V505-G9: At First Glance
VIZIO as a TV brand is well known for producing affordable televisions with amazing specs. Gladly, the VIZIO V505-G9 is not an exception as it offers great features at a reasonable price.
To give more details, this television had a price tag of $427.49 as of February 2022, when I published this review. To be honest, for an inexpensive TV like this, this television offers some features that you might not see in some expensive televisions.
Some of the features include a low input lag, HDR, and Google Assistant. However, as one would expect from a low-budget television, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with some major drawbacks including poor sound production.
Notwithstanding, can the VIZIO V505-G9 perform better than other budget TVs? Well, you will find out as you read through other sections of this review.
V505-G9: Design, Dimension, and Weight
In terms of design, the VIZIO V505-G9 looks somewhat stylish for an affordable television. However, the design of this television cannot be compared to that of expensive VIZIO televisions.
Going into details, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with thin bezels that surround its display screen. These bezels are made of plastic and they feature a brushed black finish.
Moreover, you will find a “VIZIO” logo finely inscribed in the middle of the bottom bezels. This logo makes the TV appears more appealing when viewed from the front.
Turning to the VIZIO V505-G9’s back, you will notice a matte-black panel separated into two parts. The top part is of this back panel is made of metal while the bottom part is made of solid plastic.
The bottom part of this back panel is slightly thicker than the top part because it houses all of the TV’s electronics and ports. However, the bottom part isn’t particularly thick to the extent that the TV will bulge out of the wall if wall-mounted.
Speaking of wall-mounting, the VIZIO V505-G9 features VESA 200 x 200 mount holes on its back panel. Obviously, these mount holes are for wall-mounting the television.
What if you don’t wish to mount the television on the wall? Well, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a pair of V-shaped legs for placing it on a tabletop or desk.
These V-shaped legs are made of high-quality plastic and they should support the television pretty well. However, because the legs are set to the extreme edges of the television, you will need a fairly large table to place it on.
Moving further, the VIZIO V505-G9 has a measurement of 1120.9 x 61.5 x 650.0 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 9670.5 g. For a 50-inch television, I must say, the VIZIO V505-G9 is very light.
In fact, this television is lighter than most 50-inch televisions out there. For example, the Samsung RU7100 weighs 13607.8 g while the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 weighs 11702.6 g.
In conclusion, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a design that is quite decent for a television less than $500. Moreover, this television is lighter than most of its competitors.
Therefore, I will rate the VIZIO V505-G9 an eight out of ten in this design review section.
V505-G9: Display Features
As hinted earlier, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a 50-inch LCD display. Just like most modern televisions, this display features a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution.
This 4K UHD resolution allows this television’s display to deliver clear, accurate, and realistic picture quality. Apart from having a 4K resolution, this television’s display supports HDR in HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision HDR formats.
For clarity, the acronym HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. HDR is a picture technology that helps enhance the contrast as well as the brightness of a display when viewing HDR-supported content.
Just for the record, HDR-supported content is most times found on streaming apps such as HULU and Netflix.
Moving on, this VIZIO V505-G9’s display comes with an impressive contrast ratio. To be more precise, this display has a contrast ratio of 7395:1.
A display’s contrast ratio refers to the ratio between the brightest white and the deepest black that the display can render. Moreover, a high contrast ratio implies that the display will be able to produce deep blacks.
Thus, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display should also be able to produce deep black because its contrast ratio is high. As a result, the VIZIO V505-G9 is suitable for viewing movies with lots of dark or shadowy scenes.
On the downside, this TV’s display is very poor when it comes to brightness. To be more specific, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display has a maximum brightness of 255 nits.
For a TV’s display to be considered bright enough, it needs to have a maximum brightness of at least 450 nits or more. Well, the result of its poor display brightness is that the VIZIO V505-G9 might not be ideal for viewing in well-lit or bright environments.
In addition to its poor brightness, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display has mediocre viewing angles. Therefore, when viewing the VIZIO V505-G9 from the sides or off-center, colors will look washed out.
Thus, reducing the picture quality of the display.
On a positive note, this television’s display is capable of handling reflection adequately. This is due to the semi-gloss coating on the display that retracts reflection from it.
However, the display can still suffer from reflection when you place the VIZIO V505-G9 under direct light.
That said, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display comes with a decently low input lag of 24.6 milliseconds. Hence, the VIZIO V505-G9 is a suitable television for playing video games.
Just in case you are wondering, input lag is the amount of time that it takes a display to register a signal input. Therefore, since gamepads nowadays are wireless, it will take the VIZIO V505-G9’s display just 24.6 milliseconds to register an input from the gamepad.
Thus, improving the overall gaming experience.
In addition to its low input lag, the VIZIO V505-G9’s display also has an impressive response time. To be specific, this display features a response time of 18.6 milliseconds, which makes it suitable for viewing fast-motion content like sports.
For the record, response time is the duration that a display takes to transition from one color to another. Therefore, there will be a minimal blur trail when viewing fast-moving content on the VIZIO V505-G9.
In conclusion, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with some display features that both gamers and movie lovers would appreciate. However, this television display has some major drawbacks which include poor viewing angles and disappointing brightness.
As a result, I will be rating the VIZIO V505-G9 a seven out of ten in this display features review section.
V505-G9: Sound Features
To begin with, the VIZIO V505-G9’s sound performance is exactly what you would expect from an inexpensive television. Specifically, this TV features a pair of 10-watt speakers that produce below-average sounds.
To make things worse, this television lacks a subwoofer. Therefore, the VIZIO V505-G9 might not be able to produce enough bass as well as rumbling and thumping sounds.
As a result, the VIZIO V505-G9 may not be the best television for watching bass-heavy movies. In addition to its poor bass production, the VIZIO V505-G9’s speakers aren’t loud at all.
In fact, these speakers aren’t capable enough to fill a medium-sized room with sound. Honestly, to enjoy quality sounds with the VIZIO V505-G9, I totally recommend that you purchase a soundbar with the television.
On a positive note, like most television speakers, the VIZIO V505-G9’s speakers are capable of producing crisp and clear dialogue. Thus, when watching a movie or TV show on this VIZIO television, viewers will be able to clearly hear the conversation between two or more characters.
Sadly, the VIZIO V505-G9’s distortion performance isn’t particularly great. This was proven through a THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) test.
For clarity, the THD test is a test that measures the amount of distortion that a sound device is capable of generating. Moreover, on this test, if a sound device scores below 1% or 1%, it means that the device is free from distortion.
Unfortunately, the VIZIO V505-G9 scored 1.7% on the THD test. This implies that at a moderate volume level, distortion might not be particularly audible on the television.
However, at the maximum volume level, distortion may be a big issue. Just to be clear, distortion is the alteration of sound frequencies, resulting in less appealing sound production.
To conclude this section, I will rate the VIZIO V505-G9 a six out of ten for its disappointing performance in this sound review section.
V505-G9: Ports and Connectivity Features
The VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a decent amount of ports. To give more details, all of these ports are located at the back of the television.
This means that one would find it a bit challenging while trying to access these ports if the television is wall-mounted. Having said that, let us now discuss the ports that the television feature.
To start with, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with three HDMI ports. Impressively, one of these HDMI ports supports ARC (Audio Return Channel).
Thus, by using the HDMI-ARC port, you will be able to connect a soundbar or external speaker to the television. In addition to its three HDMI ports, the VIZIO V505-G9 features a USB port.
Also, this TV comes with a composite video input, an Ethernet port, and a digital optical out. For wireless connectivity, however, this TV features a built-in 802.11ac Dual Band WIFI but lacks Bluetooth.
Moving on, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a basic remote control that is included with most VIZIO TVs. Moreover, this remote control is made of plastic and features a matte-black finish.
Also, the remote is of medium size. Therefore, it should fit properly into your palm.
However, due to its size, the remote control doesn’t come with a lot of buttons. Speaking of buttons, this remote control has a square-shaped navigation button located a bit above the center.
In addition to that, you will find six dedicated buttons at the top of this navigation button. These dedicated buttons offer quick access to popular streaming apps such as iHeartRadio, Crackle, Netflix, Xumo, Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu.
Also, you’ll find a “VIZIO” logo at the bottom part of this remote for easy brand identification. However, this remote control lacks an in-built mic for voice input.
Notwithstanding, the television itself supports voice assistants (AI) such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Thus, with the help of a Google Nest or Amazon Echo speaker, you will be able to control the VIZIO V505-G9 with your voice.
To conclude this port and connectivity review section, I will rate the VIZIO V505-G9 an eight out of ten.
V505-G9: Smart Features
The VIZIO V505-G9 comes with the SmartCast operating system, just like most VIZIO televisions. This operating system offers a user-friendly interface that is very easy to navigate.
However, the animation of this interface isn’t smooth enough and it lags a bit. Also, applications on this operating system take a few seconds to launch when selected.
Speaking of applications, this operating system offers only fifteen pre-installed streaming apps and there is no way to download more. A few of the streaming apps that this OS offers include Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu.
On a positive note, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with an in-built Chromecast. This Chromecast allows you to cast/stream content from any application that supports casting to the television via your smart device.
In conclusion, the VIZIO V505-G9’s operating system offers limited streaming apps compared to other OS like the ROKU OS. However, the television features an in-built Chromecast to make up for this flaw.
Therefore, I believe the VIZIO V505-G9 deserves nothing less than an eight out of ten in this smart features review section.
Frequently Asked Questions
The VIZIO V505-G9 was released in 2019.
Yes, it is. The VIZIO V505-G9 is a smart television that features the SmartCast operating system as well as an in-built Chromecast.
No, it does not. Instead, the VIZIO V505-G9 comes with a basic VIZIO remote control.
Unfortunately, the VIZIO V505-G9 lacks Bluetooth.
The VIZIO V505-G9 had a price tag of $427.49 as of February 2022 when I wrote this review.
Conclusion
For a television less than $500, the VIZIO V505-G9 offers decent performance. Basically, this television comes with some great features that I believe might attract buyers.
Some of these features include a low input lag, decent design, outstanding contrast ratio, HDR compatibility, and an in-built Chromecast. However, the sound performance of this television is nothing to write home about.
Also, the VIZIO V505-G9 lacks Bluetooth, and its display offers poor maximum brightness and mediocre viewing angles. Notwithstanding, I believe that for a little over $400, the VIZIO V505-G9 is a great steal.
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