Vizio M Series XLED 2017 Calibration Settings

These are the settings we used to calibrate the 65 inch Vizio M Series 2017 TV (M65-E0) and we expect them to be valid for the 50" version (M50-E1 ), the 55" version (M55-E0), the 70" version (M70-E3) and 75" version (M75-E1). These are good for most content, from watching movies to TV shows and gaming. For Gaming, some minor adjustments need to be done, and they are listed below.

Start off by selecting the 'Calibrated Dark' 'Picture Mode'. For our calibration process in our completely dark room, we set the 'Backlight' to 30, but if you are in a bright room, or find our settings too dark, you should increase 'Backlight' as much as you want and it won't alter the picture quality. Leave 'Sharpness' at 0 for 1080p and 4k sources to prevent any over sharpening. For lower-quality content, like DVDs or SD channels, you might want to increase it a little bit, since it could make lower resolution content look a bit better. 'Brightness' and 'Contrast' can be left at their default value 50 and 'Tint' at 0.

We selected the 'Normal' 'Color Temperature' since it brought us the closest to our calibration goal, but if you find the picture a bit too yellow and dull, change 'Color Temperature' to something colder. The 'Black Detail' was left off for the review process and we recommend letting it off for everyday use since it will change the video content true look, but it can be useful if you are watching some content where you are losing detail in the dark areas of the picture. In that case, the 'Black detail' can set to different levels (Low, Medium, and High) until you find what right for you. Only remember that it will change the true look of the movies of other video content you are watching. The 'Xtreme Black Engine Plus™' is the option that turns on and off the local dimming. We recommend to turn it on for most content, but if you don't like to have the screen changing luminosity depending on the scene, or if you see that some bright highlights sometimes dim too much, you can turn it off. 'Clear Action' is the option that controls the black frame insertion and was left turned off for the review process, but can be turned on to clear up fast motion video content like sport. Note that turning on this feature will dim the screen considerably and if you want to know more about this option you can read this section of the review. 'Pure Cinema' is used to remove judder from 24p films playing over a 60p source, but we found out that the TV cannot correctly remove judder completely from 24p movies over 60Hz sources when the option is turned on. For more information about this issue, you can visit the 24p playback section here about any future update.

In the 'Reduce Noise' tab, you will find both the 'Reduce Signal Noise' and the 'Reduce Block Noise' options. Those options can be useful if you are watching some older low-resolution and/or analog content where you see too many artifacts or too much noise (shimmering background or grain). Both features can be set to a deferent level (Off, Low, Medium, and High) and the best way to test the effect on your content is to test each feature at each level to adjust it to what looks the best for you. Also, both can also be used in combination. Keep in mind that the stronger you apply these options, the softer the picture will be, so don't turn them on for high-quality content.

The 'Color Space' setting should be left at 'Auto' since it will change the color space to match the type of content you are watching automatically.

For the 'Gamma' setting, we left it at 2.2 since it brought us the closest to our calibration goal in our completely dark room. The 'Gamma' can be changed, especially if you are watching some HDR content, and you find that dark scenes are too dark or you are missing some details. You can try a lower value to bring out dark details.

The main important option for gaming is the 'Game Low Latency' and if you intend to play video games, it is important to turn on this option to have the best input lag possible.

In the input menu, if you intend to play HDR movies via a UHD Blu-ray player of HDR video game via a console, it is important to turn on the 'Full UHD Color' option for the HDMI port 1. This allows HDMI port 1 to transmit at full HDMI bandwidth and if not turned on, your external device may not recognize the TV as being HDR compatible. Note that only HDMI port 1 can transmit the full HDMI 2.0 bandwidth.

Chroma subsampling (4:4:4) is only supported when the 'Picture Mode' is set to 'Computer' and  only HDMI port 1 supports 4k @ 60 Hz @ 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 color, and only when 'Full UHD Color' is enabled for that port.