A great HDTV doesn’t have to break the bank. Sure, you could spend thousands on a panel, but $500 can get you a sizable one with great picture quality, solid features, and all the connectivity options you need, while still being thin and trim. This week we’re looking at five of the best budget sets, based on your nominations.


Earlier in the week we asked you for your suggestions for budget-friendly HDTVs, and you responded with tons of great options, both affordable new, previous years’ versions, and even some refurbs. All told though, we only have room for the top five, and here they are, in no particular order.


If you’re looking for a well-sized, feature-packed smart TV without breaking the bank, TCL can deliver. The TCL Roku TV 50FS3800 is a 50” 1080p 120Hz panel that has a Roku set-top box baked inside, so you don’t need to buy another one. You even control it with an included Roku remote control, or you can control it with your smartphone or tablet using the Roku mobile apps. It’ll set you back $480 at Amazon, and if you don’t like the idea of spending that much (or want a smaller panel), there are smaller options to choose from as well. For your money, you get three HDMI ports, a USB port, all the other video connectivity you could possibly need, and control over all of your connected devices and Roku apps and channels from the TV’s home screen. You can switch between any of your connected devices easily, swap channels, search for programs or movies on any streaming service, and more with just a couple of button presses. You can even cast video from your phone to the TV without any added devices. It doesn’t hurt that the panel looks good too, with the twin-leg stand design and a super-thin bezel around the 50” screen to match.


Those of you who nominated the TCL Roku TV pointed out that it’s a smart TV for an incredible price, and it’s smart in the right way—as in, it includes the features you’d probably go out and buy in a set-top box without the bloat and cruft that come with a lot of manufacturer’s “smart” offerings. It’s an incredible value feature-wise, and you noted that image quality and color reproduction are spectacular for a panel at this price. More than a few of you chimed in to say you own one, and you love yours, which is a vote of confidence in our book. Read more in its nomination thread here.


A juggernaut in the nominations round, the VIZIO E50-C1 is just over our budget at $528 at Amazon, but it can easily be found for less than $500 elsewhere around the web, and many of you pointed out that you were able to score deep—like less than $400—discounts on this puppy, especially around the holidays. For your money, you get a 50” panel at 1080p and 120Hz with three HDMI ports, a USB port for music and video on external storage, all the other connectors you would expect (VGA, component, composite, etc), wall mount support, and a one year warranty. The panel even supports local dimming, which helps improve contrast and gives you darker blacks in parts of the screen where they’re needed, and the ability to auto-adjust based on room brightness. VIZIO’s suite of smart TV apps are also included, including baked-in apps to stream services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video, as well as social apps like Twitter and Facebook, streaming music from Pandora and Spotify, and more. The TV has Wi-Fi built in, so you don’t need to run an Ethernet cable to it, either. It’s the top of the VIZIO E-class series of HDTVs, and for the money you get the great image quality and color most people have come to associate with VIZIO’s budget-friendly-but-top-performing panels. Plus, VIZIO’s design gives you a super-thin panel with a tiny bezel, but also twin, minimal-looking legs instead of a usual stand.

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Those of you who nominated the E50-C1 shared the various price points you picked up the panel for—one of you said you grabbed one for around $450, and a few others of you pointed to holiday sales and Super Bowl sales as great opportunities to save big here. Even if you wind up paying full price, you praised it for being a VA panel (instead of a traditional IPS), having incredible color accuracy, and for VIZIO’s customer support. You can read more in its nomination thread here.


This Sceptre panel is about $500 exactly at Amazon, which puts it at the top end of our budget here, but for your money you get a full 55” 1080p 60Hz LED TV, three HDMI ports, a USB port for photos or videos on external storage, MHL support, a beautiful tempered glass stand and a thin bezel, and built-in surround sound speakers. It’s VESA-mountable, and all-around a solid, budget-friendly panel. Image quality and color reproduction are solid, and while you don’t get a ton of features in it, this panel does deliver on the things that matter most, especially if you’re watching how much you spend and still want a nice big screen for the living room. Overall, it’s a solid, well-rounded HDTV that won’t disappoint, and if it does, it comes with a one-year warranty.


Those of you who nominated the Sceptre pointed out that you have yours and love it, or have a similarly-sized model and love that one. It’s not brimming with features, but what you lose in features you get back in screen size—plus many of you mentioned that while the panel is $500 as of this writing, it’s frequently on sale at deep discounts. One of you said you picked yours up for $399, and this particular model is available online or in store at Costco, Best Buy, and a number of other retail locations. You can read more in its nomination thread here.


If you have to have a 4K panel and you’re willing to sacrifice a little screen real estate to get what you want, this Seiki 4K 39” 120Hz Ultra HD display will do the trick, and it’s only $369 at Amazon. Technically discontinued (as Seiki is ramping up production and rollout of newer, bigger 4K displays and models), it’s still widely available, and well loved for being one of the first really affordable 4K panels that you could use as a TV, or as a computer monitor. It even earned an honorable mention in our five best budget computer monitors Hive Five earlier this year. Keep in mind that the panel is 120Hz when viewing standard HD content—when bump up to 4K, you drop to 30Hz. You’ll skimp on a few features here, but you still get the basics, three HDMI ports, two USB ports (one for service use only, but the other for images—not other media however,) VGA and component and composite connections, and more. There’s no smart functionality here, and no apps or anything, but if you want an affordable 4K display that can do 4K when connected to a source that supports it (like a PC or laptop’s video out) and looks solid, but = still can handle 1080p pretty nicely, this is a great option—at least until some of the newer Seiki models come down in price.

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Those of you who nominated this panel pointed to its great price, and the fact that it’s a 4K panel that can serve as a monitor and an HDTV as great selling points. You noted that the price is great, and the design is solid too—it’s a thin display with a nice thin bezel. Support for some of the newer Seiki panels appeared in the nominations thread as well, with a few of you pointing to a 42” Seiki SE 1080p model (not 4K) that’s as low as $280 in some places. You can read the original nomination thread for the 4K panel here, and the additional nominations thread here.

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Where the E50 is the current, 2015 line of smart HDTVs, the e500i-A1 is the 2013 line, and it picked up a bunch of nominations for bringing lots of features to the party at bargain-friendly prices. Available from third parties for around $399 at Amazon (check the Amazon Seller listings), you get a 50” 1080p, 120Hz LED panel with all the smart TV features you expect from VIZIO, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, streaming music from Pandora and Spotify, and tons more. The panel itself supports active LED zones that can be activated or deactivated depending on whether they’re needed, a screen that auto-adjusts to match room brightness, built-in Wi-Fi, a lovely app launcher to get you right where you want to be when you turn the TV on, four HDMI ports and all the standard video connectivity options, a USB port on the side for external media, wall mount support, and of course, VIZIO’s standard one year warranty. As usual, you may have to dig a little bit to find this set, since it’s an older version and has been replaced by the E50-C1 we mentioned above, but if you can get one, either new or refurb, you’ll find a great panel at a low price.

Those of you who nominated the e500i-A1 pointed out that this flagship panel was ahead of its time when it was new, so you’re not really missing anything by upgrading now. You get a great screen for less-than-flagship prices, and that it was one of the first to come with the full array LED lighting and local dimming that’s now become standard on VIZIO’s better panels. A few of you mentioned that you didn’t care for VIZIO’s smart TV apps and that you preferred your own set-top box instead, and you have plenty of connectivity options for that if you want to go that route. A few of you shared your calibration and setup tips, but most of all, you largely agreed that this panel—and VIZIO in general—offer a good balance of picture quality for the money you spend. Read more in its nomination thread here.


Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them to a vote and determine the Lifehacker community favorite! Cast your vote below:


Honorable Mentions

This week’s honorable mention goes out to the LG 42LF5600 42” 1080p LCD HDTV, which will set you back around $360 at Amazon. For your money you get a 42” 60Hz panel with two HDMI ports, but you get great image quality at a modest price. You don’t get the same features as some of the others in the roundup, and a few of you pointed to the lack of video connectors as a drawback, but overall it’s a solid panel at a decent price. Some of you said you specifically liked yours for gaming. You can read all about it in its nomination thread here.


Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn’t included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don’t just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.


The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com !

Title photo by Maurizio Pesce .