VIZIO P-Series 65" (P65-E1) vs VIZIO P-Series 55" (P55-E1)

The P65-E1 performs extremely well for HDR content thanks to its black levels, high native contrast ratio (4675:1, up to twice of that at 9271:1 with local dimming), and wide color gamut — all three of which are essential to HDR.

The P65-E1 runs on Vizio’s SmartCast OS, which has a remote app for iOS & Android capable of controlling the TV.

There are two different formats for HDR — HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Some TVs support only HDR10 and can't play Dolby Vision content. The P65-E1 supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, giving it the ability to play any HDR content in 2017.

Unlike the OLED panels in this price range, the P65-E1 has a VA panel and thus it does not suffer from image retention issues.

The user interface of modern smart TVs can include some advertisements similar to those on the internet or in a mobile app. The P65-E1 does not include any.

The P65-E1 can handle dark scenes very well thanks to its high native contrast levels, which clocks in at 4675:1 native, and it can go up to double of that at 9271:1 with local dimming enabled. This, along with good black levels and uniformity, gives the TV the ability to achieve great representations of dark scenes beyond most expectations.

The P65-E1 is versatile enough to be used for sports & gaming — its handling of motion blur is fantastic at ~11ms, and the input lag is only ~16ms which makes it good for gaming where input lag matters (but it is not suitable for HDR gaming because of the ~45ms of input lag for HDR content).

The P65-E1 is great at handling motion with very fast response time (~11ms). It will have no issues with displaying fast-moving objects — they will look smooth without any blur or lag.

The P65-E1 does a decent job with color accuracy — the colors are accurate out of the box and there is no calibration required, although it would benefit from some adjustments to the white balance. Color calibration is recommended to get the most out of this TV, but not necessary if you find it alright.

The black levels of a TV affects the viewer’s perception of other colors next to it. If the black levels are not deep enough and doesn’t remain uniform across the screen, the overall picture quality will look “flat” without much depth. The P65-E1 handles this well with only <0.8% deviation (across the entire screen) from what a pure black screen should be — this results in a significant gain in its native contrast levels, thereby increasing the picture quality.

The color gamut of a TV refers to the range of colors the display can reproduce — the wider the color gamut, the more colors it can display, and the better the overall picture quality will be. This is extremely important for HDR content because it requires a much wider color gamut than SDR content. This TV has a wide color gamut and have no issues with accurately reproducing the colors necessary for true HDR, although its color gamut is not as wide as other TVs in this price range (e.g. the Sony X900E).

The picture quality is great on the P65-E1. It has one of the highest contrast ratios in an LED TV when local dimming is enabled (9271:1), giving it the ability to produce very deep and uniform blacks. The brightness level for HDR is decent enough at ~450 nits to fight glare in bright environments without much picture quality degradation.

Local dimming is the TV's ability to dim areas of the screen for deeper black levels and better contrast — they are separated into different dimming zones, where each zone can be individually dimmed as needed. The local dimming on the P65-E1 is by far one of the best in LED TVs of 2017 (only beaten by the Sony X940E). It is capable of doubling the contrast levels from 4675:1 to 9271:1.

The P65-E1’s panel has a semi-gloss finish for diffusing the light across the screen evenly to decrease intensity. This, along with its ability to get quite bright (practically, it peaks at ~450 nits for HDR and can maintain this level of brightness), means that this TV is decent at handling reflections and performs okay in bright environments.

Suitable for gaming, movies, and sports, the VIZIO P-series is one of the most versatile TVs in its price range. While the combination of low input lag and fast response time makes the TV suitable for gaming;, the VIZIO P-series also does a great job of processing highly dynamic content, such as sports. Furthermore, the TV’s uniform blacks, excellent local dimming, and reasonably high peak brightness makes it an attractive option for home theater.

It has great motion blur handling abilities and a dedicated gaming HDMI port with a reduced input lag of 15.9 ms makes the VIZIO P-series quite suitable for gaming.

The TV’s excellent motion blur handling is directly related to its ability to change the color of each pixel 80% of the way in just 3.9 ms so you won't notice any trails on rapidly moving objects. The VIZIO P-series by far outperforms all the competitors on the market when it comes to this.

The 55-inch model of the VIZIO P-series has excellent viewing angles because of its IPS panel which preserves correct colors and shades no matter the angle between the viewer and the panel. This property makes the TV ideal for watching with a group.

This TV is an excellent choice for those who like to ‘speed up’ the regular 30FPS media, sourced from cable/satellite boxes or old DVDs as it can boost up low frame rate content up to a whopping 120 frames per second rate. Some people call it a ‘soap opera effect’, but technically the process is called interpolation. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that this TV’s biggest competitor: the TCL P607 cannot interpolate motion.

The VIZIO P-series is suitable for HDR-enhanced content because of its full HDR10 and Dolby Vision support. The HDR10 and Dolby Vision are currently the two flagship HDR formats used in the multimedia industry, which means that all the new HDR movies and shows are compliant with either one of those formats.

It’s also worth noting that in the HDR field, the VIZIO P-series outperforms its competitors, including the Samsung MU8000 which lacks Dolby Vision support.

The VIZIO P-series feels solid and rugged because its frame and stand are built from high-quality metal. In comparison, the most significant competitors of the VIZIO P-series: Samsung MU8000 and TCL P607 have their frames and stands built from plastic.

This TV comes with a brilliant, well-integrated phone and tablet application which can transform your smart gadget into a fully-functional remote. The application is particularly handy when you need to input some text, for example, while searching content on YouTube or Netflix.

This TV works fine with all the current generation consoles, including the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and Wii U, because of its 4K 60 Hz support.