Vizio undercuts Samsung’s QLED TVs by hundreds of dollars with the Quantum

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Vizio’s challenger to Samsung’s QLED TV is here, and in keeping with the company’s tradition of providing high performance at an enticing price, the 65-inch 4K HDR smart TV (PQ65-F1) will debut at retailers like Best Buy, Costco, and Sam’s Club for $2,100. To put that in perspective, Vizio’s Quantum comes in at $600 less than the comparably equipped 65-inch Samsung Q7F-series TV.

The new P-Series Quantum TV — the flagship in Vizio’s 2018 TV lineup — is highlighted (literally) by a powerful backlight system that Vizio says can deliver up to 2,000 nits of brightness for intense specular highlights and especially vivid colors when viewing HDR content. The backlight system is broken out into 192 zones of local dimming (you can learn more about that term here) that allow the TV to keep dark areas black and not gray, even when bright objects are appearing elsewhere on-screen. In practical terms, that means a picture of the moon against the darkness of space, for instance, would be rendered such that the moon would appear very bright, but the surrounding scene will remain black.

The use of the word quantum is not simply a marketing strategy for Vizio, as the term refers to the use of quantum dots to achieve a wider array of pure colors — up to 1 billion, says Vizio. Quantum dots are also what put the Q in QLED for Samsung.

In addition to superior contrast and color, Vizio points to the support of both Dolby Vision and HDR10, which allows viewers to enjoy a wide array of brilliant HDR content from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, as well as Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. Pair it with the new Black Panther disc for the ultimate home theater experience.

Vizio’s Smart TV system appears relatively unchanged here, with support for popular streaming apps on board plus Chromecast capability. Vizio’s SmartCast app also lets users employ their phone or tablet as a remote control. If manual control isn’t your bag, though, the P-Series Quantum TV also works with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant to support voice commands. Using an Amazon Echo speaker or Google Home speaker, owners will be able to power their TV on and off, adjust volume, and in the case of Google Assistant users, stream content with relatively simple voice instructions.

All of this functionality is fitted into a TV with what appears to be a nearly invisible bezel. The TV’s dimensions weren’t disclosed by Vizio at the time of release, but with a full-array local dimming (FALD) backlight system, it will likely have a slightly thicker profile. It’s also important to note that the TVs feet are spaced almost as wide as the screen itself, which will require those who use a stand mount to have a fairly wide piece of furniture to set it upon.

Digital Trends has a P-Series Quantum TV on its way for review and we look forward to sharing our assessment soon.