A decade ago, Vizio was synonymous with value. The company’s latest duo, the 65- and 120-inch Reference Series Ultra HD sets, are about as far from that origination point as possible. Engineered for those who accept zero compromises (and are willing to pay for it), these sets were built from a clean slate and designed to incorporate support for both 4K resolution and High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. With 800 nits of backlight and 384 individual local dimming zones, the Reference line is capable of producing extraordinary blacks and remarkably accurate colors.
There’s a quad-core GPU and dual-core CPU under the hood, paired with 802.11ac dual-band MIMO wireless — all of which are necessary to stream and render 4K material. For those lowly 1080p Blu-rays, the Spatial Scaling Engine upscales with unrivaled clarity. Vizio has also one-upped the market by embedding a 5.1-channel sound bar into the display itself, with each set bundled with a 10-inch wireless subwoofer to handle the lows.