Vizio's redesigned smart TV interface is a serious upgrade — here's your first look

Vizio's redesigned smart TV interface is a serious upgrade — here's your first look

Vizio TVs offer great value due to their combination of performance and price. And now, it gets even better with a complete redesign of the SmartCast user interface. In fact, the SmartCast interface is being completely eliminated.

Starting today, Vizio is rolling out a new Smart TV user interface called Vizio Home Screen. This upgrade will be rolled out gradually to all SmartCast TVs, meaning that TVs dating back to 2016 could be upgraded to Vizio's revamped smart platform.

And believe me when I say upgrade. The old SmartCast user interface was by no means unusable, but it was not the most aesthetically modern user interface. Now the traditional poster graphics have been replaced by immersive backgrounds, sometimes with video content rather than still images. There are also clear call-to-action buttons, such as movie trailers or adding to a watch list.

While the aesthetic changes are nice, the biggest upgrade with the change to the home screen may be the shift from the top menu navigation system to the left navigation menu. Search has also been shifted to the left, and the user interface keyboard has been shifted from the center column to the left keypad, so that more relevant options are displayed while searching.

The new menu is slightly more accessible than the SmartCast menu. Also, everything from Live TV to search is laid out nicely. The settings menu is also more easily accessible.

Finally, the Browse section provides a curated list of TV shows and movie categories, allowing you to more easily find what you want to watch. This includes everything from rotating curated categories to family-friendly children's content.

Speaking of categories, Vizio has put an emphasis on curation in this redesign. In addition to staples like action movies and comedies, there are also seasonally curated categories that focus on narrower categories. These collection pages, which are also part of the SmartCast smart TV platform, are not entirely new to Vizio, but are now a more prominent focus, and even have their own tab in the main menu on the left for quick access.

So if you have a Vizio TV with SmartCast, stay tuned for a new home screen user interface in the coming months. And if you don't already have a Vizio TV, this redesign is a great opportunity to consider purchasing one. The Vizio M-Series Quantum X is also a great option for gamers, as it features a 240 Hz gaming mode. Both models will be upgraded to the new Vizio Home Screen in the coming months.

Categories