VIZIO - 55" Class M7 Series 4K QLED HDR Smart TV

An elegant TV. The quality of this Display is something amazing for the price range it’s in! If you’re looking for a high quality set at an affordable price, this is it.

I had been looking at a different brand from another retailer, but we had issues with it such as it wouldn’t even power on. We have a number of Vizio TVs, but this one is a step up in quality. This M series gives me a better picture and features for a decent price. The salesperson at Best Buy was very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.

Great tv. Vizio has the best connectivity of any of my TV’s. I love being able to cast or airplay to the tv. It is more reliable than my TCL 6 series when it comes to casting.

Good picture quality and also has great sound! Overall, I can't complain about my "Vizi!" Good buy.

Even getting it out of the box was easy as pie. Instead of struggling to pull it out while it's laying down or a second person is holding onto the box while you'd be pulling the tv out, Vizio has it set up so that you simply cut off the packaging ties then pull up the cardboard cover, like a game show model revealing your prize. There's a quick start guide, remote with batteries included, general/warranty info, the two leg stands with screws, the power cord, and of course the tv itself. Be careful when handling the tv because there's a warning not to put any pressure on the screen when trying to carry it, move it, or whatnot--there's absolutely no bezel around the tv screen except for the extremely thin plastic frame, and the warning says the glass may break if you apply too much pressure. As stated, set up was easy. You need a Philips screwdriver to attach the leg stands, and there's a choice of two levels or heights, depending on if you intend to put a soundbar beneath the tv. I've had multiple flat screen tv's over the years from several different brands, including Vizio, and this is absolutely the first one ever to give options like that. After attaching the leg stands, I went to put the included batteries in the remote and this is where I ran into trouble, yes, the remote is what gave me the most trouble with set up. The back cover of the remote is impossible to get off--you're simply supposed to slide it off by lightly pressing down and sliding it at the same time, but I could not get a good enough grip to do it; it's lodged shut and the material is smooth and slippery enough so as to not provide any traction. After several frustrating minutes, I ended up getting a fat rubberband which I wrapped around the remote, and that did the trick. Then I plugged the tv in, and Voila! Pops of really bright, clean graphics, great colors, excellent detail. Not the overly bright, saturated, looks-too-fake colors that lots of 4K tvs have these days. Unfortunately though, you are then presented with a TON of bloatware. And when I say a ton, I mean a ton—such as 100 (you read that right, one hundred) apps preloaded onto the main screen and NO way to get rid of any of them. You can reorder them, but that's IT. The main menu itself is just jam packed with what seems like ten thousand choices, and you have to wade through them all. One of my pictures shows this--that's just the top of the menu which scrolls down with a LOT more choices, and that's not even counting choosing from the top bar menu (categories like kids, movies, free stuff, shows, apps, extras). I would have to say it's more than a bit overwhelming, then you kind of get used to it, and how to navigate to your personal favorites. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating or tiresome. The setup also walks you though connecting to your home Wi-Fi, again, part of the easy set up. The remote control (save for the battery incident) is the redeeming factor in the tsunami of menu items and apps--because it has voice control, and it works well! You simply press it and tell it what you want, and it instantly goes there, without having to wade through the menu. For example, I'll press it and say "YouTube" and it opens the app in seconds, ready for you to watch. There's also some built-in buttons on the remote, if you have those subscriptions, such as Netflix, peacock, prime video, Disney+, etc. (I have a picture of the remote, too). Then there's the standard Home, input, power, settings, mute, etc. buttons as well. Quick note here--we have Spectrum, and this tv cannot download its app to watch. You can purchase/use a Roku streamer or Apple TV to hook up to this tv as a workaround; they both have the Spectrum app. Fortunately this tv has some good video/audio connections--4 HDMI's, a TV tuner, a 5.1 Digital Optical, a Stereo Audio, an Ethernet, a USB port. It also works with practically every assistant/home automation--Apple AirPlay, Apple HomeKit, Hey Google, Alexa...it even has Chromecast built in. We have a lot of Apple products in our household, and we're glad it has AirPlay so we can effortlessly mirror what's on our iPhones, iPads, or Macs when we want to. I also tried out using the Chromecast to mirror our phones/tablets/laptops and again, it worked flawlessly and easy. I would say that the tv itself is thin, it's good enough, but I've seen thinner at similar price points (picture of this view as well is included). For the picture quality, software, features, etc. it's really good; I'm thinking that all the bloatware is one of the reasons the tv isn't at a higher price point. The tv is excellent overall, but I'm dinging it one star because of the excessive bloatware and convoluted menu with no real options to streamline it or personalize it other than rearranging the one row of 100 pre-loaded, non-deletable apps.

The tv has a vertical line 4 inches wide. It just started today 6/27/22

The TV came in perfect condition and was well packaged for shipping. I had no issues with setup (just need a screwdriver for the legs). It is not super heavy even though it is a 55”. Build quality is very good. I plan to mount it to the wall eventually, but I love the legs. The legs are metal and have 2 positions - allowing you to adjust the height of the TV (the higher setting is perfect for its current location on my dresser, which tends to collect things). The screen has virtually no bezel and is protected by a metal case, but the design does leave a small gap around the edge of the screen that I am concerned may collect dust. The TV does not come with a printed user manual (only a quick start guide), but a virtual on one is available in the TV’s menu under settings. I like that it has 4 HDMI inputs (1 eArc enabled for high definition sound), an optical output (useful for older soundbars/receivers) and a USB port for pictures. It is missing a VGA port and AV port. I realize that they are slowly being phased out, but I still have a few cameras and older game systems that need an AV port. Another minor issue is that the power cord is only 5ft long, barely reaching the floor from my dresser - forcing me to use an extension cord to reach the power strip. Picture quality is very good. The picture is sharp and in normal viewing I did not notice any motion blur. My favorite chair is at a 45-degree angle to the TV and I had no problem with the viewing angle. Colors are good, but not as vibrant as some OLED TVs have seen. Even with local dimming, blacks are not perfect, but the screen is very bright. It works well in my bedroom that has a big bay window with lots of sunlight during the day and automatically dims using the ambient light sensor at night. In addition to presents and normal settings there are lots of advanced setting available to tweak the picture (e.g. color correction, backlight settings, noise reduction). Sound quality and volume are good (for a bedroom). The TV does support HDMI eArc that makes hooking up a soundbar easy, but I don’t think I will need it. The TV also offers a simulate surround sound feature, but I prefer the normal setting. I have owned several Vizio TVs and they have been reliable. My oldest Vizio has been in service for over 10 years (with a fluorescent backlight no less). I have a Vizio in my living room that is an older Smart TV that I purchased about 5 years ago - it is a good TV, but the smart features were too clunky so I was interested to see how things had improved. There are lots of smart TV operating systems and I have tried most of them. They all seem to have their positives and negatives. This TV’s operation system is SmartCast and it is no different. SmartCast has some unique content and nice features, but it is missing a few features and has had a few stability issues requiring a restart. The SmartCast phone app is a winner. It allows you to search content and works as a second remote control (useful if you often lose your real remote like me). You can search by voice using the TV’s remote or the SmartCast phone app - handy for pulling up a quick YouTube video. You can also use Alexa to control the TV, but after setting it up the features are too limited and I can tell you that the SmartCast phone app is the way to go if you don’t like the regular remote. SmartCast screen casting from both Android (Chromecast) and Apple (Air Play) work well. With the TV on the same network it was easily recognized by both my Android phone and my Apple iPad. SmartCast has some good content that is easy to access. WatchFree Plus has many of my family’s favorites (Kiddoodle, This Old House TV, old Hallmark movies, and a Lifetime movie channel) and makes it very easy to use (no sign in, no password, no fee, no nothing - you just click on it). WatchFree also has the Vizio fireplace channel (it really is just what it sounds like), which is strangely more comforting than it should be. One of my other favorite components of SmartCast is the dedicated Family & Kids section, which acts as a landing for and has links to family friendly content from many sources (including a variety of movies). The Kiddoodle app is my 4-year-old daughter’s favorite, but WatchFree also has a few channels for kids. SmartCast does have a few issues. While it has many popular apps, it is missing a few that I use on other platforms (Food Network, HGTV, and some network channels). It does have Discovery Plus, which covers HGTV & Food Network, but it would mean paying extra since the same content is free for cable subscribers on those apps. I am also concerned about the stability. I have had the following issues once or twice over the past few weeks: the voice remote stopped working, the audio has been out of sync, and the TV froze while changing inputs. All of these issues were fixed by unplugging the TV for a few seconds so I would recommend you mount it such that you can still power cycle it if needed (a good idea with any smart device in my experience).

The Vizio model M55Q7-J01 Quantum LED TV is a mid-range TV at a mid-range price. It is currently one of your cheapest options with HDMI 2.1 and VRR. It is well packaged in the box and comes with the TV, legs, AC cord, quick start manual and remote. Just remove the straps and lift the box up to start unpacking the TV. I did not install the legs as I am mounting it on a wall. I was disappointed the bolt size for the wall mount on the back of the TV was different than my existing bolts. The online instructions state you DO NOT use the bolts installed the back of the TV for wall mounting. So off I went to the hardware store for M6 14mm bolts. It would be nice if they used the correct bolts in the back of the TV for wall mounting. So many people wall mount TVs now. Pros: - Supports the latest audio (DTS:X, ATMOS) and video (Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG) formats - Awesome color - Chromecast built in - Apple AirPlay - 27 local dimming zones - Fast response time if you are into gaming. - AMD freesync (no Gsync) - Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) - Apps and SmartCast is snappy. - HDMI 2.1 (all 4) - Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri - Remote has buttons for most of the common apps. Cons: - Narrow viewing angles (VA panel). If you are not going to be sitting in front of the TV to view it, I would look at other options. - Remote feels cheap. The button presses can be a little “sticky” at times. - 60 Hz The connections are on the right side. I am using this in a bedroom and there is not much room on the right side. So I connected all cables (HDMI eARC, BluRay HDMI, Coax for antenna and power) to the TV before mounting it on the wall. I did this while it was still on the packaging base. Set up is typical of most TV’s. One extra step is to pair your remote to the TV as it is Bluetooth. I connected to WiFi easily. There is also an ethernet port. Pay attention to the privacy messages to use the WatchFree+. I did some research on the picture settings. I used many of the recommended settings from Rtings. Or just use Calibrated Dark and Warm color temperature for a good out of the box picture. I do not use this TV for gaming so cannot comment on that. It is mostly used for the apps on SmartCast like Netflix, Hulu, etc. I tried some Netlflix shows that are Dolby Vision and ATMOS. All I can say is WOW!. The picture is amazing. The TV is hooked up to a 5.1.2 soundbar. The surround sound is better than the previous TV. Conclusion – I rate this TV 4 out of 5 stars. This is a good TV in this price range. It supports the latest audio and video formats. Using this where you are positioned straight on to the TV is best. If off angle viewing angles are important to you, this is not the TV for you. The picture quality degrades quickly. It seems cheap from a finish and remote perspective.