VIZIO P-Series 65" (P65-E1) vs Sony A1E 55" (XBR55A1E)

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.

The Sony A1E has exceptional picture quality because of its infinitely high native contrast ratio, decent luminosity, and near-perfect black uniformity.

The TV does a fantastic job when it comes to reproducing dark scenes, as the infinitely high native contrast ratio and the near-perfect black uniformity allow it to display thick, rich, and immersive dark scenes.

As for bright scenes, the luminosity of 389 nits allows this OLED TV to fight glare and reproduce crisp and vibrant colors in vivid scenes.

Out of the box, the Sony A1E has excellent color accuracy, so the majority of users will not require doing the color calibration procedure. The A1E has better color accuracy than its competitors, including the LG seven series OLED TVs.

This 4K120 TV works well with all of the current-generation 4K consoles, including the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, because of the A1E’s adequate input lag (30.7 ms) at 4K resolution. Additionally, the TV is a good choice for HDR gaming, since its input lag does not increase when processing high-bandwidth 4K HDR signal.

The Sony A1E looks good even from an angle since its colors only start to degrade when the angle between the viewer and the panel is greater than 29 degrees.

The Sony A1E sounds noticeably better than all of its competitors, including the LG Seven series OLED TVs.

The Sony A1E runs the Android TV which has the widest app selection among all the smart TV platforms currently available.

The Sony A1E is an excellent option for those who have a collection of old DVDs or Blu-rays, a cable or satellite box, or an Apple TV since the A1E can detect and eliminate judder from those sources and make 24p content playback nice and smooth.

The Sony A1E does an excellent job of managing reflections as its panel is coated with the anti-reflective material; therefore, the TV looks good even when situated right in front of a window.

The main interface of this TV is free of advertisements and sponsored content.

The Sony A1E can boost up the frame rate of low FPS content up to a stunning 120 Hz, making such content look more fluid and smooth. This feature is called motion interpolation, or in some sources, the 'soap opera' effect. Some people find the interpolated content very attractive.

The Sony A1E manages to balance all the features required for a good sports TV. It has well-handled motion blur, excellent color uniformity, and superb picture quality.

Motion blur handling is the most critical aspect of a good sports TV. The A1E has almost negligible motion blur because of its fast full pixel response time of 0.7 ms, which ensures that the pixels of this TV need only 1/1400th of a second to go from one color to another. Therefore, even fast objects don't leave noticeable trails on the screen.

As for the color uniformity, the A1E is currently the best TV money can buy. The overall color uniformity of a TV is essential for sports fans, as it allows a TV to reproduce realistic and good-looking football fields, hockey arenas, golf fields, and other large sports fields.