio experience without the need for height speakers. Apart from this, the TV also brings with itself a Game mode that promises to improve your gaming experience by significantly reducing input lag. Overall, these combine to make the Hisense A6BGTUK a very good cheap 4K TV.
What We Like
What We Don’t Like
2. Most Value for Money: TCL C645K 4K TV
- Panel type: LED
- HDR formats supported: HDR10, Dolby Vision
- Operating system: Google TV
- HDMI inputs: 3x HDMI 2.0
- Gaming features: 4K/60Hz (120Hz through Game Accelerator Mode)
TCL C645K is the successor to the highly popular TCL C635 from last year. It is an incremental upgrade that manages to bring a very impressive price-to-performance ratio. It comes with Google TV and thanks to its feature set is one of the top TVs in this segment you can buy right now!
Using a QLED LCD panel with a Direct LED backlight, this TV can get decently bright and at the same time handle dark scenes well. It is HDR10+ and Dolby Vision compliant and as such offers flexibility when switching from one streaming platform to another.
Apart from this, it also comes with support for features such as Dolby Atmos to improve sound quality. However, where it takes the lead against competitors is in the gaming department. Yes, this is a TV that comes with gaming-first features, including support for a 120Hz refresh rate through a software-based feature, Game Accelerator.
It’s important to note that with this feature in play, the TV’s output resolution for games is automatically converted to 1080p. Apart from this, the C645 also includes the Game Bar displayed in Game Master mode.
What We Like
What We Don’t Like
3. Best for Cinema: LG UP7700 4K TV
- Panel type: LED
- HDR formats supported: HDR10, HLG
- Operating system: webOS
- HDMI inputs: 3x HDMI 2.0
- Gaming features: 4K/60Hz
The LG UP7700 is a very good all-around TV that promises very good and detailed picture quality for cinema buffs. It also offers a crisp sound to make it a classic all-rounder. It uses an LG IPS 4K panel which is claimed to offer 100% colour accuracy, even from a 60-degree angle.
For cinema, it comes with support for LG’s Filmmaker Mode which improves colour accuracy and makes watching movies and shows on this TV an enjoyable experience. This mode overrides the TV’s own motion and picture processing to present the correct aspect ratio, colour, and frame rate the content was created to display.
While there is no Dolby Vision, the TV does bring support for HDR10 and HLG. For sound, we get LG’s AI-Sound feature which uses AI algorithms to up-mix two-channel audio to virtual 5.1 sound for a much more immersive sound stage.
While it may not be as feature-rich as the TCL C645K we mentioned above, the TV does offer slightly better picture performance despite not being a QLED TV.
What We Like
What We Don’t Like
4. Best Looking TV: Samsung BU8500 4K TV
- Panel type: LED
- HDR formats supported: HDR10, HLG
- Operating system: TizenOS
- HDMI inputs: 3x HDMI 2.0
- Gaming features: 4K/60Hz
Arguably the best TV on the list, the Samsung BU8500 offers very good picture performance. However, it’s not the most affordable option in this list of budget 4K TVs. But in terms of overall price-to-performance and screen-size ratio, the TV offers good value.
What also works in the TV’s favour are its upmarket looks and rock-solid build quality. The TV does offer good 4K HDR support, however, Dolby Vision remains a miss. While visuals look great on the TV and images pop because of good colour depth, it’s not the brightest TV in the segment.
At the same time, black levels are also not particularly anything to write about. There’s also no 120Hz refresh rate support and no VRR for gaming. So it’s not a very forward-looking TV. But if you’re buying a TV for the here and now, then the BU8500 may not be a bad bet.
What We Like
What We Don’t Like
FAQs ABOUT 4K TVs
Frankly, this is a comparison that should not be and cannot be made. While 4K UHD refers to the resolution support of a panel, OLED is the type of panel. A higher resolution ensures clearer, more crisp content. The use of better panel technology promises better colour depth and overall picture quality.
In terms of resolution, 4K is not the best for TVs. There are also 8K TVs in the market that are capable of cramming in a much higher number of pixels in a similar-sized panel. However, 4K is still the gold standard for TV and video quality. It is the most popular resolution format and with very little 8K content available 4K is expected to remain the king of the resolution game for a while now.
Not Just The Price Game
Buying the best 4K TVs under £500 is not just about buying the most affordable TV you can get your hands on in the segment. Rather, it’s about finding the TV that offers the best price-to-performance ratio. In our opinion, for under £500 that TV is the TCL C645K. It brings a good feature set at an aggressive price point, making it an excellent choice.
Last updated on 09 August, 2023
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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DID YOU KNOW
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