Home Theater Geeks 522 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:00]:
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I answer a listener question about Vizio TVs. Haven't heard of them lately? Neither have I. So stay tuned. Podcasts you love from people you trust. This is TWiT. Hey there, Scott Wilkinson here, the The Home Theater Geek. In this episode, I answer a question from Brad Marmon who writes, several years ago I purchased a 65-inch Vizio 4K TV which at the time was considered one of the best on the market. It is still our primary TV and we are still very happy with the picture quality.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:56]:
My questions are Does Vizio still make TVs? If so, why don't I hear about them anymore? Has their quality gone down, or have other manufacturers simply surpassed them in quality? Great question, Brad. It reminded me that I hadn't heard of Vizio TVs for some years either, um, and you got me to wondering what the heck happened to them. So I did some research. Turns out Vizio was purchased by Walmart in December of 2024 for $2.3 billion. Apparently Walmart wanted to expand into the connected TV market, which is pretty lucrative in terms of ads within apps. So Vizio became one of Walmart's 90 or so private label brands. Now, looking at the Walmart website, I see only the ONN, pronounced, I assume, on, but it's ONN. This is the brand of Walmart TV, some of which say powered by Vizio smart television.
Scott Wilkinson [00:02:20]:
I don't see any TVs with the Vizio brand., and I also see on-brand TVs with Roku or Google TV as their smart TV platform. So I don't see Vizio TVs on the Walmart website. However, I do see them on the Vizio website, and there are a lot of them there. There are 5 different lines. At the top is a mini LED, what they call Quantum 4K. 4K. So it's a quantum dot TV, uh, with mini LED backlighting. So it's an LCD TV, uh, the VQM series, which is only available in 55, 65, and 75 inches.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:16]:
Uh, they also have a conventional LED, non-mini LED Quantum 4K. So again, it uses quantum dots in the backlight and conventional LEDs. This is known as the M series, and it has many sizes up to 100 inches. Um, they also have a 4K without quantum dots, which is known as the V4K series. Uh, still does HDR, high dynamic range, as the upper two, uh, series that I mentioned also do. And it also has many sizes up to 86 inches. Below that is a Full HD 1080p called the VFD series, available in smaller sizes, 32, 40, and 46 inches. And finally, the HD series, which has the model number VHD, that's 720p, and it's available in 24 and 32-inch sizes.
Scott Wilkinson [00:04:23]:
Now, on the Vizio website, you can select a size in any line and click on Buy Now. This lets you buy from several different retailers, including Walmart, Sam's Club, Target, Amazon, and others. And in this case, it's a Vizio brand. So I don't quite understand how Walmart could have bought Vizio, made it a private brand, and but you can still buy it from other retailers, and it's a Vizio brand, unlike on Walmart's website where it's not. Um, I don't get that. The good news is they're incredibly inexpensive. A 75-inch mini LED, the top of the line, the largest one in their top of the line, uh, is $498. Less than $500.
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:22]:
Uh, their Quantum 4K, which is conventional LED at 100 inches, is $1,298 at Walmart or $1,498 at Sam's Club. So under $1,500 for a 100-inch TV, uh, that's quite remarkable. Now the next question, of course, is how's the performance? And the answer is, I don't know. Uh, the last Vizio to be reviewed on ratings.com or anywhere else I could find was the Vizio Quantum Pro, which was from 2023, 2 and a half years ago. I think it was November of that year, and it scored reasonably well, 7.5 over out of, uh, 10. It's not mini LED. Uh, but you know, they thought it was okay. Ratings also has an article titled The 2 Best Vizio TVs of 2026, but the TVs that are mentioned there are from 2023.
Scott Wilkinson [00:06:28]:
They're the TVs that were reviewed on Vizio way back then, uh, rather they're on Ratings way back then. Uh, they were basically good TVs, uh, but ratings cited problems with quality control, subpar upscaling and HDR performance, and Vizio's smart interface, they said, was laggy and crashed often. Well, that doesn't sound too good. Um, now the problem is Vizio doesn't release very many TVs in a given year anymore. And their presence in North America has declined dramatically, which is probably why we haven't heard much about them lately, you or I. Uh, ratings in that article about the two best Vizio TVs for 2026, which are from 2023, uh, says great picture quality for their price, offering good value, but there are often a ton of bugs associated with their TVs. Um, now again, these are comments based on TVs from 2023, so we don't really know about later models. I haven't found any reputable reviews of anything later than 2023.
Scott Wilkinson [00:07:48]:
Vizio used to be a value leader offering good quality, uh, at low prices. I used to recommend them often, but that spot has been taken over by TCL and Hisense. Of course, as those companies have moved higher on the TV food chain, their prices have started to creep upward as well, which is to be expected. But they're still really good value products, and these days I would have to recommend those over Vizio, mainly because I don't know what has happened to Vizio quality. Um, Given the comments from ratings, I would be hesitant. So that's about as much as I know, and, uh, it was a great question, so thanks for asking. Now if you have a question for me, send it on along to htg@twit.tv, and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And if you have a home theater you're proud of Send me some pics.
Scott Wilkinson [00:08:56]:
Maybe we'll get it on the show, and maybe we'll get you on the show to talk about it. Wouldn't that be fun? Until next time, geek out.
