Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market
Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market
Vizio 无意中打造了市面上最好的“笨电视”
The Mini LED Quantum is the cheapest quantum-dot TV you can get, but Walmart’s tracking is worrisome. Luckily you can avoid it. Mini LED Quantum 是你能买到的最便宜的量子点电视，但沃尔玛的追踪机制令人担忧。幸运的是，你可以避开它。
When I first started testing Vizio’s 65-inch Mini LED Quantum TV, I thought the big story was that Vizio was back and that it had a quantum-dot TV for under $398 — the cheapest on the market. Vizio’s been pretty quiet since it was acquired by Walmart in 2024, so putting out a TV with quantum dots, which allow for higher brightness levels and more accurate color, at a budget price seemed like a strong comeback. 当我刚开始测试 Vizio 的 65 英寸 Mini LED Quantum 电视时，我以为最大的新闻是 Vizio 的回归，以及它推出了一款售价低于 398 美元的量子点电视——这是市面上最便宜的。自 2024 年被沃尔玛收购以来，Vizio 一直相当低调，因此以如此亲民的价格推出具备更高亮度和更精准色彩的量子点电视，看起来像是一次强有力的回归。
But that’s not the big story. While those two points are intriguing, the big news about the Mini LED Quantum TV is that Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market. 但这并不是重点。虽然上述两点很吸引人，但关于 Mini LED Quantum 电视最大的新闻是：Vizio 无意中打造了市面上最好的“笨电视”（非智能电视）。
Walmart bought Vizio for its advertising business. Since Vizio’s ad division was responsible for all of Vizio’s profits at the time of the sale, keeping that ad revenue going is likely the priority here, and Vizio’s TV OS is the vehicle. 沃尔玛收购 Vizio 是为了其广告业务。由于在出售时，Vizio 的广告部门贡献了其全部利润，因此维持广告收入很可能是沃尔玛的首要任务，而 Vizio 的电视操作系统正是实现这一目标的载体。
You now need a Walmart account to use some features on a Vizio TV, and you can’t access any of the streaming apps on the Vizio Mini LED Quantum without agreeing to its activity data policy, which lets Walmart collect all your usage data. That’s annoying, but not unique. Smart TVs collect data on what you’re watching and how you watch it so they can serve targeted recommendations and ads. 现在，你需要一个沃尔玛账户才能使用 Vizio 电视的某些功能。如果你不同意其活动数据政策（该政策允许沃尔玛收集你的所有使用数据），你就无法访问 Vizio Mini LED Quantum 上的任何流媒体应用。这很烦人，但并非个例。智能电视会收集你观看的内容和方式，以便推送精准的推荐和广告。
The potential for Walmart — much like Amazon with its Fire TVs, for that matter — is that your watch habit data can be used to target your shopping app experience. Been watching Star Wars movies and shows with the family? Maybe the next time you log in to your Walmart app you’ll get a recommendation for the Luke’s Red Five X-wing Smart Lego set. This might sound great to you, but to me, the close connection between TV OS and retailer is a bit unsettling. 对于沃尔玛来说（就像亚马逊的 Fire TV 一样），潜在的价值在于你的观看习惯数据可以用来优化你的购物应用体验。比如，你和家人一直在看《星球大战》电影和剧集？也许下次你登录沃尔玛应用时，就会收到一套“卢克的红五 X 翼战机”乐高套装的推荐。这听起来可能不错，但对我而言，电视操作系统与零售商之间这种紧密的联系让人感到有些不安。
It’s possible to get around it, though, and to a fuller extent than on other platforms. As with any other TV, you can add an external streaming device and set the Vizio up to power on to the last used input and bypass the OS. Even with an external device, though, Vizio and Walmart are still scanning the HDMI port and collecting data on what you’re watching. But by making certain decisions during the setup process, you can keep the OS from even being active (and presumably gathering your viewing information), which I’ve never seen on other televisions. 不过，我们是有办法绕过这一点的，而且比在其他平台上更彻底。像其他电视一样，你可以外接流媒体设备，并将 Vizio 设置为开机时直接进入上次使用的输入源，从而绕过其操作系统。尽管如此，即便使用了外接设备，Vizio 和沃尔玛仍会扫描 HDMI 端口并收集你的观看数据。但通过在设置过程中做出特定选择，你可以让操作系统根本不被激活（从而避免其收集你的观看信息），这是我在其他电视上从未见过的。
During setup, the TV asks you to sign in to, or create, a Walmart account. If you choose to skip, you’re asked if you’re sure and warned that “you will not be able to manage payments and subscriptions or link your Vizio devices.” I already manage my subscriptions through each streaming service I use, so no big loss there. After agreeing to Vizio’s terms of service and privacy policy, you’re asked to accept the activity data policy, which enables the TV’s smart features. Declining this brings up another warning screen — this one actually says “Whoops!” — informing you that “skipping this step means missing out on all your Vizio smart TV features, including apps like Netflix, YouTube, and other apps.” 在设置过程中，电视会要求你登录或创建一个沃尔玛账户。如果你选择跳过，它会询问你是否确定，并警告说“你将无法管理付款和订阅，也无法关联你的 Vizio 设备”。我已经在各个流媒体服务中管理订阅了，所以这对我没什么损失。在同意 Vizio 的服务条款和隐私政策后，系统会要求你接受活动数据政策，以启用电视的智能功能。拒绝此项会弹出另一个警告界面——上面写着“哎呀！”——告知你“跳过此步骤意味着你将无法使用所有 Vizio 智能电视功能，包括 Netflix、YouTube 等应用”。
One last decline, and the Vizio is the dumb TV many are looking for: no OS and three HDMI ports awaiting a signal. And to make sure there’s no way Walmart is getting your info, you can always disconnect the TV from the internet entirely by forgetting your Wi-Fi settings. 再拒绝一次，Vizio 就成了许多人梦寐以求的“笨电视”：没有操作系统，只有三个等待信号的 HDMI 端口。为了确保沃尔玛无法获取你的信息，你还可以通过忘记 Wi-Fi 设置，彻底断开电视的网络连接。
And for a $400 dumb TV — or even a $400 smart TV — the 65-inch Vizio Mini LED Quantum is really good. I watched multiple World Cup matches using my OTA antenna and my normal collection of weekly shows like Last Week Tonight through my Apple TV, and they all looked pretty good. Of its picture modes, Calibrated and Calibrated Dark are the most accurate. Both lean a little toward blue, so everything has a slight cool cast. Calibrated Dark is the best for color accuracy and for a dark, light-controlled room. 对于一台 400 美元的“笨电视”（甚至是 400 美元的智能电视）来说，65 英寸的 Vizio Mini LED Quantum 表现非常出色。我通过 OTA 天线观看了多场世界杯比赛，并通过 Apple TV 观看了我每周必看的节目（如《上周今夜秀》），效果都很不错。在图像模式中，“校准”（Calibrated）和“校准暗”（Calibrated Dark）最为准确。两者都略微偏蓝，因此画面带有一点冷色调。“校准暗”模式在色彩准确度方面表现最佳，非常适合光线可控的暗室环境。