When comparing VIZIO P-Series 65" (P65-E1) vs LG B7A OLED 55" (OLED55B7A), the Slant community recommends LG B7A OLED 55" (OLED55B7A) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” LG B7A OLED 55" (OLED55B7A) is ranked 4th while VIZIO P-Series 65" (P65-E1) is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose LG B7A OLED 55" (OLED55B7A) is:
The B7A is the perfect choice for HDR content. On top of its exceptional picture quality with perfectly deep blacks, it has everything essential to an excellent HDR experience: an OLED panel, wide color gamut, and high peak HDR brightness levels. Shadow details are perfect and highlights are really stunning, making for an immersive experience. The OLED panel can manipulate pixels individually, which means it has control over every tiny bit of the picture. The panel can also reproduce the colors necessary for true HDR, and these colors will really pop thanks to its high peak brightness level of ~700 nits.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great for movies and HDR content
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.
Pro Can be remote-controlled from smartphones/tablets
The P65-E1 runs on Vizio’s SmartCast OS, which has a remote app for iOS & Android capable of controlling the TV.
Pro Supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision
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.
Pro Does not suffer from image retention
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.
Pro Interface is ads-free
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.
Pro Dark scenes looks great
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.
Pro Suitable for watching sports & gaming
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).
Pro Great at handling motion
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.
Pro Decent color representation
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.
Pro Excellent black levels and uniformity
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.
Pro Decent color reproduction
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).
Pro Great picture quality
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.
Pro Local dimming is superb
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.
Pro Decent performance in bright environments
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.
Pro Perfect for HDR content
The B7A is the perfect choice for HDR content. On top of its exceptional picture quality with perfectly deep blacks, it has everything essential to an excellent HDR experience: an OLED panel, wide color gamut, and high peak HDR brightness levels.
Shadow details are perfect and highlights are really stunning, making for an immersive experience. The OLED panel can manipulate pixels individually, which means it has control over every tiny bit of the picture.
The panel can also reproduce the colors necessary for true HDR, and these colors will really pop thanks to its high peak brightness level of ~700 nits.
Pro Great at handling reflections
The B7A is great at handling reflections. It can fight glare pretty well in bright environments, thanks to its anti-reflective coating on the panel.
Pro Interface is intuitive and user-friendly
The B7A runs on the webOS smart platform, known for its intuitive and fully customizable UI. It’s built around a Launch Bar that provides quick and easy access to the TV's apps, settings, and inputs. This can be customized and re-organized to the user's liking.
Pro Wide viewing angle
The B7A looks good from almost any angle thanks to its OLED panel, making it a great choice if you usually watch the TV with large groups of people.
Its viewing angle is wide enough for a group of audience to experience more or less similar picture quality when watching from multiple angles off the center of the screen. The black levels and brightness only starts degrading at ≥75°, which means the picture quality will stay roughly the same no matter which angle the screen is viewed from.
Pro Great color reproduction
The B7A can reproduce a really broad range of colors that are crucial for HDR, which also means it has zero issues with SDR colors.
It’s capable of reproducing ~70% of the standard colors for 4K HDR, the Rec. 2020 colorspace. This is one of the highest in the 4K TVs market.
It can also display these colors at different brightness levels accurately that conveys much more HDR details than its direct competitors can.
Pro Extremely versatile
Apart from games, the B7A is great for movies and sports. Its top-notch picture quality, combined with the features it offers, makes it perform really well across different kinds of use cases.
Movies look excellent thanks to the exceptional picture quality, and it’s also a great pick for watching sports because the motion blur is non-existent and the panel is really uniform.
It has near-perfect pixel response time of ~1.0ms, resulting in virtually no motion blur, so fast-moving objects like football don’t leave any trails on the screen. The panel is also uniform enough that it has no issues with displaying large, same-color objects on screen, like football fields.
Pro Good value for money
While the B7A can seem rather expensive, the picture quality and features it offers is top-of-the-line and can’t be beaten. The performance easily outclasses all other TVs in this price bracket.
Pro Suitable as a computer monitor
The B7A can display clear and crisp images from a computer thanks to its full 4:4:4 color support. Because of this, text or shapes with clear, hard edges won’t be blurry.
Pro Excellent at handling dynamic content
The B7A can display extremely fast-moving objects smoothly without any blur or lag, thanks to its OLED panel that has near-perfect pixel response time of ~1.0ms.
Pro Excellent for gaming
The B7A is excellent for gaming thanks to its really low input lag and near-perfect pixel response time that gives it virtually no motion blur.
It’s perfect for all types of games, even fast-paced action games. The experience will be really responsive and fluid. Players will have no issues keeping their actions in sync with what’s on the display thanks to the really low input lag of ~20ms, and fast-moving objects won’t leave any trails on the screen because the panel has a response time of ~1.0ms - it can fully change its pixels color in that tiny amount of time.
Pro Remote is well-designed
The B7A comes with LG's Magic Remote, touted for its easy-to-use design.
It works similarly to a Nintendo Wii remote where the on-screen cursor follows the remote's movement, making it easy to navigate the UI and select menu items.
The remote also has a built-in microphone for the voice command feature, which also supports content searching with voice input.
Pro Excellent for HDR gaming
The B7A’s input lag remains low at ~20ms even when gaming in 4K @ 60Hz + HDR, making for an really immersive and responsive HDR gaming experience.
Pro Smart platform has great ecosystem of apps
The B7A runs on the webOS smart platform. It has a great ecosystem of apps, ranging from media streaming services (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, etc.) to third-party apps. Support for these apps are also first-class with up-to-date features and good performance; for instance, the YouTube app supports 360-degree video playback.
Pro Exceptional picture quality
The B7A's picture quality is top-of-the-line. It has an OLED panel that gives it infinite contrast ratio, excellent screen uniformity, high peak brightness, wide viewing angle, and great handling of reflections.
Thanks to that, it can reproduce blacks perfectly and the uniformity is top-notch - they’re truly dark and even, because the OLED panel has the ability to manipulate pixels individually.
Colors really shine and look true-to-life, thanks to the peak brightness levels peak of ~400 nits for SDR & ~700 nits for HDR.
The picture quality also doesn't suffer from much deterioration when viewed from any angle because the panel has a really wide viewing angle. It’s also capable of maintaining the same picture quality in bright environments, thanks to its high peak brightness levels and great handling of reflections.
Cons
Con Lacks TV tuner
The P65-E1, along with several of VIZIO’s latest TV lineups, does not have a TV tuner built-in. If you plan to watch local over-the-air broadcasts, you will need to purchase a TV tuner separately.
Con Bad sound quality
The sound quality of the P65-E1's built-in speakers is bad — it can't get very loud and the frequencies are not very well-balanced. There is also noticeable distortion at all volumes that gets worse with higher volumes. An external audio setup — such as a soundbar — is highly recommended in order to get the most out of this TV.
Con Interface can be sluggish and slow
The interface of VIZIO’s SmartCast OS can sometimes be sluggish; some users have reported experiencing choppy animations, frame drops when browsing through the menu, and slow response to input/selection.
Con Poor viewing angles
The picture quality on the P65-E1 suffers from some degradation when viewing from an angle, as typical of a VA panel. It is worth noting that this con does not apply to the 55" version of the VIZIO P-Series as it has an IPS panel whereas the rest has a VA panel.
Con May require some color calibration out of the box
Out of the box, the B7A’s white balance might look slightly off to some viewer, so a brief calibration might be required if you notice it. Fortunately, all the optimal color settings are available on the internet and isn’t hard to find.
Con Interface has ads
The B7A's interface includes ads that can’t be removed - there’s no option to disable it. Ads on this TV can be really annoying when compared to other smart TVs because they're almost everywhere. There are video ads in LG's Content Store, apps menu, and even voice search results.
Con Below average sound quality
The sound quality of the B7A's built-in speakers is below average. It can't get very loud with the max volume peaking at ~85db, and sound quality it offers does not match the picture quality.
Con Suffers from image retention issues
The main drawback of OLED panels are image retention issues with static images - pixels on the panel gets burned in when the picture doesn't change for extended periods of time. This usually happens with content that has a static image anywhere on the screen, like the logo of TV channels.
As the B7A has an OLED panel, it unfortunately suffers from this problem. There might be some retainment of artifacts for ~15 minutes when this happens, and it usually goes away after watching other content without static images.
There are some cases where normal content won't cut it, which usually happens when the static image has been there for more than some hours. Fortunately, the B7A has a “Pixel Refresher” feature that can recalibrate the screen, which should get rid of any remaining artifacts.