Vizio P-Series 2018 Review

COMPLETE REVIEW

The P-Series from 2018 is one of the best Vizio has produced this year. The P-Series 2018 comes in 3 sizes: 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch and it is one of the best compromises you can make if you can’t afford an OLED but still want a great 4K LED-backlit LCD TV.

In this review we focused on the 65-inch version. Here are the main specifications:

• Dimensions without stand (W x H x D): 57 x 2.7 x 32.7 in
• Weight without stand: 54.2 lbs.
• Resolution: 3840 X 2160
• 65 inches diagonal
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Viewing angle: 178 degrees
• Processor: V8 Octa-Core
• Platform: SmartCast
• Native refresh rate: 120Hz
• LED backlit, full array, local dimming
• 5 HDMI inputs
• 1 USB port
• 2 speakers (20W)
• LAN, WiFi connectivity
• Chromecast built-in
• HDR support: HDR 10, Dolby Vision, HLG

Design

The P Series 65-inch has a beautiful design. The back is plastic and the TV has silver, metallic legs with a round finish. The legs are thin but positioned at a wide angle. The maximum thickness of the P-Series is 2.72”. There is no cable management like in other competitor sets. Overall though, the design of the P-Series is really premium-like, the TV is slim and has an attractive design.

The connections in the back include 5 HDMI inputs, 1 USB, 1 Ethernet, component and composite video, digital audio out, analog audio out (3.5mm), analog audio out RCA and a pleasant surprise: an RF connector and built-in antenna tuner, which was missing in the previous 2 models.

The remote control included with the TV is nothing you haven’t seen before in a Vizio TV. It is medium-sized and has a significant number of buttons on it. Among others, you’ve also got your common shortcuts, 6 to be more exact, for Netflix, Amazon Video, iHeart, Xumo, Vudu and Crackle. Unfortunately though, voice control is missing. If you do have a device with Alexa or Google Home, you can use it with the P-Series.

Features and performance

The SmartCast interface of the P-Series is not its biggest strength. It is quite slow and laggy, but at least it is user-friendly. There are 18 preinstalled apps (Netflix, Prime Video, Crackle, YouTube, NBC, Hulu, Vudu and others) but you can’t really download any others from a store. What you can do though is use the built-in ChromeCast feature and use your smartphone to stream apps. Overall though, the SmartCast platform is no match to Roku or Android TV for instance.

When it comes to picture quality, the P-Series does redeem itself. The P-series has a great contrast, the local dimming is really effective and the peak brightness (SDR and HDR) are also impressive. The 65-inch model has 100 dimming zones, while the 55-inch has only 56.

Colors are vibrant and the image is really detailed and the wide color gamut has also improved compared to the 2017 model. The P-Series handles reflections impressively and you’ll get satisfying results even in brighter environments.

Viewing angles on the other hand are not the best. You will notice a significant color degradation and brightness reduction when not positioned in front of the TV.

The 65-inch model has a 120Hz refresh rate. Motion-wise, the P-Series have a great response time and a great low input lag for both SDR and HDR content. Gamers will also be pleased by how this TV behaves.

In terms of sound, the 2 built-in speakers (10W each) in the P-series are average. You get enough volume, they’re not the loudest, but they’ll do a decent job. Don’t expect too much bass and presence though and if audio quality is also important to you, you should invest more money in a better sound system.

Overall, we consider the P-Series a real winner this year. The TV looks premium, has a great image quality, an above the average performance and comes at a real attractive price.