I feel like it used to be size, color, and clarity meant more expensive. Now I look at a 500$ 4k TV and a 2000$ 4k TV and I don’t know what the difference is. They can both be smart TVs, be the same size, and have a lot of same advertised features, but what are the subtle unspoken mysteries that justify a huge price gap?
Durability. Look into the difference between consumer grade LCDs and hospitality grade displays.
How small the lights are in the back
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Edge-lit is just one big light, no dimming zones.
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Direct-lit are big squares of dimmable zones in the back
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Mini-led are small squares of dimmable zones, like Direct-lit but smaller
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Quantum-dot Led are even smaller squares of dimmable zones that are build-into the screen
And OLED is dimming at the pixel layer?
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In store, it’s hard to tell the difference. They run in a ”Store” / “Retail” mode that amps up the brightness and color saturation to a level that’s often unsustainable (it will damage the TV if you use it in this mode) and that doesn’t translate well to actual content because it’s too vivid.
If you’re interested in understanding more about modern TV technology / which TVs are best, I recommend checking out Rtings and HDTVTest (there’s a site, a channel on Youtube, a subreddit, etc). The former because the reviews are great; the latter because Vincent explains these things well. He talks about specific technologies like types of OLED panels, different LED technologies, different settings on TVs and what they mean, calibration, etc…
To answer your question, though: the more expensive technologies are what cost the most, and bigger versions (starting at 55”) also tend to cost more. Right now the best TVs you can buy are OLEDs - specifically, QD-OLEDs like the Sony A95L. A 55” is like $2500. By comparison, a traditional OLED (or “WOLED”) like the LG C3 is half the price - a 55” is $1300 - and nearly as good. (And a previous gen model, like the C2, will be even cheaper, if you can find one.)
Some TV’s are OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). These tend to be more expensive, as manufacturers argue the technology has better black levels and contrast ratios (the range of brightness between the blackest black and whitest white the TV can produce). Personally, I don’t see that big of a difference between OLED and non-OLED. At least, not enough to justify spending $2000 on a TV. Hope this helps.
Something not mentioned is that some of the cheap tvs don’t support the new dolby surround audio, that only really matters if you have a home theater.
I just went from a 4K 50in Hisense to a LG OLED and the difference is big imo
OLED just looks amazing
One thing to keep in mind is if you’re watching old DVD’s, pay for low-tier Netflix, or have low quality pirated content, the difference will be way less noticeable.
Blurays look 🔥
branding. if you want a name brand (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc) you’re going to pay through the nose for it. the knockoff chinese brands that have weird, acronym or nonsense-sounding names are going to be able to offer a perfectly good “TV” experience for a fraction of the cost of a name brand TV
