Stephan Jukic – October 19, 2016
The same factors which make 4K UHD TVs and particularly HDR 4K TVs into superior home entertainment systems when it comes to movies and general TV programming also come into play when we start to talk about console and PC gaming on these same televisions. The extra sharpness, high-end connectivity specs, high dynamic range, enhanced colors and overall higher quality of most name brand 4K ultra HD TVs allow them to turn both TV watching and gaming through a TV-connected console into something better than it was with HDTV or an ordinary PC monitor
And just as HDR movies and TV shows from streaming sources look particularly stunning on an HDR 4K TV, so too do the new generations of HDR games with 4K upscaling capacity which are emerging for the latest console systems if played on an HDR 4K TV. This is now the case like never before due to the emergence of new HDR consoles which also offer 4K game resolution either in native or upscaled form. We’re referring particularly to the new Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 Pro platforms which have been released or are on the verge of being released to the market now.
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Thus, the following list is our compilation of the best 4K TVs for console gaming in both HDR and SDR. We’ve considered a mix of factors such as price, display quality, the (obviously) presence of high dynamic range color and contrast and of course how well each TV performs at handling input lag for consoles. All of the following TVs are 2016 editions and most of them offer HDR specs of some kind, though not all.
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The Samsung KS9000 (or if you prefer its essentially identical but curved version the KS9500) offers what we consider to be the best overall combination of display quality, top-shelf HDR and very good input lag with robust console gaming connectivity. This TV manages deliver absolutely excellent motion control specs with a motion blur refresh rate of only 15 miliseconds, a superb refresh rate and a nicely low input lag of just 20 milliseconds while also being a 2016 4K HDR TV with some of the best color and black level/peak brightness specs you’ll find on sale among this year’s LCD TV models. For this reason we give the KS9000 our top spot on this listing for HDR console gaming and console gaming in general since its high display quality makes even SDR games upscaled from HD resolution look wonderful. The KS9000 is also an excellent TV for use as a gamer’s PC monitor due to its compatibility with multiple resolution and refresh rate formats.
We also gave the KS9000 our top rating because despite being such a stunning premium TV for gamers and movie fans alike, it isn’t as expensive as some other top-shelf HDR 4K Televisions. On the other hand, the KS9000 is still definitely not cheap, with the smaller 55 inch model costing a fairly hefty $1,797.99.
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LG’s B6 OLED offers what are without a doubt the absolute best high dynamic range, black performance, color and other display specs of all the 4K TVs for gaming on this list. It also delivers some virtually perfect upscaling of non-4K content and stunning motion control performance pretty much across the board, with a motion blur response time of just 0.1 seconds. Additionally, this particular 4K TV also offers excellent performance as a 4K PC monitor for gaming through PC instead of console due to its robust support of different resolutions, frame rates/refresh rates and color sampling ratios.
On the other hand, despite its ability to offer some of the most stunningly superior console gaming visuals for HDR color, black performance, contrast and sharpness on native 4K or upscaled games from the Xbox One S or another platform, the B6 does come with two key points working against it. First of all, this is definitely the priciest 4K TV on our list, with even the 55 inch model costing $2,497.00 and the 65 inch version costing well over $3,000. Secondly, like all of the OLED TVs on sale from LG, the B6 offers a considerably weaker input lag than we’d like between the screen and console. At 43 milliseconds even for 1080p console gaming, the input lag for this TV is not ideal for high speed competitive gaming.
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Now moving on to a much more budget-friendly piece console gaming TV, we come to the Sony X800D. This particular TV is extremely affordable while still offering some excellent HDR color performance with 10-bit color, wide color gamut and superb black levels. It’s also decently bright and comes with some very strong motion control specs, especially for motion blur control in all fast-paced content types displayed on its screen. This of course includes 4K and upscaled console or PC games.
Additionally, the X800D delivers fairly decent console/PC gaming input lag of 33.2 milliseconds in 1080p resolution and 34 milliseconds when used for native 4K gameplay in its built-in menu option of “Game Mode”. The X800D’s support for different resolutions and frame rates/refresh rates when hooked up as a PC monitor is also excellent.
Like we said, the X900D is one very affordable 4K TV, with the 49 inch model costing well below $1000 at $798.00.
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Moving back to pricier offerings with plenty of quality to offer in exchange, we reach the Samsung KS8000 4K SUHD HDR TV for 2016. In most ways it’s very similar to the KS9000 which takes our top spot and its motion control specs and PC monitor connectivity capacities are pretty much identical to those of the KS9000. However, we consider the HDR display brightness, color and black performance of the KS8000 to be slightly lesser than those of the KS9000. On the other hand, this model is cheaper than its higher SUHD cousin. The 55 inch version costs a few hundred bucks less at $1,397.99.
Basically, the KS8000 is the cheapest top-shelf performance HDR TV selling now for high dynamic range console and PC gaming.
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Vizio’s V-Series 2016 HDR TVs are absolutely excellent models when it comes to stunning color performance, deep, rich blacks and some very decent brightness. They also offer superb motion control specs and particularly excellent motion blur control which will help both movie and gaming content move along smoothly and crisply. Furthermore, the basic input lag for SDR 4K and 1080p video at 60Hz is excellent at 19 milliseconds.
However, while the Vizio P-Series 4K TV is a superb model for displaying high dynamic range in both the HDR10 and Dolby Vision standards for both movies/TV programming and HDR games from consoles like the Xbox One S, its biggest problem is that the TV offers a terrible 63 millisecond input lag in 4K resolution with HDR enabled during console gaming.
That said, as long as you don’t mind slow input lag as a trade-off for gaming with HDR color and vibrancy, the 2016 P-series is an excellent console gaming 4K TV and a nicely priced one as well, with the 50 inch model selling for $1000.
Bonus: Vizio D-Series 2016 4K TV. $
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The 2016 Vizio D-Series 4K TV doesn’t come with any sort of high dynamic range, it doesn’t offer very good connectivity as a 4K PC gaming monitor since it only supports 4k resolution at 60Hz in 4:2:0 and we think its motion control specs are only moderately good. However, what the 2016 Vizio D-Series model does offer and better than any other 4K TV we know of is superbly low input lag for regular SDR 4K and upscaled gaming. At 13.2 milliseconds, this is the most competitively low input lag you can get your hands on in a 4K TV if you’re into competitive online console gaming. Again however, the drawback is that the rich HDR gaming visuals of the Xbox One S and PS 4 Pro consoles won’t display on this model.
The D-Series is one highly affordable 4K TV to boot, with the 55 inch model retailing for just $553.59. This makes it the most affordable 4K console gaming TV on this list by far.
Story by 4k.com
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