VIZIO - 50" Class M6 Series 4K QLED HDR Smart TV

Very good for price. THE GOOD ~ Nice middle size (50 inches) ~ Sound quality ~ Loud enough ~ Good picture (no blurring during football games, etc) ~ Bright ~ Simple remote ~ Easy setup ~ A lot of pre-loaded apps THE BAD ~ Sound issue (see * below) ~ Some color banding (blacks/very darks) ~ A few white pixels at times THE MEH (Could go either way) ~ Feet near edges of tv (I would prefer a center base with a pivot stand) ~ Some glare (Christmas tree lights reflect off screen LOL) ~ A lot of pre-loaded apps OVERALL It's important to keep in mind this is not a high-priced, high-end television. If you've read my reviews before, you know I often quote my dad with "Use the right tool for the job." Not everyone can afford to drop $1,000-$2,000 or even more on a tv. Luckily, there’s Vizio. This is the right tool for the job that doesn’t require a super-expensive tool. The first thing people want to know about when talking televisions, naturally, is video quality. Straight out of the box this is decent where brightness/color is concerned. Vizio has several settings for video that make adjusting very easy. Depending on your house or setup, you can change between dull to very bright settings. I found the brightest too bright for my eyes. Beyond that, you can make the picture warmer (reds/oranges) or cooler (blues). Consequently, with just a little simple tinkering, you can get the picture to where it looks best to you and your eyes. A lot of times with LED tvs, people complain about viewing angles. If you move from directly in front of the television to a few feet off center, you will notice a slight dimming in the picture. This really isn’t an issue for me. It’s not a terrible darkening and there is a wide enough angle that’s viewable for my living room. I mentioned the few white pixels. There are some pixels that appear to get stuck on white. However, they aren’t noticeable unless you are close to the tv and looking at the right angle. You can see the white dots in the white picture. I never see them when at a normal viewing range, only when walking past or standing directly in front of the set. Even then, these are not permanently stuck on white. Eventually, they vanish and come back. I have noticed some color banding or blocking with grays fading to blacks or heavily shadowed pictures. But it isn’t anywhere near as noticeable as it was on my older TV. Also, it isn’t constantly present. So, some of it may be the cable or streaming service to blame as well. Again, though, if you’re looking for perfect darks/blacks with zero banding ever, you’re probably looking for a much more expensive OLED television. Watching football and other quick-paced shows/movies, I haven’t had any issues with blurring. Everything looks very good. It’s a 60Hz tv with 120Hz motion rate (IIRC) and that seems to do a good enough job for anything I’ve thrown at it so far. You can see in the pictures some of the holiday cheer (my Christmas tree lights) reflecting off the screen. To be honest, I rarely notice it. There are a lot of pre-loaded apps. I kind of wish I could dump some, but it doesn’t matter. I was very surprised to find Shudder on there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have ScreamBox and you can’t download additional apps. Which brings me to the remote. While I like the remote and like the idea of dedicated buttons, not everyone uses Disney+, crackle or tubi. I wish they would have left these bottom three as “programmable” to go to the app of MY choice. The sound is very good. My older set was not very loud. This one not only gets loud, but has a very good sound quality. As you can tell by the attached pics, we were watching a musical. I was very surprised at and impressed by the richer, fuller sound of the music. As with the picture, there are also a couple different sound settings in case (like me) you aren’t using a sound bar. There is one drawback… * SOUND ISSUE noted above (and SIMPLE FIX) It seems whenever I go into Netflix or one of my streaming services and then return to the television, the sound starts lagging behind the action. It will get to where the sound is approximately 3-4 seconds behind the picture. So, imagine watching the news, it cuts from a woman to a man. You see him talking, but it’s still her voice. I’m not sure what causes this. I have found the SIMPLE FIX is simply to go to the audio settings, change it to one of the other settings and then back again. Everything will be perfectly aligned again. I don’t have this mounted yet, so I have it standing on its feet. The set is very stable. For many people, this will work. However, whatever you put it on must be at least 34” wide (the distance between the feet). Because of the weird layout of my living room, where the tv sits is off-center and must be twisted toward the sofa. I would have preferred a central stand & base upon which I could turn the tv as needed for the best viewing angle. Perhaps they couldn’t create a stable one. Just know if you’re getting this and plan on setting it on furniture, it requires a fair amount of surface space. The most important question is always: WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS? As you can probably tell from my opening, absolutely, yes. This Vizio is a great television set for those on a budget and for those who are looking to put a good tv in a spare room, kids’ play room, etc. without breaking the bank. It’s not going to compare to $2,000 tv. No tv in this price range will. But when it comes to “is it worth the price?” The answer is a resounding yes. Because of the sound and pixel issues, I would be more inclined to give this tv a 4.5 out of 5 stars, but it is the Christmas season and I think 4 is a little low when you consider the price vs what you get for that money.

I've had other Vizio products over the years, televisions and DVD/Blu-ray players, so it's a brand I know to be pretty reliable. The Vizio TV was packed really well in the box, which showed some wear and tear from being shipped. Even though the box took some damage, there was enough styrofoam, cardboard and packing material around the TV to protect it. There's very little to do once you open the box. The TV has "feet" that need to be attached to the bottom of the TV, so you can stand it up on an entertainment center or other surface. The feet and screws are included, you just need a Philips screwdriver to attach them. Obviously if you're doing a wall mount, that doesn't apply (there is no wall mount included, you have to buy that separately). The feet are 33 inches apart, bear that in mind if you have a narrow table or surface you want to put it on. The only other thing to do is put the included batteries in the remote control. The plug is permanently attached to the TV, so all you have to do is unwrap it (in plastic with a twist tie) and plug it in. There is no HDMI cable included with the TV, so you either need to have one already or buy one, assuming you need to hook up a cable/satellite box, streaming player, Blu-Ray player or sound system. If you're just using the TV with an antenna and/or just streaming services, no HDMI cable is required. Once you plug in the TV and power it up, it runs you through some setup and registration questions where you input language preference, where the TV is located in the home, email address, wifi access, etc. Once the wifi is connected, you may have to wait for the TV to download some updates. During setup the TV also asks if you need to do a channel search, in case you're using an HDTV antenna. I wasn't, but do have one in case I want to use it at some point. There is a coaxial cable port on the back of the TV, in case you're attaching an antenna or some type of cable box that uses coax (as well as some legacy sound connectors, Ethernet and optical ports). If you've attached any outside devices (cable box, streaming box or satellite receiver) to any of the HDMI ports, you can set them up as well. You can then activate any streaming services that you want to use with this TV. Since it's a Smart TV, it comes with a lot of streaming services already installed. I put in my passwords for my streaming services and was able to start watching something immediately. One bad thing, if your streaming service isn't included, you can't download any services directly to the TV. You can use an outside streaming box to fill in any gaps or use Apple Airplay or Google Chromecast to send content from a laptop, tablet or phone. I normally use a soundbar with a TV, since most TV speakers aren't that good. I tried the TV with my existing soundbar and it sounded pretty good. Just out of curiosity, I disconnected the soundbar to see how the TV speakers sounded. To my surprise, they actually sounded very good. I left the soundbar disconnected for now, since it sounds good without it. One bad note, at one point I had turned the TV off and later turned it on again. The sound was really loud, even though it was listed as being at sound level zero on the TV display, to the point it was too loud to listen to. I turned the TV on and off a couple of times, with no change. I played with various sound settings and didn't have any luck. Finally I found "Reboot the TV" in the settings and tried that. After that the sound went back to performing normally. Since this is the first 4K/UHD TV I've owned, I decided to watch a couple of 4K/UHD videos. The picture was fantastic and the sound was great (even with just the TV speakers). Even when just watching regular satellite TV, the picture is very good (depending on the quality of the channel being watched). I get HD programming, not 4K with my satellite service, though 4K service is available if I ever want it. There are three HDMI inputs, one of which is labeled as an ARC port, which assists with connecting the TV's sound system with an outside sound device (soundbar or receiver). It also has a USB port that can be used for photos, videos and music. I love having a TV that has this capability, since I often use a USB drive to store TV shows and movies. I watched a TV show via the USB port, it was easy to use and looked and sounded great. The remote control that comes with the TV is basic but does what it needs to do. When watching satellite TV I'll use the satellite remote for that system, but to access the Smart TV features of the TV, you need to use the Vizio remote. I watched some TV and movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime using the Vizio remote and while it doesn't have as many dedicated buttons as some remotes, it's pretty intuitive to use. The remote also has voice control capabilities, not something I use, but some people like it. Picture quality is very good, plus the TV settings give you many ways to customize the brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. This TV is replacing a 42" TV that was not top of the line, so the bigger TV with better picture makes quite an impression. The home screen (there's a button on the Vizio remote with a house icon) takes you to the screen where you can access your streaming services, but it also has free streaming programming made available by Vizio. Some of them are free previews from other services and others are Vizio-provided programming. Very good for people who have cut the cord and don't have access to much programming.

I have an old Samsung LED DLP TV that I've been looking to replace recently. I replaced the DLP chip a while ago but the TV was only capable of 1080p resolution. It was also made before any Smart features (so no streaming apps), therefore in recent years, I got an Iogear Wireless PC to TV screen sharing device so I could wirelessly stream my computer to the TV which was useful when teaching a group of kids how to program a Lego robot, an Amazon Fire Stick and eventually a Roku to be able to stream from my favorite services. Nowadays, 4K Televisions have been priced so well, they have been hard to ignore, and they include all the major streaming services. Since a DLP TV is based on a projection technology, the old TV is deep, about 14 inches if I remember right, so it has to sit on a stand, it can't be mounted. The stand I have isn't much deeper than that, so adding a decent soundbar was barely possible. The DLP TV is 61" and sits in my basement. My main TV is a 65", so any new basement TV I get really doesn't need to meet or exceed that size, I don’t have a big viewing area to support a large TV in the basement, so downsizing to a 50" wasn't going to be a big problem for me. What I do appreciate is that I could practically move the new Vizio TV by myself. The DLP TV doesn't weigh that much at 60 lbs., but it is big and bulky and really requires two people to move. I've had a Vizio TV before that I ended up giving to my parents when they got rid of their last tube TV. It was a decent TV and just what I needed at the time. It was just FullHD, also made before any Smart features (again, no streaming apps). Very good resolution, very good color, and just worked. So I was looking for a Vizio to do well for my family again. While unboxing the TV, I was a little surprised it didn't have much in terms of a manual. Just a quick setup guide but a couple pieces of paper with QR codes. The TV itself is about 3.5 inches deep by itself. The included stands are about 10 inches deep. All that is needed is a Philips screwdriver to install the stands, there is only one right way to install the stands. I recommend having a large floor space to work with to install the stands or to prep the TV for mounting, and make sure to keep the protective film and cardboard on the TV until you get it into your final space. One of the features is a micro-bezel on the top and sides of the screen. Which looks great, but doesn't give you a hand hold if you need to move it by yourself. The cardboard screen protector allowed me to move the TV without getting any extra handprints all over the screen. The remote is very basic. It's like a Fire TV Stick remote in terms of size and basic functionality. It features a microphone so that you can control the TV with voice commands. Once I plugged in the TV, the initial startup took a while. There were more legal agreements than I was expecting and I tried to opt out of as many as I could. Since I haven't moved the old TV out of its place, I set up this new Vizio on a desk in my living room. I don't have an antenna hookup where I placed it and I cut the cord a while back and rely on streaming services. The first functional screen is the Streamcast screen. It has hundreds of streaming services ready to select and setup. This is different from my main Samsung TV where I would install streaming service 'apps' as I needed them. Vizio took a different approach and they seem to be all installed and ready to accept your username and password as required. For the ones that are offer free content, you'll typically accept an agreement and start watching whatever content they offer. This is where I came into my first major problem with this Vizio TV. Most of the free streaming content has bad audio/video sync. You can see the mouths move and several seconds later, the audio finally catches up. I found the audio settings quickly and tried to adjust the lip sync, but it would only move in one direction (the wrong one) and didn't have any ability to move in the opposite direction. In my opinion, I cannot watch content with bad audio/video sync. I've tried the free content several times in the past few days and it's really inconsistent. Sometimes the audio/video sync is fine, sometimes it's unwatchable. On the Streamcast screen the main services are easily found on the first screen. In fact, there are quick buttons on the remote control to access the following services: peacock, Netflix, prime video, Disney+, Crackle and tubi as well as Vizio's own Watch Free+. Of course I had to dig through the list to find one of the lesser known streaming services I utilize, but I was thankful I could find it. Here is where my second major problem came in. I could not find any way to prioritize my streaming services list to what I want to see. So any time I go back to the Streamcast screen whether I accidentally hit the 'home' button on the remote, hit 'back' button too many times, turn off the TV or any other action, there is no easy way to get back to that streaming service. There is no prioritization of your streaming service, and I can't find a way to re-organize the list of streaming services. So I am left to scroll through dozens of other services to find the one that I want to use. I really could use a 'last streaming service used' option. I connected my Xbox One S to the TV and enjoyed 4K content from some new movies I had picked up. Once everything is connected, the Xbox recognizes some of the enhanced capabilities of this TV and lets you enable them. The Xbox and Vizio TV work together to enable HDR10 function. The picture quality is solid and the audio is plenty loud for a TV, but I'm planning on connecting it to a soundbar soon. I was relieved to find out that the input choice is persistent when you turn off the TV. So if you had HDMI-1 content when you turned off the TV, you get HDMI-1 when you turn it back on. You don't start back on the Streamcast screen by default. However, I was slightly concerned that when handling multiple external devices, you have to hit the input button and then scroll to the input you need. This could make using a Universal Remote like a Logitech Harmony difficult when it comes to setting up Macros. I just setup a basic Logitech Harmony Remote and was relieved to find the TV was part of its database and that you can setup inputs very easily in the Macros. I will likely use a Harmony Remote for all my basic needs. You will, however, lose the ability for voice command. Overall, within the control panel options, there isn't very many options to customize your viewing experience. There are the expected basic settings like Backlight, Brightness, Contrast, Color, Tint, Sharpness as well as Balance, Bass, Treble and Lip Sync. I would like more options, but for most people these are plenty to work with. I installed the SmartCast Mobile App from Vizio on my Android phone. It offers basic functionality, but gives you more options to open up a keypad for channels, keyboard and a virtual remote with a keypad. Once SmartCast Mobile is setup, it guides you to connect to Amazon Alexa or Google Home. There are others available, but I only use those two. Under the Apps tab, all of the streaming apps are available, but one thing I found is that I can set up favorites to cull down the selection into a manageable list. I'm glad to find that the Vizio M6 TV series has great picture and great sound. While I'm glad the SmartCast Mobile App extends some functionality, I feel these options should be on the TV instead of on the mobile app. I also hope that Vizio can figure out a way to keep the Audio/Video sync'ed in the programming they offer.

Best TV for gaming! Game Engine does wonders on this TV. Been the best upgrade from my other Vizio TV.

This TV has everything I need. Namely, it has a great quality picture, an intuitive and comprehensive menu system, decent sound, and is easy to setup and control via the remote or the SmartCast app. First off, picture quality is really only an issue if it is not good and after streaming several UHD videos, I confirmed that the picture quality was good. Second, since I am watching without a cable box it is important that I can easily find, connect to, and stream content from a variety of apps. This TV has all available apps already listed, which is nice. However, if it doesn't have the app you want you cannot download it. The one app that I wanted but wasn't available was for my cable subscription. Unfortunately, without the app I will not be able to surf channels like a regular cable subscription, but I can use the cast function to watch on the TV, the caveat being that I need to use my phone or iPad to cast, and it takes extra time and effort. Besides missing the Spectrum app, all the other apps I use were available, plus more. Lastly, the remote and menu system are very intuitive and easy to use. There is a voice feature so you don't have to spend a lot of time spelling out your searches. Also, the SmartCast app can be paired with the TV and you can use it as a remote to control the TV. I also have a Vizio soundbar hooked up to the TV so I can control both through the app. Overall, the TV feels great. Good quality and easy to connect and watch. I would recommend it. I've attached a few pictures I took during setup.

It almost feels like there's a new TV every year for you to investigate and see if it's worth your investment. Not all new TVs are created equal, but Vizio has released a smart TV that foregoes all the bells and whistles and instead makes for a solid update to your home entertainment lifestyle. The Vizio M6 Series 50" UHD Smart TV has beautiful picture and sound, a comfortable, simple remote control, and tons of apps and support for smart functions. This 4K experience is ready to entertain you right out of the box. Right off the bat, you'll notice the screen looks very high-end, with a razor thin bezel on three sides that immerses you in the viewing experience. Constructing, installing, and starting up the unit with the included stand, AC adapter, and remote control are all straight forward and simple to set up. I had a bit of an issue opening up the battery cover for the remote, but after this minor inconvenience, I appreciated the solid weightiness of the device. Also, it is very minimal with a directional pad, enter key, and a few function keys for volume and settings, but it also has a number of built-in keys for direct access to some of the more common streaming apps today like Prime Video, Peacock, or Netflix, among others. While I personally use streaming sticks on most of my televisions, this Vizio TV can function largely independent of any additional dongles, freeing up the HDMI ports for your other needs such as gaming and sound systems. The unit has a very thin screen when viewing its profile, with a small additional body on the bottom of the back of the unit. I like how the plug inputs are angled outwards or down and not perpendicular to the back of the unit, giving you the option to push the TV as far back as you need to against a wall. The unit can be hung with almost any universal TV mounts to provide an ideal, distraction-free viewing experience. Powering up the TV, you'll go through your usual new TV setup and installation, including connecting to your home Wi-Fi network which should trigger some Vizio terms and agreement mumbo jumbo as well as an automatic system update. This process took several minutes but was necessary to get the most out of the device. Once everything is good to go, you'll notice a very easy, intuitive home dashboard with access to apps, inputs, channels, and settings that are easily navigated with your responsive remote. Connect your cable or TV tuner for live broadcasts, and if you've "cut the cord" already, this TV is a great option with its included WatchFree+ Smartcast options, featuring dozens of channels in a growing library, all free without any need to login or subscribe. I was pretty impressed with the catalog of options, and the way the "channels" were organized are reminiscent of the cable guide experience with which you might be familiar. Being able to catch classic and current movies and TV shows without subscribing to some random app is a definite plus that adds value to the purchase. Speaking of that viewing experience, the remarkable color emanating from the Vizio M6 TV is beautiful while the audio quality is impressive as well. Switching between apps is fast and lag-free, while jumping onto your other inputs like gaming systems is a breeze and has very little slowdown in its performance on this screen. Viewing from all angles is clear, especially in the dark. The glossy screen does catch a lot of reflections in daylight, so positioning the unit to prepare for this might be a priority. This TV provides a truly immersive entertainment experience. Overall, the Vizio M6 Series 50" UHD Smart TV is an impressive device with some welcoming add-ons. The unit is plug and play ready, with no need for additional dongles or streaming sticks necessary to get you into the thick of a wide variety of live TV or free streaming entertainment. Its bezel-less design promotes a simple yet immersive experience along with some surprisingly rich audio quality. The M6 UHD TV will look great in any home entertainment center. Full disclosure, I received this product for my honest, unbiased review.

The tv is awesome. The people who delivered it did an amazing job. They took my old tv away and brought my new TV to my room

Just bought this in a 50” model. All I can say is junk. It’s going back tomorrow. The picture quality is horrible. And you either hear the sound or not. I wouldn’t recommend a Vizio.