Which TV do you need to stream movies and series?

To watch online videos, you need a TV that has smart TV functions. You can connect these devices to your home network via WiFi or an Ethernet cable. This provides you access to a clear main menu in which popular apps and video services are brought together. Some smart TV platforms offer a wider range of apps and functions than others. Is your current television not a smart TV or does it only have a limited basic platform? In that case, you can connect an external media player such as a Chromecast Ultra. This allows you to add smart TV functions to the television and watch HDR videos via Netflix, for example.

Because most streaming services offer videos in 4K and HDR, it's important that your TV supports this technique. Especially on screens starting at 55 inches, you'll see the difference between 4K UHD and standard HD images. If the image zooms in on the face of an actor during Game of Thrones, you'll be able to count his beard hair. An 8-bit TV displays up to 17 million colors, but an HDR 10-bit TV displays over a billion colors. This makes images extra bright and realistic. We recommend this for streaming movies and series at the highest quality. If you don't value the highest possible quality, an UHD 8-bit TV is sufficient.

For streaming movies and series in HDR, you can use large streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.

Unfortunately, streaming services are almost never free. A subscription for Netflix costs € 7.99 per month, for example. To view HD images, you pay € 11.99. And to view 4K UHD and HDR images, you pay € 15.99. If you don't want to spend money or just want to try out a 4K video, YouTube is a free alternative. But don't expect a large selection of movies or series here. YouTube mainly offers nature videos, trailers, and vlogger streams in 4K.

The higher the image quality, the more your internet connection is taxed. With a slow connection, videos will buffer slowly or your stream might lag. That's why it's important to have an internet connection of at least 25 megabytes per second. If your WiFi isn't fast enough, connect the TV to your modem by cable. This will prevent an annoying loading screen popping up during the exciting climax of a movie.

For the best experience when watching movies and series, you should have an HDR 10-bit smart TV with 4K resolution, a built-in or external Chromecast, and a fast internet connection. With this, you can watch images in high quality with a wide color gamut. You can watch movies and series the way the filmmaker intended them.