VIZIO OLED65-H1 65” 4K HDR Smart TV (2021 Model) - FULL REVIEW

If you're looking to choose a new TV during these "ultra-modern" days, you might end up feeling uncertain about what type of TV you should go for. While LCD or LED screen TVs create a single backlight that flows through a series of filters and polarizing layers, OLED TVs (A.K.A. Organic Light Emitting Diode TVs) on the other hand are a different type of TVs that are powered by a unique OLED technology, which basically energizes and lights up each individual pixel independently. To put it simply, this one-by-one approach to lighting the screen helps OLED TVs to deliver rich contrast and an outstanding color spectrum. Ultimately, that's exactly what makes OLED TVs the best way to go for picture quality, and that even includes gamers. This brings us to the VIZIO OLED65-H1.

The   VIZIO OLED65-H1 is a 65” 4K HDR Smart TV that features ultra-vivid color tones from up to a billion colors, as well as great shadows and brightness levels, all coming with extreme details in a 4K Ultra HD quality.
In fact, this is VIZIO's latest OLED Smart TV to be released for 2021. Featuring a gorgeous 65" inch screen that boasts a whooping 3840 x 2160 resolution, the ability to deliver a cinematic color volume with over a billion hues of vibrant color and the possibility to recreate detailed highlights at a default of 400 nits of brightness (can go up to 650 nits) in Dolby Vision HDR.

With that said, this Smart TV comes with everything you need for watching your favorite content in 4K quality during the upcoming years.

Furthermore, this Smart OLED TV also brings VIZIO’s Smart Cast 3.0, which is what will allow you to easily stream and share your favorite content, and since this new system is also fully compatible with most Voice Assistants, like Amazon Alexa, the Google Assistant, and even Siri, you can simply use your voice to control the system (via easy-to-use Voice Commands) in a completely hands-free fashion.

Lastly, there’s also Chromecast built-in for a multi-screen experience, as well as support to Apple Airplay 2, which, in case you are not aware of, are two similar technologies that allow you to respectively use your Android or iOS devices to stream movies, shows, music, and photos from any compatible Apps (in iOS’ case it would be iTunes, Apple TV and other Airplay) to the VIZIO M65Q8-H1 Quantum 65″ 4K HDR Smart TV.

So, without any more delays, let's dive into our detailed review, where we have a more thorough look at this feature-packed Smart OLED TV and check out everything that the VIZIO OLED65-H1 has to offer you.

DESIGN & SPECS

Starting with the Smart TV’s size, when accounting for its integrated stand (meaning its centralized support base), the VIZIO M65Q8-H1 Quantum 65″ 4K HDR Smart TV measures exactly 57.03 inches long by 35.52 Inches tall (32.69 without the stand) by 11.29 inches thick (1448 x 902 x 286 mm), which makes it somewhat large, meaning that you’ll only be able to fit it on reasonably wide countertops.I'd also like to note that for the TV's weight, when accounting for both the screen and its integrated stand, this Smart OLED TV weighs exactly 70.99 lbs. (32.20 kg), so remember to be extra careful when carrying it around. While the TV's weight is not "monstrously" heavy, it’s still something that you should be mindful of.

Despite its somewhat large dimensions, the VIZIO OLED65-H1 still features a very simple and minimalist look thanks to its ultra-modern design, which not only gives it a very sleek look that’s quite pleasing to see, but also allows it to easily blend in with the rest of your home décor, no matter what your choice of furniture is.Additionally, if we take a moment to look at the TV from one of its sides, the TV’s body is also quite thin, and that basically means that the whole TV won't take up too much space between the front of your countertop all the way to the TV's backside, which will be staying close to the wall.

Now, if we take a closer look at the VIZIO OLED65-H1’s minimalist design at a more detailed level, other than its simple aesthetics, this latest-generation of the company’s OLED 4K HDR Smart TV maintained a similar design to the company's last OLED models, and so, just like older models, it still features a gorgeous matte-grey bezel throughout its entire bodyMoreover, if we have a closer look at its Non-Adjustable Base, the TV's dedicated stand is reasonably large, taking up exactly 21.26 inches in width and 11.29 inches in depth, meaning that it will provide the TV with a lot of stability.

Lastly, just like many other of VIZIO's latest released Smart TVs, you’ll also be pleased to know that their brand-new OLED65-H1 can also be wall-mounted if you’d like to have it hanging on a wall.

That can be easily achieved thanks to all of its central removable bolts, which after removed, will allow you to have this Smart TV wall-mounted by attaching it to a 400 x 200 millimeter VESA mount (keep in mind that while the TV only supports a 300 mm by 200 mm mount setup, this specific mount still supports those mounting-dimensions too, so they're fully-compatible with one another).

TV SCREEN & PICTURE QUALITY

The VIZIO OLED65-H1 Smart TV comes equipped with a built-in 65″ screen (64. 5” diagonal) that supports an image resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. With its image displaying over 8 million pixels (which is around 4 times the resolution of 1080p), you get a true 4K Ultra HD resolution at a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz (which can be set at different values, starting from 40Hz all the way up to 120Hz). Thanks to these different basic features, you can always enjoy all of your content at a breathtaking level of detail.

For its Image Processing, this Smart TV utilizes a powerful IQ Ultra Display Processor, which allows the Smart TV to deliver an even better picture processing than any older models, while also providing the Smart TV with a more intelligent 4K upscaling engine - meaning its UHD Upscale Engine Spatial Scaling Engine which runs together with a UHD Codec Support VP9 and HEVC (H.265) - that will display all of your favorite content in an astonishing 4K Ultra-HD quality.

Now, let's talk about the TV's overall Picture Quality, which is most likely everyone's most asked question when it comes to recently released Smart TVs, and in my personal opinion, one of the most important things to consider when buying a new TV for your home.

So, let's break down the OLED65-H1's Picture Quality into the main different categories to consider.

Color Settings

Now, when it comes to the Smart TV’s picture color, this OLED Smart TV works based on its OLED Ultra Color Spectrum Technology, which basically helps to bring to life a billion intense colors of every shade, hue and tone.

Thanks to the TV's state-of-the-art OLED technology, its picture-quality stays perfectly beautiful and breathtaking from any angle, and that goes for whether you're looking at it from across the room, standing off to the side of the TV, or even when sitting super close up to its screen. Utimately, its OLED Ultra Color Spectrum Technology is what allows this OLED Smart TV model to deliver its image with a cinematic-like color intensity.

For those looking to boost the TV's Color Settings even further, all you have to do is to enable its Dolby Vision Calibrated HDR Setting by simply turning off its Motion Blue Reduction (Motion Blur Smoothing) all the way to 0, and that will make this Smart TV capable of displaying a wider spectrum of colors and detail.

Black Levels

As you can most likely tell, the Black Levels on this Smart OLED TV are simply impressive. Since this is an OLED TV, when it comes to the Black Levels of its Picture Quality, whenever you turn the TV Off, you'll obviously be getting true black.

Now, that's obviously not the whole story when it comes to a TV's different levels of black tones and/or black colors. You also need to have several good gradients that will smoothly lead into dark greys and then slightly into brighter greys, which, to put it simply, is pretty much the Shadow Detail that your TV's screen can offer you.

So, it's important to note that this OLED TV might struggle a slight bit with ultra-dark content (very dark scenes in movies and or TV/shows, etc.), as the TV's Black Level's quality is quite dark, all the way to the point where if you don't have all of your living room's lights turned off and your window blinds pulled down (or curtains closed) you may have trouble seeing the image, and I don't just mean the smaller shadow details in a scene. Ultimately, for really, really dark scenes, you might end up having trouble seeing the image in general. So, with that said, keep that in mind and try to get a reasonably dark room (no lights on or windows opened) before watching darker movies / shows.

Nevertheless, since the TV features exactly 8 million self-illuminating pixels that work together to create deep levels of contrast, the TV's Black Levels still bring you reasonably deep black levels that ultimately help the TV to create a stunning depth with great contrast levels.

Brightness & Max Nits Value

Sitting on the opposite side of the TV's Black Levels, we have its Brightness (or brightness levels). It's important to note that the TV's out-of-box Calibrated Picture Preset doesn't allow the TV to get that bright, as the TV will measure around 400 neats (peak) in HDR, and just close to 300 nits (around the 290's value) in SDR. That's not a huge difference between HDR and SDR.

However, with a few small adjustments to some of the TV's Picture Settings, you can dramatically influence just how bright the TV gets, and with those same adjustments, you are also ensured to get a better balance between the TV's Black Levels and its Brightness Levels. So, here's that tip.

By going to the TV's Picture Settings, you can find it's Luminance Adjustment Setting, where you can boost it from its default level of 60 (which is what gets you 400 nits at the start) all the way up to 100. Turning this value up to 100 will help you max out the TV's brightness levels.

Not only that, but you should also open the TV's Advanced Picture Settings, where you'll be able to find its Peak Luminance Setting, which should be set to High if you're looking to get a higher brightness level for the TV's screen (this will get you around 400 nits for SDR and around 650 nits for HDR).

After these Picture Settings are adjusted accordingly, you should be able to have the TV make every single detail pop-out better, instead of getting those "more high-level" details lost in light or dark areas of its image.

Other Supported Features

Lastly, while Dolby Vision HDR makes this Smart TV capable of displaying a wider spectrum of colors and detail, this next-gen Smart TV also features support to HDR10, HDR1010+ and HLG high dynamic range formats, which will ultimately transform your content with exceptional 4K detail via 4K UHD and the already mentioned Dolby Vision HDR, bringing you a dramatic imaging with an awesome level of brightness, contrast, and color.

Picture Quality for Gaming

On the topic of this Smart TV having a 120Hz panel, let’s talk about how “Gaming-friendly” this recently released OLED Smart TV model actually is.

To be clear, while it still doesn’t have every single “fancy” new feature that you can find on the “super-high-end” Smart TVs (you know… the really, really expensive ones), it still features an eARC port, so you’re ultimately able to send audio to a TV that originates from cable, satellite, streaming or source devices to be sent to an AVR or sound bar through a single HDMI cable. This ultimately ensures the simplicity of your connectivity setup while also ensuring that the original audio can be experienced without any issues.

This eARC port does support Auto-Latency Mode, which basically means that the Smart TV will go straight into Auto Gaming Mode, which is basically activated via VIZIO’s ProGaming Engine (if you will), while also supporting AMD FreeSync, which automatically elevates console gaming with a fluid and artifact-free performance at virtually any framerate.

Yes. You’ve heard it right… ANY framerate. What makes that possible is the Smart TV’s revolutionary built-in IQ Ultra Display Processor (meaning its previously mentioned powerful Display Processor), which basically helps the Smart TV to fine-tune any individual pixels as well as to more intelligently reduce image-noise and enhancing fine details for a remarkable picture performance.

That said, this eARC port also supports Variable Refresh Rates, which is amazing for a TV at this price-point. Now, the TV’s Gaming Mode will top out at around 4K 120Hz resolution (obviously due to the Smart TV’s 120Hz panel), but I still believe that you’ll still get a fairly great gaming experience, especially when accounting for the supported Variable Refresh Rate feature.

Still, I'd aso like to point out that you're required to do some other adjustments within your PlayStation 5's Settings Menu to achieve a 120Hz refresh rate. With the right adjustments to all of your Video Settings (TV's Picture Settings and your consoles Picture Processing Settings), you can have very smooth and reasonably fast graphics that help to diminish stutter, tearing and video lag, allowing you to ultimately enjoy a next-level 4K performance that runs at 120 fps, with HDR tone mapping, variable refresh rate, and Dolby Vision HDR.

By having both VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and AMD FreeSync, this 2021 Smart TV model is guaranteed to bring you a next-level gaming experience that simply won’t leave you disappointed.

AUDIO QUALITY

Now we’ll have a quick discussion about the VIZIO OLED65-H1’s Audio Quality. To keep it simple, this OLED Smart TV just comes equipped with two (x2) built-in 30-watt speakers. As you probably expect, these two small built-in speakers will obviously not meet any audiophiles’ expectations, but while these are obviously not a top-in-class addition to this model, they still offer you a fairly decent sound quality to accompany its astonishing display specs.

Overall, things will all sound great, and can reach quite loud sound levels if you configure the Smart TV’s sound settings to do just that.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that at very-high volume-settings, higher pitch sounds might suffer with some occasional sound distortion. There’s one more thing that I’d like to mention, and that’s the fact that since this Smart TV just packs two (x2) built-in 30-watt speakers, this model won’t really offer you an astonishing bass performance.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The VIZIO OLED65-H1 is a 65” 4K HDR Smart TV that features ultra-vivid color tones from up to a billion colors, as well as great shadows and brightness levels, all coming with extreme details in a 4K Ultra HD quality.

With this high-end Smart TV you can easily improve your viewing experience for your favorite content, as you’re guaranteed to get a breathtaking picture-quality for any of your favorite streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and more.

Furthermore, with support to HDR Gaming at 120fps, the TV's built-in eARC port makes this Smart OLED TV very "Gaming-friendly”.

All that makes the VIZIO OLED65-H1 the perfect entertainment centerpiece for any family that’s enthusiastic about their Smart Home.