re: What tv brand would you recommend?

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Used to be, many panels were made by the same companies.

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That’s still the case. Most if not all OLED panels for TV’s are manufactured by LG. So Sony, Samsung, etc OLED’s are using LG panels. Although I have read that other companies are in the process of jumping into the large OLED panel market.

There are quite a few manufacturers for regular LCD panels. But the key thing to know is that many of the big TV manufacturers still source panels from other companies depending on the specific model. So a given TV, even from one of the big names like Samsung, LG, or Sony, may have a panel from any number of companies including LG, Samsung, Sharp, TCL, AU Optronics etc.

That doesn’t mean two TV’s with the same panel are equal though. Especially for regular LCD (meaning non-OLED) displays. There’s a lot going on under the hood besides the panel itself. An edge-lit TV will perform nowhere near the level of a backlit TV with full array local dimming (FALD). Additionally, all of the software that handles conversion of the incoming video format into actual images displayed on the panel is proprietary to each TV manufacturer. That software has a lot to do with how a TV performs as well.

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Sound can be an issue on cheaper sets as well. Sony, Samsung, and LG may have much better sound.

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Eh, I think sound from pretty much all modern flat-panel TV’s is garbage. One thing that happens with high-end TV’s is that they tend to be thinner with smaller bezels, which means speakers are an afterthought. I have a pretty high end Samsung and its rear-firing built in speakers sound like complete dogshit. But I also don’t think buying a TV for sound makes sense anyway. Even if you don’t have a 5.1 setup, soundbars are cheap and will at least sound way better than the TV.