Vizio P Series (2019) PX65-G1 Review — almost an OLED

I love Vizio's range of sound bars, but for years I disregarded the company's TVs in favor of an LG OLED TV. I've used OLED TVs since I moved to the US a few years ago, and even the best from Samsung and Sony have failed to displace my trusty OLED.

At CES way back in January of this year, I saw Vizio's Quantum range of TVs up close and personal, and the Vizio P Series Quantum X finally struck me as a TV that could move me away from OLEDs. I've now used it for two months. And while Vizio's top TV for 2019 is pricey, but there's a lot to like about it.

It has 384 local dimming zones, which result in the most incredible blacks, and the wide color gamut produces an incredible array of color. Chromecast and Google Assistant are baked into the TV, which also comes closest to the dystopian future of a TV that's integrated into your smart home.

It packs almost all the bells and whistles you'll find on a flagship TV, but just know that you'll want a separate streaming device — like Roku or Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV — to take care of the content.

The Good

• 4K resolution, all the HDR standards you need
• 384 dimming zones give you incredibly deep blacks
• Breathtaking colors thanks to a wide gamut
• Perfect for gaming, sports and watching 4K UHD movies

The Bad

• Vizio's custom OS is slow and behind its rivals
• Lacks some of the popular streaming services
• Remote is functional but unimaginative

You'll also need:

Apple TV 4K ($199 at Amazon)

The Apple TV 4k elevates the Vizio PX65-G1 by giving you access to an entire catalog of 4K content, as well as all the streaming apps you'll need. The perfect companion for your new TV!

I love this TV

Vizio P Series Quantum X What I Like

I've been using an LG OLED TV for the past few years, and the Vizio P Series Quantum X is definitely a competitor to LG's best.

The Vizio P Series Quantum X definitely is a TV that deserves to fight at the $1,000+ price tag. Vizio's best TV, there is nothing it's lacking hardware-wise. The TV comes equipped with plenty of HDMI ports and connections, and the integration between the Vizio P Series Quantum X and Vizio's range of Dolby Atmos soundbars make for a complete entertainment experience.

An expensive TV wouldn't be complete without plenty of marketing buzzwords, but Vizio mostly delivers on these. The Vizio P Series Quantum X features "Quantum Color Spectrum" which points to the wide color spectrum (which does look absolutely fantastic). There's also a "Spatial Scaling Engine" which upscale lower resolution content, and certainly makes a noticeable difference on non-4K content.

What I love most about the Vizio P Series Quantum X are the local dimming zones. What are they? Think of it this way: instead of one backlight illuminating all the pixels in the screen, you now have 384 individual zones that can be raised or lowered as needed. That means incredible blacks and vivid colors, with little to no noticeable difference to the OLED when consuming content. Honestly, the screen is so good, you get engrossed and forget it's not an OLED.

I've spent plenty of time catching up on the latest shows and streaming 4K movies from the Apple TV and Netflix and I can say that the Vizio P Series Quantum X is just as good as my LG OLED. I've found that content is incredible engrossing and when paired with Vizio's Dolby Atmos soundbars, this TV is the center of my home entertainment system.

Overall, the Vizio P Series Quantum X features pretty spectacular TV hardware that makes watching things a dream.

What it's like for gaming, movies, streaming and sports

I watch a lot of sports, and the Vizio P Series Quantum X allows you to get really engrossed into a ball game, Formula 1 race or basketball game. The upscaling also helps when you've got sub-1080p stream, like the F1 which actually looks better on this TV than on an OLED.

I also love to game and hooked up to my Xbox One X, the Vizio P Series Quantum X is a joy to use. Switching over to the calibrated game mode (which only needed a couple of tweaks like increasing the brightness) is easy with the remote (or by voice) and the 120Hz refresh rate makes a fast-paced soccer match even more enjoyable.

Where it truly shines is with 4K UHD movies that support Dolby Vision. This makes complete use of everything this TV has to offer, and the local dimming zones really come into their own when watching movies. Combined with an Apple TV — or other 4K streaming device — the Vizio P Series Quantum X is perfect for watching movies.

Chromecast, Alexa, Assistant, AirPlay 2 and HomeKit – the center of your smart home

The Vizio P Series Quantum X also stands out for an entirely different reason — it's going to be one of the first TVs to support all the major smart home services. The SmartCast OS supports the Chromecast protocol really well, which is perfect when you've got lots of people around trying to share content to the TV.

Later this year it'll get AirPlay 2 which will allow you to share media from your iPhone to the TV, or mirror your phone screen in its entirety. It will also eventually support the Apple TV app, which will let you — among other things — watch shows on the Apple TV+ subscription service, although I'm skeptical because of the software issues we'll talk about below.

Where the Vizio P Series Quantum X has been a revelation for me is with Assistant, Alexa (and the upcoming addition of HomeKit). Essentially, you can fully integrate the Vizio P Series Quantum X into your smart home, and it's amazing! I've already got routines set up so when I'm at my kitchen island cooking, the TV turns on alongside all my lights (more on my smart apartment in a separate post).

Similarly, when I run my bedtime TV, Google Assistant makes sure my TV is turned off. As part of my morning routine, I've got a couple of Assistant actions set up to turn on my TV and change the input to the Apple TV so I can catch up on the news. I've also lost the Vizio remote countless times and being able to change the volume, input and turn on or switch off the TV through my Google Home is simply fantastic.

With support for Alexa, and the addition of HomeKit later this year, you should in theory be able to do very similar things through your Echo devices, or from your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac. The Vizio P Series Quantum X is the perfect TV if you live in a Google Assistant home, and want a TV that integrates effortlessly into the tech routines in your home.

You'll need additional hardware

Vizio P Series Quantum X What's not so good

The Vizio P Series Quantum X has excellent hardware, but where it needs to mature a little is the software. On its lower priced offerings, a less-than-complete software experience might be justified by the price, but the Vizio P Series Quantum X is priced to compete with the best TVs on the market.

Vizio uses the SmartCast system, and over the past few years it's steadily gotten better but it has a fair distance to go. I've had the Vizio P Series Quantum X for two months, and it's only just received an update with the YouTube and YouTube TV apps. Although it has about 80 percent of the content that's being streamed, it's not as fully fledged as other platforms.

It's also slow. WebOS on LG OLED TVs isn't the fastest experience on the block, but the Vizio is noticeably slower than WebOS. Compared to the Apple TV, it's like the tortoise vs. the hare – they'll both get you there, the Apple TV does it considerably faster.

Vizio also relies heavily on ChromeCast as a protocol, with the company firmly targeting people who want to control what's playing from their phone. It doesn't actually cast from your phone — the SmartCast system will connect to the internet and play directly from the source — but you'll be using your phone a lot. I'm not that target audience though — when I'm relaxing on the couch, it's usually to get away from my phone, and I much prefer to use a regular remote control.

Talking of the remote control, you'll definitely want a Logitech Harmony Companion because Vizio's remote is the same as on their more affordable TVs. It's plain, it's boring and I've only ever used three of the six big sponsored buttons — Vudu, Netflix and Amazon. It would be great to remap the other three (Xumo, Crackle and I Heart Radio) but they just serve as an annoyance when fumbling for the remote control in the dark.

Could you make do with SmartCast as your only input? Chances are, yes you could. However, if you're considering buying the Vizio P Series Quantum X, you may be more affluent that buyers of Vizio's other TVs and we'd highly recommend buying the Apple TV alongside the Vizio P Series Quantum X. Combined, they offer an incredible experience that you won't regret, especially with the breadth of 4K content available on the Apple TV.

The bottom line

Should You Buy The Vizio P Series Quantum X? Yes

The Vizio P Series Quantum X has left an impression on me. I fully expected to miss my beautiful LG OLED TV, but for the most part, I don't. Vizio's preset Vivid picture mode attempts to increase saturation go some way to replicating an OLED panel, and the local dimming zones ensure that blacks are black, rather than black with a white light behind.

4 out of 5

With that said, Vizio's software is a large issue for me. Phil recently reviewed Vizio's much more affordable M658-G1 TV which has the same OS, and while SmartCast is more than acceptable for an affordable TV, it needs to be much better on an expensive $2,000+ TV. Adding an Apple TV more than resolves the issue, but it's an additional expense that shouldn't be necessary on a flagship TV.

With all of that said, I'll miss the Vizio P Series Quantum. The colors are stunning and it's a TV that's up there with the best on the market. In particular, using Google Assistant to control the TV entirely is a sign of a great future where your TV is integrated into your connected home.