Vizio E Series 4k 2016  TV Review

Although better than last year design, the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 still doesn't rival higher end TVs. It is still a thick TV but gone is the blocky design. The back of the TV has smoother curves now. The stand is separated into two feet.  

The stand is sturdy and has a curious design because of all the holes in the feet.

Footprint of the 48" TV stand: 10" x 39.2"

The back appears smoother than on last year model and this year's Vizio D. All connections can be accessed when the TV is wall mounted which is good.

The side of the borders have a textured finish and the thickness is average.

Still a fairly thick TV when viewed from the side although it looks smoother than last year blocky design. It will stick out if wall mounted.

The contrast ratio provides good performance in dark scenes, however the blacks appear slightly gray in a completely dark room.

The TV has a full-array backlight, but doesn't have good local dimming performance. The entire screen dims, including bright objects, and highlights flicker. Depending on the TV in the series, there are either 10 or 12 local dimming zones.

The Vizio E Series 2016 has a bad SDR peak brightness. This TV can get very bright, and the local dimming dims too much the small highlights. This makes this TV not the best option if you have a bright room since it won't get bright enough to fight glare.

Update 02/09/2016: With the latest firmware update (3.0.12.2) The 55 inch and larger models of the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 are now HDR compatible.

The uniformity of the TV is average, with the sides appearing darker and some lighter bands visible. The dirty screen effect is average, and will be visible when panning across a field.

As soon as viewers are slightly off axis, the picture deteriorates. It has one of the worst viewing angles that we measured. Part of this is due to the horizontal pixel sub-structure. See the 'Pixels' section for more details.

There is good black uniformity, with only some clouding visible. Due to the narrow viewing angle, the sides appear slightly brighter in dark scenes.

The gradient appears very consistent with only slight tints. 8 bit gradations and dithering are visible.

Out of the box, the pre-calibration on this TV was average. There is a great deal of issues for the white balance dE as well as the color dE.

The only possible way to fix the issues that were apparent in the pre-calibration was with the use of a handheld device. By downloading the 'Vizio SmartCast' application we were able to adjust most of the settings on the television, but it was a tedious process.

Like other Vizio TVs, DVDs content upscaling is below average. Some small detail like the sail boat ropes look choppy and the general image looks soft.

Cable content will also look soft after being upscaled. Small details like the small ripples on the sail protective covering are lost.

Blu-rays upscaling is done without any problems and the image quality is very good.

4k content look good on the Vizio E series 4k 2016.

The Vizio E-Series 2016 doesn't have a wide range of colors and as such it will only be enough for Rec. 709 content.

Although the larger variants of the E Series 4k 2016 has been updated to support HDR, it can't produce the saturated colors necessary for an improved image.

Reflections can appear large and diffused but can be seen through as long as they aren't too bright.

The pixel sub-structure is horizontal much like the Sony W650D, R510C and the TCL FS3800 that we reviewed. This kind of pixel alignment results in narrower horizontal viewing angle but slightly better vertical viewing angle, like for a bedroom where the TV is usually a little above the viewers eye level.

This TV is horrible when it comes to dealing with motion blur, there is a long trail behind the logo that can be seen fairly well. The response time is quite high as well with most of the transition taking a fair amount of time. The backlight of the TV isn't flicker free, which may annoy some.

The Vizio E Series 4k 2016 has the 'Clear Action' option which reduces the backlight frequency and helps to clear up motion a bit.

24p content over a 24Hz signal is displayed with no judder, however judder is experienced when playing 24p movies over a 60Hz signal. Game mode reduces some of the judder, but it is still present.

Unlike the cheaper D Series 4k 2016, this TV doesn't have any motion interpolation setting.

Update 02/09/2016: Retested with the newest firmware (3.0.12.2). The input lag under a 1080p resolution is now higher than before by almost 15 ms, but on the other hand, the 4k input lag is now around 15 ms better than before. Note that the 55" and larger models of the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 are now compatible with HDR.

Update 02/09/2016: Retested with the newest firmware (3.0.12.2) and now the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 can now display the chroma subsampling correctly when set in the 'Computer' picture mode.

Update 02/09/2016: With the latest firmware update (3.0.12.2) The 55" models and up of the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 are now HDR compatible.

Good frequency response, which is relatively flat for the most part. However, the low-end cutoff of 143Hz means that this TV lacks a lot of bass. Also, with maximum loudness of 88.3dB, this TV doesn't get very loud either. And when it does, some pumping and compression may be present.

Average distortion results. The overall amount of harmonic distortion at 75 and 85dB SPL are good. However, at maximum volume, there is a noticeable rise in harmonic distortion, while remaining within acceptable limits (for a TV).

This TV uses SmartCast, and as such there is no application on the actual TV itself. However, if you have a handheld device you will have many applications to choose from that supports casting. There are already many major application such as Youtube, Netflix and Spotify that supports it. Amazon Prime isn't supported at the moment.

Just like the Vizio P Series, the Vizio E Series 4k 2016 also uses SmartCast as an operating system which is similar as that of the ChromeCast operating system. The television waits for a feed, whether it be a video or a photo, to be sent from a handheld device using an application that supports casting. Unlike the Vizio P Series this TV doesn't not with an included tablet, therefore you would have to use your own handheld device to take advantage of the casting services.

It lacks a built-in tuner, which means you cannot connect an antenna or cable directly to the TV. You will need to buy a separate tuner like this one. 

The TV controls are located on the right side behind the television.

The remote that comes with the Vizio E 4k 2016 is the same basic one that come with the Vizio P Series 2016. The Vizio E 4k 2016 is made to be controlled via the Vizio SmartCast application using a smart phone or tablet which isn't included in the box.

• Remote
• Batteries
• HDMI Cable
• Manual