When Panasonic's plasma TVs gave up the ghost last year, I immediately began wonderingwhat 2014 TVs could possibly take their place as my go-to recommendation as the best combination of picture quality and value. In my CES preview, I wrote "Help me local-dimming Kenobi; you're my only hope," calling out Vizio and others for their embrace of that technology, the only one that, in my experience, allows LED LCD to compete against plasmas.
For 2014, Vizio, in contrast (pun intended) to just about everyone else, offers even more local dimming TVs at more affordable prices than ever. The E series is the company's cheapest line, and at 39 inches and up, most of them have that extra. And it works even better than it did last year.
Simply put, I'll be incredibly surprised if any TV released this year offers a better combination of price and picture quality than the Vizio E series. The closest contender so far this year, in fact, comes from Vizio's own camp in the form of the M series. But it costs more than the E, and doesn't offer significantly better picture quality.
Don't get me wrong: Vizio's E series doesn't hold a candle to the picture quality of a great plasma. But it kicks the pants of many LCDs that cost a lot more. Employing minimal zones and actual LEDs (to bring down costs) and much-improved dimming logic, the E series achieves truly remarkable black-level performance. The rest of its picture is also plenty good, and its price is simply phenomenal. It's been more than a year since I've awarded a "10" in the Value category, but the Vizio E series deserves it, hands down.
Editors' Note 6-10-2014: In light of the M series review, portions of this review have been modified since initial publication. The Picture Quality rating has also been raised from 7 to 8 and the overall rating from 8.1 to 8.5.
Series information: The 2014 Vizio E series is a complex beast, so bear with me. First off, this review applies only to the E series sets with local dimming, listed to the right and denoted on this chart with a number under "Active LED Zones." The rest, typically smaller sizes (and none larger than 48), are not covered by this review. Until we test one, we can't speculate on their picture quality.
I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 42-inch Vizio E420i-B0 as well as the 55-inch E550i-B2. The former was purchased by CNET on the open market and the latter supplied by Vizio.
The main specs difference between the two is in the number of zones of local dimming, video processing extras, and number of inputs (see Features below for details). Although their picture quality is similar, there are also quite a few differences I discovered. None of the differences are large enough to warrant different ratings, however, which is why they're joined together in this series review.
According to Vizio, the remarks about the 42-inch size can also be applied to the 39-, 40-, and 48-inch members of the series listed here, and the observations on the 55-inch size to the 50-, 60-, 65-, and 70-inch members (the latter two are not available yet). The one exception is that "the E390i-B0 and E400i-B2 handle motion better than the E420i-B0 you tested," according to Vizio. I've asked for details and will update this section when I hear back.
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