The 5 Best Outdoor TVs That Will Revolutionize Movie Nights

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If your spring and summer consist of family time outside, sunning on your favorite outdoor furniture set, grilling delicious food, and playing lawn games, then an outdoor TV will take your experience to another level. These products are specifically designed to provide viewers with great picture quality, no matter the forecast. Did you know that outdoor TVs can withstand major temperature changes and even snow? You'll never have to pack up your game day feast or reschedule your movie night when you have one of these stellar streamers in your yard.

Unlike the temporary viewing setup a portable projector or projector screen provides, the best outdoor TVs are a reliable, permanent fixture in your backyard. And luckily, there are plenty of solid options available today.

The Best Outdoor TVs

• Best Overall: Samsung The Terrace Smart Outdoor TV (55-Inch)

• Best Budget: Element Electronics Partial Sun Outdoor Roku Smart TV (55-Inch)

• Best for Shaded Spaces: SunBrite Veranda 3 Series (65-inch)

• Best Value: Sylvox Pool Pro Series Outdoor TV (55-inch)

• Best Sound: Sylvox Garden Series Outdoor TV (55-Inch)

What to Consider

Brightness

Peak brightness is the most important feature to consider when shopping for the best outdoor TV. If you plan to use your new TV in an area with direct sunlight, look for a brighter display panel (think 1,000 nits and above). Display panels with lower brightness, on the other hand, are more suitable for shaded spaces like covered patios and balconies. Outdoor TVs with such screens almost always cost less than their brighter counterparts.

Platform

Featuring Wi-Fi connectivity, today's best outdoor TVs will give you a choice between Android TV/Google TV, Roku TV, or Samsung's Tizen OS smart TV platform, with the last one being the most feature-rich. In addition to the expected superb integration with Samsung phones and tablets, Tizen brings a choice between Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant integration, to name a couple of major highlights.

Roku TV deserves your attention for being incredibly easy to use. Android TV, known as Google TV in its latest guise, is a particularly great option if you own an Android phone or plan to share content from a computer or tablet via Chromecast.

Having such a plethora of choices nowadays is a big deal since outdoor TVs used to consist of a screen and a few connectors placed inside a dedicated weatherproof housing until not too long ago. Because of this, consumers previously needed to spend extra on a streaming player to access their go-to content. Those days are long gone.

Sound

Be mindful that many of the best outdoor TVs, including highly rated ones, might require you to spend more to upgrade their sound. Some products have a high-quality soundbar on board, while others feature underwhelming speakers. Some outdoor TVs don't come with any speakers, making an outdoor soundbar a must-buy. Don't stress — there are a bunch of budget sound bars out there. We found a reliable, weatherproof option for less than $300, so there's no need to break the bank to upgrade.

How We Chose

To determine which outdoor TVs are worth buying, we researched products from leading brands and ensured their weatherproof housings could endure extreme hot and cold temperatures. The products we selected have an official IP (ingress protection) rating for water and dust resistance. In addition, every TV on this list has a bright display panel with an anti-reflective coating — must-have features for a reliable outdoor viewing experience. Available connectivity features and sound quality are also important bits we factored in.

Find the best outdoor TVs for your backyard, garden, or patio among these thoroughly researched, editor-tested models. These products cost more than their indoor counterparts, but the al fresco entertainment you'll get is worth investing in.

The Terrace Smart Outdoor TV

The 55-inch Terrace by Samsung is today's absolute best outdoor TV and the one to get if your upgrade budget permits. Its super bright 4K QLED display panel has the best picture quality and is viewable even in direct sunlight. Combined with exceptional peak brightness, the quantum dot panel delivered stunning colors and dramatic contrast when we put it through its paces.

It's well worth the extra coin for its superior QLED display panel. It provides you with superior contrast and more vibrant colors.

With a 120Hz refresh rate, the screen is also great for watching sports, ensuring that even the most action-packed sequences are stutter-free. Rivals of the Samsung Terrace have a 60 Hz refresh rate, so they truly can't match its smoothness.

Thanks to onboard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2 connectivity, Samsung's Tizen platform, and support for Alexa and Google Assistant commands, you don’t have to worry about adding a streaming player.

The TV is available with size options up to a massive 85-inch screen. This iteration rocks a five-digit price tag, but it's the ultimate home outdoor entertainment device. You can pair every TV with an equally impressive (and pricey) Terrace soundbar.

Partial Sun Outdoor Roku Smart TV

Element's Partial Sun outdoor 55-inch Roku Smart TV is a clear top choice for buyers on a tight budget, offering a rugged build and a bright display panel at an irresistible price point. The product undercuts its similarly sized competitors' prices by half (or more), so it’s as accessible as an outdoor TV can be without skimping on essential features.

The Wi-Fi-equipped TV runs the streaming giant’s feature-rich platform out of the box, so you'll have instant access to all streaming services. For comparison, most of the best outdoor TVs still require you to drop more money on a streaming player to view content. The TV also comes with Roku’s signature incredibly intuitive remote control.

This budget-friendly TV is only available with a 55-inch screen.

Veranda 3 Series Smart Outdoor TV

The 65-inch Veranda 3 Series TV by Sunbrite is hands down the best outdoor TV option for shaded outdoor spaces like a deck, a patio, or a porch. Its anti-glare display panel with quantum dot tech and full-array local dimming offers a mixture of exceptional picture quality and wide viewing angles. The 1,000-nit peak brightness of the screen, while not the highest on this list, is perfectly suitable for outdoor settings that don’t include exposing it to direct sunlight.

Experiencing the Veranda 3 Series in a shaded outdoor space reminded me of watching a top-tier TV indoors. The TV’s picture quality was excellent, featuring vibrant colors and deep contrast. The anti-glare coating and solid brightness also allowed the TV to deliver amazing visuals, including Dolby Vision-enhanced content, at all times. Its maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz brought smooth visuals. The TV's Dolby Atmos-capable speakers were also solid.

Another bit that impressed me about the Veranda 3 Series is that, in addition to running a feature-rich Google platform with access to all streaming apps out of the box, the Wi-Fi-equipped TV also has a generously sized media bay for using another streaming player. Linking an Apple TV 4K to the TV allowed me to effortlessly stream content from an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.

The weatherproof aluminum exterior of the Veranda 3 Series has a decidedly premium finish worthy of the product’s price category. Sunbrite offers the TV with up to a 75-inch screen, and a lower-priced 55-inch version is also available.

Pool Pro Series Outdoor TV

The Pool Pro Series outdoor TV by Sylvox is a formidable rival to the Samsung Terrace, with a lower starting price for a 55-inch version. It packs a display panel with peak brightness that rivals Samsung's, ensuring the viewing experience is top-notch, even in sunny open spaces.

During our testing, the Sylvox Pool Pro Series produced a crisp and clear picture on a sunlit patio. Conveniently, the Wi-Fi-powered model comes with Android TV, bringing access to all streaming services and the amazing Google Assistant. And thanks to Chromecast wireless connectivity, the device can connect to an Android phone, a tablet, or a laptop for a bigger-screen viewing experience.

You can order the 4K TV with up to a 75-inch screen. For less than $6,000, this size is very reasonably priced for a big-screen outdoor TV with top-tier brightness. A cheaper 43-inch iteration that's perfect for a smaller space like a patio or a sunlit balcony is also available.

Garden Series Outdoor TV

The 55-inch Sylvox Garden Series outdoor TV stands out thanks to its six front-facing speakers. By delivering immersive and powerful sound, the multiple audio drivers all but guarantee you won't need to spend extra on a weatherproof soundbar. Considering the product's impressive price point compared to outdoor TV standards, the next-level audio makes the TV a do-everything option that's impossible to overlook.

Picture quality-wise, the Sylvox Garden Series TV is also a great buy. Its 4K panel, in addition to strong peak brightness, is HDR-capable. And thanks to Android TV, accessing enhanced content via your preferred streaming platform is incredibly easy.

Overall, the Sylvox Garden Series TV is among the best outdoor TVs you can buy, so long as you don't plan to use it under direct sunlight. You can also order the product with a 43- or 65-inch screen.

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