Vizio isn't quite the budget TV darling it was a few years ago, but it has carved a solid niche of high-performance TVs with more style than budget brands like Hisense and TCL and lower price tags than high-end leaders like Samsung and Sony.
Vizio's latest P-Series of 4K TVs combine a bright picture with excellent color performance and the Google Cast-compatible SmartCast smart TV platform.
The 65-inch P65-F1 we tested retails for $1,199.99, making it a bit more expensive than the same size model in the Editors' Choice TCL 6-Series.
It does, however, offer a 75-inch version the TCL 6-Series lacks, so if you're looking for a really large TV that won't break the bank, it's worth considering.
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Stylish Design
The P-Series sits near the top of Vizio's TV lines, and accordingly has one of its sleekest, most premium-looking designs.
The screen is a mostly bezel-free pane of glass framed on the top and sides by a thin silver band.
A 0.6-inch matte silver strip runs along the bottom edge, with a Vizio logo at the right corner.
The whole TV sits on two matte gray V-shaped legs, near the edges of the screen; if you want to put the TV on a flat surface rather than mount it on the wall, make sure it's wide enough to accommodate both legs.
All of the ports, save the power cable, sit on the right side of the back of the TV.
Two HDMI ports, a USB port, and component video inputs face right, while three more HDMI ports, an optical audio output, RCA stereo outputs, an Ethernet port, and an antenna/component connector face down.
The power cable runs from the left side of the back of the TV.
The included remote is a 6.7-inch-long black plastic wand with a prominent navigation pad with an indentation for the OK/Play/Pause button located near the top.
Power, Menu, Input, and dedicated service buttons for Amazon, Crackle, iHeartRadio, Netflix, Vudu, and Xumo sit above the navigation pad.
A Vizio SmartCast button sits below it, flanked by volume and channel rockers, with a number pad below that.
SmartCast and Skimpy Apps
The P-Series uses Vizio's SmartCast platform for streaming media.
The "Cast" in SmartCast is the TV's Google Cast compatibility.
You can stream any compatible app from your mobile device, or mirror your device's screen if it's running a recent version of Android, or stream any Chrome tab from your computer to the TV, just as if it had a Chromecast Ultra connected to it.
SmartCast also has its own on-screen interface you can navigate using the remote without any smartphone, tablet, or computer.
The app selection is pretty light on the TV itself, with streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, iHeartRadio, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, YouTube TV, Xumo, and a handful of others, but no app store to speak off beyond what's already there.
Vizio clearly assumes that you'll simply use the Google Cast option if you want to watch or listen to anything not available on the TV itself, which isn't too unreasonable; Google Cast offers incredible flexibility for streaming media, and the big names accessible with the remote represent a decent, if modest, selection.
The P-Series is also Amazon Alexa compatible.
If you register for a free myVizio account, you can then pair the TV to your Amazon account for Alexa control with the Vizio SmartCast Alexa skill.
Performance
The Vizio P-Series supports high dynamic range (HDR) in both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision formats.
We test TVs using a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G test pattern generator, and SpectraCal's CalMAN software on a Razer Blade Pro, using testing methodology based on Imaging Science Foundation's calibration procedures.
In the Calibrated picture mode, the P-Series shows a peak brightness of 403.06cd/m2 with a full-screen field and a very bright 753.94cd/m2 on an 18-percent field.
Effective black level is a bit high at 0.12cd/m2, but the resulting contrast is still a strong 6,282:1.
The Vizio M-Series and TCL 6-Series both offer much better contrast thanks to their darker black levels of 0.02cd/m2 and 0.01cd/m2, but the P-Series still performs decently by our standards.
The P-Series also offers excellent color performance.
The chart above shows DCI-P3 color levels as boxes and measured color levels as dots.
As the chart demonstrates, the P-Series covers an impressive amount of the DCI-P3 color space, with generally very accurate colors save for a slightly cool white balance.
The strong colors on the P-Series come through in the BBC's Planet Earth II.
The greens and blues of the plants and water in the "Islands" episodes look lush and vibrant without appearing oversaturated.
Fine details look good in highlights, including both light and dark fur and tree bark under direct sunlight.
Subjects in heavy shade don't get quite as much detail, occasionally appearing slightly muddy.
This is only a problem with heavy shadows, and the picture, for the most part, looks very crisp.
The occasional issues with contrast are more apparent in The Great Gatsby.
Brightly lit shots bring out the contours of black suits in the party scenes, but the details on the dark clothes sometimes disappear if they're in any form of shadow.
Highlight details look consistently strong, and flesh tones appear natural and balanced.
In Pacific Rim, Hannibal Chau's ostentatious inner sanctum looks rich and vibrant with yellows, browns, golds, and the reds of his wardrobe.
Details like sea spray and rain during a kaiju attack come through strongly, if slightly washed out with light bleed from the glowing of the kaiju's body.
Fine dark details occasionally look muddy, but the night rainstorm battle generally looks clear and crisp.
Input Lag and Power Consumption
In Calibrated mode, the P-Series shows a very high input lag of 98.3ms.
The Game mode on most HDMI inputs idrops that down to 54.4ms, which is still quite high.
However, the HDMI 5 input has an additional Game Low Latency setting that cuts input lag down to 21.2, which puts the P-Series in the range of what we consider to be the best TVs for gaming.
Under normal viewing conditions, the P65-F1 consumes 249 watts in Calibrated mode when displaying HDR10 content.
The Calibrated Dark mode shaves that down to 238 watts, which is still quite high.
There are no specific power-saving modes to speak of.
A Solid Pick for a Big Screen
The Vizio P-Series is an affordable, colorful 4K TV line that offers a fairly strong value for the price.
It's a bit pricier than our current budget favorite, the Editors' Choice TCL 6-Series, but it has a sleeker design, Google Cast support, and is available in 75 inches (for a downright affordable $2,099.99).
It has a few notable flaws, like a mediocre black level that can sometimes make shadows slightly muddy, but it's a strong performer with a reasonable price tag.
If you're looking for a really low price and you don't mind stepping down to a smaller screen, the 55-inch Toshiba Fire TV Edition is available for less than $500.
Pros
View MoreThe Bottom Line
Vizio's stylish P-series of 4K TVs offer excellent color performance and solid performance for a reasonable price, though not without a few flaws.
