Don’t Buy the Wrong TV on Prime Day: 4 Things I Consider When Shopping for Deals

With Amazon Prime Day this month, you have plenty of opportunities to upgrade your TV at great prices. To help you get started on this important sale, I’ve put together a guide to buying a TV during Amazon Prime Day. (ZDNET has also compiled some Best deals for the first Prime Day This.)

Amazon Prime Day 2024 will take place on July 16 and 17. Prime Day, which is exclusive to Prime members, typically features the deepest discounts on Amazon devices, including Fire TVs. However, many retailers — like Walmart and Best Buy — have already offered deals for July 4. These early sales can sometimes match or even beat Prime Day prices, so keep an eye out for them.

Also: Amazon Prime Day 2024 is back on July 16-17: Everything to know and some early deals

TV manufacturers typically announce new models at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, and these new models start hitting store shelves between March and June. As retailers stock up on newer products, prices on older models often drop. Take advantage of summer sales.

To help you narrow down your choices and avoid overspending, consider factors like screen size (e.g., 48″ or 65″), resolution (4K, 8K), display technology (LED, OLED, etc.), smart features, and connectivity options.

1. Key terms you should know

To clarify some of the terminology associated with modern TVs, let’s look at the types of display technologies available today:

Liquid crystal display: Liquid crystal display TVs use cathode fluorescent lamps in the backlight to provide brightness and color accuracy, but at the lowest cost. LCD TVs are generally affordable, energy efficient, and have no risk of image retention (burn-in).

LEAD TO: A more advanced form of LCD uses Light Emitting Diodes for backlighting to provide better brightness, contrast, and energy efficiency. LED backlighting is thinner and lighter than fluorescent backlighting, allowing LED TVs to be thinner and lighter.

QLED Display: The ‘Q’ in QLED stands for quantum dot technology. Samsung created this technology to improve colour accuracy and brightness, but it still relies on LED backlighting. QLED TVs can achieve higher brightness levels than standard LED TVs, making them suitable for brighter, well-lit environments. This feature is why QLED TVs look so impressive on the showroom floor.

Mini LED light: Using smaller LEDs for backlighting, resulting in improved contrast, deeper blacks, and more precise local dimming. Due to the improved picture quality and potential cost savings, more and more manufacturers, such as SAMSUNG, TCL, HisenseAnd Rokuis now offering Mini LED TVs.

OLED: Organic light-emitting diode TVs feature self-illuminating pixels that each turn on and off, delivering the deepest blacks and exceptional contrast. The most remarkable thing about OLED TVs is how they maintain picture quality even at extreme viewing angles, ensuring everyone in the room can see what’s being played.

MicroLED: This next-generation display technology uses tiny self-emitting LEDs for each pixel, combining the best of OLED (deep blacks and high contrast) with better brightness and durability. It promises strong contrast, faster response times, and greater energy efficiency. It’s also quite expensive and typically comes in large screen sizes.

2. What is the difference between 4K and 8K resolution?

4K TVs have a resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160 pixels, providing a total of about 8.3 million pixels. This is four times the resolution of standard 1080p high-definition TVs (HDTVs), which have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (about 2.1 million pixels).

Since not all content is 4K, 4K TVs often include upscaling technology that enhances lower-resolution content to better fit the higher-resolution screen. This ensures that even non-4K content looks better on a 4K TV. Many 4K TVs also include technologies like High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Color Gamut (WCG), which enhance color accuracy, contrast, and brightness.

Also: Should You Buy an 8K TV? How to Decide, According to an Expert

8K TV is the latest generation of television technology, providing a total of 33.2 million pixels. This resolution is 16 times the resolution of standard 1080p HDTV.

While 8K TVs also include advanced upscaling technology to better match their high resolution, native 8K content is currently scarce. This is expected to change as the technology becomes more widespread. 8K TVs can be expensive, and the difference in picture quality may not be noticeable unless you have a giant screen or sit very close to the TV.

3. What TV screen size is best for me?

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to TV size. What’s more important is finding the Goldilocks Zone in your viewing space, which is usually determined by how far you sit from the screen. You also want to make sure the TV doesn’t overwhelm the room or require you to move your head too much to see the entire screen.

To determine your ideal screen size, measure the viewing distance (in inches) between your TV and your sofa or armchair. Divide that distance by 1.6 for an approximate recommendation. For example, if you sit 10 feet (120 inches) away, a 75-inch TV is ideal (120 inches ÷ 1.6 = 75). If you sit closer — say, six feet away — a screen size of around 45 inches would be appropriate (6 x 12 = 72 ÷ 1.6 = 45). For larger screen sizes, it’s better to choose a higher resolution like 4K to ensure vivid, lifelike detail in the image.

Also: This 65-inch Insignia 4K Smart TV Is Just $300 on July 4

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers recommends that the TV should cover at least 30° of your field of view. Ideally, the TV should be parallel to your eyes, with no more than 15° of angle up or down and no more than 40° of angle to the left or right.

4. Prime Day isn’t the only sale in town

Summer 2024 sales are sure to include some great deals on mid-sized UHD (ultra-high definition) TVs for under $200, like the 50-inch Insignia F30 Series Smart TV available at Amazon. If you’re not an Amazon Prime member, Consider signing up for a 30-day free trial before Prime Day. This trial will give you exclusive opportunities, like Amazon Lightning Deals, that help you get the best deals on TVs.

While Prime Day is Amazon’s event, many other retailers also run competing sales. Check out Walmart’s “biggest sales event ever“July 8th through July 11th, as well as Best Buy”Black Friday July Event” (July 15-July 17). Some TV deals may include additional services like a free streaming subscription, extended warranty, or bundled soundbar. Keep an eye out for these events as they can offer significant savings but tend to sell out quickly.