VIZIO PX75-G1 P-SERIES QUANTUM X LCD ULTRA HDTV

WHAT WOULD you pay for a 75-inch Ultra HDTV that’s bright enough to handle virtually all high dynamic range programs without having to perform the tone mapping most 4K/HDR sets require? How about $4,000? If it was 2018, that would be a serious answer, but it’s 2020 and we now have Vizio’s 75-inch P-series Quantum X, a model that claims to deliver uncompromised HDR performance for just $2,200. Does Vizio’s flagship live up to the company’s ambitious specs? Let’s take a look.

FEATURES

Quantum dots are a main feature in all current M-series Quantum and higher Vizio sets, so it’s no surprise that they’re present in the flagship

P-series Quantum X. These are nanometer-sized semiconductor particles that, when energized by a blue LED, emit either red or green light depending on their size. The result is a wider color range than what’s offered by LCD sets that have Led-only backlighting.

Vizio’s P-series Quantum X range offers just two sizes: 65 inches ($1,500) and 75 inches ($2,200). The 75-incher reviewed here is rather heavy at 79 pounds and is supported by legs spaced 57 inches apart. Consequently, a strong, wide table is needed for proper support, with a few inches extra on either side for safety.

Another important feature of the PX75-G1 is its 480-zone fullarray local dimming backlight.

The set’s native scanning rate is 120Hz. Adding backlight scanning increases this to 240Hz, but the latter is unlikely offer any advantage with any current or anticipated source material. The PX75-G1 is compatible with Dolby Vision, HLG, HDR10 and even HDR10+ high dynamic range, though HDR10+ programs are still thin on the ground.

Many of the more popular apps are available on the Vizio’s SmartCast 3.0 main screen, and Chromecast built-in and Airplay 2 support lets you stream material from your phone or other compatible device to the TV via your home Wi-fi.

The set can also respond to voice commands via Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa devices.

While Smartcast 3.0 responds relatively quickly once enabled, it typically took over 30 seconds from hitting the remote control On button to display the full Smartcast screen. And that screen is remarkably cluttered with viewing “suggestions.” Smartcast’s universal search function does help to find content, but I’d rather just go to individual streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Video, and Youtube directly since a random search might easily send you to a site that asks for “$18.99 please,” or “Sign up for a year at just $12.99/month!” Welcome to the wonderful world of video streaming!

Selecting Youtube on the PX75-G1 only worked intermittently (a sample fault or a design issue?). More often than not it was No Youtube For You tonight! And this wasn’t a glitch in my Wi-fi since both Netflix and Amazon Video always loaded with little fuss.

HDMI inputs 1-4 on Vizio’s TV are HDMI v2.0b. To get the full benefits from Ultra HD sources, you enter

the settings menu and select Full UHD color for the desired input. HDMI input 5 (HDMI v1.4) offers no scaling or HDR and thus delivers the lowest lag time for gaming (see Test Bench).

The Vizio’s remote control is small, not backlit, and a chore to use in the dark. I often hit the wrong button when trying to call up the menu and ended up in the Crackle app or some other strange place. There’s also a Vizio remote control smartphone/tablet app. I rejoiced when using the app since it offers access to all of the color calibration controls without also displaying the adjustment menu on the screen along with the pattern being measured (the latter can dramatically skew the measurements). But the app proved unreliable: after working beautifully at first, it then refused to access the needed settings when I fired it up the next day.

The Vizio’s optical digital output can pass lossy multichannel soundtracks in bitstream format to an external AVR or soundbar. I found its built-in audio listenable, but nothing special. Oddly, on some sources the Surround setting (it did nothing of the sort) would increase the volume when turned from Off to On, while the volume would decrease with the same Off-to-on change on other sources.

SETUP

The best options among the PX75- G1’s Picture Modes are Calibrated and Calibrated Dark. Settings in each Picture Mode can be saved with up to six different variations and given different names. You can also enter different menu settings for SDR and HDR in the same Picture Mode and the set will automatically switch between them depending on the source.

White balance controls include both 2-step and 11-step settings that are located in a Color Tuner menu together with a full color management system (CMS). But apart from allowing different settings for SDR and

HDR, you can’t set the Color Tuner values (white balance and CMS) separately for the Calibrated, Calibrated Dark, and Standard modes, though you could link those modes to different calibrated Color Temp settings (Cool versus Warm, for example). Also, if you delete the color settings in the Color Tuner menu for SDR, it’s reset in HDR and presumably for other Picture Modes and inputs as well. (I say “presumably” because I didn’t test for the latter since I had no desire to re-enter the numbers all over again— I’d already been there!)

Motion Control features include settings to reduce both motion blur and judder. An additional motion feature is Clear Action control, but when I tried it the result was intermittent image flicker. This didn’t concern me as I rarely use motion compensation of any sort. Also, the PX75-G1 doesn’t offer any HDMI 2.1 features such a variable refresh rate, though it does offer both a Game Picture Mode and a Game Low Latency control to reduce lag.

Vizio’s Active Full Array

Local Dimming control offers four settings including Off.

Its defaults are Low for SDR and Medium for HDR in the Calibrated Dark mode. A Black Detail control proved useful mainly in the Low setting, and there’s also an Enhanced Viewing Angle control that had little effect on off-axis picture quality plus a multi-step Gamma control.

All of the observations and tests here were made with the Calibrated Dark mode and Normal Color Temperature setting active. Calibrated Dark mode might appear “Dark” if you’re accustomed to watching a TV in a “torch” picture mode like Bright Room or Sports, but it actually offers the most naturallooking and adequately bright image under most viewing conditions (in a dark room or one with modest lighting).

Even after a full calibration I found that the PX75- G1’s colors often looked a bit overcooked, particularly skin tones. A small reduction in the Color control, usually around 47 give or take a step or two (the default is 50) for both SDR and HDR often was the only change needed. For SDR I sometimes also increased the Backlight from 20 to 25 for a little more pop and varied the Gamma control depending on the source from 2.2 to 2.4. For HDR I increased the Contrast from 50 to 53 depending on the source.

HD/STANDARD DYNAMIC RANGE PERFORMANCE

I used Blu-ray (HD and UHD) played on an Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray player for all of my serious viewing, but also spent considerable time watching streamed video. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is an underappreciated Christmas film that I pulled from the shelf just after the holidays. This is a beautiful transfer of a well-shot film, and its rich, brilliant colors were appropriate for the season. As Kevin navigates the city and outwits the sticky bandits bot in his uncle’s house and in Central Park, I was impressed with the Vizio’s color, detail, sharpness, and overall performance in

bright and dark scenes.

Oblivion is a disc I’ve referenced many times (including below in its HDR form) for good reason since it’s a superb transfer. It looked good across the board on the Vizio, with solid color, faultless detail, and wellbalanced contrast. Prometheus is also a superb disc, though a little trickier for displays to deal with due to its many dark cave scenes. The Vizio handled it reasonably well, though the dark scenes looked just a little grayer than they do on an OLED TV. The star fields early on in the film looked totally convincing, however. Typical of most LCD designs, the Vizio looks best when viewed head-on. Picture quality starts to deteriorate as you move off-center, the loss of contrast becoming obvious once you view from 20-25 degrees to one side.

ULTRA HD/HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE PERFORMANCE

Revisiting Oblivion, but this time in HDR, I was blown away by how the Vizio handled the disc’s bright HDR highlights. The lightning strikes in the first act looked frighteningly real, and a nighttime nuclear explosion seen from a distance revealed more detail than I’ve ever noticed in the dozens of times I’ve watched it before on other sets.

Other bright details throughout Oblivion, while not always as spectacular, were nonetheless jaw-dropping. As Jack is chained up and questioned by the “Scavs,” he sits in the dark illuminated only by a bright spotlight. In most displays this appears either as a single light source or as multiple sources mushed together, but on the Vizio it was revealed as three closely spaced but clearly differentiated lights.

Such detail is made possible by the Vizio’s high peak light

output in HDR. When properly set up, it measured 2,000 nits on highlights—almost double what we’ve measured on other sets, and three times what you get with an OLED TV. OLEDS typically top out at about 700 nits, while a Samsung Q90

series LCD model we tested in the December/january 2020 issue (also on soundandvision. com) measured 1,300 nits—a previous high mark in our TV testing history. Although the human eye doesn’t respond linearly to increasing light levels