| Design | 7.0 |
| Picture Quality | 8.1 |
| Motion | 7.6 |
| Inputs | 8.9 |
| Sound Quality | 6.9 |
| Smart Features | 6.8 |
- Deep, uniform blacks.
- Impressive color gamut.
- Excellent low input lag.
- Mediocre dirty screen effect (DSE).
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Market Context
The Vizio M Series Quantum is a mid-range 4k Vizio TV, and it directly replaces the Vizio M Series 2018. It's available in three variants: the M7 variant, the M8 variant, and a Black Friday variant known as the M6. The M Series Quantum's main competitors are the Samsung RU8000, Sony X850F, and LG SM8600.
Design
The Vizio M Series Quantum has a decent design. The borders and frame are thin, and it doesn't stick out much when wall-mounted. It has a minimalist stand that supports the TV well, but doesn't completely prevent the TV from wobbling and it requires a large table.
The feet are wide and require a table nearly the full width of the TV, which isn't ideal, especially for the larger sizes.
Footprint of the 65" stand: 50.6" x 11.7"
The back of the TV is very plain, and looks very similar to last year's M Series 2018, but with an all-black finish. The inputs face towards the side and bottom of the TV, and are easy to access when wall-mounted.
Unfortunately, there is no cable management.
The borders of the TV are a bit thicker than last year's model, but still aren't very distracting.
The 2019 model is a bit thicker than last year's model, but still looks good. There is a slight backwards lean, but this isn't very noticeable. We don't know if this is by design, or a defect. The M Series 2018 did not have a tilt.
There should be no issues with heat from the M Series Quantum. Note that this image was taken with a different thermal camera, as our FLIR E8 is currently being repaired.
The Vizio M Series Quantum has decent build quality. It's very similar to other Vizio TVs, and the exterior panels are made of plastic. The stand supports the TV well, but it still wobbles a bit. There is a slight backwards tilt; this isn't very noticeable with normal viewing, and we don't know if this is a defect or by design.
Picture Quality
The Vizio M Series Quantum delivers great picture quality. It looks great in a dark room, as the impressive contrast ratio and good local dimming features delivers deep, inky blacks. It also has an outstanding color gamut, with Rec. 2020 coverage that is almost as good as the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019, and great gradient performance, with very little banding in areas of similar color. In SDR, the M658-G1 has great peak brightness, but in HDR it isn't bright enough to deliver the creator's intent. Unfortunately, like most TVs with VA panels, the image degrades when viewed at an angle, and our unit has noticeable uniformity issues.
The M Series Quantum has an outstanding native contrast ratio, similar to the Vizio V Series 2019. This results in excellent deep blacks, great for dark-room viewing. With local dimming enabled, the contrast ratio is boosted significantly, similar to the Samsung Q70R.
The M Series Quantum has a good local dimming feature, slightly better than the Q70R but not quite as good as the P Series Quantum 2018. It reacts decently well to fast scene changes, but the leading edge and some small, bright objects can appear dimmer than the rest.
Higher settings on the TV cause the TV's overall brightness to increase. Although we normally recommend the 'Medium' setting, it might be too bright for some environments, in which case the 'Low' setting might be better.
The M7 Series Quantum 2019 variants have a slightly worse local dimming feature, with fewer dimming zones.
The Vizio M658-G1 has great peak brightness, but it isn't quite as bright as the M Series 2018. There is some variation in brightness with different content (ABL), but it shouldn't cause any issues for most people.
We measured the peak brightness after calibration, with the 'Calibrated Dark' Picture Mode, and the Color Temperature set to 'Normal'.
The local dimming feature affects the TV's peak brightness, and higher settings result in a higher peak brightness. We measured the peak brightness with the Active Full Array setting on 'Medium'. Lower settings result in a lower peak brightness, so you may need to adjust this setting depending on your viewing conditions. The 'High' setting resulted in a dimmer image with some real content.
If you prefer a brighter image, or a colder color temperature over an accurate one, with the 'Vivid' Picture Mode and the 'Cool' Color Temperature, we measured a peak brightness of 634 cd/m² for a short period of time, as measured on the 10% test window.
The M7 Series Quantum 2019 variants have a slightly lower peak brightness.
Decent peak HDR brightness, slightly worse than last year's models.
We tested the HDR peak brightness with no calibration settings, using the 'Calibrated Dark' Picture Mode, with the Backlight set to '50'.
The local dimming feature affects the TV's peak brightness, and higher settings result in a higher peak brightness. We measured the peak brightness with the Active Full Array setting on 'Medium'. Lower settings result in a lower peak brightness, so you may need to adjust this setting depending on your viewing conditions. The 'High' setting resulted in a dimmer image with some real content.
If accuracy isn't as important to you, or if you prefer a colder color temperature, the 'Vivid' Picture Mode hit a peak brightness of 581 cd/m² for a short period of time, with the Backlight set to '100', Color Temperature set to 'cool', and local dimming on 'High'.
The M7 Series Quantum 2019 variants have a slightly lower peak brightness.
Decent gray uniformity. Subjectively, it looks worse than the current score. There are noticeable vertical bands throughout the entire screen, which can be very distracting with some content. These results are closer to the TCL R617, but with less vignetting.
Like most VA panels, the M Series Quantum 2019 has disappointing viewing angles. When viewing off-angle, the image appears washed out and colors shift noticeably and lose accuracy.
Unlike the P Series Quantum X 2019, there is no Enhanced Viewing Angle feature.
This TV has outstanding black uniformity, one of the best we've seen so far. There is almost no noticeable blooming around our test cross, and no backlight bleed.
The M Series Quantum 2019 has great reflection handling. Bright light sources aren't completely diffused across the screen, so bright lights or windows opposite the TV can still be distracting. This TV has much better reflection handling than the TCL R625.
With our pre-calibration settings, the M Series Quantum 2019 has good accuracy. Gamma mostly follows the target curve, but some really bright scenes are noticeably over-brightened. There are some minor inaccuracies in colors, but most people won't notice anything. The color temperature is warm, giving the white point a slight red-yellow tint.
After calibration, this TV has excellent accuracy. Gamma follows the target perfectly, with almost no variation from 2.2. Color errors are almost completely corrected, and any remaining inaccuracies are completely unnoticeable. The color temperature is extremely close to our target of 6500 K, and the white balance is essentially perfect.
You can see our recommended settings here.
Like all recent Vizio TVs we've tested, 480p content, like DVDs, isn't upscaled as well as most TVs. Not everyone will be bothered by this, but it can be noticeable.
720p content, like most cable channels, is decently upscaled, but like with 480p content, it's a bit worse than most other TVs.
1080p content, like Blu-rays or older consoles is upscaled nearly perfectly, and looks almost identical to 4k content.
4k content is displayed perfectly, with no pixel issues or sub-pixel dimming. Unlike the higher-end Vizio TVs, like the P Series Quantum X 2019, there is no Enhanced Viewing Angle feature, so there is no spatial dithering.
The Vizio M Series Quantum 2019 has an impressive color gamut, one of the widest we've ever measured.
The EOTF doesn't follow the PQ Curve very well. Darker scenes are displayed accurately, but it starts tone mapping very early, and all scenes above around 100 cd/m² appear darker than they should be. In 'Game' mode, the backlight defaults to '100', which causes the EOTF to display darker scenes brighter than they should be, as shown by this EOTF. With the backlight set to '50', the EOTF more closely tracks the PQ curve.
If you find HDR too dim, changing the Backlight to '100' results in a brighter image, as shown by this EOTF. If you want an even brighter image, decreasing the gamma will probably improve the brightness a bit more, but we don't expect it to impact the apparent brightness as much as the backlight setting.
This TV has great color volume, again, one of the best we've tested. It can't quite fill out its color gamut, but can display most colors at any brightness level, including dark, saturated colors.
This TV has great gradient handling. There is some noticeable banding in most colors, but it isn't very noticeable. Unfortunately, there is no smooth gradation feature to improve gradients.
There are no signs of temporary image retention on the M Series Quantum 2019, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast static test image for 10 minutes.
We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.
Motion
The Vizio M Series Quantum 2019 has good motion handling. It has an excellent response time, delivering clear motion with very little blur behind fast-moving objects. There are noticeable duplications, though, due to the TV's 480Hz backlight flicker, which is present at all brightness levels below max. This TV has an optional black frame insertion feature, which improves the appearance of motion by reducing the backlight flicker frequency to 60Hz. Unfortunately, this TV has no motion interpolation feature, and it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which might disappoint some people.
This TV has an excellent response time. There is some slight overshoot in most transitions, but this isn't very noticeable. There are duplications in motion, as seen in the above photo, due to the flicker of the backlight.
The M Series Quantum 2019 uses PWM to dim its backlight, and there is flicker at all backlight levels below 100. The 480Hz flicker is identical to last year's M Series 2018, but behaves very differently from the 120Hz flicker on the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019. This high flicker frequency does cause noticeable duplications in motion, which can be seen in our response time photo.
This TV has an optional black frame insertion feature which can improve the appearance of motion. When enabled, this feature reduces the backlight flicker frequency to 60Hz, which helps reduce the amount of persistence blur. This results in more noticeable duplications in motion.
Unfortunately, this TV does not have a motion interpolation feature.
Due to the TV's fast response time, there is some noticeable stutter when watching 24p content, like movies. This is especially noticeable with slow-panning shots.
The M Series Quantum 2019 can remove judder from 24p sources and from the native apps, as long as Film Mode is enabled. Unfortunately, it can't remove judder from 24p content sent through a 60p/i source, like a cable box.
This TV has a 60Hz panel, but doesn't support any advanced variable refresh rate features, like FreeSync or HDMI Forum's VRR feature.
Inputs
The Vizio M Series Quantum 2019 has outstanding low input lag, which is important for a responsive gaming experience, or for use as a PC monitor. This TV has limited support for different resolutions, and it only accepts 4k or 1080p signals at 60Hz; it does not support 1440p, or 120Hz inputs. The M Series supports Dolby Vision, but doesn't support HDR10+.
The M Series Quantum 2019 has excellent low input lag, as long as Game Low Latency is enabled. Unlike many top Vizio TVs, including the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019, there is no dedicated low latency port. Instead, all four HDMI ports have the same low latency.
See our recommended settings for gaming here.
This TV supports 1080p and 4k inputs, but only at 60Hz. It doesn't support a 120Hz input or 1440p. Chroma 4:4:4 is displayed properly, as long as the Picture Mode is set to 'Computer'. Higher bandwidth formats, like 4k @ 60Hz 4:4;4 requires that the Full UHD Color setting be enabled for the port in use.
See our recommended settings for PC gaming here.
Update 11/14/2019: Vizio has added support for HDR10+ on many 2019 and 2018 models. We are in the process of updating our TVs and will update our reviews shortly.
This TV supports Dolby Vision from all sources.
The M Series Quantum 2019 supports ARC over HDMI port 1, but it doesn't support eARC. It can pass DTS and Dolby Digital over ARC, but for DTS to work over optical, the Digital Audio Out setting must be set to 'Bitstream'.
Sound Quality
The Vizio M Series Quantum delivers decent overall sound quality. The low-frequency extension (LFE) is high, resulting in bass with no thump or rumble and very little punch. Dialog is clear, though, and this TV gets loud enough for most environments. For a better sound, a soundbar or dedicated speaker system is recommended (see our recommendations for the best budget soundbars).
Decent frequency response. The low-frequency extension (LFE) is bad, resulting in very limited bass, with no thump or rumble and very little punch. The response above the LFE is good, and dialog is clear, but it lacks airiness a bit. It can get quite loud, but unfortunately, there is significant pumping and compression at louder volumes.
Decent distortion performance. The total amount of harmonic distortion (THD) produced is good below 80db SPL, but it increases noticeably at max volume.
Smart Features
Like most Vizio TVs, the M Series Quantum has decent smart features. The interface is well-organized and polished, but isn't very smooth. It has a decent selection of apps, but unfortunately, it isn't possible to add new apps.
Update 11/26/2019: We've retested the TV with the latest SmartCast interface, and found it to be much faster.
The interface is visually appealing and easy to use, but unfortunately, it's not very smooth.