As others have noted, I also found this TV’s peak brightness darker than more expensive OLEDs, at least in the factory “calibrated” mode. This problem is easy to improve, but not completely reduced; you can increase the luminance in the advanced picture settings menu, making content with a high dynamic range (HDR) a little more vivid.
As with all OLED panels, you can expect some afterimage burn-in (with the content leaving an imprint on the TV panel) over the life of the device if you show one station (or desktop app bar or game menu) to many hours per day. I recommend a standard LED TV such as the TCL 6 Series if you think this is an issue, but not for most people.
It’s organic
Don’t let lukewarm enthusiasts on forums get you. Believe me, while in dark scenes (or in brighter rooms) it isn’t as bright or detailed as more expensive OLEDs, this TV still looks remarkable.
I’ve watched everything from 4K Blu-ray discs to 720p Plex streams, and in every case I found myself amazed at how fantastic a TV with this price tag looks. I just had to turn up the brightness and turn off motion smoothing – things I’d do on any new TV. From then on, everything I played looked absolutely fantastic. In previous years, the gap was between TVs two or three times the price, and this would be huge. This year it feels like a little jump over a garden hose.
One area that I give Vizio the upper hand is the Smartcast interface. It’s easily my favorite of the three major OLED TV companies, thanks to an intuitive interface and companion app. I like that it also has support for both Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast, so casting from any phone is a breeze.
It’s also better than Sony’s OLED when it comes to console gaming. The Vizio is one of the few TVs on the market with HDMI 2.1 ports and full support for using the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X at a resolution of 4K with a refresh rate of 120 frames per second. As of publication, the only other TV that supports this functionality is the LG CX (and other higher-end LG models).
I haven’t been able to test either of the new gaming systems during my review period (and heard there are initial compatibility issues), but upgrading your TV (if you have the money) is totally worth it to access these features and Make the most of your shiny new console.
Vizio’s OLED has a few visual compromises, but overall this new TV has the best price-performance ratio you’ll find outside of TCL’s 6 Series. Make sure to wait for a holiday sale as it usually gets close to $ 1,000, if it doesn’t drop. If I was looking for a new TV right now, this would be right at the top of my list.