Podcast #1278: Black Friday TV Buying Guide

On today’s show we talk about some great Black Friday Deals that are already showing up online. We’ll keep the list updated over the next couple of weeks. We also read your emails and look at the week’s news.

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Today's Show:

News:

• LG's first 115-inch Mini-LED TV is shipping
• RTINGS found "edge rot" on 14 of 16 older LG WOLED TVs in its long-term test
• LG is rolling out webOS 26 to its 2025 OLEDs, starting with the G5
• HBO Max and Paramount+ will launch a bundle in early 2027
• Deal alert: Early Black Friday OLED and big-screen TV deals hit record lows
• Deal alert: The 65-inch LG B6 OLED is $999.99 at Amazon
• Deal alert: The 77-inch Sony Bravia 6 OLED is $1,798 at Amazon

Other:

• Keep Shining 
• The Garage of My Dreams! MicroLED Video Walls, Golf Sim, Hidden Rooms & MORE!
• HT Guys Amazon Lists
• HT Guys Music Playlist on Apple Music
• HT Guys Music Playlist on Amazon Music
• HT Guys Music Playlist on Spotify
• Ara's Woodworking

Black Friday TV Buying Guide: Which Deals Are Actually Worth It

Black Friday lands on November 27 this year, and the TV ads are already everywhere. So we decided to do an early Black Friday deal show focusing primarily on TVs. We will continue to expand and update the list on the next two shows. 

Buy Now or Wait?

For once, the answer is simple: you don't have to wait. LG is putting a "Black Friday Price Guaranteed" tag on its 2026 C6 OLEDs, and Best Buy's 2026 models are already marked down, with some sets 40 to 60 percent off. The early prices basically are the Black Friday prices.

If you're nervous about buying early, Best Buy has a safety net. Under its Holiday Price Match Guarantee, most things you buy between October 30 and December 31 can be matched to Best Buy's own lower price through January 15. It only matches Best Buy's own price, not other retailers. Most holiday purchases can also be returned through January 15.

The OLED Sweet Spot

If you want OLED, this is the year. The 55-inch LG C6 is about $1,000, half its list price, and the 65-inch is about $1,400. Samsung's 65-inch S90H, with its glare-free screen, is at a record low of about $1,400 on Amazon. On a tighter budget, the 55-inch LG B6E is about $800 at Best Buy.

Mini-LED Picks for Bright Rooms

If your living room gets a lot of sun, Mini-LED gets brighter than OLED and costs less. The 65-inch TCL QM8L is about $1,000, down from $2,500. The 65-inch Hisense U8 is also about $1,000. On a budget, the 55-inch TCL QM6K is under $500, and the 65-inch Samsung M80H is just $500 at Best Buy.

Specs That Matter, and Specs That Don't

Start with refresh rate. A lot of sets now brag about 165Hz modes, but to actually get there you need a PC with a graphics card that supports 165Hz. If you game on a PS5 or Xbox, 120Hz is what you'll use.

HDMI 2.1 ports matter more than the box lets on. Samsung's S90H gives you four HDMI 2.1 inputs, while Sony's Bravia 8 II is limited to two. Some budget sets mix and match: on TCL's 75-inch QM64L, ports 3 and 4 top out at 4K at 60Hz. If you've got a console, a soundbar and a streaming box, count your ports.

Glare-free screens are worth it in a bright room. Dimming zones help Mini-LED sets with contrast, but a big number on the box doesn't tell the whole story, so read the reviews.

Then there's HDR. Samsung just explained its new  HDR10+ Advanced format, which uses AI tone mapping and lets creators set motion smoothing scene by scene. A football game can be silky smooth while a movie keeps its film look. It's cool tech, but right now only Amazon Prime Video supports it, on a handful of titles. Don't pay extra for it yet. And remember, Samsung TVs like the S90H still skip Dolby Vision.

Going Big, and Bundle Traps

LG just launched its first 115-inch TV, the QNED93B, a Mini-LED set that lists for about $13,000. Compare that to the 98-inch TCL QM8L at about $3,000. For most of us, 98 inches is plenty, and you keep $10,000.

Then there are the bundles. LG's 65-inch G6 is about $2,000, and it comes with a free M7 wireless speaker plus free professional wall mounting and a matching stand. Great if you'd buy those things anyway. If not, a "free" speaker is just clutter, and a plain lower price may be the better deal. Best Buy's price match doesn't cover bundle offers or free items, so a bundle can't be protected the way a plain price can.

Check the Model Number, and Last Year's Models

Some doorbuster TVs are what the industry calls derivatives: sets made for one sale or one retailer, with a slightly different model number and often fewer features, like fewer HDMI inputs or a simpler remote. Consumer Reports says some are still a good deal, so just look up the exact model number on the maker's site before you buy. And don't skip last year's models.

Beyond the TV: Gear Deals Worth Grabbing

If you're rounding out the setup around that new TV, these are the only add-on deals we'd jump on right now, and every one of them is at least 30 percent off.

• Samsung HW-Q900F soundbar: about $700, down from about $1,500. That's more than half off a full 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos system with a wireless subwoofer.
• Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar: $649, down from $999. That's about a third off and an all-time low for Bose's flagship Atmos bar, and its AI dialogue mode makes voices easier to hear.
• eero Max 7: about $420, down from $600. That's an all-time low for eero's top Wi-Fi 7 router, and it doubles as a smart home hub with 10-gig ports.
• Ring Indoor Cam 2K: $25, down from $60. That's nearly 60 percent off a sharp 2K indoor camera with a slide-over privacy cover.
• Blink Mini 2K+: $16, down from $40. That matches its all-time low for a tiny plug-in 2K camera with color night vision.

Gone But Not Forgotten: HDTV Brands That Didn't Make It

Before you head out shopping, let's take a quick trip down memory lane and talk about TVs we actually owned and stood in line for at 3:00AM. When HDTV first showed up, a whole bunch of brands were fighting for a spot on your wall, and a lot of them aren't around anymore. How many of these did you own?

• Mitsubishi: the king of giant DLP rear-projection TVs, including the laser-powered LaserVue. It dropped LCD TVs in 2011 and stopped making rear-projection sets at the end of 2012.
• Hitachi: big rear-projection sets and plasmas. It quit rear-projection in North America in 2007 and stopped selling consumer products in the US and Canada in 2020.
• Zenith: the company that helped build the digital broadcast system HDTV runs on, and made some of the first HDTV receivers. LG bought it outright in 1999, and Zenith doesn't make TVs anymore.
• Fujitsu Plasmavision: Fujitsu brought the first plasma TVs to market, and Plasmavision was a high-end name. Fujitsu got out of plasma TVs in early 2008.
• NEC: high-end plasma displays. NEC sold its plasma business to Pioneer in 2004.
• Gateway: yes, the cow-box computer company. It made headlines in 2002 with a plasma TV for about $3,000, thousands less than the competition, then got out of TVs in 2005.
• Dell: Dell sold LCD TVs straight from its website starting in 2003, then retired Dell-branded TVs in 2007 to focus on PCs.
• HP: HP sold MediaSmart LCD TVs, then wound down its TV business in 2008, with Costco clearing out the last sets.
• Olevia: Syntax-Brillian's value LCD HDTVs, sold at places like Target and Costco, ranked sixth in US market share in 2007. Syntax-Brillian filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and Emerson bought the Olevia name in 2009.
• InFocus: the projector company tried ultra-thin rear-projection TVs and exited that market in 2005.
• Runco: the high-end home theater brand, famous for its projectors and PlasmaWall flat panels. Planar bought it in 2007, and the last Runco projectors were phased out in 2016.

And a few famous names live on only as licensed labels on new sets: Pioneer (sadly, no Kuro), RCA, Westinghouse, JVC, Magnavox and Philips. So if one of those shows up on a Black Friday doorbuster, it's not the same company that built the TV you remember. Now, who still has one of these in the basement?

Download Episode #1278