GoKawiilCarly Marsh/CNET
In every CNET TV review, I compare three or more similar TVs side by side in a dedicated, light-controlled test lab. With each review, I employ a rigorous, unbiased evaluation process that has been honed by more than two decades of TV reviews. I test TVs with a combination of scientific measurements and real-world evaluations of TV, movies and gaming content.
To ensure I can evaluate the picture quality of every TV, I connect each one to an AVPro Connect 8x8 4K HDR splitter so each one receives the same signal. I test the TVs using various lighting conditions, playing different media, including 4K HDR movies and console games, across a variety of test categories, from color to video processing to gaming to HDR.
In order to measure each TV, I use specialized equipment to grade them according to light output and color. My hardware includes a Konica Minolta CS-2000 spectroradiometer and a Murideo Six-G 4K HDR signal generator. I use Portrait Displays CalMan Ultimate software to evaluate every TV I review according to its brightness, black levels and color.
The Leo Bodnar Lag Tester samples three regions of the screen for latency, and these are averaged to give each TV's lag score
I play a variety of games from an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, and note the effects of gaming modes and settings as well as the 4K/120Hz and VRR input capabilities. Helpfully, the Xbox includes a 4K/120Hz and HDR compatibility test: Settings>TV and display options>4K TV details. The page will detail the HDR modes it supports (including Dolby Atmos) and whether it will support VRR -- if a TV gets ticks in all the boxes it means it has the best compatibility with high-end Xbox games.
Our reviews also account for such things as features, design, smart TV performance, connectivity including HDMI inputs and gaming compatibility.
Measuring input lag (in milliseconds) is an important component of my process for testing gaming TVs.
Check out the page on how CNET tests TVs for more details.
Input lag will often be lower in game mode than in any other mode on your TV. Here are a few more gaming-specific aspects I looked at for each TV.
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