Vizio V-Series (2020 model) review

Our Verdict

A bargain 4K Idiot box, the Vizio V-Serial competes well on price if not always on operation.

For

Adept connectivity
Proficient response for gamers

Against

Low brightness
Weak audio

Tom's Guide Verdict

A bargain 4K TV, the Vizio V-Series competes well on cost if non always on performance.

Pros

+
Skilful connectivity
+
Proficient response for gamers

Cons

-
Low brightness
-
Weak audio

Vizio V-Series TV: Specs

Toll: $329.99
Model number: V505-H19
Screen size: 50 inches
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Ports: 3 HDMI 2.1 (one eARC); ane USB; 1 Ethernet; 1 headphone jack; RF; composite; digital audio
Audio: 8 by 8 watts
Smart TV software: Vizio SmartCast
Size: 44.13 x 25.59 x 2.42 inches [due west/o stand]
Weight: 21.54 pounds [w/o stand]; 22.05 pounds [w. stand]

Bargain large screen TVs involve making compromises for the cost. Vizio's the-5-is-for-value 50-inch Five-Series 4K TV follows the trend, sacrificing some brightness in this particular display. On the other paw, because all the features it does include, it'south definitely competitively priced.

The Vizio V-Series, for example, includes full-assortment local dimming backlighting, to meliorate contrast, and support for 4K formats including Dolby Vision, HDR10 (loftier dynamic range), HDR10+, and HLG (hybrid log-gamma, substantially HDR for broadcasts). It does not deliver dazzling performance, just the Vizio V-Series does well enough against other bargain sets in this tight and highly contested cost range and size.

For example, All-time Buy'south 50-in Insignia F30 Serial LED 4K UHD Smart Burn down TV arguably doesn't perform also as the Vizio V-Series and is $x more. Conversely, TCL's 4-Series Roku TV sets await meliorate and are easier to use for about $xx more. This is ane of the all-time Vizio TVs in terms of value.

Vizio V-Series review: Pricing and availability

Available at present, the V-Series is Vizio'south 4K line for budget conscious buyers. There is a lower priced Vizio D-Series but those sets don't support 4K and should only be considered for kitchen TVs that aren't going to become much serious attention. The V-Series comes in 8 different sizes, starting at 40-inches and going all the way up to a 75-inch style. The sweetness spot, toll-wise, is the l-inch V-Series we tested for $329.99.

40 inches (Model V405-H19) - $229.99
43 inches (Model V435-H11) - $299.99
50 inches (Model V505-H19) - $329.99
55 inches (Model V555-H11) - $370.99
58 inches (Model V585-H11) - $459.99
65 inches (Model V655-H9) - $519.99
70 inches (Model V705-H3) - $649.99
75 inches (Model V755-H4) - $799.99

With this sort of affordable pricing, information technology's no surprise that the V-Series makes our list of the all-time TVs under $500 and best TVs under $1,000, with even the largest screen sizes selling for relatively low prices.

The next serial upward, Vizio'south Thousand-Series, represents a significant price escalation, along with some amend performance. The l-inch Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1), for example, is more expensive than the same sized Five-Serial. However, in our testing, the Thou-Serial model did better in producing the full colour gamut and kicked out a much brighter motion picture.

The Vizio V-Serial shares most characteristics across all of the screen sizes, with the same full-array backlighting and the aforementioned port selections and features. We also expect performance to exist adequately like, regardless of which size model you're looking at, so our recommendations apply across the entire Five-Serial model line.

Vizio Five-Series review: Design

Wrapped in a black plastic chassis, the Vizio V-Series looks like to other sets in this course. Information technology uses a pair of V-shaped legs, for example, positioned near each end of the set to support it on a tabletop. If you'd adopt a wall mountain for this gear up, you should buy a standard VESA 200 x 200 millimeter bracket, which tin can price anywhere from $25 to $lxxx. (Cheque out the all-time TV mounts to see what options we recommend.)

Vizio V-Series (2020 model) review — (Prototype credit: Vizio)

However you choose to set up the Vizio 5-Serial, yous'll have a relatively like shooting fish in a barrel time of information technology. It only weighs 21.16 pounds and is relatively sparse, measuring 44.13 x 25.6 x 2.42 inches.

Vizio 5-Series review: Ports

Vizio has equipped the 50-inch V-Series with enough connectivity to make it suitable for a living room setup or dorm room.

There are iii HDMI two.one ports, including one that supports eARC (enhanced audio return channel). Using the eARC port with a compatible sound bar or A/V receiver means the TV will automatically recognize the device and send sound its manner.

In addition, there is a USB port, Ethernet connection, headphone jack, RF connexion for an antenna, and digital sound output. There's fifty-fifty a ready of composite video inputs for ancient video sources similar a VCR. For more up-to-date amusement sources, the 5-Series has back up for Apple tree's Airplay and Google'south Chromecast built in, so you tin stream media from compatible devices. And, of course, to set up everything upwardly and become online, the TV has congenital-in Wi-Fi 802.11ac with dual band support.

Vizio Five-Series review: Performance

Nosotros noticed immediately that the depression brightness of the Vizio V-Series made a difference in what video mode we judged was best for everyday viewing. Almost without exception, the calibrated or movie style on most TVs delivers the virtually accurate colors and dissimilarity. However, the 50-inch Five-Series looked dim and unable to render details in images in Calibrated way. (There is no Filmmaker way for this set.)

Switching the set to Bright mode, we expected it to oversaturate brilliant colors like red and make night scenes expect like they were shot in bright sunlight. Even so, Bright mode on the Vizio V-Series did non blow out colors or make all the actors on screen wait like they had sunburns.

Looking at the flick settings for each way was also intriguing. In Calibrated fashion, Vizio sets the V-Serial backlight at 100 percent versus Bright style where it'southward 95 percent. Consider that in Calibrated mode on Vizio P-Series, the backlight is set at 60 percent (and fifty-fifty at that it often looks too vivid). The other significant deviation between the two modes on the V-Series is that the local contrast (which should suit the full-array backlight) is off in Calibrated mode just gear up for low in Bright mode. Bottom line: Bright mode produces a improve picture than Calibrated mode on the fifty-inch Five-Series.

Given that change, 4K cloth looked quite solid on Vizio's 5-Series. Watching Lucifer produced well-divers highlights and clearly visible details that are the hallmarks of 4K. Every fly-away strand of hair was clearly defined and colors from the heaven blue of a chair to aquamarine lights and a burgundy shirt looked accurate. It even produced enough detail to reveal that the actor playing the son of God wears contact lenses.

Our favorite 4K test motion-picture show, Star Wars: The Rising of Skywalker, likewise demonstrated that the Vizio V-Serial could concord its own with loftier resolution content. The lighting and light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation highlights were crisp, correct down to the fire reflected in Kylo Ren's eyes. The set did struggle to show nighttime objects in shadowy scenes, such as the serpent cave, but there was no banding across subtle color transitions.

And the Vizio Five-Series did very well upscaling typical Hard disk content to 4K. In an Hd version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the epitome looked quite good, with no glaring picture artifacts or distracting pixelation. Bright manner connected to be better here, likewise. In Calibrated way, the threatening animals in the playground at night just disappeared into the darkness.

Vizio V-Series review: Test results

The Vizio V-Series did strike some positive notes in our tests. Information technology delivered perfectly acceptable color accurateness results, for example, with a Delta-E score of 2.4. A lower number here indicates meliorate performance, but nosotros call up of annihilation around two.2 to be acceptable. It'southward certainly amend than the numbers nosotros've seen from other upkeep-range TVs, similar the TCL 4-Serial Roku TV (2.8) and the 2020 Toshiba 4K Fire Goggle box Edition 50LF621U21 (3.three).

This Vizio also looked proficient for gamers searching for an inexpensive big screen to practise double duty. It produced one of the lowest lag times we've tested with a fourth dimension of xiii.1 ms. That was quicker than the smaller 43-inch TCL 4-Series (S435) nosotros recently tested at 14 ms, and well ahead of the 43-inch Insignia Amazon Fire Tv set, which turned in an abysmal lag fourth dimension of 38.8 ms. Only remember that all of those sets, including the Vizio Five-Series, use 60 Hz displays so they tin can't conform the college 120 Hz refresh rates of the latest Sony and Xbox consoles. If y'all don't need the higher refresh rates, the budget-friendly V-Serial becomes 1 of the amend affordable options of the best gaming TVs.

On the negative side, the Vizio Five-Series wasn't able to display as much of the standard Rec 709 spectrum as nosotros would have liked to see. Most 4K sets reproduce approximately 100 percent (or beyond) of the specification. The Vizio V-Serial reproduced simply 97.6 per centum of the color gamut. What this means is that the picture may not wait quite every bit rich as information technology could, especially when compared to sets that can become across the traditional spec.

Furthermore, brightness was incomparably underwhelming on the Vizio V-Serial. Brightness performance with a ten percent prototype turned out just 272 nits. We usually see something on the order of 600 nits from higher-end sets. And fifty-fifty the bargain priced Insignia Amazon Fire TV (NS-43DF710NA19) we recently tested produced over 300 nits of brightness. The Vizio V-Series' lack of effulgence wasn't onerous, simply information technology did entail making some unusual settings on this set, as noted in the previous section.

Vizio 5-Serial review: Audio

Audio performance was not a highlight of the Vizio V-Serial Boob tube. There are merely a couple of basic preset sound modes: Surround on/off and Virtual:X.

On the V-Series, with surround off, in that location's virtually no soundstage, and all of the audio seems to emanate from underneath the center of the TV. Turning on the Surround way certainly helps with music. With Virtual: 10 engaged Steely Dan's Can't Purchase a Thrill was all pb vocals, hi-hat, and maracas with an attenuated bass line. The Surround audio preset improved fidelity and re-centered the audio so that it sounded like it was coming from the screen directly.

Conversely, for pic fans, the best audio mode proved to be Virtual:10. Where information technology had a negative affect on well-nigh music, information technology enlivened film soundtracks significantly. It did a better job, for example, creating the illusion that sounds were coming from off-screen, similar a ringing phone that seemed to come from a nearby but unseen part desk.

The V-Series Virtual:X mode too did amend with more boisterous material and action movies, albeit at disappointing sound levels. It's not ofttimes that we can drive a Idiot box all the way to 100 percent volume levels without deafening results, but we could easily do information technology with this 50-inch 5-Series. If you enjoy roaring road races and stentorian soundtracks, add one of the best soundbars. The decibel levels of the 5-Series are not going to do information technology for you. Fortunately, the Vizio V-Serial ready includes the eARC (enhanced audio render channel) feature on one of the HDMI outputs to easily sync up a soundbar to the set.

Vizio V-Series review: Smart Tv set

Eschewing the standard smart TV systems from the likes of Roku and Google, Vizio uses its own proprietary smart TV interface, which as the years go by looks more than and more like others such every bit Android TV and the revamped webOS from LG. And that'southward not necessarily a bad thing; it means the interface is familiar and easy to follow.

Dubbed SmartCast, Vizio presents you with a slew of streaming options such equally Magellan Idiot box and IFC movie picks yous can watch for costless. Along the bottom of the screen there are big icons for popular apps including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple tree Idiot box, Disney +, and Peacock. Boosted streaming services can be added via Vizio's App Itemize. It includes most of the mainstream services, including music from the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal. Yet, Vizio doesn't accept the breadth or depth of options similar Roku Telly and Android TV. One app in particular that is missing from Vizio's SmartCast is the Criterion Channel, which is pop with movie fanatics.

Vizio V-Serial review: Remote command

Ane item Vizio hasn't cut back on for the V-Series is the set'southward remote control. It's the aforementioned version used for the company's summit P-Series Breakthrough X sets.

The remote control is significantly better than the older model. It is slimmer, ergonomically curved, and more logically laid out. There'south still a familiar four-way pollex pad and center "Ok" push button to help you navigate menus. And at that place's besides a numeric keypad (often ignored on other remotes) and several dedicated buttons for services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Advisable for a budget priced Television set, at that place's as well a "Lookout man Free" button that takes you lot to streaming content Vizio has aggregated for viewers. One of the dedicated buttons that proved surprisingly useful was a CC button to plow closed captioning on and off. We constitute information technology perfect for those muddled soundtracks that sometimes make it incommunicable to hear disquisitional dialogue.

It'due south worth noting, however, that this existence a 2020 model of Vizio Tv set, y'all won't get the microphone-equipped remote control that comes with newer 2021 Vizio TVs.

Vizio V-Series review: Verdict

The Vizio 5-Series (2020 model) is a tough sell in a competitive segment of the market catering to price-conscious buyers looking for a modestly sized prepare. In terms of performance, its two major weaknesses are its lack of brightness and modest sound abilities. Yet information technology is a improve pick than some other bargain sets, which don't perform too. With decent color accurateness and bully response times for gaming, there'due south plenty to honey about this budget-friendly TV.

Still, before you settle on the Vizio V-Serial, nosotros recommend taking a wait at the TCL 4-Series Roku Boob tube (S435), which offers a subtler motion-picture show and that easy-to-use Roku interface. In fact, to assist you lot make your choice we've pitched them caput-to-head in this TCL 4-Series vs. Vizio V-Series face-off.

John R. Quain has been reviewing and testing video and sound equipment for more than 20 years. For Tom's Guide, he has reviewed televisions, HDTV antennas, electrical bikes, electric cars, every bit well as other outdoor equipment. He is currently a contributor to The New York Times and the CBS News television programme.