It’s official: the 2026 TV Shootout is happening next month and it will include six of the top performing TVs of 2026. As usual, the Shootout event will be hosted by the good folks at Value Electronics at their headquarters on 35 Popham Road in Scarsdale, NY, starting at 9:30 AM and running as long as it takes until a new KING OF TV is crowned.
With Panasonic effectively dropping back out of the high end TV market in the United States, just three manufacturers will be represented this year: LG, Samsung and Sony. Each manufacturer will have one OLED TV and one RGB-lit LCD TV, for a total of six models.
Competitors in the OLED TV Shootout (65-inch):
- Sony BRAVIA 8, Mark II QD-OLED TV (K65XR80M2) – $3,299 (MSRP)
- Samsung S95H QD-OLED TV (QN65S95H) – $3,399 (MSRP)
- LG G6 Quad Stack W-OLED TV (OLED65G6WUA) – $3,399 (MSRP)
Competitors in the RGB-Backlit LCD TV Shootout (75-inch)
- Sony BRAVIA 9 II True RGB LCD TV (K75XR90M2) – $4,599 (MSRP)
- LG RGB95B Micro RGB Evo LCD TV (75MRGB95BUA) – $4,999 (MSRP
- Samsung R95H Micro RGB LCD TV (MRN75R95H) – $4,499 (MSRP)
As in previous competitions, all TVs will be evaluated by professional judges from within the A/V community, including tech journalists (including yours truly), trained calibrators and creative video content professionals. The evaluation will feature video clips and stills chosen to highlight specific areas of video performance including contrast, brightness, color volume, color accuracy, motion reproduction, HDR tone mapping and image uniformity. After the tests, the judges’ scorecards will be tabulated an a new “King of TV” crowned for 2026.
Consumers can use the results of the TV Shootout to select the best TV for their own liking and specific use-case. Performance in both bright and light-controlled rooms will be considered.
Event creator, Robert Zohn, says: “The arrival of Micro RGB TVs marks one of the most intriguing developments in display technology in recent years. We are eager to see how the 2026 TV lineup performs in our side-by-side comparison with all the excellent contenders this year. This is a must-see event for all who are interested in the best video displays.”
As in previous years, it “takes a village” to put the event together. It also takes a fair amount of gear. AVPro Global is supplying the latest state-of-the-art switching, distribution, and test equipment for the event. Magnetar’s UDP-900MKII flagship 4K universal disc player and Kaleidescape’s Strato K 8K-capable Media Player will be the reference sources for content. The Strato K is the company’s first player to support 4:4:4 color encoding and video bandwidth that exceeds that of UHD Blu-ray Disc.
As in previous year’s Sony Professional’s BVM-HX3110 mastering monitors will be used as the reference, against which all displays will be compared.
Portions of the event will be webcast live to reach the largest audience of A/V enthusiasts and media. After the TV Shootout is completed several of the top YouTube TV specialty channels (including our friends Stop the FOMO and Brian’s Tech Therapy) will have edited content of the TV Shootout for everyone worldwide to see the key components of the event.
The Bottom Line
While previous TV Shootouts have not been without controversy, as some TVs have not always performed as well as expected, the TV Shootout remains one of the premier TV comparison events as it pits the top performing TVs against each other and hits them with a wide range of content to reveal each of their strengths and weaknesses. The event’s results will help inform TV buyers’ choices through the remainder of the 2026 and beyond.
Related Reading:
TV Shootout 2025 Results Revealed: Meet the King of TV for 2025
TV Shootout 2025 Results Discussed with Special Guest, B The Installer (YouTube)
