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The 12 best TVs for a home theater, tested by Consumer Reports

A big screen with dull HDR or weak sound falls flat in the room. Consumer Reports tested large TVs for picture quality, HDR and sound

A large TV with dull HDR, weak built-in sound or a glare-prone screen falls flat no matter how big the picture is. OLED and Mini LED panels approach brightness, black levels and color very differently, and the right pick often depends on budget as much as picture technology. Consumer Reports tested 75- and 77-inch TVs for picture quality, HDR performance and sound, so shoppers can find a set that fits their room and budget.

The Samsung QN77S95H costs $4,300, pricier than every other TV in this lineup, and earned Consumer Reports' top scores for picture quality and HDR as the company's flagship QD-OLED set for 2026. CR found it brighter than nearly every other OLED TV available, with a glare-free screen that cuts down on reflections and four HDMI 2.1 inputs supporting 4K resolution at up to 165Hz. The set includes Samsung's Vision AI for personalized picture and sound optimization, though CR noted it supports HDR10 but not Dolby Vision HDR. Exceptional brightness paired with top-tier scores across the board makes it the standout in this lineup, if the price fits the budget.

The Samsung QN77S95F costs $3,800 and earned Consumer Reports' top marks across every picture-quality and HDR test as Samsung's 2025 flagship QD-OLED set. CR found the sound impressively rich, coming from an integrated speaker array arranged in a 4.2.2 Dolby Atmos configuration, aided by a matte, glare-reducing screen finish, and it ranked among Samsung's brighter OLED TVs in its release year. CR noted the set works with Samsung's own Bixby assistant as well as Alexa from Amazon $AMZN, and offers gaming-friendly extras like a screen that can refresh 144 times per second. CR also flagged a warehouse-club version, the Samsung QN77S95FD, which performs similarly and actually scored a bit higher overall.

The LG OLED77C5PUA costs $1,800 and earned Consumer Reports' top-notch marks across every key picture-quality and sound attribute, striking a nice balance between price and performance within LG's 2025 OLED lineup. CR found it uses a more traditional WOLED panel instead of the four-stack technology in LG's flagship G5........

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