Sony has proven itself to be the most versatile brand, offering upscaling of non-4K content as well as voice controls, screen mirroring capabilities, and even Bluetooth connectivity for wireless audio setups. Whether you’re looking to cut the cord with your cable or satellite provider and exclusively stream movies and shows, or want a well-rounded television for your living room, there is something out there for everyone. The remote has a built-in microphone that works with both Google Assistant and Alexa to give you hands-free controls right out of the box. The dual 10 watt speakers utilize Dolby Atmos technology for virtual surround sound, and they also feature a voice zoom setting that boosts dialogue; perfect for news broadcasts or talk shows. The TV has support for both Chromecast and AirPlay2 to allow screen mirroring for more ways to share videos. With Bluetooth support, you can set up external sound bars and other audio equipment for the perfect custom home theater configuration. The webOS operating system not only gives you access to your favorite streaming apps, it also has a sport alert function to instantly show you updated scores and headlines so you can stay up-to-date all season long. The voice-enabled remote can be used with Alexa, Google Assistant, and even Siri to give you hands-free control over your TV. With Bluetooth connectivity, you can set up dual wireless soundbars, speakers, or subwoofers for surround sound audio. The CX is compatible with both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync technology, so console gaming looks better than ever. Apple AirPlay2 is built-in, allowing you to mirror your iOS device for more ways to share videos and photos with friends and family. The dual 10 watt speakers use Dolby Atmos and DTS Digital Surround technologies to produce virtual surround sound for a more cinematic listening experience. The TV also has the option to turn on closed captions for hard of hearing users or anyone who prefers to have subtitles and captions while they watch their favorite shows and movies. The TV has four HDMI inputs, including one with ARC connectivity, making it easy to connect all your playback devices, game consoles, and soundbars for the ultimate home theater setup. Melanie Pinola spent five years writing for Lifewire about telecommuting and mobile offices, She has more than a decade of telecommuting experience as an IT administrator and art director. Robert Silva has been reporting on consumer electronics since 1998. He’s focused more on home entertainment and home theater technology since 2000. He has made appearances on the YouTube series, Home Theater Geeks.
What to Look for in a 48-inch TV
Resolution
A display’s resolution is one of the most important factors in determining picture quality. It indicates the total number of pixels a television or monitor is capable of displaying at once, and the density of pixels is incredibly important for determining how sharp or clear an image looks. An FHD/1080p display, for instance, boasts a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, for a total of 2,073,600, while a 4K set can, appropriately, display four times as many.
HDR
A TV with High Dynamic Range has access to a great range of not only colors but contrast as well, meaning it can potentially display more color-accurate images as well as deeper blacks and brighter highlights, to create a more vivid and realistic picture. Most mid-tier TVs support HDR, but it’s worth double checking, especially with less expensive sets.
Refresh Rate
Refresh rate determines the number of frames a device is capable of displaying per second. Generally, the more frames, the smoother and more fluid motion and action looks on screen. This is largely a consideration for gamers, but anyone can benefit from a higher frame rate when viewing motion-intensive content like sports or action films.
The Ultimate 48-inch TV Buying Guide
Walk into the TV section of any big box retailer and you may be led to believe that even a 55-inch TV is on the small side, but despite the push toward bigger and bigger screens, not everybody needs or wants a massive TV, and there’s still a strong market for sets in the 48-inch range. In fact, if you live in a smaller home, apartment, or condo, 48 inches may just be the sweet spot for your living space and your entertainment needs, and best of all you can get some pretty sweet 48-inch sets with incredible features and picture quality at prices that won’t hurt your wallet, leaving you with plenty of room to accessorize by adding things like a cabinet or a better sound system. One of the best things about TVs in this size is that you have a lot of options, meaning you’ll almost definitely find something to fit your needs and your budget, but of course this many options can make things a bit confusing, so it’s important to consider first what you want out of a TV set and then narrow things down from there. Are you planning to use it for casual watching of news and daytime television? Prime-time hits? Blockbuster movies? Is it going to be put in a darker basement or a brightly-lit family room? Are you going to stream from services like Netflix or just rely on over-the-air broadcasts? These are all the kind of questions that are important to think about when shopping for a 48-inch TV.
4K UHD or 1080p HD?
You’re probably aware that 4K TVs are all the rage these days, and while we certainly wouldn’t discourage anybody from buying one if you have the money to spend, when dealing with smaller screens it’s really important to ask yourself whether you’re going to be able to truly take advantage of the higher resolution, both in terms of where you’re putting it and what you’ll be watching on it. You see, if you normally sit more than a certain distance away from the screen, chances are that your eyes won’t be able to appreciate the extra detail offered by a 4K UHD set. The rule of thumb for this is about 1.5x the screen size, which means that your maximum viewing distance to truly appreciate a 48-inch 4K TV is 6 feet. While this will vary depending on the quality of your vision, if the design of your room means that you’ll be sitting much farther away than that, then you may want to consider saving a few bucks and simply getting a 1080p HD set instead, which you’ll still be able to fully enjoy at almost twice that distance.
HDR, Dolby Vision, and More
That said, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s more to 4K UHD TVs than just the actual resolution. Almost all modern 4K sets also offer High Dynamic Range (HDR), which is something you won’t find on 1080p HD sets. There are various flavours of HDR, such as Dolby Vision, HDR10, and others, but they all have one thing in common, and that’s providing much richer colours and deeper contrast levels. To put it simply, you get an image that’s much closer to what the real world looks like. To take advantage of this, however, the content you’re watching has to be encoded in an HDR format to begin with, and if all you plan on using your TV for is to watch things like news, sports, and daytime television shows, chances are you’re not going to be seeing HDR content anyway. In fact, if all you’re doing is hooking your TV up to cable or an over-the-air antenna, you probably won’t even be getting much 4K content at all. For the most part, HDR formats are most widely used in feature films, although many modern prime-time shows also offer HDR, especially when they’re coming from streaming networks like Netflix, and even more so when they’re originals produced by those streaming services. Keep in mind, however, that your set also has to support the specific HDR format that the content is broadcast in. Although many TVs support more than one flavour of HDR, not all do, so you’ll want to read the fine print. As a rule, sets that include Dolby Vision usually offer the widest range of support for other formats as well.
Screen Quality: OLED, QLED, or LCD?
As we noted earlier, the 48-inch size range has a lot of different options available, and while the most affordable models will still only sport standard LCD screens, if you’re willing to spend a bit more you can up your game by going with even better screen technology. If feature films are your thing, we generally recommend going with an OLED screen if you can afford it, as this will provide the best contrast ratios you can get, with incredibly deep blacks that make it an especially great choice for action/adventure flicks. Much like the plasma TV technology that came before it (and which home theatre enthusiasts have sworn by for years), OLED screens actually turn off completely in areas that are supposed to be black, as opposed to LED/LCD TVs which can only dim them to a dark grey. OLED screens also let you view them from any angle without the strange discolouration that you’ll see when looking at an LCD/LED set from the side. However, if films are not your main thing, or an OLED screen simply isn’t in your budget, then an LCD/LED set can still be a great choice, and in fact could even be better if you plan on setting up your TV in a brighter room and watching it during daylight hours. Samsung’s QLED technology is some of the best LED technology available, as the company has been building it to rival OLED, and while it can’t provide the same contrast ratios, it does get a lot brighter while still providing the same sort of deep and rich colour reproduction, which is especially great for HDR content. LG’s Nano Cell LED technology is also a solid choice if you can’t afford to step up to one of its great OLED sets.
Audio Quality
These days most TVs offer some pretty impressive built-in sound. These aren’t the tinny mono or two-channel speakers of yesteryear, and many can actually produce pretty respectable virtual surround sound from only the built-in speakers. Of course, this won’t compare to actually setting up a true 5.1 channel Dolby Surround system in your rec room, but it’s probably more than enough for casual TV watchers. Few things other than movies are really encoded with impressive 5.1-channel sound, and the sound quality of modern TVs should easily be up to the task of handling that kind of content. On the other hand, however, if you’re an action movie buff you’re probably going to want better sound than any set will be able to provide by itself, so you should make sure that the TV you’re considering has the necessary features to support a true surround sound system. In most cases, this will mean a digital optical audio output or HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) connection, although some of newer and higher-end models also offer support for wireless speaker system standards like WiSA, letting you add 5.1-channel audio without the need for cables or a standalone home theatre receiver.
Smart TV Features
Also remember that if you plan on streaming content over the internet, you’ll need an internet connection and Wi-Fi router that can handle it, and this is even more true if you’re looking at a 4K UHD set; streaming Netflix in 4K requires a minimum 25mbps connection, and will eat up around 10-12GB of data per hour, so you’ll want to watch out for any data caps too. Plus, if you’ll be putting your TV farther away from where your internet connection comes in to your home, you may need a long-range router or Wi-Fi extender to ensure you can get a strong and fast enough signal to your set.
Brands
If you’re shopping for a 48-inch TV from a major brand like Samsung, LG, or Sony, your choice will often be determined more by the smart TV features you’re looking for or the kind of screen technology you want, since each manufacturer can be fairly unique in these areas. For example, while you might find it rather ironic considering their competing smartphone platforms, Samsung TVs are actually one of the best choices for Apple fans, thanks to their built-in support for Apple’s TV+ service, iTunes Movies and TV Shows, and AirPlay 2 streaming. On the other hand, Android enthusiasts may lean more toward brands like Sony that use the Android TV operating system. Similarly, if you’re looking for an OLED screen, LG makes some of the best ones you can find, whereas Samsung’s QLED technology leads the way among LCD/LED panels. However, you don’t need to be swayed by the major brands if you’re on a budget or you’re only looking for a set for more casual viewing, and this is even more true if you simply want a “dumb” TV to watch cable or broadcast television. Going off-brand can save you quite a bit of money, and you may be surprised at how many vendors like TCL that you’ve probably never heard of still offer great TVs with advanced smart TV and connectivity features.
