Description
Is 43 inches the size, and is 1080p the resolution, for the room you have?
Forty three inches is an awkward and useful size. It is too small for a main living room in most modern houses and it is the right answer for a bedroom, a kitchen, a home office, a basement or an apartment where the sofa is eight or nine feet from the wall. The panel is about 37 and a half inches across, and that width is what to measure against furniture.
The more consequential question is resolution. This is a 1080p set, not a 4K one, and at 43 inches that is a real decision rather than a technicality. From nine feet, the difference between 1080p and 4K on a 43 inch screen is close to invisible to most people, because the eye cannot resolve the extra detail at that distance and size. From five feet it becomes visible. So the resolution choice is really a seating distance choice, and if the set is going somewhere people sit close to it, 4K is worth having.
What 1080p does buy you is that everything you watch is native. Broadcast television, cable, older streaming content and most games consoles running at 1080p go onto this panel without upscaling, and no upscaler is perfect. On a 4K set the same content is being interpolated.
Note that the dimensions on this listing, 41.73 by 4.65 by 29.97 inches, are considerably larger than a 43 inch panel and are the carton rather than the television. The weight of 17.5 pounds is light enough for any bracket.
Full array backlighting is the specification worth having here
VIZIO describes this set as using full array LED backlighting, which it says delivers light uniformity and picture performance. That is the genuine technical advantage of this model over most sets at its position in the market, and it is worth understanding.
Inexpensive televisions are usually edge lit: the LEDs sit along one or two edges of the panel and light is spread across the screen with a diffuser. It works, and it produces uneven results, with brighter bands near the edges, visible clouding on dark scenes and light bleeding around the corners. A full array puts the LEDs behind the panel in a grid, and the immediate benefit is that brightness is even from corner to corner.
What the listing does not claim, and what should not be assumed, is local dimming. Full array describes where the lights are. Local dimming describes whether groups of them can be controlled independently, which is what actually improves contrast. VIZIO does not mention dimming zones anywhere on this page, so the sensible reading is even lighting rather than deep blacks.
What the six core processor claim actually counts
The description promotes a V6 six core processor, and then explains it: a quad core graphics processor and a dual core central processor. Adding those together to reach six is a marketing construction rather than a technical specification, because graphics cores and processor cores are not comparable units and do not add up to anything meaningful.
What the arrangement does describe is a modest processor of its era, and the practical effect on a television is felt in menu responsiveness and app loading rather than in picture quality. It is worth knowing because a set from 2018 or 2019 with a modest processor running a smart platform will feel slower now than it did new, as applications have grown.
The platform itself is SmartCast, with apps launchable from the remote, a companion phone app for control and casting, Chromecast built in and VIZIO WatchFree, a free ad supported channel service the listing describes as over a hundred channels with no subscription or login. Voice control is supported through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Audio is two built in speakers with DTS Studio Sound virtual surround processing, which widens the sound stage and does not add bass, so a soundbar remains the fix if dialogue clarity matters.
Living with it: the date, the mounting and the state of this listing
The age is the thing to weigh most heavily. The description calls this the all new 2018 D-Series while the same page gives a first availability date of January 24, 2019. Either way the platform is around seven years old, and app support on any manufacturer smart platform eventually stops. If the set is destined for a room where a streaming stick or a console will be plugged in anyway, that concern largely disappears and you are simply buying a well backlit 1080p panel.
For mounting, no VESA pattern is published, so check VIZIO’s manual before buying a bracket. At 17.5 pounds almost anything will carry it, and the low weight makes this a practical choice for a kitchen arm or a bracket in a rented room.
This listing carries more than the usual number of artifacts, and they are worth naming. The description begins mid word with “bout This Item”, a truncated heading, and then includes a retailer’s own disclaimer stating that manufacturers and suppliers provide the information and that it has not been verified. That is boilerplate from a shopping page pasted into a manufacturer description field. The voltage is written as “1.1E+2 Volts (AC)”, which is scientific notation for 110 rather than anything unusual. And the special features field reads simply “Flat”, which is not a feature on a flat panel television.
Customer feedback is limited: 49 ratings averaging 3.4 stars, ranked 649th within LED and LCD televisions and 171,869th across electronics. Forty nine ratings and a 3.4 average is a weak signal rather than a damning one, but it is worth reading the individual comments before buying.
When a different set is the better buy
If the room seats people close to the screen, 4K at the same size is the upgrade that matters, and the VIZIO 43-inch V-Series 4K review covers the same manufacturer’s current answer at this size with Dolby Vision support the D-Series does not have.
If you want a 43 inch 1080p set with a newer platform, the VIZIO 43-inch FHD Smart TV review covers the later generation. If you would rather change platform entirely, the Samsung 40-inch UN40N5200 review and the Hisense 40H4030F4 review both cover slightly smaller sets on different interfaces.
And if the room is smaller still, the VIZIO D32f-F1 review covers the 32 inch version of this same D-Series generation. The full range sits in the LED and LCD televisions category, and if you plan to add a modern interface to an older panel, the streaming media players category is the cheaper route.
Who should buy it and who should not
It suits a secondary room at a normal viewing distance where 43 inches is the right size, where full array backlighting is worth more than 4K resolution, and where the smart platform is a convenience rather than the reason for buying. It is light, it has a genuinely better backlight arrangement than most sets in its class, and the free channel service is a real feature for anyone without a subscription.
It does not suit close seating, where 4K would be visible, and it does not suit anyone who needs a smart platform with a long support life ahead of it, because this one dates from 2018 or 2019 depending on which part of the listing you believe. It also does not claim local dimming, so full array here means even lighting rather than deep blacks.
