Vizio P Series XLED 2017 Calibration Settings

These are the settings we used to calibrate the 65 inch Vizio P Series 2017 TV (P65-E1) and we expect them to be valid for the 55" version (P55-E1 ), and the 75" version (P75-E1). These are good for most content, from watching movies and TV shows to gaming. For Gaming, some little adjustments are needed, and they are listed below.

We started thing off by setting the 'Auto Brightness Control' to 'Off' since we did not want the luminance of the TV to change by itself depending on the light level of the room. We selected the 'Calibrated Dark' 'Picture Mode'. For our calibration process in our completely dark room, we set the 'Backlight' to 6, 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 change the picture quality. 'Brightness', 'Contrast', and 'Color' can be left at their default value 50 and 'Tint' at 0. Leave 'Sharpness' at 0 for 1080p and 4k sources to prevent any over sharpening. For lower-quality content, like DVDs or SD channels, you may want to increase it a little bit, since it could make lower resolution content look a bit better.

We selected the 'Normal' 'Color Temperature' since it was the most accurate color temperature and it brought us the closest to our calibration goal, but if you find the picture a bit too yellow or dull, change 'Color Temperature' to something colder. The 'Black Detail' was left off since we did not want to alter the original look of the displayed video content, but it can be turned on to a different degree if you find that you are losing details in dark scenes. The 'Xtreme Black Engine Pro' 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.

The 'Reduce Judder' and 'Reduce Motion Blur' options are the feature that controls the motion interpolation (also name soap opera effect). The 'Reduce Judder' slider is used to interpolate 30 fps content up to 60Hz and the 'Reduce Motion Blur' slider is used to interpolate 60 fps content up to 120Hz. With both sliders, you can add soap opera effect up to your desired effect. You can read more on the subject here, on the review page.

'Clear Action' is the option that controls the black frame insertion. Turning it on will clear up fast action content, but will limit the luminance of the screen. You can read more about the black frame insertion feature here on the review page. For the 'Reduce Noise' option, please see down below. 'Game Low Latency' is related to the gaming setting and will be talked about in the gaming sections. '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.

The 'Color Space ' is the option used to change the color space to match the one used by your HDMI sources. Here, it is better to set it to 'Auto' since it will change the setting to match automatically the one used by your source. Finally, the 'Gamma ' is the option that adjusts the gamma curve. We always aim for a 2.2 gamma during our calibration and as a result, we selected a '2.2' gamma. Note that the 'Gamma' can be set lower if you are losing detail in the shadows or higher if, on the opposite, you are losing detail in the extremely bright regions of a scene.

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 main option important for gaming is 'Game Low Latency' and if you intend to play video games, as it is the option that will give you the best input lag. It is also important to point out that for SDR gaming (1080p or 4k) you need to use the HDMI 5, as the HDMI port 1 to 4 will have a higher input lag, even with 'Game Low Latency' turned on.

If you intend to play HDR movies via a UHD Blu-ray player of HDR video game console, it is important to turn on the 'Full UHD Color' option for the HDMI port that you will be using, as this allows HDMI port to transmit at full HDMI bandwidth. Note that only the HDMI ports 1, 2, 3 and 4 support HDR. Also, the 'Backlight' should be set to 50 for the most accurate image and the 'Active LED Zones' should be turned 'On' to have the best possible HDR effect. If you find the HDR image too dim, then you can increase Backlight to adjust the PQ curve (see here)

For HDR gaming (via HDR game console or PC), the same setting mention in the HDR setting section still apply here and you simply need to turn on 'Game Low Latency' to have the best input lag possible.

If you are using a PC connected via HDMI 1 to 4 and want to use the Chroma subsampling (4:4:4), you will need to use the 'Computer' 'Picture mode'. For a 4k@60Hz 4:4:4 you will also need to turn on, via the HDMI input menu, the 'Full UHD Color' option. For HDMI 5, chroma subsampling is available on any picture mode.