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It wasn’t so long ago that your TV was, well, just a TV. It played your local channels and hooked up to a VCR or DVD player to play movie rentals. It wasn’t something you’d call “smart,” and unless you had a vivid imagination, it didn’t interact with the other appliances and devices in your home.
But smart TVs today are much more than entertainment centers, and infinitely more powerful than their rabbit-eared ancestors. They’re the centerpiece of a fully integrated smart home, able to respond to your voice and even answer your doorbell.
VIZIO has been at the head of the smart TV revolution since the very beginning, releasing some of the market’s first smart TVs in 2010 to take full advantage of the rapid rise of Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube streaming. As both entertainment streaming and smart-home technology have evolved with incredible speed, VIZIO has not only kept its place at the forefront of smart TV manufacturers, it has continued to deliver the cutting-edge tech to consumers at very competitive prices.
What Makes a VIZIO Smart TV a Smart Addition to My Home?
VIZIO has been in business since 2002, and has devoted most of its existence to creating the best smart TVs for consumers who want the best interactive TV experience possible without melting their credit card. They know what makes a great smart TV stand out from the crowd — all of the resolution and picture performance you expect from any big screen, but with powerful yet easy-to-navigate features, controls, and interfaces.
The key to VIZIO’s standout smart TVs is the VIZIO Home platform, which is preloaded into all of VIZIO’s TVs. Right out of the box, VIZIO Home gives you instant access to all of your favorite built-in apps and over 275 free channels from VIZIO’s WatchFree+ service.
VIZIO Home takes many of the features of your cellphone and brings them to the big screen: like your phone’s OS, VIZIO Home updates itself automatically, ensuring your VIZIO smart TV will always have the latest tech. One of those recent updates was a newly designed home screen that makes navigating your smart TV faster, more intuitive, and more easily customizable so you can arrange it with your preferred channels and apps and other content right where you want them.
All of these robust features do, of course, require a powerful connection speed, and VIZIO delivers again with dual-band Wi-Fi 6 connectivity that kills lag times and bolsters your streaming and other interactivity with a consistently smooth and reliable connection.
What Apps and Digital Assistants Make My VIZIO Smart TV Even Smarter?
If we’re just talking about streaming, VIZIO’s smart TVs come with all of the most popular apps, from Netflix and Hulu to Apple TV, Max, YouTube, and TikTok, among others. VIZIO also has WatchFree+, its own streaming service with tie-ins from Warner Brothers, Paramount, BBC Studios, and Magnolia Pictures to go along with content from A24, AMC Networks, Lionsgate, and more.
VIZIO’s Mobile phone app turns your phone into a voice remote, using the VIZIO Voice feature to interact with your TV and other smart home devices. You can also use your phone’s keyboard to type into the search bar, eliminating that frustrating hunt-and-peck feature that most TV remotes force you into.
Then there are the apps that make your VIZIO smart TV the command center of your smart home — whether your smart devices are powered by Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit, VIZIO Home forms quick, easy, reliable connections with them all. And VIZIO Home’s automatic updates ensure that your TV won’t be left behind as the smart-home tech continues to evolve and grow.
Need one more amazingly cool feature? Check out VIZIOGram, which lets you share your phone’s photos and videos with friends and family who also have a VIZIO smart TV and the VizVIZIOio Mobile app, no matter where in the world they may be.
Which VIZIO TV Should I Buy For My Smart Home?
There is, of course, no bad answer to this question. It largely depends on your budget, the size of the screen you’re looking for, and how you plan on interacting with your new VIZIO smart TV. All of them have VIZIO Home and WatchFree+ preloaded, so from the minute you plug them in, they’re ready to rock.
We aren’t going to run through all 56 of VIZIO’s smart TV models, ranging from the hot-selling D-Series to the industry-leading Quantum Pro series. But we’ve picked out a few great options that will no doubt meet your needs.
Quantum Pro 75″ QLED HDR Smart TV
The Quantum Pro 75” 4K QLED HDR Smart TV is the gold standard of the VIZIO smart TV fleet. It delivers mesmerizing brightness and deeper blacks with up to 1000 nits of peak brightness and active full array local dimming. The wide viewing angle and anti-reflective film mean there isn’t a bad seat in the house, at any time of day, and all of your many connections will be super-fast and amazingly smooth thanks to the tri-band Wi-Fi 6E connection. Gamers will love the amazing low-latency AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology, 120fps in 4K gaming, or 240Hz in 1080p resolution, which can keep up with even the fastest action games. The best part of this high-end smart TV? The price — just under $1,000 for VIZIO’s best and most powerful smart TV.
M-Series QX 50″ 4K Quantum Color Smart TV
Speaking of gamers, the M-Series QX 50” 4K Quantum Color Smart TV also has tri-band Wi-Fi 6E connectivity — 30% faster than standard Wi-Fi, and it comes with AMD FreeSync Premium technology to go along with 120 frames-per-second speed (fps) during 4K gaming or 240 fps in 1080p resolution when connected to a PC or console. We love VIZIO’s Game Mode, which automatically kicks in when the set detects a console or PC connection. This lag-free set is a perfect gaming TV that also happens to be great for streaming, live TV, or connecting to your smart-home setup. At around $550, it’s also gentle on your wallet.
D-Series Smart TV
VIZIO’s stellar reputation for making great smart TVs at great prices is in no small part thanks to its D-Series, ranging from 24 to 40 inches and starting at just over $100. You can’t ask for more from an entry-level smart TV in terms of capability and quality, and the D-Series sets are perfect if you’re looking to bring smart-TV tech into a small apartment, guest room, or a dorm room.
