Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market

When I first started testing Vizio’s 65-inch Mini LED Quantum TV, I thought the large communicative was that Vizio was backmost and that it had a quantum-dot TV for nether $398 — the cheapest connected the market. Vizio’s been beautiful quiet since it was acquired by Walmart successful 2024, truthful putting retired a TV pinch quantum dots, which let for higher brightness levels and much meticulous color, astatine a fund value seemed for illustration a beardown comeback.

But that’s not the large story. While those 2 points are intriguing, the large news astir the Mini LED Quantum TV is that Vizio accidentally made the champion dumb TV connected the market.

Walmart bought Vizio for its advertizing business. Since Vizio’s advertisement section was responsible for all of Vizio’s profits astatine the clip of the sale, keeping that advertisement gross going is apt the privilege here, and Vizio’s TV OS is the vehicle.

You now request a Walmart account to usage immoderate features connected a Vizio TV, and you can’t entree immoderate of the streaming apps connected the Vizio Mini LED Quantum without agreeing to its activity information policy, which lets Walmart cod each your usage data. That’s annoying, but not unique. Smart TVs cod data connected what you’re watching and really you watch it truthful they tin service targeted recommendations and ads. (Vizio was moreover caught doing truthful without consent successful 2017.)

The imaginable for Walmart — overmuch for illustration Amazon pinch its Fire TVs, for that matter — is that your watch wont information tin beryllium utilized to target your shopping app experience. Been watching Star Wars movies and shows pinch the family? Maybe the adjacent clip you log successful to your Walmart app you’ll get a proposal for the Luke’s Red Five X-wing Smart Lego set. This mightiness sound awesome to you, but to me, the adjacent relationship betwixt TV OS and retailer is simply a spot unsettling.

It’s imaginable to get astir it, though, and to a fuller grade than connected different platforms. As pinch immoderate different TV, you tin adhd an outer streaming instrumentality and group the Vizio up to powerfulness connected to the past utilized input and bypass the OS. Even pinch an outer device, though, Vizio and Walmart are still scanning the HDMI larboard and collecting information connected what you’re watching. But by making definite decisions during the setup process, you tin support the OS from moreover being progressive (and presumably gathering your viewing information), which I’ve ne'er seen connected different televisions.

During setup, the TV asks you to motion successful to, aliases create, a Walmart account. If you take to skip, you’re asked if you’re judge and warned that “you will not beryllium capable to negociate payments and subscriptions aliases nexus your Vizio devices.” I already negociate my subscriptions done each streaming work I use, truthful nary large nonaccomplishment there. After agreeing to Vizio’s position of work and privateness policy, you’re asked to judge the activity information policy, which enables the TV’s smart features. Declining this brings up different informing surface — this 1 really says “Whoops!” — informing you that “skipping this measurement intends missing retired connected each your Vizio smart TV features, including apps for illustration Netflix, YouTube, and different apps.”

One past decline, and the Vizio is the dumb TV galore are looking for: nary OS and 3 HDMI ports awaiting a signal. And to make judge there’s nary measurement Walmart is getting your info, you tin ever disconnect the TV from the net wholly by forgetting your Wi-Fi settings. (You tin besides take to skip connecting to Wi-Fi astatine the opening of setup, which instantly switches the TV to HDMI, but you whitethorn besides miss retired connected firmware updates.)

And for a $400 dumb TV — aliases moreover a $400 smart TV — the 65-inch Vizio Mini LED Quantum is really good. I watched aggregate World Cup matches utilizing my OTA antenna and my normal postulation of play shows for illustration Last Week Tonight done my Apple TV, and they each looked beautiful good. Of its image modes, Calibrated and Calibrated Dark are the astir accurate. Both thin a small toward blue, truthful everything has a flimsy cool cast. Calibrated Dark is the champion for colour accuracy and for a dark, light-controlled room. With SDR, it tops retired astatine a maximum brightness of 309 nits (HDR gets up to 579 nits pinch mini highlights). Calibrated reaches 936 nits, which is unthinkable for a fund TV, truthful its highlights and wide image tin clasp up to ambient light. The surface is beautiful glossy, though, truthful if you person lamps nearby, the reflections tin beryllium distracting, particularly during acheronian scenes.

There’s a small spot of mobility blur pinch accelerated motion, which I noticed while watching the Austrian Grand Prix (especially pinch the cool quick-moving drone shots they introduced pinch that race). The Mini LED Quantum besides uses an IPS sheet alternatively of VA, truthful its achromatic level isn’t arsenic heavy arsenic a much costly TV, and there’s immoderate blooming visible pinch agleam highlights successful acheronian scenes. Most people, though, will beryllium much than happy pinch the capacity of the Vizio Mini LED Quantum. Even I was capable to push speech my videophile expectations and relax pinch what I was watching. For a 65-inch TV nether $400 (or up to an 85-inch for only $768), it’s easy to get past those flaws and still bask mundane viewing.

Of course, location are areas wherever Vizio’s cost-cutting is much obvious. The TV only has 3 HDMI 2.0 ports, erstwhile astir TVs will get you 4 pinch astatine slightest 1 astatine HDMI 2.1 (though Vizio does see an ATSC 1.0 tuner). The full backmost is made of a cheap-feeling plastic, there’s only 1 tallness position for the feet, and the cablegram guidance channels connected the backmost of each ft tin only accommodate a azygous cablegram each. So if you person much than 1 instrumentality connected to the HDMI inputs, you can’t tally each the cables done the channel. The speakers, while loud, don’t sound awesome either (but that tin beryllium said for costly TVs, too).

If you do determine to usage the Vizio OS, it’s imaginable to limit Walmart’s information postulation by turning disconnected Viewing Data successful the TV’s privateness paper arsenic good arsenic unchecking personalized ads connected your Vizio relationship page. Vizio OS is easy to navigate, if a tad sluggish sometimes. It supports each the awesome apps, positive AirPlay and Google Cast, and selecting different inputs is easy, some done the OS and pinch an input fastener connected the mini remote. After a fewer minutes, the TV will spell into a screensaver mode, which is conscionable 1 of the WatchFree+ channels that shows what looks for illustration AI-generated scenes pinch euphony playing. But since they’re channels and not an existent screensaver, they get interrupted by ads each erstwhile successful a while. It’s not the astir relaxing screensaver experience.

Of course, you don’t request to interest astir that if you usage the Vizio Mini LED Quantum arsenic a dumb TV. It’s not what Walmart hopes you’ll do pinch it, but it’s perfectly what you should. And if you want streaming apps, you tin ever plug successful a inexpensive streaming instrumentality for illustration the Fire TV Stick 4K Select for $40. If you usage a connected instrumentality pinch the Vizio OS active, your viewing information connected that instrumentality will besides beryllium shared pinch Walmart, according to the viewing information supplement connected the privateness policy.

My main interest is that the expertise to usage the Mini LED Quantum arsenic a dumb TV is simply a complete mishap and package updates could alteration that down the road. If you are required to usage it — and frankincense judge each the activity information postulation — recommending the TV becomes a spot harder. Until then, though, the Mini LED Quantum has awesome capacity for the price. If you’ve been looking for a large dumb TV to flight from the incessant information tracking, the Vizio Mini LED Quantum is it. At slightest for now.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge