New TV value I'm impressed with...

steveinaz

Bought a Vizio P65-F1 this weekend at bestbuy for $899. Pretty impressed with this set, after the "passing" of my Panasonic plasma 58". The Vizio is a 65" 4k set that gets pretty respectable reviews. Dialing in the picture is pretty easy using the "Calibrated" modes, and some suggested tweaks to those modes---and BINGO, great picture. The blacks and dark detail are incredible on this thing; never though it would be possible on an LED/LCD type panel. Can't speak to "HDR" performance, because I don't have any content, nor a way to play it. My Oppo BDP-103 looks fantastic on it.

Anywho...just though I'd share.

tonyb

Welcome to the dark side Steve, congrats man.

steveinaz

Just an update:

Couple weeks in, and I really like this P65-F1 HDTV. Blacks are incredible, though it seems to "push" red a little bit. I just tweaked the "Calibrated" mode a bit, and the picture is wonderful. I ended up getting a soundbar for it, nothing special, but better than the small rear-firing speakers built-in. I'm using only 1080p sources, but it looks fantastic. 65" for $899...I'm a happy camper.

codycatalist

Is it a smart TV? If so you should be able to steam some compressed 4K content from Youtube and Netflix. Compressed yes, better than 1080 still? Yes.

rpf65

From what I’ve read, it has a very impressive picture, once properly set up. Haven’t seen one in anybody else’s home, and there was no way it was even close to properly calibrated when I was shopping for one.

Of course that seems to be a trend when shopping for TVs. Guess I can’t blame various businesses for that. Most people only care about screen size rather than picture quality, so why bother.

steveinaz

From all of the reviews I have read, and my own experience, "Calibrated" and "Calibrated Dark" are very, very close to perfect. I did change back-lighting to better suit my room, and of course turned off all "noise reduction" processing.

GospelTruth

I have last years P65-E1 model and really love it. I keep my setting at "Calibrated". I find "Calibrated Dark" a little too dark for my viewing. I also put the gamma at either 2.0 or 2.1. Any higher and it's too dark again. I know the new models have an even brighter output than mine, but I still love it. Glad you are happy with the set, I think they are a great value for the dollar and provide an exceptional picture.

rpf65

Hope I didn’t give the impression that I viewed that the picture on that set was bad or anything. I was trying to say, and probably didn’t do a very good job at it, was that when I was shopping for TVs, I read a lot about various sets.

In my price range, I was considering 5. The Vizio P-series was one of them. I must have looked at that set 20 times over about 3 months, and I almost bought that one. It took me about 30 seconds to decide that particular set would look at least twice as good if it were calibrated. Many other times when I noticed something, I again contributed to a calibration issue.

I kicked Samsung out of the running after the first viewing, even though I knew proper calibration would do wonders for it. Just the way they were displayed caused me to think everything would look like the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”

ZLTFUL

I am a Vizio Fan Boy so I am biased...there's only 4 of them in the house now and 1 LG...but I digress...for the price, Vizio is hard to beat.

steveinaz

I always found Vizio to be a great budget option, as I have them all over the house as well--the P65 really shocked me at it's price, and it was nice to bump up from a 58" to a 65".

I use "Calibrated" with backlight at 60; 2.1 gamma. Our room goes from moderately bright to dim throughout the day. We rarely watch with the room completely dark. I too found "Calibrated Dark" far too dull looking.

GospelTruth

All we have is Vizio in the house. I have some cheaper ones for the bedroom and workout room. My older model (9 years running) was one of their top 55" models back in 2009 and is still running strong. That set is downstairs now for the kids. The 65" replaced it in our family room. I wanted the 4k, HDR and Dolby Vision and it looks great for the money.

Vizio isn't for everyone, I get that. Everyone has a different price point for what they value - and that is no different for TVs. I like the Sony and LG TVs, but the price point for those sets doesn't justify the perceived benefit for me. I know for others, that's not the case and the extra cost does justify the improved technology. I love the new OLED sets, but I couldn't justify the additional $2k I would have had to pay to get the same sized set.

On a side note, I got my TV from Costco and paid for it with my Costco Visa card. Costco's 90 day no questions asked return policy is hard to beat. If you find you don't like the TV, just bring it back within the 90 day period and you get a full refund. Additionally, the Costco purchase provided me with a 4 year warranty if anything should happen to the set. Hard to match that in my opinion.

Conradicles

Steve, is the viewing angle really as bad as the professional reviews claim?

ZLTFUL

I have never experienced the viewing angle woes the reviewers claim. In fact, when we have company, my wife usually sits at the dining room table which is like a 75* angle from the TV in the living room and says she can see the picture fine.

heiney9

I have last years M series Vizio (bought in late 2016) and it replaced a Panny Plasma and I have been thrilled with it since day 1. This is the model with the Android Tablet for a remote and it's been excellent and really easy to use the Smart TV functions and apps. straight from the tablet.

Edit: sometime in 2017 they did away with the free tablet remote, doesn't get such favorable reviews as a smart tv after they did that.

Hooked up a Polk sound bar and it really is a fantastic package.

I would buy a Vizio upper end model again.

H9

P.s. I meant I had the M series.

French_guy

I have 2 "old" Vizio (37" and 46", both 1080p) and a 65" plasma Samsung
Just purchased a LG 75UK 6190 PUB for $950 during Black Friday at Costco
It's HDR but not Dolby Vision.....hope I'm not missing something?

halo

heiney9 wrote: »

Hooked up a Polk sound bar and it really is a fantastic package.

Which Polk sound bar did you go with Brock?

Hermitism

halo wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

Hooked up a Polk sound bar and it really is a fantastic package.

Which Polk sound bar did you go with Brock?

And does it have Alexa?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kill-foster-parents-amazons-alexa-talks-murder-sex-120601149--finance.html

mantis

Sign up for 4k Netflix on the TV app, then you can really see how good that TV is. For the money it's really awesome

steveinaz

I have the highest level Netflix, would that include 4k programming?

heiney9

halo wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

Hooked up a Polk sound bar and it really is a fantastic package.

Which Polk sound bar did you go with Brock?

Magnifi-mini.

Very impressed with the sound it puts out for such a small foot print. Small footprint is what I wanted.

mantis

steveinaz wrote: »

I have the highest level Netflix, would that include 4k programming?

All you have to do to know if you have 4k Netflix is look for the Dolby Vison HDR and 4k logos at the top of each movie menu. If you are paying $13.99 per month you should have 4k. As long as the player your using or app on the TV can do it, you have it.

steveinaz

Cool, thanks Dan.

Conradicles

I may have to pick one of these up. Reviews are good other than the viewing angle, which I can probably live with.

cfrizz

I can relate Skip, I have a 32" Sony in my bedroom and only watch the news on it during the week to catch the weather!