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Vizio D Series 4k 2016 TV Review

Tested using Methodology v1.0
Review updated Mar 01, 2017 at 06:31 am
Vizio D Series 4k 2016 Picture
7.3
Mixed Usage
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.2
Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.0
TV Shows
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.3
Sports
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
8.4
Video Games
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
6.6
HDR Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
5.6
HDR Gaming
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
5.3
PC Monitor
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
This TV was replaced by the Vizio D Series 4k 2018

The Vizio D Series 4k UHD LED TV is a good budget TV that delivers better than average picture quality. Its aesthetic won't win anyone over, but it handles motion very well and is very responsive. It lacks some of the features found on higher end TVs but performs quite well - as long as it is viewed from directly in front. In a room setup where you will be viewing the TV from the side, the Vizio D loses a lot of its appeal. Note: this review is for the 4k UHD variant of the D Series. We reviewed the 1080p version separately here.

Our Verdict

7.3 Mixed Usage

Good TV for mixed usage. Picture quality is above average, and motion is handled very well. Very low input lag which is great. Unfortunately the picture diminishes from the side and it lacks features found on high end TVs.

Pros
  • Excellent TV for gaming
  • Great value 4k TV
Cons
  • Very narrow viewing angle
  • Cable and DVDs look blurry
  • Poor screen uniformity
7.2 Movies

Performs well for movies. Displays deep blacks and has good black uniformity for dark rooms. Has local dimming but it doesn't work very well.

7.0 TV Shows

Average for TV shows. Upscaled content looks okay, and doesn't have the brightness to compete with reflections in a bright living room.

7.3 Sports

Average sports performance. Picture quality is above average but screen is not very uniform which results in dirty screen effect. Handles motion very well though.

8.4 Video Games

Very good for video games. Picture quality is above average, and motion handling is great. Fast camera movements handled easily. Exceptional input lag which is great.

6.6 HDR Movies

Doesn't support HDR. Color gamut only enough for SDR content. Can't get very bright for highlights. Above average picture quality though.

5.3 PC Monitor

Average PC monitor. Picture quality is above average and handles motion very well. Input lag is exceptional, unfortunately doesn't support a wide range of input resolutions.

  • 7.3 Mixed Usage
  • 7.2 Movies
  • 7.0 TV Shows
  • 7.3 Sports
  • 8.4 Video Games
  • 6.6 HDR Movies
  • 5.6 HDR Gaming
  • 5.3 PC Monitor
  1. Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
  2. Updated Mar 13, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
  3. Updated Mar 09, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

Differences Between Sizes And Variants

The Vizio D Series 4K TV that we bought is the 50" with SKU D50u-D1. We expect our review to be valid for the 40" (D40u-D1), 55" (D55u-D1), 58" (D58u-D3) and 65" (D65u-D2). It is not valid for the 1080p variations of the Vizio D Series which we reviewed separately here.

If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Vizio D Series doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Size Model Effective Refresh Rate Real Refresh Rate HDMI # Speakers Local Dimming Zones
40" D40u-D1 120 Hz 60 Hz 5 10W x 2 8
50" D50u-D1 120 Hz 60 Hz 5 10W x 2 12
55" D55u-D1 120 Hz 60 Hz 5 10W x 2 14
58" D58u-D3 120 Hz 60 Hz 5 10W x 2 10
65" D65u-D2 120 Hz 60 Hz 5 15W x 2 16

Compared To Other TVs

Comparison picture

Top left: Vizio E Series 4k 2016 (E48u-D0). Bottom left: Samsung KU6300 (UN55KU6300). Middle: Vizio D 4k (D50u-D1). Top right: TCL US5800 (55US5800). Bottom right: Vizio D Series 1080p 2016 (D50-D1).  Unlike our other photographs, this picture wasn't taken under a controlled environment, so do not draw conclusions from it.

The Vizio D Series 4k 2016 performs quite well across the board and excels in gaming performance for those after a 4k TV on a budget. For those that don't require a 4k TV, it is very similar to the Vizio D Series 1080p 2016 which is available at a lower price. 

Test Results

Design
6.0
Design
Style
Curved No

The Vizio D Series 4k won't impress with its looks or thinness. In fact, it might remind you of the look of old LCD TVs, minus the very large borders. Before you buy, make sure you have a table that is broad enough to accommodate the wide stand.

Design
Stand

When using the stand, the TV leans a little bit toward the back.
Footprint of the 50" TV stand: 10" x 39.2"

Design
Back
Wall Mount VESA 200x200

Although the TV is thick, its back connections are arranged so there are no wires that can stick out from the back. It can then be mounted flush on a wall.

Design
Borders
Borders 0.55" (1.4 cm)
Design
Thickness
Max Thickness 2.48" (6.3 cm)

The TV is quite thick, with no real thin parts.

Picture Quality
8.5
Picture Quality
Contrast
Native Contrast
4,356 : 1

The deep blacks the Vizio D has make for a high contrast ratio and good picture quality.

2.0
Picture Quality
Local Dimming
Local Dimming
Yes
Backlight
Full-Array

Local dimming really didn't work well on this TV, even though it has a full-array backlight. You don't see any blooming, even though the zones are really big, because the overall picture darkens too much.

6.8
Picture Quality
SDR Peak Brightness
SDR Real Scene Peak Brightness
272 cd/m²
SDR Peak 2% Window
94 cd/m²
SDR Peak 10% Window
142 cd/m²
SDR Peak 25% Window
172 cd/m²
SDR Peak 50% Window
265 cd/m²
SDR Peak 100% Window
302 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 2% Window
94 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 10% Window
142 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 25% Window
172 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 50% Window
265 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 100% Window
302 cd/m²

The SDR peak brightness was tested with local dimming on, and this has the effect of reducing the peak brightness on the smaller sized windows. Turn off the local dimming if you want to have the same brightness on all window sizes.

not tested
Picture Quality
HDR Peak Brightness
HDR Real Scene Peak Brightness
N/A
HDR Peak 2% Window
N/A
HDR Peak 10% Window
N/A
HDR Peak 25% Window
N/A
HDR Peak 50% Window
N/A
HDR Peak 100% Window
N/A
HDR Sustained 2% Window
N/A
HDR Sustained 10% Window
N/A
HDR Sustained 25% Window
N/A
HDR Sustained 50% Window
N/A
HDR Sustained 100% Window
N/A

This TV does not support HDR.

6.1
Picture Quality
Gray Uniformity
50% Std. Dev.
4.236%
50% DSE
0.249%
5% Std. Dev.
2.048%
5% DSE
0.123%

Like most LED TVs, the uniformity of the screen isn't good and dark patches can be seen whenever the camera pans over playing surfaces like ice or grass. The small number of LEDs in the full-array backlight doesn't help here.

4.9
Picture Quality
Viewing Angle
LCD Type
VA
Color Shift
27°
Brightness
45°
Black Level
9°

If you don't sit directly in front of the TV, colors appear washed out and black appears grayish. If you sit too close to the TV, even the right and left edges will appear whitish.

8.6
Picture Quality
Black Uniformity
Native Std. Dev.
1.16%

Our black pattern is free from any obvious clouding or light bleed, which is great.

8.0
Picture Quality
Gradient
Color Depth
8 Bit

The Vizio D Series uses an 8-bit panel. We could clearly see the 8-bit gradation in our gradient pattern, even when the TV was fed with a 10-bit signal.

8.4
Picture Quality
Pre Calibration
White Balance dE
2.97
Color dE
3.066
Gamma
2.23

White balance was good out of the box. Color was ok.

9.4
Picture Quality
Post Calibration
White Balance dE
0.27
Color dE
1.97
Gamma
2.21

White balance could be fixed correctly with calibration, but we couldn't get individual colors much better without applying extreme values that worsened other colors.

7.0
Picture Quality
480p Input

The Vizio D displays 480p softer than most other TVs do. Increasing Sharpness to 20 and activating the 'Reduce Noise' setting fixed most of this problem. It looks softer than even the 1080p equivalent of the D Series (see review).

7.0
Picture Quality
720p Input

As with 480p, 720p resolution looks a little blurry. Setting 'Sharpness' to 20 and enabling the 'Reduce Noise' feature can help a little bit.

9.0
Picture Quality
1080p Input

Blu-rays looks great on on the Vizio D 4k 2016.

10
Picture Quality
4k Input

The Vizio D that we reviewed can display 4k resolution (some other Vizio Ds can do a maximum of 1080p, see our separate review for them)

6.2
Picture Quality
Color Gamut
Wide Color Gamut
No
DCI P3 xy
69.33%
DCI P3 uv
74.34%
Rec 2020 xy
49.74%
Rec 2020 uv
54.17%

The Vizio D 4k doesn't have a wide color gamut option. Its color output is limited, but this won't be an issue with normal, non-HDR content.

6.0
Picture Quality
Color Volume
Normalized DCI P3 Coverage
67.851%
10,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage
31.462%
Normalized Rec 2020 Coverage
49.61%
10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage
23.075%

Similar to other SDR TVs, the D Series 4k 2016 can't produce very saturated colors at any luminance level.

10
Picture Quality
Image Retention
IR after 0 min recovery
0%
IR after 2 min recovery
0%
IR after 4 min recovery
0%
IR after 6 min recovery
0%
IR after 8 min recovery
0%
IR after 10 min recovery
0%
8.0
Picture Quality
Reflections
Reflection
2%
Screen Finish
Semi-gloss

The semi-gloss finish does a good job of minimizing reflections without adding rainbows. The Vizio D will be fine in a room with a few windows.

0
Picture Quality
3D
3D
No
3D Type
No
2D to 3D
No
Picture Quality
Pixels
Type LED
Motion
8.8
Motion
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate 60 Hz
Response Time
12.3 ms
Overshoot
0.9 ms

The response time is good and the result is clear fast motion. The trail following the moving logo in our test is short. The down transitions are a bit slower than the up transitions, which results in an orange tone between the letters of our logo.

6.8
Motion
Image Flicker
PWM Dimming Frequency
120 Hz
BFI
Yes
BFI Frequency
60 Hz
BFI In Game Mode
Yes

The Vizio D Series 4k uses PWM to dim the backlight, which can be seen in duplications following the motion blur logo. It is possible to reduce this frequency to 60Hz to clear up motion.

7.1
Motion
24p Playback
Judder-free 24p
Yes
Judder-free 24p via 60p
No
Judder-free 24p via 60i
No

This TV isn't able to completely remove judder. 'Reduce Judder' does reduce the amount of judder on 24p content, but still couldn't remove it completely.
Update: Enabling 'Game Low Latency' solved the 24p issue, but still not over 60p or 60i.

5.0
Motion
Motion Interpolation
Motion Interpolation (30 fps)
Yes
Motion Interpolation (60 fps)
No

Vizio advertise this TV as a '120Hz Effective Refresh Rate' which is more of a marketing term. The Vizio D 4k 2016 is in fact a 60Hz TV and as such, can only interpolate content with a refresh rate of 30Hz and lower, using the 'Reduce Judder' setting. Cable TV and streaming services that run at 60Hz won't be able to use the soap opera effect.

You can read more about fake refresh rate here.

Inputs
9.4
Inputs
Input Lag
1080p @ 60Hz
13.5 ms
1080p With Interpolation
N/A
1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode
80.1 ms
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
N/A
4k @ 60Hz
13.4 ms
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
N/A
4k @ 60Hz + HDR
N/A
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR
N/A

This is the lowest input lag we have measured on a TV so far. The time it takes for the TV to respond to a controller input is extremely low. Any serious gamers, even those playing competitively, should be pleased with the Vizio D. To get the input lag to a minimum, we had to use the 'Game' picture mode and the HDMI 5 input. For the HDMI 1, the 1080p input lag under game mode (with 'Game Low Latency' on) is 42.2ms.

2.0
Inputs
Supported Resolutions
Resolution 4k
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
No
1080p @ 120Hz
No
4k @ 30Hz @ 4:4:4
No
4k @ 60Hz
Yes
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
No

For 4k @ 60Hz support, use the labelled HDMI port (HDMI5).

Update: 4k @ 60Hz is limited to 4:2:0. 4k @ 30Hz supports 4:2:2.

Inputs
Side Inputs
Inputs
Rear Inputs
Inputs
Total Inputs
HDMI 5
USB 1
Digital Optical Audio Out 1
Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 0
Analog Audio Out RCA 1
Component In 1 (shared)
Composite In 1 (shared)
Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1
Ethernet 1
DisplayPort 0
IR In 0
SD/SDHC 0
Inputs
Inputs Specifications
HDR10
No
5.1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
Yes
Dolby Vision
No
5.1 Passthrough ARC DTS
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical DTS
No
HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth No
ARC Yes (HDMI 1)
USB 3 Yes (1)
HDCP 2.2 Yes
CEC Yes
MHL No
Variable Analog Audio Out Yes
Sound Quality
7.0
Sound Quality
Frequency Response
Std. Dev. @ 70
2.74 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ 80
2.89 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ Max
3.34 dB SPL
Max
85 dB SPL
Low-end Cutoff
151 Hz

Poor low-end cutoff and low maximum loudness. The frequency response (tonal balance), however, is decent. The major issue here is the total lack of bass.

5.4
Sound Quality
Total Harmonic Distortion
Distortion @ 70
0.036
Distortion @ 80
0.108
Distortion @ Max
0.144

High distortion. Even though the TV doesn't get loud (barely reaching 85dB SPL), the distortion level is quite high. It should also be noted that the plasticky frame of the TV shakes and rattles quite noticeably under loud and full-range content.

Smart Features
Smart Features
Apps

Most popular apps are available, including Netflix, Amazon Video, and YouTube. HBO Go is missing, and there is no web browser.

6.0
Smart Features
Interface
Smart OS Basic

The smart features of the Vizio D Series aren't that advanced, but cover the basics. Although functional, there is no fancy remote that comes with the TV, either. There is a good number of inputs, though.

10
Smart Features
Ads
Ad-free
Yes
Opt-out
N/A
Smart Features
TV Controls

The only button you have on the TV is on the back left of the TV. It can power on the TV and change inputs.

Smart Features
Remote
Remote Basic

Model #: XRT122

Smart Features
In The Box

- Remote
- Batteries
- Manuals

Smart Features
Misc
Power Consumption 80 W
Power Consumption (Max) 165 W
Firmware 1.13.15