PICTURE QUALITY. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail. Color accuracy was excellent, so colors looked very natural and lifelike. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was good, so images had depth and dimension, typical of most models we test. The brightness level was good, making it a suitable choice for most rooms. Black levels are excellent, with help from Vizio's Active LED Zones, a local dimming feature, delivering very deep blacks that enhance contrast in dark scenes. In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the model did an excellent job producing a smooth transition without distinct, coarse bands. Film mode operation for HD film-based content was only good, as was deinterlacing performance. There were visible jaggies along the edges of objects during motion scenes on movies, and jaggies were also visible when converting 1080i video content to the display's native resolution.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Vizio has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs for this attribute. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. When we viewed the TV from the sides image quality degraded significantly. The picture showed a strong loss of color, so flesh tones looked very washed out, along with a moderate color shift. Black levels visibly brightened, reducing contrast especially on dark scenes. When viewing the image from above or below eye level to the screen, the vertical viewing angle was very good. The picture showed minimal change in color, contrast, and black level.
ULTRA HD PERFORMANCE. Overall, falls short. This Vizio UHD TV delivers very good 4K picture detail, along with very good HD-to-UHD upconversion. All native 4K content we played on this model, including movies and test videos was presented in 4K detail when played back via the TV's HDMI input, but we did note some reduction of fine detail such as on skin texture when compared to our 4K reference TV, possibly due to some noise reduction processing, but this was quite subtle and shouldn't be a concern. This model also supports video streaming of 4K programs via Netflix and again image detail was generally fine but texture was slightly compromised as noted previously, and we noted a touch of added edge enhancement. We could not access 4K content via YouTube. Using the TV's USB port, we were not able to play back 4K videos stored on a flash drive which were encoded in the HEVC ,MP4 or VP9 format. With photo play back, high-resolution images were unfortunately downscaled to lower 1080p resolution, not taking advantage of the display's detail potential. With regular HD content, the TV's HD-to-UHD upconversion processing was very good, with edges along diagonals of image content showing very slight jaggies, just short of the best we've seen. Three of the TV's five HDMI inputs comply with the latest HDCP 2.2 copy protection specification, but only one of those three is HDMI 2.0 compatible and able to support play back of 4K video at 60Hz. These specifications are required for compatibility with 4K movie play back devices such as a 4K Blu-ray player.
MOTION BLUR. This Vizio TV has good motion performance, with some blurring on our motion tests. Though this model includes Vizio's "Clear Action", a feature designed to reduce motion blur, we found it was ineffective; the image became too dim and flickery.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. The screen is dark so it does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast even in a bright room.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has fair sound quality with below average performance. It's acceptable for typical programming, but shortcomings become obvious with movie soundtracks and music. With movies, dialog was generally clear and natural sounding, though a bit muffled, and remained well balanced with respect to background music and other sounds. Bass was lacking. Treble lacked detail, and was somewhat closed in. The speakers produced a good volume—so this model should play sufficiently loud in typical room environments, and sound quality degraded at the highest volume settings. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting, but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness, which was distracting on some audio content. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system.
EASE OF USE. Overall, it was fairly easy to setup and OK to do routine things. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV.
STAND ASSEMBLY. The TV's base does not come pre-attached, so some assembly is required. Mounting the support stand to the TV is straightforward, though the stand requires the assembly of one part before mounting. The TV's stand extends to the far ends of the display, which means the table top you'll be setting the TV on will need to be at least as wide as the display itself.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides advanced Internet capabilities via its "Vizio Internet Apps Plus" portal with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services include: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube.
CONNECTIONS. This model has five HDMI inputs—one supports MHL (Mobile High-definition Link), a component/composite shared input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has one USB port, an optical digital audio out, an Ethernet port. Wireless connectivity is built-in. DLNA: accesses files within your home network. Casting: control the TV from a smartphone that has the suitable app installed. The cable connections on the rear panel are recessed with side or bottom-facing ports, so wires don't protrude beyond the display's depth.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A quick start guide. An electronic manual in the TV's menu. A remote control with batteries. A detachable power cord. No printed manual is included.
