Which budget TV could I buy that doesn't have horrifying washed out blacks?

[Hi P]

I'm looking to buy a TV for the living room and don't really want to spend a lot, not buying something like an OLED

 

But I also don't want one those TVs whose blacks look awfully gray

 

If I could spend no more than $500 USD that would be great, it's probably going to be used very few times a week

[Colty]

Find an old Plasma TV. Panasonic and Pioneer were the front-runners for that tech. I have an OLED in the living room and a Pioneer Elite in the bedroom, I can't stand backlight bleed and crushed blacks. 

[BiotechBen]

VA panels have better blacks than IPS panels, not perfect blacks, but better. The viewing angles aren't as good, you get some distortion when off center (mainly just more washed out colors) but overall not bad. The TCL I have doesn't have full array local dimming, so very bright areas can get some bleed and lose detail in the blacks, but still very nice overall picture for the price ($319 at time of purchase, 55in).