Note: Vizio provided us with the Vizio M50-E0 at no charge in order to conduct this review.
Recently, the awesome folks at Vizio hooked COED up in order to review their latest television in their M-Series line, the Vizio M50-E0 at no cost to us. Naturally, we had to say yes because this 4K Ultra High Definition television is a beauty and possibly one of the best and most affordable options for getting into the 4K television game.
The California-based electronics makers, widely known for their production of flat-screen televisions, were kind enough to send over a Vizio M50-E0 to our office in New York City for this review. After the quick and easy set-up, we were off to the races and testing this bad boy on everything it could do!
For this review, we sampled how the TV held up by testing its 4K functionality in Netflix and by testing out how games look on it by playing a couple rounds of FIFA 18 on the Xbox One (Note: Since the Xbox One X was not available while writing this review, the standard Xbox One version was used).
Read on for our review of the Vizio M50-E0 4K UHD LED TV:
Picture Quality:
The Vizio M50-E0 displays gorgeous, vibrant and deep pictures on its screen. When testing out the TV on Netflix with the newest season of Stranger Things, the TV not only blew our minds but looked completely jaw-dropping. The colors are high-quality and almost lifelike thanks to the television’s High Dynamic Range, which supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision formats so there is no need to fight over the formats!
When playing FIFA 18 on the Xbox One, we noticed that the TV picked up the fast motion blur of the game like a champ and displayed the field stunningly (even if it wasn’t the 4K patched edition). Also, the TV’s 120Hz refresh rate makes gaming and watching sports the experience worth every penny!
One highlight of the picture quality is the Ultra Color Gamut panel in the TV, which is the color gamut that allows the TV to reach 98% of the P3 standard, making this TV as super close to Digital Cinema as possible at the moment.
One downside: Even though the TV does have Auto Brightness Control for when light is hitting the screen, it doesn’t do the trick all the time and may require a lighting adjustment. Thankfully, the TV’s screen has local dimming spots which help liven up colors and lighting across the screen in some well lit spots. The feature works with the image displayed on screen by dimming the TV’s backlight so that black images can be even darker while increasing it in the brighter portions of the image so that the highlights are still bright and crisp! Plus, most televisions at this price range either do not have local dimming or it is not as powerful as it is here!
Sound Quality:
While most people will no doubt have this TV hooked up to their best sound system, we decided to forgo that and test the built-in speakers for our review. We did notice that while the sound may not be the best, it is definitely serviceable and usable… but we do suggest hooking it up to a sound system entirely.
Smart Features:
Packed to the brim with features and things to do with it, the Vizio M50-E0 is a solid “Smart TV” that can get all your content quick and easy thanks to its simple yet amazing home screen. The system is packed in with Google’s ChromeCast support, which basically means this TV comes with a built-in ChromeCast that allows you to stream all your favorite content straight from your phone! By downloading the app that comes with the TV, you can cast content from various different apps without ever needing to connect an HDMI cord, essentially making this TV fully usable straight out of the box! This alone makes the TV worth a purchase, especially for college kids who aren’t paying for cable or the cord cutters who finally let go of cable TV.
Casting content to the TV is quick and painless thanks to the VIZIO “SmartCast mobile” app that users can download for either iOS or Android devices. The app helps organize all the different applications and subscriptions that you can cast to your TV. Users can also cast content directly from their respective apps thanks to Google’s ChromeCast technology. Once the TV is hooked up to your home internet network, the Chromecast-enabled apps on your phone or tablet, (including: Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and thousands more) will show up with a “Cast” button, allowing you to stream your favorite content immediately. Also, we noticed that the internal wireless card that the TV uses works surprisingly fast when we installed the Day One update for the TV which means… NO MORE BUFFERING!
Vizio outdid themselves with the Smart Features on this TV, making sure that it’s future proof as we continue to rely on our content through streaming methods and others rather than cable TV and with the ability to control/cast from your phone. Rather than sticking to the past, Vizio has propelled themselves to the future with the features on this TV.
Our Verdict:
Vizio’s commitment to making affordable yet amazing televisions has not been broken yet. Each year their TVs get bigger, brighter, and better than the last and the Vizio M50-E0 stands as one of their best models yet. Sporting one of the best screens for its price, this TV stands out as one that will blow everyone away, but still feels inviting and friendly thanks to its amazing smart features. The ability to start watching content from across various platforms thanks to built-in (and downloadable) apps and to be able to stream from your phone as soon as it’s hooked up makes this one of the best TVs on the market right now.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Pricing:
The 2017 Vizio M Series is available in five screen sizes: 50″, 55″, 65″, 70″, and 75″. Here’s how the other sizes compare in price:
50-inch (Vizio M50-E1), $599.99 – (Currently $575.99 on Amazon)
55-inch (Vizio M55-E0), $679.99 – (Currently $675.99 on Amazon)
70-inch (Vizio M70-E3), $1,999.99 – (Currently $1,756 on Amazon)
75-inch (Vizio M75-E1), $2,499.99 – (Currently $2,099 on Amazon)
All five of these models share most of the same specs, including an advertised 120Hz refresh rate (60Hz native), HDR10/Dolby Vision support, and a wide color gamut.
