Do you watch a lot of sports and are you looking for the best TV for this? In this article we put together what you should pay attention to when buying TV for sports games.
The TV for sports games
We have enough in our archive with tips for buying a TV, with general tips but also tips for when you want the best TV for a specific purpose. Consider, for example, playing games or watching movies. In this article we look at sports matches (for the Olympic Games, Formula 1 and the European Football Championship, among others), which is a special case. You have to pay attention to a number of specific features of a TV. We also recommend you to take the following points when reviews are read on different TVs.
The best TV for sports games- Resolution
As the first part, we include the resolution and that is a gray area. We recommend that you go for a 4K Ultra HD TV, not because this absolutely offers you better image quality thanks to the higher resolution (no event is broadcast in this resolution), but mainly because manufacturers use the premium features for the best image quality in the high-end models. These models are also automatically equipped with the 4K Ultra HD resolution, so you cannot really escape it. And, some manufacturers do a pretty good job of upscaling HD content to Ultra HD resolution, so the higher resolution certainly does its part. Read more about this topic in our article on TVs and resolutions .
The best TV for sports games – Movements (motion)
Sports games differ from movies in several ways, but the speed of movement of both the camera and objects in the frame is a very important difference. Of course you want the image to be clear and sharp, regardless of whether the movements during a football match or tennis match are fast or slow. Think of the ball that shoots over the field, for example. The factor that matters here is the resolution that the TV maintains during the movements. The higher the resolution, the tighter and sharper the image. The lower the resolution, the more blurred and blurry the image becomes. Not all TVs handle this equally well, but it is definitely something to take into account.
Various techniques are used to properly absorb the movements and to achieve a smooth and sharp reproduction. Some TVs use the frame insertion technique in which an artificial image (generated by software by looking at the frame before and the frame after it) is inserted between two frames. The disadvantage of this technique is that errors can occur in the generated image, since it is ‘invented’. These are errors like artifacts around objects or a small abrupt difference in the position of objects. This can also cause the so-called soap opera effect, something that, especially with films, creates an unrealistic representation. Another technique is the black frame insertion technique, where a black frame is inserted between two frames. This technique does not introduce artifacts or ‘false’ images but introduces a flicker effect for some viewers. In addition, the brightness of the image decreases slightly. We almost always opt for this technique and accept the lower brightness for sale. You can forget exactly how the techniques work; the point is that this is a very important part when you watch sports a lot. You want to experience exactly and smoothly how the ball goes from A to B or how Max Verstappen rips through the bend. From our experience, looking at the reviews of the last months, Panasonic and Samsung are currently the players with the best motion techniques. But be sure to read the individual reviews to compare the performance of each model. We almost always opt for this technique and accept the lower brightness for sale. You can forget exactly how the techniques work; the point is that this is a very important part when you watch sports a lot. You want to experience exactly and smoothly how the ball goes from A to B or how Max Verstappen rips through the bend.
From our experience, looking at the reviews of the last months, Panasonic and Samsung are currently the players with the best motion techniques. But be sure to read the individual reviews to compare the performance of each model. We almost always opt for this technique and accept the lower brightness for sale. You can forget exactly how the techniques work; the point is that this is a very important part when you watch sports a lot. You want to experience exactly and smoothly how the ball goes from A to B or how Max Verstappen rips through the bend. From our experience, looking at the reviews of the last months, Panasonic and Samsung are currently the players with the best motion techniques. But be sure to read the individual reviews to compare the performance of each model. You want to experience exactly and smoothly how the ball goes from A to B or how Max Verstappen rips through the bend. From our experience, looking at the reviews of the last months, Panasonic and Samsung are currently the players with the best motion techniques. But be sure to read the individual reviews to compare the performance of each model. You want to experience exactly and smoothly how the ball goes from A to B or how Max Verstappen rips through the bend. From our experience, looking at the reviews of the last months, Panasonic and Samsung are currently the players with the best motion techniques. But be sure to read the individual reviews to compare the performance of each model.
The best TV for sports games – Viewing angles
You rarely watch sports matches alone, especially during the European Football Championship or during the Olympic Games. You prefer to watch the matches with a group of friends, all on chairs and sofas placed in front of the TV. A large viewing angle, so that everyone can experience the match optimally, is therefore of great importance. You want a TV with the widest possible viewing angle, so that the brightness, contrast and color reproduction are no less for the people who look at the screen from the sides. Looking purely at the viewing angles of LCD TVs, the models with an IPS panel have a slight advantage. In most cases these panels offer a larger viewing angle (with less loss in brightness, color, etc.) than the models with a va panel. On the other hand; if you want the best viewing angle then OLED currently the only correct option. Due to the technology used, you have a perfect image from almost every angle.
A curved screen?
The part of the viewing angles actually brings us directly to the next question; should you buy a TV with a curved screen or flat screen? Nowadays, a lot is used on these curved TVs, but the great use is not entirely clear to us. It remains a personal preference and it is more of a design thing. However, if we purely watch sports matches, we prefer a flat screen. Viewing angles are better on a flat screen; after all, you can see less from the side when you look at a curved screen. In our view, curved screens are more likely to suffer from reflections and since sports competitions often take place during the day, we also want to avoid them.
Uniformity of the screen
A TV (with the exception of an OLED TV) is equipped with a backlight. This backlight consists of LEDs that are located above or below, left or right or directly behind the panel. In addition, there are a number of layers between these LEDs and the screen that, for example, spread the light over the entire screen. All these elements behind the screen can cause certain parts of the screen to be slightly more or less illuminated. Or they can provide very slightly visible vertical (or horizontal) bands. Nowadays, these problems are often not noticeable when watching TV normally, but even more so during a sports match. The large green area (the field) is a perfect area for spotting these problems and once spotted you will always see them. You may experience it yourself sometimes; during the soap you see a perfect image, but as soon as the football matches are set up you see lines or dark parts in the field. This is usually not due to the source, but to the uniformity of the screen. A TV with optimal screen uniformity gives you a picture without ‘dirty smears’, bars in the picture or dark parts. However, the problem here is that it sometimes varies by production model. One TV does not show the problems, the other TV (the same model of the same brand) does. Yet these issues are often very minimal, but if they really stand out, it is always wise to link this back to the store or the manufacturer so that you get a replacement. In general, however, you can estimate whether a TV has a uniform screen, partly by reading reviews of the models you are considering.
Which TVs are Best for Sports?
At the time of writing, we can recommend the Samsung KS9000 series , the Panasonic DXW904 series if you are looking for the best TV for watching sports. However, the models follow each other so quickly and we test new TVs every month, so we recommend that you read our reviews (and those of other experts) carefully. Take the above points into account and you will certainly end up with the ultimate TV for watching sports matches. For more tips and advice on purchasing, installing, calibrating and using your new TV, check out our home cinema information guide . Here you will also find various tips about the optimal settings for your new TV.
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