If you’re a sports fan like me, you may have had some complaints in the past about your TV when trying to watch sports. Whether it’s reflections while watching a game in the afternoon or blurring during fast motion, something always seems to need tweaking.
Another issue: a TV that appears dim, with a flat-looking image, particularly for field sports such as football and rugby.
Even the best TVs can struggle with sport, but thankfully, there’s a TV tech that’s ideal for sports fans: mini-LED.
Mini-LED: perfect for sports fans
Mini-LED TVs are not only becoming increasingly popular but also more affordable. This tech delivers an improved picture over standard LED by using backlights with smaller LEDs (hence the mini part).
By miniaturizing the LEDs, a higher number can be used, which results in increased brightness. It also allows for a higher number of local dimming zones in the backlight, which helps to boost contrast and improve black uniformity.
Mini-LED TVs can hit significantly higher brightness levels than other TV panel types, with 2,500 – 4,000 nitspeaks possible in flagship models. But for sports fans, it’s fullscreen brightness – the level of brightness that the TV can sustain over its entire screen area – that matters most, and once again, mini-LED TVs here regularly beat other panel types, including the best OLED TVs.
To provide an example of that from our TV testing, we regularly measure fullscreen brightness levels of between 580 – 800 nits on the best mini-LED TVs. But even the brightest OLED TV we’ve tested, the LG G5, topped out at 331 nits in our fullscreen measurement.
I’ve picked three models below that are examples of the best mini-LED TVs for sports.
1. Samsung QN90F
The Samsung QN90F is the perfect TV for sports. Not only does it deliver exceptionally high brightness levels – 2,086 nits peak and 667 nits fullscreen in Filmmaker Mode – but it has a Glare-Free screen (first introduced in the Samsung S95D OLED) that effectively eliminates reflections, making it perfect for afternoon sports watching.
The QN90F also delivers the superb motion handling that’s essential for fast-paced sports. Even for movies, we found we could get smooth motion, with no sign of the dreaded ‘soap opera effect’, by setting both Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction to 3.
The QN90F delivers vibrant colors, strong contrast and realistic textures for a brilliant picture. And when viewing from an off-center seat, there’s little sign of the backlight blooming that results in contrast fade, meaning it’s great for watching in large groups.
The QN90F is a premium-priced TV, with the 65-inch model we tested priced at $2,499.99 / £2,499 / AU$3,499, but if you’re a sports fanatic, it’s worth the investment. Plus, you can expect prices to drop at some point in the near future.
2. Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED
When I first began testing the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED, I didn’t anticipate it would be such a good TV for sports. But in its preset Sports mode with Smoothness (Judder Reduction) set to 4 and Clarity (Blur Reduction) set to 10, sports looked impressively smooth. Color was also surprisingly accurate in that mode, which is unusual as I’ve found the Sports mode makes colors look oversaturated and garish on most TVs.
Something unique about the Omni Mini-LED is that it’s nearly ready out of the box for sports. In contrast, I found when testing competing models such as the Hisense U6N and Hisense U7N that more setup was required to get sports looking right.
The Amazon Omni mini-LED is a significantly more affordable TV than the Samsung QN90F, with its 65-inch model often discounted down to $949.99 / £949.99. It may not have the same level of sports prowess as the Samsung QN90F, but it’s great for the money.
3. TCL QM7K / TCL C7K
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This entry is a hybrid as the TCL model name (and specs) will vary depending on which side of the pond you’re on. Either way, it’s the mid-range model in TCL’s 2025 mini-LED lineup.
Both of these TVs deliver exceptional brightness at a mid-range price, with the TCL QM7K and TCL C7K hitting 2,350 nits and 2,784 nits HDR peak brightness, respectively. More importantly, they hit 640 nits and 678 nits HDR fullscreen brightness, respectively – very good numbers for watching sports in bright rooms.
These TVs require some motion setup. Since I’m based in the UK, I tested the C7K, and I found that I needed to tweak the Sports or Standard picture mode by setting Blur Reduction to 3 and Judder Reduction to 6. I also needed to lower the color setting in Sports, as it was oversaturated in its default settings.
Once this was completed, the C7K was a solid TV for sports. It isn’t quite as effective as the two models above, but it is still a very good mid-range option overall. If the QM7K is anything like its UK counterpart, then the story for that model will be the same.
Again, for the 65-inch models of these two sets, you’re looking at paying $999 / £1,099. That’s a similar price to the Amazon Omni Mini-LED, which has the best motion of the two, but with the TCL, you’re getting that extra hit of brightness.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
