Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 – Better than the 2020 series?

The Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 has a simple design with thin edges and resembles the M7 series. It is a bit thicker than its 2020 predecessor, but that does not bother when mounted on a wall. The back has been completely redesigned and now has rounded edges. The upper side is made of metal while the lower part is made of plastic in a brushed aluminum design. The build quality is very good and the metal around the frame feels solid. All connections are easy to reach as they are located on the side but unfortunately, the TV has no cable management.

What makes the P Series special are the stands. These are designed to hold a soundbar on top, so they stick out a bit. Each stand is additionally rubberized to prevent scratches on the soundbar. To avoid obstructing the view, the Vizio can even be raised a bit on the feet. However, it wobbles slightly in the highest position, but it is stable at the bottom.

The Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 features a 10-bit VAVertical Alignment, type of LCD Panel panel with a layer of quantum dots that has a high native contrast ratio  and can reproduce deep blacks very well. The Full Array Local Dimming function has been revised once again in the new model, so it could improve compared to the predecessor. Depending on the TV size, between 144 and 210 zones can be dimmed. This improves the contrast, but also leads to blooming problems, which are nevertheless not as severe as on the 2020 model.

The series support the most common high dynamic range content: HDR10HDR10 Media Profile – HDR with a color depth of 10 Bit in the Rec. 2020 colorspace, HLGHLG or Hybrid Log Gamma facilitates the transmission and reception of signals by combining the SDR and HDR signals. If the device supports HDR, the HDR part of the signal is used, otherwise the SDR part., HDR10+License-free, dynamic HDR-format in competition with Dolby Vision, and Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits. The HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) peak brightness of almost 1000 nitsSI unit of luminance: 1 nit = 1 cd/m² – The best way of measuring and comparing a TVs brightness   is incredibly impressive. However, very bright scenes in particular lose detail at maximum brightness. The color gamut and gradients are excellent, which makes watching 4K content a great experience.

The VA panel of the Vizio can handle most light sources well and therefore has a good reflection handling. Light bulbs or candles are nevertheless reflected very strongly in it. Unfortunately, the Vizio disappoints during a sports broadcast or a movie when watching with several people. Colors are quickly distorted at larger viewing angles and the picture looks dark. The viewing angle enhancement mode doesn’t help either. If you often watch TV with several people, you should rather look for an OLED panel.

Those who still like to watch old DVDs might have problems with the P Series, because the TV can’t calculate the aspect ratio correctly and cuts off parts of the picture. However, if you do not own any DVDs anymore anyway, this flaw is not noticeable.

Compared to the predecessor the response time has worsened from 4 ms to almost 7 ms in the Quantum 2021, which is not good in this price range. Therefore, black smearing is visible in dark scenes on the 120 HzHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. VA panel. Furthermore, the backlight flickers, which can lead to a perceived image duplication. Due to the somewhat slower response time, there’s not as much stutter on this TV.

The Vizio can only apply Black Frame InsertionProcess that inserts black “blank images” as intermediate images. This makes movements appear finer and clearer. at 60 Hz. Even there, the BFI doesn’t work very well, as image doubling can occur. A similar effect already occurred on the 2020 model, but it is even more pronounced on the P Series 2021. The Vizio has a motion interpolationArtificial calculation of more frames than the source material has to offer feature which causes the soap opera effect. It interpolates 30fps and 60 fps content up to 120 fps. This works well with slower scenes, but there are many artifacts with fast-moving objects.

Like other Vizios, the P Series Quantum 2021 can only remove judder from native 24p sources, like native apps and Blu-ray players.

The Vizio P Series Quantum 2021 is a mid-range TV for gamers. It has an input lag of 10 ms at 4K and 120 HzHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second., which allows you to enjoy shooters and sports games in particular, and two HDMI 2.1 inputs. However, the Variable Refresh RateVariable Refresh Rate – synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the output refresh rate of the graphics card is only supported with native FreeSyncVariable Refresh Rate with AMD graphics cards or consoles; G-SyncVariable Refresh Rate for Nvidia graphics cards does not work at all. Since the viewing angle is not particularly good, the picture is not nice when playing with several friends in local game mode.

Unfortunately, the Vizio does not support 4k@120Hz content when a PC is connected. There are major issues and lots of bugs with high bandwidth signals like 4K@120Hz when operating with different PC graphic cards. Surprisingly, though, there are no problems when a PlayStation 5 oder Xbox Series X is detected. The Auto Low Latency Mode then automatically switches the TV to Game Mode.

The P Series has a balanced sound profile with a 2.0 channel sound system and 30 watts. Unfortunately, the bass is too weak, but this could be compensated well with a soundbar on top of the aforementioned stands. At moderate volumes, the distortion is not too great, but it becomes more noticeable at maximum volume. A plus point in terms of sound is the support of Dolby AtmosObject-based surround sound format with 3D-Sound from any direction and DTSMulti-channel-sound-system (Surround Sound) competing with Dolby Digital, which provide a cinema-like sound quality and acoustics.

The Vizio has an HDMI-eARC port and can thus transfer all common audio formats to a compatible receiver.

The P Series Quantum 2021 comes with the updated version of the Vizio SmartCast system 5.0. The interface is user-friendly, but sometimes very slow and laggy and many errors can occur like switching the TV off in random situations. Unfortunately, there is no app store, but all common apps like YouTube, Disney + or Netflix are already preinstalled. The Smart OS also supports Google Chromecast and Apple AirPlay, which makes it easy to cast content from the smartphone to the TV. Google Assistent and Amazon Alexa are integrated and you can use Time Shift to record a TV Show and watch it later.

A big plus is the ad-free interface, which is rather rare in current smart TVs. The remote control of the Vizio has an integrated microphone for voice control. Apps can be opened or inputs changed with it. However, settings cannot be adjusted with it.