Samsung 49K5100 123Cm 49 Inch 50inch

PROS / This TV has great picture quality.

CONS / It doesn't have any smart features.

 VERDICT / This is a great cheap TV with a large, high-quality screen that's good enough the living room yet small enough for the bedroom.

You might be wondering what Samsung – one of the most reputable manufacturers in the TV industry – is doing toward the bottom of our list of the best TVs under $500. Unlike the rest of the TV industry, which has shifted almost exclusively to smart technology, the Samsung K5100 has failed to do so. This budget TV is one of the few in our lineup that doesn't have Wi-Fi and streaming apps.

Smart TV or not, the K5100 has impressive picture quality. We tested all of the TVs in three different phases: critical viewing tests, blind-focus group testing and software testing to determine the color accuracy and contrast ratio of each budget TV. In all three phases, the Samsung impressed.

Unlike many budget TVs in our comparison, the K5100 showed few flaws in our critical viewing tests. Haloing was not an issue during the movie "Gravity," although haloing around the astronauts and space station were a common occurrence on many of the TVs we watched. Samsung uses micro-dimming technology to alleviate this problem. While it's not the same as local dimming –which dims the backlight on areas that are displaying black – micro-dimming changes the contrast on light and dark areas of the screen. This helped reduce the ring of light around bright areas on dark backgrounds that are a common occurrence on cheap TVs.

As we watched "Skyfall" the TV was having slight problems trying to render M's black and white knit sweater. As the camera slowly zoomed in on her, the sleeves of the sweater were jittering a bit. Some TVs made it seems as though her sweater was jumping in place, so the slight jitter was nothing substantial by comparison.

The K5100 received some of the highest remarks in our blind testing. During "Skyfall" and "Mad Max," our testing group was impressed by the overall sharpness and color representation of the television. The software testing backed up these claims, as the K5100 achieved one of the highest scores in terms of color accuracy and also tested well for contrast ratio. After all of the data was collected, this TV earned an A in our picture quality testing.

On the backside of the panel you'll find only two HDMI ports along with one USB input. This is disappointing considering that three or more HDMI ports is now the standard on TVs. Also missing is an Ethernet cable, which is no surprise considering this TV does not support internet functionality.