Top Internet TVs

Televisions that can connect to the Internet are the easiest way to broaden your entertainment choices. You can enjoy movies, music, games, even Facebook and YouTube on the biggest screen in your home without a computer.

We combed through our Ratings of 125 LCD and plasma TVs (both available to subscribers) to find sets offering Internet connectivity and Wi-Fi capability, along with fine performance. We came up with 10 recommended models (available to subscribers) that fill the bill.

Like most Internet-connected TVs, those highlighted in our Ratings (available to subscribers) let you access streaming movies and TV episodes from two or more paid movie services. Most also offer free content from YouTube, Internet radio stations such as Pandora and Slacker, and photo-sharing sites Flickr and Picasa. (If you don't need a new TV, you can use an Internet-enabled Blu-ray player, which costs as little as $100, with any newer TV. See Bargain Blu-ray players.)

A2 LG is one of the few TVs with a full-fledged browser providing unlimited Web access, though more such sets are coming. The LG comes with a wand-shape remote that lets you navigate the onscreen menus with hand gestures. Other TVs, like A4 Vizio, have a slide-out keyboard in the remote control so you can easily enter the title of a movie you want to watch. Even without such features, it's easy to launch an Internet service on a TV by pressing a dedicated button on the TV remote or by using the remote to select an onscreen icon, called a widget.

Strong performers

All the TVs in the Ratings (available to subscribers) offer fine HD picture quality and decent sound quality. That includes the 3D sets, several of which were among the highest scorers. Among the LCD TVs, A3 Samsung and B4 Sony have edge LED backlights, and A4 Vizio and B3 Sony have full-array LED backlighting with local dimming, which can improve contrast and black levels. All the LCD models use some type of higher frame-rate technology (120 or 240 hertz ) to reduce motion blur. Plasma TVs don't exhibit motion blur, so their standard 60 Hz refresh rate is fine.

All the models in our Ratings (available to subscribers) can connect wirelessly to a home network. Wi-Fi is built in on A2 LG, A4 Vizio, and B4 Sony. B1 and B5 Panasonic come with an external adapter called a dongle that plugs into the TV's USB port. With the other models in the Ratings (available to subscribers), you must pay about $70 for an adapter.