Club Benefits
If you're limited on space or are looking for a smaller (and cheaper) set to put in a spare room or to use for gaming sessions in your bedroom, the best 50-inch TVs are a great choice. You get more screen estate than on 43-inch models, but they're still compact enough that they can fit into tighter space.
There are also plenty of models that aren't a compromise at this size, like the LG C5, which is easily the best 50-inch TV right now. It's last year's model, so the price has dropped, and yet it's one of the most impressive TVs we've ever tested, offering a versatile blend of brightness, contrast, and fantastic handling of deep blacks.
As great value as the C5 is at its new price, it's still not cheap. However, the Hisense QD7 is less than $300, but you wouldn't know it from how it handles colors, contrast and deep blacks, which is why it's almost too easy for me to recommend it as the best budget 50-inch TV you can buy right now.
Each new TV will come with AI features, but I'd recommend ignoring most of those. From our experience, they're not particularly useful. Plus, software will change over the life of the TV, so pick a set that has the hardware and performance you need.
The best 50-inch TVs available right now
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
Best 50-inch TV overall
Despite being the best 50-inch TV, the LG C5 is actually 48 inches (sorry, I know it's confusing — LG makes weird sizes). And it's not even the latest TV in this range — that'd be the LG C6 — and yet I still recommend it over pretty much everything else because, now the price has dropped, it's the most incredible value TV around.
The thing is, we tested the LG C6 and were really impressed, but it's not a big enough upgrade from the C5 to justify the extra price. Especially because from the moment we turned on the C5, we were startled by how vibrant and colorful everything looked, from films and TV shows, through to games and sports.
Aside from looking fantastic, one of the reasons the LG C5 is so versatile is that it has four HDMI 2.1 ports and 120Hz refresh rate, which is what you need for console gaming. The high refresh rate also makes it a great option for checking out this summer's sporting events, as you won't get blurring during fast-paced action.
When we review TVs, we generally test the 65-inch version, as we did with the C5. The 43-inch and 48-inch models are pretty much identical, except the smaller size means the pixels are closer together. So to prevent overheating, LG reduced the power, which means these two smaller versions aren't quite as brighter as their larger siblings.
Otherwise, the 48-inch model still crams everything we loved about the C5 into the smaller display. Plus, it runs LG's webOS platform, which such a vast array of customizations and dedicated film, sports and gaming modes. Although the default settings worked well, the Filmmaker Mode really helped movies jump from the screen.
- Read our full LG C5 review
Best budget 50-inch TV
It's hard to describe how much I like the Hisense QD7, but since that's my job, I'll give it a go. It's rare that you can call the best budget 50-inch TVs also one of the best TVs available right now, but that's where we're at with this affordable, feature-packed, high-performance set that costs just a couple of hundred dollars.
The most striking thing about the QD7 is how it handles colors. The display has quantum dot crystals, which absorb some of the backlight and re-emit it as red and green light, which improves contrast and vibrancy. And the set can locally dim some areas of the screen, which improves its performance in darker scenes too.
As impressive as the LG C5 and Samsung S90F are, I sometimes find it hard to recommend spending more on either of those two sets when the QD7 is right there and is such impressive value. But there are a couple of compromises that you should keep in mind before you settle on this budget set.
The 60Hz refresh rate is on the low side. For most media, it's not too much of a problem, but we did find that during fast-paced movements, the image blurred, which is not ideal if you're gaming, watching sports, or streaming movies. The set's motion smoothing feature helped, but it's not perfect.
Likewise, Hisense installed Amazon's Fire TV software, which is, frankly, not very good. It's our least favorite smart TV platform as it is basically just a slow, ad-filled vehicle to make you buy things from Amazon. Still, once you've installed your streaming apps, you don't have to use this much, so it's more of a frustration than a deal-breaker.
- Read our full Hisense QD7 review
Best 50-inch TV for gaming
I'm sorry to have to tell you that the best 50-inch TV for gaming is, in fact, a 48-inch TV (again). But while the Samsung S90F may lack two inches, it makes up for it in pretty much every sense, with a great mix of hardware (120Hz refresh rate, four HDMI 2.1 ports) and software (including Samsung's fantastic Gaming Hub).
You can find TVs with higher refresh rates, but the current generation of consoles all output at 120Hz, so if that's what you use, there's no need to pay more for a greater rate. Though, if you're a PC gamer, you might want to check out some of the best gaming TVs instead, as those run up to 165Hz.
Plus, during our lab testing, we measured the input lag to be just 9.1ms. The LG C5 can hit 9.1 while in a boosted mode, but its native lag is 12.9ms. These are fractions of a second, but in particular games, especially competitive online titles, this can make a big difference. And the TV runs Samsung's Tizen software, which has another trick.
There's a dedicated Gaming Hub, which is part cloud gaming service, and part gaming home page. If you connect a console using one of the TV's HDMI 2.1 ports, the hub recognizes it and will even store a quick list of things you were playing recently. So you can launch a game from here, and it'll automatically enable Game Mode.
Of course, all of this would be a bit of a waste if the S90F didn't produce such wonderfully clear and vibrant images. The way it handles contrast is exceptional, which really helps immerse yourself in the game's world, whether it's something colorful like a Mario game or a dark and shadowy title with lots of deep blacks.
- Read our full Samsung S90F OLED TV review
How we test the best 50-inch TVs
If you're wondering how we test TVs, we split the process into two. First, each television is delivered to our lab for detailed benchmark testing. Once we have all the data from those measurements, we move the TV into a bright room with a couch and (this is hard part) watch TV shows, movies and play games on the TV.
Before before we get to that, we need to gather objective data on how the TV performs. We have a selection of industry-standard equipment for this, including a spectroradiometer, a colorimeter, pattern generator and TV calibration software. These measurements make it easier to compare performance between sets.
It's also part of how we make decisions on which TVs are best suited to particular use cases, like gaming, as metric like input lag are particularly important in competitive games. Plus, gathering measurements means we can compare the TV against the manufacturer's claims and see whether new models really are better.
Once the data is safely locked in our testing spreadsheets, it's time to see how it performs in the real world. Measured brightness is one thing, but we need to find out what the picture is like when faced with bright rooms, direct light and dark ambience, so that's what we check for, and whether any reflective coatings actually work.
We connect consoles, play games and try out any gaming software features, like hubs or optimizers. When we don't have a controller in our hands, we sit back and watch sports, movies and TV shows through a critical eye (of the image and sound, not the material itself).
The aim is to see how the TV draws our color in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" or handles the darkest abysses of "The Batman" (or pretty much anything by Christopher Nolan). We bundle this subjective, real-world testing with the lab measurements and use it to inform which TVs we think are really worth your money right now.
How to choose the best 50-inch TVs
I know you've landed on a page dedicated to the best 50-inch TVs, but before you make your choice, it's worth thinking about why do you want this size specifically?
Maybe you looked over our guide to choosing the perfect TV size for your room and landed on 50 (or 48) inches as the sweet spot for your space. Or it could be that you need something that'll fit into a smaller space like a bedroom or dorm. It might even be because you know smaller sets are generally cheaper.
All of these are good reasons to pick a 50-inch set, or even one of the best 43-inch TVs; I just want you to be sure it's what you actually need before you spend your money. Then, it's good to focus on what you want to use the TV for. What you need from a TV will differ depending on if you love gaming sessions, movie nights or live sports.
Plus, where you'll put the TV will make a difference. Bright rooms often need bright TVs to stop the picture being drowned out. Reflective or anti-glare coatings help here, too. But for late-night viewing, you probably don't need it that bright, so a lower brightness would work, especially if the set has a specific dark room mode.
Keep an eye on refresh rates as well. Higher is (generally) better, but you don't need to overpay on a level you won't use. I wouldn't recommend going any lower than 60Hz, but at that rate, you might see some blurring during fast-paced scenes or movements.
You'll need 120Hz for console gaming, and anything over that will only serve you well if you're big into sports or plan to connect a gaming PC (as those can output up to 144Hz or 165Hz). So if you go into your research with a strong sense of which features and specs are most important, you'll quickly find the best 50-inch TV for your home.
