GADGET

The best Super Bowl 2024 TV deals we could find

Super Bowl LVIII is right around the corner, which means it’s a solid time to go TV shopping. To help those looking for a new set, we’ve rounded up the best Super Bowl 2024 TV deals we could find from Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers. Most of the discounts stem from the natural pricing cycle of the TV market more than Super Bowl-specific sales, as most sets are released in the spring and gradually drop in price until they’re discontinued the following year. That’s happening again now, and after several TV makers unveiled their 2024 lineups during CES last month, last year’s TVs are likely to fall even further as the year rolls along.

Still, if you want a new living room centerpiece in time to watch the San Francisco 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs, a number of well-regarded TVs have returned to the all-time lows we saw during the holiday shopping season, including 55-, 65- and 77-inch sets from Samsung, TCL and Hisense. While we don’t typically review TVs at Engadget, we’ve scoured reviews from other professionals we trust and double-checked price histories to ensure you get a good deal.

Samsung

The 77-inch Samsung S90C is on sale for $2,298 at Amazon ahead of Super Bowl 58. Best Buy, meanwhile, has it for a couple bucks more. This is within $50 of the TV’s all-time low and $200 less than its going rate over the holidays. The 65-inch model is technically on sale for $1,598 as well, though we’ve seen that price for most of the last few months. 

This is a premium 4K TV that has received nearuniversal praise for its QD-OLED panel, which delivers the high contrast and wide viewing angles expected from a good OLED TV but uses a layer of quantum dots to improve its color saturation and peak brightness. This means it should hold up better than most traditional OLED TVs when placed outside of a dark room. It’s also a great option for gaming, as it has four HDMI 2.1 ports that support up to a 144Hz refresh rate. The main negative, as with all Samsung TVs, is that it doesn’t support the popular Dolby Vision HDR format. 

$2,298 at Amazon

Samsung

The 65-inch version of Samsung’s The Frame TV is currently down to $1,398 at Amazon subsidiary Woot, which is $600 below its usual price over the last two months and $200 below its going rate on Black Friday. Other variants are also on sale, including the 43-inch model for $728, the 50-inch model for $868 and the 75-inch model for $1,968. The only better discounts we’ve seen have required special corporate discounts.

You’d buy a Frame TV for the aesthetic, as it’s built to look like a piece of art you can mount on your wall. When you aren’t watching TV, you can have it display photos or various artworks. Some pieces come included, while more are available through an optional subscription. The TV itself has a solid QLED panel with good brightness, but it lacks full-array local dimming or mini-LED backlighting, so it can’t match the contrast and general HDR performance of the best options in its price range. It’s also limited to one HDMI 2.1 port, so it’s not ideal for those who own a PS5 and Xbox Series X. Samsung announced a new Frame TV at CES earlier this month, though it’s unclear when that 2024 model will be available.

$1,398 at Woot

Hisense

The 55-inch Hisense U8K is available for $698 ahead of Super Bowl 58, which is a price we saw for most of the holidays but still matches the TV’s all-time low. The 65- and 75-inch models are down to $898 and $1,298, respectively, though each of those deals are a smidge higher than the lowest prices we’ve tracked.

Numerous reviews around the web have called the U8K one of 2023’s better values, praising its high brightness and contrast compared to other midrange LED TVs. It supports all the major HDR formats, its Google TV interface is simple to navigate and it comes with two HDMI 2.1 ports that can play in 4K up to 144Hz. It also includes an ATSC 3.0 tuner, so it can stream 4K over-the-air programming with an antenna. That said, the picture can get washed out when viewed from an angle and, like most LED TVs, it won’t look as vivid or fast in motion as a good OLED set.

$698 at Amazon

Hisense

The Hisense U6K is down to $350 for a 55-inch set and $648 for a 75-inch set. Both of those match the all-time lows we saw at different points in November and December. This is another highly-rated LED set, albeit for those on a tighter budget. It’s one of the few TVs in its price range to offer a mini-LED backlight with full-array local dimming, which allows for more precise contrast control and better black-level performance than most of its peers. It uses quantum dots to help boost its color output, another rarity for a value-minded TV, plus it runs on the Google TV platform.

There are still tradeoffs compared to a higher-end set like the U8K: It can’t get nearly as bright, it lacks HDMI 2.1 ports, it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and it’s a bit more sluggish to navigate its UI. Its viewing angles aren’t great either. For the money, though, those shouldn’t be dealbreakers.

$350 at Best Buy

Hisense

The 65-inch Hisense U7K is down to $680 at Best Buy, which is the best price we’ve tracked and $20 less than the sale price we saw during the holiday season. The 75-inch version is back at its prior low of $898 as well.

As you might guess, this TV sits between the U8K and U6K in Hisense’s 2023 lineup. Reviews suggest that it isn’t as bright or color-rich as the former, with worse contrast in darker rooms and still-subpar viewing angles, but that it’ll be a significant upgrade over the latter. It’ll be particularly better-suited than the U6K for gaming, as it has two HDMI 2.1 ports that can play 4K at 144Hz and support variable refresh rates. If you can’t stretch your budget too far, it should be a solid compromise.

$680 at Best Buy

TCL

The 65-inch TCL QM8 is back on sale for $898, which is another price we saw for most of November and December but matches the TV’s second-best discount to date. The only time it’s dropped lower was an hours-long dip to $750 in mid-December. The 75- and 85-inch models are also available for near-lows of $1,298 and $1,798, respectively.

The QM8 is generally regarded as a close competitor to the Hisense U8K with even better brightness, a mini-LED backlight to aid contrast and quantum dots to improve colors. It uses the Google TV platform, and it has two HDMI 2.1 ports that support 4K up to 144Hz. Unlike the U8K, it also separates its eARC port from its HDMI 2.1 ports, which means you could keep a PS5, Xbox Series X and eARC-enabled soundbar hooked up and optimized at once without having change inputs. It’s not available in a size smaller than 65 inches, however, and it lacks the Hisense TV’s ATSC 3.0 tuner, so it limits over-the-air broadcasts to 1080p. Some reviews say it’s worse than the U8K at upscaling lower-resolution content as well.

$898 at Amazon

TCL

The 65-inch TCL Q6 is down to $500, which ties its best price outside of a brief drop to $480 during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale last October. The 75-inch model is on sale for $650, which matches its lowest price to date, while the 55-inch version is $20 more than its all-time low at $320.

This is a budget-level TV that mainly competes with the Hisense U6K. Most reviews suggest that it can’t match that set’s contrast, colors and general HDR performance, as it lacks a local dimming feature and mini-LED backlighting. However, it’s worth a mention because it can play at a faster 120Hz refresh rate, albeit at a 1080p or 1440p resolution. For competitive-minded gamers who are willing to trade some picture quality for a smoother and more responsive image, it could be a decent value. Note that the discounted versions of this TV sold at Amazon use the Fire TV platform, while those sold elsewhere utilize Google TV.

$500 at Amazon

Samsung

The 55-inch Samsung QN90C is down to a new low of $1,298 in time for the Super Bowl, which is $100 less than its sale price over the holidays. The 75-inch model, meanwhile, is $200 off its previous low and down to $2,398.

This is another premium, well-reviewed set with high brightness levels and good contrast and color performance for an LED TV. Some reviews say its viewing angles hold up better than the Hisense U8K and TCL QM8, too. Still, those TVs look to offer close-enough performance for much lower prices, so they’re likely better buys for most. The QN90C also lacks Dolby Vision HDR, and its Tizen interface isn’t quite as intuitive as Google TV. That said, Samsung’s TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, all of which support 4K video up to 120Hz (which is the cap for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S). That’s two more than the U8K, QM8 or other pricey rivals like the Sony X93L, and potentially a boon for those with several gaming devices.

We’ll note that the 43- and 50-inch versions of the QN90C are also on sale for lows of $898 and $1,098, respectively. Those two support a faster maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, but they also use a different panel type (VA), so they may not perform as well as the larger models.

$1,298 at Amazon

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.




Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button